Lucha Underground S02E11: Bird Of War

Bird Of War

DARIO TALKS TO VAMPIRO IN THE BATHROOM- he warns him not the make the same mistake that Pentagon Jr. did by putting a hand on him or Matanza. He is quite the dick to Vampiro. Vampiro seems to be struggling to decide if he should continue to take his anti-psychotic pills. After a very tense moment when you were sure if he was about to take the pills or pour them down the drain, he decides to take them. For today, at least.

CAPTAIN VASQUEZ TALKS TO RICKY REYES & JOEY �"MEEHAN”- just… kind of… hilarious.
Don’t get me wrong: it all makes sense within the fictional world of Lucha Underground… but the idea that they need to win wrestling titles for their undercover police work is just so wacky that I can’t help but laugh.
Also, Joey Ryan is a HUGE asshole.

IVELISSE vs. KOBRA MOON- 4.5/10
The match was eh. I just cannot bring myself to give a sh*t about Kobra Moon. They gave her this big, fancy vignette… and she’s done nothing since. No character development, no attempt to build up some sort of mystery around her, not even a basic pro wrestling feud. Nothing. She is literally just a body in the ring.
Also, Striker & Vampiro were pretty dreadful here.

KILLSHOT GETS SOME BACKSTORY- meh.

FAMOUS B GIVES MASCARITA SAGRADA HIS CARD- fun

THE MACK & SEXY STAR BACKSTAGE- good
Dario, being Dario, put The Mack on a Trios team with Marty The Moth & Mariposa. He says he wants Sexy Star to be out there for �"moral support,” but I think he is really trying to get her to confront her fear/trauma whatever because he thinks that is the best way to get past it. She says she isn’t strong enough yet. The Mack says okay, but reminds her that it will have to happen at some point. This closed with Sexy Star going back to lifting weights while a montage of the terrible things Marty and his sister did to her flashes through her head.

SOMEONE SPRAY-PAINTS A BLUE OUTLINE ON THE QUESTION MARK DRAGON AZTECA JR. SPRAYED ON THE LUCHA UNDERGROUND BILLBOARD AT THE END OF LAST SEASON- hm…

TRIOS TOURNAMENT FIRST-ROUND MATCH: Mr. Cisco, Cortez Castro, & Joey Ryan vs. Marty �"The Moth” Martinez, Mariposa, & The Mack- 6/10
Striker points out that The Crew are basically babyfaces now… and I realized that this was now the second time that Lucha Underground has managed to turn someone babyface in such an innocuous way that I didn’t even realize it happened.
Joey Ryan gets tagged in and he immediately lets it be known that he wants to face Mariposa. I popped huge for this because this ass-hat deserves everything he is about to get.
The match ended exactly how you’d expect: Mack and Marty got into a fight leading to one of them getting pinned (and of course it was Joey Ryan who got the pin even though it was The Crew who did all of the work).

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- Mariposa jumps The Mack but Sexy Star comes out to make the save. This was all good (although Sexy Star running wild with hair-mares looked a little silly), but I thought it was way too quick for Sexy to really take it to Mariposa like she did. It feels rushed.

REY MYSTERIO JR. & DRAGON AZTECA MEET BY THE BAT-SIGNAL BILLBOARD- cool.
Rey tells Dragon Azteca Jr. to �"fight for honor; not revenge. That will come later.” Rey also told him that he got them into the Trios Tournament. Their partner will be… PRINCE PUMA. Even more shockingly… PRINCE PUMA SPOKE. In fact he had MULTIPLE LINES. It kind of felt like whoever wrote this segment just kind of forgot that Prince Puma doesn’t speak. This was a lot less cool than I was hoping his first words would be.

LUCHA UNDERGROUND TITLE MATCH: �"The Monster” Matanza Cueto(c) (w/Dario Cueto) vs. Fenix- 6/10
These Matanza matches are kind of hard to rate. Anyway, Mantanza won.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- okay.
Dario encouraged Matanza to get more violent and he was beating on Fenix after the match when suddenly Catrina appeared at the top of the staircase and distracted Matanza so that Mil Muertes could jump him from behind. Mil knocked Matanza over the top rope. Dario then led Matanza backstage by the key, like Paul Bearer, Undertaker and the urn.
On paper this was all good but it happened kind of fast and they also didn’t give it the time to sink in so these important things all felt kind of rushed. Also, I figured they would wait at least a month before Mil Muertes and Catrina showed up again. Matanza only debut two weeks ago.

A decent show from LU.