Ultima Lucha Dos Part 3 Review

We get treated to a really good opening video package that recaps pretty much the entire season. We see what led us to the matches tonight, including the Trios Title, Mysterio/Puma, Azteca/Lotus, Taya/Ivelisse and the Lucha Underground Title contests.

Vampiro and Pentagon speak outside of a cave and Vampiro tells Pentagon that he says he has no fear, but fear was all he saw when Pentagon took on Matanza. He sends him into a cave where he fights against PHANTOM LUCHADORS! When that ends (complete with wonky light show), Pentagon fights Vampiro (in a Pentagon mask). Vampiro says that now he’s ready. The light must be extinguished by Pentagon Jr. so that Pentagon Dark can take his place.

Though he left at the end of part two, Vampiro is back for commentary here with Matt Striker.

Trios Championship: Aerostar, Drago and Fenix def. the Worldwide Underground (Jack Evans, Johnny Mundo and PJ Black) (c) in 11:47

The Worldwide Underground all getting the Mundo hair flying entrance treatment is great. This was the perfect choice for an opener. These guys all work at such a fast pace and that was abundant right at the start. Following a flurry of high impact aerial stuff from almost everyone, a strange subplot was thrown in about the referee being upset with not being taken seriously. He stopped the faces from diving outside and the heels mockingly overdid their tagging in and out. I thought this was going to end early as Aerostar hit a super destroyer on Mundo, dove out onto everyone outside and then Fenix hit a splash. There was another close call after a 450 splash but Evans pulled the referee out of the ring. After the champions all hit Fenix with their belts, Evans hilarious asked “RICK ARE YOU OKAY?” as he helped the official up. As the cheating champions neared a win, Angelico returned and whacked Mundo with his crutch. The challengers hit some insane dives, including a ridiculous springboard imploding somersault by Aerostar, before Angelico hit more crutch shots. Fenix scored with the Fenix Driver to win the titles. A really fun match. It featured non-stop action and a welcome return by Angelico, who has been missed. Historic moment too as Fenix becomes the first Triple Crown winner in Lucha Underground history. Plus, titles for Aerostar and Drago is really cool. ***½

Black Lotus and Dragon Azteca Jr. wrestled to a no contest in 4:03

It is the Lucha Underground debut for Black Lotus. She showed off some pretty cool offense in the short time given here. Azteca tried an awesome somersault dive and managed to mostly land on his feet despite missing. Lotus scored on a basement dropkick and fired off some kicks before running into a roaring elbow. As Azteca went for a top rope move, Pentagon Dark ran out and crotched him, leading to the no contest. Fine for the time it got, but the finish showed that this wasn’t really important. Azteca is a star though. **¼

Pentagon Jr. broke Lotus’ arm and hit Azteca with a package piledriver. Vampiro had a wide smile and did the Cero Miedo signal with his hand as Pentagon also broke Dragon’s arm. Vampiro formally introduced him on commentary as Pentagon Dark. After the break, Pentagon cut a promo about becoming more powerful than ever. By the way, I was never a huge fan of the name Pentagon Jr., but Pentagon Dark is just lame. This led to the title match going down right now and there must be a winner.

Lucha Underground Championship: Matanza Cueto (c) w/ Dario Cueto def. Pentagon Dark in 11:31

Pentagon immediately dove over and out onto Matanza before hitting choking him with a cable. Pentagon Dark has learned from Pentagon Jr.’s failure against Matanza because he just kept the offense coming, not giving Matanza any time to muster any momentum. Matanza’s attempts at offense saw him mostly flail at Pentagon. It was easily the most dominant performance against Matanza so far. Dario was great at ringside showing his desperation as he pleaded with Matanza to wake up. Finally, Pentagon went headfirst into a wedged steel chair to turn the tide. Matanza’s effortless standing moonsault and standing shooting star press are so impressive. Pentagon hit a Mexican destroyer on Matanza, which was insane to see. Vampiro brought out a barbed wire baseball bat for Pentagon. Dario ran in and shoved Pentagon, so he almost had his arm broken for that. The distraction allowed Matanza to hit Pentagon with the bat and retain with Wrath of the Gods. Good match that told exactly the story it needed to. Pentagon had gone where he needed to in order to beat the monster. However, I didn’t like the finish. It felt cheap and super anti-climactic. Plus, the title needs to be on Pentagon. He’s their most popular star and this was the perfect time to pull the trigger. ***½

The fans rightfully chanted bullshit. Vampiro got in the ring to check on Pentagon, who wanted no part of it and shoved Vampiro away. After a commercial break, Vampiro went back on his meds.

Taya def. Ivelisse in 6:46

According to Matt Striker, this was about being the official “baddest bitch in the building.” The ovation and chants for Ivelisse during her entrance were lovely. Off topic, but Ivelisse looked amazing here. They did a good job showcasing their hatred. Ivelisse went after her viciously and Taya hit a DDT onto an open chair outside. Ivelisse nailed a cross body off of the high guardrails around ringside. While fighting on the steps, both girls took a nasty spill to the floor below. Ivelisse hit a sick looking German and then a sunset flip bomb. As the referee counted, the lights went out. When they came up, he was gone and Catrina was behind Ivelisse. Catrina had a bit of a different look and planted Ivelisse with a Barbie crusher. The lights went out and back on and the referee was back. Taya hit a northern lights suplex into a double stomp to win. The match was good but we’re four for four in matches ending with some kind of shenanigans. I like that it sets up next season and I really liked the big step forward of the Ivelisse/Catrina feud that has been brewing for a very long time, but it still took away from this, while also making Taya out to be an afterthought. ***

The lights went out again and Taya’s gone and Catrina was back in the ring. She said that death comes for everyone, even Ivelisse before giving her the lick of death for the second straight Ultima Lucha in a row.

Rey Mysterio Jr. def. Prince Puma in 16:37

The dream match. The past vs. the future. It delivered. Puma and Rey shook hands before testing each other. Is Puma as good as the legend? Could Rey keep up with the benchmark of Lucha Underground? The crowd was split, chanting 323 and 619 (each guy’s home area code). They knew each other’s offense well from their time as a team as well Puma idolizing Rey and Rey knowing about Puma from Konnan. Puma hit some really big moves, including a sweet blue thunder bomb for two, but Rey always found a way to kick out. In a moment similar to Shawn Michaels and Ric Flair at WrestleMania 24 (Strike hammered the point home way too much though) Puma looked down on his idol and showed him love before attempting a 630. That allowed Rey to move and try the 619. Puma countered it only for Rey to counter back. The veteran hit the 619 and an awesome diving rana to score the win. This was a wonderfully told story and a great match to boot. They worked well together and everything they did made sense. I loved that Puma was kind of the better man, but Rey was wily enough to beat him. The fact that I don’t see many great Rey performances left made this all the more special. ****¼

After the match, Rey left Puma in the ring to be with his hometown fans and that was going to be the final image of season two. BUT WAIT! An angry Pentagon Dark attacked Vampiro with the barbed wire bat. He superkicked Matt Striker to take him out before grinding the bat on Vampiro’s bloodied forehead several times. As Vampiro sat there in in a pool of blood, Pentagon took to the microphone to say that he was now the master. He also took to wiping Vampiro’s blood and licking it off his hand, which was gross. I’m curious about where this goes, but not at all stoked about Pentagon’s booking.

The last shot we saw was Dario Cueto being arrested. He’s presumably in the back of a police car with the sirens and lights all around him. He then looks up at the camera and smiles.

Overall: 8/10. I think it’s nearly impossible for Lucha Underground to have a bad show. That being said, I’ll get the stuff I didn’t like out of the way. Lotus/Azteca was fine for what it was, but really just got thrown out to advance another angle. I’m unsure about the Pentagon Dark stuff as well as him losing. The biggest gripe with the show though was all of the interference and shenanigans. Still, four of the five matches are good to great and the show breezes by while being highly entertaining. I don't think Ultima Lucha Dos was quite as good as the original Ultima Lucha, but it still managed to be a strong set of shows with a solid ending.