Last season, the inaugural Aztec Warfare was one of the best matches of the year and crowned the first ever Lucha Underground Champion, Prince Puma. Tonight, 20 luchadors go at it again.
Things open with Fenix and Pentagon Jr. backstage as Pentagon says tonight is his night. Catrina interrupts saying Vampiro may teach him the dark arts, but he knows nothing of the darkness. She says that Pentagon isn't in Aztec Warfare because he put his hands on her. Pentagon isn't scared of her or Mil, saying he only listens to his master.
This will be a more detailed version of my normal Lucha Underground reviews. Not play-by-play exactly though.
Aztec Warfare for the Lucha Underground Championship
As noted last week, Fenix, the brand new Lucha Underground Champion, entered at number one. Making his official debut, Rey Mysterio drew number two and got a MASSIVE pop. I actually feel like it rivaled, if not bettered AJ's reveal at the Rumble. Fenix and Rey had a great, quick paced exchange. Rey seemed motivated and it was kind of like he was looking into his past. Famous B was at ringside. At number 3, the man who has had a great feud with Fenix this season, King Cuerno entered. Argenis, formerly of the Disciples of Death, came in at 4 but didn't last long. Rey got rid of him at 3:54. Johnny Mundo showed up at 5, and had a bit of a staredown with Rey. After a break, they got to relive some of their old WWE IC Title matches for a bit. Joey Ryan, who won a four way match exclusive to YouTube, entered at six but handcuffed himself to the guardrail outside, avoiding getting eliminated. Famous B gave him his card. I love Famous B. The Temple exploded when Prince Puma drew number 7. Puma killed it, taking out everyone with a dive and even punching Ryan. At 8, the "Dragon Slayer" Jack Evans came in. Mysterio eliminated Cuerno at 8:17 with an armbar. Everybody ganged up on Evans until Mundo saved him since they're both gringos. RACE WAR! Taya showed up at 9 to even the odds of gringos/gringas vs. luchadors. The non-masked group grabbed the advantage until #10, Cage, showed up.
Mundo got scared and Cage ran over him, Taya and Evans. He really looked to be having fun out there. There was another break before things turned bad for Cage. Mundo tossed him through the office window like his name was Alberto El Patron. At 11, Mascarita Sagrada made his season two debut. Unlike El Patron, Cage emerged from the window and murdered Mundo with a clothesline. Cage kicked his ass, allowing Puma to pin Mundo with a shooting star press at 13:03. Marty Martinez drew number 12. Commentary questioned who was creepier, him or Ryan. Marty showed off some cool offense for a bit. Drago, in some sweet attire, came in at 13, which forced Jack Evans to soil himself basically. Commercial break time. Evans tried to attack Evans but it backfired. Drago tried to spit mist at him but he also missed and caught Joey Ryan with it instead. Mascarita and Rey double teamed Marty inside, and a double pin eliminated him at 15:43. Famous B was impressed. The Mack entered at #14. Before Marty exited, Mack laid him out with a stunner. As Cage and Mack had a staredown, reigniting their feud from season one, Evans seemed to get thrown down the stairs. Drago powerbombed Evans in the audience as Chavo came out at 15. He put Mascarita in the camel clutch, eliminating at 18:07. Mundo returned and destroyed Cage with a cinder block. Taya pinned him at 18:37, before Fenix got rid of her with a German at 18:49. PJ Black showed up at 16 and went after Drago. At number 17 was Aerostar in his season two debut. His attire was pretty rad. In the ring, it was basically Black and Evans against Drago and Aerostar. Aerostar killed Evans with a top rope flipping piledriver at 20:55. At the same time, Black eliminated Drago. Number 18 arrived and it's the debut of Dragon Azteca Jr. He got some time to shine and showed off his quickness. At 19, Texano showed up and things went to a commercial. Texano dove out onto a group of guys, highlighting his time in the ring. At the 23:09 mark, Texano eliminated Black with a powerbomb. Mil Muertes got the last spot at 20, which we found out at last week. BUT WAIT! Pentagon came in through the crowd and attacked Mil with a chair! The crowd reaction for Pentagon was insane. Rey splashed Mil and he and Puma pinned him almost instantly at 24:31.Catrina yelled at ampiro and kicked him out of the Temple. The clock still went at she slapped Vamp and DARIO FUCKING CUETO WAS ATOP THE STAIRS! He said this is his Temple and he's El Jefe. He introduces entrant number 21...OHMYFUCKINGGOD IT'S MATANZA CUETO! The guys in the match had no idea what to do about this. Matanza was still wearing the blood stained clothes from last week.
Everyone attacked him but he threw them all off. He caught Fenix with a reverse powerslam at 27:11 and got rid of the new champion, giving Fenix a one week reign. Mack hit him with a stunner, but then took a German and is gone at 27:31. Another German took care of Aerostar at 27:49. Texano attacked with the bullrope but Matanza killed him with a powerbomb at 28:13. Matanza found handcuffed Joey Ryan and attacked, ropping the cuffs off the railing. He got rid of Joey with a series of gutwrench suplexes at 29:17. Outside, Chavo, Rey, Puma and Azteca were left with Matanta. Chavo quickly turned on them. Azteca used his quickness for an upper hand but Matanza caught him with a massive chokeslam at 30:30 to send him packing. Chavo tried making an alliance with Dario but when Chavo turned his back, Dario gave Matanza the signal to end him, which he did with a fucking standing shooting star press at 31:11. it came down to Matanza, Puma and Rey. They worked together against him. It still wasn't enough as he just showed off impressive power move after impressive power move. Matanza killed Puma with a sick German at 32:20. A nervous Rey timidly entered the ring. Even the referee looked scared. Rey fought him off as best as he could, using his speed upper hand. Matanza caught the 619 but Rey still slipped out and hit the 619 on the second attempt. He jumped off the top but Matanza blocked a rana and caught him with the same reverse slam that eliminated Fenix to win.
Winner and New Lucha Underground Champion: Matanza in 34:53
Like last year's match, that was so much fucking fun. Non-stop action and multiple feuds being focused on throughout. I loved the little things like Famous B at ringside and Joey Ryan being sleazy. Pentagon and Mil continued their story, Rey's debut was tremendous and Matanza's was even better. So many new directions to go after a fantastic match. ****1/2
Dario announced his brother as the new champion and posed with him to end the show.
Overall: 10/10. Aztec Warfare is two for two in producing great matches. I liked this one more than last year's, which I loved. I noted most of the positives about this in the match review it self. Everything about this episode was great, from the surprises to the action to the character work and everything in between. Lucha Underground continues to deliver.
If you do want to check out Lucha Underground, which you absolutely should, and don't get El Rey Network (like me), you can sign up for the streaming service Fubo.TV. It's a great way to support the company and channel while streaming the show online. You can sign up and get Lucha Underground here at Fubo.tv!
