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.
