Lucha Underground Review: The Dark and Mysterious
It’s time! It’s time! It’s Lucha Underground review time! Yes, the second episode of season two is in the books and, once again, those who checked out the LU last night had a good time. No it wasn’t quite on the level as last week’s season premiere, but episode two (titled “The Dark and Mysterious”) packed some cool action and some excellent storytelling to make it an overall solid affair. And yes I’m calling the storytelling excellent; when you manage to create eleven potential storylines within two weeks, what else can you call it? But alas, let’s not waste time and see exactly what they did. ON WITH THE SHOW!
The Cream of the Crop
After last week’s electric finish it was only natural that we start the show off with Pentagon and Puma interacting. It was pretty much exactly what you’d expect; Puma doing his best 1997 Sting impression, Pentagon laying a verbal smack down (complete with an awesome evil laugh) and even a small fight scene between the two. Hey, got to give the people a taste of what’s to come right? And yes, Puma vs. Pentagon is definitely something happening in the not too distant future. It’ll be glorious, it’ll blow the roof off the Temple and much like the Faith No More song “Epic” it shall be epic. Such a shame Konnan will likely miss it on account of him being buried alive and all; him and Vampiro bickering like Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau (only if they loathed each other) in the buildup would’ve been the stuff dreams are made of.
Johnny Mundo defeated Killshot
Yes, the Wednesday Night Delight returned and it…pretty good. I’ll be honest, I wish this could’ve gone a bit longer and it does seem like there were some cuts made to the match due to everything else going on in the show. That said, the action was overall quite good, featuring an excellent spear by Mundo, the greatest low blow in the history of the western hemisphere and a sequence from Killshot that saw him a superkick, a jumping DDT while Mundo was dangling from the second rope on the turnbuckle and an amazing 450 splash for a near fall. We see a lot of awesome stuff in Lucha Underground; that fifteen seconds was special right there, and was so well executed that the roof was ready to explode if Killshot had gotten the upset over Mundo. It’s a great sneak peak at what he should provide the rest of seasons two and three.
Everybody Wants Some
So Mundo wins the match and we just head to commercial right? NOT SO FAST MY FRIEND! Instead, the Wednesday Night Delight decided to grab a mic and call out Immortan Mil Muertes, who was indeed still sitting on his badass thrown throughout the night (he also had a sling on his right arm thanks to Pentagon’s sneak attack from last week). Mundo declared he wanted to take the title from Mil, Cage (to a massive pop) came out to declare the same and a brief scuffle ensued where Mundo ended up taking a shoulder block from Cage that nearly sent him flying out of the ring. Oh, and the Immortan watched all of this from his thrown with the same look I make whenever someone tries to convince me the next Roland Emmerich movie will be good! Great stuff overall, and set up some cool scenarios going forward. I don’t just mean Cage vs. Mundo either; isn’t it really interesting how these two, as well as Puma and Pentagon have specifically set their sights on the Lucha Underground Champion? I think it’s a clear sign that the locker-room knows a single person is unlikely to beat him, but a group of top guys gunning for him week after week after week may be enough to eventually dethrone the Temple’s redeemer. I’m interested to see if this trend continues next week.
Silence of the Moths
MARTY! HE’S BACK! And holy shit it looks like he’s stepped into a fusion of a Hannibal Lector flick or the Dollhouse episode “Belle Chose” (let’s just say it involves preppy clothes, a serial killer and people drugged into a near mannequin state). If nothing else, the upper class snob outfit combined with the Robert De Nero in Cape Fear look clearly showed that Marty is crazier than ever; you know, in case the fact that he's still holding Sexy Star hostage wasn’t enough evidence for you. Definitely seems like it’s been a rough offseason for Sexy and I’m interested to see what happens once she, Marty and the unseen sister of Marty eventually hit the Temple again (as of now, they appear to be stuck in a house my grandparents would’ve found tacky). Are we building a yearlong arc where Sexy eventually gets her revenge against both? Is this a Daniel Bryan/Wyatt Family situation where she’s going to be brainwashed into joining the Moth’s cause? Is it both? SO MANY QUESTIONS!!!
Beware the Darewolf
Dare I say this was the highlight of the night right here? I mean we had the Darewolf himself P.J. Black riding through a neon esq wasteland while being followed by lucha bikers, a fight scene where he dismantled the lucha bikers and him roaring like a Growlithe! All while he’s explaining that he’s a thrill seeker who only lives for the next rush. You simply couldn’t ask for a better introduction; Black could’ve Angelico’d himself off the roof of Catrina’s office and it wouldn’t have been that epic. Well, actually it might’ve been, but still!
The Mack defeated P.J. Black
Much like the first bout, this was a bout that could’ve used more time but was still solid none the less. There’s obviously more that both Big Willie and the Darewolf can do, but with it only being the second episode and all there’s plenty of time to get to it. Plus again, there wasn’t anything wrong with the action here. The two sequences where Mack and P.J. chopped the ever living hell out of each other were sweet and I liked the brief glimpses Black showed us with his wild sprints to the corners for big moves. And no, before anyone asks, I had no problem with the ending. I know they just set up the Darewolf quite nicely with that epic scene prior to the match, but a) Big Willie is an important member of the roster as well and deserved some momentum, b) Jack Evans also lost his debut match during season one and is even more beloved than he was coming in (and that’s without him having an intro like P.J. had) and c) the fact that P.J. lost because of that high risk move he attempted showcased that his daredevil mindset is both the best and worst things about him. Overall, a really good start for him.
Kobra Moon and the Greatest Name Ever
Seriously, how freakin epic is the name Kobra Moon?! It’s like Sailor Moon, only minus the soul crushing awfulness and the hundreds of weird dudes who are strangely turned on by the terrible cartoon. Anime tangent aside, this was right up there with Darewolf’s scene as a pretty boss introduction and I thought Kobra came across very well, sort of a darker, more sinister and (yes) venomous female than what we’ve seen in the Temple thus far. Could we actually be seeing the first actual ruda in Lucha Underground? And most importantly, can LU create a jobber based off Sailor Moon and have Kobra moon just wreck her? I’m talking a scorched earth level beat down here!
Prince Puma and Pentagon Jr. defeated The Disciples of Death
The best match of the night; I know, I can’t believe a match involving Puma and Pentagon reached those heights either! It didn’t quite have the drama as any of the matches last week, but it was still pretty cool, with Puma and Pentagon hitting some cool spots and the Skeletor Army doing some nice, classic rudo work (even if it was almost too good!). Obviously the talking point from this match will be the Puma-Pentagon confrontation at the end and rightfully so; as I said earlier, that is a big money match and the current slow build to it over the first two weeks has been exceptionally done. What really got me however were the holes shown in the game plan of Catrina, Mil and the Disciples. We saw hints of it last week when Catrina and Mil played around with Ivelisse a bit too much and it happened again this week with the Skeletor’s choosing to dish out violence instead of going for the victory. Are we entirely sure Catrina knows what to do with all the power she has? The fact is her insistence on Mil and the Disciples punishing their opponents led to a near defeat/broken arm and an actual defeat seems to suggest she’s not quite the leader El Jefe was. Again, something to keep an eye on in the weeks to come.
BAH GAWD, THAT’S REY MYSTERIO’S MUSIC!!!
Leave to LU to once again hold off the big gun for last. Yes, the most famous luchador in the world made his first appearance for Lucha Underground and for those who didn’t read the awesome LU/Mysterio origin comic released last week, his appearance confirmed that he is indeed in the corner of El Dragon Azteca II (aka the man in the white hoodie). Oh, it also showed that Rey is a swell dude for letting the new Azteca keep the mask even though Rey was apparently destined for it. This is why everyone loves Rey! My only question now is whether or not Rey and Azteca II are heading to the Temple or if they’re going to go after El Jefe, Lotus and Matanza. Considering the latter group killed their mentor and all, I’m pretty sure we’ll be seeing Rey and his apprentice tracking them first.
That’ll do it dudes and dudettes. I’ll be back later with…something. Who knows what?! Till next time, a picture of our leader and savior El Jefe, who was truly, truly missed this week.
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