Lucha Underground Review: The Hunt is On
GREAT SCOTT; DID YOU SEE TONIGHT’S LUCHA UNDERGROUND EPISODE?! Man, if last week’s episode was a little let downish, this week brought back the epicness in full force. There was high flying, there was dragon slaying, there was moves being made, there was a segment so beautiful I was nearly moved to tears and dammit I’m giving everything away before I finish the review! This is why I can’t have nice things. Alright, enough rambling; it’s Lucha time. ON WITH THE SHOW!
Kobra Moon defeats Bengala
Man, no time wasted getting to the Kobra Moon debut huh? This was actually the least special moment of the show, mainly because Bengala looked like he’d been hitting one too many buffet lines in the jungle (sorry Bengala, you know it’s true). I like what I saw from Kobra though; she’s got some hops, that kick she delivered to Bengala’s head was exquisite and I’ll mark out for anyone who delivers the epic Dragon Sleeper submission. Why do more people not use this?! Let’s hope she gets some more time soon with a better opponent.
A Fenix on the Hunt
Just you’re run of the mill Fenix-Catrina meeting where Fenix declares he’s coming after everyone Catrina is associated with and Catrina somehow manages to slightly hit on Fenix (that “tingle up my spine” line). I suppose we can add Fenix to the list of people who are all gunning for the Immortan and his gold. By the way, expect to hear Catrina’s name a lot more in this review. And let’s just say she’s getting closer to moving El Jefe out of the way in the LU Owner Power rankings. Masterful stuff tonight.
THE GREATEST SEGMENT TO EVER LIVE!
Ladies and gentlemen I have seen 2001: A Space Odyssey, I have ridden on Space Mountain (the Disney ride, not the Ric Flair one); I’ve even witnessed a grown man satisfy a camel (just kidding. Or am I?). But I have never, ever seen anything as great as what I saw with Aerostar tonight. It was so great, I need some memes to fully spell out how epic it was.
What a moment. As someone who loves Aerostar, loves alien stuff (I’m an X-Files fan after all) and loves Lucha Underground, this hit every single note just the right way. Basically, Aerostar is an ancient alien peacekeeper who has come from a Millennia ago to prevent chaos from the Temple and OH MY GOODNESS I CAN’T DESCRIBE ANYMORE BECAUSE IT’S JUST TOO AWESOME FOR ME TO HANDLE! Can you tell I loved this? Even more so than the awesome back story, I loved this because it’s proof that Aerostar will be doing something huge during this season and beyond. And as someone who has campaigned for him to be a major player, he deserves it tenfold.
Catrina Owns King Cuerno
Let’s be real; nothing was going to be able to successfully follow Aerostar as the alien guardian we deserve and need right now. But man, Catrina tried her damndest here as she manipulated Cuerno fighting Fenix in a Last Luchador Standing match. Like I said earlier, Catrina was on her game tonight; I’m pretty sure she could’ve talked Donald Trump into being a decent human being if she tried. Also, props to Cuerno; yes he was seduced too easily by the prospect of the hunt, but the man continued his distrust of Catrina overall AND had that awesome over the top sniff of Catrina. Was he trying to rattle her and on a scale from one to LUGER WON THE TITLE, how much would you say it worked?
Jack Evans defeats Drago
Not surprisingly, Jack Evans and Drago had an awesome match. Surprisingly, it was great despite there not being a lot of high flying. I really liked how Evans worked here; we know he can be a great rudo (especially on the microphone) and we know he’s got the hops, but he hasn’t shown people on a wide scale how good he is at the other aspects. He showed it here, working a more grounded style ala Johnny Mundo (which I’m sure Jack taught to Mundo of course) and taking Drago out of his element by working a slower pace. Overall, great work by him and great work by Drago, who more than kept up with Jack along the way. I’m glad this will be continuing, and I loved, LOVED, Jack declaring himself the “Dragon Slayer” after the match. All he needs to do now is tame the Darewolf and Bengala and we can officially declare him the Beastmaster of Lucha Underground.
Texano: Working Class Hero
One of the most underrated aspects about Lucha Underground’s first season was Texano’s turn from “just kind of there rudo” into “working class technico”. We got all of that and more here as Texano was shown to be a regular Joe rancher who rides a horse like a boss and beats up luchador thugs in bars. Thugs who strangely look a lot like the dudes P.J. Black beat up last week may I add. I’ll be happy to see him back next week, and I’ll be happier to see him and Chavo get a shot at a good match. The one thing Texano was missing last season was a breakthrough performance and trust me, it’ll be coming soon. I’m so sure of it I’ll bet my treasured Batman bobble head on it!
PUMA VS. PENTAGON IS NEXT WEEK!
Yes there was more to this segment than Catrina making Puma vs. Pentagon match next week; like Konnan being confirmed to be dead (RIP), Puma being intimidated by Catrina again and WHO CARES BECAUSE PENTAGON VS. PUMA IS NEXT WEEK AND MONEY, MONEY….MONEY!!!! Wow, totally lost control right there for a second.
Look, I don’t mean to look over the segment, especially since Catrina once again was awesome and it’s fascinating how Puma, as good as he is, is still semi lost without his former mentor to guide him. But let’s be real dudes; Puma vs. Pentagon is the biggest thing Lucha Underground could do right now. Like, Leonardo DiCaprio winning the Oscar doesn’t even compare. The fact that we know it’s happening and happening next week trumps all non Aerostar related things in the western hemisphere right now. Somewhere, Bart Scott is calling Sal Palantonio to set up a recreation of their famous moment together just because he’s that excited for Pentagon-Puma!
Last Luchador Standing
Fenix defeated King Cuero
Remember how the match these two had two weeks ago was the best match of 2016 (thus far)? They’ve topped themselves already. Mother of puss bucket these two brought the house down again. I was a little concerned at first that the stipulation would slow them down, but good old Deer Antlers (ever the brilliant son of a bitch that he is) started cranking up the intensity during Marty Elias’ counts and I was sucked in from that point on. Awesome stuff by these two; Cuerno played his role as brilliantly as ever and Fenix, once again, proved to be the high flyer that just will not go away unless you do something extraordinary to him. Ultimately, Cuerno’s attempt to do that cost him the match (with yet another epic spot no less) and gave Fenix yet another big game victory in the Temple. All I can say is thank goodness this was a non title match and not the end of this feud. The chemistry between these two is a treasure and shouldn’t be taken away from us anytime soon. Also, can we start making a case that Fenix might just be right up there with Pentagon and Puma as far as best overall LU performer? The man has yet to have a bad feud! I’m pretty sure he could make Braun Strowman look like a million bucks at this point.
Undercover Luchador (AND UNDERCOVER JOEY RYAN!)
This is why I love Lucha Underground; even after they’ve given us another Match of the Year candidate, two other solid matches, a host of great scenes and AEROSTAR AS AN ANCIENT ALIEN (sorry, I won’t ever stop marking out over that), they still have one more gem to give us. That gem was us finding out that Cortez Castro is in fact an undercover police officer (named Reyes, a name Cortez has absolutely never gone by previously) who has used The Crew, Chavo and Blue Demon Jr. to get close to Dario Cueto and that JOEY RYAN IS ALSO A COP WHO HAS BEEN ASSIGNED TO HELP OFFICER REYES TAKE HIM DOWN! Great bouncing icebergs, I loved that reveal so much I yelped for the first time since…probably ever. It’ll be very interesting to see how this scenario plays out; it was pretty clear that Ryan and Reyes won’t be aligning with each other inside the Temple (in fact, the disdain between them could lead to a betrayal of sorts later) and that their leader (a Captain Vasquez) is far less interested in what’s going on in the Temple now and more concerned with bringing down El Jefe. Yet another layer in the ultimate layer cake huh? Oh, and big shout out to Reyes for clearly showing remorse about Bael’s death. At least someone else feels sad!
And that’s a wrap! How do you say can’t wait for next week in Spanish? I’m now off to find out and catch some iZombie before sleep! Till next time, Free Titus. In fact, tell him to come to the Temple; he can be Aerostar’s intergalactic side kick or Big Ryck’s brother looking to get revenge on the Disciples of Death. Read the comic; you’ll get what I’m talking about.
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