Lucha Underground Review: The Unofficial Part 4 of Ultima Lucha Dos!
It’s official folks; the regular season of Lucha Underground’s second campaign is over. Tonight was the final chapter before what looks to be an explosive Ultima Lucha Dos and, to be honest, I’m not entirely convinced that tonight wasn’t the fourth part of Ultima Lucha Dos and LU just failed to tell us. Indeed folks, this show was pretty damn good. We had some set up stuff for the big show as one would expect, but we also had two excellent matches, including one that I’d put at the top of LU’s best of season two matches list. Yes it was that good! Let’s talk about it in more detail now shall we? Moses, make like a tree and get the meme.
King Cuerno defeated Mil Muertes
First off, shout out to El Conjunto Nueva Ola, the band performing at tonight’s show. Check them out sometimes peeps. That’s not the only thing before the match begins though; Striker and Vampiro (looking like he just traveled back from Road Wild 1998) announce some Ultima Lucha Dos matches, beginning with officially making the Wyld Stallions (now being called The Worldwide Underground) against Fenix, Drago and Aerostar. Yes that means I was wrong about Ivelisse and Havoc being in this match and no, we’re not talking about it. Ever.
As expected, this match was short, to the point and used to set up a future confrontation between these two. What we got was solid though, even if this was a mostly Mil centered match with the former Immortan dishing out most of the punishment. I really liked the understated work of Cuerno here. He was rightfully scared shitless of Mil (the first few seconds of the match involved good ole Deer Antlers running like the wind) and his offense was limited, but he made the most of it and picked his spots the way you’d expect from a Cuerno match. And ultimately that (coupled with Justin Borden being knocked down by the Arrow of Death, leading to weapon use) allowed Cuerno to steal this match after Mil’s over aggressive nature got the better of him and he crashed into a chair, leading to a Cuerno roll up. Awesome moment for Cuerno (his biggest win in LU thus far), a great way to set up the next match between these two and a good look at what to expect next time. I’d expect the theme of Cuerno taking his time and picking his spots against an ultra aggressive Mil will be the story of their Ultima Lucha Dos match, especially since…well we’ll get to it in a minute. No seriously.
El Jefe Stirring That Pot With Ivelisse and Taya, A Wild Catrina Apppears
A scene with multiple layers this was. First we had Taya and Ivelisse, barely being able to sit next to each other, chatting with El Jefe as he officially made a match between the two for Ultima Lucha Dos. Not a whole lot to this, but it was effective in setting up a match most of us (myself not included) could see coming. But that wasn’t all; as Ivelisse left she came across Catrina, which not only teased those two eventually crossing paths yet again (hellz to the yeah!) but led to Catrina and El Jefe having a discussion. And from that we got Cuerno vs. Mil made for Ultima Lucha Dos in a DEATH MATCH. I thought for a second we may get another Grave Consequences match this season, but alas Mil and Catrina do have that Death Match card to play and they played it well here. A great call for that match, even if it was overshadowed by that quick Ivelisse-Catrina tease. The people want that match at Ultima Lucha Tres. THE PEOPLE NEED THAT MATCH AT ULTIMA LUCHA TRES!
Prince Puma defeated El Dragon Azteca Jr.
Let the record show that at the time this match started I couldn’t believe it wasn’t the main event. An hour later…hell I still can’t believe it wasn’t the main event. I’ve already gone through five buckets of ice water and I’m still not cooled down from this match. It was legit fire. Like Beavis levels of fire.
Much like I thought going in this saw both guys wrestle an appropriately aggressive style, giving this match a pace and sense of urgency that immediately made it jump off the screen. From there the match became about Azteca proving he could hang with a top dog like Puma, while Puma looked to be trying to prove himself to Rey Mysterio, who was at ringside in support for Azteca. Those things, as well as a shit ton of death defying flips (including a top rope victory roll slam by Azteca, something I’ve never seen before) helped make this one of the best matches of the season and a bout that nearly broke the Lucha Kliq on Twitter. I’m happy they ultimately played this straight too. Sure there was some tension between Rey and Puma after the match, but aside from that there was no interference (Black Lotus was mentioned, but never seen) and the action carried the way. This was especially great for Azteca; even in defeat (at the hands of another beautiful Puma 630), this was the standout singles performance he needed before going into what should be one of the biggest bouts of Ultima Lucha Dos.
A Unique Opportunity Tournament!
We came back from commercial and for a moment I thought we were getting a four way match between Big Willie Mack, Cage, Son of Havoc and Texano. NOT SO FAST MY FRIEND! What we got instead was El Jefe (really making the rounds tonight) officially announcing Ultima Lucha Dos as three parts and booking another match, called A Unique Opportunity Tournament featuring the four guys in the ring. The basic gist; these four guys go at it and the winner gets what Dario called the greatest unique opportunity in the history of the western hemisphere. What that is beats me; I could see it leading to a Lucha Underground Championship Match (either at Ultima Lucha or after the show), a slot in the Gift of the Gods match or something else entirely. Whatever it is it’s intriguing, and should be a whole lot of fun considering the four guys who will be in it. At least I hope it’s better than the brawl we got here, which wasn’t bad but was relatively unnecessary given the low amount of time it was given.
Johnny Mundo defeated Fenix
After one last run down of the UL2 card we got our main event, surprisingly Fenix vs. Mundo instead of Puma-Azteca. But while that match was just a tad bit better (and far crazier), this was more than worthy of closing the show. Much like Mil Muertes, Puma and Azteca earlier in the night Fenix came out with a ton of aggression, which was once again welcome as he pretty much went full throttle nonstop. I was also beyond thrilled to see Mundo break out the ground and pound style again for this; that was one of the best parts of rudo Mundo during season one and it was awesome to see it again here, as well as the usual mix of Mundo athleticism and even a few power moves (would you believe Mundo delivered a beautiful snap spinebuster in this match, because he totally did!). The clash of styles worked well here, and once again the match benefited from being played straight up till the end. That’s when we saw Taya interfere, distracting poor Marty Elias long enough following a beautiful top rope Spanish Fly by Fenix and preventing his victory. Mundo of course recovered, hit Fenix with his Trios title and managed to steal the win, leading to Matt Striker pretty much giving the commentary equivalent of Tommen’s last five minutes in Westeros. Shockingly Jack Evans and P.J. Black then came down to gloat and attack Fenix with Mundo and Taya, followed by Aerostar (!!!), Drago and Ivelisse all coming down to even the odds. One ring clearing later and we’d seen two big time Ultima Lucha Dos matches properly built up to close the show. Seriously, the only thing missing was Aerostar doing another death defying dive. And we can’t be having him doing that before the big show; that be like the Cubs sitting out Kris Bryant once they make the World Series. Dear Chicago Cubs; DON’T SIT OUT KRIS BRYANT IF YOU MAKE THE WORLD SERIES!
And so the story ends. We’re done for now guys; I’ll be back sometime soon, though sadly next week’s Ultima Lucha Dos Part 1 review may be delayed/canceled due to me being away for work next week in a place with little internet connection. I know I’m sad about it too. Till we meet again, a Theon Greyjoy meme and the complete card for Ultima Lucha Dos just in case you needed a reminder!
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