Kevin’s Lucha Underground Review 3.30.16

The opening video package first shows the arrival of Mariposa, Marty Martinez’s sister and their issues with the Mack and Sexy Star. Then we see Angelico, Ivelisse and Son of Havoc win back the Trios Titles. Lastly, they focus on Pentagon Jr.’s feud with Mil Muertes and the debut of Matanza Cueto. Dario returned with his brother, who went on win Aztec Warfare and the Lucha Underground Title.

“El Jefe” is in the ring to start the show, saying it’s great to be back in the Temple. Starting next week, he’ll be starting an all-new Trios Tournament. He also needs a new number one contender for Matanza. He is cut off by Pentagon Jr. to the crowd’s liking. Pentagon says Matanza is champion because he wasn’t in Aztec Warfare. Dario says he’s not championship material. Pentagon grabs Dario by the throat and wants Matanza tonight. Dario shouts no so Pentagon gets set to break his arm, but Dario agrees and gives him a title match. The crowd ate this up.

The Crew def. Johnny Mundo and Taya in 4:39
This was interesting since both teams are heels. Although the Crew did walk out on Chavo two weeks ago so I don’t know. Taya started to try and prove herself. She did alright and Mundo continued to play a total dick. He only wanted in after Taya had the upper hand and even tagged her hard in the back. They did build a mild tag for the Crew and in the middle of the match, we heard “I’M A MACHINE!” Cage came down the stairs, one week removed from having a cinder block broken over his head. Mundo backed away, leaving Taya alone. She ate the Crew’s finisher, which is the Revival’s Shatter Machine. This was a fine enough match that got a win for the Crew and also furthered the Mundo/Cage/Taya angle. **

We get an odd little video that sees Marty Martinez, seemingly at home, dressed like a bit of a snob. He tells a story about the “Moths” and their wealth or money and Aztec Gold. He said the the Moth tribe knew that the other tribes were jealous. Their secret weapon was Mariposa, who was the greatest warrior ever seen. This is intercut with Mariposa pretty much murdering some dudes in lucha masks and suits. The Mariposa mask was passed down over generations and the deadliest Mariposa of all now wears it, which is his sister. She’s played by Cheerleader Melissa, so I instantly love her.

Cut to Black Lotus, standing guard outside of Dario’s office, which seems to actually be backstage now. Catrina randomly appears. Dario thanks her for keeping the Temple going but he is the rightful owner. Catrina agrees that he might be the rightful owner, but Matanza isn’t the rightful owner of the title. Dario says that her brother doesn’t fear death. Dario says he has no beef with Catrina and that they have common enemies, so they should work together. Catrina says that when the time is right, Matazna will face death.

Trios Championship Elimination Match: Angelico, Ivelisse and Son of Havoc (c) def. The Disciples of Death w/ Catrina in 9:20
Similar to their match a few weeks ago, this saw the champion work very well together. Their evolution over the course of the history of Lucha Underground has been great. This time around, there were elimination style rules. Ivelisse was great while involved, but a distraction from Catrina saw her get eliminated at 2:30. That was fine since Ivelisse didn’t look bad and the faces are usually at their best in these kind of matches with a disadvantage. Trece went out at 4:47. Siniestro nearly killed Angelico with sloppy double knees to eliminate him at 6:39, leaving Son of Havoc alone. He did a great springboard move where he double stomped off one onto another and got rid of Negro at 7:50. Catrina got involved again so Ivelisse came back and kicked her in the head. Havoc followed with back to back suicide dives and a shooting star press allowed them to retian. A fun tag match but I’ll be glad to hopefully see the Disciples of Death gone. They aren’t very good and new challengers should be fun for the champions. ***

Back to Dario’s office. He sure has a lot of booze. He’s with Rey Mysterio and says that he’s starstruck. Rey says that he’s here because of Dragon Azteca. Rey knows that Dragon Azteca is dead and believes Matanza killed him. Dario denies this, which is right since it was Black Lotus that ended him. He wants Rey and Dragon Azteca Jr. to compete in the Temple as long as they leave the past in the past.

Mariposa w/ Marty Martinez def. Sexy Star w/ The Mack in 1:24
I love the Mariposa/Marty pairing. Sexy Star was pretty frightened from the start, though Mack tried to motivate her. Sexy did her best to evade Mariposa but bumped into Marty outside, who rolled her inside. From there, it was pretty much all Mariposa. She did miss a moonsault but got back in control quickly. Mariposa ended her with a damn vertebreaker! They called it the Butterfly Effect. It worked as a squash to establish Mariposa. I wouldn’t have used Sexy Star for the first time around though. Mariposa could have squashed Kobra Moon or something. NO RATING.

Post match, Marty and Mariposa also took out the Mack.

Lucha Underground Championship: Matanza (c) w/ Dario Cueto def. Pentagon Jr. in 3:57
It’s a little thing but I love that Melissa Santos still announces Pentagon without enthusiasm. I also love the camera angle for his entrance. They hyped this up like it was a massive deal. Hell, it felt like a bigger deal than most of the upcoming WrestleMania card. Pentagon hit Matanza with a lot but he no sold most of it for the most part. He even got right up from a lungblower. The right went outside where Matanza just threw Pentagon around. . Inside, he hit the reverse powerslam, known as Wrath of the Gods, and won rather easily. Great hype and while the match wasn’t very good, it sold Matazna so well. **1/2

Vampiro gets up from commentary for the first time this season, to check on Pentagon. He yells for someone to call for medics before Matanza kicks him in the face. He takes Pentagon outside and powerbombs him through the announce table. Pentagon is taken out on a stretcher while the fans chant “Cero Miedo”.

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 right here with Fubo.tv

7.0

The final score: review Good

The 411

I felt like tonight was a good episode that built off of last week's incredible one. They introduced Mariposa in fantastic fashion, produced a fun Trios Championship match and really hammered home the Matanza is an unstoppable beast angle. For the first time ever, Pentagon looked beaten and I assume he'll have a comeback story. As always, Lucha Underground just knows how to tell a good story.