Pentagon Jr: Nothing Else Matters

I sat and waited for nearly an hour. Don’t get me wrong – it was great to have Lucha Underground back. In fact, it was the culmination of nearly six months of waiting, trudging through Authority angles, Roman Reigns as champion, Matt Hardy’s unending push, and losing televised Ring of Honor (though I do keep up with it online). Once Ultima Lucha ended, this wrestling fan came to grips with the reality that things weren’t going to be that great for a while.

Still, when I sat down Wednesday night to see the Season 2 premiere, there was only one guy I wanted some follow up on: Pentagon, Jr. For my money, he was the unsung hero of Season 1. He didn’t get a lot of high profile matches, and he didn’t really have any feuds. Still, he managed to stand out by simply being the most violent guy on the roster, and by a large margin.

Once he got his own storyline of breaking arms to appease his unseen maestro, I knew that things were only going to get better.

He would of course go on to destroy Vampiro in a violent classic Cero Miedo match at the aforementioned Ultima Lucha, and we’d find out that Vampiro was, in fact, the maestro that Pentagon was looking for all along. As Season 1 ended, the only question on my mind was “Just how much chaos is Pentagon going to bring for Season 2?”

So, when the season started off with Vampiro in some kind of psych ward, hoping to earn a release, I got really stoked. I figured Pentagon would help bust Vampiro out of the place, and they’d be able to start unleashing a wonderful reign of terror on everyone unfortunate enough to be in The Temple.

Instead, Vampiro would earn his freedom through a simple evaluation, and Matt Striker would be sitting in the wide open desert, alone, waiting for him in a covered car. Telling Vampiro that they’d received their invitations, they were off to The Temple. At this point, I was a little let down. Not even a mention of Pentagon? Just some clips of the Cero Miedo match, but no follow up to what’s been going on? It looked like, as the jerks like to say, I’d have to wait and see.

And so, Season 2 began. Fenix demanded a title shot, only to be told by Catrina that, instead, he’d be defending his Gift of the Gods belt against King Cuerno.

Fenix, perhaps looking too far ahead, would come up short to Cuerno, losing the match – and his guaranteed title shot. Afterwards, we would see that Catrina and Cuerno had reached some sort of agreement where Cuerno would not be going after Mil Muertes’ championship. It’s an intriguing development, as it’s the first time we’ve really seen Cuerno associate with anybody. Normally a loner, he finally made a business partner of some sort, and when it’s the person running The Temple, that’s certainly not a horrible idea.

With Fenix now firmly out of the picture, Mil Muertes needed someone to wrestle. To that end, we saw TEAM HAVOC~!!! with Catrina, looking for a chance to regain their trios titles. Instead, Catrina put them into a three way dance, with the winner earning an immediate title shot with the heavyweight champion.

The three underdogs of Season 1 went out there and had a fun little match, which would see Ivelisse come out the victor. From there, Muertes would hop off his throne, and head into battle. The result, of course, was never in doubt, and while she fought valiantly and almost stole the damn thing, Ivelisse would find herself on the wrong end of a Flatliner, sealing her fate.

This wasn’t enough, though. Catrina wanted Ivelisse – who had threatened her earlier – to pay for what she said, and to that end, instructed the champion to hit another Flatliner on his fallen foe. It looked like she was going to pay the ultimate price, until former champion Prince Puma appeared, rocking the champ with a superkick, before pulling Ivelisse to safety. At this point, it appeared we’d be heading off the air with the champ and former champion screaming at each other, a great continuation from where we last left them.

Instead, Lucha Underground was going to make the entire place MARK THE FUCK OUT.

With nearly no time left in the show, the one thing I had waited for, finally showed up. PENTAGON JR showed up and, as you saw, dropped Muertes with a backcracker, before taking another trophy in the form of his hammerlock armbreaker.

Holy crap. Just like that, everything we thought we knew about Season 2 was thrown out the window. Vampiro watched, but didn’t give any real hint as to whether he approved of Pentagon’s actions or not. Has he really been fixed? Or will Pentagon’s actions only help to bring Vampiro back to that dark place he found at Ultima Lucha?

On top of that, Lucha Underground firmly established Pentagon as a top player, and someone not to mess with. It’s now clear that absolutely no one is safe, even the biggest, baddest dude in The Temple, the World Champion, Mil Muertes.

Like I said earlier, the one thing that bothered me about Pentagon’s booking last season was how he was really kept out of anything major. Yes, that was because his story would culminate at the very end, but it was still a bit frustrating to see someone get such a great reaction from the crowd, only to be put in matches with Famous B, or Super Fly. While the focus was on guys like Drago, Aerostar, Fenix, and others, Pentagon simply went out there and got himself over.

This time, we’re not repeating that mistake. Pentagon drew first blood, and knowing what we know about Mil Muertes, there is no way this single act of aggression goes unnoticed, nor unpunished. The two absolute baddest guys on the roster going at it? Uh, yes, please.

Just like last year, Lucha Underground needed only one hour to set up its major stories, and to get the characters aligned properly. Fenix is going to want to earn a title shot, and will probably have to go through Cuerno to get it. Team Havoc clearly still wants revenge on the Disciples of Death, but will the events of Wednesday night lead to them going after Mil Muertes instead? Prince Puma clearly hasn’t given up on getting his belt back – will an alliance with Team Havoc come to fruition?

Most importantly, we know that Pentagon is not satisfied with the destruction he levied last season, and he has the biggest target now in his sights. Is Muertes injured? How long will he be out? Will Vampiro reawaken to the darkness?

And, of course, the final scene that saw Dario Cueto take $20 from three guys, only to feed them to Matanza. It’s only a matter of time before Cueto returns to try and re-stake his claim as the Boss of Lucha Underground. Catrina and Mil Muertes, if they want to keep the whole world in their hands, are going to have to prepare for the biggest series of battles yet.

All of that, in sixty minutes.

Damn, I love Lucha Underground.

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