Lucha Underground – Season Two Episode 2 – 3rd February 2016
The Dark & The Mysterious
We are in the midst of Lucha Underground’s ‘Age Of Death’, but although Catrina maintains an icy stranglehold over events within The Temple (and now controls all of the Lucha Underground Championships) the conclusion to Season Two’s premiere would certainly suggest she won’t have it all her own way. Will there be consequences for both Prince Puma and Pentagon after their amazing shows of defiance last week? We’ll also see the debut of a prominent former WWE superstar as PJ Black makes his first appearance of the season. That shouldn’t be a spoiler, as he was featured prominently in the trailers and marketing for the season. Matt Striker and a maybe-medicated Vampiro are your hosts. The Temple in Boyle Heights, CA is your location.
Prince Puma works out, replaying the loss to Mil Muertes over and over in his mind. Pentagon interrupts and tells him they need to get on the same page so they can please his Master by beating the Disciples Of Death tonight. And, because Pentagon is awesome, he ends that plea for unity by informing Puma that once they’ve survived tonight he’s going to be the next Sacrifice too. Prince doesn’t take kindly do that and the partners in the main event tonight engage in a ridiculously well-shot brawl. Still Puma doesn’t speak…
Johnny Mundo vs Killshot
Mundo, the self-proclaimed ‘posterboy of Lucha Underground’ returns to The Temple for the first time since beating Alberto El Patron at Ultima Lucha. It should have been a glorious moment for him, but it took help from the returning Melina to get it done and ended with him being left a bloody mess after going through Cueto’s office window. He returns ready to stake his claim as the undisputed top gun in LU, now under the watchful gaze of champion Mil Muertes upon his throne of skulls. Killshot won’t be a pushover though, having impressed many with his performances towards the end of Season One; most notably pinning former AAA Mega Champion Texano during the Trios Tournament Final.
They start with some ambitious and admittedly cool-looking striking exchanges…which at the same time look so outrageously fake that it takes all manner of camera and editing wizardry to maintain a semblance of believability. Killshot explodes out of that with a MOONSAULT TO THE FLOOR inside the opening minute! SPEAR ON OUTSIDE by Johnny. Rolling Thunder Cutter from Kill as they return to the ring, only for him to be swept back to the mat again with the C-4. Killshot spots Johnny setting up Fin Del Mundo…so superkicks the knees and hits an EVENFLOW DDT OFF THE SECOND ROPE! 450 SPLASH gets 2! Lumbar Check blocked, causing referee Rick Knox to get knocked sideways in the melee. Mundo capitalises to kick Shot in the balls before finishing him off with Fin Del Mundo at 04:24
Rating - *** - I’m being extremely generous with this rating. I suspect the raw footage of this match may not have been quite as good, as the whole thing was heavily edited and chopped about in post-production. But, this is a TV show and what finally made broadcast was a lot of fun. Mundo as a villain is great to see whilst he still retains the high standards he set for himself inside the ring during the first half of last season. I’d like to learn more about Killshot at this stage. He’s been around for quite a while and we still know NOTHING about him other than he’s a masked guy who clearly isn’t Mexican and sort of knows The Mack.
Johnny Mundo grabs a microphone and has some strong words for Mil Muertes, adding to a congested title picture which already includes Pentagon and Prince Puma. It gets even more crowded as ‘The Machine’ Cage emerges on the balcony to trash Muertes as well. He gets in Johnny’s face too, only for the cowardly Mundo to flee when there’s a risk of The Machine kicking his ass.
Sexy Star is battered, bruised and still being held captive by Marty The Moth. He says they’ll be returning to The Temple soon – and his sister is coming too.
A vignette formally introduces us to ‘The Darewolf’, PJ Black (formerly Justin Gabriel in WWE). He’s ‘addicted to danger’ and is coming to The Temple to get his next thrill. Good stuff; simple, straightforward and tells us all we need to know about a new character in a very brief period of time.
The Mack vs PJ Black
Big Willie returns for Season Two on the back of his star-making performance in a Falls Count Anywhere match against Cage during Ultima Lucha. Although that encounter put him on the map as a player, he was the losing party on that occasion. Now he wants to prove he can win big matches, and getting the first opportunity to wrestle a debuting major star is a serious opportunity to do just that. Black comes in with a big reputation but, like Johnny Mundo, is probably best remembered for never having reached his true potential with his previous employers. Looking for thrills and fearing nobody, will the Darewolf experience the same kind of career renaissance we’ve seen with Johnny?
Vampiro is super-weird on commentary and sh*ts all over Black from the moment he steps into view. He’s too fast for Mack, landing shots at him from all angles, so it’s a credit to Willie that he hangs in there and eventually lays in a few heavy strikes. Samoan drop/standing moonsault combo scores a nearfall and proves that Mack is no slouch himself despite his size. PJ flips out of a suplex to roundhouse him in the head, then nails a Blue Thunder Bomb which he calls ‘Black To The Future’ for 2. SPRINGBOARD MOONSAULT nailed as well! He flies to the top rope…so Mack crawls away to escape the 450 Splash. Black flies anyway…MID-AIR CHOCOLATE STUNNER BY WILLIE! He gets the shock win at 04:43
Rating - ** - I didn’t enjoy this quite as much as Mundo/Killshot. They had some nice ideas here (Black’s speed versus Mack’s size) but didn’t really go anywhere with them, and instead just went through what looked like very staged-looking spots…and on that front I thought the in-ring theatrics and acrobatics were just better with Mundo/Killshot earlier. Black is an interesting character with all the tools to succeed in Lucha Underground – but he needs to find an identity. He has a very similar look to Mundo, a very similar moveset and a hugely similar backstory/career path…therefore his big problem to overcome is that he isn’t AS GOOD as Johnny Mundo. How does he differentiate himself? How does he define his character? What does he bring to The Temple that nobody else does? I look forward to finding out. He was fine here…although Mack going over him was the right call.
A new luchadora prepares to make her way to The Temple too. Her voiceover describes her as ‘sinful’, ‘sexy’, ‘snakelike’ and ‘deadly’ as footage shows her beating up a load of masked thugs in the street. She is Kobra Moon, debuting next week…
Disciples Of Death vs Prince Puma/Pentagon Jr.
With Catrina now running the place, the Disciples were instructed to build a throne of skulls for Champion Mil Muertes to preside over The Temple. But he stepped down and into the ring last week in an effort to eliminate threats to the Age Of Death (Havoc, Angelico and Ivelisse)…and paid a heavy price when both Prince Puma and Pentagon returned to face him. Puma, still smarting from the murder of Konnan and loss of the LU Championship last year, came to the rescue of Ivelisse as they tried to put her out of commission…before even more spectacularly Pentagon came out and delivered the biggest Sacrifice to his Master yet by breaking Mil’s arm. Muertes now has his arm in a sling as he sits on his throne, showing that even the most immortal of monsters is not completely indestructible. Catrina is looking to snuff out the danger they pose by putting them in a handicap match against the Trios Champions. Can Puma and Pentagon keep it together against a common enemy? Pentagon’s past history with tag team partners would suggest not…and they’ve already been fighting backstage!
The Disciples jump their opponents, throwing Pentagon to the floor so they can mug Puma 3-on-1. TOPE ATOMICO BY PENTAGON! ROPE ROP SPRINGBOARD SSP BY PUMA! The partners glare at each other seemingly trying steal thunder from their colleague. Barrio Negro goes after Prince’s mask…and El Siniestro is there to capitalise by jarring his neck across the bottom rope as he tries to escape. Trece and Siniestro hit a double hiptoss backbreaker which keeps Pentagon out of commission too. They try to target Puma’s neck, but he keeps them at bay with a neckbreaker/DDT combo on Trece and Negro. Pentagon rescues his partner with some thunderous overhand chops, only to be left frustrated again as Puma steals his limelight by springboarding OVER him into a missile dropkick on Barrio. Trece profits and hits an elevated double underhook DDT on Puma. Barrio takes flight with a somersault plancha to the floor, positioning Pentagon so Siniestro can give him a TOPE CON HILO THROUGH A CHAIR! VERTIGO ON TRECE! 630 SENTON NAILED! But Puma didn’t see Pentagon blind-tag…and is enraged with he slides in and casually steals the win at 07:32
Rating - *** - Nothing like the quality of Fenix/Cuerno or the drama of Muertes/Ivelisse last week, but I thought this was a deceptively enjoyable and underrated little main event. Puma and Pentagon are two of the biggest new stars produced by Lucha Underground. They had major roles last season and are poised for similarly central positions this time around. Their dynamic as uneasy partners, fighting a common enemy but never forgetting their own personal ambition and desire was brilliantly played out. Remember, one of these guys doesn’t speak English and the other hasn’t said a word in 40+ episodes. But you were still left in no doubt as to what they were doing or the story they were telling, such is the quality of the way they emote their work. As such this main event delivered what you needed it to. The Disciples looked decent, Puma and Pentagon looked like stars…and you are left feeling like there are just enough chinks in Catrina’s seemingly impenetrable armour to tune back in next week to watch this all unfold.
It doesn’t take long for Puma and Pentagon to come to blows. Penta gives the former champion a lungblower…but Prince fights free before he can give him The Sacrifice.
SIDENOTE – Vampiro’s conduct during the main event was interesting. He declined to comment on his relationship with Pentagon, only pointing out that he is under doctor’s orders not to get involved. He seemingly shunned Pentagon’s acknowledgement when trying to break Puma’s arm, yet spent all match verbally championing and putting Penta over at the expense of all the other competitors. There is obviously something still in the Vampiro/Pentagon relationship that we’ll watch play out.
At an undisclosed location, a familiar voice is meeting with the white hooded figure from the closing scenes of Ultima Lucha. The voice confesses that he too was a disciple of El Dragon Azteca, and was once promised his mask and heritage. But he forged his own legacy in the industry – and believes it was the destiny of the hooded figure to become ‘Dragon Azteca Jr.’. As for the familiar voice? Well it’s only Rey Mysterio!
Tape Rating - *** - Up until that closing segment I was a little undecided on this episode. The in-ring content was all decent, but was never particularly spectacular and was certainly a skippable episode on that front. There wasn’t a lot of hugely necessary cinematic or backstage content either. Pentagon and Puma pissing each other off was fun, but that was self-contained and use to add drama to the main event rather than progressing too much in the bigger picture. But I loved the final segment, and felt it was the perfect, unorthodox and completely ‘Lucha Underground’ way to introduce Rey Mysterio. Just as with El Patron last year, Rey was presented like a huge star. The dramatic music and tension built through the short scene and although it wasn’t a surprise (like PJ Black, Rey was a prominent part of the Season Two marketing campaign) it was a spine-tingling moment when he emerged from the shadows to reveal himself. He and his protégé, the newly-anointed Dragon Azteca Jr. add another interesting dynamic to a Temple now bursting with new talent (PJ, Kobra Moon, Marty The Moth’s unseen sister etc). Nowhere near the heights of the return episode last week – but ultimately still very enjoyable.