the matches
Johnny Mundo b Angelico (7:43, Fin de Mundo)
Drago [2] b Aerostar [2] (4:27, cradle)
Big Ryck, Killshot, the Mack b Pentagon Jr., Sexy Star, Super Fly in the Lucha Underground Trios Championship Tournament (10:57, Killshot top rope double stomp on Super Fly)
the developments
There’s a trios tournament. Dario announced it on Twitter earlier in the day. Striker said the tournament would go four weeks, and later said the winners of the main event would adavnce to a three week final in three weeks (04/22). So, six team tournament.
Teams we know:
1: Big Ryck, Killshot and the Mack – Ryck started the show by inviting himself into Dario’s office with his two new partners. The Mack is Ryck’s cousin, Killshot is Ryck’s friend. Ryck heard a (very correct) rumor that Dario ordered the Crew to take him out. Dario denied, then bought off Ryck by placing his trio in the tournament and (as strongly requested) paying off each member of the trio.
2: Dario wanted to reward Sexy Star for her recent performances by putting her in the trios tournament, but Mascarita and Pimpinela are still out hurt. Dario decided to pick new partners for her: Super Fly and a man who’s been destroying his competition, Pentagon. Sexy Star didn’t say anything (at least on the English version) but didn’t seem totally pleased.
3: Dario called in Son of Havoc, Ivelisse, and Angelico to express his disappointment with all of them: Angelico lost earlier in the show and last week, Son of Havoc won last week but lost prior, and Ivelisse got dumped. (Ivelisse argued she actually dumped first.) Dario decided to salvage the whole thing by throwing them together as a trios team. They all hated the idea. Dario warned them they’d face a strong team next week.
Early in the show, Angelico impressed the announcers by coming close to beating Johnny Mundo, but lost in the end. Alberto happened upon Mundo after his match, and they had a fake nice conversation back and forth, clearly eyeing each other as potential roadblocks down the line.
Black Lotus (writing in her diary), caught us up on her last month: she would’ve gotten killed by Matanza if not spirited away by the mystery man, the mystery man is Dragon Azteca, Dragon Azteca saw her family killed, and Dragon Azteca is now training her in the art of lucha libe so she can be ready for Matanza. Lucha libre training looked like martial arts training in a 70s film.
Drago fought more aggressive/desperately to stay alive in the best of five. Drago and Aerostar went head to head after the match, their friendship breaking down.
Pentagon addressed his maestro prior to the match, promising to win the trios titles despite his “weak” partners. He didn’t get along with Super Fly & Sexy Star at all, but they all wanted to win and worked together at the end. Still, newcomers The Mack & Killshot beat Super Fly in the end. Pentagon Jr., who had tried to break the Mack’s arm early in the match, tried the same with Super Fly. Sexy Star made the save in time, leaving Pentagon furious.
stray thoughts
A busy show, with a lot of stuff happening – a new title, a new tournament, two new people, and a few feuds teased.
This is the first of the shows I saw live. Angelico/Mundo was as good live (pretty good!) as it was on TV. Drago/Aerostar felt longer in person. The trios main event actually felt shorter live, stunned to see it went over 10 minutes. That was the match they retaped, and it was definitely the second one which ended up being used. The new guys looked good in their debuts, even their opponents kept up with them.
It was a really good night for Angelico. The Son of Havoc match last week was good, but this was even better. Striekr mentioned his Toryumon (Mexico) background early in the match, and this did feel like a Dragon Gate come to Lucha Underground with the speed and the sequences. The reception to putting Havoc, Ivelisse and Angelico back together is going to be interesting. It’d hard to say much when you know how it turns out already.
The Black Lotus thing was a lot of info dropped in a short time. She’s been so (purposefully) mysterious on this show so far that it’s tough to find a reason to get too invested in her plot, and it sticks out even more when she has a month’s worth of developments dropped into a 30 second vignette. The problem isn’t as much the story (though it’d be better if any of the events were happening on camera) but it’s disconnection from the rest of the plot.
Drago and Aerostar’s matches needed to evolve in some way, and having their friendship break down was the easiest way. This match seemed like a step back from the previous ones, but Lucha Underground like some it’s finales to be big…
The Mundo/Alberto bit didn’t mean a lot in the context of this show, but it was a great tense tease for an encounter down the road. There are still identifiable tecnicos and rudos on the show, but that doesn’t mean everyone’s going to get along when they all want the same thing.
