Matches
Famous B [O] & Dr. Wagner Jr. beat Son of Havoc & Máscarita Sagrada [X] (6:23, Wagner Driver->Famous B stethoscope press, good)
Sexy Star defeats Jack Evans (9:13, swinging neckbreaker, good)
Pentagon Dark [O] beat Chavo Guerrero Jr. and Rey Mysterio Jr. [X] (8:37, good)
Developments
Remember early season 1, where it looked like Chavo Guerrero Jr. was going to be the main heel of Lucha Underground? That didn’t last all that long. If it had, I’d guess it would’ve looked something a lot like tonight’s episode, where Chavo was all over the place.
The scheduled main event was Dragon Azteca Jr. versus Pentagon Junior. It didn’t happen. Chavo could not defeat Azteca in the ring (thanks a bit to Rey), so he beat him up in the locker room with a chair. Rey was a little too late to help out this time and – after Azteca was sent to the hospital – stormed into Dario’s office to demand a match with Chavo. Chavo was already in there to demand the match with Pentagon himself. They fought in Dario’s office, which Dario enjoyed, and Dario decided they should fight in the ring too, in a three way match with Pentagon. There were no alliances in the match, but trip by Chavo left Rey hanging off the top rope, and Pentagon pulled Rey off into a package piledriver for the clean win. (Pentagon wasn’t distracted by Vampiro’s existence, a difference from episode 1.) Chavo lost his mind after the finish, destroying Rey’s knee with a chair and taking out referee Marty Elias when he tried to intervene.
Chavo Guerrero Sr. – or “Chavo Classic”, as they used his WWE name – was mentioned a lot during the show. Dragon Azteca Jr. had a poster of Dragon Azteca versus Chavo Guerrero, which Chavo Jr. claimed was a resounding win for his father. Striker & Vampiro brought up Chavo Classic a lot in commentary, with Vampiro talking about Chavo KO-ing (an unnamed) Rey Mysterio Sr. in a locker room fight years ago. It was too much to be incidental, and more like they were introducing the concept of Chavo Classic before we saw him.
The other two matches didn’t have any vignettes, but they did have some story. Máscarita Sagrada rode in a side car to Son of Havoc’s bike on the way to the ring, and Sagrada was more effective as a tag partner than he has been on his own. Still, he was cleanly beaten by a Wagner Driver. Wagner tagged in B to allow him to get the pin, which the announcers noted was B’s first in Lucha Underground. (Son of Havoc seems to be friends with Sagrada off of Famous B & Wagner costing him his title shot at the end of Season 2, but it wasn’t brought up in commentary.)
Sexy Star survived the challenge of Jack Evans – and some other people – to remain Gift of the Gods champion. PJ Black used a kendo stick to play air guitar/distract the referee late, allowing Johnny Mundo to spear Sexy Star on the outside and send her in for a near fall. Mundo seemed to have no issue with Jack winning the title he so desperately wants, despite Vampiro predicting the opposite. Aerostar & Drago ran off Black & Mundo, and Fenix distracted the referee from a pin when Jack tried using the ropes on his usual bridge. In the confusion, Sexy got the kendo stick, fouled Jack with it, and beat him with a swinging neckbreaker.
There was another vague Rabbit Tribe teaser. They’re coming, but they’re not here yet.
Maybe they’ll be here next week. Two matches were announced during the show definitely for next week: another Dial of Doom title match against Matanza, and Mil Muertes vs Prince Puma.
Thoughts
I liked all three matches, though all in very separate ways and with different expectations attached. They’re all rated the same up there, but the main event was the best for me – and still a little disappointing. It never found a great rhythm, with Chavo/Rey feeling a lot different than Pentagon/Rey (and Chavo/Pentagon not really feeling all that much.) It was great to see Pentagon pick up a win, and a pretty definite won, to come back after his early loss. It’s a little weird to realize this Dragon Azteca storyline was all a setup for a Chavo/Mysterio feud, but that seems where they’re at.
The opener was heavily comedy. I enjoyed it, not just because the comedy was good, but because Dr. Wagner had to sell for a mini and that made me happy. It doesn’t take much, sometimes. That seems to be building to a Famous B/Mascarita Sagrada match, and I think the fans are actually going to be into it.
In fact, if you hit pause right now and ran a Lucha Underground PPV this Sunday, you’d be able to put together a card without thinking too hard
- Matazna vs Dial of Doom winner
- Puma vs Mil
- Rey vs Chavo
- Mundo vs Sexy Star for the Gift of the Gods
- Texano vs Cage
- Famous B vs Máscarita Sagrada
- Ivelisse/Jeremiah vs Mariposa/Marty?
- Maybe a trios title match?
- some sort of payoff for the Cortez/Ryan & Killshot storylines
LU is definitely going places with these feuds, it’s just without the mile markers of a traditional PPV cycles. You’re kind of stuck waiting each week to see if this is the episode they’ll get there. Announcing Puma vs Mil for next week helps.
(And as seen tonight with Pentagon/Azteca, sometimes they don’t actually get there.)
Sometimes you just are required to have faith things will work out. I know I didn’t have any faith in Jack Evans versus Sexy Star at all, and I still wouldn’t regard it as a great match by any means. Jack’s offense had to be dumbed down or done away with – in some ways, he would’ve been able to do more than with the proverbial broomstick – but it was amazing he was able to get 9 minutes out of mostly selling for Sexy Star. She was not so great, but Jack went beyond the call of duty to make her look like an equal or better. The entire match wasn’t Jack bumping around, but it would’ve been nothing without him doing it. There’s not many people who could’ve done this as well as he did.
