Matches
Jake Strong beat Sammy Guevera (4:02, Strong Lock ankle lock, ok)
Matanza beat Vinnie Matanza (1:11, Wrath of the Gods, ok)
Dragon Azteca, Dezmond X, King Cuerno beat Ivellise, Son of Havoc, the Mack (6:14, Thrill of the Hunt on Havoc, ok)
Dragon Azteca beat Dezmond X and King Cuervo (11:29, casadora bomb, good)
Status Check
Champion: Pentagon Dark
Gift of the Gods: Dragon Azteca
Trios Champions: Killshot, the Mack, Son of Havoc
Died This Season (7): Jeremiah Crane (casket), Fenix (casket/lifeforce absorbed), Mr. Pec-tacular (sacrificed), Cortez Castro (sacrificed), Máscarita Sagrada (murdered by Rabbits), Vinnie Massaro (sacrificed), Pizza Guy (sacrificed)
for the purposes of this bit, Angelico will not counted until someone actually confirms he’s dead
Developments
In an otherwise terrible night for Lucha Underground underdogs, one of the biggest ones finally got a win on his own. Dragon Azteca has spent the last two seasons charging headfirst into unwinnable battles and being beaten up by people trying to get to Rey Mysterio, finally excelled in a situation where no personal beefs were on the line. Azteca simply was on the winning side of matches three times in a row and, for that, he’s Gift of the Gods champion.
It wasn’t a straightforward victory. The one thing we’re learning about Antonio Cueto is he doesn’t like to do anything exactly like it was done by Dario the last three seasons. That’s meant random twists thrown in for the sake of twists. This week’s twist was the six-way match Gift of the Gods would not be a six-way match. Instead, Dario ordered a trios match, with the winning team facing off for the title. He gave Ivelisse & Son of Havoc the option to pick a third partner, and they quickly agreed on the Mack. Maybe they didn’t pick well given they lost and all. Killshot watched the match from afar, seemingly proven right that The Mack should’ve pinned Son of Havoc in the Medallion match since Havoc was the one who cost them all the match here. Mil Muertes, still angry about being left out, attacked the losers after the match. Killshot got involved, though it seemed like he was more there to get a cheap shot on Havoc than to stop Mil. Mil stopped him too. Havoc, Mack, and Killshot appear to be trios champions at this point only because no other trio has gotten around to launching a challenge, and that’ll probably change soon enough.
Azteca, Cuerno, and Dezmond all advanced to the three-way final, which was one pin to a finish. This was the coming out party for Dezmond (wearing “Xavier” trunks), but he still took his first loss to Azteca’s casadora bomb. Azteca may sit on the title for a while; his history going up against Pentagon Dark hasn’t exactly been good.
Other underdogs did not fare well. Jake Strong completed running thru his one-time trios partners by beating Sammy Guevera. Strong took Guevera’s jacket post-match. Brenda was not with Sammy, so it’s unclear if he’s still part of Infamous Inc. The good news is Famous B won’t be losing his leg and maybe we’ll see him soon.
Antonio Cueto had Vinnie Massaro in the ring for a match. Antonio explained that his first instinct, upon taking over Lucha Underground and realizing Massaro was under contract, was to fire him. Instead, Antonio gave Vinnie a last meal – a pineapple topped pizza, not meeting Vinnie’s approval – and sacrificed both him and the pizza guy to the gods.
The episode ended with a check in on Marty the Moth, still with his arm taped up after being broken in the opening episode by Pentagon Dark. Marty’s been dreaming of making a necklace of Pentagon’s teeth, but a demanding Mariposa set him straight. She explained she betrayed Marty back at Ultima Lucha 3 because he lacked focus by going after Melissa Santos, and lacks focus now to be going after Pentagon’s teeth instead of his title. Mariposa is oddly convinced Marty is the one to lead their tribe to glory and tells Marty to focus on the title. Marty believes this is a good idea. I’m less sure.
thoughts
Dezmond X the character is symbolic of the issues of Season 4. He’s got a name that took seems like it took a half a second to come up with, his backstory is he has no backstory, and he was wrestling in gear with on there “Xavier” while Striker openly wondered what X stood for. Nothing about that presentation is Dezmond’s fault; it’s probably just another problem caused by the need to get this taping done quick, the inability to get Mexico work visas in general, and a likely desperate need to find some people right away to fill out spots. These are the same complaints since this season was announced, which feel repetitive to continue to bring up and also completely inescapable when watching the season.
Dezmond X the wrestler feels an immense void for Lucha Underground. One of the elements which made the last three seasons of Lucha Underground great is Prince Puma being an exciting wrestler capable of incredible things. Dezmond X is not Prince Puma, at least not yet, but his performance in the main even three-way match came the closest to recapturing the feeling of watching those Prince Puma matches. That match was definitely designed to get everyone involved over, but Dezmond’s big spots stole it. The balcony dive was a classic Lucha Underground moment in a season in search of them, and it was among quite a few highlights. Cuerno & Azteca were good too, only X really made you want to see more of him. It’s a shame there are the presentation issues now because he should’ve already been coming across as a big deal. Maybe they’ll fix it as they go along.
In contrast, it feels like LU is going way too, uh, strong with Jake Strong. It’s not even strictly the matches, though his match with Sammy felt like a squash plus a ladder dive. Striker is laying it on a little thick with his praise. The fans in the building going along with his chant quickly seem like it fooled LU into believing everyone was ready for him. Being in a self-contained pocket universe which hasn’t interacted with the larger narrative has made it feel even more artificial.
I’m not sure if Lucha Underground will have any enhancement level workers left by the end of the season. (It’s really good for the Rabbit Tribe to have a storyline now, it’s bad news for people without one. Joey Ryan should not show up to work.) I’m also not sure if these are all permanent. These deaths are being treated so casually that I can’t believe they’re forever deaths – and I also can’t believe LU would kill of Massaro without having something more planned. There was also a lot of comedy in a segment seemingly meant to be taken deadily seriously, so maybe that’s not the right way to take it.
