Lucha Underground 4×11: Last Man Or Machine Standing

Matches

Mil Muertes beat The Mack in a haunted house match
(9:33, super flatliner, good)

Jake Strong beat Aerostar
(2:12, ankle lock submission, ok)

Pentagon Dark beat Cage in a last man standing to keep the Lucha Underground Championship
(14:20, 10 count following curb stomp thru concrete/block match, great)

Status Check

Champion: Pentagon Dark (4 defenses)
Gift of the Gods: Dragon Azteca (2 defenses)
Trios Champions: Reptile Tribe (Kobra Moon, Daga, Jeremiah Snake) (0 defenses)
Died This Season (12): 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), Vibora (beheaded), Mala Suerte (sacrificed) , Saltador (sacrificed), Benji the Agent (murdered by Ricky), Angelico (implied to have been murdered by Ricky)
Resurrected (1): Jeremiah Crane/Snake

Developments

This was a strong episode of Lucha Underground. In that, some people won very strong, and also there was a Jake Strong.

Pentagon Dark got a definitive win over Cage in the main event. Cage was slicing Penta with a beer bottle in the opening moments, and then weapon usage only continued thru them. Many tables paid the price to decide a champion. Unlike most last man standing matches, the action never seemed to slow for a count. If the other luchador could move, they were prepping for their next move should their opponent get up before 10. The ten counts seemed reasonable fast until the final one. Penta survived a Drill Claw, Cage survived a destroyer thru a table. Cage was not easy to finish: Penta had to snap to both arms, and then still curb stomped a concrete block on Cage’s head to keep him down for the count.

There won’t be much time to relax for the champ. Taya revealed to Johnny Mundo that she talked Dario Cueto into giving him a shot at the title. Taya & Johnny will get married next week, and Johnny will get his title shot the week after.

The other big winner on the show went to Mil Muertes, who won the first ever Haunted House match handily. He utterly trashed the Mack. It might not have been a total squash but it felt like Mack got his offense only long enough to get in position for another Muertes death spot.

Mil wasn’t the only member of the team getting a W this week. Catrina, angry Melissa had failed to announcer her name during their entrance. Melissa decided to get physical. This went very poorly for Melissa, eventually knocked out by a flower vase to the back of the head. Catrina still refused to do the post-match lick of death though, as she’s refused since regaining her life.

Famous B, back in a wheelchair, took over announcing for the rest of the show. Which meant he had the distinct displeasure of introducing the man who crippled him, Jake Strong. Strong got about nothing in against Aerostar for about two minutes. He then got the anklelock, and that was all that mattered. Drago, making his dramatic return after less than one episode of being gone, stopped Strong from breaking his friend’s ankle.

There was a lot going on this episode, which means I’m just getting around to the weekly murder. Taya revealed Mundo’s title shot at their wedding shower. Ricky Mundo appeared not to be invited to the shower. Benji, the Worldwide Underground agent who hasn’t been seen since late season 3 (and didn’t seem to get the usual “previously” reintroduction), was invited but arrived late and was stopped outside. Benji taunted Ricky about everything. That was not a good idea. Only Ricky seemed to hear Rosa’s command to murder Benji, but Ricky definitely heard it, and murdered Benji with a pen. Benji seemed to have some vague narrative purpose about splitting up the Worldwide Underground that went nowhere, and now we’ll never know why he existed at all.

The episode did give us one explanation for something that had not made any sense. A conversation between Dragon Azteca Jr & Melissa Santos revealed Melissa was really broken up by Fenix’s death but had been purposefully hiding it when she’s in front of the crowd. That segment did nothing more than mention that fact, remind us that Melissa had (and was wearing) the half of the amulet given to her by Catrina, and maybe hint at a Dragon Azteca/Melissa relationship.

Thoughts

I genuinely liked this episode of Lucha Underground. It was very Lucha Underground, and it also had some great wrestling. It was so over the top that it became more hilarious than serious, but at least it got a positive emotion out of me. It’s not a particularly positive sign that Lucha Underground has to lean so heavily into extreme and deathmatch tropes to have big matches, but that’s not something new.

Feuds ending was definite winners and losers helps a lot, in a wider wrestling world where that’s uncommon. Cage looked really good, pushed Penta far enough where this win felt like it definitely meant something (much more than the previous title match), but Penta was definitely the better man. The Mack was absolutely right to be scared of Mil Muertes, because Mil Muertes came off as a scary and dangerous guy in dominating him. Both guys come off as bigger deals going into the next one. Mil’s destruction (and some of the bumps Mack ended up taking) was impressive. The main event falls count anywhere match was as over the top as Benji’s murder, but it felt like something fully committed to and that would only happen on this show. I’d easily recommend it.

The Jake Strong/Aerostar match didn’t amount to much, but it was entertaining on a meta level. They were so aware of how it’d look on Lucha Underground to have the luchador be used as enhancement talent to the white ex-WWE that they gave Aerostar pretty much the entire match before the finish. It still didn’t work, Strong and Aerostar did not bring out the best in each other. I have no interest in seeing Strong/Drago either. Strong should be in competitive matches by now, and Aerostar and Drago shouldn’t be used easy stepping stones – but most the quick guys to beat have been eliminated now by their own making. Striker did hammer home that Strong is a supposed to be a rudo now, which hasn’t been clear before. Strong still doesn’t feel like he belongs on this show at all.