Lucha Underground 4×17: “The Moth and The Butterfly”

Matches

Paul London, el Bunny, the White Rabbit [O] b Joey Ryan [X], Ivelisse, Xo Lishus (6:21, Down The Rabbit Hole mandible claw, ok)

Son of Havoc beat Killshot (6:36, Havoc blocked casita, good)

Marty the Moth Martines beat Mariposa to keep the Lucha Underground Championship in a no DQ match (9:11, package piledriver, great)

Status Check

Champion: Marty the Moth (1 defense)
Gift of the Gods: Vacant.
Trios Champions: Reptile Tribe (Kobra Moon, Daga, Jeremiah Snake) (2 defenses)
Died This Season (15): 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), Catrina (fell off a roof), Joey Wrestling (sacrificed), Jack Evans (sacrificed)
Resurrected (2): Jeremiah Crane/Snake, Fenix

Developments

Last week was the first mention of Ultima Lucha 4. This was the week where it became center of the Lucha Underground universe. Marty the Moth won the Lucha Underground championship two weeks ago. This was the week where they made him into a threat.

New champion Marty has a new look. The Azteca Pride shirt is gone, with a moth cape replacing him. Reklusa – named as such here – seconded him during a promo and spent his match crawling along the apron. Marty, when he wasn’t drowned out by Cero Miedo chants, declared he was getting revenge on all who had wronged him. This included the first, and likely only, mention of Sexy Star this season: Marty claimed Reklusa had been stalking Sexy Star for a year (all those spiders) and beat Star up outside her house so bad that only Sexy Star’s mask remained. Marty said he was thankful for Mariposa strongly encouraging him to get back on his feet after getting his arm broken by Pentagon Dark and wanted to reward his “beautiful sister” by giving her a title shot. This actually seemed more like Marty getting revenge what Mariposa has done to him in the past, like helping get his hair cut last season. (Marty getting revenge on Melissa was teased but moved on from quickly.) It was the exact crazy & brutal match you’d expect from these characters. Mariposa made a chair assisted rally, but Reklusa broke up a Butterfly Effect attempt (match was made No DQ) and Marty made the 0M sign before winning with a package piledriver. As a further message to the next person he wanted revenge on, Pentagon Dark, Marty challenged him to a Cero Miedo match and broke his sister’s arm in Pentagon fashion. Pentagon ran Marty off and accepted the stipulation.

Of special note – enough that there was an obvious commentary redub here – Matt Striker brought up that Vampiro has not wrestled since the last Cero Miedo match and Vampiro implied he was still hurting from that match. That was a fairly obvious indicator Vamp’s going to be more than a guy sitting at a desk sometime soon.

It wasn’t the only one very obvious indicator of a reactivated character. The introductions to the Killshot versus Son of Havoc included the first mentions of Dante Fox since the opening episode. The context here was “maybe Dante Fox was right and Killshot was a non-team-player jerk all along” but the message seemed to be “expect to see Dante Fox again.” Havoc took a back and forth match by blocking a casita into a cradle of his own, though that in no way stopped Killshot from continuing to fight. Killshot used his own dog tags – the ones he cared so deeply about to fight Marty a season ago – as objects to load up his punches to Havoc after the match. Killshot unmasked Havoc, which gave Antonio Cueto an idea: a mask versus mask between the two at Ultima Lucha. The big concept is the masks represent who these men have become, but they also obscure who these men were – and so whoever’s exposed may have a lot of angry people from their past coming after them. (Then again, being masked sure didn’t stop Killshot from being tracked down by Dante. Guess not everyone is Dante Fox.)

The other two segments set up things for the future, though less clear endpoints. The Rabbit Tribe 2.0 debuted with a win over Joey Ryan and company. As set up last week, Ryan was the target of The White Rabbit. The White Rabbit did not even tag in until they were left one on one, brushed off Ryan’s superkicks, tossed him with a suplex, put on a white glove, and easily finished Ryan with a mandible claw (Down the Rabbit Hole.) The white glove was left bloody and Ryan convoluted on the mat.

Melissa caught up with Aerostar; Drago being the one with who’s ankle was broken last week has allowed Aerostar to be around to explain this plot. Aerostar believes Fenix’s life essence was mixed with Catrina’s dark aura, and Fenix still has that bit Catrina stuck in him. Melissa asked if there was a solution. Aerostar did not believe so, saying he’d been in the end and saw nothing. Melissa asked him which end and Aerostar clarified “the end of everything.” A character talking about the end of everything with this series always feels like it could have some extra meaning.

Ultima Lucha 4

(officially a two-week show, encompassing episodes 21 and 22)

• Mil Muertes vs the Mack in a Death Match
• Dragon Azteca Jr. vs Fenix, two out of three falls
• Pentagon Dark vs Marty the Moth Martinez (c) for the Lucha Underground Championship in a Cero Miedo match
• Killshot vs Son of Havoc, mask vs mask

Thoughts

This was a much-improved episode over recent weeks. Everything had a purpose and accomplished it well. If only it came about ten episodes sooner.

The opening trios was the best example of that. It was a strong introduction to the new Rabbit Tribe, with white-face-painted Paul London changing his style, El Bunny looking impressive and The White Tribe being treated like a monster on the finish. The match itself was more coherent than the last week’s one; there was a story they were trying to tell and they did well with it. The problem is, they did an introduction with six episodes left. Maybe we’ll get one or two more Rabbit Tribe matches – though it wasn’t even clear against who – and this feels like something that won’t have the space to go anywhere until next season. If/when there is a next season.

Killshot/Son Of Havoc was an improvement over Killshot/Big Bad Steve. Killshot’s new methodical targeted style plays better off a guy who speeds it up when he has the chance. It felt like the first match of a feud, where a fluke roll-up reversal finishes but doesn’t really end it. The mask match is coming at the right time from the storytelling aspect – they’ve been feuding from episode 1! – but it feels like they could do more in the ring if they had the time. Maybe we’ll also get one more match from them.

Mariposa/Marty was the right match at the right time. It didn’t seem like it’d be a great idea from the start, because Mariposa hasn’t been a sympathetic character and isn’t so much smaller than Marty that she automatically seems like one in this situation. Getting blood early helped a lot to give a rooting interest, and Marty looking so dominant in a brutal match worked well too. Mariposa burying Marty under an ending streaming of chairs was a great moment. They got the emotion along with the wrestling in this match and it made a big difference. Marty probably should be winning cleanly over someone who almost never wins on this show, but I guess they needed to establish a reason for Reklusa to exist. Marty using the package piledriver and breaking Mariposa’s arm put the attention back on him, and that helped in the end. Marty’s history of big Lucha Underground matches says Cero Miedo is probably going to a spectacle, and they’ve done the right thing to make people care about it by making Pentagon the challenger.