Lucha Underground 4×12: Till Death Do Us Part

Matches

Jake Strong beat Drago
(4:55, ankle lock, ok)

XO Lishous beat Jack Evans in a no mas match
(11:25, cross armbreaker, good)

Johnny Mundo and Taya Valkerie’s wedding ended in a no-contest

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

No one died this episode, which is pretty big news the way this season has gone. It was not for lack of trying. Ricky Mundo, angry about being treated like trash by the rest of Worldwide Underground, was easy prey to his doll Rosa’s manipulations this week. Rosa convinced Ricky to release Matanza before the wedding. Ricky sat in the crowd and watched as Matanza interrupted just as the wedding was finishing. Matanza thrashed the wedding party – including surprise best man Joey (Mercury) Wrestling and unexplained bridesmaid Cheerleader Melissa. Taya bled after a headbutt. took the Wrath of the Gods and was chokeslammed thru her wedding cake. Everyone was pretty well destroyed, including Master of Ceremonies Famous B. It was unclear if Worldwide Underground figured out Ricky was responsible; they didn’t have much time to figure out much.

The one member of the group who escaped the beating was Jack Evans, only because he took his beating earlier. XO Lishous made Jack Evans say No Mas to win the match and the feud. Ivelisse & Joey Ryan got themselves involved, following up from the previous tag match in the feud. They stopped Jack from attempting to break XO’s neck, and XO won soon after. Ivelisse & XO weren’t totally convinced on trusting Joey. Jack’s injuries in that match led him to skip the wedding.

The only other match on the show was the teased Drago/Jake Strong match this week. Strong continued his undefeated streak. He also threatened to use Drago’s nunchucks to break his ankle, only for Aerostar to make the save. Drago & Aerostar together were able to just barely escape. The tease here seemed to be a tag match (or even just a 2 vs 1), though it’s seemed doubtful even that would be competitive.

(While not officially part of the show, an LU/El Rey commercial airing right after the episode concluded had a pretty big teaser for something happening at the start of the next episode. I don’t know if people watching this thru iTunes/Amazon/other means will see the same ad as well, and even talking about what they said will happen will give it away if you follow the show. It was a teaser but in practice less of a tease and more of a reveal. On the odd chance that someone’s avoiding all other LU news for the rest of the week, I’ll save talking about it until next week. )

Thoughts

Lucha Underground got as much out of the wedding as they could. They gave as much time as a showcase match (around 15 minutes including entrances), they did an early tease of an interruption so the crowd wouldn’t just be sitting waiting for it, and they finally did the attack in a way that made Matanza look impressive. This was still some comedy to this, same as the recent Matanza sacrifices, but he did also beat up seven people single handily. That’s pretty good. Famous B shined in his role and the Mundo & Taya vows were very well written. Ricky was treated so badly on this episode that Striker trying to ease Ricky into the face role in this feud was nearly credible, but Ricky did stab a man to death last week so it’s sure it’s totally believable. Still, it was a way for Ricky to get his revenge in a credible fashion since he’s not going to be beating up all these people. This was all alright for me, and I have no doubt a lot of people loved it a lot more than me.

Drago & Strong was better than the Aerostar version of this match, and close the Guevera version of this match. These are still competitive squash matches. Strong going half the season with little character and no standout match is a little bit of a problem for someone they’re focusing on so heavy.

Joey & Ivelisse interfering was a problem too. Mixed feelings coming out of one tag match really wasn’t enough to sell Joey caring to get involved, and Ivelisse deciding to be part of this was a stretch too. It was transparently a way to get to an ending while giving Jack an out for losing, which hasn’t been what Lucha Underground blowoff gimmick matches have been. The match itself was good, just lacking going anywhere new. XO repeating the same swearing spot as Sexy Star didn’t get over nearly as well this time.