Gecko Watched Lucha Underground (completed)

[Deleted]

May 28, 2022 15:33:13 GMT -5 Gecko said:

Wow, that Octagon stuff is wild. You always kind of know that wrestling is treated differently down there, but this reminds you just how seriously they take it. Combined with the violence that can occur as part of the culture in Mexico, it's a volatile situation all round.

Oh yea you hear things about Yakuza in Japan but none it even IMO atleast compares to Mexico...maybe Puerto Rico but it isn't a place nowadays where whatever happens there becomes talk amongst wrestling fans.

I mean when you get stories about guys getting on the buses down there and then left in the middle of nowhere and then suddenly the wrestler turns up but it is a different person under the mask really tells ya all you need to know about why alot of american side talent do not wanna wrestle in Mexico.

[Gecko]

A weather delay in Monaco means we're doing this now.

S02E26 –Ultima Lucha Dos! Part 3: Gold Edition

Last time (in case you have a really short memory)
• Sexy Star won the Gift of the Gods Championship
• Mil Muertes defeated King Cuerno in a Death Match
• Vampiro threw away his medication and went to prepare his student
• Dario caught Cisco wearing a wire and bludgeoned (what a great word) him with the bull.
• Dario made a phone call and declared that “it’s time.”

Recaps of:
• Starting off the last episode of the season the way we started the first episode, we revisit Vamp in the clinic before moving onto a complete season recap that covers the main stories and what’s been happening with the titles.
• 4.5 minutes later and you could watch this episode without having seen any of the rest of the season and have a fair idea of what’s going on.
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...I have no idea what’s going on.

Penta meeting with Vamp in some sort of wasteland. He is told that he’s won the right to face the Monster, Matanza Cueto, but Vamp questions if his student is really ready. He may claim that he has no fear, but that night, Vamp saw nothing but fear in his eyes.

Vamp tells Penta that he must destroy the man that he once was, the man that was destroyed by the monster. Penta is pointed towards a cave and when asked what is inside, Vamp replies, ‘fear’. Penta turns and walks into the darkness of the cave.

Inside the cave, Penta sees many versions of himself facing him.



Penta takes the advice about destroying his past self literally. He wins the Penta Battle Royal, then defeats one more who turns out to be Vampiro in disguise. Vamp tells him that now he’s ready.

The ceremony concludes with Vamp handing over a candle and telling Penta that Pentagon Jr burns bright like the candle, but it must be extinguished for Pentagon Dark to take his place. Penta blows out the candle to send us into the main show.

Fantastic opening, it was different from anything they’ve done before with these two, which was nice. It had kind of a reverse Luke going into the cave on Dagobah thing where Penta was going in to embrace the darkness inside him.

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Melissa welcomes us to Ultima Lucha Dos! one more time,  as the band abandon their stage and frolic around the Temple. Striker welcomes us to night three, along with a pumped up Vampiro before sending it up to the ring because, oh yeah, we’ve got some wrestling stuff to do as well.

Lucha Underground Trios Championship: Fenix, Aerostar, & Drago vs The Worldwide Underground (Johnny Mundo, PJ Black, & Jack Evans)(c)

I’m going with the champs retaining here, probably with low blows. Unless the spacefiredragons are expecting it and wearing protection.

The spaceman goes low-tech for his flamethrower.



No Taya with the champs as she’s got her own thing going on tonight.

This one has the potential to steal the whole show.
The first move of the match: an attempted low blow by Mundo. Fenix blocks it and gets a poke in the eye instead.

Wasting no time, we do a chain of people getting in the ring to show off their moves before the next person on the opposing team gets their turn against them.

Striker brings up that he’s heard some grumblings from the refs as they feel like they’ve been made to look like fools for being told to be lenient. Wonder if this leads to anything?

Not a kick up the arse, but still not comfortable:



As the Super Friends go for a triple dive, the ref has finally had enough and steps in front of them. He becomes the only person in the match that has been booed so far. WWU start obeying the ref and making super obvious tags after they isolate Fenix. They still manage to bend the rules by triple teaming Fenix when they get the chance.

It’s an ...interesting strategy they’ve got.



I can only ASSume that they’re softening things up for a devastating finisher.

Things break down again as everybody gets involved. Destroyer Off the turnbuckle by Aerostar on Mundo, which is followed up by something even more ridiculous.



With everybody else out of the way, Fenix goes to the opposite corner and hits a frog splash on Mundo, but only gets a two count.

At this point, I think the ref has just given up on trying to get the teams to tag in and out.

Mundo takes a bunch more punishment, ending with a springboard 450 by Fenix. He and Aerostar pile on top for the pin and it was almost a guaranteed win until Evans pulled the ref out. The ref’s out of it for now, time for some cheating?

Yup. Fenix and Aero are working over Mundo, they whip him into the ropes and Fenix goes for a leap frog, but comes down on the extended leg of Mundo. Evans meanwhile, pulls Aero out the ring and smashes him in the face with a title belt. Drago gets caught on the top rope and also receives a title shot… to the face.

The champs are in the ring and take the time to play their guitar belts before a triple headshot from the belts to Fenix. It takes them a little bit to get the ref back in the ring and in position to count, which is probably the only reason Fenix kicks out.

The ref not counting three = a kick in the head.

The champs are concentrating on Fenix perhaps a bit too much as Drago and Aerostar have made it back to the apron. Oh, here’s a development:



Why do I sense a swerve with the WWU gaining a member?

No, my swerves senses are having an off day as Angelico smacks Mundo with his crutch. Time for Aerostar and Drago to use Angelico’s distraction to make their move. They take out Black and Jack as Angelico continues wailing on Mundo with a crutch.



Pfft, physics don’t exist as far as Aerostar’s concerned.

Fenix somehow jumps and knees Mundo in the back of the head while he’s sitting on the top turnbuckle. Fenix driver to Mundo, here’s the ref, 1…. 2…. 3! New Champs!

That was just as fun as expected. Maybe not the all-out, over-the-top show stealer it could have been, but very well put together with everybody getting to show their stuff.

I wasn’t expecting new champs, but I’m pleased for them. It did seem like they played up the ref abuse angle for this match.
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El Dragon Azteca Jr vs Black Lotus

So, A relative new-comer going against a debuting one.

This match is all centred around the identity of the killer of Lotus’ parents. Lotus believes it was the previous Dragon Azteca, whom she killed, whereas Dragon thinks it was Matanza who killed her parents but also knows that Lotus did kill the previous Dragon.

No idea what to expect from this one.

The bell rings, Dragon sprints across the ring, launches himself in a dropkick, but Lotus dodges and he crashes into the corner.

Lotus is showing in the first minutes that she can more than hold up her side of things, although I think she’s only taken about one kick so far. Nevermind, she just got launched full speed into the wall, she’s not afraid to take a bump.

Dragon takes control and goes up top to finish it. He’s stopped by a surprise Pentagon appearance, much to the enjoyment of Vamp. I have to guess that he’s after Lotus here due to the Cueto Connection.

As Vamp looks on approvingly, he snaps the arm of Lotus. Well, that’s her out of the way. Then he hits Dragon with a package piledriver because, you know, he’s evil so why not? But that’s not evil enough, so he breaks Dragon’s arm too.

The winner of this match: Pentagon Dark ♫ I am evil Penta! I am evil Penta! ♫
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We come back and Penta is still in the ring with something to say.

Last year, at UL, Pentagon Jr beat his teacher. He said he was ready, but no. The reality is that he was not ready because the Monster Matanza Cueto humiliated him, destroyed him, broke him.
Then Pentagon Jr could not walk, and all he felt was the pain and frustration with himself. But his teacher and he went to the darkest places of the universe, and together they faced and defeated their fears.
Today, he is here, in the center of The Temple, stronger and more powerful than ever!

Ian Hodgkinson is dead. Destroyed by his master, Vampiro.
Pentagon Jr is dead. Pentagon Jr has been shattered and torn apart by someone stronger, someone more powerful. That person is: Pentagon DARK.

He then says that he’ll destroy Matanza because… you know the rest.

That is our official introduction to the upgraded Penta. We’ll have to wait and see if it translates to any difference in ring. But we won’t have to wait too long as the match is happening now!

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Melissa does the intros from the floor because a) she got caught off guard by the change of plan and b) like she’s going anywhere near Penta by choice.

Lucha Underground Championship: Pentagon Dark vs “The Monster” Matanza Cueto (c) w/Dario Cueto

This is very early to be having your main title match, which suggests it won’t be as straightforward as ‘they have a match and nothing else happens’.

The bell rings before Matanza gets in the ring and we see just how Penta will be tackling the challenge as he starts his attempt to dethrone the monster with a dive, then gives him a couple of shots with his own title belt for good measure.

Matanza is probably in the most trouble that we’ve seen so far for him. Penta is relentless in his attack. They’ve not even made it into the ring yet.

Dario is pleading with his brother, but it isn’t working. Matanza has had no offence at all in this match and Penta continues the beating with a hard AA style DVD on the floor.

Vampiro casually catches the tossed glove of his protege. The chop wakes Matanza up, but he still has nothing; the choke is countered and trying to hit Penta results in him smacking the ring post. Pentagon appears to have his number.

Bit of a La Parka tribute?



Do the dance!

Dario is telling his bro to do it for the family. Solid chair shot to the head! Penta whips Matanza towards the chairs, the champ reverses, only to have the challenger reverse it again! This is the most one sided thing I’ve seen for a long time.

The Monster finally puts in some hits on this opponent, but there’s not much power behind them and don’t build to anything. They make it into the ring for the first time at around the ten minute mark. This beating seems like it’s been going on for a lot longer than that.

Dario implores Matanza to remember their mother.

Penta sets up for what looks like Shattered Dreams, but Matanza gets his legs unhooked so Penta turns it into a codebreaker. He goes for the first cover of the match and gets a two despite being so confident that he puts no effort into the pin.

OH, “A much Darker place”. You clever, clever bastards.

Dario dangles the key in front of Matanza as he begs him to wake up. This isn’t the first time that he’s told him to “wake up” tonight…. I’m suddenly hit with the realisation that he may not be talking to Matanza, but to the god that is rumoured to be possessing him (S02E04 for the story).

Matanza at long, long last gets some proper offence in as he manages to shove Penta head-first into a chair that had been wedged between the turnbuckles.

It’s very impressive that he can do a standing moonsault and SSP, but Matanza has the weirdest form when doing them. He keeps his arms at his side almost throughout the whole manoeuvre and it just looks odd.

Good call from the ref on the pin from the German suplex, Penta’s shoulder was clearly up, and he didn’t start his count despite Dario shouting Uno at him.

A face off at this point makes it feel like we’re heading towards the end



They trade blows before Matanza’s strength comes into play



A modified Irish car bomb (really?) according to Striker. Still only gets a two despite Dario making it to Tres on his count.

Penta rolls out the ring and, since Matanza isn't paying too much attention, grabs a chair which then meets Matanza’s face when he tries to dive between the ropes. Panama sunrise, not the cleanest but it worked. I paused to type this and looked back to the video to see this:



At least nothing’s on fire… yet.

Dario runs in to prevent Penta using his new toy, which he immediately regrets. Penta sets El Jefe up for an arm break as Matanza goes for the bat in the background. A shot to the back followed up with Wrath of the Gods is enough to keep Pentagon Dark down for three!

I don’t know what I was expecting from that match, but it wasn’t Penta completely dominating and only losing due to outside influences. Be interesting to see if Penta blames Vamp at all since he had that won until Vamp introduced the bat.

The simple solution to the problem of how to keep the title off of Penta if he’s so dominant is for whatever it is that makes him so successful against Matanza, only works against Matanza and nobody else and also have Dario just refusing to ever give him another title match.

Vamp makes his way into the ring and helps Penta to his feet, but Penta shoves him away! Didn’t catch what Penta said to Vamp before he walked away, probably something to do with me not speaking Spanish, but it got an ‘ooh’ from the crowd.

That’s us at about the halfway point, so…


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[Gecko]

Episode 26, Part 3: Part 2 - The DLC

And we’re back.

We join commentary as Striker says that they want to thank all the fans while a dejected Vampiro is back to taking his medication.

Taya vs Ivelisse

The Perfect Woman vs The Baddest bitch. A unification match to decide who gets to be known as the The Perfect Bitch?
Ivelisse is eager to get things going, while Taya is happy to continue to mock… everything.

The positioning on the card makes this seem like a cool-down match, but it’s not getting treated that way by anybody.

DDT into the empty front row by Taya. Noice.

This one has spent more time outside the ring than inside.

Ow! They throw each other off the stairs to the floor head first from about 6 steps up. It was probably relatively safe, but it had a great effect.



German suplex and Taya lands high on her shoulders. Sunset powerbomb to follow up from Ivelisse.

One, Two, Lights out!



Oh, hello there, lovely looking Catrina. She takes out Ivelisse before the lights go out again.

The lights come up and we see that, disappointingly, the ref has replaced Catrina who is now atop the office.

Northern Lights into the double stomp is enough for Taya to pick up the win.

Lights off, lights on, Catrina’s back in the ring with a mic and a helpless Ivelisse. “Death comes to everyone. Even you, bitch!”

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We get what starts as basically a hype video for Prince Puma (with Konnan appearance) as we go over how this match came about.

Prince Puma vs Rey Mysterio Jr

The main event? Already? Yeah, I guess, with just under a half hour to go. This thing’s just flown by.

Vamp points out that Puma’s outfit is a bit darker than normal.



Rey offers his hand, Puma shakes it after a very short delay.

Striker brings up Rey discovering Puma and getting Konnan to train him. Vamp is still not a fan of Konnan.

This is the kind of Rey that didn’t get to be shown for far too long. This is the right opponent in the right environment.

323 vs 619 chants.



The first part of that would make a new and fun Rumble save spot.

Rey follows up with his slide under the bottom rope splash.

Dominik mention by Striker.

Puma shows off some impressive strength by catching Rey and throwing him about, ending with a brainbuster. He pulls Rey to the corner, but takes too long climbing up.

Top rope poisonrana by Rey! Puma actually rotates so much that he lands on his feet and does another back roll for fun.

Trading punches now. This one is getting serious.

323 (aka a 619) by Puma to Rey! Springboard 450 all the way to the middle of the ring! Pin and… kickout! I could have seen it ending right there. Puma is having trouble putting Rey away. He tries a corner dropkick with 630 but misses due to taking the time to do the “I’m sorry, I love you.” thing.
Hurricanrana by Rey only gets a two! I don’t want to look to see how much time is left on the video, but it can’t be too long.

Puma catches the 619! Alabama slam? No, another tombstone?! NO! A freakin’ Canadian Destroyer Tombstone thing.



Shhhh! Don’t tell anybody that I’m sneaking a third gif in here.

The 619 hits! Followed by the top rope seated sento… make that a diving hurricanrana. One, two, three!

That… was a very worthy main event. A deserved “That was awesome chant” as the Temple stands and applauds the competitors… apart from one guy who gives the thumbs down.

Now onto the post match… congratulations? Celebrations? Betrayal?
It starts with a hug from Puma to Rey. He then raises his hero’s hand and encourages the crowd to give him his due. Puma tries to leave, but Rey stops him and brings him back into the ring. He says that these are his (Puma’s) people and leaves the ring to allow Puma to take in the adulation.



He’s disappointed, but I’m sure he’ll bounce back.

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Five minutes left as Striker signs off on a high note, lots of positive energy about. Ha, Vamp fell over. Oh, no, he didn’t! Pentagon hit him with the barbed wire bat! Superkick to Striker! I bet Vamp is really regretting bringing the bat along tonight.

Vamp gets his head bounced of the announce desk a few times, before disappearing beneath it to presumably return covered in blood.

All out assault on Vamp. The barbed wire gets scraped across his forehead, he gets hit with the side of the commentary desk which came loose, and there’s multiple solid shots with the bat to his ribs.



Penta appears to have developed a taste for blood.

Penta grabs a mic and declares that things have changed and Vamp is no longer his master. HE is the new master. He wants everybody to see Vamp like this, humiliated by him.

We leave the Temple for this season with Vampiro covered in his own blood, lying in the middle of the ring as Pentagon Dark stands above.

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Still a little more for this season. There's a big police operation going on.



Oh. Well he did issue a challenge to them, what does he expect to happen? Also, he made it pretty easy when he murdered a guy who was working with the police to investigate him.

We finish the season in a similar way to last time, with Dario being forced to leave The Temple. This time he doesn’t seem too bothered, though. In fact, he seems pretty pleased with it.



That can’t be a good sign. Is this related to the phone call? And who’s gonna feed Matanza while he’s away? Lotus? Not with one arm, she’s not.


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Great show to end a great season. Shorter than the first season, but it packed so much more into it. Think back to where we were at the start; Catrina was running things and had full control, Dario was off at his Temp Temple.
From there, we had:
all the police stuff and Cortez being revealed as undercover, The Disciples of Death being smushed into a single being, the Trios tourney and Mundo’s quest for a title, Famous B’s emergence, Cage doing Cage things, the development of Killshot, The ups and downs of Mil Muertes, Matanza being unleashed, Taya’s arrival to become an integral part of Mundo’s character, Penta’s entire season; it starts with him breaking Mil’s arm, he gets broken by Matanza, Vamp puts him back together, Pentagon Dark is born and turns on his master, plus a whole bunch more and some great wrestling to top it off.

Next time: Season 3

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That's it for this season. Once again, thanks to anybody who read and/or contributed to this thing.

Like last season, I'll take a few weeks break before we jump into season 4... Fine, I guess we'll do season 3 . I am curious about where things go and what it does to top what we've already seen.

[Deleted]

Gecko is in Monaco?

Other self: Theee Monaco? the giant where all the f*** off rich people go on their billion dollar yachts? and buy superfulous super expensive things they will never wear or wear just once in their life and never give it to me?

Other other self: Quick be suuuupppperrr nice to him we might be able to get in on the will....hope he doesn't know how to read minds.

You are going to hear it alot if you have not already that only LU seasons 1 and 2 are worth watching which is very much a lie but my arguement that is this event...yes me the LU fanatic is going to be critical about something LU related...I know f***ing shocker (not the Kamen Rider villans although damn I have said too much).

This is suppose to be the follow up to highly celebrated Ultima Lucha aaaaand it ends up being the weakest Ultima Lucha of them all (spoilers the rest to come are f***ing awesome).

This season untill Ultima Lucha is awesome but they faulter hugely here for a few reasons and when I first watched this show I was initially left with a WTF....that's it? because something did not seem right and loe and behold get to an interview and you learn two very integral things.

1. Ultima Lucha 2 was heavly hampered by time restraint and this is largely why we did not get an ending montage similar to season 1's ending.

2. The biggest problem alot of people had was...WHY THE f*** DID PENTAGON LOSE? this not so lightly pissed pretty much everyone off but here is the explanation for it from the creative the reason for this was because they felt they would be doing a diservice to Pentagon with what they viewed as a lackluster build as he was gone for a pretty large portion of the season 2 especially in the middle and only coming back in time for Ultima Lucha...now whether that is a good enough reason for anyone is up to them but that is the context for why Pentagon gets his evolution into the best incarnation of the character amongst any company but ends up losing.

So what we get with Ultima Lucha 2 is the detriment of a shorter season things are more condenced and things have to be more rushed or just all together left on the cutting room floor....I mean just look at Marty and Killshot they were just gonna end their feud here but they fought to give it a proper conclusion instead of being shoe horned into a rushed ending to fill out the end of the season.

So yea for a season many will celebrate as 1 of only 2 seasons worth watching it ends with the weakest Ultima Lucha.

Thankfully we do not have this issue in season 3 and also we get a big budget kick up in season 3 aka the most expensive season at 18mil.

So now while I have lobbied criticizim at the show the matches are still fun and Rey Vs Puma is absoloutley worth the watch just an amazing match.

Oh and Hi Erik Wagenen with his one and only cameo on the show as the cop in the police van.

But I will say that what Ultima Lucha 2 does is lay the ground work for a whole bunch of HOLY SHIT! moments in season 3 because this is where IMO everything and everyone is on their absoloute A game and I cannot wait for you to get to it.

Again through all my criticizim of this let me lob some positives here though.

Pentagon Darks entire transformation was perfection from the cinematic which was filmed beautifully the lighting , the camera work absoloutley stellar THIS is how you do someone fighting a struggle against themselves and make it mean something and not just some...ohhh kooky split personality without actually doing anything to SHOW the struggle , I love that all the masks were ones he had already worn up to this point and the one Vamp was wearing was pretty identical to the one Pentagon wore in the Cero Miedo match so alot of amazing call backs here and attention to detail.

And then the match itself (barring the end result) was masterful in showing power scaling it showed that this transformation meant something because Matanza was dead to rights from beginning to end but also they made sure to keep Matanza protected just enough by showing that his finisher is an absoloute one and done if he gets you with it so it was a uniquely interesting balance that I thought they pulled off well.

The trios match was just alot of insane fun....Jack Evans being the creature we must most protect because how much wrestling offence do you see where they attempt to dive into someones asshole lol Jack Evans is a deeply disturbed but stragely cultured individual lol.

El Dragon Azteca Vs Black Lotus was surprising because alot of people before hand did not expect anything out of her but she showed here she has talent and can hold her own atleast in a short burst..oh and one more thing about this match.


Those of you that know know exactly what this is about so shut your mouths lol.

Taya and Ive was a solid match and then we immediately get to the set up that comes in from a set up that was set up since the end of last season when Catrina cost the unlikely trio the trios tag titles.

All in all season 2 before Ultima Lucha hugely improves from where season 1 left off especially on the production side of things and we only kick it up ever further next season.

But with all that said if you thought it was nuts so far...you aint seen nothing yet.



Welcome to season 3

[Deleted]

And as always a massive thank to the Gecko one for doing this and just allowing us to be in this ride through the eyes of someone taking this journey for the first time , like I said this is my favourite wrestling related thing I look forward to the most all week.

[Deleted]

So something I forgot to touch on here because I am trying to get my timeline right here on this but follow me here.

Now you already know now why and how the Pentagon Dark character came to be on air but there is a bit more to this as it was not the only reason for the change.

Because you see remember that shit head I brought up earlier Dorian shitface Roldan? well again forgive me if my timeline is a little off here as I have not gone back to listen to the interview where this is derivred from.

Now that Penta and Fenix were basically made talents now just getting bookings everywhere in every indy that could bring them in and doing things like PWG so of course Dorian wanted his piece of this pie and so we get to a situation where he tries to copyright their names/trademark them so he could controll their booking and thus get a bigger cut of the money they were now making statesid by being in such demand.

Needless to say this caused a whole f***ing kerfluffle about whether Penta and Fenix would even come back because when this was all going on Penta and Fenix left AAA over this and they debuted in The Crash and with LU and AAA tied so closely the question was someright right to be anwsered.

But LU clever as created a whole new Pentagon aka Pentagon Dark that is their specific version so Dorians shithead tactics got quelled and incase you wonder about Fenix this is where he came up with the Rey Fenix name through all of this and in the midst he left Mexico and moved stateside and then immediately smartley trademarked it.

Dorian got bitched pretty hard on this scheme of his and eventually he backed down because he had no other choice and is why Fenix remained Fenix and it did not change to Rey Fenix for the remainder of his time in LU.

Again my timeline on when things happened are very likely off BUT that is the gist in part why Pentagon became Pentagon Dark so they did not have deal with Dorian pullin that shit.

Hopefully that was not too confusing to understand and I explained it in atleast a little clarity lol.

[Gecko]

Figured it's about time I gave an update before people think I've abandoned things.

Quick version: I've got season 3 (and 4) downloaded and the plan is to start again next weekend.

I originally was looking at starting this weekend but decided to put it back a week as not only have MITB and the British GP booked their spots for the weekend already, my mental health has taken a decent sized hit the past few weeks as well. I'm over the worst and near enough back to the right sort of place mentally, but an extra week will make a huge difference.

Let the pre-season build up begin!

[Deleted]

Glad to see the Gecko is alive and well and WE COMIN BACK BOYS!



On a serious note though glad you are taking your time to be in the right place mentally to want to continue this and as much as I am enjoying it ones health should always come first because otherwise you would not be in a place to enjoy this and then it would just become a chore and no longer fun.

So do not feel you need to do this untill you want to do it.

But as for teases.

2 of the top 5 best matches in the whole show happen here.
The insanity of season 3 makes the first 2 season shenanigans look humble by comparison.

Oh and.

[Gecko]

And we're back for season 3. We've got a whopping 40 episodes this time round, so combined with Season 4 we'll be doing this for another year+ if I stick to the usual schedule.

There'll be the usual planned mid-season break (or possibly two depending on how I feel as we go along), and I sure some unplanned ones and mid-week bonus episodes.

I've mentioned some of the main things at the end of last season, but I'll also try and mention what people were previously doing when they show up for the first time this season.

S03E01 –Wheel of Misfortune

Last Season
• Dario caught Cisco wearing a wire as he was working with undercover cops, Joey Ryan and Cortez, he was then bludgeoned to death with the bull. Dario was arrested after phoning somebody and telling them ‘it’s time’

• Fenix, Aerostar, and Drago ended the season as Trios champs

• Sexy Star won Gift of the Gods

• Penta became Pentagon Dark under the guidance of Vampiro, broke the arms of Black Lotus and Dragon Azteca at UL2 because they were taking too long to finish their match. Failed to beat Matanza despite dominating the match, and blamed Vampiro for it due to him introducing a barbed-wire bat into the match. Later he destroys his master.

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We’re starting the season off by visiting Dario in his cell. If we had arrived a few minutes later, we would have missed him as the guard comes along to let him out while commenting that he must have friends in high places. Dario’s reply: “You have no idea.”



Ha, that guy handing Dario his stuff back looks like… hang on! It IS the Honky Tonk Man! How random. Dario is deciding if his time locked up has driven him mad and he's hallucinating.

Dario’s Possessions: 1 money clip, 1 cell phone, 1 gold watch, 1 giant key.

He steps out into a dreary day, but doesn’t have to wait around as a big limo pulls up in seconds. Inside, he’s informed that the charges have been dropped… but is warned by, who I can only guess is Delgado’s employer mentioned last season, about the consequences if he wastes time again.

Everybody in the limo without a growly voice and metal hand look very nervous.

The Temple is open for business again!

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Striker and Vampiro welcome us back to LU and thank tonight’s band, The Chimpz. Striker says he’s happy to see Vamp happy and healthy, Vamp reassures people that he only wants to do the commentary and he’s nobody’s master. Yep, heard that one before, Vamp.

Dario in the ring with the Lucha Underground Champ, Matanza. He welcomes everybody back and says that he’s got some exciting news, but first announces the main event: Rey Mysterio Jr vs ...No, not Matanza, Pentagon Dark!
Matanza has defeated the best, there is no one to stop him. That doesn’t mean he can’t let people try. Ooh, we’re getting a Dario original idea! Dario’s Dial of Doom! 3D!



Ah, it’s a ‘who gets fed (maybe literally) to Matanza’ game. Possible victims are: Killshot, The Mack, El Dragon Azteca Jr, Mariposa, Chavo Guerrero, Dr Wagner, Prince Puma, Son of Havoc, and Johnny Mundo.
Dario explains how it works, and it’s exactly as I predicted, but it’ll only involve names that Matanza hasn’t faced already.

And we’re starting off the season with a title match! Matanza defending against...
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Lucha Underground Championship: Son of Havoc vs Matanza Cueto(c) w/Dario Cueto

Last we saw of Matanza was at UL where he was dominated in his match with Penta, but still managed to pick up the win to defend his title.
Havoc won the 4 A Unique Opportunity tournament, chose the title shot at UL3 over $250k but then lost the chance in a final match against a debuting Dr Wagner.

Havoc wastes no time going on the offensive, but an attempted springboard crossbody sees him just bounce off of the champ.

Havoc making good use of his athleticism to stay out of the clutches of Matanza and keep up the pressure.

Well, it was nice while it lasted…



I just noticed how grubby the mat is looking.

Oh, so, so close off the SSP! That was probably the closest you can get with a near fall.

And that was the last chance for Havoc as he gets caught in Wrath of the Gods seconds later.

Great match to kick things off.
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The first people to barge into Dario’s office this season are the World Wide Underground.



The last we saw of them, Taya beat Ivelisse thanks to a Catrina attack, and the guys lost the Trios titles partly due to a returning Angelico.

They’re not here for the Trios titles, Mundo wants the big one. When Dario points out that the last time Mundo was in the ring he lost his title, Mundo says that was only because of Angelico and they took care of him, much to the amusement of the others.

Ooh, flashback to the night of UL2 where we see Angelico getting ambushed by the group and on the receiving end of a 4 on 1 assault before Mundo slams his leg in a car door repeatedly to make sure he ends Angelico’s career this time.

Dario finds the story hilarious, but Mundo still isn’t getting a title shot. He’s not getting a shot at the Gift of the Gods title either, but Taya, as the only one who won at UL2, is getting a shot at the GOTG tonight.
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Ivelisse in the ring talking about Catrina and how much she wants to crush her skull into the ground. She wants Catrina 1 on 1 at UL3.
Lights off, lights on and the Season 3 version of Catrina makes her first appearance.



Catrina accepts, the match is set. That’s something to look forward to in about 9 months or so.
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Gift of the Gods Championship: Taya vs Sexy Star(c)

C’mon, you know you want a title change in the first episode. Give Taya the GOTG. Striker points out the GOTG has never successfully been defended. Why break with tradition? (can you guess who I’m rooting for in this one?)

A couple of Gecko imposters in the crowd tonight from the From Dusk Til Dawn series.

Not got a whole lot to say about this one so far; it’s average, nothing amazing but also not terrible.

Taya in control as Mundo comes out. I sense him ‘accidentally’ costing Taya the win so she can’t win the LU title before him.
Here come the other two to provide a ref distraction while Mundo holds Star in place. It shockingly backfires and Mundo gets a couple of knees in the face.
Quick rollup by Star and she breaks the curse of the undefendable title.

Yeah, that one wasn’t good enough or bad enough to stand out or be memorable.

WWU immediately start an attack on Star. Fenix, Drago, & Aerostar in for the save.
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Dario, while playing with his mobile, is also on his big red phone talking to somebody. Apparently ‘it’ wasn’t that bad and he met a lot of really cool guys.

He has to cut his conversation short to deal with his latest visitor.



At least he knocked. All right, it was after he came in, but it’s still more than most do. He’s here to check that his friends made it to Dario on the inside.
They did, but Dario is an innocent man (and I’m sure all the records say exactly that) so he doesn’t want anybody talking about his ‘vacation’ ever again.

Oh, yeah, we’ve still got the Killshot vs Marty situation to deal with. Luckily, Dario has us sorted with another original idea: a Weapons of Mass Destruction match. Marty likes that, and Dario’s expression slowly changes to make you think that maybe, he didn’t quite realise what he was doing there.
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Rey Mysterio Jr vs Pentagon Dark



Somebody I should recognise or just another guy that looks like a wrestler?
Remember how much I said Penta’s theme is great? It still is, so be prepared for another whole season of me saying it.

Penta has a go at the ref after the two count. Not that unusual? What about if he was the one getting pinned?

I’m not the biggest fan of a Slingblade, but Penta is making them look good here.

Very back and forth match. I thought Rey was moving a bit gingerly on his entrance, but he's going as well as usual during the match.

You knew it was coming.



After avoiding the 619 and hitting a superkick, Penta wanders out to shout at Vamp for a bit (while Striker scarpers). He gets back in the ring after giving Rey some time to recover. Vamp says he can’t be there right now and leaves commentary entirely.

619 followed by a Panama Sunrise (ooh) gets the win for Rey.



Penta attacks Rey while he’s up on the turnbuckles celebrating and hits a crucifix powerbomb. An arm break is on the cards for Rey until Dragon Azteca (with an arm at less than 100%) makes the save.
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We head back to the locker room during the credits to find Prince Puma sitting and contemplating his loss to Rey at UL2.
He is visited by the ghost of Christmas Vamp who says that he knows what Puma is feeling and that maybe he needs some guidance.
Puma says he doesn’t need anything, especially from Vampiro.
Vamp persists and offers some words of advice. Puma hasn’t been the same since he lost to Mil Muertes and he won’t be back to how he was until he takes out Muertes. Vamp leaves with a look back to see how Puma is taking it. Hmmm, interesting.


------------------------------------------------------------
Solid start, plenty to build on and we’ve not even touched on a whole bunch of stuff properly (or at all) yet.

Next time: The Amulet

Post Episode & General Thoughts/Questions

- Is The Employer actually Dr Claw from Inspector Gadget? Cause I'd be ok with that.

- If DdoD is an ongoing thing, it’s a great story reason to give some lesser featured people a chance in the spotlight and also gives the opportunity for a shock title change.

- Setting up a match for the end of the season in the first episode? I don’t doubt that they can run the feud for that long, but I’m not convinced that they will.

- First guess for Vamp's angle: He wants to build an anti-Penta army and Puma is his first recruit.

[Deleted]

40 EPISODE MONSTER SEASON! and I have mentioned it before the most expensive season at a whopping 18mil to produce.

Oh happy days are here again and starting with another T2 reference as Dario is lookingly jacked doing pull ups in his cell which is also a nice call back to Dario finding himself in a cell much like Black Lotus at the end of season 1 doing the same thing so that was cool.

HOLY SHIT IT IS THE HONKY TONK MAN! was exactly my reaction when he popped up in a sheer just completely confused moment like...was that...naw...IT WAS! and he has a guitar in his security office just incase it was not clear enough this was amazing.

And then we from just being puzzled for a moment to right out the gate into the big main arc with Dario being put on the preverbial leash immediately unlike season 2 where he got to have his fun for the majority but here he is given no such leeway if he f***s up it is game over and I love that the status quo is never the same especially for Dario he went from ontop of the world once he debuted his brother to now being a pawn in a much bigger chess game.

Dario is quick to forgive aint he? oh he tried to break my arm BUT he redeemed himself by trying to kill Vampiro in the most violent way that gave me a chub..sooo water under the bridge inlcuding pig noises as well....too bad Mr Cisco did not gawd rest his soul did not catch onto this if he had just beaten Joey Ryan to a bloody pulp he might just still be alive today.

But I like that pitting Rey against Penta is not only a dream match but it is Dario trying to kill thorns in his side at the sametime , he might be in a compromised position with his evil bosses but he is still clever in all the best ways.

"An Idea I dreampt up all on my own" lol I love this man so much and is that not the coolest lookin wheel in wrestling even Johnny Gargano would have to approve ontop of it having such a great name , buy this concept is genius like Gecko already pointed out it gives the talent that has not yet gotten the chance at the LU title to get one or even just a bigger spotlight...it is again Chris Dejoseph at work here wanting to keep elevating talent upwards and trying not to stagnate them by keeping them pigenhold to the samething.

What I love about the Havoc Vs Matanza match and is something I have pointed out in discussions when it comes to keeping a monster credible and strong but still at the same time elevating everyone else to being able to remain credible and it goes back to the whole scaling of power....in story wise Dario prepared Matanza only so much while everyone else has gotten better and stronger now and is why someone like SOH who would have gotten squashed around Aztec Warfare 2 by him can now go head to head and almost win and also Strikers provides another bit that Matanza struggles with smaller quicker opponens , it is not something LU points out but it works well when it comes specifically to Matanza and Vamp also touches on it sort saying that Matanza is just kept in a cell in the dark he doesn't train etc and is why SOH can take it to him like he did here.



And now we get to something I have to address so hopefully I am clear when it comes to this because I am gonna lump all of this together since it all just ends up in the same place anyways.

This season behind the seasons was thrown into disaray and you can and will see this through the season the most obvious first one here is with Iveliesse..now one would ask themselves wait why are they announcing a gawd damn Ultima Lucha match already...welllll you see Ive or atleast he ankle was made out of metaphorical glass and broke again and spoilers this is something we will see later on because again things had to be adjusted on the fly and so they had to tape and rearrange things and so we get this announcement and then we get to see the Ive injury later thus writing her out of the show.

The other one you maybe or maybe did not take notice of was in the WWU vingette with Dario and how everyone except the most talkitive in Jack Evans never said a word and the reason for this is because Jack broke his jaw and it is wired shut...so we are horribly without Jack Evans glorious voice for awhile BUT he does compensate in something AMAZING.

And sticking with WWU at the moment you are gonna notice it through out the season but a certain member is gonna strangely be absent at times and this ends up being 2 fold because they end up losing a close family member and an injury.

So yea if the Ive thing seemed really strange to you that is why and is not the last of it sadly.

MY FAVORITE TIGHT CATSUIT CATRINA IS HERE! oh my sweet sweet lo...rd 100 OUTTA 10 EPISODE!



Marty and Dario's relationship has come quite the ways from Dario literally wanting nothing to do with this crazy nut bag to now thanking him for his families generocity and giving him a gift in return , of course Dario's mood changes as soon as he is done being amused by this jelly brained fool who knocks after he enters , but take nothing away from Marty he has perfected the art of both being terrifying and off the wall nuts but doing just enough to somehow not push it into scooby doo cringe like alot of other companies end up when they try to do "crazy".

And while I cannot link you to the promo Marty cuts for the match because it would mean going to youtube and spoilers so here is all too fitting Marty to show you what the promo was.



Rey Vs Pentagon Dark not a whole lot to say here it is another banger dream match that Rey puts on to follow up the amazing match Vs Puma.

But I will say this is exempliary of how strong the character work and story telling is in LU that a brand new Pentagon Dark fresh into his new persona takes yet another loss BUT still ends up as the one to be feared like the loss just bounced off of him where as normally this would be a bad thing because people would immediately jump to well this is a failure but IMO not in this case because of Penta not only involved with Dragon Azteca Jr but with Vamp so while he loses here his importance isn't diminished if anything it grew even in the face a loss especially because of the post credits vingette it is a fantastic way to have your cake and eat it to in a way by showing yea even the top tier guys can take clean losses but somehow come out it feeling even more important to their grander story.

And speaking of they have been doing a stellar job with Puma always calling back to him losing Konnan and loss being a constant thing with him and it not being a short plot point he just overcomes after a win or whatever but has become a character trait and IMO it takes a big set creatively to take what was essentially the face of your company and for the long term and keep him not only away from that spot but away from the title and in his wake pretty much everyone else has has stepped up in massive ways.

All in all while this was not the blow away premier that season 2 had this was more than strong enough to start but also it makes sense to start off a bit tepid because now they got 40 whole episodes to play with so while season 2 started huge it sadly goes on a IMO rather weak note where as season is the reverse of that start hot to keep people intrigued but not white hot where they burn all their ideas out the gate.

[Deleted]

Oh yea something about this next episode I did not mention.

And you will likely end up in the same boat as the rest of us ..maybe in agreeing (if you have not watched the episode yet by the time you read this) but this next episode is Strikers absoloute worst on commentary not the entire episode mind you but a specific match , luckly it is not enough thankfully to ruin what is an absoloute f***ing banger of a match so damn fun.

[Gecko]

You get this one nice and early today before it gets too warm over here. We're on an amber heat warning today, but we're heading to a red warning for the next couple of days with things hitting 40°C (104°C). This is Britain, we don't do these sorts of temperatures, so if I suddenly disappear, I've probably melted or burst into flames.

My poor PC might not survive either, but luckily I'm past the point where I was waiting to see how much certain things were going to cost me and a new machine is only delayed by me being indecisive about what to buy.

Oh, yeah, we've got an episode to do. That sounds much more fun than my rambling. So, anyway I went out yesterday to buy a new onion for my belt...

S03E02 – The Amulet

Last time

• Dario gets out of prison and is warned to not waste any more time.
• Dario introduces Dario’s Dial of Doom to see who gets a shot at Matanza and his title
• Matanza beats Havoc
• WWU reveal that they took out Angelico after UL2
• Ivelisse challenges Catrina to a match at UL3
• Taya fails to win the GOTG from Sexy Star, partly thanks to Mundo being ineffective help. Drago, Aerostar and Fenix save Star from a beatdown from WWU
• Rey beats Penta (who got focused on shouting at Vamp at commentary) and then was saved from a broken arm by Dragon Azteca
• Vampiro gave words of advice to Puma and told him he needs to take out Mil Muertes.

Recaps of
• Dario’s arrest and release
• Famous B recruiting Mascarita Sagrada and eventually dropping him
• Marty and Killshot’s rivalry

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We head not into the Temple, but to a location nearby where there’s a sneaky trio doing some eavesdropping.



Oh, it’s actually a flashback to the moment Dario murdered Cisco.
Cortez, who doesn’t seem at all bothered by the death of Cisco, says that he’ll bring Dario in tonight. Captain Vasquez says no, this case is bigger than some street thug getting killed (How dare you?! That was MR Cisco!), and that is what brings out some emotion in Cortez.
Joey laughs when Cortez claimed that Cisco wasn’t just some street thug and was his friend, which leads to a tussle between the two of them.

Vasquez says that there’s a war coming and fighting the war is more important than any of them and more important than getting justice for Cisco.
“That’s MR Cisco!” - Cortez’s parting words.
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The Chimpz remind me of another band but I have no idea who.
Vamp is in high spirits as he and Striker welcome us and inform us of the main event tonight.

Melissa Santos doesn’t introduce Famous B’s client as she isn’t famous enougjmfghgrhio. Sorry, I just saw what Brenda is wearing.



Dr Wagner Jr w/ Famous B and Nurse Brenda vs Mascarita Sagrada

Looks like Sagrada was a surprise to the medical team. Ooh, wonder how this will affect Brenda? If Sagrada wins this, maybe B is just cursed. I didn’t quite catch what Brenda said at ringside, but I definitely heard ‘little marshmallow’.

Wagner isn’t taking this one too seriously to begin with.

Sagrada has just been giving Wagner a hug from behind while they circle the ring for about a minute now. Since they can make this entertaining, imagine what it’ll be like when they actually do something!

Here we go! Oh. Dr Driver, Wagner wins.
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Flashback time. This time we’re going big and going a whole 1,000 years back. Last time we went this far back, we ended up with a time-travelling spaceman.

In a tribal setting, a small child is led into a hut where it appears that her father is nearing the end of his life.
He tells her that she must lead the fight against the Gods (no pressure then?). He then tells her that there’s a war coming, and that fighting this war is more important than... You know, for some reason this all sounds strangely familiar.

He hands over Piedra Immortal

Google says that Piedra is ‘rock’ or ‘stone’ and immortal is ‘immortal’. The little girl humours him by not pointing out that it's not a rock, it's a space station medallion. A lost eighth medallion?

The dying chief says that it’s power only works on females. He goes on to explain that once she becomes a woman, she will never grow old and never die… unlike Papa who heads off into the next place now that his job is done.

 

Soooo, the little girl is Vasquez? She’s looking good for her age.

I really liked that segment. But it’s not over as we move forward to UL2: part 3. For a minute or two I read it as UL3 and thought things were going to get extra confusing.

I was right about my obvious guess:

Now I just want a Terry's chocolate orange. Are they a thing outside the UK?

Well, that was careless, how did you manage to a) break it and b) lose half? So what’s the situation now, you age slower than normal? You can't die properly and end up as a zombie?

Anyway, she hides the medallion (that’s not going to get confusing, rocks and medallions all over the place) as Cortez enters the room.
He’s pleased to let her know that Dario is going down, but she is not happy about it at all and explains that the murder tape made it to the Commissioner and he’s sending a task force to the Temple. She didn’t want that as Dario isn’t the big boss that they need to be going after and is their link to the real enemy.
She then suspends Cortez until he decides which side of the war he wants to be on.

Two scenes set a millennium apart, yet they fit together nicely and give you all the info you need to understand what’s happening.

The obvious question coming out of this: Who is much older than they look and has the other half? (Future Gecko: You're a dumbass for not figuring out where the other half is, especially when you specifically mentioned rocks)
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Argenis vs Mil Muertes w/Catrina

We last saw Argenis about half way through season 2, which was the last of his sporadic appearances where his primary purpose seems to be to make up the numbers. Catrina already put in an appearance this season, but Mil’s last showing was a death match where he destroyed King Cuerno.

Hard to say who’s winning here. Ok, maybe not, as Mil kicks out of a top rope moonsault at 1. Mil hits a spear and then the flatliner (accompanied by Striker’s impression of an ecg.) to pick up the quick and easy win.

As Catrina performs the traditional licking of the loser, we see Puma lurking on the apron, ready to pounce. He attacks and manages to force Mil out of the ring. Catrina steps in at this point to separate them and force Mil to back off.



I guess Vamp’s words last week had an effect on Puma.
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We in fact head back to last week and join Dario as he re-enters his office. He slowly examines various objects before being surprised by Joey Ryan who he doesn’t examine.

Joey claims to be a friend and reveals that he knows Dario killed Mr Cisco. His next tactic is probably not the most common for undercover people as he tells Dario that he’s a cop. The reason he let it be known is that he wants to be on the winning side for the war that’s coming, and that’s Dario’s side.
Joey claims he could be a double agent, but it’d actually make him a triple agent?
As for why Dario should trust him? He was the one guy doing everything he could to keep him out of jail.

He lets slip that he has a partner and when pressed for who, gives Cortez up immediately.
Joey wants compensation for this, he’s not doing it out of the kindness of his heart and has child support to pay (nope, don’t want to think about it). He is satisfied with quite a small payout and leaves Dario to think about just how he’s going to prepare Cortez for Matanza’s next meal.



Handy text on screen lets us know that we’re back to tonight.
Cortez/Reyes visits Vasquez for the first time in quite a while. He says that he’s been doing a lot of thinking and he’s made a decision. He wants to be on her side of the war. She reinstates him and sends him back to the Temple… to get eaten.
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Lots of props around the ring must mean it’s time for our main event (with apparent terrible commentary to look forward to).

Weapons of Mass Destruction Match: Marty ‘The Moth’ Martinez vs Killshot

All weapons are legal and anything goes is the deal here.

Oh, Marty. That might not go down well with your opponent.



Yup, Killshot attacks before Marty makes it more than a few steps down.

Ah, Striker’s commentary is going to be full of military references.

They’ve not got anywhere near the ring yet, and it’s been all Killshot doing the damage.

Ah, Striker’s commentary is going to be nothing but military references.

Marty grabs Melissa and throws her at Killshot to give him time to make a retreat.

Pleeeeeease shut up, Striker!



Killshot sells his balls (no, not in that way) off of that thanks to an earlier testicular claw by Marty.

If you’re trying to get somebody to like you and they make this expression:



stop whatever you’re doing, put your tongue away, and clear all the blood off your face.

This is a great brawl so far. Not that I should expect anything else at this point.

Killshot makes it into the ring, but it doesn’t look like Marty is ready to quite yet as he sets up for a suplex to the outside. He’s standing on the apron yelling at somebody to clear the table that is the target. Somebody obliges, clearing everything apart from a harmless shell. The delay means that the table goes unbroken.

While Marty is doing a combination of setting a ladder up to span the gap between the apron and barrier, and almost smacking some poor fan in the face with said ladder, Killshot has removed the netting from a table and catches Marty in it as he comes over.

The match finally makes it into the ring.

Marty hits a spinebuster onto the weapon cases, then goes up top. This isn’t going to end well, they’re fighting on the turnbuckles with the two cases below them as a landing area. Marty wins the battle and superplexes Killshot onto the cases. Looking at it, as long as you hit them properly (and not on an edge) those are probably better to land on than a lot of other stuff.

I was wondering when that ladder would come into play. It turns out that it’s as an example of something worse to land on.



Killshot throws Marty back in the ring, hits the top rope double stomp and pins him for the w… Marty kicks out! Genuinely thought that was the end there.

After a low blow, Marty spits out blood and gets an audible ew. He sets Killshot up for a powerbomb onto… oh, wow, all the way out the ring and through a couple of tables.



Man, that came out of nowhere, looked great and also looked like it went as well and as safe as it could. You couldn't ask for it to go better.

By the time Marty manages to get Killshot back in the ring and pin him, Killshot has recovered enough to kick out.
That’s a biiiig ladder. Whatever happens with the ladder and nearby table has to end this otherwise we’ll start getting into the ridiculous kickouts situation.

Ha, Marty manages to hit a cameraman with a ladder that he shoves out of the ring.

The current set up has a giant ladder in the middle of the ring with a table set up on each side of it. They’re definitely both falling off opposite sides at the same time (nope). They both predictably end up at the top of the ladder and, as they fight for a suplex on each other, Mariposa runs in to provide ASSistance to her brother.



She ends up getting kicked in the chest and falling through the table on that side. Killshot fights his way up to the top of the ladder and over, forcing Marty back down a bit, rips his dogtags back and double stomps Marty through the table!



That is enough for the win.

Wow, that was a great one. Glad they got a chance to finish things off properly.

And yep, that was terrible from Striker. Easily the worst that I can remember of the whole run of the show.

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Backstage, we join Mil as he punches some lockers for looking at him funny. He ends up knocking them over to reveal Catrina. He says he wants Puma, Catrina says that he will get Puma, but patience is a virtue. After all, she has waited hundreds of years to get what she wants. OH! Well, we know one way that that is possible. Does Catrina have the other half of the medallion/roc… OH! She carries a rock around! Is it the magic immortality rock?

IT IS!


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That was a great episode. A couple of fun little short matches, although I wouldn’t have minded the Sagrada vs Wagner one going a bit longer, lots of story progression that gives another glimpse at all the links between things, then finishing off with a fantastic (hopefully) feud ending fight.

Next time: Ultimate Opportunities

Post Episode & General Thoughts/Questions
- It seems like they’re leaning heavily on using flashbacks this season to not only flesh out things, but also fill in gaps.

- The visual quality seems improved, or maybe I’ve just got a better source than before, but things appear more detailed, especially on shots like close ups of faces.

- Are Catrina and Vasquez going to end up being sisters or something? ooh, or is it they were a couple, Vasquez gave her half of the amulet as a gift so they could be together forever, and then Catrina turned evil and ran off with it? Guess we'll find out with more flashbacks.

[Deleted]

Need a fitting gif


That works.

This episode wastes no time in really laying further ground work for the huge arcs in the show.

The intro to the amulet and who holds both pieces
The complete disintegration of the cops for the most part because now Joey is Dario;s inside man a nice reversal of fortune from season 2 for Dario.

But lets start with amulet here , my interpretation of things is that when whole the amulet grants complete immortality where as when broken in half or however it ended up in two just slows the aging process but also doesn't prevent death so only half the benefits for half an amulet.

And then the mystery deepens as to why Catrina of all people has the other half and what is her connection to captain hotness..I I mean Vasquez , gawd I love this show because this is the level of story telling no other company can touch , the way we have weaved from vasquez just wanting to bring Dario down to Delgado interfering in her investigation which lead to Dario realizing he is just a pawn in a much larger plan to then now tieing in Joey and Cortez to taking sides upon learning of this war to then weaving it to Catrina and an immortal amulet dating back 1000yrs in the past.....CHEFS KISS! amazing and it all ties together seemlessly and this is just episode 2 of the season.

But I also like the little dynamic here they further established with Cortez and Joey...while Joey is great at being a manipulative little shit for own needs Cortez if he had to can beat his ass as shown with the little scuffle.

I gawd damn adore the absoloute hell out of Brenda lol that woman I have said it before IMO has been the funniest woman in all of wrestling just a laugh riot and the fact she dresses to fit in with the clients...despite Wager as far as we know , not being a literal doctor lol just that touch is both strangely wholesome and hilarious...she just hears Dr and immediately dresses like a nurse and then B have a stehescope on hand lol again even though WAGER (as far as we know) IS NOT AN ACTUAL DOCTOR lol.

But not much else to say about that or the Mil match apart from the aftermath with Puma and the interesting part being that Puma did end up listening to Vampiro which is a very interesting development for him and Vamp as well....Puma has been in need of guidance and Vamp kind of needs a student who presumeably wont try to kill him but also circles back to btoh Aztec Warfare 2 and Vamp initially sending Penta after her which ended up getting him booted from AW2 and then Catrina blamed him for Mil being eliminated along with a slap and an F bomb she was not suppose to drop and her plans crumbling but Dario's return just derailed all of that , but LU wonderful ness at work making sure to never lead a thread dangling even if it may take time to circle back to it...this is LU storytelling in absoloute brilliant form this episode tieing together things they did not get to in the previous season and using that to further build on exsisting stories.....LEARN FROM THIS YOU OTHER COMPANIES!! get on this level of storytelling this should be the gawd damn standard across the board with modern wrestling.

Speaking of more amazing LU things...the set dressing for the weapons of mass destruction match just beautiful.

I love this match as just a match but more so because of both the story about how this came about but also that this is match that makes both men..while Marty has been strongly coming into his own , Killshot was still on the come up but this is the match done so well that BOTH men come out of this elevated as talents and the fact that both of them fought to end this rivarly the way they wanted makes this even more satisfying ontop of the fact that Kiillshot/Swerve credits Marty for turning that corner of his career and as a talent because he learned so much about the ability to tell a story and understanding his character , there is so much to this beyond just the match that you just enjoy it especially on repeat viewings because you know both men are going onto even bigger things from this point.

This match is a great look into why I love Marty the Moth as a talent but also why so many especially during his time in LU worried for his life because that dude is quite literally willing to kill himself to make sure the audience is absoloutley satisfied because pretty much everytime Killshot hits him it is like watching Marty die over and over because Killshot is as they say laying his shit in and Marty being no slouch does as well and it makes for such a tremendous match because you feel both guys hatred through the offence , this is the type off offence that I wanna see more of in wrestling especially televised wrestling.

This is a star making match for both men but sadly gets a bit overlooked because it happens so early in a massive 40 episode season and the things to come from both men that we will eventually get to.

few things to note in this match

when Marty is propped up in the corner with the ladder and Killshot just full on chuckes the chair at his face that is nothing rehearsed so as to make it safer or anything that is Marty unable to get his arms up just taking a full on steel chair right to his face , absoloutley vile.

MariPosa nearly f***ing dies when she falls off the ladder because she is like a hair off from just braining herself on the turkbuckle when she falls it is a scary moment the first time I watched this thankfully she ends up just fine.

There is a a bit that gets cut out here and this is from Marty himself telling the story that on the outside when he goes to start grabbing things from the table , he ended up grabbing and wacking off with a missle lol but they edited that out sadly wish they left it in sounds hilarious and just fits Marty would do that.

And I remember hearing this but I can't be sure whether it was from Marty or someone else who was there at the time but supposedly amongst the prop grenades (idk if it made it out onto the actual show) but apparently there was a real live grenade in with the rest but thankfully nothing happened so alls well ends well.

Oh yea Strikers commentary during the WOMD match...just yikes I know he loves his puns and shit but this was Striker off his leash but thankfully he never does this again or he never gets the chance to , he will of course drop a few but it never gets this bad.

All in all this was a huge episode with a memorable banger of a main event and huge story developments and this is only yhe beginning.

Next week another great main event and one of my favourite vingettes of the season.

[chrom]

This is where the cracks and problems start to emerge

[Gecko]

S03E03 – Ultimate Opportunities

Last time
• 1000 years ago, Captain Vasquez was given a magic, immortality-granting amulet. Today, she only has half of it and Catrina possesses the other half.
• Dr Wagner defeated Mascarita Sagrada without any trouble
• Mil Muertes beat Argenis easily, but was then attacked by Puma
• Joey Ryan switches sides, reveals to Dario that he’s a cop and gives up Cortez as the identity of his partner
• Killshot defeated Marty in a WMD match and reclaimed his dogtags

Recaps of
• The Dario’s Dial of Doom concept and its first “winner”, Havoc
• Rey beating Penta and then being saved from having his arm broken by Dragon Azteca
• Taya failing to win GOTG from Sexy Star thanks to Mundo having poor grip. Drago, Aerostar, Fenix saving Sexy Star from WWU

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We start off with an in-ring training session between Rey Mysterio and El Dragon Azteca. They’re discussing Penta and how he broke Dragon’s arm and tried for Rey’s. While Dragon wants payback, Rey, once again, is the wise old master by saying they should let one of Penta’s many other enemies deal with him. They have their own enemy to fight, one that’s much more dangerous than him.

Hey, it’s Chavo! Penta: “I have also broken Chavo’s arm.”
Dragon immediately goes on the attack while exclaiming, “You’re a liar!”. It doesn’t work out great for him.



Let’s see… back in season 1, Chavo made a deal with the original Dragon to protect Black Lotus, but then switched sides and helped imprison her, which eventually led to Dragon entering the Temple himself and being killed. I’m probably missing more, so let’s just say Chavo was being a Guerrero.

He says that Rey obviously hasn’t taught Dragon about La Familia Guerrero, and maybe Chavo will be the one to teach him.

That seemed like a) a way to point out that Chavo is still around and b) a reason to justify Rey and Dragon not going after Penta if they've gone another direction.
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After Striker and Vampiro do the usual intro stuff, they send it over to El Jefe for Dario’s Dial of Doom.

The wheel has the same names as last time except for Havoc who has been replaced by ‘Dario’s Choice’.
It lands on Dario’s choice and he picks Havoc again. Nah, I don’t know who I’d want to win, they’re all interesting options in their own ways.

Aw, Dario is so pleased with this one. Also, his hair is extra shiny tonight.



He takes a few verbal shots at Havoc before it is time to spin the wheel (complete with tense theme music) and find out who’s getting a title shot...
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Lucha Underground Championship: The Mack vs ‘The Monster’ Matanza Cueto(c) w/Dario Cueto

Ooh, I like. This is one where you could end up with a completely different type of match than you were expecting if you were just going off of appearances.

Matanza is eager for this one too, he gets out the ring and goes to wait at the bottom of the steps. Mack outsmarts him (not that it seems hard to do) and runs in behind him from a different entrance. He hits the stunner on the outside and rolls the champ in. Quick win? Nah, not even close. He covered him three times and I don’t think he would have quite made it to three if they were all added together.

Mack keeps up the assault with strikes and a hurricanrana, but another attempted stunner gets countered into a german suplex and that may be the beginning of the end.

Please don’t mention how hot it is Vamp, I’ve only just recovered from a few days ago. (New UK record of over 40°C, for future reference)

Dario is on the outside telling his bro that next time he does the pumphandle fallaway slam, he should do it more vertical and break his (opponents) neck.

Ha, a Zinedine Zidane reference for a headbutt.

Pounce! But the followup frogsplash is countered by raised knees. Wrath of the Gods puts an end to Mack's challenge and sees Matanza retain… although it did kind of sound like Melissa said he was the new champ.

Yeah, that was a fun one.
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We head out somewhere on the open road, where we find Havoc recuperating. He happens to see an ad for Famous B, the one where he transforms Brenda. Is Havoc going to be another client?



No, he hates those guys. He’s also not alone…



Ha, great little moment (no pun intended). And it keeps getting better, we get to see Mrs Havoc!
Sagrada and Havoc (Son of) agree to come up with a plan… after Bagel Bites.

We head back to Dario’s office and a more serious atmosphere.

Dario is interrupted doing… something. He had his head down on the desk and was sniffing, which points towards a certain activity that, although it fits with the show, I don’t know of any wrestling that has done that so blatantly. (In case you didn’t pick up on it, I’m hinting at drug use)

Mundo, with Taya in tow, barges in and demands Dario go out and spin the wheel again. Dario, wiping his nose, tells him to calm down as he’s got a title match tonight. The Trios titles, but still. Mundo isn’t happy, and in something that could be news revealed today, says nobody cares about the Trios titles, WWU is all about getting Mundo the LU title.

Mundo storms out after telling Dario he isn’t competing tonight… More opportunities for cracks to appear in WWU as Taya hangs around and gets herself put in as a replacement in the Trios match. It’s all a little flirty until Taya points out that Dario has a little something on his nose.
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Texano vs Cage

We last saw Cage competing in the 4 a Unique opportunity tournament, where he lost to Mack. Texano lost to Havoc in the same tourney.

Before we get the match going, Dario puts in an appearance. He says that they have a lot in common; they’re both big, both fighters, and they both lost in the tourney. He wanted to see them fight, which is why we're getting this match and also this match tonight is for the Ultimate Opportunity. He doesn’t reveal what it is… or what the guaranteed downside to the deal is.

The match starts as you might expect from one with two smaller, quicker people; very quick and lucha-ish.
It continues at a quick pace and has plenty of actual wrestling and even some submission stuff.

Ooh, nice spinebuster into a rollover cover by Cage.

Cage picks up the win off of a discus lariat.

That was another fun one that, like the first match, went against what you might think it would be like.

Time to find out about the opportunity…

Dario congratulates Cage… but if he wants the Ultimate Opportunity he’s going to have to beat Texano two more times as this is a best of 5 series!

Yeah, I don’t mind that and I’m sure that we’ll get at least one gimmick match thrown in.
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What’s in the box?!



Well It’s not leaking anything, so that’s a good sign. It’s a 423-GET-FAME cap. How thoughtful.

What’s in the envelope?!

Some very disturbing photos.



Dragon Azteca doesn’t knock as he bursts in and, glimpsing the pics, asks if that’s where Dario’s taking his brother next time they go on vacation. Dario throws the photos in the bin and turns his attention to Dragon.
Dragon wants a match with Pentagon, Dario says he wants to see him face Black Lotus again instead, but she took a vacation back to Hong Kong (I was half wondering where she was). Dario agrees to it as it sounds like a violent match.
He starts to literally pencil it in, before yet another distraction. This time nobody barges in as Dragon didn’t bother closing the door when he left. It’s… Ricky? Oh, Ricky Mandel who we last saw way back in Season one where he was first eliminated from a battle royal. He’s here to see when his next match is.

We go into horror movie territory as Ricky says, “cool pictures” (really? “cool”?) about the photos which are now back on Dario’s desk, much to the shock of Dario. He tries to get rid of them by giving them to Ricky as a gift since he likes them so much, but I don’t see that working.
Dario is never getting any work done as Ricky meets Chavo coming in on his way out. Chavo closes the door and tells Dario that they need to talk, but we don’t find out the details as we head back to the ring.
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Trios Championship: Aerostar, Fenix, Drago (c) vs The Worldwide Underground: Taya, PJ Black, Jack Evans

Still getting used to Aerostar not being in red, but I like the new colours.

You know you’re in for a treat when you get a memorable spot before the match starts



Jack continues fooling about by covering his face with his bandanna and showing off some martial arts moves before he takes a bump from Black tagging himself in. Taya quickly grows tired of the two arguing about it and tags herself in to get things moving.

Some nice exchanges with Taya and Drago. Aw, Evans doesn’t want a tag in.

An extra elaborate flying nothing from Black lets Aerostar tag in Fenix. Evans has finished sulking and tags in as well. Oh, then he tags straight back out again.

The Worldwide Underground aren’t doing great without Mundo at the helm.

Evans is doing a great job compensating with his lack of vocals by using some physical comedy.



It’s some great in match story telling, they’re just like a family. Mundo the dad isn’t here for the family outing, which leaves mum Taya to try and keep youngest, Jack, who is being moody and sulking, and older Black, who is teasing and being mean to Evans, from disrupting things too much and embarrassing her. It almost makes you forget that there’s a fun match going on here.



Aerostar finishes things up with a springboard into a codebreaker to pin Black after catching him with that.

That keeps our fun match ratio for the night at maximum.

Here comes Mundo! He leads an assault on the trios champs, and I doubt Sexy Star will be returning the favour from last week and running in for the save.



Will somebody please give him a hug and some ice cream?

Sexy Star does actually come in to help, but only after the beating has finished. The champs manage to run them off, now that they’ve done a bunch of damage.
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Dario is meeting somebody in his office. He thanks them for coming by as he wants to talk about next week. He’s meeting with Rey and tells him about Dragon coming to see him and demanding a match against Pentagon and that he has pencilled it in.
Rey tells him to erase it, Dragon isn’t fighting Pentagon. Dario agrees that he isn’t fighting Pentagon...yet. He changed Dragon’s opponent to Chavo, with the winner getting a grudge match against Penta.

One of those nice little touches you don’t get anywhere else as we get a look at where Dario actually does his booking of shows.



Dario knows that Rey is in a tough spot with being a mentor for one and a long time friend of the other and I think I know where this is going. Yup, Dario makes Rey the guest ref for that match and he doesn’t pencil it in, he writes it in ink.
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Another good one. We didn’t have the major story progression, but had lots of little things like the tension in Worldwide Underground, Setting up Rey having to make a choice, haunted photos, Havoc and Sagrada making plans.

Next time: Brothers in Broken Arms

Post Episode & General Thoughts/Questions
- Is that big scar on Mundo’s back new? Possibly related to why he’s not competing?
- With the random rabbit pictures a certain somebody is posting, and the vague memory of a sig that I made, I’m getting the feeling that the haunted photos are related to a certain group.
- Ricky is 100% turning up dead.
- I could see Dario inventing a completely original match that is 4 vs 4, with the GOTG and Trios titles both up for grabs in one match. Which could cause more issues with WWU.
- Jack is still sulking.

[Deleted]

How do I sum up this episode.


That works.

Because largely this is what this episode is majority about and boy oh boy what they lay the ground work.

But first DARIOOOSSSSS DIAL OF DOOOOOOMMMMM! he a'spin the wheel lol this man is amazing.

Mack Vs Matanza was about what you expected out of it 2 thicc boys just throwing bombs at one another , what I love about what they are doing with the dial of doom and kind of goes back to something I spoke about in how LU is particularly great at being able to balance keeping Matanza credible as this monster but also keeping his matches fairly competitive and it is kind of the little central bit of storytelling here. in that Dario has been more than satisfied with where his brother is but the issue with that complacency is that everyone else around him has and is getting better and stronger etc and you are seeing it here..we have only had 2 DoD matches so far but you see what is going in every opponent progressively inches that much closer to beating Matanza but Dario's arrogance has him blinded to this and that is really a great bit of subtle storytelling you don't really pick upon initially.

And now get to an amazing vingette and BAGEL BITES! I remember when I first watched this and just died laughing at this entire thing and also how brilliant is this product placement but it is not the only one , as there are a nice bunch of things in this vingette...the aforementioned bagel bites , the modello on the table (which was a key sponsor at this time) and then there small character things in the room like the trophies , the giant aztec thing on the wall has always been of keen interest to me but could never quite get anwser on if that was foreshadowing to anything I wanna believe it is because it is far too random in this room for it not to be , and then you got a drum set and the best of all SON OF HAVOC PAJAMAS!!!! lmao I will buy the entire stock wherveer they are in whatever warehouse they might be stored in.

I also that both Havoc and Mama Havoc are talking to Mascarita but he speaks no english but everyone just understands eachother lmao every single thing about this scene is comedy perfecto and of course something touched on previously is people on the show actually watching the Famous B commercials , things like this make the world feel authentic and lively and of course ties into the ongoing feud just perfect in fleshing out characters adding another layer to the LU world and pushing forward an ongoing feud.

DARIO IS GOING GAWD DAMN COKE!!! I mean what else is there to say lol this is just another amazing scene from this episode from the coke fiend to Mundo barging in and when he can't get what he wants from Dario his response is....UNREAL like he was so sure of himself when he barged him in the plan could not fail and when it does it leaves him pretty much speecheless lol and then Dario's absoloute shit eating grin when talking to Taya lol and I love how Taya is the one to notice Dario was doing coke , you tend to have a sixth sense about it when you spend many a year in Mexico. , but this is the most honest potrayl of a wrestling promoter ever just outright doing Coke in his office in the middle of a show brilliant.

Oh and about that scar on Johnnys back I believe (don't hold me to this one) but I believe he got that when he was filming his movie Boone the bounty hunter , because he does a really notable stunt in the movie where he straight just tumbles down a steep hill in the movie and I think that is where this scar on his back comes from.

Texano Vs Cage not a whole lot to say about the match itself it is the first in a series of course but this match was not well recieved initially but alot of the fans but I will say this series between them does get progressively better.

But the notable thing here is THE ULTIMATE OPPURTUNITY...remember that whole gif about planting seeds keep this very much in mind.

Now speaking of planting the seeds OH GAWD DAMN BOY!

Now while the Famous B hat is not all that important there is seed planting with that hat it is not something story related but it wasn't just there for no reason.

But the real stuff YES does include the random as f*** return of Ricky Mandell.

Now I am not gonna go into any detail here but believe me when I tell you that this that this is well worth it on multiple levels.

BUT I am feeling generous so I am gonna give you an early christmas gift.

What this leads to is a WAYYYYY better version of something still pretty prevelent in WWE right now.

Oh and speaking of things leading to amazing things...something else that was mentioned in this scene (not gonna say what it is ) is massive forshadowing to  one of if not THEE best non Ultima Lucha episode of the entire season and a top 5 episode in the entire shows run.

You are gonna be sitting on this seed planting for a bit but I promise you all of it leads to amazing things.

Hi Ron Funches in the front row.

Not a whole lot to say about the main event except PROTECT JACK EVANS AT ALL COSTS! lol this man is amazing , I love that without his voice he just completely falls apart as a person and his physical comedy is just so much fun here , like Gecko so elequently put it , this is like a family and PJ and Jack are the petulant spoiled kids and Taya has to keep these shits in line as the mama bear.but it is antics like these that makes me absoloutley love this group even as dickish heels , you get to really enjoy how they play off eachother here with all the physical comedy going on.

I wanna shoutout a part of this match though.



The timing on this was absoloutley unreal , if Aerostar was a hair slow then PJ likely would have likely had to jump down and the spot would been a complete disaster but instead they f***ing nailed this absoloutley perfectly and I love the camera work where they make sure to keep Aerostar out of view untill PJ is exactly at the perfect point of the springboard and when he comes in it is an OH SHIT! moment absoloutley spectacular.

And LOL at the end vingette when Dario pulls out the pen and THE MOST DRAMATIC MUSIC kicks in lol never has a pen in the history of wrestling ever been put over this hard lol amazing.

NEXT WEEK: a bunch of absoloutley amazing vingettes and one in particular is a follow up to a seed planting in this episode.,,,the matches are solid enough but this is where the vingettes steal the show IMO.....here is a hint to one of them: Remember when Dario told his story in season 2 about his mother? get ready for vingette on that level.

[Gecko]

S03E04 – Brothers in Broken Arms

Last time
• Matanza defeats the Dial of Doom challenger, Mack
• Havoc and Mascarita Sagrada are recovering at Casa de Havoc and making plans
• Mundo refuses to compete in a match for the Trios Titles, Taya goes in as a replacement
• Cage beats Texano in what is revealed to be the first match in a best of 5 for the ultimate opportunity
• Dario receives a get fame cap and also some haunted photos which he hands off to Ricky Mandel
• WWU don’t work well together and fail to win the Trios titles, Mundo runs in for a post match attack, Sexy Star joins in to even the numbers
• Dario makes Rey the ref in a match between Dragon and Chavo with the winner getting Penta

Recaps of
• The Chavo, Dragon (and Rey) interaction with added dialog from Chavo about how he “didn’t kill the man who used to wear that mask.”
• Mundo’s unhappiness with not getting a chance at the LU title and WWU setting up for a fight with all the other champs.
• Joey Ryan switching sides
• Puma listening to Vamp’s advice and attacking Mil Muertes

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Dario goes to visit Sexy Star in the locker room and starts the conversation by saying that he hears that her friend, The Mack, isn’t doing very well after his brother destroyed him last week. He gets in Star’s head by steering the conversation around to what she’s going to do with the GOTG: keep defending it and eventually lose it, or go against his brother and get destroyed too.
She’s not defending the GOTG tonight though, instead she’s teaming with the Trios champs against Worldwide Underground.

As El Jefe checks his watch, which I’m not convinced is at the same time as the clock on the wall (on closer inspection, it looks a few minutes fast), and then leaves, Mundo runs in looking for Taya. He pauses in his search to formally introduce himself to Star. Johnny Mundo, the next Gift of the Gods champion.
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We head into the Temple where The Chimpz are still providing the tunes. Striker says that they’re not only their friends, they are their pri-mates. Vamp sighs at this, but it catches him after a few seconds.

Sinestro de la Muertes vs Prince Puma

Sinestro is slowly transforming into Skeletor.



Puma asked for Sinestro to be his opponent tonight due to his past relationship with Mil Muertes. Hmm, is Sinestro really on his own now? is Puma using him to send a message (assuming he can win)? When will Sinestro get a big staff with a ram’s skull on it?

Slap, slap, running, rolling, flippy, flippy, running, dropkick! Man, I’d make a great commentator.

It’s not overdone, but Puma does feel more serious and focussed.



Still not a fan of his mask, even with the colour change.

As Puma drags Sinestro to the corner in preparation for a 630, Catrina comes marching to the ring… oh, Mil is there too, I suppose.
Mil gets in the ring and charges Puma in the corner, Puma dodges and Mil goes right back out. Even with the distraction, Sinestro can’t keep on top of Puma and gets caught in a driver.

Puma taunts Mil by locking eyes with him as he pulls Sinestro to his feet and hits a flatliner for the win!

As Catrina is talking Mil into walking away just now, Puma takes a run and dive at him. They fight for a bit before Puma is thrown back into the ring. Mil is prevented from following by Catrina who forces him back.


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An apprehensive Cortez is summoned to Dario’s office. An unsmiling Dario rises from his chair, slowly walks around his desk until he is in front of Cortez and then… gives him a hug.

Dario just wanted to see how Cortez Castro was doing and say how sorry he was that they lost Francisco. He wants to find who was responsible and he’ll do whatever it takes to bring the real killer to justice.

Imagine being in a position where you can get away with this.

Dario obviously knows he killed Cisco. Cortez knows Dario killed Cisco. Dario knows that Cortez knows he killed Cisco. Does Cortez know that Dario knows that Cortez knows Dario killed Cisco?
Dario suggests that it could have been Big Ryck since Cisco burned his eye with a cigar?

As Cortez is leaving, we hear Melissa Santos start the introductions for the next match. Dario reminds him that life goes on, and the show must also go on, as we hear Melissa introduce Cortez. Hmm, I wonder who his opponent might be?

Loved that whole thing.
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Cortez Castro vs Pentagon Dark

Ok, so it’s not the obvious option, but it’s not necessarily going to be any more pleasant for Cortez. Penta stares at Vamp before the match starts.

Cortez starts off aggressively as he knows he must. Penta seems content to weather the storm while he waits for his opening.

It doesn’t take long for Penta to take over and quickly hit the package piledriver. Simple win for Penta, who goes right back to gesturing at Vamp.

Penta breaks his first arm of the season and we’re saying bye to Cortez for a while.

Penta’s got some words for his potential opponents. It doesn’t matter who wins, the old man Chavo Guerrero, or the skinny punk Dragon Azteca (Considering there was a bleep, I’m guessing the subtitles aren’t 100% accurate with the insult). Whoever wins will suffer the same fate: broken bones. In the ring, Penta doesn’t even respect his own mother.. you know why? Cero Miedo.
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Atomicos match: Aerostar, Drago, Fenix (Trios Champs), & Sexy Star (GOTG) vs Worldwide Underground: Johnny Mundo, Taya, PJ Black, Jack Evans.

Striker brings up history by mentioning that this is only the second atomicos match in LU, the first ended with Mundo pinning Sexy Star.

Before things get going, Star gets sunglasses thrown at her head, much to the amusement of Taya



So we’ve got the beautiful team going against the hideous team that has to hide their faces behind masks. (See, I can do heel commentary, too)

Star, to be fair, doesn’t look bad during the opening exchanges with Taya. She’s still clearly the weak link in the match.

New tactic for Evans in this match. He still doesn’t have his voice, and sulking didn’t work out well for him, soooooo….



I mean, it’s very impressive but I don’t see how it helps to wi… Jack tags back out.

With how fast some things go and how intricate they can get, it’s amazing that things don’t get majorly screwed up a lot more often than they do.

This is one of those matches that has so much energy all around, absolutely everybody is pumped up for this one.

Vamp compares Star getting stuck in the wrong corner using a spider and fly analogy. Evans tags in and Striker compares him to a brown recluse, which confuses Vamp until Striker explains it’s a type of spider. Vamp sarcastically points out that not everybody used to be a teacher. Just a fun little exchange between them, but a brown recluse is your spider of choice in this situation, Striker?

Mundo and Taya should stop holding people so the other one can hit them, this time it’s Mundo punching Taya in the face as Star escapes. Black saves the match for his team as he breaks up the pin after Mundo takes a springboard codebreaker, diving tornado DDT, and springboard 450 combo.

Mundo takes out Sexy Star with a backbreaker as Aerostar launches himself off the top and almost takes out the front row.

Taya tries the Chris Hamrick through the ropes feet first bump, but it doesn’t go smoothly and looks like she may have hurt her ankle on landing. This distracts the ref and allows a Mundo assist to allow Evans to pin Sexy Star.

Like I said, a fun, high energy match. Unfortunately, it looks like this is a legit injury for Taya who appears to be in a fair bit of pain, and ends up getting carried to the back. Sexy Star looks like she might also have taken bit of a knock in the ring too.

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Mil Muertes is getting in touch with his spiritual side by spending time at his big ol' Death Shrine.

He turns to find Sinestro on his knees with Catrina standing behind. Catrina tells Mil that Sinestro is here to say sorry, but unfortunately (for him) he’s failed them for the last time.

Somebody is getting absorbed. Oh, or it could just be a simple neck snapping from Catrina. Ah, I was kinda right. Catrina sucks the energy out of a limp Sinestro and blows it onto (into?) Mil to power him up.

She says that now she wants Mil to do the exact same thing to Prince Puma. (Including the lick?)
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El Dragon Azteca Jr vs Chavo Guerrero - (Referee: Rey Mysterio)

Interesting to see what Rey does here. He doesn’t want Dragon winning and going on to face Penta, but it’ll cause issues if he makes sure that doesn’t happen. Of course, if Dragon loses fairly, that might also cause problems between him and Rey.
Chavo isn’t really too much of a factor in the story, but is a good choice for his well known and long relationship with Rey.

I’m a little disappointed that Rey hasn’t got a stripey mask.

Rey starts counting a pin while Chavo has one shoulder clearly up (and it was never actually down at any point).



Genuine mistake, or early foreshadowing of Rey’s inexperience as a ref?

Now, I’m not a referee, but that doesn’t seem like the best or most obvious place to be when checking if Dragon wants to give up



Dragon makes it to the ropes, which prompts a Chavo and Rey discussion on whether he grabbed the rope or if he tapped out. Chavo slaps Rey’s finger away when it gets pointed at him and Rey threatens to DQ Chavo.

Chavo turns away… then turns back and smacks Rey in the face. Rey, wearing the Ref shirt of Weakness, of course goes down. He gets back to his feet after a few moments and hits Chavo back, just in time for him to turn into Dragon jumping up on his shoulders to execute a hurricanrana. Dragon hooks the leg for the three count that may have been a little quick, and Rey was definitely down ready to count before the pin was ‘complete’.

Ok, I was wrong, Chavo was the driving force for the story of the match.

Post match, Chavo rushes Rey and ends up eating a 619 for his trouble.
Rey holds up Dragon’s hand as the credits roll.
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We are somewhere that’s not immediately clear.
We hear a woman’s voice say, “I have destroyed the man that killed you, he no longer walks this earth. But my work at the Temple is not done.”

Black Lotus?



Yup, talking about the original Dragon Azteca being the killer of her parents. Or at least that's what she believes to be true.
She continues, “Before I could take the mask of your killer, it was stolen from us. And now, I’m sending the Black Lotus Triad to destroy Pentagon Dark. And show him what fear really looks like.”

As a reminder, Penta stopped her match with Dragon happening at UL2

Ninjas!

Well, it’s all getting a little bit complicated, isn’t it? Everything is all intertwined with everything else. Which is good, much better than everything happening in isolation with people switching opponents at the end of feuds.

Next time: The Prince and The Monster

[Deleted]

The vingettes are what make this episode IMO while the matches are absoloutley more than servicable this is an episode where they absoloutley intended for for the vingettes to be the talking point and it just works.

Mundo is f***ing hiliarious in opening because of yet again his shitty intimidation tactics lol first he tried multiple times to barge in and demand a title shot from Dario to now immediately shifting his focus to in a sort of detour to getting what he wants , but him thinking he would intimidate her only to then pretty well get his hand crushed by her and slinking back into his cowardace when he realized his new tactic failed yet again lol putting his shades back on in the process , all of this was great and Mundos subtle comedy (that last little attempt to sike her out right before he leaves lol) great way to set the stage for things to come for both.

Dario is just again amazing and maserful and this is not even the best thing he does on this episode but his manipulation is so ingenius by locking sexy star into a no win situation..she either cashes in and gets murked or loses the GOTG to someone else and the whole background about time is a great added little touch to this entire thing.

Puma Vs Super Putty what was it was , love how the dynamic between Mil and Puma how has changed here with Puma being the aggressor where as before it was him getting Mil to come at him and I said this before I love the progression of Puma who was this pure whitemeat as you can get babyface to seeing his decent as he progressively just kept getting emotionally beat down to now where he is listening to Vampiro of all people , it would have been so easy to keep him as the unchangable babyface like Cena but instead this is amazing character storytelling showing that yes all those things that happened to him have affected him in huge ways.

I hinted at this last week but this Dario and Cortez scene is MASTERFUL!! this is another one of those no other company is on this level of storytelling , the way this weaves through multiple stories....from Dario and the Cops to Joeys snitching , to the oncoming war , to even gawd damn mentioning Big Ryck like holy way the way they dropped that into this scene was amazing.

This is very GODFATHER'esc from the hug to just the overall tone and the tension and this is pretty much all Dario while Cortez just stands there and lets Dario show how f***ing amazing this man is just take it in Cortez you are in rarified air.

And then how they transition from this seemlessly right into Cortez having a match AND THE RED AND BLUE LIGHTS ON THE DOOR! gawd damn i f***ing love this show because this was perfectly executed...the music , the dialogue the editing like holy shit every wrestling creative team should be made to watch this scene and learn from it. CHEFS KISS!

And then we get into well in all honesty this was all about the scene prior because there is really not much to the match except Pentagon being a murder bastard as usual and noted Pentagon hates his own mother lol..probably broke her arm when he came out the womb.

The Atomicos match was just a blast mostly for WWU antics...Johnny marking out for Jack Evans flippy shit is genuinely so wholesome ..we all support each other like Mundo marks out for Jack...now I remand all of you mark out for me I will be waiting patiently to be impressed.

But remember when I said that there would be another WWU member that kind of alters things for them a bit well here it is and yes this is a legit injury and you will be seeing them kind of having to work around this because Taya for the next little while shows up off and on and it was weird at the time because no one really knew what happened to her but she was just kind of in and out sometimes she would be WWU and sometimes not in episodes but you know now so...WWU sadly is a bit snake bitten the early portion of this season.

Not much to say about the ReffeRey and Daj vs Chavo match it was bound to kind of circle back since Aztec Warfare 2 because Chavo just has to pop in during a season to be a bit of filler but he and Rey have solid enough chemistry and the lucha libre is a joy to watch.

10 OUTTA 10!!! Catrina is here again and adding a new power set to the 1000 other things she can do this time soul sucking (and spitting) this is just amazing f***ery , I love how Catrina though initially was the one to prevent Mil from killing them after their constant failures but she herself does the deed here and nicely ties into Catrina being fully aware of Pumas change hence why she kept Mil from him untill she added a new level cap of 150 to Mil so he can deal with edgelord Puma.



Now THAT is how you frame a shot, seriously one of the absoloutley coolest and most beautiful shots adding to just the great camera and framing work this entire episode , this is an episode to fawn over the cinematography.

AND THEN we get to the end vingette...JUST YOU WAIT all of you that know you know what this is about and I personally cannot f***ing wait but I am not gonna say anymore because I will be too tempted to start dropping hints and nope not gonna do it but this is going to be amazing.

[Gecko]

S03E05 – The Prince and The Monster

Last time
• Dario played some casual mindgames with Sexy Star and the fate of the GOTG title
• Even with interference from Mil, Puma beats Sinestro
• Dario plays with Cortez by summoning him to his office, claiming he’s checking on his well-being, then sticks him in a match with Pentagon
• Penta beats Cortez then breaks his arm
• Worldwide Underground beat Drago, Fenix, Aerostar, & Sexy Star. Taya is injured during the match
• Catrina kills Sinestro and transfers his power to Mil Muertes
• Dragon Azteca beats Chavo when Chavo can’t control his emotions with Special ref, Rey.
• Black Lotus is on her way back with some ninjas to destroy Pentagon

Recaps of
• Dario’s Dial of Doom and the two victims so far (Havoc and Mack)
• Vampiro giving advice to Puma who takes it and goes after Mil Muertes. Catrina then powering Mil up with a Sinestro sacrifice.
• Cage and Texano in a best of five series (Cage is leading 1-0) for the ‘ultimate opportunity’

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We’re starting off this week with Dario exiting his office to stand next to his Dial of Doom. The latest update to the wheel gives us these options:
Killshot
The Mack Ivelisse
El Dragon Azteca Jr
Mariposa
Chavo Guerrero
Dr Wagner
Prince Puma
Son of Havoc Dario’s Choice
Johnny Mundo

Dario is trying out his hosting technique, just in case this wrestling thing doesn’t work out and he has to run an evil game show. It goes over very well.

Oooh! It’s Prince Puma. (I didn’t get ahead of myself and prematurely type up the match intro for the next section ) But we’ll have to wait as The first LU Champ going against the Current one is Main Event Material.
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The Chimpz are still hanging around which gives Striker another chance to annoy Vamp with a joke: You know how The Chimpz get down the stairs? They slide down the bananister.



Ivelisse vs Mariposa w/Marty ‘The Moth’ Martinez

Marty was in the WMD match a few episodes back, which he lost with Mariposa’s attempt at assistance ending with her going off a ladder and through a table. The last time we saw Mariposa actually compete was in the elimination match for the GOTG where she got pinned after Marty (also in that match) accidentally hit her. The Lepidopterans (that word fulfils the educational requirement for this episode) don’t seem to be quite in sync right now.

Nobody really getting too much offence before the other counters, but once Ivelisse starts building up a combo, Marty grabs the leg to cause the distraction and stop the momentum. Which he is very pleased about. “Kill The Moth”



I like that. It’s like a cloverleaf, but doing it that way round gives you more control.

Ive is hung over the middle rope and, while Mariposa is running ref interference, Marty helps out by… going in for a kiss? ew. Ivelisse understandably gets out of there in a hurry. Mariposa then wants Ive to apologise to her brother and also shouts what sounds like, “make him love me!”

Mariposa struggles to get Ivelisse up for the Butterfly effect (Vertebreaker) and ends up basically giving herself an Unprettier/Killswitch. Ivelisse follows up with a sunset flip powerbomb to pick up the win.

Yup, solid enough match.

An unhappy Moth jumps in the ring and attacks Ivelisse from behind. Once Mariposa gets back up, Ivelisse gets hit with a Marty assisted splash. It seems that there is nobody around to help out Ivelisse tonight. (I did write this at the time, in case you thought I came back later in the show to add it)
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Dario is on his big red phone.

I’ve been meaning to mention the phone for a while. The whole thing is a choice in itself. Why a landline? Perhaps harder to bug? A red phone gives off emergency / direct line to the top / batman contact vibes. Finally, a rotary phone? Being that I don’t think that we’ve actually seen him dial, that must be an aesthetic choice.

Anyway, Dario is telling whoever he is talking about to not worry about Puma, Matanza will beat him. Hey, somebody knocked!
It’s Mundo to complain about Puma getting a title shot over him. He is trying a different tactic, kncocking and then calmly explaining his grievance. Dario explains that it wasn’t his choice, it was fate. This is just an excuse for Mundo to show off his abs and say that he didn’t get them through luck, but hard work.

Mundo, having failed again to get a LU title match, goes for the backup choice of GOTG. He convinces Dario by pointing out that Sexy Star was on the losing side of the atomicos match.
Dario is seeming swayed, and even points out that she was the one that was pinned… uh oh. Mundo didn’t pin her…



It will be Jack Evans vs Sexy Star for the Gift of the Gods!

As a despondent Mundo leaves, he turns as says to Dario, “Think about what…” and just trails off as Dario doesn’t even look up from his work.
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Follow the white rabbit…



TICK
TOCK
THEY’LL BE HERE SOON

...Ok?

The more I look at it, the more I like the design.

Best of Five: Texano(0) vs Cage(1)

Based on history, the series is likely either going all the way to match five, or ending with a Cage clean sweep.

Quick start that soon heads to the outside, with Texano being the main aggressor. Texano keeps rolling in the ring to break the ref’s count. It’s not something I’ve really noticed before and makes me wonder if it’ll come into play for the finish.

I do love the Terminator beats done for Cage by the crowd.

Cage wins with an F5 and goes up 2-0

A tiny bit messy in spots, but it did feel slightly different from their first match. Be interesting if they can keep shifting things slightly to keep things feeling fresh.
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Ivelisse is back in the locker-room and is approached by somebody who calls her ‘babe’. He says he just came back there to get his ticket so he can go out and watch her in her big match.



Hey, it’s that guy! Oh, what’s his name… thingy. That’s gonna bug me and I can’t even check since I don’t know and won’t risk random browsing of LU people.

Ivelisse informs him that he’s late and she’s already had her match. His excuse: He thought she’d be in the main event (smooth). He notices her holding her neck and Ivelisse mentions that she got jumped after the match.
This infuriates him and he demands to know who it was so he can go and break their face.

...Solomon Crowe! That was his NXT name! Right, I’ve got something to go on… Ah, Sami Callahan.

He offers himself as backup, but Ive, who calls him Jeremiah, says she wants to keep her personal and professional lives separate and when she tried mixing them before, it didn’t work out.
Jeremiah say that what they have is a lot stronger than what she and Son of Chaos (grrr) had.

Ive just wants him to take her home so she can have a drink. Jeremiah asks, 'why wait?' and pulls out a flask. Ive starts to leave, in an even worse mood now that she has to drive. That last bit, as well as being just a fun little line, is a good message that probably made zero change in the world, but who knows.

Booo! can this guy be the next one to get murdered?
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Lucha Underground Championship: Prince Puma vs ‘The Monster’ Matanza Cueto(c) w/Dario Cueto

The first LU champ going against the current one. I don’t think we’re getting a clean finish here, I expect to see Mil before too long… not that he likes Matanza either.

I hope that the crane hook that Matanza walks by on his entrance gets used at some point during the show’s lifetime.

Matanza’s hits are shown in the first seconds to be much more effective than Puma’s. Puma goes to his speed and agility, as you would expect.

Vamp is still going on about Puma being broken and what he needs to fix himself.

I thought that Puma’s head missed the table by a mile when Matanza slammed him into it, but it was just due to the cover for the equipment that made it look a little off.



I’m with you, Matanza, what is that that you’ve uncovered? Is it a mic? Oh, it’ll be the camera for the up the nose shots of commentary.



Dario likes that, he wants his brother to do it again.

Matanza is in total control and just throwing Puma around as much as he wants. A shoulder tackle by Puma ends with him bouncing off the monster and flipping away.

Puma’s avoidance skills eventually bring him back into the match.

After a corner splash by Matanza, Puma gets back to his feet and challenges Matanza to hit him again. Matanza does so. Puma gets back to his feet again and challenges him to do it again. Matanza goes for a third and this time Puma actually catches him.

Puma carries him to the middle of the ring and then hits his Northern Lights into suplex combo.



Now THAT was impressive. Not enough though, only a two count.

Puma is doing just enough now to stay in this, but makes a major difference when he counters Wrath of the Gods into a DDT. That gives him the opening to hit more kicks and send Matanza into a nice position on the mat in the corner. He goes up top as we see a distraught Dario and pleased Melissa



He hits the 630 and rolls to his feet just in time to get hit by a Mil Muertes spear!

No DQ! That’s what happens when you have El Jefe at ringside. Mil hits a Flatliner as Catrina puts in an appearance as well. Damage done, Mil exits the ring while keeping a close eye on Matanza, who is just getting to his feet.

He doesn’t need to, but Matanza hits Wrath of the Gods before he pins a lifeless Puma.

I wouldn’t call it a classic, but it was very good.
------------------------------------------------------------
We head back to the Lucha Gym where Killshot is working out. He has an unpleasant interruption in the form of Joey Ryan, who hands him an envelope. Joey claims that some guy outside asked him to give it to Killshot. When questioned about what the guy looked like, Joey says, “I don’t know. What am I, a detective?”

In the envelope, which has a logo with a skull in crosshairs, is this:



Ooh, now that is interesting.

We had the story of Killshot’s time in the military. How he became a sniper and joined an elite team. They were captured and held for 13 months before he escaped and he never found out what happened to the others on his team. ♫Dun dun dun♫

Of course, it could be related to something completely different, but it's unlikely.

Next time: The Open Road to Revenge

I guess we're getting Havoc/Sagrada and Famous B/Wagner stuff next time.

Post Episode & General Thoughts/Questions
- I went looking for a ‘Night of the Lepus’ clip and ended up going down a rabbithole (pun fully intended). There’s so many famous bunnies in media.
- Smart move by Dario to halt the DQ call. Now the records show that Matanza pinned Puma therefore he has no leverage to demand a rematch.
- Heh, I was trying to work out what that thing is on the lower right of the bit of paper… It’s a hole with Killshot’s fingers sticking through and not some sort of half-melted official seal.

[Deleted]

Remember when I had that gif last week , well these are even MOAR of my favourite things.

Now some might say this is a bit excessive seed planting and it is alot of waiting but knowing what alot of us know where all of these things lead it is absoloutley worth the wait IMO of course.

Dario tossing the mic at the camera is such a cool little moment someone give this man all the awards.

But it was also a different opening because uually you get the recap , logo and then into the show where as it here it was recap into show , then logo and then back into the show...don't know if one of the editors was trying something different but it takes one by a little bit of a surprise.

Striker is testing his luck with Vamp with these damn dad joke level puns.

This is an 20 outta 10 episode for Catrina and Ive's bubble pants.

I like Vamps subtle play here when Striker asks him about if Mariposa and Catrina are similar and how he sort of ties it to Prince Puma talking about how those who were masks have some psychological damage which you attribute to what has going on with Puma and even Pentagon.

Not much else to say about the match it was solid enough.

I love passive agressive Mundo lol after weeks of yelling and demanding title shots , now he is being a bit more reserved here by knocking showing up alone and trying to I guess appeal to Dario by showing off his albeit impressive abs but continues to not be enough to sway El Jefe....maybe he should think about sending him a fruit basket , I see Dario is a man that is very appreciative of a nice peach.

Cage and Texano again a match that is getting better with match but again nothing really to say about this at the moment it was again solid enough that gets much better going forward.

But on things I loved is Jeremiahs introduction and it being probably the most straight forward and heartfelt Ive has been so far in the show with showing just a little sadness in the way her voice trails when correcting Jeremiahs bullshittery to make sure he knows Havoc got in them bubble pants first.

And the way he takes a shot of the flask without offering her any , it was a great way to establish Ive has terrible choice in men but als that this relationship is going nowhere good nowhere fast and aren't even wasting time letting the audience think there is any positives between these two being together.



You heard wat the voice said now DO IT DAMN IT! it is for our betterment.

Main event was a a great match as to expected , that deadlift suplex on Matanza being the stand out spot was in f***ing sane and I love whe deciptively small people can do insane feats of strength like this because it genuinely shocks people where as with your typical wrestling giant it is nice but is entirely something you just expect.

But it is funny how things are playing out here because Mil and Matanza last season just wanted each other dead , Catrina and Dario wanted each other gone and now both are like ships in the night crashing with one common ground to kill Prince Puma atleast on this night and largely this is because of Vamp but no one is paying attention to him.

And last but least more of my favourite things...Joey's what am I a detective genuinley gets a great laugh out of me and is just LU cheeky humnor.

There is so much I wanna talk about in more detail but LU keeping me honest so I am just patiently waiting because so much stuff has just dropped into preverbial laps these last two episode but I just cannot...not yet.