Gecko Watched Lucha Underground (completed)

[Deleted]

This is clear obvious cool down episode and being pretty much a match heavy episode so not alot to say this week from my end about this one because next episode though we get back to business in a massive way.

And something I was lookin forward to that happens in the next episode I either must have missed either a comfirmation or they straight up never mention it before it happens either way can't wait for it.

Cage Vs Matanza was just a straight up banger of a hoss match and further baffles me how no one else gets that THIS is the Cage he should be and can be but this might be just indicitive of the enviroment of different companies , in LU he is just this badass ass kicker built like a mountain that throw out lucha libre moves like aint nothing , he has this aura here of being cool as hell that no one else has been able to channel for some reason.

And chefs kiss to that camera work on the Son Of Havoc shooting star...like I said other companies may have people that know how to use a camera but the people in LU know how to shoot a f***ing show and this is a great example , they give you this awesome sense of scale to those that havs never stood on the top rope in a wrestling ring and the way it follows him down is just perfection.

Rapey Kobra Moon is still a choice lol

We are in the midst of Johnny's god tier now and it just keeps getting better.

And I love how LU took the heel direction with Mundo and Crew that they are suppose to be heels...so they should cheat all the time by dick kicking everyone every chance they get....and Jack Evans was right it was indeed the greatest thing we have ever seen.

Because he was clearly talking about.

[Deleted]

So this week as rather short by me so thought I would go digging into the past here into past interviews and see what interesting stuff I can dig up without having to link you to videos that would spoil things etc and gives you insight into the work minds back then.

This comes from when Erik Van Wagnen was on the stone cold podcast after season 1 but before season 2

On Season Two: “El Rey has absolutely wants us back. They’ve given us an offer on the table, they want us back 40 more episodes, ‘we’d love to have you start airing in October. We want you back.’ Now, what we’re trying to do as an organization, is we’re trying to maintain this certain level of production value. There’s the amount of money El Rey is giving us, and then there’s this amount of money that we need to spend in order to keep the same level of quality that we’ve established. […] It’s a high production value, we put a lot of emphasis on the production value, we don’t cut any corner. So now, what we are doing is, myself and the other El Rey executives and the investors and Mark Burnett and the people who work at the United Artist Media group – there is a combined effort to bridge that gap, between the money El Rey is giving us and the money we need. All options are on the table, whether that’s Netflix, iTunes, a secondary broadcast partner, or DVD sales, merchandise, you name it, everything’s on the table. The money guys are trying to close that gap, and once we have that gap closed, we’re announcing.”

On The Promotion’s End Game: “The bigger goal for us is to create super heroes – we’d much rather be the Avengers than WrestleMania. Our end game is movies, animated series, comic books, cartoons – it’s all the stuff, the Marvel world. So, we create a Marvel world, the Marvel cliffhangers, the sort of Marvel superheroes where women are just as tough as the men, and there are people with some special powers, and Mil Muertes defies death and he’s sort of come back to life now, and Fenix who has a 1000 lives. We’re slowly treading into the super natural, we’re treading into a very science fiction/comic book world. We started with a magna which was written by one of Robert Rodriguez’s writers, where he created some of the characters, and Son of Havoc was one of those characters. We’ve evolved those characters, you know, if you were to look at the original magna, Mil Muertes was in, Prince Puma was in it – there’s a whole bunch more that were in that are still coming that we’re going to be introducing in season 2 – but some of them come from super natural roots, and we base it on a lot of research that has been done by this PHD named Carl Tolb (sp?) who was a consultant for us early, who studied ancient Mesoamerican tribes. It’s in the realm of fantasy, but it’s based in historic research.”

Something you definetly want to keep a close little reminder of is him talking about the difference between the money El Rey is giving them and the money they need to spend.

That is going to become very very important down the line of discussion because and this grinds my gears when people talk about why did LU come to an end but again we will get there eventually.

[Gecko]

S02E20 – The Contenders

Last time
- Daga lost to Havoc and then had to fend off the attentions of Kobra Moon
- Rey, Dragon, and Puma failed to regain the Trios titles and are not a happy group at the moment
- Dragon is prevented from doing anything to Matanza by Black Lotus
- Matanza defeated Cage to retain the LU title.

Recaps of:
- Jack ‘The Dragon Slayer’ Evans and PJ Black’s issues with Drago and Aerostar
- Cisco getting arrested
- Penta being broken by Matanza and Vamp’s “rehabilitation”

Into Dario’s office to start us off.

We find Dario peeking out of his window as Black Lotus enters and tells him that the new Dragon Azteca knows where he keeps his brother. Dragon wants to kill him, but she stopped him. But she kept asking herself, why she stopped him?
Lotus warns Dario that if he was lying and Dragon Azteca didn’t kill her parents, he’ll have to answer not only to her, but the entire Black Lotus Triad.

Dario insists that he’s the only one who has told her the truth. He then tells her that she’ll get the chance to destroy the man who killed her parents as she will take on Dragon Azteca at Ultima Lucha Dos. Then she can take his mask back to the Black Lotus Triad and finally her parents can rest in Peace.



Love the lighting on Dario in this scene.
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The nightmare creature is still stalking me from behind the band as we move into the Temple proper.

As we jump over to commentary, Vampiro immediately stands out to me as being quiet and less excited than usual. Maybe his mind is on other things? Maybe it’s actually Vampiro in disguise instead of Ian?

Striker covers how they’re deciding Matanza’s challenger for UL. Tonight, a six-on-six match, the winning team competes in an elimination match next week to find the next victim challenger.

Tonight, we are also getting… a nunchuck (not on a pole) match!

Marty ‘The Moth’ Martinez vs Killshot

I’m torn between feeling disgusted by Marty and laughing at the noise Melissa made when he grabbed the mic from her (with as much physical contact as possible). She doesn’t get to finish her intro as Marty, still wearing Killshot’s dogtags, calls out Killshot while imitating his mannerisms when he hangs the tags on the corner.

He’s enjoying himself too much to notice that his call did not go unanswered



We immediately go to the outside and a straight up fight. See, this is how you start a match that has this level of emotion behind it. They never make it back in the ring, but before the ref counts them out, it’s just a violent, brutal fight.

Double count-out. The ref gave them plenty of time to get back in the ring, but they had no interest in doing so.

After the match, Killshot is focused on reclaiming his property, Marty on stopping him. Marty tries a trick he used just seconds earlier as he hooks his fingers inside the mouth of Killshot to drag him back, but this time, Killshot (while probably trying not to think about where they’ve been) bites down on them.

Marty pushes a ref over into the barricade and turns around into a kick to the face. Killshot claims his dogtags again. Marty sneaks back in, hits a suplex and manages to escape with the prize once more.

Dogtags on a pole at UL?
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Coming up later:



There are some interesting stories going on in that picture. People who don’t like their teammates, people who do like an opponent, and Chavo is there too.

Speaking of interesting stories…



It’s time for “Cortez” and Joey Ryan to try and get some info out of Cisco. Things don’t start off great as Cisco spits at Cortez and threatens to insert Joey’s lollypop in him somewhere.

Captain Vasquez is the one who stops this going any further as she slams Cisco’s file down before going over his record; Armed Robbery, Disturbing the Peace, Assault, Accessory to Murder. Am I the only one that feels like one of those isn’t quite on the same level as the others?

Cisco cuts through everything and just asks what they want. Vasquez says that he’s known Dario longer than either of her detectives and that he trusts him. They want him to wear a wire.
Cisco says Hell No! and that looks to be the end of it, Captain says he’ll be rotting in jail for a long time. Cisco halts them just before they leave, and we move onto the next phase. First, what they’re trying to get Dario on. Answer: The obvious stuff; Drug trafficking, money smuggling, the murders, but it’s bigger than that. Vasquez thinks that Dario is the lynchpin to the End of Days.

Oh... What? Um. Ok. That’s… not what I was expecting. I was thinking they were thinking they were going after some big conspiracy thing involving people in power (it might still be that, just with bigger stakes). So these are the double undercover, mystic cops then, well aware of supernatural stuff going on. Or maybe it’s a religious-y based thing. Or they’re trying to halt the rise of Baron Corbin.

That was even more interesting than I was expecting. I can’t even begin to guess what the next twist will be.
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We head back to the Temple where there are now a bunch of nunchucks hanging around the place. They’re not around the ring, they’re around the Temple, which suggests this match will wander around a bit.

“Shut up, I don’t wanna hear it!” – a random voice shouts out.

Oh, seeing who is already in the ring, that might not be such a random shout out.

Nunchucks Match: PJ Black & Jack ‘The Draaaaagoooon Slaaaaayeeerrr!!!” Evans vs Drago & Aerostar

Poor Melissa isn’t getting her to do her intros tonight as Jack snatches the mic to show her how it’s supposed to be done.



Drago’s horned-skull look has been bugging me for a while because it reminds me of something and, until now, I didn’t know what. What It makes me think of is this:

If you know what that is from, you’re probably already traumatised from me reminding you of it, for everybody else, here’s some info on the show it is from www.denofgeek.com/tv/looking-back-at-through-the-dragon-s-eye/

The first really fancy move of the match comes from Aerostar. He’s on the apron and, as Black is standing on the floor being stunned (for much longer than he was expecting), springboard to the bottom rope, to the middle rope, to the top rope… and runs out of spring so just kind of falls on Black. It was good until the end.



Lots of fun double team moves by Drago and Aerostar, but the spaceman does seem a little off tonight.

We get an air guitar riff… that has sound effects? Yeah, that works for me. No need to question the logic of it.

Black and Evans are the first to go for the weapons. Oh, I didn’t realise they were hanging that high. Jack standing on the shoulders of Black didn’t work (cause he got attacked) but it looks like those set of nunchakus will need a ladder to be retrieved.

When they’re back in the ring, Aerostar has to take a couple of attempts to get hoisted over the top rope to the outside. Definitely having an off night.

There’s a fight all the way up the Temple steps as everybody realises that the nunchuks at the top would be easier to get to. Jack Evans claims them by sitting on the shoulders of Black.

Evans throws in a “cowabunga” as he and Black take turns showing off by hitting their opponents with the weapon.

Drago manages to fight back and cause some separation in order to claim a weapon of his own from atop the mystery room of mystery. He then has an easy target presented to him by the other team trying to get onto the roof of the room. He finishes with a senton onto the bleachers.

Aerostar claims the third pair of nunchucka, hiding behind the crowd on the upper level. Jack Evans jumping from the barricade to attack him and then getting thrown off the barricade as he was posing was much scarier before I realised they were above Dario’s office.
The nunchucks fell all the way down, but then get thrown back up to be claimed by Aerostar again.



So, d’ya want broken hands, or do you want to risk a broken leg?

Aerostar follows them down by jumping off the office. With how Aerostar’s been tonight, I’m just glad it didn’t go horribly wrong.

Drago is the only one on his feet as the Believers reach a crescendo. He drags Jack back in the ring and just goes to work on him with a bunch of painful sounding hits from the nunchucks.



Hope the camera-person got a bonus for that as they also got covered.

Drago finishes things off with his super-complicated fancy rollup.

Drago and Aerostar win what was a hugely fun match.
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6-on-6: Prince Puma, The Mack, Texano, Sexy Star, Son of Havoc, Rey Mysterio Jr vs Fenix, Ivelisse, King Cuerno, Taya, Johnny Mundo, Chavo Guerrero.

With the amount of people involved, this one is looking to take up about half the episode.

The first team come out all looking like they’ll get along, at least for tonight, and being led by Rey. Team two, although they all come out at the same time, only Mundo and Taya look like they’re on a team together; the rest are all acting as if they’re on their own.

Also, Melissa got her whole intro done!

I took the opportunity to check something else while Chavo was taking his time to make his entrance and almost missed...



Penta is here to talk to Chavo. He says that Chavo was the only one that supported him, the only one that helped him. He thanks Chavo.

Now, call me suspicious, but we’ve seen that Penta doesn’t need the wheelchair anymore. He’s also not done talking, it seems.

“But… Now… I…. will… destroy you!” as Penta stands while Chavo surveys the ring completely unaware of what is happening behind him.

Everybody in the ring watches on as Penta breaks Chavo’s arm. Vamp is playing dumb in all of this and has Striker fooled that he’s as shocked as anybody.

When they come back from the break, Dario, joined by Black Lotus, emerges from his office to clear things up. He welcomes Penta back and says he has a chance to replace Chavo in the match. He's known for giving people what they want, so he checks with the Believers as to whether he should sub Penta in. They say si.

Onto the match.

Ivelisse and Taya are already arguing when the bell rings. Mundo tries to separate them which brings in Fenix, which brings in Cuerno. Penta breaks all their arms and competes by himself.

Sexy Star tries for the sneaky quick roll up on Taya while they’re all distracted. After a bit of back and forth, Havoc gets tagged in and so Taya tags in Ivelisse (via a slap on the head). They go at it properly, but without any really high-impact stuff.

Taya is complaining from the corner, and Penta tags himself in when Ivelisse gets close enough. Penta is looking good against Mack and Vamp is getting a bit too excited for a neutral observer.

Pounce by Mack, Fenix spun right over the top of him.

Texano gets a pair of sunglasses thrown at him from the apron as an attempt to break up a pin.



Taya’s assistance is probably not appreciated.

It all starts breaking down shortly after this as we head to the final stages of the match.



Cuerno decides that a bunch of marines will make a comfy landing. Everybody else decides to stick with landing on other people in the match.

More fuel for the conflict between them as Rey is shoved into Puma when he’s on the turnbuckle, causing him to fall. Mundo was the one that did the shoving, he follows up with a top rope Spanish Fly on Puma and getting the pin for his team.

The winners are Fenix, Ivelisse, Mundo, Taya, Cuerno, and Penta. You kind of got the feeling that team might be winning when Penta got added.
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Oh, deer . We head over to Cuerno’s cabin. I sense we might be getting somebody waking up.
Mil Muertes is still on the wall, but he has a visitor. Catrina is there and says that death waits for no one.

She uses the stone to revive him again.



A slightly demonic Mil Muertes opens his new red eyes with a scream and breaks the glass with his head.
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Really fun episode this time round.

Great matches, returns and the start of returns and more set ups for presumably UL matches, an important and major development in the investigation story. They do only have a few more episodes for this season, so I guess they kind of have to get things going.
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Next time: Six to Survive

Post Episode & General Thoughts/Questions
- I liked how neither Killshot nor Marty had any interest in winning the match at all. Marty made sure that you saw that he noticed the ref counting at one point and then just went back to beating up Killshot.
- Is it Dario that’s the key to the End of Days or is it The Temple? I’m thinking it’s along the lines of: The Big Boss, who is on the way, needs a bunch of energy and all the violence in the Temple generates it. Maybe even the Believers are the ones generating the energy themselves from their emotion… This is starting to sound like I’m getting drawn into a cult here just by watching.
- UL2 is trying to sneak up on me without me noticing.

[Deleted]

One of the absoloute strongest top to bottom episodes in the entire season.

Love the call back in the title to Erik Van Wagenens time as producer on the reality boxing show The Contender nice little easter egg.

Dario is such an amazing sniveling little shit head in the opening scene but what a performance he goes from worried to immediately happy his brother is fine to then just flipping the entire situation to his advantage by playing on Black Lotus's ponderence and setting her up to either get rid of ole Melon head or he gets rid of her either way Dario should be pleased he pretty much set a perfect chess play here because then his brother can just pick off whoever is left with ease.

lol Gecko's new best friend hanging out in the dark behind the band...he just wants a hug is all gotta be a bit lonely up there in the pitch dark even with rockin tunes to keep him sane...and speaking of sane Vamp and Striker.

Killshot and Marty is progressing in way where you truly feel the hatred between the two , like our reptilian overlord said this is what you expect out of this emotion forget wrestling this is a fight and this is exactly what this is , candy van owner Marty made this highly personal and Killshot aint showing up to win a match.

But lol at Striker.

"Striker: Why are you waving at me you weird human being"

But this is a wonderful case of story and character progression taking precedence over the match and done to perfection.

And here a little insight Swerve/Killshot credits Marty and this feud for basically turning him into the star he became because of how much he learned about character work from this and Marty was just gung ho for anything and really allowed both to flourish and elevate one another.

Poor Franciso Garza that dude went from Goon to being arrested to now being forced to be a rat for the police what a life he has had , but I love the emotion here from him spitting at Cortez both for being betrayed by someone he thought was his friend (that is a nice character touch that Cisco is fiercly loyal) and finding out he was infact a cop...talk about the house of cards collapsing all around you.

And the other thing I love that he is sweating hard and you see the beed of sweat fall off of him immediately after captain hottie says he will rot in jail , added little touch that Cisco is absoloutley scared and just wrapped in every possible emotion great stuff.

Lynch pin to the end of days....oh I may have undersold it but this is only the tip of preverbial ice berg oh the things to come ..there is gonna be alot HOLY SHIT I DID NOT SEE THAT COMING in the future. LU is the best written wrestling show there has ever been and this is the stuff that cements it , by being able to intergate so many different genres effortlessly and keep them flowing as stories from one to the next and nothing feels out of place.

Jack Evans continues to be the worlds most loud mouthed treasure.

"GUY'S I AM ABOUT TO WRESTLE AND I NEED COMPLETE SILENCE" lol

Air guitar WITH sound effects...yea everyone else can do air guitar but do they give the sound effects? No so all the amazing points go to LU for going full tilt lol.

There is a really f***ing hilarious moment during this match at the tapings I believe it was Drago went to get a pair of the nunchucks and he then flug them into the audience and he got booed outta the building for it lol so for a brief moment in time Drago was the most hated in the temple lol because everyone thought he intentionally tossed them away.

And holy shit the crowd loses their f***ing mind when Aerostar jumps off.

And can I say how absoloutley on f***ing point the sound mixing in LU is with the gunshot sound effects when Drago just destroying Jacks skull with the nunchuck shots just takes that up a nice couple notches.

Chavito gets his ass kicked AND gets his arm broken 10 outta 10 episode!

The entiety of six to survive is one of my absoloute favourite matches which stars with this match and again goes to what always is said LU's ability to weave so many stories and characters together and in and out is second to none and this entire thing is beautifully crafted because usually you put this in the hands of any other wrestling show and usually you end up with quick eliminations because there is fodder and we gotta get the "real" stars their time but in this match everyone gets their time , their moment to not only call back to previous feuds and keep building on that but also plant seeds for what is to come and elevating their characters is a balance few can strike as well as LU does it here and it makes for an amazing 2 part matches and one of my all time favourites.

And SIX TO SURVIVE is such a badass name for a match concept IMO.

Oh and did I say this was a 10 outta 10 episode? I stand corrected CATRINA IS BACK 50 OUTTA 10 EPISODE! And so is Mil angrier than ever and what a cliffhanger he just head buts his way out of his glass confinement like aint no biggie in an amazing OH SHIT moment.

[Gecko]

We join join Gecko late at night, hunched over his keyboard and squinting at the monitor in front of him. He tries to ignore the imp sitting on his head hitting him with a tiny hammer and the torrent of fluid gushing from his nose as he tries to complete his task. The work is important, but will he manage to finish it? only time will tell.

So, what I'm trying to say is I heroically did this while I had a bit of a cold.

S02E21 – Six to Survive

Last time
• Killshot and Marty fight to a double countout, Marty escapes with the dogtags again
• Cisco is asked to wear a wire and is told that Dario may be the key to the End of Days.
• Drago and Aerostar beat PJ Black and Jack Evans in a nunchucks match
• Penta returns and breaks Chavo’s arm, he then replaces Chavo in the 6-on-6 match
• Fenix, Ivelisse, Mundo, Taya, Cuerno, and Penta won the 6-on-6 match
• Catrina went to Cuerno’s cabin and revived Mil Muertes

Recaps of:
• The investigation of Dario into the arrest of Cisco into Penta’s destruction by Matanza and rebuilding by Vamp into Matanza taking out Mil Muertes into Cuerno making him into a trophy into Catrina reviving him.
• The 6-on-6 tag and return of Pentagon

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Into the Temple, where the nightmare creature continues his slow advance to the front of the stage while everybody is distracted by the band (which may actually be just a bunch of his limbs that have evolved to be a distraction)

Striker talks us through Six to Survive, a six-way elimination match where the winner gets a shot at Matanza at UL2.

Oh, and apparently we’re jumping right into it. It’s either going to be a long match (probably), or there’ll be shenanigans (also likely), or there’ll be extra stuff at the end (also also likely).

Six to Survive: King Cuerno vs Ivelisse vs Taya vs Pentagon Jr vs Fenix vs Johnny Mundo

Wasting no time here, everybody is already in the ring without getting a full entrance.
Penta’s return to the temple is an obvious talking point after having his back broken. Vamp says it’s a miracle and he has no idea how Penta managed it. I’m kind of at the point where I believe that he genuinely doesn’t know about all the stuff that the other part of him gets up to.

Taya and Mundo do the sensible thing and work together, Ivelisse is the early target for them.

Lucha kick up the arse by Fenix on Taya when she turned away and cowered from a punch.

Wassup?



Mundo’s testicles, up into his torso.

Taya saves Mundo even though it’s elimination rules.

Ivelisse gets used as a projectile by Fenix and Cuerno. Always love people just picking up others and using them as weapons.

Cuerno looks to get the first elimination, but… ruh-roh!



That’s a familiar silhouette. Mundo dives out the way as Muertes slides into the ring to confront a wide-eyed Cuerno. This wouldn’t have happened if Cuerno had just stuck his head on the wall… maybe.

Muertes spears Cuerno and then just pummels him before hitting an ugly powerbomb. This leaves Cuerno as easy prey for Mundo.

Cuerno is the first elimination.
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Back to the match and as Mundo and Taya take care of Penta outside, Fenix is reluctant to get into it with Ivelisse inside. He pushes her away by the shoulders, at least according to Vamp.

Fenix is hurting his chances by not taking Ivelisse seriously. She removes him from the ring and then does the same to Penta. Then she has a good go at taking out Taya and Mundo at the same time.



Even Satan is here to watch this one.

A nice moonsault from Taya, shame it missed. She does make good on it though with a follow up Northern Lights / double stomp combo which is enough to get the pin on Ivelisse.

Two down, Three left to eliminate.
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A Four way elimination at this point, and you have to imagine it’ll be essentially, Taya and Johnny vs Fenix and Penta, at least for a little bit.

As Mundo slingshots himself over the top to hit a kick on Fenix on the floor, Penta is making doubly sure that there will be no celebration in the Mundo/Taya household tonight, no matter the outcome of the match.



Penta continues to kick Taya’s arse (literally) on the outside where Mundo is finally mounting a comeback on Fenix after losing control of the situation. He notices what Penta is doing to Taya and so gets back in the ring to call the skeleton in so he can defend her honour or something.

I’m feeling a little sorry for Taya with all the punishment she’s taking in this one. Luckily, Penta puts her out of her misery with a package piledriver.



Well done to whoever made Taya’s top, I guess.
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Johnny Mundo vs Fenix vs Pentagon

We come back with Mundo checking on Taya before getting back in the ring.

I think everybody in the match has had a chant in support of them during the match.

After a minute of three-way chops, Penta takes a break with a water bottle while sitting on the stairs.

Maybe the camera was a little too close to the action this time?



They couldn’t use the shot from that camera because the top of him was out of frame when he went to the top rope.

Mundo is doing well against his masked opponents, but a quick counter and team up from the Lucha Bros sees Mundo get eliminated. There was a little bit of miscommunication that was easily covered by commentary saying that Penta tried to roll up Fenix (and definitely not pulling him back onto the pile for the pin)
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Fenix vs Pentagon

Do I sense Vampiro interference here? I could see it happening.

Surprisingly, the two start trading submission holds before things go all flippy and spinny.

There’s more I could say, but it’s Penta vs Fenix; you know what you’re getting with this one.

Storyline thinking says that Penta is winning here, but I could also see Fenix winning. Soooo, I dunno? Maybe they’ll come up with a way to make it a triple threat.

Panama Sunrise on the outside leaves Fenix looking dead and Penta not much better off.



They get back in the ring and both die again.

Penta finally gets the win from a Panama Sunrise into Package piledriver combo.

Fantastic match, it kept me invested all the way through. Vamp had an interesting reaction to Penta’s win, he was standing up but quiet and was also dismissive of Striker when asked for his opinion as he said he was ‘thinking’.
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El Jefe arrives at the top of the stairs. Dario holds the key up as he leads out the champ, Matanza.

Penta has recovered enough to grab a mic to tell Dario something. At Ultima Lucha, he’s going to break each and every single one of his brother’s bones. And so that he can also see how much of a badass he is, he’ll also break all of Dario’s bones! You can probably guess how he finishes.

Dario doesn’t look too bothered by the threat and has a smirk on his face as we end the episode.


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Yeah, so obviously one of the wrestling focused episodes but, as always, they managed to progress some on the story side as well.

Next time: Fame and Fortune

Post Episode & General Thoughts/Questions
- A third of the participants are women and it does not feel in the least bit gimmicky.
- Took me a fair while to notice, but unlike recent outings, Mundo was all business tonight. He was completely serious, no joking around. A nice little detail to show how important the match was.

- It just clicked for me, Dario holds the key/Dario is the key. That can’t be a coincidence.

- Two more episodes and then we move onto UL2 which takes up the final 3 episodes (with the last being a double length one). I'm guessing next week we start getting some more matches announced. Obvious ones are Mil vs Cuerno, Marty vs Killshot, a Trios title match.

[Deleted]

One of my absoloute favourite episodes in the entire series or as I like to dub it...PENTAGON REALLY HATES TAYA.

Hey Geckos new bestie made his way out of the darkness and is boogieing down...he must have gotten that hug he needed he seems much happier this week.

This episode piggy backs off of what I said last time in that LU is so masterful at weaving character and story so seemlessly and the last and this episode are exemplirary examples of it , no one feels left out and everyone continues to get their fair share of this pie...Taya unfortunately getting the painful portion lol that poor woman got her ass WHOOPED in this match lol I probably should not laugh but it is almost comical how Penta just relentlessly targets her for almost the entirety of her time in it.

I would have go check because I am wondering if this was before or after Taya turned on him at Triplemania because it would then be understood why Penta is just out to kill her here but also this is what endears Taya to the believers might look like a shredded barbie but she is anything but.

lol Melissa's intro to Penta always makes me laugh my ass off she has had enough of Pentas shit and throws all the sass at him in his intro.

I like how they played up Fenix's chivalry here because that has pretty much been his achillees heel with the ladies specifically Catrina and how it could have cost him this match way earlier.

I love Mundo's ability to summon sound effects whenever he poses...I imagine he does that when he wakes up and before he goes to sleep he just isn't normal without.

Cuerno absoloutley f***ing kills Fenix with that jumping kick of his just straight up nasty.

Vamp is so good on commentary keeping up his angle with Penta and flipping back and forth to being the "unbiased" commentator and making you question like you said is it Vampiro or Ian talking and whats truth and lie wonderful stuff and does not get enough credit for just his character work because it has to be so immensely difficult to have to play 2 distinctly different personas while keeping your story going while keeping up the characters deception and make it all work seemlessly like he does.

Speaking of people killing people...HEEERRREEEEE'S MIL and I love this and it goes back to just Mil himself that there is no bravado , there is no grand standing here he angrily marches to the f***ing ring with the intent to f***ing hurt Cuerno or whoever else , Mil has complexities to his story and character but his direct always encompassing goal it to hurt you let alone kill you and that simplicty is great because you know exactly what you get with him. and LU never comppromises it.

But yea not much else to cover about this episode just one big epic match that sets the stage for UL2 an absoloute must watch....I almost did not realize how close we are to that myself.

[Deleted]

So with Ultima Lucha 2 sneaking up real quickly I figure now would be the time to start teasing out/showing off the character posters for that season of course doing what I did before I am keeping it for now to people whose looks will have not changed all that much if at all.


So we go from the album like style of the season 2 posters to a crisp more film style posters for the coming season 3.

[anglarite]

One trope I really dislike in wrestling is teams/stables turning on each other in the middle of elimination style matches. It would seem a lot more productive to team up, eliminate together everyone else and then fight each other, which would guarantee that the winner is actually part of the stable/team.

Luckily LU pretty much avoids this trope... most of the time.

[Deleted]

May 1, 2022 17:26:08 GMT -5 anglarite said:

One trope I really dislike in wrestling is teams/stables turning on each other in the middle of elimination style matches. It would seem a lot more productive to team up, eliminate together everyone else and then fight each other, which would guarantee that the winner is actually part of the stable/team.

Luckily LU pretty much avoids this trope... most of the time.

Ima spoiler just incase I let anything slip.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}{SPOILER: CLICK TO SHOW}To be fair LU does not have many traditional full blown factions in the entire series....alot of that attributed to the series ending at 4 seasons.

But plenty of loose alliances that tie together through friendship or other means like Fenix , Drago , Aerostar...friends but I would not consider them a faction.

[Gecko]

S02E22 – Fame and Fortune

Last time
• Penta wins Six to Survive, threatens to break all the Cueto brothers’ bones.

Recaps of:
• Cage winning GOTG then losing to Matanza in his title match
• Mascarita Sagrada’s lack of success since signing with Famous B
• The Black Lotus and Dragon Azteca disagreement on who killed her parents.

Is Mascarita winning a medallion? I feel like he has to have a big win and that is one that makes sense.
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Creepy music suggests we are not heading into the main Temple immediately.

Into Dario’s office where he’s meeting with a potential new participant in Temple activities. We pan from a shot of the jaguar on Dario’s desk as he says that he’s heard rumours about this person. Many say that he’s the best up and coming luchadore in the world and, like Prince Puma, he traces his lineage all the way back to the Jaguar tribe.

This new person is Nightclaw(?). One disadvantage of this not being on Tubi anymore is that I can’t throw on subtitles to check if I can’t quite catch something that’s said.

Yeah, he looks like a Nightclaw. Probably only because he couldn’t get away with calling himself Black Panther.

Dario goes on to explain that tonight, six luchadores will win six of the seven Aztec Medallions. Buuuuttt… Nightclaw will be making his debut in the GOTG match itself, and Dario tosses him a Medallion.

Non-English promo means I get confirmation on Night Claw’s name. He says, in his best Batman growly voice, that at UL2 he will prove that he deserves to be at the top of LU. Well, at the very least I guess that tells us one match we’re getting there.

I’m not sure I’m going to be able to take Night Claw seriously. He also looks to have a padded outfit at the front.

Ooh, there’s more. As Night Claw goes to leave, Dario asks if he knows what happened to the Jaguar tribe? Their arrogance made them over-confident, and they were the first of the seven tribes to be destroyed by the gods. Dario is just telling him this since he likes his confidence, but warns him to not let it become arrogance.

I think Dario only added the last part since he took it as Night Claw saying that he’s going to beat Matanza.

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Into the Temple where the bug-eyed monstrosity is finally gone. Wait, that’s a bad thing, it means he could be anywhere…

Commentary go over the fact that six medallions are getting picked up tonight. They’re also aware that Dario has handed the seventh over to a luchadore that they’ve not met yet. Also tonight, Puma will talk to the believers about his plans for Ultima Lucha Dos. Hope it goes better than the last time he tried to talk in the ring.

Medallion #2: Daga vs Mascarita Sagrada w/ Famous B and Brenda

One of these times Melissa is going to snap and destroy somebody who interrupts her.

Daga looks a little confused by B’s whole introduction.

As B gets the chants going for his client, Kobra Moon is already present, hanging out atop the office, to watch her main squeeze compete.

This kind of feels like the actual match itself, despite being for a medallion, is the least important thing here. All the stuff happening outside the ring is where the focus and interest is.

Daga gets the submission win. It took a while after Sagrada started tapping since Daga kept spinning away from the ref.

Medallion winners holders: Night Claw, Daga

Hmmm. That’s definitely a sign of… something. He got the Skeleton-Serpentboobs medallion.

Poor Sagrada is getting consoled in the ring by a weeping Brenda, and ends up with a giant lipstick mark on his mask. He’s back on his feet and people are still appreciative of…

Superkick from Famous B to Sagrada! Wow, did not see that coming. If anything, I would have said the roles would have been switched with Sagrada laeving Famous B.
Brenda doesn’t appear to be in on this, she cowers in the corner as B takes off his shoe and uses that to attack Sagrada while claiming that Sagrada embarrassed him.

B says that he promises to find a new client, as Brenda The Sad Panda shows what we’re all feeling right now.

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Back to Dario’s office where he is meeting with somebody who he has been meaning to talk to for weeks, Azteca Dragon. Dario sees the anger that he has and knows it’s because he thinks that his brother killed somebody close to Dragon.
Matanza didn’t kill him. He’s a monster, but he’s not a killer. (evidence suggests otherwise). Dragon asks what Dario is other than a liar? The answer is that he is the giver of opportunities...

And here’s where Dario lets Dragon know that he’ll have a match against Lotus at UL2. He builds the conflict up by telling him that Lotus was the one that killed his mentor.
Classic Dario, pushing all the buttons on both sides. Even when he’s telling the truth, like in this case, he still makes sure to choose when and how to tell it to get maximum effect.
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Medallions #3, #4, #5: Cortez Castro, Mr Cisco, Joey Ryan vs Killshot, Siniestro de la Muerte, Marty “The Moth” Martinez.

The winning team each gets a medallion.

First time back in the Temple for Cisco since he was arrested. He’s probably not going to be worse at undercover work than Joey.

Oh, that second team has Dario’s fingerprints all over it… Hey, quit stealing my lines, Striker!

Melissa manages to escape unmolested this time as Marty is the first in the ring for his team and grabs the mic. As Siniestro (who hasn’t been round much recently and is kind of directionless at the minute) makes his way to the ring, Killshot storms past to the sounds of Marty begging him to hold on.

Marty says they need to work together tonight and offers Killshot his dogtags back (I’d probably check ‘em) as a peace offering.

I’m going with a win for the odd team, with Marty stealing the dogtags once more after he gets what he needs from Killshot. Although, since we know GOTG is happening at UL2, this would mean we don’t get a Marty vs Killshot match. Hmm.

Marty steals Joey’s lollypop and sticks it in his own mouth. It is somehow much more uncomfortable and disgusting than it sounds. Joey steals it back and sticks it back in his mouth. Marty re-steals it and offers it to Killshot who bats it away and makes an appointment to get checked for infectious diseases.

Flippy MR Cisco!

Some nice work on commentary during this match as, unaware of the reasons behind it all, they talk about how angry Cisco seems, questioning why he’s taking orders from Joey, and noting that Cisco and Cortez aren’t getting along as well as usual.

Cortez struggling to get to his corner for the tag as Cisco and Joey argue on the apron. Cisco pushes Joey away from the corner as Cortez finally makes it back for the tag. Cisco takes his frustrations out on Marty in the ring.

Killshot has been biding his time, waiting to pick the right moment to make an impact and it has arrived



Marty and Killshot working well together at this point in the match.

Cisco and Cortez are also back on the same page as Cortez saves Cisco from a Siniestro springboard attack. They then set up for something but are interrupted by Joey Ryan who just barges in and hits a superkick. He screams at Cisco (and Cortez a little) that this is his moment!

Joey pushes Cisco over and then carries on arguing with Cortez, which leaves Cisco as an easy target for Marty and Killshot who pins him.

Winners and Aztec Medallion holders: Killshot, Marty, Siniestro.

As predicted Marty steals back the precious:

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I see you hiding in the shadows behind the band, Bug-eyes! You won’t steal my organs!

Medallions #6, #7: Sexy Star & Mariposa vs Ivelisse & Taya

More Dario shenanigans with these teams, he’s having some fun tonight.

Been a fair while since we’ve seen Mariposa.

Some nice enough stuff between Taya and Star. Nothing fancy, but it got the job done. Ivelisse tags herself in, so Star tags out to Mariposa.

Taya is as supportive as you would expect and laughs at Ivelisse getting beaten up.

Star hits a seated senton from the apron to the outside on Taya. I don’t know quite what happened there, whether she tweaked something or just got a bit tangled up, but it took her a while to move off of Taya. Mariposa throws her own partner out the way and then throws Taya into the hastily-vacated nearby seats.

I’ve decided that I somehow want Taya and Ivelisse to win.

Suggestions for what happened here? One was thinking suplex, the other thinking DDT?



Whatever it was, it didn’t look fun for Taya.

Taya crawls over and tags Ivelisse, but Mariposa is frustrated that she isn’t getting a tag from Star.

Taya accidentally spears Ivelisse while aiming for Star. It did look accidental, but Taya also didn’t look that bothered by it. A little bit of chaos later, Mariposa throws Star onto a downed Ivelisse for the pin.

Sexy Star and Mariposa win and we have our lineup for the Gift of the Gods match: Night Claw, Daga, Killshot, Marty the Moth, Siniestro, Mariposa, Sexy Star. Just looking at the names, first guess is that Killshot is taking it.
------------------------------------------------------------


Puma is coming to the ring to talk about the importance of buying genuine goods and not cheap knock-offs… and about his plans for UL2.

Until he says something into a mic, I’m not convinced that it’ll actually happen.

He does actually get to speak and says that the only match he wants at UL2 is the same one that everybody wants. He goes on to talk about his training with Konnan, but all I can think is that somebody needs to tell him to slow down and take a breath.

Anyway, Konnan kept telling him that one day he could be the best, he could be the next Rey Mysterio.
He challenges Rey and out comes Rey.

Rey is handed the mic and says that Puma is like the son that he never had as we cut to a shocked Dominik that he was one of the pioneers that paved the road (and mixed their metaphors) that allowed talent like Puma to step in the ring.

Rey accepts the challenge after making sure that Puma knows how good Rey is.

Aww, I was waiting for Puma to attack Rey, but we just end with them both taking in the adulation of the Believers.

One more Episode before we start the Ultima Lucha 2 run of episodes.
------------------------------------------------------------

Next time: The Phoenix, The Dragon, and The Spaceman (walk into a bar...)

Post Episode & General Thoughts/Questions
- Pre Episode thought: The Temple isn’t just a cute name, is it? It’s going to end up being an actual Temple. This also lends strength to the idea of the Believers being unaware worshippers.
- One more thing GOTG has on MITB: If you use it early you don’t have to wait around a whole year to start it again.
- I realised one thing that made Puma’s bit feel slightly odd: It was a straightforward in ring promo. It didn’t drag on or anything, but unless it’s Dario who is normally announcing stuff, that kind of thing feels very unusual.
- The ending of that one felt kind of flat. I get that it’s a match that should be great, but if you were ending the episode with the challenge, I feel like it should have been built up a bit more. The tension that they were creating in recent weeks didn’t really come through strongly.

[Deleted]

Yea these final 2 regular episodes are set up episodes in the most clear way to describe it.

But oh look NightClaw is here....I cannot detail his very interesting BTS story just yet but trust me when I say it is a pretty wild story.

I did like NightClaws look though sort of trying to channel Drago's look but as a feline and how they immediately gave you a history on the jaguar tribe and which connects him to Prince Puma , and this is in part why I have not spoken into detail about the medallions because they are obviously spoilery but this kind of opens the path to start connecting dots as to who is apart of what tribe once you learn which tribe is which.



Come on he just wants to dance look at him and his poncho having a good time..(pushes Gecko to give him a big ole hug)....hears screams of horror behind them....ehhh I am sure he's fine.

Poor Mascarita gets kicked in the face AND dropped from his agency gig...pretty sure that is a lawsuit waiting to happen but as this is Boyle Heights that is just how everyone gets let go from their job so B is just acting accordingly.

Poor Brenda her baby marshmallow got squished now how she is gonna make smores? B has no consideration for the hungry.

Rapey Kobra Moon continues to be a thing....you would think Daga by now would have put up a brick wall and 40 restraining orders by now...but Boyle Heights believes in love at first grope.

But something you said about how the story takes on importance than the match IMO this applies to the entire episode because this is one of those where the lower tier talent get to show out and the bigger names just take the night off..but the flipside is it allowed for alot more Dario on this episode and that is never a bad thing.

And the six man tag was another one of those that felt like the individual stories were more important than the purpose of the match...and I see you noticed that Killshot and Marty will not be having a 1 on 1 match at Ultima Lucha....have I got a story for you BUT not yet though....ohhh that is two big teasers for ya there of info I got coming but I cannot spill the beans on just yet.

Uh Oh a sexy star match...goes about the way you probably saw coming lol luckly though we had 3 other more than capable ladies to make sure this match did not entirely dive off the cliffside with Sexy Star at the wheel.

Nothing much to say about the Puma and Rey segment but it is a huge dream match at the time but I will say the things Puma says here is heavy seed planting for his overall character in the future though this will be something you will call back to once we get into next season.

All in all this was again just a set up episode although next episode is very much the same purpose we get 2 banger matches though so that puts it above this one IMO.

[Gecko]

S02E23 – The Phoenix, The Dragon, and The Spaceman

Last time
• NightClaw gets given the first Medallion from Dario as a welcome present
• Daga beats Mascarita Sagrada to win a Medallion
• Famous B turns on Mascarita and promises to get a new client that won't embarrass him
• Dario tells Dragon Azteca that Lotus killed the previous Dragon
• Siniestro, Killshot, & Marty beat Cortez, Cisco, & Ryan to win Medallions
• Sexy Star & Mariposa beat Ivelisse & Taya to win the final medallions
• Puma Challenges Rey to a match at UL2, which is accepted.

Recaps of:
• The Mil Muertes and Cuerno story
• Mundo stealing Fenix’s trios spot with PJ Black & Jack Evans
• Fenix eliminating Mundo from Six to Survive
• Puma and Rey setting up the UL match between them

------------------------------------------------------------
As the guitarist goes for a wander through the people, Vampiro introduces us to El Conjunto Nueva Ola. If the demonic soul-stealing entity still shows up for a different band, we’re in serious trouble.

Ahh, Penta is sitting behind commentary!



Oh, wait, it’s just a fan… or is that what they want us to think?

We get the announcement of the Trios title match for UL2: Drago, Fenix, and Aerostar challenging PJ Black, Johnny Mundo, and Jack Evans (The World Wide Underground, apparently). I was thinking we might get that tonight, but I’m happy to wait if it means they get more time to do stuff.
For tonight, we have Mundo vs Fenix and Puma vs Dragon Azteca as compensation, which sounds pretty good. Oh, and a match that I thought we’d get at UL is happening… right now!
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King Cuerno vs Mil Muertes w/Catrina

Mil is still not a fan of cameras as he shakes a couple on his way to the ring. He also forces the match to start without any delay, as he gets in the ring and runs at Cuerno. It takes a while for Mil to catch Cuerno, but when he does, he makes sure Cuerno won’t be running away again.

I like Mil’s chokeslam where he spins 180 during it. It’s simple but adds so much movement to everything.

Even when he’s on the offensive, Cuerno still doesn’t really stop Mil. He does manage to knock him outside and goes for the Arrow. The ref, who had been arguing with Catrina on the outside, ends up as collateral damage by being directly behind Mil when he’s hit. Incoming shenanigans.

Is Striker a time-travelling mind-reader? He said the ref ended up as collateral damage, too.

Cuerno grabs a chair (“we want tables!”) while the ref is out of the picture. A solid, unprotected head shot (unless Mil had a super padded mask) does not put Mil down. Cuerno picks up the chair to go for another shot and gets punched straight in the face.

Now Mil picks up the chair, he hits Cuerno on his already damaged back as the ref is seen making his way to the ring. Mil wedges the chair in the corner, between the turnbuckles, and takes the opportunity to shove one more camera before turning his attention back to his opponent.

Cuerno dodges the attack of Mil, who charges head-first into the chair, then rolls Mil up as the ref gets back in the ring.



He really wanted to make sure with that pin.

Good enough for what it was. With the ref bump, it was clear that we weren’t getting a definitive win here and that there will be more to come. I did like how Cuerno never really had the advantage in that match and still managed to sneak his way to a win.
------------------------------------------------------------
The music makes it sound like we might be going to see a Mafia boss. It ends up being Dario, so not a million miles away. He’s meeting with Ivelisse and Taya who are managing to sit next to each other peacefully.

As Ive practices her shadow puppetry, Taya is conducting a serious scientific experiment on how much leg she has to show to distract Dario

The Bull on top of the drinks appears to be having a good look at least.

Dario praises both women, but says that there’s only room for one baddest… “Bitch!”-Ive- (insert gif here) in the building. At UL2 those two will fight to determine who is deserving of the moniker. As Two Women leave, One woman enters: Ive makes sure that Catrina is aware that she’s not forgotten about her as they pass each other.

I’m guessing this is to set up a gimmick match for UL between Cuerno and Mil. Yep, she says that she and Mil want a rematch with Cuerno at UL. Dario’s response is… well…



The reason for the laughter is: Catrina tried to take over his temple, Mil attacked his brother, she 'destroyed' his office, and now she wants to demand something from him.
Catrina makes her demand once more, but this time says, in a slightly echoey way, that it will be a death match. Them’s the magic words for Dario, he agrees to the match and Catrina teleports away.
“Women!”, Dario exclaims as he reaches for a refill.
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Prince Puma vs El Dragon Azteca Jr w/Rey Mysterio Jr

Ooh, Rey’s out here too. This might get a little heated.

I spent the first few minutes just absorbed in the match before remembering that I should be taking notes: Flippy men wrestle fun.
And a more articulate variation: lots of back and forth without any real high impact stuff; aka the show off your moves section of the match. Nobody (looking at Puma) has lost their cool yet.

I thought that Dragon had had a major screw-up there. It looked like he miscalculated his dive and was going to way overshoot and was on target to go head-first into the stairs, but nope, it was planned and Puma caught him.



Puma stops Dragon smashing his face into the steps in order to smash his face into the ringpost instead.

As much fun as it is just watching these two just bounce around the ring, the story is also there and being told. Puma is being just that little bit more aggressive and regularly looks over to Rey for… acknowledgement? Approval? Just a general “did you see that?”?

Vamp mentions that these two tribes used to be allies.

Wonderful move by Puma as he pulls a sitting Dragon off of the turnbuckle by his leg, catches him and spins into the middle of the ring for a Blue Thunder Bomb.



He follows up with his Northern Lights into a vertical suplex combo.

I don’t know what it’s called, but Dragon broke out like a top rope inverted sunset flip bomb thing. Very nice but despite what some of us thought, it didn’t get the win.

A couple more minutes and Puma manages to land the 630 to get the win.

Fantastic match. A strong showing for Rey to have to follow at UL2.

Thinking on it logically, the result was never in question; if Puma can’t beat the student, what chance does he have against the master?

Rey gets in the ring to check on Dragon, so Puma has to tell him that the same will happen to him as to Dragon Azteca. A bit of a confrontation between Rey and Puma, but it doesn’t get out of hand.
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We come back from break to the sounds of voice-over Striker who explains that Dario (who is in the ring) has requested the presence of the four luchadores the ring. Cage, Havoc, Texano, & Mack are the four… volunteers? Victims? Winners?

Dario says that next week sees the start of his favourite time of the year: ULTIMA LUUCHHAAAA!



Aww, he looks so happy. He's having such a good time tonight.

It’s like Christmas for him, and just like Christmas he has invited the four (Texano is the only one to get any boos when introduced) to receive a gift from him. Wait, is this going to be a warm up for Matanza?

All four of them will be entered into the very first Unique Opportunities Tournament! (Dario invented tournaments by the way): Four a Unique Opportunity!
Ok, what’s the catch? All the matches are horrifically brutal? The losers get fed to Matanza? The losers have to unmask (poor Havoc)?

He doesn’t say what the winner gets, apart from the greatest unique opportunity he’s ever offered. As he leaves, he encourages the four to get a head start by beating the others up. They oblige, with Cage being the one left in the ring at the end.
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Commentary run down what we are getting at Ultima Lucha Dos (with backstory on each match)

4 A Unique Opportunity Tournament: Cage, Texano, The Mack, Son of Havoc
Death Match: King Cuerno vs Mil Muertes w/Catrina
Prince Puma vs Rey Mysterio Jr
Black Lotus vs El Dragon Azteca Jr
Taya vs Ivelisse
Gift of The Gods: Sexy Star vs Daga vs Sinestro De La Muerte vs Marty The Moth vs Mariposa vs Killshot vs (NightClaw)
Lucha Underground Championship: Pentagon vs ‘The Monster’ Matanza Cueto(c)
Trios Championship: Drago, Fenix, & Aerostar vs PJ Black, Johnny Mundo, & Jack Evans(c)
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Fenix vs Johnny Mundo w/Taya

If this were WWE, I’d say at the end of the match all six involved in the trios match at UL are in the ring. Who am I kidding, if this were WWE, all six would get involved in the match and we'd come back from a break with it switched to a Trios match (that is also happening on your upcoming big show)

Fenix outdoes Mundo in the speed department to begin.

I just noticed that that is not a standard LU logo on Mundo’s headband (that Vamp helped him put on):



Ha. Striker mentions shortly that anything that stays stuck on your head is Super Calo-esque.

I’m enjoying this one so far.

Fenix takes out both Mundo and Taya on his dive to the outside.

Oop, the headband came off.

Taya’s womanly intuition kicks in. Despite Mundo being in control, she goes and grabs the title belt and puts in on the apron. Shockingly, within seconds, the momentum starts to shift the other way.

Top rope Spanish Fly prompts Taya to get in the ring and distract the ref to stop Fenix getting the win. Mundo does what you would expect and smacks Fenix in the face with the belt before getting rid of the evidence and covering Fenix. That’s enough for the firebird man, Mundo is victorious.

Solid match, it was very good but would possibly have been better without the shenanigans, but that was understandably needed for the story telling side of things.

Mundo invites his partners to the ring to celebrate. And do you know how you celebrate properly?



Belt Guitars!

Ok, enough fun, let’s put the boots to Fenix. This, of course, brings out Drago and Aerostar. They’re outnumbered and don’t make the best of rescue attempts. Here comes Ivelisse! She’s obviously after Taya, and evens things up if Fenix is able to get back into it. The good guys make the comeback and clear the ring as we leave the Temple.
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Next time: Ultima Lucha Dos! Part 1

Post Episode & General Thoughts/Questions
- Dario does a lot of questionable stuff, but he absolutely draws the line at uttering bad language.
- Two cheap wins in one show? How unusual

- I was initially thinking there might have been more matches for UL, but looking at things, it’s probably good as is. 3 hours (2 x 45 minute episodes + 1 x 90 minute episode) for 10 matches (assuming the tourney is 3 matches, at least one will probably be very short), including a seven person elimination.

- I really liked the rundown for the UL matches with backstory on each. It was long enough to let you know why the matches were happening without dragging on pointlessly.

- A little part of me was hoping that people would keep coming out at the end for a massive brawl.

- Late thought: Maybe Mil hates cameras because he could hear all the reporters talking about the situation when he was trapped under the rubble. Or they managed to get a camera down to him but were unable to have people reach him.

[Deleted]

Gah I had an entire thing typed out but I hit the wrong key by mistake and like gone with the wind...it was gone with my mind.

So I am gonna try and be brief with it and then come back and do my longer schpeal later on.

WORLD WIDE UNDERGROUND FINALLY GET THEIR NAME!!! the best of douchiest times are here and things get more amazing and downright hilarious with these 4.

As for Johnny's heaband this ties into why I love the LU logo even though a text logo is fine to be informative , the LU logo shows how much better it is to have a memorable image because of being able to creatively manipulate it like you see with Johnny , there was an image I used to have saved that had all the WWU members with altered LU logos.

Johnny's had his shades as you can see

Taya had her ponytail

PJ's was made to resemble a wolf (you can see his on his tights when he wrestled for ROH)

And idk if the Jack Evans one was official I assume it was but his one had the logo smoking a joint lol

Dario was so pleasent and sauced up in this episode and why would he not be...he is untouchable , brother is world champion and he has got beautiful women coming and going out of his office and Ultima Lucha is here.

I love how Taya keeps disrespecting Dario first she would not shake his hand when they first met and now she wont take his offer for a drink....but Dario appreciates the warrior she is which in turn allows him to keep putting her in situations where she just gets whopped on lol nice little fun relationsip they got going.

Another thing I loved about this is how smooth LU both set up a match at UL and then immediately reminded the audience of not one but two feuds that while they have deviated away from each other that the history remains important unlike other companies that treat the history between the roster as trivial and rather meaningless , but here in LU it very much means everything and keeps the world feeling alive because everything is important.

Catrina you sly beautiful woman (10 outta 10 episode BTW) when Dario talks about her knowing what to say to get him excited she just glances down lol but one has to wonder was this her just knowing Dario so well or was this another ability of hers ontop of like the 1000 other things she can do , in that when her voice went echo did she just basically read his mind because would not put it past but I would guess it the former she just knows him that well by now.

Puma Vs Melon head was an absoloute banger as expected and I love this character journey Puma is on...going from the complete whitemeat babyface that was uncorruptable in season 1...but then he has slowly over time begun to unravel and we really begin to see it here with him being more aggressive and a bit arrogant.

Not much else to say about the rest of the show it was like expected a set up to the big event but Fenix getting kicked in his face and still landing on his feet is something f*** ridiculous aka just another day for Fenix.

[Deleted]

But something I wanna touch on is when Vamp brought up how Rey and Pumas tribe used to be allies and is something you are gonna wanna keep a heads up on but ima help out here to start.

Moth - Marty and Mariposa
Eagle - El Dragon/Jr , Rey Mysterio
Jaguar - Prince Puma , Nightclaw

Those are the ones we know of so far in the show and its members.

But see the fun is all this is the real life lore.behind each tribe...because before LU ever hit air they did their homework or should I say hired an expert that did theirs a PHD infact in mezoamerican culture.

Like here is what they say about the Jaguar tribe.

Following the warrior's path was one of the few ways to change one's social status in Aztec culture. Eagle and Jaguar warriors were full-time warriors who worked for the city-state to protect merchants and the city itself. They were expected to be leaders and commanders both on and off the battlefield and acted as sort of a police force for the city. Men who reached this rank were considered as nobles and elites of society and were granted many of the same privileges as a noble. They were allowed to drink pulque, have concubines, and dine at the royal palace. Jaguar warriors also participated in gladiatorial sacrifices.

And then here is the eagle tribe

Eagle and jaguar warriors were two of the only types of warriors who were recognized as having a full-time professional capacity. Thanks to their elite training and education, they were leaders and commanders both on and off the battlefield. On reaching this rank they were peers of nobles and other elite members of Aztec society, therefore the warrior's path was a way to raise one's social status in Aztec culture guaranteeing many of the same privileges as nobles. The graduate warrior was allowed to drink pulque, keep concubines, and dine at the royal palace. At a civic level, they would also become full-time warriors working for the city-state to protect merchants and policing the city itself. Accordingly, they were the civil or police force of Aztec society.

The Moth tribe

According to the Manuscript of 1558, section VII, Itzpapalotl was one of two divine 2-headed doe-deers (the other one being Chimalman) who temporarily transformed themselves into women in order to seduce men. Itzpapalotl approached the two "cloud serpents named Xiuhnel [ˈʃiwnel] and Mimich [ˈmimit͡ʃ]", who transformed themselves into men (so as to disguise themselves when all the others of the Centzonmimixcoa had been slain in the ambush?). To Xiuhnel, Itzpapalotl said "'Drink, Xiuhnel.' Xiuhnel drank the blood and then immediately lay down with her. Suddenly she ... devoured him, tore open his breast. ... Then Mimich ... ran and ... descended into a thorny barrel cactus, fell into it, and the woman fell down after him."[11] In the myth-history narrative of the Annales de Cuauhtitlan, the cloud deity victims take the form of deer, the hearts of whom are eaten by Itzpapalotl. The theme of the heart devouring goddess appears in other global mythologies.[5]

This stuff is what really furthers the characters of LU in a really fun way because you get to see how their character exudes traits from the real life lore and the connective tissue there.

And this only gets way more elaborate and interesting going into next season.

[Gecko]

I was actually planning on doing all the UL episodes over one weekend, but it continued its sneakiness and I forgot until it was too late. It works out fine though as Part 1 works as a self contained episode.

S02E24 – Ultima Lucha Dos! Part 1: Tournament Edition

Last time
• Cuerno gets a cheap win over Mil Muertes, which prompts Catrina to go to Dario to arrange a death match as a rematch for UL2
• Dario also makes Taya vs Ivelisse for UL2
• Puma beats Dragon Azteca as Rey watches on
• Dario announces the ‘4 A Unique Opportunity’ tournament for UL2. Cage, Havoc, Texano, & Mack will be the participants
• Mundo beats Fenix, then he, Taya, Black, and Evans are run off by Fenix, Ivelisse, Aerostar, and Drago

Recaps of:
• Dario creating 4 A Unique Opportunity

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The words ‘Lucha Underground’ being said during the intro is new, right? Or have I just not been paying attention during the title screen?

Serious music, which also has a little bit of a Pirates of the Caribbean feel to it, as we head into the Temple where Melissa Santos welcomes us to Ultima Lucha Dos!



Love the banners. As well as looking great, they let you know that something out of the ordinary is happening.
It seems that tonight is going to be focused on the tourney, as commentary covers it exclusively. On to the first match of the tourney and UL2!

Cage vs Mack

Which makes the other side of the bracket Texano vs Havoc. I’m already cheering for Havoc in that one. This one, I’m expecting great things from and I’m looking forward to seeing what these two manage together this time round at Ultima Lucha.

A bow tie wearing Dario makes his first appearance of the evening, halting things before they can get started in order to tell us about his breakfast preferences. He brings up the history of Cage and Mack at the previous UL. So, to make sure this event is just as successful (and violent), this match is also falls count anywhere! Here we go...

You undersold that one a bit, Striker. It wasn’t a standing moonsault, it was a lionsault! And a very nicely done one at that. He does redeem himself as he brings up other ‘unique opportunities’ that people have gained and how they weren’t without their downsides.

A crossbody through the ropes by Mack sends them both outside (wonder if they’ll even make it back to the ring?), with Cage landing on his head.

Yup, this looks and sounds just as painful as last year. They eventually make their way into Dario’s office, via the side door, not a window.



Dario is getting exactly what he wanted out of this match. They don’t spend long in there before exiting through the other door. Before he leaves, Cage grabs a souvenir in the form of a framed poster, which he smashes over Mack’s head.

Cage sets up a few chairs and powerbombs Mack through them. Ouch. STOP… sign is pulled from under the ring, which prompts Mack to start his comeback.

A Mexican guitar (I swear we’ve had that one before. Hey, Future Gecko, go check? Yep, Season 1: Episode 32, and also Season 7: Episo... whoops, forget I said that bit). Mack plays a tune on Cage’s head and the guitar does not explode in a cloud of powder on impact, instead it gains a Cage’s head sized hole in the back.



piñatas! (not on a pole) Mack gets a wrench in his one, Cage gets a more traditional one and contains sweets.

Mack tries to summon the spirit of Austin by having a couple of beers, but the summoning fails as Cage blocks the stunner.

A bloody Cage gives the believers what they want by setting up a table. It doesn’t stop them chanting that they want tables. This gives Mack time to grab his toolbox and make use of the contents of it, before it’s beer o’ clock again and this time he hits the stunner.

He sticks Cage on the table, takes the long way round to get to his chosen perch and, after taking a little bit to get his balance, takes flight



Cage kicks out at two after Mack takes a fair while to get over for the cover.

Cage drags a cinderblock out from under the ring, this is what he used to win last year. He goes for the curbstomp again, but this time Mack struggles enough to move his head out of the way (and Cage slipped on the beer). Cage puts his foot through the block and Mack rolls him up for the win!

Great fun and the end was a nice callback to last year.
------------------------------------------------------------
Texano vs Son of Havoc

Heerrreeee’s Dario! Which was kind of expected. Let’s see what stipulation he’s got for this one. I was going to mention it, but Dario does it first, there is a bar set up outside the ring. A cowboy + a biker = Bar fight!

Sooo, we all know the rules, right? No need to go over them here.

This bar fight seems an awful lot like a wrestling match so far.

Havoc sends Texano through the door, literally, into the darkness of the mysterious room of mystery



Havoc follows him in, Texano gets thrown back out shortly after. We learn that the mysterious room o’ mystery contains a fire extinguisher and fireman’s helmet (possibly a whole fireman?).



Haha! Oh that was great! Texano smashed a vodka bottle over Havoc’s head, but it had no effect thanks to the helmet.

1, 2, 3. 3 barstools in the ring (aha ha ha). Joined by 2 steel chairs. And one keg, which is wedged in the corner between the top and middle rope. Texano spends time setting all of this up, then... grabs his rope, hits Havoc and goes for the pin.

Havoc sets up a pile of now broken stools thanks to the magic of editing and lifts Texano onto the top turnbuckle. Top rope ‘rana.



Credit to Texano, that can’t have been a fun one and he landed right on target. Very unpredictable, which is probably one of the worst aspects of it.

I may have been a little quick to credit Texano, because it doesn’t get any better for him:



Havoc showing his sadistic side as he grabs a cardboard box lid with a few bottles in it, and stamps on them to create a small area of the ring filled with shards of glass. Texano ends up going chest first and then back first into it and that is enough for Havoc to pick up the win.

Rough night for Texano.

Ok, that ended up much better than I was expecting. It feels like we missed a big chunk of the chaos thanks to the edits, but it also benefited greatly from not being a straight wrestling match.
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We get the end of the performance from the band, presumably while they clear the ring (assuming they taped things in order), before Striker runs down what else is coming up on Ultima Lucha Dos.

4 A Unique Opportunity Final: The Mack vs Son of Havoc

Dario? You making another appearance? Ah, there he is. He starts by saying that the smart money had Texano vs Cage in the final, just because he can. His unique opportunity is so great, so freakin’ awesome (*gasp* that’s us!), that he’s gonna need them to work for it. This match is falls count anywhere too!

Handshake to kick off, they’ve both been through a lot already.

I’m predicting a Mack victory here. I think he deserves to have a bit more focus on him, and Havoc has already done plenty, he doesn’t really need it.

Mack pulling out the big guns with a top rope corkscrew splash.

More stuff happens aka I was having a snack and forgot to get back to making notes

They wander outside for a while, but end up back in the ring where they seem to be spending most of the time.

The ending comes out of nowhere as Havoc hits the SSP on his second attempt (only just, it was like a shooting star headbutt) and gets the pin.

Havoc heads into the believers to celebrate.

This was the weakest of the three matches, which is understandable considering what they did for the other matches (again, if things were taped as we saw them).

Hmmm, still 10 minutes left.
Dario exits his office holding two briefcases aloft as Striker informs us we’re going to find out what the unique opportunity is.

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We come back to Havoc, Dario, and Lotus (holding the cases) in the ring. The multiple briefcases is giving off a Feast or Fired feeling.

Dario congratulates Havoc before letting him know that the first briefcase contains more money than he’ll probably make in his career, it’s $250,000. If he wants the cash, it’s his.



Here comes the other side of the coin. Instead of the money, he can take the other briefcase which contains a contract for a Lucha Underground Championship match at Ultima Lucha Tres!
Wow, I was guessing a title match for the second, but thinking it would take place immediately.

Havoc doesn’t care if Dario puts $250 million in the case, he’s becoming LU champ at UL3!

There we go, Havoc is in the main event of Ultima Lucha Tres!… assuming he wins one more match. Since Havoc didn’t want the money, Dario’s offering it to his next opponent. If they win, they get the money. If Havoc wins, he gets his contract.

There’s always that extra step with Dario’s unique opportunities. Just handing out a title match is far too nice for him.

Famous B appears at the top of the steps. I guess he’s got a new client and they’re the opponent then.
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B says that Havoc is probably feeling sick to his stomach, luckily for him, there’s a doctor in the house



UL3 Title Match vs $250k: Son of Havoc vs Dr Wagner Jr w/Famous B & Brenda

I’ve not got high hopes for Havoc here. He’s putting up a fight, but it’s clear that he’s hurting.

As expected, Wagner doesn’t have too much trouble winning this one pretty quickly.

Brenda seems to have forgotten her little marshmallow pretty quickly. She and B celebrate being rich as Wagner stands over the fallen Havoc. B checks on him with a stethoscope before returning to the money.
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Next time: Ultima Lucha Dos! Part 2: Hyper Fighting Edition

Post Episode & General Thoughts/Questions
- Nothing really, apart from really enjoying this as sort of a self-contained lead in to UL proper.

[Deleted]

This episode was all about setting up and elevating SoH for the next season while giving a bit of a rub to Cage , Mack and Texano.

I remember the initial reaction to this when it happened a few had issue with LU basically just doing hardcore match after hardcore match after hardcore match here instead of spreading it out and giving a variety and remember this is a point where everyone is comparing it to the original Ultima Lucha.

But the big positives like I said here is they give a huge spotlight to Son Of Havoc here by dedicating an entire ultima lucha episode basically to him.

And the big one was DR FREAKIN WAGNER! BIEN BIEN BIEN....this was a massive get argueably on par with getting Rey because no one expected Dorian shitface Roldan to let any of his top guys from AAA to come over into LU (remember prior to LU Fenix , Penta etc were pretty much nobodies) because that was the word pretty much from the get go Dorian was being a selfish f***ing prick so this one took everyone by surprise.

But it also immediately elevates Famous B now so wonderful things all around with this debut and of course Nurse Brenda with a new career...do not give that woman scalple lol.



Now hit the Dr's music!



As for the matches themselves they were fun all around...like you said though poor Texano holy f*** that poor mans back , you cannot pay me enough to take that bump onto the wooden chair pieces but Texano got jupiter size balls of steel lol.

The Mack busted out a gawd damn spiral tap and I love this about Mack a guy for his size should not absloloutley no way in hell should be able to do a spiral tap but here is doin it because he just can just amazing.

for anyone who was a fan of Son Of Havoc this was a great episode but the real Ultima Lucha begins next episode so not much else to say here.

Next episodes though it is going to be story time both from myself and the show.

So I ccontemplated if I wanted to show off this poster because someone is in a different outfit but f*** it it is only a different dress and not drastic change in look...and yes this is an obvious edit by Famous B putting the three individual posters together here.

But how cool is it to see how right they have done by Famous B , guy was a complete nothing jobber in first season and now look at him one of the stronger growing acts on the show , got his own little faction now and associated with Dr Wagner Jr and this is again Chris Dejoseph doin it the right way making sure every one feels important no matter their placement a mindset I wish was shared in every damn company.

[Deleted]

Idk if anyone else caught onto it but Dr Wagners debut and B's air brushing on the back is actually a really clever call back to the opening vingette of season 2.





And again the connective tissue of Dr's of course as well.

Now I am not saying they seed planted Dr Wangers debut from the very start but I like to believe that is exactly what they did but no one caught it.

I love this f***ing show.

[Gecko]

It's a surprise Saturday edition! Why? Who can possibly say? Perhaps the mystery will eventually be solved many tens of thousands of seconds from now.

S02E25 –Ultima Lucha Dos! Part 2: Hyper Fighting Edition

Last time
• Mack beat Cage
• Havoc beat Texano
• Son of Havoc won the 4 A Unique Opportunity tournament by beating Mack in the final
• Dario offered him a choice of $250k or a title shot at UL3, he took the latter
• The twist: he only gets it if he beats one more person (who is now fighting for the $250k)
• Famous B introduces his new client: Dr Wagner Jr
• Wagner wins easily

Recaps of (and probably what matches we’re getting this time):
• The Medallions being won (and given out) for the GOTG match
• Mil Muertes and Cuerno
------------------------------------------------------------

As the band finishes what looked like a high-energy song, Melissa Santos welcomes us to Ultima Lucha Dos! (again). We have a few words from commentary before we get right into the action.

Gift of the Gods Championship Elimination: Daga vs Sinestro De La Muertes vs Mariposa vs Marty “The Moth” Martinez vs Sexy Star vs Killshot vs Night Claw

Still love Melissa having a personality and making it clear that she doesn’t care to introduce Marty, but it’s her job, so…
Marty put Killshot’s dogtags in his trunks for safe keeping.
Nobody gets an entrance apart from the debuting Night Claw.

As you might have guessed, Killshot goes straight for Marty and they end up outside immediately.

I was wondering, but yep, Kobra Moon is hanging round watching the object of her desires.

Night Claw and Sinestro are annoyingly close in appearance. They’re both in the ring with Daga, having a wrestling match while Star and Mariposa, & Killshot and Marty are on the outside having fights.

Night Claw gets the first elimination by pinning Sinestro. Not hugely shocking; you want your debuting guy to have an impact and, like I said a few weeks back, Sinestro is a bit directionless at the minute.



I just noticed Night Claw has big clawed feet. That’s fun, but his mask still cracks me up.
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Daga ends up with Mariposa and then Sexy Star falling onto him. I’d keep an eye on Kobra, she seems the jealous type. Daga almost gets Marty to tap out a couple of times with submissions before Night Claw flies in from the top to hit him with a leg drop. It seems to have hit harder than planned as Daga does seem not quite with it for a minute or so after.

Top rope ‘rana (the version where they both stand on top) sends Daga over to the other side of the ring and in position for Claw to climb the turnbuckle in that corner to hit a phoenix splash (which also looked like a bit of a rough landing) and get the pin on Daga!
That’s two down, both falling to Night Claw.

We’ve not seen a whole lot of Killshot in this match so far, but he’s still out there fighting and taking shots at Marty whenever the chance arises. In fact, everybody is on the outside. They’re all fighting, apart from Night Claw who has wandered up the steps on his own. He reappears shortly afterwards, atop Dario’s office.

He doesn’t stay up there long.

He treats it like an Olympic dive. I'm not sure what was going on with Star's boot there.

Marty and Killshot are the first two to make it back into the ring. Killshot takes out Marty, with stops along the way for a kick to Claw and a DVD on the apron to Mariposa. Claw didn’t appreciate the kick and we’re getting these two going against one another now. Will Claw claim another victim here?

Night Claw counters a top rope DVD into another ‘rana, follows up with a standing SSP and pins his thir...no! Killshot kicks out! I genuinely thought he was done there.
Night Claw misses another phoenix splash which allows Killshot to fold him up with a driver and pin him. Good showing for his debut.
------------------------------------------------------------

Sexy Star, Killshot, Marty, Mariposa are left. The obvious teams are assembled from the four.

The next minute has Killshot using Star as a projectile against the Martinez siblings. Marty ends up outside and his landing spot is a complete coincidence:



Melissa has to push him away, then Star lands on him from up top. Back in the ring, Mariposa almost pins Killshot from a sunset flip powerbomb. It’s an interesting dynamic here where you don’t go with the traditional choice and have the women and men split off separately.

While Star is out of the picture, The Martinezeseses team up against Killshot. Curbstomp by Marty, Butterfly Effect/Vertebreaker from Mariposa and that is enough for Killshot.

Marty, Mariposa, and Sexy Star left in.
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Prediction: Star beats Mariposa and then falls to Marty.

Poorly done headlock/headscissors takeover from Star on her opponents. It was like she was trying to do the move before she got her legs on Marty’s shoulders and just looked very awkward because when it did eventually happen there was no momentum left from her.

Mariposa holds Star for Marty. He takes his time, winds up… swings… and smacks his sister in the face as Star ducks out the way. Star dropkicks him out the ring and falls on top of Mariposa to pin her. We’re down to two.

Despite the “kill the moth!” chants, Marty is in a good mood and tries to caress Star a couple of times. His mood changes when she slaps him though.
The same punch that took out Mariposa doesn’t get the creepy pin on Star.

Star picks up the win with an armbar that seemingly took an age to apply.



Don’t know how I feel about this result. She’s obviously been an important long-term part of LU and has the connection to the live crowd, but on the other hand she’s way down the list in terms of in-ring ability and, watching years later, I just don’t have that emotional connection to her.
------------------------------------------------------------

We shift our attention over to [REDACTED] where Cisco is trying to explain to Joey Ryan and Cortez ‘Officer Reyes’ Castro that he can’t do the undercover thing any more.

Joey is the bad cop (in more ways than one) as he reminds Cisco that the other option is going back to prison, while good cop Cortez reassures Cisco that he’ll be fine. ‘He’ is not going to find out, ‘he’ won’t kill him, and then after Cisco does this, he’ll be cleared of all charges.



We head back to the Temple where commentary runs down what is coming up next week in part 3.
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Death Match: King Cuerno vs Mil Muertes w/Catrina

Interesting thing here just before the bell rings, you see Cuerno being the calm one whereas Mil is impatient to get started and runs across the ring as soon as the bell rings. Not that interesting in itself, but it's a reversal of the Mil vs Matanza matchup.

A fired up Mil goes with his usual simple yet powerful attacks combined with not being affected by much, which Cuerno doesn’t have a counter for early on.

Cuerno is on target with the Arrow, but the target is off to the side this time instead of in the aisle and Mil ends up taking out a bunch of chairs. It still doesn’t keep Mil down for any significant time and he’s soon back in control.

We head out for a quick tour of the Believers before returning to ringside. They enjoyed their trip so much that they immediately decide to go on another and go visit the band on their platform.



Is Mil gonna serenade us? Nope he just hits Cuerno with the mic. It turns into a bit of a brawl with all sorts getting used as weapons; mics, instrument stands, musicians (if they don’t get out the way quick enough), a drumkit (wonder if that’s cymbolic of anything? ). Cuerno ends up half falling / half dropping from the stage back to the floor.

Mil pushes a camera-person out of the way and finds a table under the ring… and a ladder from somewhere… and the ringsteps from, well, where they normally are. Cuerno trips Mil on the apron and heads over to grab a bin. He pushes Catrina out of the way as he passes which draws an Ooooohh from everybody.

Back in the ring (with the ladder and table still unused) Mil has a short comeback, starting with a punch to the face which floors Cuerno, before the Hunter regains the advantage. They head back outside again and we head up the stairs.

Mil gets his head put through one of the windows up there. It has no effect. He could have popped his head back out immediately, but he waited a couple of seconds for Cuerno to turn to celebrate. Mil takes a turn putting a head through a window. This does have an effect on Cuerno and he ends up rolling all the way down the steps, which I am surprised doesn’t happen more often.



Vampiro is enjoying the violence perhaps a little too much and is probably glad he’s sitting behind a desk.

Another couple of tables are brought into play.

Mil tries to whip Cuerno into the ladder that is leaning against the rails, but Cuerno puts on the brakes and backdrops Mil when he rushes in.



Cuerno sets up yet another table but then grabs Catrina (very, VERY, bad idea), which results in an enraged Mil jumping off the ring-steps to spear him through the table he just set up, powerbombing him through another table, powerbombing him through a third table, and then one more powerbomb through the last table to complete the set.

Mil doesn’t want the ref stopping anything yet, so he pushes the him away and chucks Cuerno back in the ring. He grabs a crowbar (the tool, not the wrestler) from under the ring, exchanges a look with Catrina, then scales to the top turnbuckle.

No hesitation. He comes off and smacks Cuerno in the back of the head with the crowbar.



He’s still not done! TOMBSTONE!

The past couple of minutes are more than enough to keep the Hunter down. He’s not even aware enough to appreciate Catrina licking him.

The Lucha medics arrive to carry Cuerno away on a stretcher as Mil walks away.
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We’ve got a few minutes left, so Matt Striker decides it’s a good idea to talk about last year's Ultima Lucha. Specifically, the Vampiro vs Pentagon: Cero Miedo match.

This might not end well.

Oooooooohhhh. Striker asks Vamp how he feels about Penta’s chances against Matanza since he was revealed as Penta’s master but has since been distancing himself from Penta (at least as far as Striker knows). Vamp’s response:



That’s a wire basket, the pills will fall through the gaps, Vamp. It does raise the question of how long since he stopped taking the pills?

Vamp says that Vampiro doesn’t do medication. Striker called him a master? It’s time for him to go get his student ready. With that, Vamp heads off. Striker says goodbye, and then chases after Vamp.
------------------------------------------------------------

Knock, Knock? It’s Mr Cisco visiting Dario in his office.

Cisco isn’t here to beg for a match at UL2, he’s just here to see if El Jefe needed anything. Dario says he doesn’t and tells Cisco to get out.

Cisco might be pushing it a bit here, he reminds Dario that they used to be boys, he’s a loyal soldier and wants in on whatever it is he’s doing. Maybe Dario isn’t suspicious and he just doesn’t want somebody he likes involved in this? This theory is almost immediately proven incorrect. As Cortez and Joey Listen in, Dario asks why he would need a soldier, and points out that Cisco seems nervous.

He’s onto you, Cisco! Run!

Oop, too late. Dario says that Cisco is lying. Cisco tries to leave but Dario doesn’t want him going anywhere now. Dario then just straight up asks if Cisco is wearing a wire. Dario discovers the mic, then speaks into it to challenge the police to come get him!

Well, it’s been nice knowing you, Cisco, say hi to Matanza for us.

...or not.
By this time, the audio equipment is conveniently (for Dario) ‘malfunctioning’. Strangely, it kind of happened when Dario started stroking the bull.
Dario asks if they want him for murder? When Cisco replies no, Dario says that they will now... and attacks Cisco with the bull!

We see Cortez and Joey trying to work out what’s going on, before returning to Dario’s office where he sits down, out of breath and places a now bloody bull on his desk.

He dials a number on the phone, and says simply, “It’s time.”

Great shot. The composition, the blood, the expression.

Woo, didn’t think we were getting any proper story progression tonight with anything big probably being saved for the final. I was very wrong.

Dario getting his hands dirty (literally) is another surprise, even if he was forced into it. The plan, whatever it actually is, has been unexpectedly brought forward it seems. Wonder how much that changes, or if they were all ready and just waiting for the perfect time to begin.
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Next time: Ultima Lucha Dos! Part 3: Gold Edition

Post Episode & General Thoughts/Questions
- Thinking on what you could do with Sinestro, there’s the obvious route of something with Catrina & Mil. I’d maybe do a face turn for him with him refusing to return to being their minion after being out doing his own thing for a while now.
- Back to the balancing act of Crazy Vamp against Commentary Vamp.

- Guess that’s the final end of The Crew. Final scoreboard: 2 murders, 1 betrayal.

- That's a murder committed in the Temple by both Cueto brothers as well as their bodyguard.

[Deleted]

Whispers: Pssstttt I deleted that 'picture' so you can forget that hefty bit of info now.

other self: remember he quoted you

Self: You are right he should probably get rid of that evidence or else we might have to resort to Mil and the Crowbar...again.

BUT THE ULTIMATE UNIQUE SATURDAY GIFT! we must have been behaving pretty well lately by locking his favourite soul sucking demon muscisian in the basement so we got a gift....wonder if he knows he still has to feed him , but forget all that we gots a show.

Gather round kids because I have stories to tell. One far more uniquely interesting.

While the SOH heavy episode was alot of fun , this is a much stronger and honestly proper start to Ultima Lucha.

I do like how they broke this match into the personal beefs all on the outside and the ones actually focused on the task at hand were the ones in the ring.

Wasn't sure when she debuted it whether in S2 or 3 but you see it not for very long Sexy Star has a very sailrmoon/magical girl inspired entrance gear now which is pretty cool.

I love how they went heavy with Nightclaws look giving him clawed boots.

You know everyone in LU is very good at and knows the importance of catching your opponent because no one killed themselves by doing dives that close to the steps especially Marty.

But Daga doing what he do here and exactly what I about him showing how absoloutley talented he is but with the charisma of boiling water but lots of fun to watch in the ring though.

But this is what I love about the GOTG match it is both a showcase and elevation match for guys who are just bubbling under the main event surface.

That phoenix splash onto Dagas face was absoloutley nasty looking.

But time for me to get to something I have been waiting many a weeks to get to.

What you are about to see is a completely real not any sort of angle etc.



This is a confrontation between the original Octagon and Octagon Jr/Flamita/Nightclaw and this happened if I remember my timeline correctly shortly after Ultima Lucha Dos , but what this entire thing stems from is the original Octagon is here confronting Jr (with armed guys you can see the guy behind basically with his hand on his weapon) because he did not give his persmission for him to use the Octagon persona/the mask.

And so this ends with Flamita leaving AAA and subsequently LU and so Nightclaws appearance in the GOTG match is a one and done.

Now idk if he has spoken about it since but if he has someone else may drop that info but this is the story of Nightclaw a real unfortunate shitty situation for Flamita at the time.

Now the other story which is far less controversial is that of Marty and Killshot....now you may or may not have asked yourself why would Killshot and Marty be feuding but not get their own match at Ultima Lucha , well that is because they were supposed to and it was going to be the end of their feud BUT Marty and Killshot fought to get a proper end to this feud and thus they get to properly end their feud in the next season and to put it briefly it was absoloutley the right call as you will eventually see.

All in all the GOTG sets a pretty damn important stage for next season.

Mil Vs Cuerno not alot to say about here it is Mil and Cuerno putting on a great match but something else I have not touched on and idk if you have noticed it but Cuerno has been wrestling with what looks like a band aid on his lower back and this is for a reason and it is because after the ladder match with Fenix he went off to have back surgery but it would not be the last because after this match he goes off to have another back surgery and thus he is basically written off here.

But can I say that I wish more people took the TombStone from Taker like this because Cuernos arms dangling make this move look so much more devistating like he looks like he gets shoot killed and props to Mil for executing it as safely as he does because of course we all know people wrap their arms around Taker to keep position but in LU f*** that safety net lol.

NOOOOOOOOO MR CISCO!! he was my favourite Cisco...next to Cisco Ramone , but he is terrible at staying calm under pressure as evidenced when he was being interrogated and obvious beads of sweat were falling off of him like it was raining inside , and I like all these little personality traits we are getting him while he is extremely loyal to his friends he is easily breakable.

I love the difference here though compared to last season...where when things were unraveling Dario immediately fled the temple where as now like Delgado told him he is getting sloppy but doesn't run like he probably should but instead makes an interesting call...to whom have to wait for that one.

All in all this was a step up from last week in that it actually felt like Ultima Lucha.

Next week we finish it out and I keep asking ARE WE ARE IN SEASON 3 YET? BECAUSE I REALLY WANNA GET TO MY FAVOURITE SEASON,,,it is my fireworks factory...are we there yet?

[Gecko]

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.