Lucha Underground Season 2 Episode 1: A Much Darker Place

PAS: I am very weary about the added focus on vignettes but I admit Vampiro in the mental institution was pretty cool. I liked how the days without an incident graphic changed during his hallucination. Not really sure how visible hallucinations fit in professional wrestling, but I am just going to have to get over that.

ER: That opening was absurd and cheesy and completely awesome. Vamp in his videotaped special cell was great, and I loved the psychiatrist too. Him meeting up with Striker in the wastelands was hilarious. And I love Catrina's new bangs (though I'm pretty sure it's a wig), and love Muertes looming above everything in the Temple from his throne, like some Golan the Insatiable type godlord. Felt like it needed a couple slave girls around him. Maybe a head on a stake. Definitely some platters of meat. Probably a flagon of mead.

1. King Cuerno vs. Fenix

PAS: Very good match, one of the better non gimmick singles matches this promotion has run. Really glad to see they are doing something with Cuerno, as he seemed to flounder near the end of last season. Always love his awesome tope, and Fenix looked very good as well. New Cuerno finish felt like a real nasty finish

ER: Man what a great start to the new season, and a nice fresh start for Cuerno who was probably the biggest victim of the fed dropping the ball in season 1. He was deservedly treated like a big deal here and it's obviously an important thing to be chosen to be in the first match of the new season, so I like that as a sign. And it also helps that both guys tore it up and broke out some extremely cool stuff. Only complaint really is that they did maybe too much cool stuff, and because it was so go go go that meant some stuff that looked wicked was kind of forgotten about a moment later. For example, Fenix gets absolutely spiked by an apron-to-floor DDT, getting nice and vertical for it, but had to stand up seconds later to get ready to catch the arrow to the heart tope. It's the kind of thing that's forgivable when the entire match execution is this damn good, and also considering the spot the match was in on the debut episode. Both guys locked in and were really perfect dance partners for the other. Cuerno was so smooth, not just in taking ranas and leaning into kicks, but look at the way he gets ole'd up to the top rope. He gets up there so quick it's like he teleported. I loved all the strikes in this, loved the superkick variations we got. For a move that's probably the most overused move in workrate wrestling today, they made their superkicks look nasty and effectively built them into the match (the EXTREMELY loud sound sweetening I thought added to things as well). Really really dug this. Great start.

2. Son of Havoc vs. Angelico vs. Ivelisse

PAS: This was good stuff too, I didn't like the intergender stuff last year, but that maybe more of a function of Sexy Star sucking so much, and being booked so weird. I totally bought into Ivileese being credible, she laid it into both guys, took a nice beating and got an opportunistic win.

ER: Also liked this, as it managed to avoid a lot of the awkwardness with three way matches. There was some weirdness, like Angelico seemingly working this match as a handicap against Ivelisse. Every time he would accidentally hit Havoc he would act all apologetic, which is weird since he is just as much of an opponent as Ivelisse. And then Vampiro's sound bites seemingly fired off at random times, so things like "It doesn't get more old school than that" were being said after a Havoc springboard crossbody. But there was plenty of cool stuff. I liked Havoc's double tope, Angelico absolutely pasted Ivelisse with a running knee in the corner, they cranked the sound sweetening on all of Ivelisse's chops but she does a fine job showing that she can hang and didn't seem wildly out of place against *gasp* men! Angelico's full body motocross outfit looked absurd.

3. Ivelisse vs. Mil Muertes

PAS: Man this was shockingly great, they did such a good job of teasing Ivilese moments of hope, only to deflate them perfectly. The missed spear into the roll up was a great near fall and I actually bought a quick title change (which was helped by the unexpected Cuerno title win). Puma coming to the rescue and then Pentagon Jr. running out was just a great bit of pro-wrestling. The whole thing was just a masterful bit of wrestling booking and execution. I have been critical of some of this feds booking, but this was great. Loving Pentagon as loose cannon anti-hero.

ER: This whole thing was handled incredibly well and also logically introduced all the main players of the season in a tidy 6 minutes. I was skeptical they'd be able to avoid making Muertes look weak while keeping Ivelisse strong, but this was about as smart and satisfying as I imagine it could be done. The nearfall roll-up was incredibly effective and I fully bought into it. Catrina confirms her wig status by selling Muertes' spear by grabbing the sides of her hair and holding onto it while rolling to the floor. Puma is smartly reintroduced by saving Ivelisse, and then Pentagon gets a badass spot of snapping Muertes arm. Awesome segment.

PAS: What exactly is Black Lotus's character arc? She comes to the temple to avenge her parents death, gets trained by a wise master, gets betrayed by Chavo, captured and thrown in a cage, weirdly decides that her arch enemy who keeps his cannibal brother in a cage next to her is telling the truth about her parents death,  decides to murder her mentor and now is acting as bait for some sort of Hostel of slaughter.  Is this their attempt to do Shakesperean tragedy? I am excited for Matanza to start wrestling, and Cueto is a great actor, but this whole story line is beyond stupid.

ER: I love that Dario gamed those dudes out of only $60 before sending them to their death, and then counts it afterwards, like he's already imagining a really nice dinner at Applebee's. "Black Lotus, feel free to order any of the Endless Apps you want. I'm thinking mozzarella sticks and a Fireball whiskey lemonade."

ER: Well top to bottom this was right up there with the best shows in company history. All of the right characters were the ones being featured, and they were all featured in super satisfying ways. There should be zero complaints about this show.


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