Lucha Underground Season 2 Episode 15: No Mas

ER: Man it's good to have Dario back in the Temple every week. His facials and little ticks when he talks to Catrina are so good. And he pronounced Matanza the same as "Ibiza". Mah-tahn-thuh.

1. Marty "The Moth" Martinez vs. The Mack

ER: Moth goes down pretty easy in this one, though he gets a couple big moves in (Mack is nuts for taking that exploder into the turnbuckles all vertical like that), but this was the Mack show. Big suplexes, great clothesline, one of the best spinning heel kicks you'll see, super fast flip dive. Glad they keep spotlighting Mack but I'd like to see him start to move up the card.

PAS: This was a fun 3 minute match, and I love watching The Mack, but I have no idea why you run this match if Mack was going to stop interference in the main event. We already saw The Mack get his revenge at the beginning of the show, why is it a big deal to see him beat on the guy some more 45 minutes later.

ER: Dario was really great broomsticking with Sexy Star. I mean if you're going to do a long Sexy Star vignette that's how you do it. Leave her to occasional one word answers and let Dario wander slowly around the office expounding on his plans to have Mariposa tortured.

PAS: This show is full of people carrying Sexy Star is she a make a wish kid or something. Is this the wrestling version of Batkid?

ER: Damn Phil Mencia didn't even wait until the body was cold to steal my Sexy Star-as-Batkid joke from earlier this season!

2. Sinestro de la Muerte vs. King Cuerno

ER: Boy they're really committed to this, huh? Not sure Cuerno is recoverable at this point. He's like the go-to guy to make look like a joke. Maybe the last remaining DoD member will be better outside of his group?

PAS: What a bummer, I guess this is why Cuerno wanted to leave. Sinestro didn't look any better in singles, one problem with taping this far in advance is they can't call audibles when stuff isn't working.

ER: There is a chance Sagrada can lift more than me.

3. Mascarita Sagrada vs. Cage

ER: Well, can't fault Famous B for getting Sagrada a chance at a medallion. This went as it should have. Sagrada gamely got tossed around, and I liked the crossface choke he locked on Cage after spinning all around him.

PAS: Feels like they were trying to get a GIF to go viral. Match made a fine GIF

4. No Mas: Mariposa vs. Sexy Star

ER: Well as I saw there was still 20 minutes left in the episode I'm sure I wasn't the only one not totally looking forward to a 20 minute Sexy Star match. This promotion can be really good with smoke and mirrors but Star has been immune to all of that so far. No matter how much they hack up her matches they still end up looking terrible. So I figured they couldn't have filmed an 80 minute match and hacked it down to 20, this had to have been a 20 minute match. And I really enjoyed it. We certainly had smoke and mirrors, but you need that kind of thing in these matches. Whatever was lacking in Star's strikes and general clunkiness was made up for by some clever uses of props, blood, an amusing tour of the Temple, and some satisfying run ins. Chair shots are one thing, but Star ups the ante by bashing Mariposa's vagina with a chair. This felt like the No Mas equivalent to a victim of sexual abuse exacting revenge. We not only get her bashing Mariposa's vagina with a chair, but several kicks as well. When in Rome. Star bleeds and Mariposa's mask ripping was really violent. The tour into the rafters was a fun way to stretch time as we get some fun dangling spots, Mariposa kicking a camera guy, and some fighting on ladders. The Moth/Mack interference was handled really well in both instances, as Moth halted a Sexy Star advantage, but Mack never gave the advantage back to her. He merely kept Moth away from her. She was still doing all of the work on her own, Mack was just giving her unfettered access to Mariposa. It would have been real easy for Mack to run in, stun Moth and then do something to Mariposa, but it was handled very smart. Early in the match the fans were shitty and chanting for Mariposa, which, no matter how limply the Star character has been portrayed, can only be seen as "trying to be cool". So the "FUCK YOU" into the mic was arguably Sexy Star's greatest moment in LU, as every single person in the Temple, even presumably the kewl kids chanting for Mariposa earlier, erupted and jumped out of their seats for Star at that moment. That's huge. This was all put together really well, and was far more satisfying and well done than I could have ever imagined. Now let's just move on.

PAS: I thought this whole storyline was super gross, your feminist hero was kidnapped and sexually abused and then she settles it in the wrestling ring. I guess this was their attempt at wrestling I Spit on Your Grave and they did a decent job covering up for Sexy Star's limitations. Crippled Vampiro is better then Sexy Star and that was a better match, but I was impressed at how well this was done. I thought the blood was a really great visual and the FUCK YOU was a great moment. Still Sexy Star really blows, Mariposa had to feed her arm for both cross armbreakers and neither of them looked good at all. Also it was a weird move to use to avenge rape, feels like a series of chairshots or a spike to the eye would have worked better.


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