Welcome to episode 11 of season two of the Over/Under of Lucha Underground, our gently reworded Best and Worst report about every episode of the best wrestling show on television. If you’d like to read about season one, you can find all of our previous episode reports on our Lucha Underground tag page. For season two, click here.
PROGRAMMING NOTE: We doubled up on reports this week, so if you missed the writeup of episode 10, you can find that here.
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And now, the Over/Under on Lucha Underground season two, episode 11.
Over?: A Very Roundabout Dario Cueto Investigation
So the first thing you need to know about this episode is that Dario Cueto’s organized a new Trios tournament, which is the best news. The Trios tournament in season one ended up deciding a lot of stories and matches for Ultima Lucha, and I like each season of Lucha having a certain rhythm. It’s like pay-per-views without pay-per-views. The season premiere, Aztec Warfare, Trios Tournament, Ultima Lucha.
The second thing you need to know is that Officers Reyes and Ryan are beating paired up in a trios team by their police captain as the next step in their ongoing investigation/taking down of Dario Cueto. I love this from a kitschy point of view, but man, aren’t there easier ways to get to Cueto? He’s running an “underground” fighting ring, but there are fans coming in and out of there all the time. Danny Trejo pops in. Ron Funches got a seat, you’re telling me Ron Funches has connections to underground LA fight clubs and the local police can’t get a ticket?
On top of that, Cueto’s office is pretty much open to the world, especially to people who want to threaten him. We’ve seen Pentagon Jr. almost break his arm, we’ve seen Catrina teleport in there and ghost-strangle him, hell, even Fernandez got an in-office conversation. I’m interested in hearing the logic behind a trios tournament pairing and victory will get them any closer than Cortez Castro spending half of season one hanging out in Cueto’s office and cage monster death den.
Over: Ivelisse Singles Victories
Ivelisse vs. Kobra Moon wasn’t the best match we’ve ever seen in Lucha Underground, but it was solid, and accomplished two very important things.
One, as I mentioned in last week’s (yesterday’s) report, it’s nice to be reminded that the members of the Unlikely Trio are at their best when they’re working together and on the same page, but also that they’re competent singles competitors. The elimination tag against the Disciples of Death reminded us of that with Son of Havoc, and this week we get to see Ivelisse winning a straight-up singles match. That’s good.
Also, with the influx of new female characters on the show — Kobra Moon and Mariposa specifically — it’s good to tie in Sexy Star and Ivelisse to mingle those generations. That sounds weird when Lucha’s only had one season of television, but Ivelisse vs. Kobra Moon as a no frills, no nonsense pro wrestling match between two female competitors is Lucha doing it right. When you’re running a telenovela about a supernatural wrestling promotion, you have to take a step back sometimes and say, “okay, this is a regular match that someone just wins.”
Over: KILLSHOT ORIGINS
Your favorite part of the show was probably the origin of Killshot. Lucha does these origin vignettes better than any wrestling promotion I’ve ever seen, and Killshot’s honestly might have been one of the best in the show’s history.
Find this and watch it. Killshot is a guy who joined the military when he was 18 and found out he had a gift for guns, and a killer’s instinct. He was captured by the enemy and held captive, and we get some action shots of him doing MILITARY ANTI-TERRORIST LUCHA LIBRE MURDERS. He clarifies that they’re all bad guys (or so he’s told), which is a nice touch. He doesn’t know if any of his brothers in the field made it back alive, but he fights in Lucha Underground to forget, and hopes that one day they’ll return home. That’s AMAZING. He’s a man without a face. Way to make Killshot one of the best character on the show in a heartbeat, guys.
Over: Commercials In Real Life
Speaking of “best characters on the show,” here’s Famous B giving his business card to Mascarita Sagrada and telling him he should GET FAME. when he says it, the phone number pops up on the screen under him. I repeat: Famous B’s commercials follow him into the real world, and he can make phone numbers show up in the air. LOVE TIMES ALL THE NUMBERS.
I also really like the scene transition here, which goes from B and Mascarita down the hall to The Mack and Sexy Star. Sexy’s doing some angry weightlifting and Mack is all, “hey, I got put on a team with those people who kidnapped you, but I would appreciate you still coming down and helping me out.” He sorta knows he’s in for a Mothing. Sexy says she can’t, and then we get a surprisingly effective PTSD flashback and her freaking out. That leads to …
Over/Under: The (Police) Crew vs. Mack-Tec Pride
I’m giving this one somewhere in the middle. I like the idea of it and it progresses the story, but the wrestling didn’t really catch me. This was a great episode of Lucha, but not really for the in-ring stuff. I could take or leave a lot of it.
Still, it advances all the stories that need advancing. Joey Ryan’s on a team with The Crew, which only makes sense if you know the super secret backstory. The Mack is on a team with Marty the Moth and Mariposa, because one of the calling cards of Cueto’s tournament booking is setting up as many moments of sudden betrayal and violence as possible. Somewhat predictably, Moth and Mack don’t get along, which leads to the Crew winning. Mack gets jumped after the match, and Sexy Star (despite all the things that are f*cking her up mentally) rushes down to make the save.
After that, we get the most important moment of the Trios tournament so far, and it’s not even technically in the tournament:
OVER: !!!
1. Rey Mysterio is hanging out on a roof wearing a mask that makes him look like Batman, which would’ve earned this segment an Over if they’d just stood there in silence.
2. PRINCE PUMA SPEAKS! Our first moment of Puma dialogue ever is “me,” a confirmation that Puma’s going to be Trios partners with Mysterio and El Dragon Azteca Jr. That’s a big moment, and I love that it was saved for a big moment that connects the past of modern era lucha libre with the present, and the future. Also great: Puma is now confirmed to be a regular guy who just internally turns into a puma when he’s angry. He’s like PJ Black with his totem spirit wolf, but way better.
3. Holy sh*t, Rey Mysterio Jr., El Dragon Azteca Jr. and Prince Puma on the same Trios team. HOLY SH*T Y’ALL.
Over: Life And Death
Fenix gets a Lucha Underground championship rematch against The Monster Matanza Cueto (his complete name), and it goes about how you’d expect. Like Pentagon, Fenix just sorta gets trucked despite his best abilities, and the match ends not only with a loss, but with him in danger of being put down for good. What I like the most about this is that it makes you start mentally comparing it to Fenix/Mil Muertes, and then MIL MUERTES shows up saves Fenix. That’s INSANE.
That’s a moment that can change the entire course of the show. Everything that’s happened has been defined by the bookend of the Fenix/Mil feud. They’re the ultimate statements on life and death in this universe. Now there’s something so scary and violent that it’s bringing them together, and literal life and death have to join forces to take it down. And don’t get me wrong, I don’t think this means we’re gonna see Mil and Fenix in any buddy comedies any time soon, but it’s the first-ever moment of true alignment between the show’s polar opposites, and that means something. And on the same show where Puma talks?
The times, they are a’changin’. Mil vs. Matanza, yes please.
