By: E. Young
BrightNightmares.weebly.com
Lucha Underground kicked off season 4 with a bang and the second episode keeps up the pace while introducing a lot of new tantalizing plot elements.
Catrina appears King Cuerno’s lair in search of the mystical gauntlet (held last season by The Machine Brian Cage, now on Impact!). Whoever wields the gauntlet embodies the very essence of the gods. She is confronted by Cuerno and he reveals that the gauntlet has been hidden by someone who perhaps exist outside of this time dimension and beyond the stars? Just kidding, it's Aerostar. Catrina also reveals that without the gauntlet she will not regain her life force. What could this mean? Is Cuerno really a good guy rudo? Well, we certainly aren't going to find out this episode.
Meanwhile back at the temple, it turns out that Antonio enjoys live music as much as his son and we open up with Vampiro -- with hair, which is so weird -- and Matt with Mariachi El Bronx. The first match of the night is for the trios championship. Current champs Willie Mack, Killshot, and Son of Havoc face off against the newly revamped Infamous Incorporated. Famous B's stable previously consisted of El Texano and Dr Wagner, but while they’re off making B his money in Mexico, the new stable now consists of stout muscle Big Bad Steve, indie high flyer Sammy Guevara, and big ol’ hossy Jake Strong AKA WWE Jack Swagger with a very Ohio haircut.
We get a lot of great spots in this match, especially from Sammy Guevara and Son of Havoc. But ultimately the current champs retain thanks to some accidental intervention by Famous B. No tension just yet between Killshot and the others like I expected but the season is still young.
As for the new Infamous Incorporated, Jake Strong doesn't take too well to losing his first match in the temple and he completely wrecks his teammates and his manager. The commentary team puts Jake over big time as a monster heel; not to mention, he is much larger than even some of the biggest muscle in the temple and and he concludes his debut by breaking B’s ankle as a deliberate contrast to Pentagon’s arm breaking. As a side note though, was “Jake Strong” the best name they could do for this man?
After a break, Antonio Cueto announces that the next match will kick off the latest Gift of the Gods tournament. El Dragon Azteca Jr. will be taking on Drago of the Reptile tribe (still mindwiped by Kobra Moon from last season) for the first medal of seven. Two tournaments in two episodes seems a little much, even though the Gift of the Gods tends to go on concurrently with everything else happening and this season looks to be kind of short as opposed to the bloat of season 3.
But, lucha must flow. Drago under Kobra Moon heels it up out there with Dragon Azteca, including attempts to rip off his mask and some very disrespectful submission holds. It is so weird seeing Drago as a heel and yet so satisfying because A) he's a dragon and B) a lot of his maneuvers call for at least some tweener manipulation. El Dragon Azteca Jr. fends the Reptiles off and obtains a medal and thus entry into the tournament. Kobra Moon berates Drago after his loss, but she in turn is taunted by Johnny Mundo which opens her up for a sneak attack from Taya!. Looks like the next big feud has been set. I can't wait to see Worldwide Underground mess with the Reptile tribe, who really haven’t gotten a lot of play yet.
Before our main event, Catrina pops into Antonio's office like Nightcrawler and request a Grave Consequences rematch between Mil Muertes and Fenix. Fenix barely survived the previous Grave Consequences match and although he has grown stronger I can't imagine Mil has been sitting idle himself. Catrina once again mentions regaining her lifeforce once Fenix has been laid to rest, so now I'm curious to see where this goes. Catrina's plotlines kind of fell by the wayside in season 3 so I'm hoping with the shorter episode order we will finally pick up on this mysterious temptress. Antonio grants her request but more on that later, because now it's time for our main event: Pentagon Dark versus the monster Matanza!
A real life kaiju battle! Heel vs heel almost never works but Matanza almost – I daresay almost – looks like the face in this match against Pentagon’s violent aggression. But Pentagon is definitely in this for the long haul and in a surprise and welcome upset he defeats Matanza, retaining his Lucha Underground championship! We are going to be seeing this guy around for a while so you might want to get used to it. He's even brazen enough to go right for Matanza’s arms but Antonio stops him just in time... so he can pimp slap his own son. Yikes. Nobody in this family can stand one another and they all hate failure. No participation trophies here!
As the episode ends, we see Jeremiah Crane barge into Antonio's office to request entrance into some Grave Consequences. Now it’s a threesome! Antonio grants the request with ease because who doesn't love a little messiness between scorned exes and a poor Fenix caught in the middle?
Season 4 is definitely shaping up to be leaner yet badder and meaner than the last. There is so much going on I can barely keep a handle on all of it. What other secrets will we find out about the the temple and those that inhabit it? What will become of Matanzaafter his first failure? Has Marty sought therapy yet? As the season unfolds only time will tell!
BrightNightmares.weebly.com
Lucha Underground kicked off season 4 with a bang and the second episode keeps up the pace while introducing a lot of new tantalizing plot elements.
Catrina appears King Cuerno’s lair in search of the mystical gauntlet (held last season by The Machine Brian Cage, now on Impact!). Whoever wields the gauntlet embodies the very essence of the gods. She is confronted by Cuerno and he reveals that the gauntlet has been hidden by someone who perhaps exist outside of this time dimension and beyond the stars? Just kidding, it's Aerostar. Catrina also reveals that without the gauntlet she will not regain her life force. What could this mean? Is Cuerno really a good guy rudo? Well, we certainly aren't going to find out this episode.
Meanwhile back at the temple, it turns out that Antonio enjoys live music as much as his son and we open up with Vampiro -- with hair, which is so weird -- and Matt with Mariachi El Bronx. The first match of the night is for the trios championship. Current champs Willie Mack, Killshot, and Son of Havoc face off against the newly revamped Infamous Incorporated. Famous B's stable previously consisted of El Texano and Dr Wagner, but while they’re off making B his money in Mexico, the new stable now consists of stout muscle Big Bad Steve, indie high flyer Sammy Guevara, and big ol’ hossy Jake Strong AKA WWE Jack Swagger with a very Ohio haircut.
We get a lot of great spots in this match, especially from Sammy Guevara and Son of Havoc. But ultimately the current champs retain thanks to some accidental intervention by Famous B. No tension just yet between Killshot and the others like I expected but the season is still young.
As for the new Infamous Incorporated, Jake Strong doesn't take too well to losing his first match in the temple and he completely wrecks his teammates and his manager. The commentary team puts Jake over big time as a monster heel; not to mention, he is much larger than even some of the biggest muscle in the temple and and he concludes his debut by breaking B’s ankle as a deliberate contrast to Pentagon’s arm breaking. As a side note though, was “Jake Strong” the best name they could do for this man?
After a break, Antonio Cueto announces that the next match will kick off the latest Gift of the Gods tournament. El Dragon Azteca Jr. will be taking on Drago of the Reptile tribe (still mindwiped by Kobra Moon from last season) for the first medal of seven. Two tournaments in two episodes seems a little much, even though the Gift of the Gods tends to go on concurrently with everything else happening and this season looks to be kind of short as opposed to the bloat of season 3.
But, lucha must flow. Drago under Kobra Moon heels it up out there with Dragon Azteca, including attempts to rip off his mask and some very disrespectful submission holds. It is so weird seeing Drago as a heel and yet so satisfying because A) he's a dragon and B) a lot of his maneuvers call for at least some tweener manipulation. El Dragon Azteca Jr. fends the Reptiles off and obtains a medal and thus entry into the tournament. Kobra Moon berates Drago after his loss, but she in turn is taunted by Johnny Mundo which opens her up for a sneak attack from Taya!. Looks like the next big feud has been set. I can't wait to see Worldwide Underground mess with the Reptile tribe, who really haven’t gotten a lot of play yet.
Before our main event, Catrina pops into Antonio's office like Nightcrawler and request a Grave Consequences rematch between Mil Muertes and Fenix. Fenix barely survived the previous Grave Consequences match and although he has grown stronger I can't imagine Mil has been sitting idle himself. Catrina once again mentions regaining her lifeforce once Fenix has been laid to rest, so now I'm curious to see where this goes. Catrina's plotlines kind of fell by the wayside in season 3 so I'm hoping with the shorter episode order we will finally pick up on this mysterious temptress. Antonio grants her request but more on that later, because now it's time for our main event: Pentagon Dark versus the monster Matanza!
A real life kaiju battle! Heel vs heel almost never works but Matanza almost – I daresay almost – looks like the face in this match against Pentagon’s violent aggression. But Pentagon is definitely in this for the long haul and in a surprise and welcome upset he defeats Matanza, retaining his Lucha Underground championship! We are going to be seeing this guy around for a while so you might want to get used to it. He's even brazen enough to go right for Matanza’s arms but Antonio stops him just in time... so he can pimp slap his own son. Yikes. Nobody in this family can stand one another and they all hate failure. No participation trophies here!
As the episode ends, we see Jeremiah Crane barge into Antonio's office to request entrance into some Grave Consequences. Now it’s a threesome! Antonio grants the request with ease because who doesn't love a little messiness between scorned exes and a poor Fenix caught in the middle?
Season 4 is definitely shaping up to be leaner yet badder and meaner than the last. There is so much going on I can barely keep a handle on all of it. What other secrets will we find out about the the temple and those that inhabit it? What will become of Matanzaafter his first failure? Has Marty sought therapy yet? As the season unfolds only time will tell!
