‘Lucha Underground’ Review (Oct 10th 2018)
Welcome to this week’s Lucha Underground review, right here on Nerdly. I’m Nathan Favel and we have more attempted murder from Matanza, as well as a big Ultima Lucha match announced for Johnny Mundo. Let’s lucha… wait, that’s not a phrase.
Match #1: Matanza Cueto beat Taya Valkyrie – Sacrifice To The Gods Match (DQ)
Nathan’s Take: 2 out of 5 – This was decent, but it was also very disappointing, considering that both of these wrestlers are capable of doing so much more than a glorified squash match. The idea of Taya swearing vengeance against any-one is a good way to go, as she seems to be tough enough to to go hog wild on any-one who crosses her. The fact that this was all about Taya getting pay-back for Matanza destroying her wedding is a bit cheap, but it worked for Kill Bill… Bill did try to kill her, though, so that might not be the best example. Matanza is a great monster, but the fact that he’s, essentially, a clone of the far better character of Abyss (himself a decent homage to Kane), puts a certain limit on what can be done with him, since he’s just meant to be a mongoloid any-way. Is Matanza meant to be stupid or a Latino version of Michael Myers? They’ve never explored that beyond just the vignettes of Dario or Antonio talking to Matanza about hurting people. The wrestling here was like a teaser for some-thing we have already had before, so that makes having a mere taste of a match, rather than a full meal of action, feel like a cheap trick. The only reason why Johnny Mundo saving his wife didn’t make her look weak was because if she had lost, she would be murdered. Over-all, it would have been nice to have a much longer bout, but at least this went some-where in terms of booking.
Match #2: Mil Muertes and Fenix beat El Dragon Azteca Jr. and The Mack – Tag Team Match
Nathan’s Take: 3 out of 5 – As a logical, intelligent wrestling match, this thing died on arrival, but as a grand spectacle, this match will make your eyes bulge like Wendy Williams’s Grave’s Disease. That’s right! How you doin’? We’re not doing the shoe cam, though. These four guys went from one incredible move after another and layered each attack like a link in a chain that was made not to break. I could try to do the play-by-play, but I could also jump off a bridge without a rope to pull me back and since neither sounds good, I don’t think I’ll do either. Each move was as high-risk as you can get without killing yourself, which seems to be a sentiment that more wrestlers than ever share. This is a good time to mention that, while I appreciate the passion these guys have to give the people their money’s worth, I don’t like seeing such dangerous moves used for transition, rather than the climax of the match. If any of these guys are really concerned about their health, then they should look to Joey Janela and see why matches like this, while exciting, are not what is best for their careers in the long run. I know Lucha is all about free-style wrestling, with an attitude to match, but when it puts you in so much danger, isn’t there a part of you that just screams, “Holy s–t, I could get killed!”? I’ll never discount the work that wrestlers put in, but I am allowed to object to the lengths they feel is necessary to entertain the crowd, especially when a good head-lock is often all you need to get the people to react.
Match #3: Ricky Mundo beat Famous B
Nathan’s Take: 1 out of 5 – Well, we had a winner and a loser. I like both of these guys, but squash matches for are for 1980s WWF, not 2018 Lucha Underground. I keep expecting The Iron Shiek to come out and challenge Hulk Hogan for the title after the Hulkster beats Les Thornton in two minutes.
Match #4: Main Event – Pentagon Dark beat Reklusa
Nathan’s Take: 3.5 out of 5 – This was a vicious brawl that was like last week’s main event, except much better. Both of these athletes were presented as equals from the start and Reklusa, more well known as Chelsea Green and Laurel Van Ness, was right at home fighting Pentagon, who may be having a better year than Kenny Omega. It’s almost funny reading about how Triple H thinks intergender wrestling is just shock value and that “women don’t need men for validation”. Having men wrestle women isn’t shocking, it’s just late to its own party. Now, this was a particularly brutal way to advocate for intergender fighting, as Pentagon and Reklusa were relentless in their offense, but that just shows how talented she is and how willing he is. Unless Pentagon is being forced into this, then he may be one of the most giving wrestlers around, because he put her over, constantly. If Triple H was booked to fight Trish Stratus, he’d insist that he just grab her breasts the whole time, because that’s his idea of psychology. Reklusa was reported to have signed with the WWE, so it remains to be seen how many more episodes of Lucha Underground she will be one, but as long as she’s here, then we should have lots of great wrestling to see from one of the best in the sport. That being said, they don’t need to put each other in such turmoil to entertain the crowd, even if they were trying to sell a major title match at the last minute.
News Of The Night:
- Johnny Mundo will fight Matanza Cueto at Ultima Lucha.
- After Ricky Mundo admitted to summoning Matanza to stop the wedding of Johnny Mundo and Taya Valkyrie, Taya and Ricky were booked for Ultima Lucha.
- Marty The Moth almost burned Pentagon to death with gasoline after the main event.
Final Verdict: 3/ 5
This was a good episode with a very dramatic main event. The change in Marty’s booking has turned him into a menacing foe with decent wrestling skills. When the title is moved off of him, I hope he can maintain this momentum and be a great character no matter his circumstances.
