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Welcome to this week’s Lucha Underground review, believers. Are you ready for Aztec Warfare III? The Royal Rumble-like match allows a luchador or luchadora to potentially stop Matanza‘s reign as the LU Champion.
What does this year’s special event hold for us? Let’s dive into the action!
Before the event begins Johnny Mundo corners Dario Cueto, promising to win the LU Championship and be the first to hold both the Gift of the Gods and LU titles. Taya is also shown filming Johnny for a documentary about him. If he doesn’t win the title tonight he calls out whoever does win the title and says he wants to face the winner next week.
During Aztec Warfare be on the lookout for Mariposa who tries to flirt with Matanza before being eliminated, Kobra Moon who continues to corner Drago, and Black Lotus with the help of a ninja tribe of assassins including Io Shirai, Kairi Hojo, and Mayu Iwatani, who eliminate Pentagon Dark.
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Sexy Star would enter at number 12 and outlast 19 other competitors. The final four included Sexy, Mil Muertes who is accompanied by Catrina, the Mack, and Johnny. Previous Lucha Underground Champion, the undefeated Matanza entered Aztec War at number one but was eliminated by Rey Mysterio halfway through the match, thus assuring a new Lucha Underground Champion would be crowned by the end of the night!
Sexy would eliminate Johnny despite his cronies attempting to help him win the match. The Mack would get quickly dispatched by Mil, leaving Sexy to defend herself against the undead foe.
Tables and chairs were introduced towards the end of the bout and Sexy would make the most of the No DQ stipulation by countering Mil’s top rope attack, shoving him through a table and hitting a top rope stomp for the pin and title victory.
Lucha Underground celebrated the historic milestone on twitter:
Congratulations to Sexy Star, the winner of #AztecWarfare 3 and first luchadora to win the #LuchaUnderground Championship! pic.twitter.com/G9IO84ctYI
— Lucha Underground (@LuchaElRey) November 17, 2016
Thoughts: Oh my gosh! What an amazing match! I’m so happy for Sexy. I’ve been a fan of hers since season one. She is an amazing story teller and champion of women. She’s gone through so much in her time on Lucha Underground. She’s one of the most fleshed out baby faces on the roster. Not going to lie, I did shed a tear seeing her overcome Mil and after seeing how much the audience supports her.
She took a ton of punishment and was able to overcome it all to become the first female to hold the show’s main championship. What a wonderful climax to her story!
I’m also ecstatic that so many women were involved this year. From Mariposa teasing Matanza to Black Lotus and her gang of assassins, which were unexpectedly fantastic! I haven’t watched Stardom but I heard great things about Io and Kairi. I hope they weren’t just a one time thing and they add more depth to Black Lotus’ story, which I’m eager to see more of her in the ring too.
Kobra Moon, while briefly in the match, did very well too. Last season she was a bit hit or miss during her bouts. She’s been killing it so far in her vignette’s with Drago and though limited here she looked good. I can see her improving much more when she goes up against him again in the future.
Catrina is always great in her role and though she hasn’t interacted with Sexy too much, I’m hoping maybe this jump starts a feud with Mil and her. I think it would be interesting to see Sexy overcome death.
This year’s Aztec Warfare was perfect in continuing stories and beginning new ones.
The last thing to note here is I was surprised no one mentioned Ivelisse‘s absence. To be fair, they probably didn’t know the extent of her ankle injury so I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt.
Overall Lucha Underground continues to let its women break the mold, shattering glass ceilings and putting the women front and center. I want to continue to applaud them. I love LU because it explores the potential of everything wrestling can be, from the memorable characters to wonderful stories. This is the best wrestling show on television, bar none!
Next week it looks like Johnny may face Sexy for the LU Championship. I’m hoping she can shut him up once and for all.
What did you think of this week’s Lucha Underground? Sound off in the comments below.
