My favourite time of the week is here – it is Lucha Underground Analysis time!
Despite just being one hour long every week, we have so many goodies coming our way this week. As well as two backstage segments featuring Ivelisse and Sexy Star, Sexy is also in action in a new four-week tournament to crown new Lucha Underground Trios Tag Team Champions. Lucha Underground is killing it again! Introducing a six-man set of belts on US soil is unheard of. Love it.
As well as those gems, we also get an update on Black Lotus. It turns out that her kidnapping over a month ago was certainly not as it seemed…
Black Lotus is the first female of the evening that we see, and she narrates a video package explaining what has happened to her the last few weeks. She says that it has been a month that she saw ‘him’ and that she “wanted to kill him”. However someone stopped her from making a deadly mistake.
We see Lotus’ kidnapper for the first time, a man actually trying to help her. He goes by the name of El Dragon Azteca and is a direct descendant of an original Aztec tribe.
HOLY BACKSTORY PART 1!
The gent who took Black Lotus was also around when her parents were murdered by the monster within the cage that Lotus stared down a month ago.
HOLY BACKSTORY PART 2!!
I noticed that Lotus used the word “slaughter” and not killing or murder, and that makes sense considering the presumed name of the guy she wants to kill – Matanza – is Spanish for ‘slaughter’. So much thought has gone into this angle. I love it.
El Dragon has vowed to teach Black Lotus the art of Mexican lucha libre, as she said that this will be essential so that she can avenge her parents. Lotus’ narration is now alongside silhouette images of her training and it is so bloody awesome. It is safe to say that she won’t be a manager in Lucha Underground, she is here to fight!
https://youtu.be/DH2IjLhqojY?t=15m50s
We next see a very fierce looking Sexy Star in Dario Cueto‘s office. As part of the new trios tournament, Sexy Star will feature in this week’s main event. Facing Big Ryck and his new ‘The Fam’ members Killshot and The Mack, Sexy will team with Superfly (more or less a glorified jobber in LU sadly) and potentially the most dangerous man in Lucha Underground, Pentagon Jr. Talk about dysfunctional!
Before that match can take place, we get to witness another backstage segment in Dario’s office, this time involving Ivelisse with her former boyfriend Son of Havoc and the South African thorn in their side, Angelico. Dario informs them that due to their poor singles records, next week, they will form a team in the trios title tournament.
It is safe to say Ivelisse is P-O’d. She wants nothing to do with either of these blokes yet she’ll have to woman up and make the best of it. Dario really loves putting together some bizarre teams!
Following that segment, it is time for our main event. A hot-pink clad Melissa Santos introduces the team captained by Big Ryck and these guys have a really interesting look. And at least they have an actual connection and look like a team.
Sexy and Superfly arrive on the scene next, to Sexy’s music of course. She wears the trousers around here. The mysterious Pentagon Jr enters by his own accord, and also cuts a promo to his ‘master’. He belittles Sexy and Superfly yet says he will win the titles on his own.
After an utterly awesome exchange between one of my faves Pentagon Jr and the surprisingly agile The Mack, Superfly tags himself in whilst Killshot is actually tagged in as his team actually get along! We’re going to have to wait a little longer for a slice of Sexy.
After a short yet really fun display from the aforementioned guys, Superfly tags in Sexy and she gets a really loud pop from the temple crowd. Sexy kicks Killshot in the midsection and also wreches his arm before transitioning that submission into a side headlock. Our shining Star and Killshot swap chops to the chest as Sexy also takes a hard elbow to the face.
Sexy avoids Killshots next offense with a Matrix duck-under before she nails Killshot with a stiff elbow of her own. She then hits what can only be described as a glorious headscissor takeover – gorgeous!
Sexy goes for a cover yet Big Ryck breaks it up. He then charges on a warpath, knocking Sexy’s partners to the floor and then gorilla pressing her onto them! The Mack and Killshot then go airborne as they dive right onto Superfly and Pentagon. The Mack is so impressive!
Big Ryck signals that she may jump over the top rope, yet when he turns around, he runs right into a crossbody from Sexy Star! Ryck kicks out and then Pentagon jolts back into the ring. The relaxed refereeing style is definitely refreshing to see.
Pentagon carries the match for this team for a while longer before Sexy gets bored standing on the sidelines. Sexy runs at Pentagon, who then boosts her up to the top rope to hits a frankensteiner onto Killshot – wow!
Sadly for Sexy’s team, this move wasn’t enough. Sexy is swatted to the concrete by Ryck and then Superfly is taken out by The Fam, meaning they advance in the tournament towards the gold.
After the match, Pentagon Jr is not happy at all, and he tries to break the arm of Superfly! Sexy rushes in and delivers a massive big boot to his face before retreating with Super. It looks like Fearless will soon clash with No Fear as Sexy and Pentagon stare down.
Thoughts: Another absolutely fantastic showing this week from the LU Temple. I can only find one fault, yet I’ll get to the positives first.
Starting with Black Lotus’ video package – how phenomenal was it? This must be the best back story a woman has had in wrestling for as long as I can remember. Looking at other promotions, I honestly think Mickie James‘ WWE debut was the last time history was forged this well for a characters. Characters like TNA’s Winter and WWE’s Kharma have had interesting debuts and/or vignettes to explain their intriguing personas, yet not to this depth.
Looking at all we know so far, Matanza murdered Black Lotus’ parents, a slaughter witnessed by El Dragon Azteca. So essentially, Black Lotus is like a female Batman. That’s badass. We also know that Dario Cueto has spoken with Matanza, yet how do they know each other? And why has Dario got him locked up in the temple? With Black Lotus on a quest to battle a monster, and there will be the main authority figure involved, this is going to be so epic.
I am also so happy that we now have proof (for those who don’t read spoilers) that Lotus will actually be wrestling, and not just a manager or on-air personality. I don’t know why it has taken Angela Fong so long to get back in the ring, yet I am so, so, so excited to see her mix it up again in the squared circle. Bring it on!
As for Ivelisse’s segment this week, she owned it. She was the one I could hear over her two now tag team partners. Although a dysfunctional team, there is a lot of backstory for this makeshift trio and I’m excited to see how far they can progress in the tournament. Judging by Dario’s words in the segment, I imagine they’ll be facing off against The Crew next week. We’ll find out soon I guess.
As for the main event, I loved it. The heel/face team of Sexy, Superfly and Pentagon meant that we didn’t see the typical hot tag towards the end of the match and we were treated to a different beast altogether. I thought the hard chops and kicks were massively entertaining. Shout out to The Mack too, he was mind-blowing. The Fam will definitely be a force to be reckoned with in the tournament.
It was also so exciting to see that although Sexy lost, she ended up getting the last word again. She was protected by not being pinned and then she put Pentagon Jr on notice. I did not think Pentagon would feud with her yet I am very happy to see that it looks like it is going to go in that direction.
One last note on the tournament, I hope it will be filled with teams who actually look like a unit. I understand Sexy and Pentagon teaming together was so that a feud could be started, yet already, I’m worried that like the TNA Knockouts Tag Team titles, this division has started and there won’t be enough actual teams to make it work. Tag teams are meant to be filled with people who trust each other and have chemistry. They should also look the part.
Whilst I don’t have an issue with Ivelisse’s team as they have been building to this for weeks without me knowing it was coming, I would like to see more bonafide teams showing up in the next few weeks. If that means debuting more new faces, I’m all for that. Killshot and The Mack feel like they have always been around after just one week. Maybe a new female face to step into the temple, perhaps?
