Lucha Underground – Episode #39: Ultima Lucha Part II (Season Finale)

Lucha Underground – Episode #39: Ultima Lucha Part II
Date: August 5, 2015
Location: Lucha Underground Temple, Boyle Heights, CA
Commentators: Matt Striker, Michael Schiavello
Follow @udkyle

All good things come to an end.

Previously on Lucha Underground…

Dario Cueto explains Lucha Underground. Konnan brings Prince Puma to Lucha Underground and he wins the LU championship. Dario Cueto promotes Ultima Lucha. Pentagon Jr. asks his master’s permission to destroy Vampiro, and Vampiro agrees to a match. Dario Cueto introduces seven Aztec medallions that make up the Gift of the Gods Championship, which is at stake at Ultima Lucha. Texano stands up for Mexico in dealing with Chavo Guerrero Jr, but draws the ire of Blue Demon Jr. Johnny Mundo and Alberto El Patron cultivate a rivalry, in which Mundo puts El Patron through a window of Dario Cueto’s office, and El Patron responds by promising to rip Johnny’s face off. Mil Muertes earns the title shot at Ultima Lucha, and buries Konnan, leaving Prince Puma without his mentor. Dario Cueto tells Black Lotus that El Dragon Azteca, not Matanza, is responsible for the death of her parents.

Before the “Previously on…” LU flashed a title card saying “Dedicated to the memory of the original rudo, “Rowdy” Roddy Piper.” According to Lucha Underground EP Eric Van Wagenen, Piper was a huge fan of LU, and they had previously had conversations to try and get Piper to do at least a cameo on the show.

Melissa Santos welcomes us to Ultima Lucha.

Matt Striker and guest commentator Michael Schiavello set the table. Schiavello steps in for Vampiro, who will be wrestling tonight (Spoiler: Schiavello does a pretty damn good job. It would not surprise me to seem get a little more work on this show going forward).

Match #1 – Johnny Mundo vs. Alberto El Patron

El Patron comes to the ring with the AAA Mega Championship for the first time in a while. We get a commercial, before the match.

Commercial Break

Mundo is hesitant to get in the ring as the match starts. El Patron chases him out of, and around the ring. El Patron catches Johnny, as he tries to slide back into the ring, and gives him a leg kick, and then chucks him into the wall of Dario Cueto’s office. El Patron runs him into the side of the announce table, and follows with a kick to the head. Then he zeroes in on Johnny’s left arm, slamming it into the table repeatedly.

As El Patron celebrates his early advantage, Mundo crawls under the ring to escape. El Patron searches for him frantically, but Mundo evades him. El Patron catches Johnny coming out from under the ring eventually, but Johnny has a fist full of dirt from the floor, and throws it into El Patron’s eyes, blinding him. Then Mundo starts bouncing El Patron off guard rails, before taking him face first into the announce table. Johnny caps it off by taking El Patron, and throwing him into the side of Cueto’s office in a mirror of what El Patron did to Johnny.

Mundo takes a brief rest in the ring before jumping back out and using some ground & pound on El Patron on the floor. Then Mundo throws El Patron in the ring, and covers for a near fall. He follows with a chin lock, but El Patron fights out. Johnny counters with a snap mare and a shining wizard, and covers for another near fall.

Johnny sets El Patron up for End of the World, but El Patron catches him with a kick to the back, while he’s on the turnbuckle. El Patron climbs up the turnbuckle with Johnny, and suplexes Mundo off the top, flipping him mid-suplex. El Patron sells a knee injury from the suplex, allowing Johnny to get up and charge, but El Patron counters with an elbow, and kick, to stop Johnny’s momentum. After El Patron tries to mount some offense of his own, Johnny counters with a chinbreaker.

The two trade punches in the middle of the ring with Mundo getting the better with a kick to the stomach, to break the sequence. Then Mundo rams El Patron’s head repeatedly into the turnbuckle. Johnny sets up a flying forearm, but El Patron moves, and Johnny hits the turnbuckle. El Patron counters off that with a couple clotheslines and a back breaker. Then El Patron hits a backstabber for a near fall.

El Patron sets up a front kick to the head, but Mundo counters by ducking, and hits an enziguri for a near fall. Mundo follows that with an attempt at a pedigree, but El Patron escapes. El Patron charges Johnny near the corner, and misses a dropkick, landing on the top turnbuckle from the jump. Mundo takes advantage of the situation, hitting a backstabber from the top rope for a very close near fall.

Johnny goes up top and attempts a 450 splash on El Patron, but El Patron moves. Alberto comes back by clotheslining Mundo over the top. El Patron goes for a tope, but Mundo counters by hitting an enziguri from the outside on the dive. He pulls El Patron through the ropes to the outside, and then slides in the ring and hits a corkscrew plancha to take El Patron down.

Mundo throws El Patron back in the ring. He lands a series of kicks and then tries to whip El Patron to a corner, but El Patron counters it. Johnny tries to counter El Patron’s charge with a kick to the face, but El Patron grabs Mundo’s legs and swings them over the second rope, and then hits a double foot stomp to Mundo’s chest.

El Patron signals for his armbar and slaps it on Mundo, but Johnny quickly rolls into the ropes to break the hold. El Patron comes back with a kick to Johnny’s back and hangs him in a tree of woe, following that with more kicks, before missing a spear attempt, and hitting the steel post shoulder-first, as Johnny sits up onto the top of the turnbuckle. El Patron gathers himself, though, and grabs Johnny, and attempts suplex him off the top rope, but Johnny knocks him off the turnbuckle. El Patron tries to hang on, but ends up in horizontal position, and Johnny turns and nails a double foot stomp onto El Patron, sending both guys down to the mat. Johnny then hits End of the World, but El Patron kicks out at two.

Mundo argues with the ref, allowing El Patron some time, and Alberto comes back with a shoulder breaker to the left arm. El Patron sets up for a superkick, but Mundo pulls the referee in front of himself at the last minute, and Marty Elias catches the kick and hits the mat.

Mundo goes for Moonlight Drive, but El Patron counters into the armbreaker. Mundo taps out but there’s no ref to take the submission. Mundo attempts to counter out of the hold, and then breaks it with a kick to Alberto’s face. Mundo sells his arm and then charges El Patron, but El Patron counters it with a back elbow, and then locks an armbar on Johnny, using the top rope for leverage, while hanging outside the ring similar to Tajiri’s tarantuala move.

All of a sudden, Melina Perez runs out, grabs Alberto’s AAA Mega Championship, and hits him in the chest with it. Melina tosses El Patron back in the ring, and Mundo hits End of the World as the referee wakes up to count the pinfall.

Winner: Johnny Mundo via pinfall
Rating: ***3/4
Reaction: Very good match with both guys commanding a lot of juice from the crowd. I’m legitimately surprised Mundo went over here, and equally as surprised at Melina’s run-in, as this show was taped months ago, and while I have not sought out spoilers on LU, I figured I would have heard about her figuring in to the show. El Patron saves face by getting the visual tap out with the referee down. Mundo wins the feud, but I’m not sure it matters all that much. Both guys are so over, they’d figure heavily into Season 2 plans, no matter what the outcome was here.

After the match, Melina gets in the ring and congratulates Johnny, complete with a makeout session in the middle of the ring. Striker pitches their relationship as one that has stood test of time and is “true love.” An angry El Patron rallies and attacks Johnny after the match smashing him repeatedly into the guard rail as Melina screams. Then El Patron tosses Johnny into several rows of floor chairs, before throwing Mundo head first through the glass windowpane of the door to the storage room. Melina freaks out at this and attacks El Patron, who absorbs her punches with a look of amusement. Then he stops her, wags his finger at her, bends her over, and spanks her.

El Patron poses in the ring with the AAA Mega Championship after all this, as Melina cradles Johnny who is drenched in blood from going through the glass. Alberto made good on his promise to rip Johnny’s face off. Alberto shoots Melina a wink, and leaves up the temple stairs.

Striker hypes Pentagon Jr/Vampiro.

Commercial Break

When last we left El Dragon Azteca, he was entering the temple to save his pupil Black Lotus, despite a prophecy of death. Azteca arrives in the prison beneath the temple and finds Black Lotus. Azteca tells Lotus he’s getting her out of the jail, but Dario Cueto emerges from the shadows telling Azteca he “violated a treaty” by entering the temple, and that Azteca has never been a man of honor. Cueto reminds Azteca that the punishment for breaking the treaty is death. Cueto takes his key from around his neck, implying he’s about to unleash Matanza. Azteca tells Cueto not to do it, but Cueto says he doesn’t have to. All of a sudden, Lotus grabs Azteca through the bars with a choke hold. Cueto smirks and says the student has become the master. Azteca pleads with Lotus, telling her not to believe whatever Cueto told her. Lotus administers a heart punch to Azteca’s back which appears to kill him. Cueto sells surprise at the fact that Lotus actually killed Azteca, and immediately unlocks her cage telling her to come with him. Lotus refuses saying she got what she wanted, but Cueto tells her she does not realize what she’s done, and that she just “started a war.” Cueto says he’s the only person who can help her now. Lotus takes Cueto’s hand and Cueto says he must flee the temple because it’s now too dangerous. Lotus asks about Matanza. Cueto says Matanza is coming with them, and opens his cage.

Match #2 – Cero Miedo Match: Pentagon Jr. vs. Vampiro

The rules are basically anything goes. Pentagon comes out as normal. Vampiro comes out dressed like a zombie pope. The crowd establishes that they’re all-in on this match immediately. Vampiro slowly descends the stairs, and Striker throws it to a quick commercial.

Commercial Break

We’re back and Vampiro is in the ring, while Pentagon stalks the outside. Vampiro starts playing to the fans, and Pentagon grabs a steel chair and jumps in the ring, and immediately starts hitting Vampiro with it repeatedly. Pentagon takes Vamp down with a kick to the leg. Vamp rolls outside, and Pentagon follows him with the chair, hitting him again. They climb into the crowd and Vamp hits a chop, but Pentagon chops back. They brawl a little in the crowd, trading blows, and then Vamp escapes the crowd, and heads back towards the ring. Pentagon responds to this by flinging a bottle at Vamp’s head. Then he jumps back down to the floor and kicks Vamp in the head. Pentagon lifts up the safety mats on the floor, and slams Vamp on the exposed floor. Pentagon grabs two chairs and throws them at Vamp, who’s laying on the floor, one landing on Vampiro’s right shoulder. He then grabs a third chair and hits Vamp six times in the right shoulder. The referee throws up the ‘X’ sign, and Striker throws it to commercial selling that the match is over and Vampiro is seriously hurt.

Commercial Break

Vampiro is being stretchered out, but all of a sudden he jumps up off the stretcher and stumbles back into the arena, igniting the crowd. Vamp crawls into the ring and ducks a clothesline from Pentagon, before hitting a kick to the stomach, and a spinning heel kick to take Pentagon down. Vamp pulls out a bag of thumbtacks and dumps them in the center of the ring, and slams Pentagon on them. Then Vamp climbs to the top and tries to hit a flipping senton on Pentagon, but Pentagon moves, and Vamp lands on the thumbtacks.

Pentagon grabs a fluorescent light tube from under the ring (Note: These are real goddamn fluorescent light tubes as confirmed by Van Wagenen in his AMA today) and smashes it over Vamp’s head. Pentagon takes the shards of the broken tubes and starts using it to carve Vampiro’s forehead, busting Vamp wide open. Pentagon hits him in the face with several punches, before unloading with a vicious kick to Vamp’s face. Pentagon grabs more light tubes from under the ring, and slides them into the ring. He hits several more kicks on Vamp, before switching to chops. Vamp responds with a right hand, and the two trade chops before Pentagon grabs a light tube and props it up in the corner. Pentagon whips Vamp towards it, but Vamp stops short. Pentagon charges him, and Vamp hip tosses Pentagon into the tube, shattering it.

Vamp rips Pentagon’s mask, nearly ripping it clean off Pentagon’s head. Vamp grabs a light tube, tastes his own blood for a second, and then smashes the tube over Pentagon’s head busting him wide open. Pentagon comes back with a low blow to Vamp, and shoves Vamp down onto the thumbtacks. Pentagon climbs to the top, but Vamp cuts him off. Both men are on the top, and Vampiro hits a belly to belly on Pentagon, sending Pentagon into the thumbtacks.

Vampiro goes outside and grabs a table, sliding it into the ring. Then Vamp grabs lighter fluid and a lighter. Vamp sets up the table and ignites it, but as he turns to Pentagon, Pentagon hits a sloppy version of a Rock Bottom on Vampiro, sending him through the flaming table. Vamp catches on fire and rolls outside, but is on fire for a good 7-8 seconds before the crew finally puts him out with a fire extinguisher (in part because Vamp rolled away from the extinguishers when he fell to the outside).

Pentagon, faced with a recently flaming Vampiro exhausted on the outside, improvises and pins Vampiro on the outside to win the match (this was not billed as falls count anywhere).

Winner: Pentagon Jr via pinfall
Rating: I don’t…I mean…Look, this was not a technically good match, but I so thoroughly enjoyed this, I’m going ***1/2. It was so much fun.
Reaction: First and foremost, the right guy won. Second, Vampiro is clearly no longer in wrestling shape, and can barely move in a ring, but the decision to go full blown hardcore with this was the right one. And it was a vicious match. These guys took a ton of punishment. The use of the fluorescent light tubes was both a great decision because they were visually awesome, and completely insane. Since this match aired, I’ve read reports these things shattered and sprayed into the crowd, nearly taking fans out. They’re so lucky they didn’t end up with a lawsuit from some fan catching glass shards in the eye. And holy shit, Vampiro was nuts when it came to that flaming table. Most people put the lighter fluid on the sides of the table and go through the middle to minimize the chances of catching on fire. Vampiro soaked the thing in lighter fluid, the whole thing went up, and Vampiro caught on fire, like I said, for a good 7-8 seconds. This was an insane match aided by a crowd that lost it for every part of the match.

After the match, Pentagon grabs a microphone and starts talking to his master, but Vampiro screams at Pentagon to break his arm. Pentagon obliges. Pentagon then tells his master that he did what he promised, and asks his master to reveal himself.

Vampiro, who has a mic, tells Pentagon that, as his teacher, Pentagon is now ready. Pentagon bows to Vampiro and the two pose together.

Reaction: IT’S ME AUSTIN!!! IT WAS ME ALL ALONG!!! So Vampiro was Pentagon’s master. That would make the story that Vampiro is somewhat schizophrenic. The Vamp we saw for most of season one is “Ian Hodgkinson,” the marky commentator who loves wrestling. But Ian Hodgkinson’s ‘Vampiro’ character isn’t really a character at all, it’s a Two-Face style full blown second personality. And in his ‘Vampiro’ moments, he’s been cultivating a new death machine named Pentagon Jr to carry out his ministry of pain. The final test of Pentagon’s worthiness was Vamp sending Pentagon after himself, to draw out ‘Vampiro’ and destroy him. It’s confusing, but kind of makes sense, but also kind of stretches the boundaries of believability, but I like Pentagon and I like Vamp, so I can live with this conclusion. I’ve said it a few times, but this angle did more for Vampiro then his entire WCW run. And Pentagon is a future star.

Commercial Break

Match #3 – Gift Of The Gods Championship – Seven-Way Match: Fenix vs. Aerostar vs. Sexy Star vs. Jack Evans vs. Bengala vs. King Cuerno vs. Big Ryck

All seven wrestlers are in the ring and six pair off to start, while Big Ryck stands and watches. Then Ryck starts chucking guys out of the ring, leaving himself and Aerostar inside. Aerostar tries a waist lock on Ryck, but he gets tossed too, leaving Ryck alone.

Ryck, with all six luchadors on the outside, teases his first dive of the season, but all six luchadors jump back in the ring on his run, and attack him. The luchadors then pair off again. Cuerno drops Fenix with a supekick. Ryck wipes out Cuerno and Aerostar with a clothesline, but as he turns to Sexy Star for a moment, Aerostar and Fenix hit him with a double dropkick. Then Aerostar takes Fenix down with a tilt-a-whirl headscissors and Fenix bails outside. Aerostar follows with a springboard suicide dive wiping Fenix out. Then he jumps on the apron and leaps at Fenix again, but Fenix counters it into a power slam on the outside.

In the ring, Jack Evans and Cuerno mix it up and Evans takes Cuerno out with a jumping spinning roundhouse kick, before attempting a dive, and getting crushed by Fenix. Back in the ring, Bengala turns a Randy Orton style middle rope drape on Cuerno into a backbreaker. Bengala and Sexy Star mix it up in the ring. Sexy goes for a middle rope jump from the corner, but Bengala kicks her in the groin. Ryck jumps back in and slams Bengala for a near fall.

Ryck cleans house again, until it’s just him and Fenix. Ryck clubs him in the back, and Fenix rolls out with Ryck in pursuit. Ryck proceeds to beat the hell out of Bengala, Fenix, and Cuerno until the crowd starts reacting to something, and the camera pans up to show Aerostar on some scaffolding at the very top of the arena. Aerostar does a plancha off the top onto Cuerno, Bengala, and Fenix (come on Ryck, WTF. You’re the biggest guy and you bail on the dive???).

Back in the ring, Sexy Star works the crowd prepping a dive, but Marty Martinez runs in and starts taunting Sexy. They trade chops, but Sexy takes Marty down with an armbreaker submission that Marty narrowly escapes. Sexy sends Marty outside with a dropkick.

Sexy climbs to the top rope, and dives onto Fenix, Jack Evans, and Aerostar. Ryck, however, grabs Sexy from the floor by her hair and pulls her in the ring. He whips her into the turnbuckle and goes for a splash, but Sexy dodges and climbs to the top and hits a hurricanrana to take Ryck down. Cuerno immediately pounces on Sexy, and hits Thrill of the Hunt, but doesn’t try to pin Sexy, instead rolling her out of the ring because she’s beneath him, and instead sets his sights on Fenix.

Cuerno and Fenix square off but they’re interrupted by Bengala who reenters the ring via springboard dropkick to both guys. Fenix and Cuerno end up at opposite turnbuckles and Bengala hits a running clothesline on each, before monkey flipping Cuerno into Fenix. Then he catches Cuerno with a knee to the gut and covers for a near fall.

Cuerno whips Bengala to a turnbuckle, and Bengala uses the momentum to carry him into a springboard plancha to nail Fenix on the outside. Cuerno exits the ring with a tope on Bengala. Aerostar and Jack Evans are back in the ring and Evans attempts to pin Aerostar with a backslide into a bridge. Then Evans tries to tap Aerostar out with a guillotine, but Aerostar reverses it into a DDT, and hits a springboard Vader bomb on Evans, into a pin for a near fall that’s broken up by Sexy Star.

Sexy chops Aerostar and rolls him up for a near fall that’s broken up by Big Ryck. Ryck grabs Sexy and plants her with a vicious chokeslam that had to injury her. It looked nasty, Ryck really didn’t take care of her there.

All of a sudden Daivari runs out with a steel chair. Ryck goes to run the ropes and Daivari hits him with a chair shot that takes Ryck down to one knee, and then another chair shot to the head. Daivari scampers off and Jack Evans climbs on the apron. He screams to the crowd he’s the next champion, and then hits a springboard 450 on Ryck for a near fall broken up by Cuerno.

Cuerno whips Evans to the ropes and hits him with a clothesline that Evans sells with a 360, then wraps him in a surfboard. Fenix breaks the move up with a springboard leg drop on Cuerno. Fenix sets Cuerno up for his Firedriver, but Jack Evans jumps to his feet, runs up Cuerno’s torso, and attempts an enziguri that misses Fenix. Evans hits the ground and attempts another enziguri that takes out Cuerno. Evans goes after Fenix with a sidekick, but Fenix catches it and sets him up for the Firedriver. Evans turns it into a roll up for a near fall. Evans gets back to his feet and hits the ropes, but Fenix takes him down with a superkick. Evans comes back with another run off the ropes and turns it into a tarantula on Fenix. Fenix breaks the hold with repeated knee strikes to Evans’ face, and then shifts him into the Firedriver position and connects with it for the pin.

Winner: Fenix via pinfall to capture the Gift of the Gods Championship
Rating: ***1/2
Reaction: Some very good action here. With seven wrestlers, this could have been bogged down by confusion, but everyone seemed to know when they needed to get in and when they were out, and hit their cues perfectly. Aerostar’s plancha from the ceiling was Angelico-level ridiculous. Sexy Star’s bump from Big Ryck’s chokeslam was pretty tough to watch. Everyone really got a chance to shine here except Ryck. Fenix now has the right to challenge the winner of the main event next season. Given the awesomeness of the Fenix/Mil Muertes rivalry earlier this season, which never really finished with each guy taking a big gimmick match, this may be some foreshadowing on where the title match may be headed later in the card.

After the match, Cuerno stares a hole in Fenix, as Fenix celebrates his win.

Commercial Break

We are back and go right to another match!

Match #4 – Texano vs. Blue Demon Jr

Blue Demon is accompanied to the ring by the surviving Crew members who are dressed in J&J like suits with blue ties and pocket squares. Cisco even wears a blue bandana.

Cisco hands Melissa Santos a note. Santos reads aloud that due to Blue Demon’s legendary status, Dario Cueto has granted his request to make this match no DQ.

We get a quick commercial break before the start.

Commercial Break

Texano starts with clotheslines on Demon, then hits a kick to the stomach. The Crew immediately jump in, and immediately gets decked. Texano slams Demon, and then hits an elbow drop and covers for a near fall.

Texano follows this with a suplex to Demon, and another elbow for another near fall. Texano chops Demon in the corner, but Demon reverses it and chops Texano. Demon whips Texano out of the corner, but Texano leap frogs Demon’s charge and hits a backbreaker. Texano follows with a spinebuster, and then hits his sitdown powerbomb into a pin attempt, but the Crew jumps in the ring again and break up the pin.

The Crew then hold Texano, who is on his knees, while Demon waives a kendo stick at the crowd. While Demon taunts the crowd, Chavo Guerrero Jr makes his way to the ring with a steel chair. Chavo and Demon posture like they’re going to attack each other, but Chavo hits Texano in the back with the chair instead, and then hands his chair to Demon. Demon takes the chair and hits Texano in the head. Demon pins Texano with one foot on the chest.

Winner: Blue Demon Jr via pinfall.
Rating: DUD
Reaction: Basically a squash by Texano, that turned at the last second due to the stipulation. This wasn’t given much time, and Texano’s offense was basic to account for Demon’s limitation. Poor Texano, this guy is arguably the most misused guy of Season 1.

Chavo and Demon celebrate in the ring and Striker plays up their new found alliance.

Striker teases the Main Event.

Commercial Break

We get some entrance shots of Puma and Muertes.

Match #5 – Lucha Underground Championship: Prince Puma (c) vs. Mil Muertes

Both men enter. Before the match, we get a break.

Commercial Break

Mil has Catrina, who’s sporting a cape, at his side as always. Puma is without Konnan.

The bell rings, and Mil and Puma trade blows in the center of the ring with Muertes winning out. Mil misses a clothesline on Puma, and Puma flips away, and rolls out of harm, then takes Mil down with a headscissors. Puma comes back with a dropkick, but Mil keeps his feet, and charges Puma, grabbing him by the throat and driving him across the ring, and over the top rope in a display of raw power.

After bouncing Puma off the side of Cueto’s office, Mil takes Puma up into the stands where the two trade blows. Mil lands a punch that knocks Puma over a railing, onto the temple stairs. Puma responds by hitting Mil, and knocking him back into the crowd. The two fight down the bleachers, and back onto the floor.

Puma charges Mil with a clothesline, but he ducks, and Puma stops himself short of hitting Catrina, who is in his way. Puma stuns Muertes with a back elbow, then lifts Catrina, and uses her body as a staff-like weapon, hitting Mil in the face with her heels several times. The two trade uppercuts, and Mil bounces Puma off a wall. Then he clears the crowd on the floor away from their chairs, and sends Puma skipping into several rows of them. Mil bounces Puma’s head off a chair, and then tries to take him back into the wall, but Puma walks up the wall and flips off it. Then Puma does a springboard off the apron into a spinning roundhouse kick to Mil’s face that takes him down.

Puma retrieves a table from under the ring and sets it up at ringside. Mil recovers and drives Puma back first into the ring apron, before bouncing Puma’s face off the table. Mil drags Puma around ringside, but Puma cuts him off and runs Mil into a rail and kicks him. Mil regains control and throws Puma into the ring steps, then grabs the steps, sets them on their side, and powerbombs Puma into them. Muertes rolls Puma back into the ring, and grabs a steel chair. As Muertes goes to get in the ring, Puma dropkicks Mil’s chair into his face. Puma staggers on to the ring ropes, and then runs at Mil attempting a tope, but Mil recovers in time, and swings the chair hitting Puma in the head and shoulder as Puma’s in mid-air. Mil rolls Puma back into the ring, gets in, and sets the chair between the top and middle turnbuckle in a corner. Mil goes to throw Puma into the chair, but Puma stops short. Mil grabs Puma, and Puma stuns him with a jumping knee strike to the jaw. The two trade blows, and then Puma attempts a cutter, which Mil counters into a German suplex, but Puma flips out of it and hits a double foot stomp on Mil.

Both men get back to their feet, and Puma hits a European uppercut on Muertes in the corner, but Muertes levels Puma with a stiff right hand. Mil charges Puma, attempting a spear, but Puma leaps over him and Muertes goes head first into the chair that was wedged in the corner. Puma lifts Mil up in a fireman’s carry and hits a GTS, and covers for a near fall.

Puma drags Muertes towards a corner and climbs to the top rope, attempting a 630 splash, but Mil rolls out of the way and Puma lands on his feet. Puma comes at Mil with a kick, which is blocked. Puma blocks a punch attempt from Mil, and then kicks him and hits the ropes, but Mil turns his run into a powerslam, and covers for a near fall. Mil picks Puma up and tosses him into a corner and then levels him with ten clotheslines in the corner that drop Puma. Mil then goes for a running powerslam, but Puma slides out of it and shoves Mil towards a corner. Puma charges him, and Mil leapfrogs the charge, but Puma flips into a Pele kick and drops Mil. Puma picks Mil up and hits a northern lights suplex, which he doesn’t release, but instead rolls through on, and picks Mil up into vertical suplex and hits that as well. Puma covers for another near fall.

Both men struggle back to their feet. Puma charges Muertes in the corner, but Muertes back drops Puma over the corner and on to the apron. Puma scurries down the apron to a spot in front of the table set up from earlier in the match. Mil comes over to Puma and catches an enziguri that staggers him. Puma goes for a springboard move, but Mil regains himself and clocks him with a forearm that staggers Puma and keeps him on the apron. Muertes then runs the ropes and spears Puma through the ropes, off the apron, and onto the table, which doesn’t break, because Puma hits the edge of it. Muertes then grabs Puma and powerbombs him through the table, breaking it definitively. Mil throws Puma in the ring and covers for a near fall.

Puma gets back to his feet and attempts a punch, but Mil grabs Puma by the throat and chokeslams him with authority. Mil crawls over to the corner and waits for Puma to get up, and then attempts a spear, but Puma flips over Mil and hits a superkick, then a roundhouse kick, then a spinning roundhouse kick to plant Mil near the corner. Puma climbs to the top, stares at Catrina, and hits a 630 splash. Puma covers, and Mil kicks out at two to the shock of Puma and the temple.

Puma climbs to the top again, and tries another 630 splash, but Mil rolls away, and Puma wipes out. Mil gets to his feet, and spears Puma. Mil picks Puma up by his throat and hits a Flatliner in the middle of the ring. Mil covers, but Puma kicks out at two. Mil sells frustration and then levels Puma with a punch. He drags Puma towards a corner, but Puma begins kicking Muertes from his back. Puma gets to his feet and hits a kick to Mil’s face, knocking him to the ground. Puma sets Mil up for another 630 splash, but Mil catches him on the top rope. The two trade punches and headbutts before Puma headbutts Mil off the top rope. Puma tries to regain his footing, but Mil runs to the corner, leaps up to the top, grabs Puma, and hits a Flatliner from the top rope, out of nowhere. Mil covers and gets the pin.

Winner: Mil Muertes via pinfall to capture the Lucha Underground Championship
Rating: ****
Reaction: A terrific main event. Not the best match of the year (that honor goes to either Puma/Mundo All Night Long or the Mil/Fenix Grave Consequences match), but a damn fine way to cap off Ultima Lucha. Lucha Underground did not go to the ‘kick-out of finishers’ well very often this season, and as a result, it paid off adding to the drama of this match when Mil kicked out of the 630, and Puma kicked out of the Flatliner. The story here ends up being Puma fought valiantly, but came up just short in his first defense on his own. LU has a pretty nice ready-made storyline with Puma and Konnan staring them in the face for Season 2 if they want it. Konnan interfered in many of Puma’s title defenses at key moments in those matches. He could easily claim credit for Puma’s reign, leading Puma to want to prove he’s his own man, and tension evolving out of that. For Mil, it’s pretty straight forward; the question of Season 2 will be who can stop Mil Muertes. There was a slight tease of strife between Dario Cueto and Catrina earlier this season, which could lead to Matanza entering the fray. But first up on Muertes’ docket for Season 2 is likely the Gift of the Gods Champion Fenix, and their unsettled business.

After the match, Catrina administers the lick of death to Puma.

The Disciples of Death come out, and they, with Catrina, join Mil Muertes in the ring, and all five pose, as Striker declares that “The Age of Death has come to Lucha Underground.”

We cut to Black Lotus in Dario Cueto’s office frantically shoving stacks of money into bags, as Cueto stares out his office window and declares that dark times are ahead. Cueto and Lotus flee with the cash, like every two-bit independent promoter looking to stiff talent ever, but Cueto briefly comes back to grab his red bull off his desk.

Then we see Lotus and Cueto pile into a SUV with a horse trailer attached. The camera pans to the side of the horse trailer, where there is a small hole that Matanza, sporting a leather mask, and just revealing his eyes, looks out and growls. They drive off.

We then get a montage of various superstars:

• Fenix drives off from the temple in a gold Trans-Am. King Cuerno, in a Chevy Pick-Up, follows him, stalking him down the road.
• Marty the Moth plays with a light in a dark room and says “You think I’m some kind of joke?” We cut to Sexy Star, tied up with rope in a cocoon-like fashion, in some sort of warehouse dungeon. Marty shrieks that Sexy won’t be laughing when she meets his sister. Sexy Star screams. Clearly Marty’s turning into some Jame Gumb like serial killer and he’s going to make himself a girl suit out of Sexy Star so he can feel pretty.
• Son of Havoc exits the temple and walks up to Angelico who’s about to take off on a motorcycle. Havoc tells him they’re going to get the Trios titles back. Angelico takes off. Havoc is about to depart, and then spies Ivelisse waiting on her bike. He asks Ivelisse if she wants to take one last ride. Ivelisse tells him to shut up and get on the bike. They ride off together.
• Aerostar and Drago are standing outside the temple. They shake hands. Drago tells Aerostar “Until we meet again, my friend,” then he walks out and bursts into flames. Aerostar follows him out of the temple, and blasts off into the cosmos.
• Pentagon Jr, back in his dojo, asks his master where they are going. Vampiro, hooded, clutching his arm, and looking very Palpatine-esque responds “To a much darker place.”
• On top of the temple, a hooded man who can’t be seen puts on El Dragon Azteca’s mask. He spray paints a question mark on the Lucha Underground sign on the roof.
• We end with Dario Cueto, standing in the hall of the temple, the background slightly distorted. The lights behind him shut off one by one. Dario raises his hand to his head, looking pained. The lights then bleed to full red, making him look like the devil, Dario looks up, looks straight at the camera, and smirks.

We end with a title card saying “Dedicated to the memory of the original rudo “Rowdy” Roddy Piper.”

Final Thoughts: One of the best cards of the year. When you take all three hours into account, it was on par with both WrestleKingdom 9 and WrestleMania from earlier this year. Of the eight matches, I had five at ***1/2 stars or higher, peaking with the main event, and really there was only one bad match (Texano/Demon) and it was extremely short. I highly recommend checking out both parts of this show.

Final Season Thoughts: I started this review yesterday, and I originally wrote this section as kind of an epitaph for Lucha Underground, because while I really loved Ultima Lucha and the whole 39 episode season, I was very pessimistic about the future of the show given that it has yet to be renewed, and that reports seemed to indicate the show would need a lot of outside funding to continue onward. I scrapped that write up today, after Eric Van Wagenen, executive producer of LU, shed some light on the situation, making the prognosis for the show’s future a lot brighter.

So instead, let’s briefly (because this thing is reaching Bill Simmons levels of obnoxiously long) talk about what we saw, and where we’re going with this show. Lucha Underground redefined the wrestling genre this season. The mixing of lucha libre and American style wrestling, and the integration of film vignettes with in-ring action created a presentation that rivals, if not outright surpasses, that of WWE’s both in terms of quality and aesthetics. Think about that for a second. This startup show, on a fourth tier network (sorry El Rey), with a shoestring budget produced something, that I, as a wrestling fan, can honestly say stands toe to toe with a billion dollar enterprise in terms of production quality. That’s an amazing accomplishment.

The show established seven core stars by the end of the season: Dario Cueto, Prince Puma, Mil Muertes, Pentagon Jr, Fenix, Alberto El Patron, and Johnny Mundo. Five of those seven have never been in a WWE ring. Think about all the promotions who have chased WWE’s leftovers over the years and either neglected their own stars, or failed to invest in developing them. Lucha Underground got it right this season.

The show also established some core storylines that ran the length of the season, as well as a mythology and long-term story arc surrounding the Cueto/Azteca feud that will no doubt play out over multiple seasons. They showed they could build short-term feuds, long-term programs, and super long-term, slow burn stories that play out over seasons. That level of discipline and preparation in the wrestling business is non-existent.

All told, you have to be impressed with the braintrust behind this show.

As we move into Season 2, the Cueto/Azteca storyline will continue to develop, and we have some ready made feuds in Fenix/Mil Muertes, Havoc, Ivelisse, and Angelico/Disciples of Death, and Marty/Sexy Star to kick off a new season. However, we also have some interesting possibilities like: Does the question mark tease at the end of the finale signal the coming of Rey Misterio Jr? Now that Vampiro is aligned with Pentagon, could we see the Konnan/Vampiro feud spill into a Puma/Pentagon feud? The word regarding Season 2 is that if it happens, it will be on the air no later than January 2016. That’s short, in terms of TV seasons, but will be a sizable wait wrestling fans are not accustomed to suffering. If Lucha Underground proved anything, though, it will likely be worth it.

Reviews: With Lucha Underground officially on hiatus, I am without a show to write about. If the show gets renewed, I’d gladly do a Season 2 column whenever that starts. If LU gets a Netflix/Hulu/Amazon Prime release, I will probably do a LU Rewatch column, because my reviews really only picked up the last 7-8 weeks of the season.

In the mean time, I’m not sure what to do. RAW, Smackdown, TNA, NXT, and ROH are covered from what I can see. The WWE/WCW archives have also been picked through pretty well. I could give NJPW on AXS a shot, as that will continue on for a while. I would do GFW if that ever gets released. I guess I could also do Superstars/Main Event on the WWE Network and talk about some of WWE’s neglected talent (Hi, Jack Swagger!).

Give me some feedback on that. Let me know what shows you want to talk about.