We have finally reached… the end? Last night was Lucha Underground: Ultima Lucha – Night 2, the season finale, and possible the finale of Lucha Underground in general.

This one hour, weekly show managed to give the world of wrestling a fresh of breath air. Lucha Underground managed to recreate in some ways the magic of pro wrestling from yesteryear while making it it entertaining and not insulting our intelligence like certain public corporation tends to do on a weekly basis. I’d like to thank Rich and Joe for giving me this opportunity to do this for you all since March, and these four months have flown by. What’s next for me here, I’m not quite sure. Probably a recap of the season as a whole and post mortem on this whole deal.

Anyway, this is the biggest Lucha Underground show ever, being two hours in length and filled with a number of high profile matches. I toast to you all and the end of Season 1, let’s get into it.

The show starts with a nice bumper in tribute to “The original Rudo, Roddy Piper.” Very classy. We’re getting Mike Schiavello on commentary with Striker tonight because obviously Vampiro is wrestling (or killing) Pentagon Jr. Mike’s commentated MMA in the past. This should be weird to not hear Vampiro’s voice for the first time ever. We’re starting off with Mundo/El Patron

Alberto El Patron vs. Johnny Mundo

This started off with an ECW-like brawl on the outside, which was different for these two. Once it got back in the ring, it just didn’t quite deliver like I wanted it to. I wish I was into this as much as the hot crowd was. I’m not saying this was bad by any means, it just felt like a match.

For a big blow off to a feud, I didn’t feel any roller coaster ride of emotions here, it just felt like they were wrestling each other with little malice after the whole beginning part with the outside brawl. I can’t really remember a whole lot from the match that made me go WOW or anything except maybe El Patron kicking out of Mundo’s first End of the World. The real story of the match, was after referee Marty Elias was pulled in front of an Alberto superkick, things started to get a little crazy. Patron had Mundo tapping, but the ref was out. The match picked up tenfold and then El Patron locked Mundo in an armbar over the ropes. An old “acquaintance” from Mundo’s past ended up being the trump card for Johnny to pick up this win. Yes, Melina makes her return to wrestling television by coming out and smacking Alberto with his belt, allowing Mundo to hit the End of the World for the win.

That’s an interesting way to go. This company sure does like to reuse some WWE tropes/pairings when they bash them so much though. I think this would be great for Mundo though, they always had a great chemistry together for obvious reasons. ***1/4

Uh oh, after Mundo and Melina are making out in the center of the ring like that gross PDA couple you hate to see, Patron loses it and attacks Mundo. In perfect payback fashion, Mundo gets thrown through a glass door. Great continuity. Melina made a mistake of attack Alberto after that, and he gave her…a spanking. Yuck, that was cringeworthy. That’s some garbage attitude era type crap.

New meaning is given to the phrase “blood feud” with the state of Johnny’s blood filled face. It was a staggering amount of color. A heck of a visual to end on.

Dragon Azteca makes it down to Black Lotus’ cell. Dario is down there as well and tells him there is a punishment for breaking the treaty of not coming to the temple. Dario threatens to free his brother while Azteca begs him not to. Cueto then states he does not have to, as Lotus grabs Azteca by the neck from behind the bars and actually kills the guy. She believed what Dario said about Azteca killing her parents. Dario tells her she just started a war, and he’s the only one that can protect her with his brother in tow. This is the only wrestling show that makes an on screen death seem somewhat believable. Yeah, it maybe a bit crazy but you have to remember this show can be the equivalent of a Robert Rodriguez movie. Loosen up a bit and enjoy the ride.

Cero Miedo Match – Pentagon Jr. vs. Vampiro

We’ve already had an obscene amount of blood and an on screen death, the trend of violence only looks to continue in this spectacle of a match that has been built up beautifully.

Vampiro comes out in this absolutely crazy looking Pope-like costume. It’s pretty damn awesome and the atmosphere for this is already incredible. Pentagon wastes no time adhering to the no rules stipulation as he smashed Vamp with a chair as soon as the bell rings. I don’t even know how to articulate the rest of this match. Coming from a guy who has watched his fair share of BJW deathmatches the past year, this made my blood curdle. Never in my life did I think I would see light tubes busted on people’s heads on nationally televised wrestling in 2015, but sure enough, it happened. I’ve seen brutal, violent blow offs to feuds but this may be near the top in that category.

What an absolute sick spectacle of a match, no, an actual fight really. It honestly felt like two guys trying to kill the other. I don’t even want to give too much away here if you haven’t seen it because it will take away from the experience. This was obviously no technical masterpiece but the crowd atmosphere was like nothing I’ve seen this year. I had goosebumps watching this and it was exactly how you should feel when watching the final battle of a feud with such a violent backstory. One moment I have to emphasize though was Vampiro ripping at the mask of Pentagon, exposing his face to an absolutely brutal light tube shot. Pentagon came out the winner in this through putting Vampiro through actual flames on a table, alluding to when he poured gasoline on Vampiro a few weeks prior. More great continuity. Vampiro delivered a hell of a performance in what hopefully will be his last match ever because good god that was hard to watch. You need to watch this if you aren’t of the faint of heart. ****1/4

This post match is just as sick. Vampiro calls out to Pentagon to break his arm. He wants Pentagon to finish him off. This is insanity. And not only that, when Pentagon calls for his master, guess who answers the call? Vampiro himself.

Yes, Vampiro was the master all along. Unfortunately, a Mr. Meltzer spoiled this for me on an Observer Radio awhile back so I did know this and I’m so mad I did because this would have been 100 times better for my sake, but for anyone who wasn’t this must have been a complete shock.

Pentagon obviously gets a huge rub from this from a veteran like Vampiro which he truly deserves. What a series of events.

Gift of the Gods Match – Bengala vs. King Cuerno vs. Sexy Star vs. Big Ryck vs, Jack Evans vs. Fenix vs. Aerostar

All these competitors earned their medals to activate this belt and get the chance to win the Gift of the Gods in this match. Well, not Ryck. Dario gave it to him. Are you going to question him about it? Didn’t think so.

The match was a total spot fest filled with chaos and if you didn’t think that would be the case coming in, what show have you been watching? It was a little too unorganized for my liking but obviously many of the moves and spots were very entertaining and all seven of these guys clearly busted their ass. Aerostar jumped from the highest balcony in the temple, some three stories high. Eat your heart out, Angelico. There was incredibly unnecessary interference that completely disrupted the flow of this like Marty the Moth going after Sexy Star and Daivari turning on Ryck by hitting him with a chair. These are all setting up feuds we may never see. Bengala was great once again and it’s shame we only got three matches of his on television. Ryck made Sexy Star a main target in this because of their history on the show. The best part of this was the ending battle between Evans and Fenix. Boy are these two just fun to watch. I can only imagine how much better this could have been if we had a Fenix/Evans singles match instead of this cluster of madness. Fenix hit the Fire Thunder Driver on Evans to win the Gift of the Gods. A fun match, but the structure was a little odd and if hate movez-style matches you’ll hate it. ***1/2

Texano vs. Blue Demon Jr

They heavily put over Texano being the longest reigning AAA Mega Champ in history. This match was clearly supposed to be Texano/Chavo, but they had to bring Demon back and turn him heel because of Chavo’s injury.

Demon comes out with The Crew outfitted in business suits with appropriate blue ties and hands Melissa Santos a card to read. “Due to his legendary status, Dario Cueto has granted Demon’s request to make this no disqualification.” Great, even more violence! Except not really. What an absolute joke this was. Worst match in Lucha Underground history, and I completely mean that. How could you throw this on your biggest show, your finale? The Crew obviously ended up getting involved, beating down Texano but then Chavo comes out with his chair he’s used since the beginning of the show. He teases that he’s gonna hit Blue Demon since they’ve obviously had their issues, but instead…hits Texano and Demon pins Texano. Are you kidding me? Are you absolutely for real right now? This is garbage booking.

Chavo now all of a sudden is fine with Demon, after calling him a washed up loser living in Florida a few weeks ago and all the issues they had early in the season? Just to get one over on Texano? If you’re Chavo, why don’t you hit them both since you have issues with both guys? I’m baffled. This is easily the worst thing the show has ever done, and this was WWE levels of terrible and nonsensical. Striker puts it over as two unholy rivals partnering up to control all of Mexico. It just makes zero sense to me. Awful and clearly a buffer match for the main event. DUD

Lucha Underground Championship – Prince Puma (c) vs. Mil Muertes

Thank god this is following the travesty of a match I just witnessed. Oh and I hope you’re ready, this is the final match of Season 1 and perhaps out final Lucha Underground match ever. Puma faces the biggest test of his career in the rejuvenated, ever so powerful Mil Muertes.

Puma got one over on Mil the last time we saw them together, but Mil got one over on him when he, Catrina and the Disciples of Death put Konnan in a casket. Puma’s all alone now. Can he prove himself as one of the best champions in wrestling, or will he fall to the dark forces of death?

The strange trend of matches starting in brawls continued in this one, and I was starting to become a little worried that’s all this match would be. It worked for other matches on the card, but that’s absolutely what this should NOT be. This should be an all out wrestling contest, and thankfully it turned that way quickly. Not to say the brawling stuff in the beginning wasn’t good though, thankfully it was kept short enough where it actually added to the match. Puma literally using Catrina as a swinging boot to Muertes on the outside was so neat and creative. Puma was just pulling out some of the deepest aces in his playbook, and by that I mean some absolutely ridiculous maneuvers that only he and very few others could ever think of attempting. He tried one too many though, as he went for a dive to the outside and Muertes absolutely hit a home run with Puma’s head with a chair. That type of stuff never fails to make me cringe. These two were in such a groove, that even the botches in this ended up making sense. An example was Mil attempting to spear Puma off the apron through the table on the outside but instead Puma caught the corner of the table and didn’t break. Mil did great ad lib on this and jackknife bombed Puma right through the slanted table on the floor. Hell, I think the botch ended up making that better and made Muertes look even more violent.

Once this got back in the ring fully, it was an absolute show. These two put on one of the best matches in the show’s history. Catrina using the rock to power Muertes on the outside was executed to perfection. The near falls made perfect sense. The finisher kick outs, they made sense. It didn’t surprise me that Muertes kicked out of the 630, but boy did it send me for a loop when Puma kicked out of a Flatliner. That was the first time that ever happened, and it was perfect and made Puma look like a resilient fighting champ. Puma fighting tooth and nail with desperate kicks while being dragged by Mil after taking the Flatliner was incredible. That’s how you interlace drama into a wrestling match. Puma got up to the top to try to hit the final nail in the coffin with another 630, but Catrina powered Mil up and he ran to the top rope and hit a top rope Flatliner that sent me flying off my bed. Imagine that visual in your head. My god, what a finish. What a match and main event to cap off Season 1 of this revolutionary wrestling program. Mil Muertes is your champion standing tall with Catrina and his Disciples to end Season 1. ****3/4

I need to break down the final scenes to this show, and I’m gonna do this bullet point style to help separate the stories:

  • Dario and Lotus are taking money and belongings from Dario’s office and heading on out, with Dario’s brother Matanza in the back of the trailer.
  • Fenix carries his Gift of the Gods and drives out with his awesome custom car, and it seems King Cuerno with his cowboy hat follows him in his truck.
  • An absolutely horrifying scene as Marty the Moth has now taken Sexy Star captive bound in rope in a one light room and has now reached criminal levels of insane. He says she won’t be laughing when she meets his sister.
  • Son of Havoc tells Angelico they’re getting those trios titles back. Angelico rides off on his Yamaha bike, and Havoc gets on Ivelisse’s motorcycle and says “One last ride?” These damn sexual tension jokes are so stupid but they make me chuckle.
  • Aerostar and Drago go face to face in respect of their brutal five match series they had together, and Drago tells him they will meet again and goes off into the darkness and spits his fire again.
  • Pentagon asks his master Vampiro where they’re going now. He answers, “To a dark place.”
  • The man in the hoodie that didn’t want Azteca to enter the temple now wears his mask, and spraypainted a big question mark on the Lucha Underground billboard. Wow, if that isn’t some chilling symbolism about the future of this show, I don’t know what is.
  • We end on a final visual of Dario in the tunnel of the temple, with the lights all going out to signify the end of the season and with that trademark evil grin on his face. They tell us To Be Continued, but who knows at this point for sure.

Final Thoughts: Wow, there’s a lot to gather from this finale of Lucha Underground Season 1. Ultima Lucha Night 2 was a show that was filed with violence. It was the key theme of this show and the grand daddy of Dario’s vision for this whole shebang all along. It may have gone a little overboard at times, but it’s fitting really. Cueto is a sick dude, and that’s what he wanted this whole time and we sure got it as the viewers. They wanted things to feel like big blowoffs and I think they succeeded pretty darn well.

Mundo/Patron as a match was a bit disappointing for me, but the post match stuff with Melina was neat and Mundo getting an insane amount of color from the glass door was nuts.

Vampiro/Pentagon was a match that had an unbelievable atmosphere and is something wrestling fans will be talking about for a very long time for how much it raised the bar for what can and can’t be done on a nationally televised wrestling program. The total swerve sent fans for a loop.

Texano/Blue Demon/Chavo was a saga that made zero sense, wasn’t entertaining in the least and came across as a clear time filler.

Thankfully, Puma and Muertes made up for it and then some. A thrilling title match main event filled with drama and intensity that more long title matches need in this day and age. Looking at you, ROH. It’s fitting that Muertes was the last obstacle that Puma just could not get over, but he went down with a fight by trying to clear it. The final scenes to close out the show were perfect setup for things to hopefully come for another season and it would be a shame if these things were never to come to fruition.

Lucha Underground really changed the game in terms of how to present wrestling to an audience and gave a chance to many of these incredible talents to showcase what they have on a national stage and hopefully it helps these men and ladies get more opportunities down the road.

Thank you all so much for going on this thrill ride of a television program with me and offering great constructive criticism along the way on how to improve these week by week. Reviewing and critiquing this show made me a better reviewer and writer and it was an incredible experience so thank you all so much for reading and VOW for giving me this opportunity. You’re all great wrestling fans and your input is always appreciated.

Look for some sort of recap of Season 1 from me in the near future. After that, you can check out my reviews on my own website Phoenix Plex Review where we specialize in puroresu but review a number of things, including more Lucha like Triplemania this Sunday and hopefully some CMLL soon. Thank you all once again, you can follow me on twitter @lob_3 if you would like.