In some ways, last week’s episode and this week’s episode are mirror images. They both featured two four-way matches in the Battle of the Bulls tournament. They both put an intergender match of questionable quality in between those matches. They both kept their vignettes short and didn’t spend too much time on story. However, for as similar as they appear on paper, the enjoyability of the two shows could not be more different.

The show kicked off with the best thing on the show, a four-way Battle of the Bulls match featuring Killshot, Dante Fox, Mariposa, and Jeremiah Crane. Now, given those names, I was not jazzed about this match at all. In fact, watching Lucha Underground tonight was something I was dreading on my way home this evening. To my surprise, these four put on such a great match, my outlook changed completely.

The match was completely unhinged and insane, with the competitors showing no regard for their own safety and well-being. It started with Jeremiah Crane straight up blasting Fox in the head with a chair completely unprotected. That… looked like it sucked. From there, they seemed to continue to up the ante from one crazy spot to another, at one point getting Vampiro to jump up, pace around, and lead the crowd in cheering.

The match was violent and hard hitting. It featured dives and chairs and mayhem at a rapid pace. I’d not be all that surprised if the agent notes for the match simply said, “Do everything you can think of to upset Jim Cornette.” It was carnage and it was beautiful.

I’ve never been that big a fan of Sami Callahan, but I thought he was great in this match. It was easily the most I’ve ever enjoyed him. Mariposa was great here too for the most part, as well. Killshot and Dante Fox were also great, but perhaps less surprisingly so.

Both this match and the main event had a similar problem, though. There were several moves in the two Bulls matches where it was impossible to know who was actually on the receiving end of the move until seconds after it had happened. Immediately springing to mind are the stunner that Mariposa hit and the Doomsday Device turned hurricanrana by Havoc. It’s a bad look when a move happens and you can’t tell who just got hurt by it. I can’t be the only person this bothers, but it was the one thing driving me nuts in both matches tonight.

The match in the middle wasn’t great, but it did feature the debut of Luchasaurus. That’s not actually his name (it’s Vibora, as Lucha Underground’s Twitter account was quick to point out) but it was what the crowd chanted and I thought it was pretty funny.

This guy, he’s something else. When everyone was wondering, “Who could possibly play Matanza after all this build up?” the answer was whoever this Vibora dude is. He looked huge here and terrifying. While Pindar looked like the lesser member of a Chikara stable, Vibora looked like a bad dude that could hurt someone. There’s no chance he’s as good a worker as Jeff Cobb, but hey, this dude would’ve looked the part. The Undersnaker is not to be trifled with. Here’s hoping when match time comes he can actually go.

This episode has me feeling hopeful about Lucha Underground once again. The matches were better, the vignettes were better, everything about this episode took what they did last week and just did it, well, better. I don’t know as though I’d call the opener “can’t miss” but if you enjoy mayhem and insanity in your wrestling, there are far worse ways to spend fifteen minutes. Thumbs up for this one.

The Matches

  • Battle of the Bulls Tournament: Jeremiah Crane def. Killshot, Dante Fox, & Mariposa
    • ***3/4
    • Easily my favorite Crane/Callahan match.
    • That vertebreaker on the chair, man… that’s the stuff of nightmares.
    • Can someone explain to me how in the world Killshot is the babyface in this feud with Fox?
  • Drago def. Kobra Moon via DQ
    • Pindar and Luchasaurus vs Devastation Corporation is my new dream match.
    • Love that Drago, the babyface, actually has friends who would try to help him when he’s getting jumped! Imagine that!
    • Kobra Moon looked streets ahead of Sexy Star here. Just sayin’.
  • Battle of the Bulls Tournament: PJ Black def. Jack Evans, Angelico, & Son of Havoc
    • Great to have Angelico back again.
    • How about Jack Evans taking a superplex onto a chair on the outside, basically?
    • Did everyone on this show have a death wish or something?