Taking a look at Lucha Underground’s Season 4 premiere featuring Aztec Warfare, a new Ice Temple, and a new boss.
Airdate: June 13th, 2018
We start off with a video recap of events that took place in the previous season. Most of it focused on the major storylines and the death of Dario Cueto. After this, we see Dario Cueto’s body in a casket at a wake. A man with a gun told an elderly man by the name Antonio that he is now in charge of Lucha Underground, but he can’t use The Temple in Boyle Heights because of the gangsters who shot Dario. Antonio then said he would be moving Lucha Underground to a building he use to hold shows at. We discover that this was Dario’s father, that Lucha Underground is a cover for the ‘true objective,” and that Antonio ordered the hit on his son. The scene ends with Antonio taking the key from Dario’s neck before shutting his casket.
A car is shown driving through Los Angeles, and the Lucha Underground logo was displayed on a building. At the Ice Temple, Melissa Santos is in the ring and asks the fans to stand for a 10 bell salute to Dario. Some people in the crowd were shown crying during this. During the 10 bell salute, Antonio Cueto interrupted the ceremony. He introduced himself, proclaimed that this was his temple, and knocked over a portrait of his deceased son. Antonio then proclaims Pentagon Dark will defend his title tonight in Aztec Warfare, a match Antonio says he invented. The fans begin to cheer when he says the match will begin right now as the show headed into its first commercial break.
The Mack and Killshot are in the ring after a commercial break. Antonio got on the mic and said that the Trios Champions will be in the match, although Dante Fox wasn’t there. He then told Mack and Killshot would start off, and that whoever is #3 will be their new partner. Their partner is then revealed to be Son Of Havoc, who is now a Trios Champion. Antonio then tells him to get to know his new partners by competing against them to start Aztec Warfare.
Aztec Warfare – Order of Entry: The Mack, Killshot, Son Of Havoc, Joey Ryan, Mr. Pectacular, Pentagon Dark, Tommy Dreamer, Mariposa, Vinnie Massaro, Hernandez, Johnny Mundo, Ricky Mundo, Fenix, Jeremiah Crane, Mil Muertes, Daga, Chavo Guerrero Jr., King Cuerno, Dragon Azteca Jr., Marty “The Moth” Martinez
Aztec Warfare starts off with Mack, Killshot, and Son of Havoc going at it. Joey Ryan would enter at #4 and handcuffed himself to the top rope so he couldn’t be eliminated. The first elimination would come when Killshot hit The Mack with a schoolboy pin after the Trios Champions were working together. He would later try to eliminate Son of Havoc but was unsuccessful. Killshot would then end up being eliminated by Son Of Havoc shortly after.
Tommy Dreamer would enter the bout at #7 and introduced weapons into the match. Weapons that were used included a trash can, kendo stick, and a chair. Dreamer and Pentagon would brawl in the bleachers, where Pentagon Dark speared Tommy Dreamer into a pile of thumbtacks. Shortly after this, Dreamer would be eliminated by Pentagon Dark after a top rope double stomp inside the ring.
Vinnie Massaro made his way to the ring and had a pizza delivered to him during his entrance. Vinnie tried to offer Pentagon a slice of pizza, but Pentagon would reject this offer and eliminated him after hitting the Pentagon Driver on Vinne. Pentagon would then go on to eliminate Hernandez and Son of Havoc after this. Following Son of Havoc’s elimination, Johnny Mundo was introduced as the next participant before a commercial break.
After the commercial break, Pentagon Dark and Johnny Mundo were going at it in the ring. During their segment, Angelico was supposed to enter the match but was nowhere to be seen. Ricky Mundo then came out in his place. Ricky had a weird looking doll with him that he seemed to be communicating with. This would cause Johnny Mundo to be frustrated with Ricky, resulting in Johnny eliminated him.
Weapons would again be introduced into the match when Jeremiah Crane entered the ring and brought in a chair. Fenix would end up eliminating Mil Muertes, which seemed to upset Catrina, causing her to walk out on Muertes. At one point during the match, Kobra Moon came to ringside and summoned Vibora, who attacked Johnny Mundo inside the ring during Marty The Moth’s entrance. Marty would enter the ring after Vibora took out Mundo with a Tombstone Piledriver and proceeded to pin Mundo for the elimination.
Pentagon, Marty, Chavo, and Cuerno would end up being the final four in the match before Cuerno and Chavo were eliminated. Pentagon and Marty would begin their segment by exchanging several strikes before Marty started to control their segment. Marty would hit several moves on Pentagon to get a few near falls, which would cause Marty to be frustrated whenever Pentagon kicked out. Pentagon would begin to mount a comeback and ended up hitting Marty with a Package Piledriver to win the match.
After the match, Pentagon Dark would drag Marty back into the ring and “broke the arm” of Marty The Moth. Antonio Cueto would get on the mic and addressed Pentagon Dark. He told him that next week he will defend the Lucha Underground Championship against Matanza Cueto. Pentagon Dark would stand in the ring with his title as the fans chanted “cero miedo” to end the episode.
Overall Thoughts
This episode had a lot of stories behind it. The opening scene at Dario Cueto’s wake was good at explaining what was going on in the Lucha Underground universe, but it was also pretty cheesy. The acting wasn’t terrible, but the production of this made it look like a cheap made for TV movie scene. There was also a lot of process in this opening scene, as you learn about Antonio Cueto ordering the murder of his son, the Temple no longer being available, and taking over Lucha Underground.
While there were plenty of spots in Aztec Warfare, it seemed like this was setting up for various stories to come this season. The match itself was also very story driven, with lots of focus being put on Pentagon Dark. There were also several subplots here with the Marty/Mariposa/Mundo stuff and the Trios Champions being given a new partner. Part of it was done decently, but overall it seemed like the writers tried to stuff too many little subplots into this match.
There were reports that Lucha Underground had a smaller production budget for this season, and it sorta shows. Even though the show seems to have a smaller budget, the look of the new temple seems a lot more polished and less gritty than the old one. I feel like part of the charm of the previous seasons of Lucha Underground was how the set looked grimy, and that the charm of the show is kinda lost in this new venue.
Overall, this was a good season premiere for Lucha Underground. It wasn’t a blow away show or anything, but it was a fun hour of television. The storylines were established nicely, and the action was fun. Next week Pentagon Dark faces Matanza Cueto, which should be fun.
