This week on Lucha Underground The Reptile Tribe faces the Worldwide Underground, another Lucha Underground competitor is sacrificed, and more.
Lucha Underground Season 4, Episode 9: A Match Made In Heaven Review
We start with a recap of events that took place in previous Lucha Underground episodes. After the recap, Antonio Cueto is in his office talking on the phone. He said he’s planning another Sacrifice To The Gods match to the person he was talking to. Mariposa walked in and started to flirt with him. She then asked for a Gift of the Gods title match and offered him about $20,000 in cash. She would leave the office after he accepted the offer.
Inside the Ice Temple, Metalachi were playing as Vampiro and Matt Striker talked about what was coming up on the show. In the main event, The Reptile Tribe are facing Worldwide Underground. If Worldwide Underground wins, they get one wish from Kobra Moon. If the Reptile Tribe wins, Johnny Mundo must join them. After going over what was to come, Vampiro and Matt Striker sent it to the ring where Melissa Santos introduced the first match. The Rabbit Tribe were already inside the ring. Antonio Cueto appeared on the balcony and said only one of them will be in the next match. Paul London picked Mala Suerte to be in the match because he failed the tribe and the White Rabbit. He told him he’d get to prove his worth in this match. Antonio then said the match will be a Sacrifice To The Gods match.
Sacrifice To The Gods: Mala Suerte vs. Matanza Cueto
Mala went after Matanza before he could get in the ring and got some quick offense, complete with cartoon sound effects. He would be defeated quickly by Matanza. After the match, the lights went out and Mala Suerte disappeared when they came back on. Paul London looked on at ringside with a smile on his face while comforting Saltador, who appeared to be traumatized by what happened to his partner.
After a commercial break, Joey Ryan and Jack Evans were inside the ring for the next match.
Joey Ryan & Jack Evans vs. XO Lishus & Ivelisse
Jack and Ivelisse would start the match, and Vampiro and Striker touched on Ivelisse defeating Joey Ryan earlier in the season. XO Lishus would pound Joey’s face with his ass, to which Joey took some pleasure in. Ivelisse and XO would work well together a bit but would have some communication issues due to their lack of experience as a team. Evans would get the win for his team after putting XO to sleep with a Locoplata. Joey would try to get Jack to release the hold but to no avail. Ivelisse would then break it up. As Jack Evans was leaving, he kept yelling that “it’s not over” until XO Lishus is dead while Joey tried to calm him down as the show went to a commercial break.
Gift of the Gods Championship Match: Dragon Azteca, Jr. vs. Mariposa
Mariposa would get a cheap shot to start the match and got an early advantage. Dragon Azteca would mount a comeback and got a near fall off a 450 splash. Moments later, Mariposa would hit a Kudo Driver for a near fall. The finish would see Azteca counter another Kudo Driver attempt into a modified victory roll to get the win.
The Reptile Tribe (Daga, Drago, Kobra Moon, and Jeremiah Snake) vs. Worldwide Underground (Johnny Mundo, Taya, P.J. Black, and Aero Star)
Before the match, Kobra Moon announced that Jeremiah Crane has been revived from the dead as Jeremiah Snake. The Worldwide Underground came out, and Johnny told Ricky Mundo to go to the back to play with his doll because he wouldn’t be in the match. Johnny Mundo would then announce the Worldwide Underground’s partner for the match would be Aero Star.
The match began after a commercial break with all eight participants brawling to start the match. Aero Star, Drago, and Taya would hit dives in the opening moments of the match. The action would continue outside of the ring for some time before the match headed back to the ring. Both teams kept making fast tags, and the pacing of the match was pretty quick. Mundo would get the win for the Worldwide Underground after hitting Drago with the Starship Pain. He now gets a wish from Kobra Moon.
The Reptile Tribe would try to leave, but Mundo got on the mic and said Kobra Moon still owed him one wish. He then said he was gonna use his wish for Aero Star, much to Taya’s dismay. Johnny Mundo then wished for Kobra Moon to set Drago free. The fans would chant “Set Him Free” as Taya was upset. Aero Star would unchain Drago while Taya yelled. After Aero Star and Drago left, Taya grabbed the microphone and called Johnny an idiot for helping Aero Star, acting as if they did all that for nothing.
Johnny Mundo would then say Kobra Moon couldn’t grant him his wish, and that only Taya could do that. P.J. Black handed Johnny Mundo a ring, and Johnny then proposed to Taya. She accepted, Johnny did a Macho Man-style ‘Oh Yeah!”, and “Pomp & Circumstance” played in the background. In the locker room, Ricky Mundo is talking to his doll about Johnny and Taya. The episode ends with him grinning evilly into a mirror.
Final Thoughts
This episode was pretty hard to follow. There was just simply too much to keep track of on this episode, and it felt like ADD-style TV. One of Lucha Underground’s weaknesses this season has been how everything feels like it’s crammed into an episode, and that matches and angles don’t get time to develop, nor does it give fans time to process what they’re seeing. I’ll talk about this more at the end of the season, but I feel like this episode suffered from the writers trying to get whatever they could into this episode.
The action in the episode was fine. Nothing great, but nothing awful. Overall this was a skippable episode if you only care about the match scenes and not the stories.