Lucha Underground Review - April 6, 2016

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Trios Champion Ivelisse def. Kobra Moon

Kobra Moon has yet to win me over, but I noted when she debuted that her addition to the roster was a beneficial one as it will lead to more women's matches. She's more methodical in the ring than she is flashy with her offense, but Ivelisse is always exciting and led her to a pretty passable match and one of the better women's matches we've seen in Lucha Underground in some time. I'm not sure what purpose it was supposed to serve, however, unless they'll be meeting later on in the trios tournament.


Joey Ryan and The Crew def. Marty "The Moth" Martinez, Mariposa and The Mack in a Trios Tournament First Round Match

So, I guess The Crew are officially done with Chavo Guerrero, huh? I must have missed something because I don't remember them cutting ties with him or vice versa. Either way, that's a major plus. At least Ryan is a much more suitable and entertaining partner for them and it made for a more enjoyable match with the trio of Martinez, Mariposa and Mack. Of course, there was a fun dynamic there with Mack teaming up with his rivals and the feud between Sexy Star and Martinez was nicely furthered with Star making the save afterward.

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Lucha Underground Champion Matanza Cueto def. Fenix

Although I was initially impressed with Matanza during Aztec Warfare two weeks ago, he didn't do much for me in his match with Pentagon Jr. last week and this bout versus Fenix was no different. Fenix tried his best to get a good match out of him, but it appears Matanza is far too limited in the ring. He comes across as dominant for squashing all these top-tier talents in quick fashion, but his opponents look weak in defeat for being put away so decisively. I wouldn't call this a face turn for Mil Muertes just yet, but it will be interesting to see what type of match he can have with Matanza compared to Pentagon and Fenix.


Overall Show

The main event was once again a dud and the low point of the episode, but the rest of the show was solid with a decent women's match, a treat of a trios match, and plenty of storyline progression with the vignettes that aired. The character development for Killshot was cool to see (though was it too little, too late?) and the trio of Rey Mysterio, Dragon Azteca Jr. and Prince Puma is stacked on paper. I get the feeling that while Matanza is champion, the trios tournament should be the highlight of the program for the foreseeable future.