Lucha Underground Review - May 18, 2016

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

​The Ancient Aztec Medallion Ceremony Was Held

The video package that opened the evening did a nice job of reminding me who had medallions because some of the medallion matches took place so long ago that I completely forgot about them. Cage couldn't get his medallion back from the shifty Chavo Guerrero, which is a shame because I was looking forward to seeing him in the Gift of the Gods match. On the bright side, he decimated Chavo anyway and that's always enjoyable.


Daga def. Argenis, Kobra Moon and Mascarita Sagrada in a Four-Way Match

With nothing at stake and none of the four competitors having any history whatsoever, this was a random matchup where there was zero incentive to care who won, but hey, it was fun for what it was! And thus, I can't complain. Famous B and Sagrada is such an oddball pairing that it automatically works for me, and since they received more focus than the other three combined before the bout, I figured he would somehow win. Instead, it was Daga scoring the victory, and it looks like we're in for a love interest storyline between him and Kobra Moon. I couldn't care less about Kobra Moon, but at least it gives the talented and underutilized Daga something of note to do for the immediate future.

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Killshot def. Marty "The Moth" Martinez

This was another match that seemingly occurred for no reason, but the backstage confrontation helped give context to the contest. It was a well-wrestled match and Killshot continues to impress me with each of his outings. Martinez is underrated in his own right and even in defeat he was able to maintain his heat by attacking Killshot afterward. That said, it's hard to care to about him taking Killshot's dog tags because we know very little about what they mean to him outside of one measly vignette from a while ago. Hopefully they do more to develop Killshot's character and his motivation in the weeks to come.


Chavo Guerrero def. Texano, Joey Ryan, Sexy Star, The Mack, Siniestro de la Muerte and Aerostar to Win the Gift of the Gods Championship

I don't remember last year's installment too well, so I can't compare this to that one, but this match wasn't anything special. It was your typical multi-person match with everyone taking turns hitting their signature spots yet the urgency never felt like it was there. It didn't help that I didn't have a strong desire to see any of these seven stars win because the match mostly consisted of undercard acts. Cage helping Chavo capture the champion made little sense until afterward when he said he would be getting the first shot at it next week. It would have been asinine to turn Cage heel considering he's one of the biggest fan favorites (both literally and figuratively) in Lucha Underground and his clash with Chavo should be a blast.


Overall Show

This was an entertaining albeit average edition of Lucha Underground that really lacked star power. I suppose we were in for one of these type of weeks given the last string of shows have been star-studded and jam-packed with newsworthy matches and moments. Granted, we had a new Gift of the Gods Champion crowned, but the match itself was hardly memorable. You won't regret tuning into this episode, but if you missed it, I'd recommend holding off until next week.