Lucha Underground Review - September 21, 2016

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Lucha Underground Champion Matanza Cueto def. The Mack

While I obviously appreciate it whenever they advertise marquee matches in advance, I also like when they book big bouts on the fly and give the show that "anything can happen" feel. This segment was successful in doing that as it isn't often we see the Lucha Underground Championship defended in the opener (other than the most recent season premiere, of course). I'd say Matanza works well with wrestlers that can go in the ring, but that isn't always the case, yet Mack still managed to get a good match out of him here. It was on the shorter side, but I enjoyed it while it lasted.


Cage def. Texano For an "Ultimate Opportunity"

I've said this before, but Texano is almost the equivalent to what Alberto Del Rio was in WWE (yet ironically what he wasn't in Lucha Underground). He's beyond boring, and it's difficult for me to get invested in his matches as a result. He isn't an awful wrestler and this match was decent, but I couldn't care less about the guy. What's worse is that we're in for another four matches from him and Cage because Dario Cueto announced it would be a Best of Five Series. And anyone who claims Lucha Underground is copying WWE's idea with Cesaro vs. Sheamus, this was taped months in advance.

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Trios Champions Aerostar, Drago and Fenix def. The Worldwide Underground

Substituting Taya for Johnny Mundo switched up the formula of the match we saw twice before last season and Taya didn't look the least bit out of place. I appreciated how the pace started out steady only to pick up down the stretch as they delivered exciting action. All six competitors had their time to shine at one point or another, making this another entertaining encounter from these two trios. Since the titles changed hands a number of times in Season 2, I hope they'll be on Aerostar, Drago and Fenix for the foreseeable future. Of course, based off what happened afterward, I assume an eight-person tag team match also involving Mundo and Sexy Star will be happening at some point soon.


Overall Show

From an in-ring standpoint, this was a vast improvement over last week with two good matches and one really good match in the main event. There was plenty of storyline progression throughout the show as well with pretaped vignettes featuring Rey Mysterio, Dragon Azteca Jr. and Chavo Guerrero, setting up a very interesting match with those three for next week. I don't know if I'd call this edition of Lucha Underground must-see, but it was a fun hour of wrestling that flew by.