Sexy Star vs. Taya [Last Luchadora Standing]: ok+
Last Luchadora Standing means that the match ends when one participant is incapacitated for the count of 10.
This is mostly a brawl, as you'd expect, and most of the time is spent outside the ring. The finish is that Sexy Star plunges herself on top of Taya through two tables stacked on top of each other, and Sexy Star manages to get up just before the 10 count.
I appreciate the effort here, but there are a few things that bother me about this match:
- For what's supposed to be the climax of their feud, it feels flat compared to the No Más match, or to matches that we've already seen in Última Lucha Tres.
- Taya brings a baseball bat to the ring, and each has knuckles hidden in their gear, but those never really get used.
- The final plunge looks awkward as hell, as if Sexy Star were somewhat tentative about the spot. On first watch, I wasn't even sure who was supposed to be dropping whom.
I know that I nitpick about Sexy Star's offense all the time, and I think I finally understand what bothers me so much about it at a basic level: at least in Lucha Underground, her body language often seems to betray some sort of holding back, a lack of conviction, or other incongruity with what she's intending to do. It's maddening.
The Mack, Killshot, Dante Fox vs. Pindar, Víbora, Drago Ⓒ [Lucha Underground Trios Championship]: very good
The initial story of this match is the uncertainty over how well Killshot and Dante Fox will function as teammates after nearly destroying each other in their Hell of War match, but this ends up being a fast-paced, fun, relatively straightforward match. If Fox and Killshot were still recovering from their mutual near-annihilation (and they were!), they do their best to hide it and continue doing crazy – but normal lucha crazy, not I-dunno-WTF-is-even-going-on-why-would-you-try-that crazy – things, to the Reptile Tribe.
Pindar ignores orders from Kobra Moon and ends up on the receiving end of a Lo Mein Pein from Fox, a stunner from The Mack, and a double stomp by Killshot. We have new trios champions!
This match is probably going to slide under the radar in the midst of everything else happening at Última Lucha Tres, but it's a fun diversion.
Son of Havoc vs. Pentagón Dark [Gift of the Gods, ladder]: very good
This goes more or less as you'd expect a TLC match to go. This has its share of craziness, but it's hurt a bit by the context of being in the aftermath of Hell of War. It's perhaps not a great sign when Pentagón spends a good chunk of time throwing a bunch of ladders into the ring early on, although he makes up for that later with a package piledriver on top of chairs.
Pentagón Dark wins by dropping Son of Havoc through a table and then grabbing the Gift of the Gods. This reminded me a little bit of a nerfed version of finish to the WMD match between Killshot and Marty the Moth way back at the start of season 3. It's another example of a comparison not helping this match, although to keep things in context, all of this is to justify why it's only a "very good" match instead of something higher.
I imagine that the finish felt better live, feeding off of the raw emotion of the Temple crowd cheering one of its favorites.
In the closing vignette, Vampiro gives Puma a very ominous pep talk.
OVERALL: This is an enjoyable episode, even if lacks the standout match of the earlier weeks of Última Lucha Tres. The trios match works as a denouement for the Killshot/Fox saga, but from a pure excitement arc, everything still feels as if it's in the shadow of Hell of War.
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