By Nicholas Jason Lopez

“Notes In Observance” features random thoughts and analysis on recent television shows. Quick results can be found at the bottom of the post.

(Aired 3/9/16)

Three-Way Temple Havoc 

– The backstage segment with The Mack and Sexy Star hyped the opening match, as he requested her company for his match against Marty “The Moth” Martinez. She initially refused, but he convinced her otherwise. For fearless Sexy Star to be scared, “The Moth” had to do some mental number on her.

– The Martinez-Mack match was more of an angle, but it finally had a purpose, since we saw the debut of Moth’s sister, Mariposa, who can best be described as a female Mankind in a moth costume. Downright creepy. The Mack was over with the crowd the whole time, so it all worked out. Moth seemed to have improved in the ring too, as he even flew around for a bit. The finish saw the lights go out once Mack was on the top rope and that’s what helped Moth get the win. Liked the post-match attack by Mariposa on Sexy Star as she kicked her in the head and knocked her out cold. What’s their deal?

– Sold hype video for Fenix, as we saw some background on his upbringings, that he grew up poor in Mexico and couldn’t fit in anywhere, so he turned to magic and fantasy and became “Fenix,” defying the odds and even death. He was always out to prove everyone wrong and was now two-time Gift Of The Gods Champion. Arguably LUG’s biggest underdog, this video did even more to paint him in that light. As with most wrestlers, he wants the top prize in the company, the LUG Championship currently held by Champion Mil Muertes, his biggest enemy. It almost writes itself.

– The cutscene involving Jack Evans, Drago, “Darewolf” PJ Black and Aerostar was something different in the LUG universe, yet did enough to advance the Drago-Evans feud, also throwing a couple others in the scuffle. You could argue Drago bought it on himself since he essentially snuck up on Evans in the bathroom and threatened him to “slay” him. We did like the idea of Black and Evans teaming up, since it tied to Black blaming Drago for his last loss, turning him rudo. The three-way nunchaku sequence with Evans, Drago and Black was cool for cinematic effect and was a nice cue to introduce the retaining Aerostar, who rocked super nunchaku or something like that. We’ll probably get a tag match out of this and it also indirectly hyped the Aztec Warfare match in two weeks, since Evans mentioned it by name.

– LUG boldly voices its intergender playing field and it can go for or against them. In this case, it helped advance a storyline between Johnny Mundo and Cage. Basically, Taya Valkyrie got in Cage’s face and took Mundo’s spot in the No Disqualification bout, as she laid down some bold insults and called herself the “perfect woman.” Good job by Matt Striker to point out that Valkyrie was trained by Lance Storm and she was well-spoken on the mic. Think of a blonde Ivelisse. The match was essentially Taya getting tossed around by Cage extreme-style, the biggest highlight probably the superplex out of the ring onto two tables on the floor. It also helped Cage look strong by outlasting Mundo when he tried to interfere and got two beer bottles smashed over his head. Basically, Cage hit Weapon X on Taya and she was out for the count. Cage wins there battle, but we’re curious what happens next in the war.

– These Famous B informercials are downright hilarious, as this week, he donned a wizard hat and brought fame upon an intentionally bad actress named Brenda and turned her from poor and dumb to a dollar-throwing fur princess. We guess the news from all this was that he described himself as a “recently retired underground fighter,” so maybe this was a way to transition him into being a manager. Who’ll he summon as his first client?

– The cutscene involving Ivelisse, Son Of Havoc and Angelico provided their next chapter, as she came out of Catrina’s office, saying they had their Trios Championship rematch granted, but she revealed she agreed to a stipulation to put their careers on the line if they’d lose. Of course, like their vintage selves, SOH/Angelico argued it, while she told them it was time to man up and win, since it was the only option. The cool thing about LUG is that nothing is predictable. While we’d be sure that Ivelisse/SOH/Angelico wouldn’t be written off, perhaps they do get let go and end up running into Dario Cueto/Black Lotus on the road. You never know with LUG…

– As for the main event three-way for the LUG Championship between Champion Muertes, Prince Puma and Pentagon Jr., what a match. Probably the second season’s best match thus far and up there with any of the promotion’s catalogue bouts. This started from the opening bell as an all-out war between the three and it spanned from the ring and all over the Temple practically. We lost count of the suicide dives, Tope Con Hilos and planchas, and that was perfectly fine. We liked how Puma/Pentagon worked together against Muertes, yet were still both outmanned and they then attacked each other numerously. The double superkick spot was well-done and little did we know, it’d lead right into the double Flatliner, which would see Muertes decisively retain. To top off the cake, we saw Fenix come out and cut the celebration short by saying he’d be cashing in his GOTG Title to face Muertes next week. By golly. We thought they’d hold off on the ultimate showdown until Ultima Lucha II, but we’re fine with this happening sooner.

Quick Results

• Marty “The Moth” Martinez def. The Mack (w/Sexy Star) via pinfall
• No Disqualification Match – Cage def. Taya Valkyrie via pinfall
• Lucha Underground Championship – Three-Way – Mil Muertes (Champion) (w/Catrina) def. Prince Puma and Pentagon Jr. via pinfall to retain