Lucha Underground Season 3 Episode 13: Breaker of Bones

Welcome back dear friends to another exciting installment of Lucha Underground. This week, Pentagon Dark has to face off against each member the mysterious Black Lotus Triad in consecutive matches. With that in mind, let’s not waste any more time and get right to the show.

We open with Pentagon Dark backstage where he bumps into his former mentor, Vampiro. Vamp tells his old student that eventually, everyone has to pay for their sins, recalling the night of Ultima Lucha Dos where Pentagon beat him to a bloody pulp. Vamp goes on to say that even if he survives tonight’s gauntlet, there’s still going to be hell to pay. Pentagon says nothing, he just gives Vamp his trademark “Cero Miedo” hand gesture and walks off.

We go to the ring where Matt Striker gives his introduction while his commentary partner Vampiro remains more quiet and stoic than usual. In fact, I’m just going to take a moment to praise Vampiro’s in-character commentary work this entire episode. Since Lucha Underground began, the man has quickly ascended the ranks and has become one of the greatest color-commentators in the business and tonight gives us that in spades.

Match #1: Pentagon Dark vs. Doku

The first member of the Black Lotus Triad makes her way out to the ring, and with several quick strikes, quickly shows that the Triad is not to be taken lightly. Unfortunately for Doku, neither is Pentagon who answers back with some quick and powerful strikes of his own. After a knife-edge chop to the chest of Doku that made even the fans chests hurt, Pentagon took control of the match. From then on, we saw the destructive nature of Pentagon on full display culminating in Pentagon doing what he does best, breaking the arms of his opponents. With Doku incapacitated, the referee had no choice but to call the match in Pentagon’s favor. Winner: Pentagon Dark

After claiming his first victim of the night, an eerie grin comes across Pentagon’s face. Correct me if I’m mistaken, but I believe that that is the first time we’ve seen Pentagon smile since… well, ever. However, that smile won’t last, as he still has the rest of the triad to go through.

Before the next match however, we go to the back where Jeremiah Crane is working out. Catrina walks in to taunt him over Ivelisse’s injury. However, things soon take an unexpected turn as we learn than Catrina and Jeremiah have history. What that history is isn’t elaborated on too much, but we get the sense that they may once have been lovers and we learn that Jeremiah wears a piece of Catrina’s stone around his neck.

Match #2: Pentagon Dark vs. Yurei

Unlike her fallen Triad sister, Yurei seemed to prove a much greater match for Pentagon. Of the three members of the Triad we met this episode, Yurei is probably my favorite. She appears to have a sadistic streak to rival even Pentagon which was demonstrated as she gleefully smashed his head against everything she could find and smiled when Pentagon inflicted pain on her. But, once again, Pentagon gained the upper hand after branding his opponent with a knife-edge chop. Despite her best efforts, Yurei got herself caught by Pentagon in mid-air and suffered a devastating package pile-driver before getting her own arm broken.

Winner: Pentagon Dark

Meanwhile, in the bowels of the temple, we see Matanza angrily pummeling the walls of his cage. Dario is happy to see his brother so enraged, thinking that the extra aggression will make winning back the Lucha Underground Title a cakewalk for Matanza. However, much to Dario’s surprise, Matanza doesn’t want to face Johnny Mundo next week. When Dario asks what Matanza wants, he loudly responds with “Mysterio.” We then see that Matanza’s fists are covered in blood and behind him, the wall is marred with blood stains that form a question mark, a symbol often associated with Rey Mysterio.

Match #3: Pentagon Dark vs. Hitokiri

Hitokiri, who we’ve been told is the deadliest member of the Triad, wastes no time going after Pentagon, leaping from the Shadows and attacking her opponent from behind. As agile as she is aggressive, Hitokiri more than lives up to her reputation as the deadliest of the triad as she dishes out the pain Pentagon inflicted upon her sisters tenfold with the aid of a steel chair. Pentagon held his own against the deadly assassin as best he could, even going so far as to choke the life out of her with some cables, but after two matches, fatigue seemed to finally be catching up with him. However, the killing blow came when Hitokiri leaped from the top of Dario Cueto’s office onto Pentagon, leaving both combatants unconscious on the temple floor. To Pentagon’s credit, he recovered quickly and tried to finish Hitokiri with his package pile driver, but the assassin reversed it and stole the victory.

Winner: Hitokiri

After the match, Black Lotus herself, flanked by Doku and Yurei walks down to the ring to finish Pentagon off. By this point, Pentagon is too exhausted to even stand up, but that doesn’t stop Lotus for getting her revenge. And so, in the center of the ring, Black Lotus makes Pentagon Dark answer for his sins by breaking his arm. However, Pentagon’s penance hasn’t fully been served yet as El Dragon Azteca Jr. returns to the temple. After an uncomfortable stare down with Black Lotus, the woman who murdered his mentor, the original Dragon Azteca, in cold blood, the triad leaves the ring, to allow Azteca to enact his revenge and break Pentagon’s other arm. As Vampiro looks on with a satisfied smile, we cannot help but be reminded of his words at the beginning of the episode about there being hell to pay. Our episode ends with Prince Puma waking up inside his casket to find the twisted face of Vampiro staring back at him. As we fade to black, we here Vampiro’s voice saying, “Come with me.”

Match of the Night:

I’m not sure how others will consider it, but I’ve opted to count the three matches with the Lotus Triad as separate matches for the purposes of this article. With that in mind, I am awarding match of the night to Pentagon vs. Hitokiri. I like Yurei best out of the Triad members because she seemed to have the most interesting personality, but Hitokiri was the one who impressed me the most. I was already on the edge of my seat during the first two matches, but once Hitokiri showed up, I nearly fell off my couch. This match was a perfect storm of great technical wrestling and violent hardcore wrestling. In essence, it was the perfect match for me.

Spot of the Night: I could have given this to many spots throughout the night, but I’m a serious sucker for any time someone jumps off the top of Dario’s office. To that end, I’m awarding it to Hitokiri who, incidentally, was the first woman to ever leap from the office in Lucha Underground.

Segment of the Night:

While I’m very intrigued by what’s going on with Jeremiah and Catrina, I was much more impressed by the Matanza segment. Mantanza is bad enough normally, but now that he’s actually tasted defeat, he’s more enraged, more dangerous and more unpredictable than ever. And now, all of that rage is laser-focused on Rey Mysterio. Good luck with that Rey, you’re going to need it. However, more than Matanza, I was really impressed with Dario in this segment. It’s never explicitly stated but we can see this in his eyes: Dario is realizing that he can no longer control his brother, and he’s afraid.

Final Thoughts:

This was a thrill ride of an episode, plain and simple. I admittedly had my reservations about giving the entire focus of an episode to three newcomers, but all three members of the Triad managed to impress me in a big way. Storylines were set up, revelations were made and bones were broken. And really, what more can we ask for from Lucha Underground.