Nightmare Fuel / Lucha Underground

• Matanza Cueto. We STILL don't know exactly what he is, but considering he murdered Black Lotus's parents, he's kept locked up in a cell, he snarls and growls a lot more than he speaks, and Dario introduced him to The Crew and scared the piss out of them by saying he'll lock them in there with him if they screw up again (while we literally saw them go pale at the sight of him), it's safe to say he is not gonna be friendly. He's basically The Unseen, and his name when translated from Spanish to English, you ask? "Slaughter". Dario referred to Matanza as his brother, and given how strongly it's been implied that Matanza isn't (entirely) human, that says a lot about Dario. After failing to claim the Trios Championship again, Dario brought the Crew to Matanza's cell again, ordering them to pick one as a sacrifice. Bael ends up the unlucky choice as the other two drag him to the cell door, thrust his head in and....we don't see what happens...just the sound of either eating or crushing, while everyone else gets splattered in blood before Bael's body slumps to the floor off-camera. After weeks of build-up, it was the moment that solidified Matanza as a literal monster. And that was BEFORE we finally saw him on camera (by the way, when he appeared, you could see him covered in blood with KNIVES sticking out of his body, none of which seemed to bother him). The fact that Matanza is an established onscreen killer and broke Pentagon Jr's back in his first singles match makes any match with him incredibly uncomfortable to watch. It's hard to watch him decimate characters we've come to care for and not legitimately fear for their (kayfabe) safety.
  • As of Episode 14 of Season 3, Dario only barely has Matanza under control now, with Matanza nearly smashing Dario's skull open against the bars of his cage and taking the key from his unconscious body to break out on his own. Only by directly using the power of the key to drive him back into the cage was his brother able to stop the Monster from murdering El Dragon Azteca Jr. in the ring. When Dario is getting desperate you know things are bad.
  • In Episode 3 of Season 4, after Matanza's defeat at the hands of Pentagon Dark the previous week, Antonio Cueto finally reveals what's so special about the key- it contains the last remnants of the real Matanza Cueto's soul. But seeing how his and Dario's compassion for their son/brother has made Matanza weak, he throws the key to Matanza and orders him to destroy it. Matanza snaps the key in half, snuffing out the last traces of the boy he once was and becoming the fully-embodied Aztec god of slaughter!
  • Watch Matanza in the background after his match with Vinnie Massaro in Season 4. As the pizza delivery guy tries to basically mug Massaro for his fee, Matanza slooooowly walks toward the both of them, with the camera angle making it look straight out of a slasher flick.
• The first sighting we get of the Disciples of Death in "Ancient Medallions" has the three skull-masked men perched on top of the lockers above Fenix, backlit by eerie green light and moving in a jittery fashion like evil puppets. Fenix barely has time for a single horrified look before they jump down on him.
• The end of Konnan in Season 1. Mil Muertes and Catrina take him and Prince Puma out, then roll Konnan into a coffin and take him away. If Catrina is to be believed, then that was the end of his LIFE. That makes any match involving a coffin after that even more dramatic and disturbing, because now the audience knows that whoever loses that match WILL LITERALLY DIE. (Unless that's Mil Muertes...and..)
• Mil Muertes' transformations. In his debut, he flattened the legendary Blue Demon Jr., and was seemingly unstoppable until Fenix snuck out a win on him. After that, their rivalry apparently came to an end in the first Grave Consequences match...until Catrina came back and revealed that was only a ruse to make Mil stronger. He faces Fenix in a Death Match, and destroys Fenix without breaking a sweat, ending in Mil power bombing Fenix through a nearby building roof, a full FLOOR down. Then he finally took the Lucha Underground title off of Prince Puma. Later on, he lost another Grave Consequences match to Matanza and his corpse was stolen by King Cuerno...until Catrina revived him once again, where his eyes became red, his mask had stitches on it, and he became even more savage than before, utterly annihilating King Cuerno in a death match and (seemingly) putting the hunter away forever.
• After Vampiro jumps into the ring to save Sexy Star from Pentagon's armbreaker, he retreats to the locker room and glares at himself in the mirror... then starts rapidly smashing his head into it until it breaks.
• The CERO MIEDO match. Awesome, yes, but it was quite possibly the bloodiest match to ever air on television. And between thumbtacks, mercury filled fluorescent light tubes, and flaming tables, there was plenty of horrifying pain to go around.
• The first scene of Season 2 has Vampiro being assessed in the mental hospital he'd been committed to since the last season ended, giving quiet, positive answers to the doctor's questions- up until the doctor warns him that, if he's released, he has to avoid the people and places that triggered his violent impulses. Without any sign of anger, Vampiro rises from his seat, stalks across the room and begins brutally smashing the doctor's head against the table, knocking out the orderlies when they come in to restrain him and savagely ripping a chunk out of the doctor's neck with his teeth! It's revealed a second later to be all in his deranged head, but it's horrifying while it lasts.
• After the Disciples of Death lose a Trios Tournament match to Fenix, Jack Evans, and PJ Black, Catrina is angry at them for failing (especially so because it's Fenix) and demands to know how they're going to pay for it. After a moment, Sinestro de la Muerte responds... by ripping out the hearts of his partners Kano-style. Even scarier, this seems to please Catrina.
• Saltador's full-body chessboard-patterned costume, for anyone who's ever had nightmares about faceless men. Becomes a little Nightmare Retardant when you see his character's just a dude on an extended acid trip, making it less a terrifying look and more of a weird fashion choice.
• The beatdown of Pimpinela and Mascarita at the hands of The Crew back in Season 1 can be unnerving to watch. The Crew literally choke out Pimpinela into unconsciousness and pummel and pick up tiny Mascarita and throw him down onto the ring and both are stretchered out. This was the beginning of Lucha Underground transforming into a darker place and show as the comedic characters we've seen vanished.
  • Earlier, The Crew turn on Big Ryck and taking his Cigar BURN out his eye with Ryck screaming in pain and agony clutching his face. Big Ryck would return later on and donned an eyepatch, but it was implied that he had lost sight in his eye.
• When Dario Cueto first appeared and opened Season 1, many pegged him as just another Vince McMahon-esque evil owner. But as the show went on, he became more frightening as shown above with his brother. If you failed Vince, he'd fire you or have you fight someone as punishment. If you fail Dario, you die, plain and simple. And he's not above bloodying his own hands if he needs to.
• The end of episode 13 of Season 3 is practically a full-on nightmare sequence, as a terrified and disoriented Prince Puma wakes up inside a coffin, only for a nightmarish looking Vampiro to loom over him and tell him "Come with me".
• Vibora, a giant of a man with the face of a snake. Described as the most vicious and brutal of the ancient Serpent tribe generals, and it's easy to see why with how he manhandled Aerostar and Fenix before delivering a Tombstone Piledriver to Drago.
• Similar to Matanza above, the Unknown Benefactor, the Gauntlet he has been suggested to be inhabiting, and its influence on Cage. It quite literally made him punch straight through Councilman Delgado's head!
• The end of the Cueto Cup match between Fenix and Marty (who's started outright stalking Melissa Santos while she's seeing Fenix) was possibly the most gruesome and disturbing thing to happen in the Temple yet. After Fenix rolled up Marty for the pin, Mariposa slipped the lunchbox that she'd been trying to give to Marty earlier to him. Marty smashed Fenix over the head with it (denting the lid so badly that he could hardly get it open) then rummaged around inside it and pulled out a steel fork. As Mariposa pinned Melissa's arms behind her and held her at ringside so she'd be Forced to Watch, Marty sat on Fenix's back and went full-blown Abdullah the Butcher on his exposed forehead where he'd torn Fenix's mask earlier, shouting to Melissa that he loves her and he's doing it for her. Melissa is reduced to tearfully pleading for Marty to stop and eventually promising to do whatever he wants if only he'll let Fenix go. And then Marty licked the fork. As the Moth siblings leave, the show closes on a crying Melissa tearfully cradling an apparently unconscious Fenix's bloodied head. It's genuinely, seriously uncomfortable to watch.
• The debut of FBI Agent Winter revealed quite a lot of the powers behind the scenes pulling Dario Cueto's strings to advance their agenda- and the implications are frightening. Winter told Dario (who wasn't even aware) about Cage murdering Delgado, but cheerfully shrugged it off as just Cage going through an "adjustment period". Then after jovially telling Dario he's a big fan of what he's doing in the Temple and is a huge Pentagon mark, he casually adds "Alas, his flesh will fry like everyone else's when the war comes", with a chilling lack of emotion. Whoever these people are, human life seems to have no meaning to them.
• The Hell of War match between Killshot and Dante Fox. Three matches, best two out of three, with a First Blood match, a No Disqualification match, AND an Ambulance match. Think the Cero Miedo match was the most gruesome match in the company's history? Prepare to be seriously wrong.
  • It gets so bad that the Believers, one of the most bloodthirsty audiences in pro wrestling today, are stunned into silence. Many are even seen covering their eyes and mouths in horror.
• Ultima Lucha Tres, Week 4: The triple threat elimination match for the Gauntlet of the Gods was brutal and bloody in its own right, "topped" with Jeremiah Crane taking a bundle of wooden BBQ skewers and JAMMING THEM INTO THE TOP OF CAGE'S SKULL! The Believers audibly screamed in horror watching Cage fall to the mat with nearly a dozen skewers sticking out of his head.
  • Then as if that wasn't enough, Crane grabs a screaming Cage around the neck and DDTs him skewer-first into the mat!
• The final montage of Ultima Lucha Tres: Pindar is decapitated by a still-alive Daga, Vampiro reveals he wants Pentagon Dark to fall just like Prince Puma did, Sexy Star gets a "gift" from a young fan who tells her that "She" hasn't forgotten—-and said "gift" is actually a spider, Rey Mysterio Jr. is locked up in a cell across the hall from freaking Matanza....and Dario Cueto is shot and left for dead by Agent Winter, who coldly declares that the Temple will be "under new management" soon.
• At the start of Episode 3 of Season 4, Ricky Mundo is talking to an incredulous PJ Black and Jack Evans about his trip to the Island of the Dolls, where he "met" his Creepy Doll Rosa. When he pulls the string on her back, she seems to be able to actually talk to people, but after Johnny Mundo mentions as he departs that he owes Angelico an ass beating for what he did at the end of the last season, the doll (without Ricky pulling her string) says "Don't worry, Ricky. Your secret is safe with me..." before erupting into creepy laughter while Ricky gives the mother of all Slasher Smiles from under a sinister Kubrick Stare. As she later suggests he do to Jack Evans "what he did to Angelico", it looks like Angelico won't be wrestling with Lucha Underground again... ever...
  • What Ricky did to Benjamin Cooke! Certainly, Benjamin was a jackass, but being murdered with a pen? Eugh.
  • Mascarita soon followed as two episodes later, he brought the Rabbit Tribe to the White Rabbit, who told London to kill the poor guy. London complied with blood splattered all over and a sick grin on his face. The White Rabbit laughs at the carnage while his minion also adds a laugh of his own. The really creepy part is that Mascarita doesn't seem to realize that he is going to be murdered which makes you wonder whether Mascarita is oblivious to it all or possibly also under the influence of the White Rabbit and is okay with being killed.
• Weeks after meeting the White Rabbit, in "A Match Made in Heaven" London offers Mala Suerte to be sacrificed to Matanza and is smiling as he and Saltador leave the ring. Just what kind of influence does the White Rabbit have on London now?
  • Got even worse the week after, when he sported a crazed grin while watching Saltador get sacrificed.
    • And worse? If we take the White Rabbit's reaction in "The Hunted", he never gave the command at all! London willingly sacrificed both Mala Suerte and Saltador under the misguided belief that that is what his White Rabbit wanted!
    • The White Rabbit is a sinister bastard: he has London under his thumb, now looking like Eric Draven, El Bunny is a laughing lunatic, and Mascarita may or may not have been brainwashed by him. His version of the Mandible Claw has him grab onto Joey Ryan until he convulses and there's blood on his glove. And while the White Rabbit inspects the glove, he has his pocket watch swinging freely and London is looking like it as if hypnotized. The only other things we know about him is his obsession with time and the fact that he has psychic abilities (such as when he levitated his staff into Saltador's hands in "Sacrificio"). Everything else is a mystery, and not a good one.
• Post-resurrection/time travel Fenix, who went from possibly the purest tecnico in the Temple to a drooling, seemingly mindless beast who looked to not be able to tell friend from foe. It was later revealed that his life force had been infected by Catrina's evil, leading to the entry below this one.
• The opening cinematic of "The Moth and the Butterfly" has Aerostar tell Melissa that reviving Fenix turned out to be a very bad thing, and it ends with this chilling line (which, you must remember Aerostar is a time traveler)...
  Aerostar: "I've seen the end...of EVERYTHING."