Lucha Underground returned last night (Nov. 16, 2016) from the Temple in Boyle Heights with the much anticipated Aztec Warfare.
You can find all the results at the live blog here.
Aztec Motherf’n Warfare
There was just one match tonight and that was Aztec Warfare. It’s Lucha Underground’s version of a Royal Rumble, though with only 20 people and eliminations are via pinfall or submission. The last person standing would be the champion. The current champion, Matanza, won the belt at this event last year. He did not walk out with it this year.
Lucha Underground crowned a new champion tonight and that champion is Sexy Star.
The Temple favorite entered at #12 and for much of the time had to contend with the Worldwide Underground trio of Johnny Mundo, Jack Evans, and PJ Black. While she endured plenty of double and triple teams, she had the Mack and eventually a returning Angelico to help fend of them Underground by the end of the match.
The final four was Sexy Star, Mil Muertes, the Mack, and Johnny Mundo. Matanza had already been eliminated, which we’ll get to in a bit. Despite already having been eliminated by a combination of Sexy Star and the Mack, Evans and Black returned to assist Johnny Mundo with a nasty triple on Sexy. It was then that the long absent Angelico appeared at the place he feels most comfortable: The top of Dario Cueto’s office. He hit a crossbody from the roof of the office onto all three men in the ring. Sexy was finally able to take advantage by covering Johnny Mundo for the 1-2-3.
This left friends Mack and Sexy against the undead force of Mil Muertes as the final three. Mack didn’t stand much of a chance, quickly being dispatched by the former champion Muertes. Mack’s quick elimination left his friend Sexy Star to stand face to face with the big man, with slim odds of victory.
Sexy took loads of punishment from the intimidating force that is Mil Muertes and much of her success was avoiding the big hit. She avoided a spear through a table. She reversed a flatliner into a DDT onto a chair... and then used said chair to really lay into Mil. (But c’mon... enough is enough with unprotected head shots.) And the big reversal was when Mil set her up on the top rope for a Flatliner through a table. She fought out, shoved Mil through the table himself, hit a double stomp for the 1-2-3. Sexy was champ.
The crowd went wild for the victory. I know not everybody is a fan of Sexy Star, but this was quite the moment. Sexy has always been a huge fan favorite in the Temple and as of two weeks ago, she seemed to have lost her advantage when she lost the Gift of the Gods champion to Johnny Mundo (with help of his cronies.) But she fought back tonight, with some help from Mundo’s hubris, to win the company’s crown jewel. The show faded out with her holding up the title, in tears, as the crowd went nuts. That’s an awesome moment right there and was a great payoff to a great hour of television.
This indicates a seismic shift at the top of Lucha Underground. For a year, the darkness of Matanza and his brother reigned over the Temple. While Dario is still boss, the new face of the Temple is the bright light of Sexy Star. But she’s not going to have long to rest.
Johnny’s hubris
At the beginning of the show, in the only cutscene of the episode, Johnny ran into the boss in the hallway, alongside Taya who was recording everything for his documentary. He told Dario that he plans on winning tonight, which meant eliminating Matanza, and holding both the Gift of the Gods and Lucha Underground championship. But if he didn’t, he told the boss that he will be cashing in next week against whoever did win.
Cueto was in no mood for Johnny’s arrogance. He took Johnny’s entry card, that read 12, and ripped it in half. He handed him back the half that said 2, indicating that would be Mundo’s new entry number. Suddenly, Johnny’s path to the title got much more treacherous.
His old #12 went to Sexy Star, who won the match. If Johnny could have kept his damned mouth shut for just a moment, perhaps those roles would have been reversed. But Mundo can’t help who he is and who is he is an arrogant douche.
Not that he’s at all done. He did say he was going to cash in his Gift of the Gods title for a title match next week. That is if Dario lets him. Mundo did flip off the boss and laugh in his face when Matanza was eliminated. And Dario Cueto will hold a grudge.
A Monster Unhinged
Much like last year, Matanza was a force to be reckoned with during Aztec Warfare. He eliminated five people, which is a quarter of the field. But unlike last year, he too was eliminated. And it was the hand of the lucha legend Rey Mysterio.
Unfortunately for Mysterio, he eliminated Matanza. Because it was an act he sorely paid for immediately. The former champion brutalized the man who eliminated him, tossing him around like a ragdoll outside the ring and then hit the Wrath of the Gods inside the ring. After the sleazy Johnny Mundo capitalized by pinning Rey, Mysterio needed to be stretchered out.
Dario immediately tried to reign in his brother but shockingly couldn’t do it. Instead, his brother shoved him to the floor and walked off. I don’t think Matanza is sleeping in a cell tonight.
That’s a dangerous proposition right there. There’s an angry God on the loose and no one can reel him in. Perhaps Dario will need to utilize the new God he’s going to introduce in the body of Texano or Cage to get control of his brother.
Ninja Assassins!
Pentagon Dark has a very large list of enemies. One of those is Black Lotus, whose arm Pentagon broke at the end of last season. Unfortunately for Pentagon, Lotus has a league of assassins and they made sure he wasn’t winning the match tonight.
Before he could broke the arm of poor Ricky Mandel, Lotus lead her trio of female assassins to attack the breaker of arms. One hit a sick Canadian Destroyer on Pentagon, leaving him for the opportunist Johnny Mundo to pin.
By breaking Black Lotus’ arm, he unknowingly declared war on a band of assassins. Señor Dark is going to have his work cut out for him because they are out for blood.
There was plenty of other happenings that were enjoyable tonight. Kobra Moon and Drago continued their issues. Joey Ryan tried to handcuff himself to the rail only to have his hand almost immediately ripped from the cuffs by Mil Muertes. The Mack hit a ton of stunners.
It was a great show and I recommend checking out the entire match. Lucha Underground knows how to do these Warfare matches right, building or continuing stories on the periphery as they work to the big finish.
We’ll be back next week for the rematch between Johnny Mundo and Sexy Star, this time for the Lucha Underground title, that is if Dario allows it.