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Lucha Underground returned last night (Dec. 28) from the Temple in Boyle Heights. Here is what we learned from tonight’s episode.
You can find the results at the live blog here.
What Happened:
In what looks to be an area of worship, Vampiro told Prince Puma that his journey into darkness begins tonight. Puma pledged himself to his new master.
Jeremiah Crane defeated Mil Muertes when Puma ran in with a kendo stick and attacked Mil when the ref was busy dealing with Catrina. After the match, Puma beat down Mil with the kendo and then kneeled towards Vampiro.
What We Learned:
- That Puma is a quick study. Just earlier (and granted we don’t know how much earlier), Vamp told Puma that his journey into darkness began that night. Then he beat up Mil and cost him a match not long after. He’s taking this Vampiro thing seriously. He dressed in a black hoodie and kneeled towards Vampiro at the end. It’ll be interesting to see how much Puma changes under the tutelage of the dark pope.
- Jeremiah Crane is a lucky dude. Seriously, he was getting his ass straight up kicked by Mil Muertes. But he was able to take advantage of a Puma run in and follow up with a big kick for the win. If it weren’t for Prince Puma, he would have eaten a Flatliner and lost in convincing fashion. The way he won didn’t stop him from pointing at Catrina after he left the ring area tonight though.
What We’ve Yet to Learn:
- What Vampiro actually wants with Prince Puma. Is he just yearning for a disciple since his last one didn’t go as planned? Or does he want to train someone to get revenge on his last discipline Pentagon Dark (though he’s already got two broken arms.) Or is it a problem with Mil Muertes?
What Happened:
A Johnny Mundo superfan found Sexy Star backstage. He was really nice to her and said he found a gift with her name on it laying around. She opened it to predictably find a spider.
Later on, Mariposa barged into Dario Cueto’s office demanding a match with Mariposa next week. Dario agreed to make the match.
What We Learned:
- That dude is really into Johnny Mundo. I don’t know who he was (meaning if he was a wrestler around those parts) but the dude LOVED Mundo. He dressed like him (great Halloween idea for next year). He wrote him fan mail (which mean ol’ Johnny didn’t return). And despite really liking Sexy Star, he couldn’t help but to mention how often she’s lost to Johnny Mundo. This a true blue superfan.
HatsBandanas off to you, my man.
What We’ve Yet to Learn:
- If Sexy Star is mistaken about who is planting those spiders. Mariposa already denied the act. But Sexy doesn’t have any major enemies outside the Martinez family. The Worldwide Underground appears done with her. They just wanted the title. That really just leaves Mariposa. But more likely, during that match next week, the real culprit will reveal themselves.
What Happened:
Famous B and Brenda interrupt Texano’s workout. B told Tex that the big man has all the tools but can’t connect to the crowd so they don’t care about him. But Famous B can make him famous, offering to come out later for his match against Cage. Texano became angry towards Famous B, who told him to think on it.
What We Learned:
- That Famous B is a good read. Because his diagnostic of Texano’s problem was dead on. Texano does have all the tools. But the crowd just doesn’t seem to care about him (at least in LU). Maybe Famous B is the way for him to turn things around.
What Happened:
PJ Black and Jack Evans def. Son of Havoc and Angelico.
In this match, Angelico appeared to suffer and elbow injury.
What We Learned:
- The former trios champions have the worst luck. While Son of Havoc remained overall healthy, Ivelisse has suffered two broken legs and this elbow injury is Angelico’s second injury. And he’s just coming back from one. It’s such a shame to see people get injured so often. Hopefully, the tapings were spaced that we see the high flying luchador back in season 3.
- It was fun to see Havoc and Angelico back together. While this was pretty much the match for the final Battle of the Bulls qualifier, that was a fatal 4-way and the history between Havoc and Angelico was rather ignored. But this time, Striker made sure to play it up and the guys did as well. Man, I miss that trios team. They had such great chemistry.
- These are some athletic dudes. Good Lord, there were some wild athleticism in this match. Angelico had spots with both PJ Black and Jack Evans that were fast, high flying, and really fun to watch. While some spots with Havoc appeared a little sloppy, this was a fun match. (That is until Angelico got hurt.)
What Happened:
During match four of the best of five series between Cage and Texano, Cage went face first into an exposed turnbuckle and Texano capitalized, pinning Cage to even the series.
Dario exited his office and said that he wanted to see the final match now. He made it an Anything Goes match.
Cage is victorious in the final match, winning the Ultimate Opportunity.
What We Learned:
- That these are two badass dudes. Their second match was insane. They fought all around the Temple unleashing brutality on each other. They fought through the crowd, delivering power moves onto the bleachers. Texano performed a crossbody onto Cage from the second tier of fans. There were bullrope whippings. This was a badass match.
- That not waiting for match five was the right move. It was time to finish this off. The way Texano won match four was good, taking advantage of an exposed turnbuckle early and busting Cage open. This weakened Cage for the second match, giving it a more hardcore feel. Waiting another week or two for this would have been too much. This was just right.
- That Famous B knows when he’s not wanted. After getting turned away by Texano earlier, B opted not to make his presence known. Wise man.
What We’ve Yet to Learn:
- Why in the hell they continue with the unprotected chair shots to the head. Both Texano and Cage received one tonight and there’s absolutely no reason for it. They didn’t make the match any better. The match was already a really fun hardcore brawl all over the arena. An unprotected headshot didn’t add anything to it. If anything, knowing what we know about head injuries, it takes me out of the match instead. They’re not even putting a hand up to absorb the blow. It’s needlessly unsafe and doesn’t make the promotion cooler or anything. So stop it.
What Happened:
Dario presented Cage with his prize, which is a box with a gauntlet inside. Cage wanted nothing to do with it. However, Dario convinced him to just try it on. When Cage did, you could see electricity pulsing from the gauntlet. Cage picked up Dario by the neck, feeling its power, and decided to keep it.
What We’ve Yet to Learn:
- Is Cage a god now? From what we learned from Dario prior, the winner of the match would become a vessel for a god. That makes it seem like the soul of the original person is gone and they are just a host body for this being. But it seemed like Cage was still himself to some degree. Sure he was much stronger when he wore the gauntlet, but he spoke like himself. Will it take time for the god to erode away at the soul of Cage? Or is Cage strong enough to keep the power at bay?
This was a sharp episode of Lucha Underground, which has been common as they head to their midseason finale on Jan. 11. We got the conclusion to the Best of 5 series with a brutal battle that was wildly fun (outside the headshots). Plus we’ve got Dark Puma brewing! Unfortunately, it looks like this was the episode where Angelico got injured and that’s a downer.
Next week is going to be hot with the Mack vs. Johnny Mundo title match and a rematch between Mariposa and Sexy Star! We’ll be back next week for all of that action!