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The drama continued to unfold in the Temple of Boyle Heights tonight (June 21) as Lucha Underground rolled on with the Cueto Cup tournament. Here’s what happened and what we learned from tonight’s adventure.
What Happened:
Fenix pulled into the garage where Melissa Santos was hanging out. She said she heard Fenix is in the tournament. When he said he planned on winning, Melissa said she’d put all her money on him. It was super flirtatious.
Marty the Moth was watching the whole thing and then puts his head through a window. Typical Moth.
What We Learned:
- There’s something brewing between Fenix and Melissa. Big time. Personally, I always like the forbidden romance between Fenix and Catrina, but I get it. You can’t wait around forever for a lady who’s got another guy who she happened to bring back from the dead and has mystical control over.
- Marty is still at maximum creeper. The Moth has been obsessed with the Lucha Underground ring announcer for a long time. Seeing Fenix and Melissa at peak flirt has likely driven him mad. It remains to be seen how dangerous this makes him.
What Happened:
Cage defeated Vinnie Massaro in a Cueto Cup first round match.
Cage did not wrestle in his gauntlet. However, during the match, Vinnie tried to grab the gauntlet to use as a weapon. This angered the Machine, who became ruthless and quickly won the match.
After the match, he put the gauntlet on and assaulted his defeated foe.
What We Learned:
- Vinnie Massaro is a lucky man. I’m sure a man losing the first round and getting assaulted afterwards seems to be the opposite of lucky. But last week, Councilman Delgado got murdered with one punch. The fact that Vinnie is alive means he had a pretty good day.
What We’ve Yet to Learn:
- Is Cage possessed when he’s not wearing the gauntlet? My bet is that he’s not as possessed when not wearing it, but the more he wears it, the most the god that inhabits the gauntlet takes over. Then it’ll get to a point where Cage doesn’t need the gauntlet.
What Happened:
Marty “The Moth” Martinez defeated Saltador in a first round Cueto Cup match.
Backstage afterwards, Marty was in a room with a bunch of pictures of Melissa Santos pasted on the wall. He took a picture of her out of his tights and talked to it. He then licked it.
Mariposa walked in the room and asked “Do you remember what father taught us?” When Marty responded “Family always first,” she told him that his lust for Melissa has made him week. She will be facing Fenix later and if victorious, it’ll be her versus her brother.
What We Learned:
- OK, forget max creepy from earlier. We’re in disturbing stalker territory with Marty. He was always alluded to as unhinged and disturbed. But this was full bore. Marty has really been displayed as a dangerous individual. Matt Striker described him as a child in a man’s body and that’s a good description. He’s like a sadistic child who enjoys pulling legs off of insects and lashes out when he doesn’t get his way. And now “his way” is Melissa Santos.
- Saltador can do weird, but it doesn’t stand up to Marty’s sadistic. Early on in their bout, the rabbit tribe member was throwing the Moth off of his game with his fluid motions and erratic behaviors. But it just took one big powerbomb into the railing for Marty to assert his dominance.
What Happened:
Mascarita Sagrada was working out when Paul London and Mala Suerte walk up to him. Paul said that now that Saltador has fallen, Mascarita can lead the tribe. Sagrada just walked out of the room.
Pindar defeated Mascarita Sagrada in the first round of the Cueto Cup. While Mascarita had a major flurry of offense towards the end, it wasn’t enough to pick up the win.
What We’ve Yet to Learn:
- If the Rabbit tribe really wanted to endear themselves to their supposed Master, why didn’t they lend a hand during the match. Kobra Moon got involved so there was an opening for them to assist Sagrada. So where was Paul London to prove his allegiance to Mascarita? It would have been a better move than interrupting the man while he’s getting his pump on. That hasn’t worked at all.
What Happened:
Fenix defeated Mariposa in the first round of the Cueto Cup.
After the match, Marty the Moth attacked Fenix. However, Fenix was able to fight back and neutralize both of the Martinez siblings as Melissa Santos watched on pleased.
What We Learned:
- It’ll be Marty vs. Fenix in round two and that’s going to be a personal match. It may not be personal to Fenix, who may not fully grasp what’s going on in the head of his opponent. (To be fair, I don’t think anyone fully understands what’s going on in the head of Marty the Moth.) Martinez looks at Fenix as his rival for the love of Melissa. Never mind the fact that Melissa despises him. That doesn’t matter to the deranged Marty. Fenix may be in for more than he bargains for next round.
- I’m already rooting for this Fenix/Melissa thing. Despite my love of the Catrina/Fenix pseudo-romance from season one, Melissa Santos did a great job getting me to buy in on this out of the blue relationship. Her facial expressions in the final scene helped sell it. I hope these kids find happiness. Then again, this is the Temple so it’ll probably just be darkness and despair. But still... good luck to you.
While this wasn’t a bad episode by any means, it was a bit underwhelming for me. Likely this is because we’re still looking at first round match ups which are meant to build to the bigger bouts as we progress deeper into the field.
Another factor is that none of the big stories were really represented. I appreciate that they gave us a Cage match so we weren’t left completely hanging after last weeks big final scene. However, there wasn’t any real follow up on that just yet. (It’s surely coming.) Also, the Lucha Underground title feud between Rey Mysterio and Johnny Mundo has been video packages the last two weeks. They were good, but the show misses these guys in more of their tradition cuts scenes if not in the ring.
Marty reaching level 1000 creep was a good story though and it definitely builds anticipation for the second round match between Fenix and the Moth.
Sound off below and we’ll be back next week!