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We returned to the Temple of Boyle Heights tonight IJune 7) with another episode of Lucha Underground. Here’s what happened and what we learned from this episode.
What happened:
Prince Puma was in the bathroom looking in the mirror, clearly facing an internal struggle. Rey Mysterio walked up to him, expressing concern about Puma’s relationship with Vampiro. In response, Puma implied both Rey and Konnan have used him as well. When Rey told Puma that Vamp isn’t his master, Prince retorted with “neither are you.” After Puma left, Rey looked into the mirror to see Vampiro, who told Mysterio to stay away from Puma. When Mysterio turn around, no one was there. He punched the mirror just to be sure.
What we learned:
- Puma has really strayed from his prior path. He rejected his former friend and mentor Mysterio, a man who is the epitome of good, for Vampiro. (Vampiro, if you’re curious, is most definitely not the epitome of good. At all.)
- Rey Mysterio doesn’t give a damn about private property. I mean that’s not his mirror. Just because he’s seeing things doesn’t mean he should break a perfectly good mirror. Plus, that’s bad luck.
What happened:
Dario Cueto made the overtime title match between Johnny Mundo and Willie Mack a falls count anywhere match.
During the match, Ricky Mandel tried to help Johnny but was neutralized by Sexy Star. PJ Black hid under the ring to attack Mack when the big man was getting a table. Black ended up taking a stunner on the apron. It’s momentum drove him threw the table.
But Johnny still had back up. When Mack was about to slam Johnny from the apron to a pile of chairs on the floor, Taya grabbed Mundo and pulled him back in the ring. The champ capitalized by sunset powerbombing Mack into the chairs for the 1-2-3.
What we learned:
- Johnny Mundo is a fantastic heel. For all intents and purposes, John Henigan is great at his craft. He’s got a fantastic look and he’s entertaining in the ring. Despite that, he and LU have made it really easy to hate the SOB. That’s impressive in this day in age, where good heels are often cheered. Using as many people to his advantage as he can and then gloating like hie did himself, I just want to boo him. When he got the 1-2-3, I was super pissed.
- If the friendship between Mack and Sexy ever ends, that will be a dark day. There’s little good in the this underground fighting promotion. It’s monsters, betrayal, and death. But Mack and Sexy’s friendship is one of the few lights in the darkness. But this is prowrestling and they rarely last forever. If that day comes, it’ll be a hard one to swallow.
- These dudes didn’t waste any time. As a pseudo-continuation of their hour long bout last week, this match went about 15 minutes. Since it was a falls count anywhere match, it found its way outside the ring pretty quickly. There was a fun spot where Mack tossed Johnny into the audience chairs and then jumped over maybe 3 rows of chairs to hit a senton on Johnny. It was superb. Mack and Johnny have great chemistry.
What happened:
Dario Cueto came to the ring and put himself over for booking such a great underground fighting ring. He then presented the Cueto Cup. Beginning next week, there will be a single elimination tournament for the new trophy. The winner wins the Cup and a title match at Ultima Lucha Tres.
Also, Johnny Mundo will be defending his title the night Dario awards the trophy. It won’t be Matanza because he embarrassed Dario when Rey Mysterio made him look bad. So instead, Rey will get that shot!
What we learned:
- A lot about the future schedule of Lucha Underground. We learned that there will be a 32 person tournament to win the Cueto Cup. That person will face the champion for the LU title at Ultima Lucha 3. That’s really fun! The person who eventually main events their big finale will have seriously earned it by winning 5 consecutive matches. There will certainly be some great match ups along the way.
- Johnny vs. Rey is going to happen! That’s going to be pretty lit. It’s entirely possible that this match has happened in the WWE, but if it did, I don’t remember it. Even if it happened in the E, it’s a big deal title match in Lucha Underground. I’m already looking forward to it.
- Dario is a petty man. When he made everyone leave the Temple during the mid-season finale, I thought it was because he was concerned about his brother. Instead, it was because he was embarrassed by him. Now he’s not just denying him a one on one shot with the champ but making sure we all know why.
What happened:
Vibora, Pindar, and Drago defeated Aerostar, Fenix, & Drago (kind of) to win the Trios titles. Aerostar was the face in peril for a long while. When he finally tried to tag out to Drago, his partner misted him in the face. Drago then crossed the ring and was tagged in the opposing team. He hit a splash onto Aerostar as Pindar and Vibora held him up for the 1-2-3.
What we learned:
- Drago has officially turned to the dark side. For so long, he was a prisoner against his will. But finally he’s snapped. Maybe he was brainwashed. Maybe he realized where his loyalty should lie. Either way, it spelled bad news for the super friends.
What we’ve yet to learn:
- What’s up with Aerostar? Awhile back ago, we saw a cinematic of him a millennia ago speaking to someone from one of the tribes. But overall, he’s just been there. His matches are fun, but if he’s a space man that either time travels or is over a thousand years old, I want to know more about that.
What happened:
Johnny Mundo got out of the shower finding Ricky Mandel. He asked Ricky where the champagne was, but Mandel told him Taya instructed him to wait. Taya entered and informed Mundo about his title match with Mysterio. Johnny instructed Ricky to warm up the car because he needed to get to his dojo right away. Johnny then told Taya that he’s a bit concerned about facing Rey. He left before putting on pants because “There’s no time for pants.”
What we learned:
- Johnny is actually worried about facing someone. Even with his large, devious bag of tricks that have helped him hold onto his title, he still needs to train his ass off to face Mysterio. Again, this match should be lit.
- Pants are optional! Seriously, Johnny’s “There’s no time for pants” line was a laugh out loud highlight of this episode, which wasn’t at all a bad episode. You do you, Johnny.
What happened:
Prince Puma defeated Mil Muertes in a Boyle Heights street fight. At the end of the match, Catrina hit Puma with a foreign object. Vampiro evened the score by handing his newest student a brick, which Puma used on the head of Mil Muertes to pick up the win.
What we learned:
- This isn’t the same Prince Puma that we first met. He didn’t walk through the crowd like he used to. Instead, he sneaked into the back of the ring to get a leg up on Mil as the match started. And he showed no hesitation using the brick. He didn’t stop and think about it. There was no evidence of internal dialogue. It was just “Oh a brick? Cool. This’ll work.”
- Puma is so great to watch wrestle. OK, this is more “What was I reminded of.” For me, Puma moves in the ring like someone like Austin Aries and AJ Styles. It’s such a fluid looking offense and it’s always so pretty to watch, even when it’s brutal.
What we’ve yet to learn:
- What this means for Mil Muertes. Outside Matanza and maybe Fenix, few have been able to keep even with the man of a thousand deaths like Prince Puma recently has. Mil and Catrina don’t take well to losing. I can’t imagine this feud is over.
All in all it was a fun episode. I’m still having trouble remembering where things were with certain stories before Lucha Underground went on their long break. But that will resolve as more episodes pass.
The title match was high octane out of the gate and a fun conclusion to the Mack/Mundo feud. Muertes/Puma was great as well as Puma continues to walk down a darker path. I’m still not that into the story surrounding Kobra Moon/Drago an their tribe, but having Drago officially join them is intriguing.
We’ll be back next week. Sound off below!