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Lucha Underground returned tonight (Aug. 2) with continuing drama and intrigue from the Temple of Boyle Heights. Here’s what happened and what we learned.
What Happened:
Dario Cueto visits his brother Matanza in his cell. He tells his brother that Matanza has power of a god but emotions of a human. Dario reminds him that the gods can decide to use him solely as a vessel, stripping away what’s left of his humanity. Matanza needs to control his hunger or it will devour them both. He then leaves him a plate of raw meat, which the big man resists eating.
What We Learned:
- That Dario cares for his brother... at least I think he does. Sometimes it seems like he does and other times it doesn’t seem that way at all. Tonight, it sounded to me like he wanted to make sure his brother at least stays somewhat human. He doesn’t want his baby brother to become a pure vessel of the gods.
What We’ve Yet to Learn:
- A ton. There’s so much unknown to this story and this didn’t answer any questions. (Not that I expected it to.) But apparently the gods can completely use Matanza as a vessel, meaning they’re not already. Will this lead to a war between Cage and Matanza to see who does or does not become a complete vessel? And a vessel for what?
What Happened:
Fenix defeats Pindar to advance in the Cueto Cup as Mellisa Santos roots him on.
Kobra Moon got involved to allow Pindar to take control for awhile but Fenix was able to fire up to get the win.
What We Learned:
- The Cueto Cup field is officially stacked going forward. Pindar was the weakest, likely least exciting member left in this tournament. Our own Manolo had him as last in his power rankings and rightfully so. From here on out, all the matches have the possibility to rule.
What Happened:
The Worldwide Underground (outside Johnny) are in Dario’s office. He tells them he gives them tons of opportunities and they still can’t get the job done. He bars all of them from getting involved tonight in Johnny’s match against El Dragon Azteca.
However, Taya, PJ Black, and Ricky Mandel have opportunities to win Gift of the Gods medallions next week. But if they get involved tonight, then their opportunities in the temple are over.
What We Learned:
- The Gift of the Gods medallions are back! I was just thinking before watching that that is something that has recently gotten lost in the fray during the Cueto Cup. It’s good to see that part of LU return.
- Jack Evans is hilarious even with his mouth wired shut. He tried to speak but no one understood him. But he’s charismatic even without the power of speech.
What Happened:
Prince Puma defeats Dante Fox to advance in the Cueto Cup.
After the match, Killshot comes in and lays out Fox. He then gets a microphone and says “You’re right, Dante. This isn’t over between us.”
What We Learned:
- Fox and Puma have cardio for days. This was one of those matches without rest holds or really any rest. They just kept throwing their best shot until one couldn’t get up from it.
- Killshot was nice enough to wait for the match to end to interfere. Good guy right there.
What Happened:
Cortez Castro is in Captain Vasquez’s office. Vasquez has pictures of Councilman Delgado’s crime scene and knows Cage did it. When Castro asks why she doesn’t just arrest him, she says it’s not him she wants. It’s the gauntlet. She charges Castro to get it for her. He says there’s not a man alive who will be able to take that from him. He leaves and she pulls her half of an amulet out of her drawer and looks at it.
What We Learned:
- Stories are starting back up in LU. It’s been a bit disappointing the last few weeks/month to see certain stories take a backseat during the Cup. But tonight, we didn’t just get the return of the Aztec medallions but we’ve finally double backed to Delgado’s murder and Captain Vasquez.
- Vasquez knows a ton of what’s going on. Sure the death of Delgado was going to be common knowledge. She also knew that Cage did it (which is also possible if he didn’t care about witnesses). But the big thing she knew is the gauntlet gave him the power of a god.
- Castro isn’t the dumbest person ever. He’s had a lot of bad luck and came out of his relationship with Joey Ryan on the wrong side of things, but even he knows not to go after Cage and his gauntlet. Good job, Cortez. It’ll keep you alive. For now.
What We’ve Yet to Learn:
- The story behind Vasquez. She has half an amulet that Aerostar gave to a little girl millennia ago. (I think. It’s been awhile so my details may be fuzzy on this one.) But she’s not the only one who has it. Catrina has the other half. Are they connected? How does she know so much about the god gauntlet? There’s so much to learn about our mysterious Captain.
What Happened:
Johnny Mundo defeats El Dragon Azteca Jr.
After the match, Mundo tries to injure Azteca’s neck with a chair but Mysterio makes the save and chases off Johnny.
However, after Mysterio leaves, Mundo returns and gets in the face of Rey’s family (his wife and son Dominic). He starts jawing with Rey’s son and eventually this brings Rey flying back out of the locker room only to be jumped by the entirety of the Worldwide Underground. While this is happening, Johnny looks to line up an attack with his title belt on Rey but lays out Dominic with it instead.
What We Learned:
- S@*# has heated up in this feud. They’ve been slowly building this one, which makes sense. They announced it a month ago and we’ve got almost another month until it happens. But tonight it really kicked into high gear. I thought trying to injury Rey’s student and then being a dick to his family was going to be it. But it turned into so much more when he attacked Rey’s son. Now it’s super personal. Though maybe they prefer Rey fight emotional instead of smart.
- The Worldwide Underground has evil genius potential. They often goof around too much to get there, but tonight, they laid the trap perfectly and Mysterio just waltzed right into it. Of course, one has to wonder if poking the bear is a good idea, but they really made it work tonight.
What We’ve Yet to Learn:
- Why Dario banned the Underground from this match. Usually he doesn’t care about chaos. In fact he loves it. Why try to assure a clean match now? Perhaps because he’s tired of getting calls from their representation? And does this mean he’ll ban them from the title match in three weeks as well?
What Happened:
Melissa Santos is leaving and Fenix offers to walk her to her car. She asks if he always wears the mask and he tells her not always, but always when he fights. As they flirt on the way to her car, Marty the Moth is watching and says to himself that he’s going to take that mask away to show her how ugly Fenix really is.
What We Learned:
- Marty is still a creep.
My match of the night: Johnny Mundo vs. El Dragon Azteca Jr.
But only by a hair. Both this match and the Puma/Fox match were really fun. I think it came down to personal preference. That style of non-stop back and forth that Puma and Fox had isn’t my favorite kind of match. I enjoy one that has a little slow down to digest and to see one person in control for a little longer and another person fire up and fight back. The main event had more of that than the other match, but I certainly enjoyed both.
My non-match segment of the night: Back in the precinct
The mystery surrounding Captain Vasquez and her attempt to infiltrate the Temple has always been a favorite of mine and it was great to see it return tonight. It leaves me with a ton of questions, but I’m always eager to see more.
Overall thoughts:
I really enjoyed this episode. Seeing Matanza back as well as Captain Vasquez re-introduced stories that have been lost for awhile. The main event post-match shenanigans did a great job pulling me into that feud as well.
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