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Lucha Underground returned tonight (Aug 30.) with continuing drama and intrigue from the Temple of Boyle Heights. Here’s what happened and what we learned.
What Happened:
We start in Matanza’s holding cell. Dario entered and told his brother he was wrong. Dario thought he knew best but he did not. He thought his brother was obsessing with Mysterio but he now knows he was trying to just protect Dario and the family. El Jefe told Matanza about the 619 from last week, humiliating the Cueto family. And now Rey must pay.
On the 100th episode of Lucha Underground in a couple weeks, Dario has booked Matanza vs. Rey one on one. He instructs his brother to destroy him.
What We’ve Yet to Learn:
- If this is two weeks from now, what’s the Ultima Lucha match for these guys? Or will this lead into a third and final match between these two men at their big event at the end of the season?
What Happened:
Son of Madness defeated Mascarita Sagrada
The mini came out wearing the vest Havoc gave him. Despite an early cheap shot from Madness, Mascarita put up a fight. However, the size difference was too much.
After the match, Son of Havoc ran out and the two bikers started to brawl. Dario called security to break it up. Cueto booked a Boyle Heights Biker Brawl as the main event between Havoc and Madness for an Aztec medallion.
While all this was going on, Paul London ran out and carried Mascarita out.
What We Learned:
- Mascarita still has the biker vest that Son of Havoc gave him! Their friendship is really great. Just bagel bites, complaining about Famous B, and matching vests. Of course that didn’t help Mascarita at all tonight when he faced off against another member of that club who didn’t seem as cool with Mascarita having a version of the club’s vest.
What We’ve Yet to Learn:
- Where did Paul London take Mascarita? I’m guessing it was just getting him out of danger but that rabbit tribe is odd, man. I’m just a titch concerned that he will find himself in some weird stuff when he comes to.
What Happened:
Marty “The Moth” Martinez defeated Argenis.
With Mariposa at ringside, the Martinez siblings were too much for the masked man. While Aregenis had a good showing, a shove into the ring post from Mariposa busted Argenis wide open. He was not able to recover and lost the bout.
After the match, to add major insult to injury, Marty ripped the mask off Aregenis’ face as Melissa Santos looked on in disgust.
The Moth requested a microphone. He asks Melissa if she liked him taking off the mask before throwing it at her. Martinez said that’s not the mask he wants. It’s Fenix’s and he’s going to get it at Ultima Lucha Tres.
Fenix came in from behind and dealt two superkicks, one for each sibling! Fenix grabbed the microphone and accepted the match, but said it’ll be mask vs. hair!!
What We Learned:
- Marty is the best heel (and one best performers) in Lucha Underground. I appreciate Martin Casaus’ work but dammit I viscerally hate Marty the Moth. He’s just a vile piece of garbage. And that was before he ripped the mask off Argenis. Just beating on Aregnis when he’s dripping in blood is was enough for me to be “Man, F this guy”. Ripping off the mask? That’s next level.
- This feud is absolutely lit! I’m all in on this. Everyone is on fire this feud. Obviously, Marty is playing his part of the ultimate heel to perfection. But Fenix is one of the best babyfaces in Lucha Underground currently and Melissa’s been fantastic in all of this with her reactions, whether it be disgust for Marty or her excitement when she sees Fenix. Not many matches are advertised for Ultima Lucha Tres, but this is the one I’m looking forward to the most.
What Happened:
Joey Ryan defeated Sexy Star
During the match, Taya ran down with a “Go Sexy Star” sign, mocking her fans. Eventually, Sexy Star went after her on the outside. When Sexy got in the ring, she took a superkick from Joey, which earned him the win
Joey then took a lollipop out of his trunks, because of course he did, and threatened to put it in Sexy’s mouth while she’s still down. Cortez Castro ran out with a kendo stick an chased Joey off.
What We Learned:
- That right now, I don’t want to watch any segment with Sexy Star, especially when she’s a face. The match was actually pretty good, but I couldn’t get behind her after all the events from this weekend.
- It’s a bit ironic that Taya vs. Sexy Star is looking to be the Ultima Lucha match even though the real heat behind their feud, at least that the fans know about, is based on actions that happened after this all taped. (For those unaware, it was Sexy Star who won the Triple A Reina de Reinas title after Taya was unceremoniously stripped of it.)
What We’ve Yet to Learn:
- Does Joey Ryan always have a lollipop in his pants? Or is it just a match thing? Like if he’s feeling fatigued and needs a sugar pick me up to continue fighting. Is there other food in there? It’s entirely possible he just eats all his meals from his trunks.
What Happened:
Dario was in his office when Cortez Castro barged in, still with his kendo stick. Castro told him he should arrest him right now for what he did to Mr. Cisco. Dario grabbed the red bull statue that he murdered Cisco with. But he booked a match between Joey and Cisco for next week instead, a 5-0 Street Fight with weapons surrounding the ring.
Dario sold it as a chance to show the boys in the force who’s the tougher cop and it’s for one of the ancient Aztec medallions. Castro accepted the match, and then broke the kendo around his knee and left.
What We’ve Yet to Learn:
- Does this mean Castro has gone rogue? I mean, it’s not as if he was doing great police work anyway. And his boss Captain Vasquez knows more about this world than anybody so he was all around pretty useless. But is his taking this match indicating he’s done with the police work on this case? Not that it’d be a bad idea. It only brought him pain.
- Why break the kendo stick? It’s still a perfectly good weapon.
What Happened:
Son of Havoc defeated Son of Madness in a street fight to win an ancient Aztec medallion.
When Havoc was on the top rope, Madness ran at him brandishing a hammer. However, Havoc had a beer bottle he crushed over his rival’s head and then followed up with a shooting star press for the win.
He took his vest back after the match.
What We Learned:
- These guys really should have dressed just a bit differently. Yes, Madness is a bit bigger and has more hair on his chest, but most of the time I was wondering which was which, especially because they kept using an arial shot where the guys looked exactly the same.
- Son of Havoc is the other top babyface in Lucha Underground. Fenix is definitely one, but Havoc is another that the crowd loves and he’s still actually a good dude despite being in the temple for years. We learned to love him as part of the unlikely trio, we saw his awesome friendship with Mascarita, and he’s been screwed by Dario enough for us to feel sympathetic towards him. I really hope he wins the Gift of the Gods
- It was delicious when Vampiro said people who settle their differences on Twitter are “marks” as he did the exact same thing a month back after they stripped Taya of the title. This was filmed probably a good year plus ago, but that comment didn’t age well.
What We’ve Yet to Learn:
- Where were the gimmicks that made this a biker brawl? Usually they’ll add in some props as part of the theme of the match. But Dario didn’t bother this time. Not that it detracted from the match. I just enjoy when they add silly stuff like that.
My match of the night: Marty “The Moth” Martinez vs. Argenis
Before Marty got into his great character work (which is a big reason I’m giving this match the nod), he and Argenis had a hell of a battle. Both played their role and there was good action in there as well.
While the latter portions of the main event were fun, the fact I was often uncertain if the person on offense was Madness or Havoc detracted a bit. It’s not great when you’re waiting to see if there’s a bunch of chest hair before you decide to cheer or boo. Or maybe some people normally do that. Whatevs. I’m not judging.
My non-match segment of the night: Cortez Castro in Dario’s office
There were only two to choose from and neither blew me away. So I’m giving the nod to the one that had the over the top kendo stick break.
Overall thoughts:
With their announcing that Ultima Lucha is actually four weeks of programming, they started speeding their way there. Because of that, this episode was pretty jam packed with the things they need to close up before the final month of shows.
That includes setting up the 5-0 Street fight for next week and giving us the Madness/Havoc match this week. Feels like this will all be non-stop for the remainder of the season, which will be a fun time.
Sound off below.