Lucha Underground 1×12: They Call Him Cage

the matches

Fenix b Mil Muertes (3:48. superplex reversal into a small package)

Bael, Mr. Cisco, Cortez Castro [O] b Aerostar [X], Super Fly, Argenis (10:53, flapjack/frontcracker )

Prince Puma (C) DQ Cage [Lucha Underground Championship (10:18, foul kick)

all the GIFs from the show are here.

the developments

Mil Muertes dominated his match, but Fenix got the shock upset.

Big Ryck is still in the hospital.

A sit down interview with Vampiro, Konnan and Prince Puma ended in Vampiro and Konnan problems (and Prince Puma continuing to say nothing.)

Cage beat up the referee. Konnan attempted to get involved and got beat up. Cage hit Konnan with the belt and Konnan bled a lot. Cage ripped up the belt. Puma tried to put it together (while medics checked on Konnan)

Dario, who made it clear he was rooting for Cage to start the show, was please to see Konnan hurt. The Mystery Woman surprised Dario in his office, revealing she was looking for someone and knew they were somewhere in the temple. Dario, feeling threatened, offered to help however he could and asked for a name. Mystery Lady said she only had a word – Matanza. Dario said he had no idea what that word meant (and it appeared he was telling the truth.) Mystery Lady walked away and literally seemed to vanish.

the questions

Matanza???

Does Cage get another shot, thanks to Dario’s support?

is Prince Puma actually a mute?

stray thoughts

This was the last show from the 2014 tapings. It’s been so long, I could not exactly remember what the finish of main event was, except that the feud kept going. The foul really caught me by surprise and didn’t feel like a good ending for the match, but it wasn’t really meant to be an ending. Cage dominated the match, which felt totally different than the Fenix/Puma title match. There was only one dive, which was really before the match, and most of Puma’s bigger flying moves were counted. Cage shoved the ref into the ropes when Puma went for the 630, and that led into the finish.

That belt looked kind of cheap when it was ripped up. Glad they’re getting a new one. Felt like a plot point that Puma was more concerned with it than Konnan, who was bleeding so much.

The sit down interview came off as a build to Vampiro vs Konnan, which they’re not doing and don’t seem to have any plans of doing. I think it was intended to be so heated as to explain why Prince Puma couldn’t get a word in, but in more came off as pushing the older rivalry. The Cage vignette was much better at getting over today’s match.

Cage/Puma is going to be the web match because obviously, but the trios match is worth tracking down. Both teams worked their styles well and it created a nice contrast for the match. The Crew feels like a group that’s been together for a while, working well of each other. Aerostar shined on his side, looking a cut above his partners, but everyone had a good match and this beat expectations. This was a really good episode, in-ring in particular.

Fenix/Muertes was good too, though it was a bit like the main event (flyer vs indestructible object) over a shorter timespan. Crowd was chanting for Muertes and doing dueling “let’s go Fenix/Fenix sucks chants”, which was surprising. Crowd was generally much better than last week.

So happy Mystery Lady got some advancement after two months, even if I don’t know what it means and it’s only led me to listening to Brazilian music. The vanishing superpower may be a little too much, but there’s also a human dragon here so it doesn’t feel a huge leap. (Also Dario may be high and just imagined the whole thing.)

Next episode doesn’t have a title or a description in the guide yet. (It’s listed as “EPISODE 14” on LocateTV – they’re off by one because they had two different names for the premiere.) I don’t think we’ll really notice any difference, except maybe Matt Striker’s voice might have recovered.