matches
Texano Jr. defeated Johnny Mundo (5:50, DQ when the Crew ran in, GOOD)
The Mack defeated Cage (0:42, corner sunset flip, OK)
Fenix regained his Aztec Medallion (OK)
- Ricky Mandell eliminated (0:42, thrown by Famous B)
- Argenis eliminated (0:53, thrown by Famous B)
- Killshot eliminated (1:50, shoved off the top by DelAvar Daivari)
- Vincenzo Massaro eliminated (2:34, stunner by DelAvar Daivari)
- Super Fly eliminated (2:47, monkey flip by Mascarita Sagrada)
- Mascarita Sagrada eliminated (2:47, self elimination)
- Famous B eliminated (3:30, slid out by DelAvar Daivari & Marty Martinez)
- DelAvar Daivari eliminated (4:01, by Fenix)
- Fenix pinned Marty Martinez (“huracanrana” 7:09)
developments
The mystery of the medallions was finally explained on this show. Dario Cueto explained the seven medallion holders would fight at Ultima Lucha for a new belt, the Gift of the Gods. The holder of the belt can challenge for the Lucha Underground championship at any time, though they must inform Dario to give him at least a week to promote it. (“No cash-ins.”) The belt can be defended and the title shot can change hands. The medallions come back off the belt once it’s used, and begin being handed out again to repeat the process.
Six luchadors stepped in to attach their medallions to the belt. (Magnets!) Jack Evans, Aerostar, King Cuerno, Sexy Star, Bengala and Big Ryck all placed their medallions on the belt. Ryck was given his Medallion earlier in the show, as part of Dario trying to patch up their relationship. (Big Ryck also took some money.) Fenix was not there, with Dario happily noting Fenix had been destroyed by Mil Muertes.
Dario announced a battle royal (with the final two going to pinfall/submission) to determine the new holder of the Medallion. Fenix came out before Dario went any farther. He did not get the Medallion back, but did get placed in the battle royal – which he won, against some of the lower ranked LU competitors. No one quite explained why Fenix was late.
Dario had a busy night. He explained Ultima Lucha would in fact begin next week. (The August 5th show remains two hours; they’re expanding it.) Cage versus the Mack will be added to that show in falls count anywhere match, after Mack’s flash pin over Cage led to them brawling around the arena and laying out security. Dario promised to put any stray item he had laying around at ringside so they could use it too.
That wasn’t all for Dario: he informed Hernandez that the Lucha Underground fans on Twitter hated him. Hernandez wasn’t concerned until Dario decided to let those fans participate. Next week’s match will be a lumberjack strap match with the fans as lumberjacks (“Believer’s Backlash”.) Hernandez main concern was Dario having good insurance, suggested he wouldn’t be afraid to fight back.
The opener of the show was a competitive match between Texano & Johnny Mundo. Texano looks to have a chance to win until Mr. Cisco and Cortez Castro ran into attack him. Alberto made a surprising save, wanting to get after Alberto himself. Alberto and Texano were left alone in the wrong and had a testy staring contest before Alberto left.
The show was to end with a Prince Puma promo. Of course, that didn’t happen – Catrina and Mil Muertes interrupted before Puma said one word. They were the distraction to a Disciples of Death attack, but Puma fought them out and challenged Muertes to take him on right now. Muertes did, but Puma also took him out and landed the 630 senton to end the show. Striker pushed the idea of Konnan not being around; it’s unclear if he’ll be back for the title match.
Ultima Lucha Card (07/29 & 08/05)
- Prince Puma (c) versus Mil Muertes for the Lucha Underground championship
- Aerostar vs Jack Evans vs Bengala vs Big Ryck vs Sexy Star vs Fenix vs King Cuerno for the Gift of the Gods championship
- Johnny Mundo versus Alberto el Patron
- Angelico, Son of Havoc and Ivelisse (c) versus the Disciples of Death for the Lucha Underground Trios championship
- Vampiro versus Pentagon Jr. in a Cero Miedo match
- Hernandez versus Drago in a Believer’s Backlash match
- Blue Demon Jr. versus Texano
- the Mack versus Cage in a falls count anywhere match
The Mack/Cage was explicitly said to be taking place next week. They were less clear on the other ones, but they’re listed in the preview for next week. It probably will not be announced, but there will also be a ‘everyone who doesn’t have a match’ battle royal along the way.
thoughts
If the last one was kind of simple, this one was extremely busy. New belt, new match, new stipulation, new extra hour to the finale. There were matches too. Texano/Mundo was really fun while it lasted and something I’d enjoy seeing again down the road. They mixed well together, with Texano looking the best he’s been as a face and Mundo’s rudo antics working. They gave the Alberto/Texano staredown a moment to make sure everyone saw, and understood they weren’t still friends, which was nice. It’s like them going over the UltimaLucha card one more time, just giving time to make sure everyone knew what’s going and what’s coming up.
The battle royal had some good moments and some not as good. We got to see the alternate universe where Famous B was one of the top guys in the promotion, and it was not bad. It’s surprising to see Marty get the spotlight at the end instead Killshot or Daivari. It didn’t quite work out with the finish at the end (which looked like it was originally something much more complex, and even the cover up cradle they did should’ve been retried.)
Big Ryck getting a medallion like he did felt like they just ran out of time. Fenix got a big win after his long absence seemingly just to re-establish him as an important figure after his long absence. Big Ryck hasn’t been gone, but – as Dario noted – he hasn’t been a big figure since those early episodes. Ryck’s just been winning a lot of matches for Dario’s opponents.
I didn’t like doing the Prince Puma promo fakeout. It acknowledges how weird it is that he never talks, which doesn’t seem like something they’re going to ever address. They needed an excuse to do the fight and didn’t want to do the faceoff, but it’s a bait and switch. (And since the Mack/Cage match was a bit of a nonmatch, it was the second one on the show where they also had a DQ.)
It’s probably not as much an issue for most people, but I hope there’s an explanation of why Fenix was late and had to be in the battle royal (besides “they wanted to do a battle royal”.) That seems like too inexplicable to be ignored, and they usually go somewhere with those sorts of things.
The Mack/Cage post match brawl was good, but probably suffers a little bit by having the bad timing to come a couple days after Undertaker & Brock did a similar deal. (I think there’s a good chance Cage & Mack have a better match.)
The whole idea of the Aztec Medallions/Gift of the Gods title is interesting and opens up possibilities for the future. There are very clearly defined ways to get a title shot in Lucha Underground, and this opens up a new one without needing Puma to get beat or laid out to do so.
The fight at the end was fun. Mil Muertes is the killer, but the one big change they’ve made with Mil v2.0 is Catrina’s more obviously the one running the show. She’s not his valet, he’s her weapon.
