The Matches
Kobra Moon defeated Sexy Star (2:59, Snake Sleeper, below average)
Pentagon Jr. DQ Prince Puma (4:57, Mil Muertes interference, good)
Fenix defeated King Cuerno in a ladder match to win the Gift of the Gods championship (16:40, grabbed the belt, great)
The Developments
This was a less busy show than last week’s, since the main event took up a lot of time. (No show closing vignette either.)
Fenix winning back the Gift of the Gods championship was the biggest news. Cuerno seemed more interested in destroying Fenix for much of the match. There were relatively few attempts at climbing a ladder to win the match, with most of the time actually spent at ringside or in the crowd. Fenix won cleanly in the end, after putting Cuerno thru a table via springboard frankensteiner. He and Mil pointed at each other to end the show.
Mil had a busy night. He started out saying a quiet prayer and a loud threat to Catrina – he was tired of her manipulating everyone and wanted to destroy people himself. Their relationship seems stunted at the same dynamic it had when they met, Catrina still treats him like Pascal the kid, and Mil didn’t seem happy about it. Catrina again urged patience. The apparent solution was for Mil to reveal his broken arm had healed, and he destroyed both Pentagon Jr. & Puma to end their match prematurely. Muertes later declared he’d fight both of them next week in a title match to finish them off.
That wasn’t the only big Mil Muertes announcement. Matt Striker had revealed Catrina & Mil had decided to hold the second Aztec Warfare in three weeks (March 23rd.) Striker made it sound as if it was invite only match.
There were a few other times, but it was more just keeping plates spinning. Sexy Star had her first match of the season, but lost when she was distracted by Marty. Willie Mack was at ringside. Whatever Willy and Sexy saw two episodes not revealed. Kobra Moon just happened to be the opponent. Moon is 2-0 with no obvious sign of a storyline, a remarkable situation in LU.
The episode also touched in on Famous B and Rey & Dragon Azteca, but didn’t advance their plots in any way. And that’s about it.
Thoughts
This was all about the ladder match. Again, like the last man standing match, it defying the expectations of a lot of leaping off high points or even falling off the ladder a bunch. Instead, it was a brutal fight, with Fenix taking some sizeable punishment. The fall off the balcony was the most painful looking moment, but there were other shots (like the fall from the hanging ladder holder) which were nearly as bad. Announcers always talk about ladder matches taking months off of people’s lives and careers, and that felt very true in this match. It was a slower match than I thought, especially in the early going where Cuerno went to set up for some spots and Fenix just was slow getting up or in the wrong position. Maybe it was a clever tease for later, but I wonder if Fenix might have got banged up early – he was definitely limping by the time they ended it. If there was one flaw, it’s the frankensteiner thru a precut table at the end didn’t look as nasty as a lot of stuff which came before it. Fenix crawling over Marty to get to the ladder was pretty great though.
Both men looked incredible in this match and Cuerno’s not really hurt much by losing, but it also came off as the definitive end of this issue for the time being and the moment to move onto something else.
The other matches were not much. The quality in them differed, but the end product was really not as far apart as you’d think. Puma & Pentagon essentially started in the middle of a longer match, and didn’t really get to the big near falls before Mil Muertes ran in. The first match was a much deeper match than between the two, and that one left you wanting more. It was for the best that they announced the three way for next week immediately after this match to stifle some of the disappointment. People really want that match, and weren’t thrilled with what they got.
Not sure people really wanted Sexy Star & Kobra Moon. It was better than Kobra Moon’s first match; the embarrassing strikes were more on Sexy Star’s side with whatever kneelifts she was doing at one point. The entire match felt like the production was trying to get thru it as quick as possible, with Willie Mack and The Moth coming off as as much a distraction of the viewers as the luchadors. Sexy Star’s reason for being at least is clear – there’s a mixed tag match or feud coming – but her opponent’s existence is a mystery. Perhaps it’s just an availability thing, but it’s strange they have Kobra Moon getting wins without giving her some sort of story – there are more experienced people they could throw out there to get wins for win’s sake if that’s the was the only purpose. Maybe there’s another shoe about to drop, but they’re not hinting at anything.
The two best matches this season have been Fenix versus King Cuerno. It’s time for other people to get involved. They’ll surely get there in three weeks, but hoping for more before then.
