Lucha Underground 2×14: Cage in a Cage

Matches

Cage defeats Johnny Mundo (13:28, Drill Claw, GREAT) for an Aztec Medallion
Rey Mysterio Jr., Prince Puma and El Dragon Azteca Jr. win the Lucha Underground Trios Championship over Fenix, Jack Evans, PJ Black and Ivelisse, Son of Havoc (c) and Cortez Castro, Mr. Cisco and Joey Ryan
– Ivelisse small package on Joey Ryan (7:43)
– PJ Black kick to the head → Jack Evans pin Ivelisse (11:04)
– Rey Mysterio rope flip moonsault Jack Evans (15:31, GREAT)

Developments

The announcers briefly noted Mil and Matanza would return to action ‘soon’ (and were not dead from the fall last week.)

Despite Striker noting the cage matches were originally designed to keep the wrestlers in and everyone else out, Taya interfered often in the opener. She blocked Cage’s path from escape a few times, snuck weapons in and eventually climbed in herself when it was going bad enough for Mundo. Johnny needed the help. Mundo did pass up a chance at escape for a – missed – top of the cage Fin de Mundo variation on Cage, but took the worst of the battle. Taya attempted to handcuff Cage to the cage, but was trapped in the handcuffs herself and Cage dropped Mundo with the Drill Claw screwdriver on a chair to win.

(Of note, the announcers mentioned Mundo had previously been in a cage match, but never said King Cuerno’s name. He’s not been brought up since Aztec Warfare.)

The main event was 3 v 3 v 3 v *2* match; Dario announced Angelico had been severely injured by an unknown assailant and had been rushed to the hospital, but Ivelisse & Son of Havoc would continue without him. (In reality, Angelico was out with a knee injury in Mexico and may have not even been at this taping.)

The first team was eliminated when Cortez refused to tag Joey Ryan back in to face Ivelisse. Ivelisse had just gotten the better of Ryan, so Joey wanted revenge and Cortez had good reason not to let him in. Cortez immediately being cradled and beat by Ivelisse made it seem like a very bad decision. The two police officers continue to not get along.

Ivelisse & Son of Havoc eventually lost out due to the numbers. Fenix took out Son of Havoc by knocking him from the apron. Ivelisse had Jack beat with the same Code Red she used to defeat Kobra Moon, but PJ Black was able to kick her and turn over the pin with no Angelico to stop him.

Fenix was a little bit more rudo in the final, but the Mysterio, Puma and Azteca team was just way too much for the competition. Puma & Dragon took out Fenix & Black with dives as Rey got the pins. Mysterio’s team are the fourth champions.

In a show closing scene (and one that was seemingly supposed to take place some time after the match ended), Vampiro met Pentagon Jr. in his evil dojo. Pentagon is in a motorized wheelchair. Vampiro ordered Pentagon to stand, but he couldn’t. Vampiro poured hot wax on Pentagon and knocked over his wheelchair, but Pentagon still couldn’t get up.

Thoughts

I liked the action on this show. Both these matches were fun, and it was as good an all action show as some of the best ones they’ve had.

The cage match turned an impressive showcase for Cage by the end. Cage took all the cheating and tricks Taya & Mundo had, and still completely and clearly defeated Mundo at the end. The metric ton of interference got to be a bit much, and would’ve really been annoying if it worked and this was going on and on. Instead, this felt like the usual bit of a Lucha Underground gimmick match being the end of a feud, Cage got his big move, and Mundo is going to have to come up with yet another way to finally win a belt here.

The four way match was a dizzying at first. Striker emphasized how hard it was to call and it was a just about as hard to follow with all four teams in. Getting the Crew & Ryan out of there helped, and they did it while following up on their own story (and playing off the not acknowledged story of Joey versus woman.) Ivelisse & Havoc have now lost the trios titles twice when a team member was too hurt to go on – they’ve got as much bad luck as dysfunction, and they smartly played off that in their elimination. I could’ve gone for much longer with the final two teams (in particular, 15 seconds of Dragon Azteca versus Fenix made me want 15 minutes of Dragon Azteca versus Fenix), but that segment and the ones prior had a crazy amount of huge spots. This is the most GIF-able wrestling show in the US, and that was a main event of non stop GIFs it ought to have been.

The closing segment takes a bit of faith, or some reading ahead. Pentagon looked far weaker here than he did against Matanza. Pentagon isn’t going to be in that wheelchair and he’s not going to get wax poured on him forever. They’re putting Pentagon at a low point so we can watch him climb back up again. I’m just not really sure Pentagon was in need of a tear down and build back up or a softening. He was up pretty high! Maybe this might also be read as just as something to keep him on a side track while he’s not in the title picture – something along the lines of Dragon Azteca and Black Lotus training for weeks. I’d just be as ok with more Pentagon Jr. matches.

The good thing is there eventually will be a payoff to the Pentagon Jr. stuff, and – as seen with both of these matches – the Lucha Underground payoff matches are usually a lot of fun.