Lucha Underground 3×24: Macho Madness

Matches

Mil Muertes beat Veneno (1:08, Flatliner, not rated)
Paul London beat Vibora (3:53, COR with Rabbit Tribe holding Vibora, below average)
Taya beat Joey Ryan (3:34, northern lights suplex into double stomp, OK)
Jeremiah Crane defeated Killshot (13:02, Cranial Contusion, great)

Developments

This week started Block C of Cueto Cup. The 32 person field means it’s still just non-contenders quickly getting whittled away, but there was one upset of note and one competitive match.

The focus was on the Mil Muertes, Catrina and Jeremiah Crane love triangle. When we last left them, Crane was trying to win Catrina over by costing Mil matches, only Catrina told Crane that it wasn’t Mil she loved. Crane was apparently unconvinced by Catrina. After seeing Mil declare his love for her and advance in the tournament, Crane destroyed Mil in the bathroom. Catrina stared at Crane with unclear intentions at the end of the show.

Crane could stare at her, because he won a lengthy and close match up with Killshot. Killshot landed his top rope double stomp but Crane kicked out. Killshot went for a a different finish, but was distracted by the voice of Dante Fox. Fox was high up in the balcony, and talked just enough to cause Killshot to lose his focus and his match. They’re not done with each other.

The Rabbit Tribe isn’t done. Paul London became the only member of his trio to advance to the second round, with the help of a carrot and his partners holding Vibora outside for the countout. The was another silly match, but one where the silliness seemed to be intended as a method of working around Vibora’s limitations.

Taya defeated Joey Ryan cleanly in the other first round match. While both Veneno and Joey Ryan were present, there was no movement on the police front.

The second round matches in this block are Taya versus Crane and Mil Muertes versus Paul London. Tonight’s show clearly pointed towards a Crane versus Muertes final.

The show concluded with Dario showing off the final first round in the office. Dario delivered the performance of a lifetime when he excitedly promoted Sexy Star/PJ Black, but there’s was still a blank spot against Son of Havoc. Dario’s guest requested the final spot for himself, and then introduced himself: Son of Madness. He looks a lot like Son of Havoc, with the same mask, gear and beard, but a bit bigger.

This show also included the weekly Road to Mundo versus Mysterio video segment, this time asking others who they were picking. They were almost out of character – Chavo was listed as a retired luchador but sitting in the Temple, Cage didn’t have his glove. For what it’s worth, Chavo & Prince Puma picked Rey, Cage picked Johnny Mundo and Striker didn’t pick a side.

Thoughts

This was a one match show, with Killshot & Jeremiah Crane getting tons of time to do their match and everything else kept short. There’s no problem with that if these were the other three matches to have: Joey Ryan and Taya was best in a small dose, Mil Muertes shouldn’t be giving much to a Veneno, and Vibora’s not ready for TV. Paul London was his opponent to carry the match thru Vibora’s limitations. They were only going to Vibora to do one thing, get in London’s path on the dive so London doesn’t fall dangerously, and Vibora couldn’t do that one thing. The best thing to happen here is we don’t have to see Vibora in a match by himself for a long time.

The Killshot/Jeremiah Crane match was obviously a way to give two underexposed characters a bigger spotlight this season. They didn’t know the break was happening when they filmed it, but that too makes it more necessary to remind you who these guys are and why you should care. The storylines themselves weren’t all that compelling – it felt cheap for the match to end on a distraction after all the big move kickouts, and the Crane/Catrina stuff feels a little forced – but the match itself was pretty excited. Jeremiah Crane is Sami Callihan with a few more demented expressions and this was pretty much the Sami Callihan quick & fast paced action indie match. Strickland kept up and the crowd ate it up. The series of dives to start the match felt a little bit much and they were really laying in on the sound effects, but this worked as a way to get attention back on those two guys and made them both feel like people you needed to keep an eye on every time they were around. It’s really the only thing you need to pay attention for this show.