Matches
Matanza beat Cortez Castro (0:16, Wrath of the Gods, n/r)
Ivelisse beat Joey Ryan for an Azteca Medallion (5:35, code Red, ok)
Killshot beat Son of Havoc and the Mack for Azteca Medallions (9:24, stunner on Killshot, good)
Mil Muertes beat Cage for an Azteca Medallion (7:15, flatliner, great)
Status Check
Champion: Pentagon Dark
Gift of the Gods: vacant
Aztec Medallions: Dragon Azteca, King Cuerno, Ivelisse, the Mack, Son of Havoc, Mil Muertes, one more
Trios Champions: Killshot, the Mack, Son of Havoc
Died This Season (6): Jeremiah Crane (casket), Fenix (casket/lifeforce absorbed), Mr. Pec-tacular (sacrificed), Cortez Castro (sacrificed), Máscarita Sagrada (murdered by Rabbits)
Happenings
A classic Medallion moving episode, where more than half of the little gold things got handed out in an hour. It feels like an Ultima Lucha must be coming up, but the season isn’t quite that short. The big match featured two big men, Cage & Mil Muertes, having their first singles match. It was a hazardous match for referees, with all three of the Temple’s regular refs being taken out in short order. (Rich Knox landed hard on one shoulder off a Mil Muertes chokeslam, which could be the cause of the broken collarbone he mentioned during the season.) The match was dangerous for Cage too since Penta hid in the crowd under a King Cuerno match to attack the man who’d sneak attacked him. Cage missed a chance to get into the title shot match – but that seems to matter not at all since Penta offered a title match next week to settle the matter. That seems to be exactly the opposite of what Antonio was going for last week, and we’ll see if that’s picked up.
Mil Muertes got the win and the Medallion and an angsty relationship with Catrina. Catrina’s still in red following last week’s transformation and refused to Lick of Death Cage. Instead, she seemed to motion that death was coming for Mil. Something’s gone broken in that relationship and it’s not clear what.
Speaking of things gone wrong: Killshot is still angry with the world. There didn’t seem to be any great reason for so far this season, so at least tonight’s match gave him one. Antonio Cueto made the inevitable three-way match between the trios champions for two Medallions. Cueto explained only the person who didn’t get the pin would not get a Medallion. (He actually said they would leave empty-handed, but Killshot still had a trios belt in hand anyway.) It wasn’t clear how this would add to the match, and everyone just fought for themselves despite Killshot trying to get the Mack to work together against Havoc. The setup did finally play a role in the finish, where the Mack had a choice of pinning Killshot or Havoc and picked Killshot, denying his friend a Medallion. Killshot seemed to have just enough of both these guys after that stunt.
The other in-ring action was straightforward. Ivelisse picked up her own Medallion with a win over Joey Ryan, leaving one more to distribute. Cortez Castro made the mistake of returning to the Temple with his cover blown. Matanza sacrificed Castro out of existence, giving Antonio Cueto one less problem to deal with.
There seems to be a new problem on the horizon. Máscarita Sagrada made good on last week’s promise to take the Rabbit Tribe to the White Rabbit. The White Rabbit looks a lot of like Killer Kross sitting in a throne of thorns, with a laughing mini sidekick. Paul London asked for guidance, and the White Rabbit asked for London to kill the man who brought him there. London considered this for a moment, then bludgeoned Máscarita to death with a staff. Máscarita seemed completely unbothered by a man ordering his death and didn’t react at all while London was standing behind him contemplating murder. The Rabbit Tribe have a tendency to see things happening that the rest of us don’t see, so perhaps there’s more to be told to Sagrada’s story. At least for now, he appears true and well dead.
Thoughts
This was a better episode. I just didn’t get into a lot and don’t think I have a lot to say. I think I liked the episode overall but there were details that seemed frustrating in the moment. The first third or so of the show didn’t do much for me.
Making Castro a Matanza sacrifice was a logical move, his character had reached an endpoint after being revealed as a cop and getting revenge on Ryan. The match itself was even quicker than last week and had nothing to it.
Ivelisse and Joey Ryan had more to it. They tried to make it an Ivelisse showcase because she hasn’t been around – both her offense and her ability to take a punch to the face and keep going. The Joey Ryan character is just not interesting right now, just a one-note character who looks interesting in a group of people but isn’t someone I want to see in singles matches. Like Cortez, he doesn’t seem to have a character point to being on this show now.
The trios title champions are really suffering from a vignette explaining what we’re supposed to be thinking here. Or why we’re supposed to be thinking the way they want. Killshot is being presented as the bad guy, but Killshot is also clearly right when he tells the Mack to work together to beat Son of Havoc, a man they’re just being forced to team with. Killshot is clearly wronged when the Mack chooses to pin his good friend at the end of the match, and Havoc & the Mack should be expecting him to be angry about missing a title shot opportunity. The action was good, the storytelling is not there.
Cage/Mil was fun destruction while it lasted, which felt about half as long as it did. It probably would’ve been annoying to go 15 and have Penta interference end it (even as good as that interference was done), so maybe it’s best to save the bigger match for a day where they could settle it themselves. Penta granting Cage a shot after the loss fits Penta’s no fear character but also diminishes the importance of winning the Aztec Medallions, the thing the show was built around. It also makes the bit last week about Antonio refusing to give Cage a title shot for attacking Penta dumb if that’s exactly the thing that’s going to happen. There’s still time next episode to explain this, but it’s not my favorite plot.
The Rabbit Tribe stuff was suitable weird for them, and a grandiose payoff to something that’d been teased for a couple seasons. The blood splashing Paul London’s face was a bit much, but it’s true to Lucha Underground. I’m not sure how this is going to payoff back in the ring, but I’m at least interested in seeing what happens next.
