A trio-umphant episode 21 of Lucha Underground is in the books. In case you're still trying to find it, the show airs Wednesdays at 8pm ET/PT on El Rey and Saturdays at 4pm ET/PT in Spanish on UniMas. Catch up on last week's episode and watch the Boyle Heights street fight championship match between Prince Puma and Cage. Also, check out the preview for this week's episode with exclusive video of Big Ryck bringing buddies to Dario Cueto's office.
Additionally, an emotional tribute video from Lucha Underground for Perro Aguayo Jr. has been released.
Now, on to the show...
Dario Cueto, Big Ryck, The Mack, & Kill Shot office segment
Cueto is polishing a championship belt with his jacket sleeve as Big Ryck enters his office. Ryck is flanked by his cousin the Mack and Kill Shot. Cueto is showing an intimidated nervousness.
Ryck claims word on the street is that Cueto ordered the Crew's hit on Ryck. Ryck is smoking his cigar and giving off an eye for an eye vibe. Cueto explains that there will be a trios tournament to win new championship titles. He offers Ryck, Kill Shot, and Daddy Mack ("No, just the Mack.") a spot into the tournament.
Ryck accepts the offer and holds out his hand. Cueto tires to handshake, but Ryck slaps his hand away and taps the desk drawer. "You know what I want." Cueto doles out a stack of cash to each man.
Sergio Arau plays us into the temple with a Mexican rock jam. Matt Striker informs us that the trios tournament will span four weeks.
Angelico vs Johnny Mundo
This match was an athletic back and forth affair featuring constant counters, amazing agility, and fancy footwork. Angelico seemed to often be one step ahead of Mundo's attacks. It felt like Angelico did his due diligence in scouting Mundo's tendencies.
Highlights include Mundo twirling over the top rope and landing on his feet after Angelico scooted away, Mundo hanging on the guardrail to sucker Angelico into banging his leg on a missed running high knee, and Angelico delivering a combination a blows culminating with a jumping knee.
The finish began as Angelico finally executed the Fall of the Angels successfully in the temple. Mundo got his foot on the rope to break the three count. Angelico set up for another Fall of the Angels, but Mundo escaped via vicious elbows to the head. After a couple of maneuvers, Angelico attempted a top rope hurricanrana. Mundo held his ground, which sent Angelico crashing to the mat. Mundo snapped off the End of the World for the victory.
Black Lotus video update
Definitely check this video out here before proceeding. It is absolutely awesome.
Black Lotus does the voice-over as previous scenes mix with new scenes of journal writing and badassery. "It's been one month since I saw him. I could barely see his face in the darkness. I wanted to kill him. But luckily, someone stopped me before I made a deadly mistake. The man who took me is called El Dragon Azteca."
"He claims to be a descendant of one of the original Aztec tribes. But more importantly, he was there the day my parents were slaughtered by that monster. He's promised to teach me the art of Mexican lucha libre. He says it will be essential if I ever want to avenge my parents' deaths."
A funky bassline groove kicks in as we see a training silhouette against a red background to form a fantastic visual. "That day will come when my training is complete. The day that I destroy the monster behind the bars." Insert guitar onomatopoeia noises as you finish reading.
Johnny Mundo & Alberto El Patron locker room segment
Mundo enters the locker room to the somewhat sarcastic clapping of El Patron. "Bravo, Johnny." Handshake. Mundo questions if Alberto is going to actually compete, which earns a look of disdain from Alberto.
Mundo cracks a smile and says he was just messing about. Alberto forgot about Johnny's great sense of humor. "In fact, I forgot about you altogether. For a moment, I thought you were doing something different. I thought you had given up on wrestling."
Mundo reminds him that he is the face of Lucha Underground. A heaping dose of competitive tension is displayed as Alberto exits. Mundo looked in the mirror as if El Patron's comments cut deep to his soul.
Dario Cueto & Sexy Star office segment
Cueto wants Sexy in the trios tournament, but her buddies, Mascarita Sagrada and Pimpinela Escarlata, are still injured. Sexy is fiddling with objects on the desk as Cueto sleezes it up, "But not to fear, Dario has you taken care of."
Cueto teams her with Super Fly and Pentagon Jr. Her team will face off against Big Ryck's team. Sexy stonefaced the news.
Drago vs Aerostar
Match 4 in the best of 5 series. Aerostar leads 2-1. The winner will get a, "unique opportunity."
This match was similar to the rest in the series. An even, fast flowing bout full of unique maneuvers. Highlights include Aerostar hopping rope to rope to deliver a senton on the outside, springboard splash by Aerostar, an electric chair face-plant to Aerostar, and a diving corkscrew maneuver by Drago. Drago capitalized on the corkscrew by hooking in a successful cradle pin to tie the series at two wins apiece.
The post-match handshake of respect was much more heated than usual. Drago wouldn't let go of the grip when Aerostar yanked his own arm back. They went forehead to forehead. Drago broke the handshake with his free hand. Both men mouthed off.
Dario Cueto, Son of Havoc, Ivelisse, & Angelico office segment
Cueto has not been impressed by any of their performances. To Ivelisse, "And you, well, you got dumped by him, which frankly is pretty embarrassing."
None of them have had great singles careers, so Cueto makes them a trios team. Much consternation is shown toward this pronouncement from El Jefe. Next week, they have a match against three tough competitors.
Trios tournament match: Big Ryck, Kill Shot, & The Mack vs Sexy Star, Super Fly, & Pentagon Jr.
Kill Shot is a masked luchador who looks kind of lanky. The Mack is a hefty fellow who has one of those "Ferrari engine in a garbage truck" physiques.
Pentagon Jr. entered solo after his two partners. Pentagon grabbed a mic for a message to his master. Despite being teamed with a pair of weaklings, he will win the trios titles by himself.
I'm not sure about the rules for trios matches. There were tags for the first half of the match, but then it broke down into chaos without tags, which the referee accepted.
Pentagon Jr. started out against the Mack. These two competitors were evenly matched. The Mack gave Pentagon a huge chop and Pentagon later retaliated by taking off his glove for two chops. The Mack then nailed a huge shoulder block.
After the Mack escaped the setup for an armbar, he tagged in Kill Shot. Super Fly tagged himself in when Pentagon got too close to his teammates. Fast paced action ensued.
Highlights include a tilt-a-whirl headscissors by Sexy Star on Kill Shot, Big Ryck pressing Sexy onto her teammates on the outside, simultaneous flying maneuvers by the Mack and Kill Shot, Sexy with a flying crossbody to Big Ryck when he teased a diving maneuver to the outside, and a triple teamwork maneuver as Pentagon launched Sexy up for a top rope hurricanrana on Kill Shot followed by a frog splash from Super Fly.
The end saw Ryck dispose of Sexy and Pentagon on the outside. Kill Shot attacked Super Fly with a smooth cutter. The Mack hit a brainbuster suplex and Kill Shot followed with a high flying stomp. The Mack got the pin for the win.
After the match, Pentagon tried to take his frustrations out on Super Fly with an armbar, but Sexy saved Super Fly's day with a big boot to Pentagon's head. It looks like Pentagon will be coming after both of them in due time.
Review
Good, fun wrestling was exhibited all episode long. Each match was very entertaining, both strategically and sportingly. Every wrestler came away looking impressive. The rundown doesn't do justice to all the splendid sequences.
The video segments delivered big time. Dario Cueto stole each of his scenes with his facial reactions and voice intonations. It is easy to understand why he is homeboy to the world. The mere idea of Johnny Mundo against Alberto El Patron has me salivating. The Black Lotus video was dope. I was thinking it was some lame story talking about feelings, but then it blew my mind when she was kung fu'ing with El Dragon Azteca. I'm so pumped about that Matanza storyline.
I'm going to love the trios tournament. Don't visit the Lucha Underground Wikipedia page if you want to avoid spoilers. Buttheads. I'm guessing there will be 8 teams total. Are there any partnerships you are desiring? Cage, King Cuerno, and Texano would be a neat team of ruffians.
On a stacked episode last week, Prince Puma vs Cage was voted the favorite with 42% of 150 votes. Son of Havoc vs Angelico was a surprise treat earning 39% and Alberto El Patron vs Texano racked up 19%.
Thoughts and theories about the episode? Feelings about the trios championship belts? Reactions to El Dragon Azteca's training of Black Lotus? Excited for Johnny Mundo possibly dueling with Alberto El Patron? Who will win the best of five series between Aerostar and Drago? Who are you rooting for to win? Enjoy the feisty first match of the trios tournament.