Now that we’re in the middle of the second season of Lucha Underground, and some of the long running storylines are starting to approach their turning points, what better time to begin running recaps of each episode? As tension continues to rise between many of its performers, this week mostly dealt with handing out more of the seven ancient Aztec medallions that make up the Gift of the Gods championship. With Cage, Texano and Aerostar each securing their medallions last week, three more would be awarded to the winners of tonight’s matches, while one from last week would be put up for grabs. The bout between Sexy Star and Mariposa in our main event however, is about more than just a reward, because Sexy is looking to finally cast out her fears by facing her abductor in a No Mas match. With two monsters vying for supremacy, winning the title, (and the chance to fight for the Lucha Underground Championship), might be more of a curse than a blessing.
The show starts with Dario checking on his newly repaired ceiling that his brother Matanza, and his opponent, Mil Muertes, crashed through at the end of their no contest brawl from two weeks ago. Catrina walks in to what used to be her office, and the two have a war of words regarding who had who beat. While Catrina accuses Dario of fearing Mil, he refutes this by saying his brother will put an end to him The two agree to settle whether or not her stone or his key is the most powerful by having a rematch under Mil’s signature match type, Grave Consequences. Except this time, one grave won’t be enough, promising four coffins around the ring, and renaming the match a Graver Consequences match, scheduled for next week.
Their first brawl was a no nonsense fight that ended with a bit of nonsense, but in the best way possible. Since we didn’t have a clear winner decided when the two monsters crashed through Dario’s ceiling, here’s hoping we have something much more decisive while being just as brutal.
1st match: The Mack vs. Marty the Moth for an Aztec Medallion
This match was all about The Mack, while continuing the ongoing rivalry between him and Sexy Star vs. Marty and his sister, Mariposa. While Marty got in a little offense, (while looking as creepy as possible as Melissa Santos introduced him to the ring), it only took a few minutes before The Mack won with two stunners, the second of which was modified from a Fireman’s Carry position. A fun match that was much too short given the history between these two, which might be explained by their re-appearance in the main event.
Backstage:
In the locker room, we see King Cuerno getting ready for his Gift of the Gods opportunity after a long absence. There, he is approached by Catrina, who promises that Sinestro de la Muerte, the last surviving member of the Disciples of Death, will turn the hunter into the prey. Cuerno brushes her off, saying that he will make death itself his most prized trophy of all. He walks away before we see Catrina look into the camera with a red glow in her eyes, further hinting at her supernatural background.
Elsewhere, Sexy Star walks into Dario’s office, and sits down with a nervous expression. While admitting that the two haven’t seen eye to eye in the past, Cuerto says he sympathizes with Sexy, because he recognizes the look in her eyes. Recounting the story of his childhood from earlier in the season, where his “evil bitch”, of a mother abused him and Matanza until the brothers said, “no mas,” and killed her, the company’s promoter encouraged her to beat Mariposa until she couldn’t help to cry out the same words and permanently lose the fear in her eyes. But when she quits, don’t stop hurting her until she can’t hurt you again. Wait… Is the promoter essentially telling Sexy to kill Mariposa? What are we going to do with the medallion if the winner is in prison?
2nd match: King Cuerno vs. Sinestro de la Muerte (accompanied by Catrina) for an Aztec Medallion
Unfortunately, Cuerno’s return to The Temple wasn’t much to speak of. After teasing an Arrow From The Depths Of Hell, Catrina came up from behind him and clocked him with her rock, giving Sinestro the opening he needed to steal the win. The bigger story was the look on Cuerno’s face as the two walked away. Now that he was cheated out of his shot at the Gift of the Gods championship, will he make death itself his next target like he promised? I’m counting on it, but let’s hope Sinestro gets some more character in the coming weeks. The Disciples haven’t had much room to grow since their debut, so I’m hoping that will change now that one of the three has gone solo.
Backstage:
Mascarita Sagrada is seen curling weights that are bigger than he is before Famous B approaches him. Apparently his only client, the manager promises big things for Sagrada’s future, starting with a shot at an Aztec Medallion against one of the winners from last week. I’ll give you a guess as to who it could be, but let’s just say that if Mascarita wants to be famous, there are better ways to do it than by being torn apart.
Back in Dario’s office, Chavo Guerrero storms in and demands to know why he isn’t fighting for one of the Medallions. Annoyed, Cueto keeps going through his paperwork while saying Chavo has disappointed at every turn, blowing every opportunity he’s been given. Promising to seize his own opportunity, Chavo storms out, obviously with something in mind.
3rd match: Mascarita Sagrada vs. Cage with Cage’s Aztec Medallion on the line
Well, this went about the way you would expect it to go. No matter how much you can curl, nothing can prepare you for a machine like Cage. Sagrada got in a minute of offense, using his speed and small size to get the better of his much larger foe for a time. Then just like that, Cage put a stop to the rally. He blamed Famous B for what was about to happen and performed what could only be described as an F5, except Cage let him go in the air while the poor mini wrestler spun in the air twice before landing. A short three seconds later, and that was that.
After the match, Famous B came in the ring to check on his client, while him and Cage argued over the match. As this went on, Chavo made good on the “stealing” portion of the Guerrero family mantra, and ran off with Cage’s Aztec Medallion. Of all the people he could have taken one from, did it really have to be Cage? I’ll be there for the funeral.
Main Event: Sexy Star vs. Mariposa in a No Mas match for an Aztec Medallion
With the story being told up to this point, this matched needed to go to a higher level of brutality to really sell the idea that Sexy was finally going to pay back her abuser. On that front, it completely delivered. As you can probably guess, a “No Mas” match is the same as an “I Quit” match, except in Spanish… In other words, the only way a person can win is by forcing their opponent to be beaten down to the point where they yell out those two humiliating words.
What started off as a standard wrestling match upped the ante pretty quickly, featuring mask tearing, chairs getting hit with chairs, chairs getting smashed into vaginas. The action spilled into the crowd and onto Dario’s office before eventually leading to the scaffolding, where Sexy was visibly bleeding under her mask. After going back and forth with a tense back and forth sequence, the two climbed back down to the crowd. This is where Marty made his return, grinding Sexy’s face into a fence until The Mack ran out to make the save.
Eventually finding their way back to the ringside area, the two luchadores continued to brawl, leading to a sick spot where Mariposa stopped a headscissor attempt and began swinging Sexy’s head into the announcers table. As the two eventually rolled back into the ring, Marty tried to intervene again before The Mack fought him off. Mariposa put Sexy into a submission hold, which led to an emphatic, “Fuck you Mariposa!”, when the ref asked if she quit. Vampiro and Sexy were both swearing left and right at this point, which put an exclamation point on the savagery of the match, (especially since that kind of language typically doesn’t fly on the network, so kudos to El Rey letting them add that touch to the story they were telling).
The finish came when Sexy worked her way out of Mariposa’s submission hold and transitioned into an armbar. Once she locked it in completely, Mariposa had no way out and was finally forced to yell, “No mas,” leading to Sexy’s victory. As if taking Dario’s advice from earlier, Sexy refused to let the hold go and put her fear back into Mariposa before The Mack delivered her hard earned Aztec Medallion as the crowd chanted that she deserved it. This closed out the show in an incredible way, delivering a type of match we’re not used to seeing female performers compete in. It was just as violent as they needed it to be, with tense spots that took them all throughout the temple. My only real complaint is that it’s getting harder and harder to buy Mariposa as this terrifying threat, since all she seems to do is lose since she debuted. Has she even won a match?
Overall, the show itself was mostly uneventful from a storyline perspective, outside of seemingly resolving Sexy Star’s issues with the Moth Tribe. What I am looking forward to however, are the future angles they seem to be setting up. How will King Cuerno react to being screwed out of his shot at regaining the Gift of the Gods title? Will there be a Chavo Guerrero left when Cage catches up to him? And most importantly, who will come out on top when Mil Muertes and Matanza clash for a second time in their Graver Concequences match? I’m thinking next week will be a can’t miss episode.
What were your highlights of this week’s episode? Let us know in the comments, and make sure to check back next week as we continue to follow season 2 of Lucha Underground.
Lucha Underground airs every Wednesday night at 8 PM on the El Rey Network, and is available for purchase on iTunes.