Matches
The Mack defeated Cage in a falls count anywhere 4 A Unique Opportunity semifinal (7:16, inside cradle, good)
Son of Havoc defeated Texano Jr. in a Boyle Heights bar fight 4 A Unique Opportunity semifinal (7:21, big boot into glass, good)
Son of Havoc defeated the Mack in a falls count anywhere 4 A Unique Opportunity semifinal (4:38, shooting star press headbutt, good)
Dr. Wagner Jr. defeated Son of Havoc to win $250,000 (2:03, Wagner Driver, OK)
Developments
This show was solely the unique opportunity tournament. Only the people part of the tournament appeared. There were no vignettes with other luchadors. Striker & Vampiro did go over the entire Ultima Lucha card.
Dario made stipulations for each match right before took place. Cage/Mack was a rematch from last yeat’s Ultima Lucha, and got the same stipulation. Cage attempted to put Mack’s head thru a cinder block again, but slipped due to beer poured on the ground and Mack cradled him. Son of Havoc & Texano was a bar fight because a cowboy and a biker made Dario think of a bar. The final was also a falls count anywhere match, but it didn’t really come into play.
After Havoc beat Mack, Black Lotus and Dario Cueto came to the ring with two briefcases. One contained $250K, which Dario was said would be more than Havoc would make in his career. The other had a contract for the title match at Ultima Lucha 3. Havoc picked the contract with little hesitation. Dario congratulated him, but then revealed the unique opportunity: Havoc would simply get a chance at winning the title shot, while his opponent would fight for the 250K. Famous B introduced his new client as Havoc’s final opponent: Dr. Wagner Junior. Havoc fought hard, but was no match for Wagner after having fought twice earlier the night. Wagner won clean with the Wagner Driver, and Famous B celebrated with the cash.
Thoughts
This kind of felt like a variation of the one match shows LU has done each year, a bit different because it was many matches, but with a small crew of people. It’s almost the Lucha Underground equivalent of a bottle episode, trying to put a show together as cheap as possible because you used up the money on your space aliens, but a pinata with beer cans can’t be all that cheap. It’s a clever way to extend Ultima Lucha 2 another week and lend more meaning to this tournament than it would’ve had been a random episode, but it did still feel like a random episode. I was really surprised there wasn’t something with Pentagon or Puma or Ivelisse or anyone else to connect this back to the other matches. It’s a pretty free standing hour, one you could skip over on a marathon and never pick up on.
It’d be too bad if you did skip it because the tournament itself was enjoyable, especially the first two matches. Mack/Cage was a crazy opener to Pinatas with objects that don’t belong in a pinata was good. Last year’s match was more epic, but this was a lot of fun. The splash thru the table looked painful for both guys. A beer slip into an inside cradle was creative but also a bit of a strange crafty end to what was had been a violent match up. The Havoc/Texano match was notable for the amount of brutality Texano took at the end, obliterating the bar set and then going back in for even more glass. It was hard for them to follow the previous match, but they created a few memorable spots and some solid wrestling around it.
Havoc/Mack also had a couple moments, but was also much shorter than the other matches and much more about the guys selling the previous matches. Havoc & Mack probably have a much better singles match in them. Havoc & Wagner never really got going, didn’t really feel like Havoc had a chance, and seemed just long enough for them to get in Wagner’s resume. (It’s an odd tradeoff: either you know who Dr. Wagner is and understand he’s never losing in a situation like this, or you don’t know Dr. Wagner and have no idea why you should care.) The crowd didn’t react strongly to Wagner as they (or he!) probably hoped. This has to be the start of something for Season 3 for it to really payoff.