Matches
Texano beat The Mack (6:13, powerbomb, good)
Pentagon Dark beat Drago (7:55, great, package piledriver)
Rey Mysterio beat PJ Black vs (11:27, springboard frogsplash, good)
Developments
There was no overarching character profile to this week’s episode. Instead, the biggest focus might have been in pinning a date to to the Cueto Cup final. The tournament has finished the second round and, with only seven matches left, they’re close enough to the end to feel safe promoting. The final will air four episodes from tonight, August 23rd. They made sure to emphasis it’ll be the same night as Rey Mysterio vs Johnny Mundo.
Mysterio’s warmup match with PJ Black went to form. Mysterio had the match possibly won at the same time as the ref went down, Mundo and the rest of the Worldwide Underground interfered, Dragon Azteca ran them off (after failing early) and Mysterio went on to win. The show concluded with Mysterio promising to beat Mundo for the title.
The tournament matches themselves feel like they’re trending at a 50% interference rate. That was the split tonight too. The Mack was the unlucky loser tonight, with his defeat stemming from Famous B sneaking in the ring and shooting him with a water gun right in front of the referee. The gun didn’t physically harm Mack, but it was enough of a distraction for Texano to immediately get in his powerbomb for the win.
Drago & Pentagon finished their match with no outside involvement, surprising considering the Reptile Tribe and Pentagon’s many enemies. Pentagon simply won clean after a package piledriver. Pentagon went to break Drago’s arm after the match and easily stopped Kobra Moon from getting involved. Aerostar instead made the save for his old friend, only for Drago to lay him out and Pentagon to break Aerostar’s arm instead. If Drago’s going to be freed, it’ll probably have to be by someone else. Of note, Vampiro was more positive about Pentagon than he’s been in the recent past.
Pentagon might need the support. Catrina confronted him in the hallway, reminding Pentagon that he cost Mil Muertes the title way back in Ultima Lucha 2 and they haven’t forgotten. (They may have forgotten Pentagon did it because Catrina refused to let Pentagon in the match.) They’re a possible seminfinal match up, but that’s getting ahead of things.
The Cueto Cup quarterfinals will be:
Pentagon Drago vs Texano
Mil Muertes vs Jeremiah Crane
Fenix vs Pindar
Dante Fox vs Prince Puma
In one vignette, Son of Madness tracked down Son of Havoc in a bar, and they mentioned a lot of plot points while fighting. It appears Havoc was part of the Invisbile Cult Motor Club (ICMC), but he doesn’t want to go back to whatever that is because something bad happened. Madness’ job is not to punish Havoc for leaving, but to convince him to come back by whatever it’ll take, or take him out.
In another vignette, Máscarita Sagrada gave the Rabbit Tribe a present: a rabbit’s tail foot. They did not like the gift.
Thoughts
The matches were generally good on this show, but it felt a less less than last week.
Last week’s PJ Black came off as a breakout performance for him. This week’s PJ Black match felt like him filling the designiated opponent role for Rey. Nothing was bad and there were pretty good moments, but there is a little repeattive in Rey matches (that first 619 never works) that harm it. The interference was set up awkardly, it’s tough to get that accidental ref kick spot to look anything but manufactured, and really didn’t end up meaning anything. It felt like it was just on the list of things to check off, but the same could’ve been done after the match.
The interference in the Texano match meant more, Famous B is still trying to win Texano over, but felt much more harmful. The water gun didn’t do much, but it was right in front of the ref and directly led to the finish. If you’re ever going to have disqualifications, that had to be one on Texano. Texano’s the one of the eight quarterfinalists who’s gotten nothing out of his wins: Mack controlled most of the match here and Texano’s first round win over Famous B wasn’t much. There was just enough to make this fun, but I expected more.
Pentagon/Drago was easily the best match of the night, and a more complete Pentagon match than I’m used to seeing lately. He still did his big standards (he doesn’t even have to quiet the crowd for the chops, they’re quieting each other), but Drago’s speed and offense forced Pentagon to mix it up more. They’re two guys who haven’t fought a lot on this show (and never had a singles match before this show), but had really strong chemistry. They’re headed in different directions from here, but it was great to see them cross paths.