Matches
Jake Strong won a Seven to Survive match to become Gift of the Gods champion (33:02, good)
02:30 Dante Fox backslide Hernandez
07:15 Jake Strong anklelock PJ Black
13:10 Aerostar plancha from the top of a pallet Big Bad Steve
17:04 Jake Strong anklelock Aerostar
28:51 Dante Fox Foxcatcher King Cuerno
33:02 Jake Strong anklelock Dante Fox
Status Check
Champion: Marty the Moth (1 defense)
Gift of the Gods: Jake Strong (0 defenses)
Trios Champions: Reptile Tribe (Kobra Moon, Daga, Jeremiah Snake) (2 defenses)
Died This Season (15): Jeremiah Crane (casket), Fenix (casket/lifeforce absorbed), Mr. Pec-tacular (sacrificed), Cortez Castro (sacrificed), Máscarita Sagrada (murdered by Rabbits), Vinnie Massaro (sacrificed), Pizza Guy (sacrificed), Vibora (beheaded), Mala Suerte (sacrificed) , Saltador (sacrificed), Benji the Agent (murdered by Ricky), Angelico (implied to have been murdered by Ricky), Catrina (fell off a roof), Joey Wrestling (sacrificed), Jack Evans (sacrificed)
Resurrected (2): Jeremiah Crane/Snake, Fenix
Developments
One match does not make a busy episode. It may have been an important one.
Jake Strong continued his dominance, remaining undefeated and winning the Gift of the Gods championship. Dante Fox came the closest to winning but lost to the anklelock. Both Fox and PJ Black had their ankles snapped by Strong. He tried to snap Aerostar’s as well, only for Cuerno to make the save. Cuerno helped Aerostar away from the ring as well, hinting at some friendship between them.
That would play into the other vignette of the night. Johnny Mundo, training on the rooftop for his match with Matanza as you do, when he was interrupted by a visitor. Aerostar told Mundo he stood no chance fighting Matanza on his own. Mundo felt he had no choice but to do so. Anyway, Aerostar wasn’t going to be a lot of help given how he got beat tonight. Aerostar wasn’t talking about himself and signaled for a friend – Drago flying in with the Gauntlet. Mundo wasn’t interested in either Drago or the gauntlet. They intimidated him into trying it on anyway, and Mundo immediately felt “like a god.” Mundo seemed thrilled with the new power. Both Drago & time traveler Aerostar seemed unsure if this was a good idea but also seemed like they had no choice.
It was left unsaid how the gauntlet got from King Cuerno’s hands to Aerostar & Drago. However, King Cuerno did hint at Aerostar hiding the gauntlet way back in episode 2.
Note that PJ Black getting his ankle snapped would seem to take him out of being involved in either Taya or Mundo’s matches in the next two weeks. Also, from a timing point of view, Matt Striker made a point to state that the “title shot must be asked for and announced in advance” concept has been permanently dropped from the Gift of the Gods championship. Strong can cash in with no advance notice, as Marty did to Pentagon Dark and Pentagon Dark did prior to Prince Puma.
Ultima Lucha 4/Remaining Matches
4×21 (Ultima Lucha 4 week 1/Halloween)
three way trios title match
Taya Mundo vs Ricky Mundo
Son of Havoc vs Killshot in a mask versus mask match
4×22 (Ultima Lucha 4 week 2/two hour special)
Dragon Azteca Jr. vs Fenix in a 2 out of 3 falls match
Mil Muertes vs the Mack in a death match
Johnny Mundo vs Matanza Cueto
Pentagon Dark vs Marty the Moth Martinez in a Cero Miedo match for the Lucha Underground Championship
Thoughts
This had one match. I thought the match was alert. I thought other show long matches were better. Even though this one had seven people, it felt more obvious they were stalling it out to make it the full hour. King Cuerno just standing and waiting for Dante Fox & Jake Strong to stop selling was designed to fit with his character, but also came across like they were trying to find a way to kill 90 seconds. It worked to get some people moreover – Steve got more of a reaction for the series of wrench spots than the much cooler stuff he’s done – but it was disappointing as a match. Multimen matches work better when they take advantage of having so many people. What this was instead was a series of moderately paced singles matches.
The Aerostar dive spot was great. Dante Fox looked great, even when he was killing himself again. The show opening up with clips of the Hell of War reminded me of how much momentum he had at that time. He took advantage of the new set as much as anyone has all season, and the crowd was immediately back behind him. The same crowd hated the idea of Strong beating him when it was teased early, and when it became obvious it was going to happen later. I guess the good news is the strong push of Strong has turned him into a heel that people are very into booing; I just don’t know if they’ll stick around to hope he gets beat.
Getting the gauntlet back into circulation is quietly a big deal. If you’re a person who was still watching after three seasons, there’s a good chance you had some interest in figuring out what the Order was about, what the Seven Tribes were out, what happened with that gauntlet. All that stuff has been mostly dropped this season, maybe because they couldn’t literally afford to follow up on it. Lucha Underground at it’s best was a great wrestling show that had some weird sci-fi mythology to it, and it’s had less of both of those this season. Catrina being killed off in a green screen deal didn’t live up to the heights of Cage splattering some guy’s head. Fixing the wrestling might be as ‘simple’ as getting visas started soon and settling on a roster, but there’s other things that need fixing.