Lucha Underground – July 19, 2017: How Rudo of Him
Lucha Underground
Date: July 19, 2017
Location: Lucha Underground Temple, Boyle Heights, California
Commentators: Vampiro, Matt Striker
It’s another night of the Cueto Cup as we’re getting closer to the quarterfinals. The wrestling is starting to get better too as we have more matches worth watching between talents who have chances to win the whole thing. We should also be in for some more build towards Rey Mysterio vs. Johnny Mundo. Let’s get to it.
We open with the now regular recap of the Cueto Cup so far, including some of the wrestlers in action tonight.
Prince Puma is on the roof and looking nervous. Vampiro comes up and says the only way to get rid of the memories is to become the champion again. Puma has flashbacks to facing Johnny Mundo and calls Vampiro his master.
Cueto Cup Second Round: Cage vs. Pindar
The referee wants Cage to take off the gauntlet so Cage drops him for a DQ before the match ever started. Cage beats up Pindar for fun. This makes sense as they had to have a way to get rid of Cage without beating him so this was their best option.
Cueto Cup Second Round: Dante Fox vs. Son of Havoc
Hang on a second as Son of Madness jumps Havoc from behind and chokes him down. A shot to the head with a chain knocks Havoc even sillier but Dario Cueto comes out and says fight or be out of the tournament. Naturally Havoc is ready to go and the bell rings after a break. Fox knocks him outside for a running flip dive over the post.
A guillotine legdrop over the apron gets two but Dante misses a dive and gets sent hard into the barricade. Back in and a jumping knee to the head gives Havoc two. Striker calls Havoc the diesel fueled maniac of the open road and even Vampiro isn’t sure what to make of him.
The Foxcatcher is broken up and Havoc bounces off the ropes into a cutter for two. A Death Valley Driver is broken up and something like a C4 2000 gives Dante two of his own. They slug it out on the apron and a Death Valley Driver/AA (somewhere in between) to the floor knocks Fox silly. The shooting star, nearly to the middle of the ring, misses and the Foxcatcher sends Dante to the next round at 9:12.
Rating: C+. Fox has some skills but I can only get so much out of the ex-military guy. These guys beat on each other for a good while and it was nice to see Havoc get a pass on the loss. I’m not wild on seeing Havoc vs. Madness again but the backstory could carry it far enough, especially around here, where such a thing could actually work for a change.
Johnny Mundo has hired an agent (Benjamin Cooke) for the Worldwide Underground. PJ Black comes in and we get a pretty solid speech from Benjamin about how far the team could go with the right representation. We’re talking cereal boxes here.
Cueto Cup Second Round: PJ Black vs. Prince Puma
They fight over the arms to start with Puma actually using the ropes for the break. How rudo of him. Back up and one heck of a right hand staggers Black and some rollups give Puma two. A monkey flip doesn’t work though and we wind up with a standoff. That’s fine with Puma who sends Black to the floor and stops for some posing.
A running kick to the back of Black’s head keeps him in trouble and Puma stomps a bit of a mudhole in the corner. You can hear the pride in Vampiro’s voice too, making him all the better of a choice for an evil boss. Black grabs a seated dragon suplex but Puma slips out without too much trouble.
That’s fine with Black who cranks on the arm before going with a hard shot to the head to drop Puma again. It’s off to an abdominal stretch to turn things a bit more simple but Puma slips out again. Puma heads up top for a clothesline, followed by a rolling DDT and a standing shooting star for two. A cutter into a belly to back gets the same but Puma is a bit spent. Now it’s Black coming back with something like a Dominator (the Wellness Policy because making fun of WWE is funny) for two of his own.
They slug it out with Puma getting the better of it, capped off by a northern lights suplex for two. Black kicks him in the face and gets two off a top rope Lionsault. He gets crotched on top though, allowing Puma to hit a reverse super hurricanrana for a near fall of his own. A shotgun dropkick sets up the 630 to finally put Black away at 15:53.
Rating: B+. Yep. Now that’s a lot more like it with the kind of match that makes Lucha Underground work so well. These two were beating the heck out of each other and trading big spots until one of them couldn’t get up. Puma is looking like a world beater in this tournament and him looking stronger is a good thing for the promotion. Really solid match here.
Black comes into Dario’s office and is told that Cooke has already set him up with another match. Next week, Black gets Rey Mysterio. He leaves and Cooke calls Dario again, causing him to throw his phone in the trash.
Overall Rating: B. I had a lot of fun with this and it was flying by. This tournament needed a match like Black vs. Puma and it was one of the more entertaining matches they’ve put on in a good while. It’s also nice to have them add something else to the card besides just the tournament matches as you can only get so far doing one story per show. Good show this week though, which the show needs a lot more of at this point.
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