At the latest set of tapings for Lucha Underground Saturday, a main event deathmatch between Matanza and Dragon Azteca ended abruptly after Matanza legit sliced open his arm after doing a spot where he put his fist through a window.
After a long delay, the match couldn’t go on, and officials sent Johnny Mundo (John Morrison) and PJ Black out to work the crowd.
One of the guys said, “Good news and bad news. The bad news is Matanza’s arm is f*cked! The good news? It’s a full Mundo!” They two then mooned the crowd. That brought out Rey Mysterio Jr. and Dragon Azteca from the back who hit both guys with the 619, and then gave a babyface promo for the crowd.
The crowd was held inside while medical officials on site took care of things.
Jeff Cobb, who plays the Matanza character, is currently in the hospital waiting for an update from the doctor.
If we get futher updates on Matanza’s condition, this story will be updated and will be discussed on tonight’s Wrestling Observer Radio.
The show starts with a recap of the Gift of the Gods Title’s concept and its lineage. The Mundo-Cage rivalry is recapped, as is Matanza’s title win. Dario meets with Mundo, Taya, and Cage and asks them to behave so he doesn’t have to fix his window again. Dario says he has a new trios tournament and Mundo says you want us to team, while Cage wants to fight Mundo.
Dario disagrees and says he likes his idea better, so we’re going to go with that since they all want gold. Hilarious bit where Cage says “I’m not a man…” and Dario replies “you’re a machine, I know…just win the tournament!” Robert Rodriguez’s band plays us in once again while Argenis is mid-ring to face Killshot.
Killshot vs. Argenis
Killshot debuts a new camo vest and puts dog tags in the corner before a prayer. Striker says we’ll get a different Killshot – so he should win a time or two this year. Big chop in the corner by Killshot before he throws him into each corner and does it again. A backbreaker gets 2. Pinwheel armdrag by Argenis leads to a top rope palm strike by him as well. Killshot sends him to the floor and hits a flip dive. Somersault cutter hits and gets 2 for Killshot. Striker’s editing goes into detail about how Killshot told him he was in the military, but didn’t go into it. C4 armdrag
by Argenis gets 2. Powerbomb into a corkscrew brainbuster by Killshot leads to a Cro Cop kick and a double stomp off the top. In an odd move, Striker’s then-live commentary wonders if he’s had military training – exposing the editing. Modified spiking Michinoku driver wins for Killshot.
Black Lotus tells Dragon Azteca Jr that Matanza killed Dragon Azteca, but that she had no choice but to help Dario and plans to stay close to him. Dario meets with Daga and asks him what he sees with the medallions. Daga says they’re coins, but is correct and told that they’re the Gift of the Gods. Dario says that tonight, Daga will face the most violent man without the last name Cueto – Texano.
Daga vs. Texano
Vamp tells us that Daga excels at shoot style while Texano’s family history is gone over. Daga backs him into the ropes and slaps him before flipping back. Legsweep and tumble exchange gets them back on even ground. A shoulder tackle by Daga is no-sold and met with a big slap. Texano rolls through a sunset flip and gets 2 off a buzzsaw kick. Texano chops and lariats him to death in the corner.
A Stinger splash misses and Daga lands a superkick. Daga gets crotched and dropkicked off the top rope to the floor. Daga kicks him on the apron and hits a corkscrew dive. Daga dominates him on the floor and rolls in to break the count before slamming Texano into the announce table.
Texano hits a running forearm in the corner and lands an outside-in dropkick to the chest for 2. Daga kicks his face and slaps him arrogantly before a forearm exchange breaks out mid-ring. Texano superkicks him, but eats a huge dropkick. Super leg lariat hits for Texano, but only gets 2. Texano goes for the powerbomb, but a Daga rana gets 2. Texano lariats him into a Fatu sell and goes for a German, but it’s countered into an ankle lock. Texano shoves him off and hits a monkey flip, with the sitout powerbomb getting the win for Texano.
In a room full of scented candles, Mil Muertes and Catrina talk. She summons the Disciples of Death out of thin air and asks for forgiveness. Catrina says they are in the Trios Title tournament and Mil will be Lucha Underground Champion again. Matanza is greater than any challenge he has yet faced – including the earthquake that made him. Mil roars in anger. Rey comes down with red and gold gear, while Puma has his usual stuff on and Dragon Azteca Jr. has a weird snake/dragon headdress on. Cage shoves them away in the entrance area.
Rey Mysterio Jr, Prince Puma, and Dragon Azteca Jr. vs. Johnny Mundo, Taya, and Cage
Cage starts with Azteca and locks a headlock before nixing that and hitting a shoulderblock. Azteca avoids a corner charge with flips and a big armdrag. Double rollthrough to avoid the discus lariat and he tags in Puma. Striker’s edited voice clip talks about the history between Mundo and Puma. Handspring headscissors takes Mundo down, but a Taya distraction leads to a Moonlight Drive and 2. Taya comes in and hits a flying elbow in the corner before kicking Puma in the face. Striker’s edited voice runs through her history on the company.
Mundo lands some elbows to Puma while the ref is distracted. Shotgun knees to the face gets a 2 count. Cage tags in and goes for a pumphandle suplex, but it’s flipped out of – so a Doctor Bomb hits and gets 2. Standing moonsault gets 2 for Cage. Cage slaps Mundo in, so he’s legal now.
Taya and Mundo stomp away at Puma in the corner. They stop this and try to prevent a tag. Mundo trips Rey, but Azteca comes in and hits a rana for 2. Azteca tags Rey in and he hits the flying seated senton and then the wheelbarrow arndrag. Rey hits a spinning headscissors on Mundo, knocking him into Taya for a double 619, but it’s avoided. Dives aplenty by Puma and Azteca! Springboard crossbody by Rey gets 2 on Mundo. Rollthrough on a sunset filp leads to a seated dropkick and a 2 count for Rey. Magic Killer by Mundo and Taya gets 2 thanks to a Puma save. Cage comes in and lariats both Puma and Azteca into flips.
Cage goes for a moonsault, but gets stopped by Mundo. Mundo eats a big rana off the top and an SSP by Puma gets 2. Mundo hits a standing C4, but eats a kneeling superkick. Cage catches Rey on a rana and throws him into Taya in the corner. He has Azteca on his shoulders, and catches a flying Puma for a combo fallaway slam for 2. Rey hits a flipover headscissors and the 619, while Azteca hits a flying corkscrew DDT. 630 senton hits Mundo for the win! That was the best trios match all season. This was all-action and a ton of fun.
Dario tells Matanza that he will have his toughest match to date next week against Mil Muertes. Dario tells him that he is in the cage because he is a valuable asset, and you have to protect your valuables – and no one understands the beauty in his destruction like Dario does. Matanza shakes the cage in anticipation – well, that was a unique buildup to a world title match.
We see a recap of the cops trying to come after Dario, while The Mack tries to help Sexy Star overcome her issues with Mariposa. We see Dario tell Matanza to break Pentagon Jr’s back, and a recap of the match where he ate a million moves to the back. In the bathroom, Vampiro looks at his medication while Dario tempts him to assault him – but he respects Vamp as the voice of LU. He doesn’t want him to make Pentagon’s mistake, and Vamp takes his medication.
At the precinct, Reyes and Detective Reehan talk to Captain Vasquez about getting evidence on Dario. She wants them to be a team, and Cueto has put them in the Trios Title tournament tonight with Mr. Cisco. At the Temple, a band plays while Striker says that Fenix faces Matanza later. Ivelisse faces Kobra Moon in the opener.
Ivelisse vs. Kobra Moon
Kobra slithers and goes for takedowns, while Vamp commends Ivie for her gear making her look like a walking knife. Ivie kicks away and armdrags her into an armbar. Kobra Moon gets a triangle choke, but eats a powerbomb for 2. Dragon sleeper by Kobra, but Ivie escapes and hits a wonky armdrag. Corner rana is turned into a rope-hanging choke by Kobra. Vamp wonders if she slithers around like a snake because her name is Kobra Moon.
Liver shot results in a Bas shoutout by Vamp, and a tarantula with a neck crank. Butterfly suplex into a butterfly lock. Striker talks about the Gable grip while Vamp asks if that’s due to Dan Gable and Striker confirms it. Weird overhead angle makes it hard to see Ivie’s setup into a Russian legsweep. Big Yakuza kick leads to an exploder by Ivie for 2. Running code red by Ivie gets the win!
We get an interview with Killshot. He served in the military and had 37 confirmed kills – all bad guys, or so he was told. He was good with his hands too, so he was in the elite squad and he was the enemy’s prisoner for 13 months before escaping by kicking the asses of many lucha terrorist ninjas – who are totally different than the usual lucha ninjas. He isn’t sure if his partners survived, and he fights in LU to forget. Well, this was different and pretty good. Famous B gives Mascarita Sagrada his business card and wants him to call 423-GET-FAME.
He walks around and bumps into The Mack and Sexy working out. He wants her out for moral support tonight, but she can’t – until he motivates her saying he wants them to pay for what they did. We see the question mark being spray-painted above the Temple again. Joey Ryan jumps in front of the Crew and steals their thunder.
Joey Ryan & The Crew vs. The Mack/Mariposa/Marty the Moth
Joey Ryan teases a start before having Cisco start it off. Cisco and The Mack slap hands and Mack drops him with a tackle for 2. Cisco gets a wonky blind-diving armdrag, but Mack does a corner headstand and an armdrag. Slingblade armdrag by Mack before Mack flips up to his feet from his head. Joey tags himself in and wants “the girl”. He tries to give her his bodyoil lollipop, but she slaps him, so he pie-faces her. Rana gets 2 for Mariposa. Dropkick tot he knee sets up an axe kick, while Vamp hypes Andy Hug as the master of that.
High kick by Reyes leads to the drive by sliding kick by Cisco for 2. Mariposa knocks him off the ropes and Marty gets a 2 count. Double team wheelbarrow splash gets 2 for Mariposa. Cicso misses a basement dropkick, but Mariposa hits one. Marty comes in and hits a corner exploder for 2. Cortez comes in with a pop-in tornado DDT for 2 before Mariposa saves. Joey tags himself in to steal Cortez’s thunder, but Mack comes in and attacks with punches and a big slam before getting 2 off a legdrop.
Samoan drop into a standing moonsault gets 2. Mariposa prevents a Mack dive, so he knocks her down and he flip dives onto the pile. Marty and Mack chop each other before Marty eats a stunner and a shatter machine by The Crew for the win! Mariposa jumps The Mack before Sexy Star comes in to make the save in a very short skirt. Sexy Star is pissed off and chops the daylights out of her before snapmaring and kicking her. Mack says that “SHE GOT DAT ASS, B*TCH! SHE GOT DAT ASS!” Mack is great.
We go to the top of the Temple and we see Dragon Azteca Jr. and Rey – so I guess the question mark is the Rey Signal. Rey tells him that going for revenge isn’t good – fighting for honor is better, and revenge will come in time. Rey and Azteca have a match next week in the trios tournament and will team with Prince Puma. We close to a cool shot of all of them in their respective hoodies before going back to the ring for the main event.
Striker talks about Fenix and Matanza fighting before, but Fenix was 1 while Matanza was 21 in Aztec Warfare. Striker calls Matanza the eater of worlds while Vamp talks about how we don’t know what Dario has done to make Matanza like this.
Lucha Underground Champion Matanza Cueto vs. Fenix
Dario tells Matanza to kill Fenix. Fenix avoids a shortarm clothesline before Matanza bowls him over and chokes him in the corner. Fenix hops over a Matanza charge, and hits a few superkicks to the knees, gut, and head – but gets caught and hit with a German INTO THE BUCKLE. Fenix knocks him into the ropes into a 619 position for a kick, but a dive is met with a rewind poweslam that Fenix escapes. Big German by Matanza! Fenix hits a missile dropkick and an apron elbow before Matanza punches him to the floor.
Fenix hits two apron superkicks and goes for a suicide dive, but is met with a World’s Strongest Slam on the floor leading to multiple “holy shit!”s by Vamp. Rewind powerslam hits for the win. Matanza climbs on top of Fenix and slugs away while the referee is threatened with firing. Catrina tells him to stop before Mil Muertes returns and attacks Matanza and sends him packing.
Striker wonders if he is showing mercy to Fenix, or if he just wants the title. Fenix and Muertes have been enemies for the last year and a half, but now find themselves as uneasy allies. This was a really good episode of the show and gave Matanza a very small chink in the armor to at least make him seem like a monster that could one day be beaten.
To see every screengrab for the show, just click here.
In a Youtube-exclusive match, Joey Ryan entered Aztec Warfare 2 by stealing a win. It was a pretty entertaining match, and includes more of Vampiro comparing Joey Ryan to ’70s porn stars. Pentagon Jr. tells Fenix he will take his title. Catrina tells him that his master may be dark, but he doesn’t know darkness – and we see her flash into a skeleton briefly. She tells him he isn’t in Aztec Warfare, and he says he has zero fear – she tells him that’s only because he doesn’t know true fear. Catrina tells Fenix he will breathe his last breath, while Mil Muertes will reclaim his title.
A large tribal celebration takes place while the crowd chants “aztec warfare!” Striker and Vampiro welcome us to the show, and Vamp is wearing a checkered shirt and not a hoodie or T-shirt for the first time ever on the show. It’s a bit weird. Fenix comes out while Striker comes up with 5,000 superlatives to describe him. Famous B and his date are here, in a white suit with a gold tie and a white dress with a gold feather boa respectively. Rey comes down and gets a huge reaction. Surprisingly, he isn’t in his El Rey gear that he had on URFight. Fenix moves aside to let Rey get his props and another big chant breaks out.
Fenix hugs Rey and they go to a tie-up. Lucha tumbling sequence sets up a revolving door headscissor. Fenix gets 2 off of one of the most ridiculous things I’ve seen – a back-handspring Japanese armdrag. King Cuerno comes in and kicks both guys before hitting the Arrow of Death dive to Fenix on the floor. Rey kicks him off the apron to the floor and hits his Slip ‘n Slide splash under the ropes to the floor. Argenis returns and superkicks Fenix and Rey, getting a 2 on the latter. 619 hits Argenis and the frog splash hits to take Argenis out. Fenix dropkicks Cuerno to the floor and Johnny Mundo comes down before a commercial break.
We come back to Mundo walking down the steps – so we’ve missed nothing in-ring. Rey and Mundo face off and Mundo sends him into the corner with an uppercut. Fenix comes in and kicks Mundo into the corner before hitting a jumping yakuza kick. Joey Ryan comes down and Fenix gets 2 off a pair of kicks. Striker’s badly-edited voice work tells us that Joey won a qualifier, and Joey handcuffs himself to the barricade so he can’t be eliminate. Cuerno superkicks him for being an idiot. Famous B gives Joey one of his golden business cards. Prince Puma comes down and hits a giant jumping lariat to Fenix. Flying cutter to Cuerno! Double-jump SSP to a pile of luchadors on the floor! Sidewinder suplex is countered into a rana by Cuerno. Rey gets a cross armbreaker to Cuerno and he taps out!
Well, I sure didn’t see that coming. Jack Evans comes in and eats a beating. Rey climbs on Fenix’s shoulders for a splash onto Evans. Mundo pulls him to safety. Taya comes in as the first female entrant in Aztec Warfare this year. The remaining rudos and tecnicos get into a fist fight. Taya and Jack hold Rey down for the End of the World, but Cage (who is still a machine) comes down. He no-sells a dropkick from Evans and clotheslines him to death for a break.
Cage attacks Johnny before Taya tries to save him. She eats a nasty slam, and then Cage is tossed through Catrina’s office window. Mascarita Sagrada comes down and Cage recovers and lariats Johnny to Hell. Weapon X on the floor to Mundo! Puma hits a standing SSP to Mundo mid-ring to take him out. Marty the Moth comes down and Vamp asks if they should have a Most Creepy Title just for Marty and Joey. Marty takes off his shirt and swivels his hips before kicking Sagrada down. Eans hits a tornado kick, but Marty doesn’t feel it. Marty fishhooks Jack’s face before Drago comes down and we go to a break.
Evans goes for a Space Flying Tiger Drop, as you do, and Dragon sidesteps and kicks him. He kicks Joey as well and Drago fights with Jack in the crowd. Rey splashes Marty and takes him out of the match. Evans eats a crazy backdrop to the floor and hands face-first. The Mack comes down and hits a stunner on Marty. Cage and Mack slug it out and Mack hits a flying knee to send him down. Stunner to Cage while Puma chops Joey. Taya attacks Sagrada and Chavo comes down.
Drago apparently powerbombed Evans on the steps, but we didn’t see it. Well, he’ll regret that later for sure. Chavo locks on the camel clutch to take out Sagrada in an homage to Gory. Taya prevents a 619 to Cage and Mundo hits Cage in the head with a cinder block to take him out. Fenix German Suplexes Taya to take her out. PJ Black comes down and suplexes Drago on the steps. Drago tosses PJ’s face into the post. Aero Star returns from outer space and kicks PJ while Joey tells Aero to eliminate PJ. CANADIAN DESTROYER OFF THE TOP TO JACK EVANS takes him out.
Dragon Azteca Jr. comes down and dives onto the pile. Azteca makes use of his wacky kung fu training to kick PJ a few times. OVER THE POST SOMERSAULT DIVE TO MACK ON THE FLOOR. Texano comes down for an ad break. Texano hits a flip dive onto a pile on the floor. PJ hits a double stomp to the back of Texano for 2. Texano lands a powerbonb and eliminates PJ. Mil Muertes comes down as Striker calls him “The Dangerous Precipitation”. Pentagon Jr. jumps him and Rey and Puma double team Mil to pin him. Catrina yells at Vampiro to get the f*ck out of here.
Dario Cueto returns on the ramp and says THIS IS HIS TEMPLE and he’s the boss. He announces Matanza as the next entrant and the crowd goes crazy. As the graphic states, The Monster Matanza Cueto comes down. Matanza takes out Fenix with a rewind powerslam – guaranteeing a new champion. Mack’s stunner is no-sold a sick head-landing German gets the win for Matanza. Another German beats Aero Star! Texano chokes him with the rope, but the same powerbomb Texano used pins him here. He eyes a trapped Joey Ryan and rips the bars to free him so he can kick his ass. Multiple Karelin lift gutwrench suplexes beat Joey Ryan! Matanza is essentially a top 20 moves video on Youtube, and it’s fantastic for a movie monster character.
Dragon hits kicks and elbows and a springboard dropkick slightly budges him before a huge Giant-style chokeslam takes Dragon Azteca Jr. out. Chavo talks to Cueto to make a deal, but Cueto tells him to off him. STANDING SSP BY MATANZA TAKES OUT CHAVO! Puma and Rey attack Matanza, but Rey gets tossed to the floor. A forklift-style fallaway slam and a German take out Puma! It’s down to Rey and Matanza for the Lucha Underground Title. Rey tries to use speed, but a big lariat takes him out.
Rey kicks the knees, then the balls while Striker quotes Jebediah Springfield. An enzuiguri sets up the 619, but Matanza catches him! Rey finally hits it and sends him down! A rana off the top is met with a powerbomb into a rewind powerslam for the win! Cueto proudly declares that his brother is now the Lucha Underground Champion. This wasn’t as good an overall match as the first Aztec Warfare, but it still flew by and was a far better Rumble match than any Royal Rumbles have been this decade. Matanza was booked flawlessly, and unlike every other “monster” character of the past 20 years, actually busted out athletically-impressive offense beyond chokes, chokeslams, and lariats. They made him a very unique monster act and did more to make him a star in one night with him than TNA has done in 13 years with Abyss. To see all the screenshots for the show, just click here.
