Home / Lucha Underground / Lucha Underground S3EP17 Review – The Gauntlet

Lucha Underground S3EP17 Review – The Gauntlet

Luis Alberto Campos January 1, 2017 Lucha Underground Leave a comment

Ladies and gentlemen The Temple is roaring  and The Believers are jumping out of their seats. This can only mean one thing, it’s Wednesday and Lucha Underground is back with an all new episode. On this weeks episode of Lucha Underground we see Cage and Texano go at it in the final match of their best out of five, Jeremiah Crane get’s his hands on Mil Muertes, and The Worldwide Underground faces Angelico and Son Of Havoc. Along with all the action packed matches, we get to see a series of great vignettes that put the finishing touches to create a great show.

In the opening vignette we see Prince Puma and Vampiro inside of The Temple. Prince Puma was put to rest by Mil Muertes in a Grave Consequences match earlier in the season, and was later brought back to life by The Master of The Dark Arts Vampiro. Vampiro has had his eye on Prince Puma since the beginning of the season and has tried to lure him into the darkside, but Prince Puma showed no interest in any of Vampiro’s tricks. Now that Vampiro has Prince Puma, he has no choice but to pledge to the darkside and become Vamp’s new student. It almost looked as if Prince Puma refuses when he takes Vampiro’s hand off his throat and does a back flip into his kneeling pose, as he would do in the ring to pay tribute to the Aztec God’s. But as Prince Puma stays kneeling he looks up at Vampiro and calls Vampiro his Master!

Metalachi is rocking The Temple and while Matt Striker and Vampiro are giving us a quick introduction into tonight’s matches. Jeremiah Crane is in the ring awaiting his opponent, Mil Muertes. Jeremiah wastes no time and rushes Mil Muertes like a pitbull of his leash. But Mil Muertes is no ordinary man and stops Jeremiah dead in his tracks with a vicious shoulder block that leaves Jeremiah Crane’s body folded like a lawn chair. Mil Muertes continues the abuse and The Believers are loving it! Catrina adds insult to injury as she licks her finger and slides it across Jeremiah’s face as if he’s not worthy of her tongue. Catrina climbs up the ring apron and commands Mil Muertes to finish off Crane with his infamous Flatliner. While Mil Muertes is getting ready to drop Jeremiah on his head, Prince Puma rushes into the ring and wacks Mil Muertes across the face with a Kendo Stick leaving him stunned! Jeremiah quickly hits Mil Muertes with a devastating boot straight to his dome and rolls him up for the one, two, and three. Prince Puma comes back into the ring with the Kendo Stick to unleash brutal attacks on Mil Muertes and hits him with a wicked blow to the head making Mil Muertes roll out of the ring with haste. Vampiro watches from the commentator table with great satisfaction and a sadistic look in his eyes, Prince Puma does his usual backlip of the ropes to land on the Aztec seal, but instead of kneeling on the seal he walks toward Vampiro and kneels to his Master. Vampiro moved by the presence of his new student sits at the commentators table speechless. Matt Striker tries to snap Vampiro out of it, but Vamp tells Striker that what happened in the ring is between him and Prince Puma and That’s That.

Meanwhile in the back of The Temple Sexy Star is confronted by Ricky Mandel, a Johnny Mundo mark that comes of as being very disrespectful towards Sexy Star. Sexy Star pretty much annoyed by his presence does her best to avoid and get away from him, but Mandel has a gift that he found with Sexy Star’s name on it. Sexy Star opens the gift to find a black tarantula like the one that she found crawling in her locker in episode fifteen. Sexy Star enraged crushes the box. This fades into a second vignette involving Texano with Famous-B and Beautiful Brenda. Famous-B extends his hand to help out Texano with his match tonight against Cage. Texano gets heated with all of the remarks that Famous-B had to say about his in ring work and grabs him by his Dr.Wagner Jr. coat. He tells him that maybe The Believers will cheer for him if he kicks his ass. Famous-B backs of and understands that Texano is not quite ready for an opportunity at fame but tells him to think about it. Beautiful Brenda tells Texano to give them a call with a sexy look in her eyes. Texano is left with a choice of joining Famous-B’s stable of talent or staying as a one man show.

Second match of the night was a tag team match between The Worldwide Underground versus Angelico and Son of Havoc. This match was full of explosive moments, seeing Jack Evans face his old AAA tag team partner Angelico was a show in itself. Jack Evans shows us how to be a true Rudo when he extends his hand to Angelico for a truce but as Angelico reaches for the hand shake Evans goes for a sucker punch. Never trust a member of The Worldwide Underground they are sure to stab you in the back as soon as you let your guard down. I really wish this match could have gone on a bit longer unfortunately for Angelico he slips of the top rope when he attempts to do what looked like a knee dive. Angelico in agony rolls out of the ring leaving Son of Havoc to get dominated by The Worldwide Underground. Jack Evans hits Son of Havoc with a mid-rope Phoenix Splash to get the pin on Son of Havoc.

A third vignette is introduced right after this match. Sexy star storms in on Dario Cueto while he is looking into a mysterious metal chest that is illuminating a blue glow. Sexy Star is furious and wants Mariposa, this puts a sadistic smile on El Jefe‘s face. He asks her if she wants another No Mas match with Mariposa, I’m pretty sure that he was crossing his fingers under his desk in hope that she said yes. But Sexy Star wants to settle this in an old school in ring battle. Dario Cueto grants her this match for next week and Sexy Star storms out of his office. Dario Cueto opens the box and continues to look over the mysterious blue glow that is illuminating out of this metal chest.

The best out of five match between Texano and Cage for Dario’s “Ultimate Opportunity” comes to an end. Cage leads the series with two victories over Texano. Texano has only one W and looks to even the series tonight. Texano and Cage look like two Titans throwing down in the middle of that ring and it has been awesome to see these two showcase their athleticism and brute strength, but there can only be one winner. Texano was impressive throughout the beginning of this match hitting Cage with some heavy offense. These guys are equally matched and it makes sense that an exposed turnbuckle would be the equalizer that gives Texano the win to even the series. The Believers are in full effect and louder than bombs! This is not your regular wrestling promotion, this is The Lucha Underground Temple! And we have a Jefe that goes by the name of Dario Cueto who loves violence just as much as The Believers who come to scream their lungs out each and every week! Dario Cueto is much to excited and demands that this Best of Five match ends tonight and anything goes! The Believers Pop! You can practically see them jumping out of their skin, Dario Cueto hits us with his famous “Ring The Bell!!!!!” line and the match begins! Cage’s face is a bloody mess and in front of him is The Mexican Titan Texano. The sight of Cage’s blood seems to fuel Texano making his momentum reach it’s limit like a special out of a video game. Texano has Cage up against the turnbuckle and continues to work on Cage’s open wound making the blood ooze into Cage’s eyes. An opportunity for Cage opens up when Texano’s attempt at another Power Bomb fails leaving him open for some quick offense. Cage reverses the Power Bomb and rolls out of a pin attempt, hits the ropes and nails Texano with a stunning boot to his face! Both men are on their feet and against the ropes, Texano proceeds to run toward Cage but Cage aware of Texano’s plan to destroy him quickly moves out of the way sending Texano flying out of the ring. Cage works the ropes and hits Texano with a tremendous front flip over the top rope bringing both men to the ground. The Believers crowd over the two titans and begin with a Holy Shit chant!

Cage is alive and is making Texano feel the power of a Machine! Cage and Texano are making their way up to the bleachers of The Temple and The Believers are in a frenzy. Cage takes this fight into the crowd and proceeds to Suplex Texano onto the bleachers. The intensity of the match is increasing and The Believers are feeling it. Texano manages to escape the clutches of The Machine and begins to work on Cage with some heavy offense. Texano goes coast to coast inside the bowels of The Temple, from the bleachers, to the announcers table, to the high level seats that are heavily guarded by the steel gated fence. Texano hits Cage with everything but the kitchen sink! These two Titans are holding nothing back and the Lucha Gods are enjoying this! Texano and Cage are battling it out in between a space that would seem like walking a tightrope for these two Titans. It looked as if Cage was going to Superplex Texano from the steel gated fence that surrounds the upper level seating of The Temple, but Texano makes a wise decision and sends Cage falling from the top of the steel fence. With Cage out on the floor Texano takes a high dive of the steel fence nailing Cage with a tremendous Cross Body! The intensity bar has hit an ultimate high as Texano continues to destroy Cage and prove that The Machine is simply just a mortal man! Texano proceeds to give Dario Cueto what he expects out of this match and tosses Cage into the floor seats like a Frisbee, clearing out three rows of wooden chairs. This leads to Texano hitting Cage over the head with a devastating steel chair shot and continuing the abuse by whipping him with his Lariat. The physical gauntlet of torture that Texano has put Cage through is one that no ordinary man would survive, but Cage is No man he’s a Machine!!! Texano throws cage into the ring and pins him for the win, but The Machine kicks out! Oh my goodness what does Texano have to do to keep this Machine down, it’s like watching some kind of Human vs. Machine science fiction flick where the machine just keeps coming back no matter what you do. Texano is so close to destroying The Machine, he shows nothing but confidence when he slams cage onto the steel chair with a vicious Spin Buster. At this point Texano is confident that he has this match won and from the apron gestures to The Believers that this is it! Texano proceeds to go for his Sling Shot Shoulder Dive but Cage rolls out of the way and Texano lands hard onto the steel chair. The Machine is aware of the vulnerable Texano and strikes him with a vicious chair shot of his own that lays Texano out on the mat. Cage crawls with desperation to cover Texano and referee Rick Knox hits the mat for the count. One, two, and Texano kicks out! Texano and Cage exchange blows giving everything they have, Cage goes for the a Discus Lariat but Texano reverses into a Crossface. Cage is struggling to get to the ropes and manages to get into position to roll Texano into his own submission, putting Texano shoulders down on the mat. Knox goes for the count but Texano kicks out again. The Believers are divided and their adrenaline is pumping through their veins. Texano is back on his feet and picks up Cage to deliver the finishing Power Bomb but Cage knows him to well and wiggles his way out of the move and hits Texano with vicious Discus lariat that connects on Texano’s face, but Texano refuses to stay down. Cage grabs Texano’s Lariat and whips him across his back with is own weapon. The Believers are on their feet and are witnessing an epic battle of two Titans known as Cage and Texano. Cage signals to The Believers and raises Texano into the air then drops him into a wicked Screwdriver! This devastating move finishes of Texano and gives Cage the victory!!!

Dario Cueto immediately comes out of his office and tells Cage that he will give him his “Ultimate Opportunity” prize but not in front of The Believers. Cage then goes into Dario Cueto’s office and is presented with a steel Gauntlet. Cage is baffled by this and tells Dario that he is not renaissance type of guy, but Dario tells him not to be fooled by it’s appearance and that he doesn’t know the powers that this Gauntlet has. Dario insists that Cage try on this Gauntlet, Cage sees no harm in trying this on and when he does he feels the true power of the Gauntlet. Cage then picks up Dario Cueto by his neck and tells him, that on second thought he will keep it.

Lucha Underground delivers another great episode and next week will be reaching it’s mid season mark. This season is beginning to become one of the darkest seasons that we have seen yet. So many tales have been exposed as we dive deeper into the Lucha Underground Realm. But secrets remain untold and there are many hidden twists and dark hallways in The Temple that have yet to be explored. The wrestling on the show in my opinion is always through the roof and delivers with so many jaw dropping moments. The end of an episode has come and the wait begins. Lucha Undergound Wednesday’s are always a highlight to my week and I look forward to a next week’s episode as The Mack takes on Johnny Mundo For the Lucha Underground Championship. What secrets will we see unravel in next weeks episode? Only one way to find out, Stay Tuned on the El Rey Network every Wednesday 8p/ET.