The opening recaps Dario's announcement of the 100th episode and of its matches.
Backstage, Ricky Mandel reveals that he has changed his last name to Mundo, in honor of his idol. Unfortunately for him, Johnny is none too thrilled; he refuses to adopt Ricky's name change, under the justification that "there's only one Mundo in the World Wide Underground".
Prince Puma, Fénix, Cage, Sexy Star vs. Johnny Mundo, Taya, PJ Black, Marty the Moth: ok
However much I dislike Sexy Star, that choice makes at least some sense within the bounds of Lucha Underground internal logic, as she's been a major focal point on the técnica side in this universe. Cage is the odd addition here; I don't think there's been anything to suggest that Prince Puma knows about the whole struggle over the gauntlet. On the other side, Ricky Mandel (or, rather, Mundo) comes out with World Wide Underground, but Johnny Mundo makes his displeasure over the name change known publicly, and decides to remove Ricky from the match and substitute Marty the Moth instead.
After initial one-on-one skirmishes, during which the referee and Cage's teammates manage to coax Cage into removing his gauntlet, a giant brawl breaks out, and Jeremiah Crane takes advantage of the chaos to steal the gauntlet. Cage runs after him backstage, effectively removing himself from the match.
Aside from that bit, this is a bit of a disjointed, directionless match until the finish, when Sexy Star and Fénix hit dive spots and Mundo gets his End of the World on Puma for the win. I think that the point is to convey the feel of a chaotic mess that allows Cage to slip away, so they perhaps succeeded in that goal, but it doesn't lead to much in terms of a match itself.
After the match, Marty harasses Melissa Santos, and this time Melissa fights back until Fénix superkicks him.
Crane brings the stolen gauntlet to Catrina. An annoyed Mil Muertes spears Crane, and the two begin brawling, allowing Catrina to pick up the gauntlet. Realizing this, Cage grabs her, and she realizes that she cannot teleport at will while holding the gauntlet, due to its power. To escape Cage's grip, she reluctantly drops the gauntlet. As Cage, Mil, and Crane continue fighting among themselves, Dario Cueto covertly sneaks in and escapes with gauntlet.
Dragón Azteca Jr. vs. Pentagón Dark [Aztec Medallion]: good
This is a solid match while it lasts; a little more time would have helped. The highlights are a crazy tornillo to the floor by Dragón Azteca Jr., the Pizza DDT (virtually an automatic pop from me), and Pentagón's counter of the second attempted DDT into a backbreaker.
Pentagón gets a package piledriver for the win. As a victorious Pentagón is about to break Dragón Azteca's arm, Matanza runs out to confront him. As Dario tries to control Matanza, Pentagón shifts his focus to the Lucha Underground owner, and in turn, Matanza begins to test the Dragón Azteca Jr. implementation of ragdoll physics. Rey Mysterio comes out for the save, leading into...
Rey Mysterio vs. Matanza: very good
Rey attacks Matanza before the bell and actually gets in some offense throughout the match, but Matanza generally dominates, as you'd expect. Toward the end, Matanza grabs a chair, and the endgame focuses on outsmarting each other it. Ultimately, though, Matanza throws the chair at a springboarding Rey, and that's enough to give him the advantage for the win after a few more suplexes.
After the match, Matanza hits the Wrath of the Gods on Rey with a chair, and then puts the chair around Rey's neck and throws him into ringpost twice. Matanza carries Rey off as episode ends. The post-match viciousness is definitely effective at eliciting emotional investment, if you have any sort of favorable opinion of Rey (and you should).
I like this match technically, but I start to check out mentally when Rey goes into babyface-in-peril mode, if only because it's a part that he spent so much time doing in WWE that I don't feel as if I need more of it in 2017. Rey is a lot more enjoyable when he's in dream-match spectacle mode – e.g., vs. Prince Puma at Última Lucha 2.
OVERALL: The last two matches are enjoyable, but nothing earth-shattering. Kind of a big deal is made about this being the 100th episode, and it's a pretty good one, but this feels like more of a minimum standard to which Lucha Underground should aspire, not something special.
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