The opening recaps Última Lucha Tres Part I, the feud between Catrina and Ivelisse (from a loooong time ago), and the events leading up to the Fénix vs. Marty the Moth lucha de apuestas.
The episode proper starts with Ivelisse in the bathroom with Jeremiah Crane. When Ivelisse reveals that she has a match against Catrina, Crane admits that he loves Catrina, not Ivelisse, who proceeds to kick him into one of the stalls.
Battle Royal for a Unique Opportunity: eh
Elimination is by going over the top rope and having both feet hit the floor. The order of elimination ends up being: Vinnie Massaro, Son of Madness, Joey Ryan, Cortez Castro, Paul London, Msla Suerte, Saltador, Argenis, Pimpinela Escarlata, Mascarita Sagrada, Ricky Mandel, PJ Black.
This is more of a comedy-based plot device rather than an actual match. It's worth noting that a similar battle royal was a dark match in Última Lucha Dos.
The Mack wins, and Dario's Unique Opportunity for him is a trios title match next week vs. Pindar, Víbora, and Drago. But Dario gets to choose The Mack's partners, and they happen to be Killshot and Dante Fox, who nearly destroyed each other in a crazy match last week.
Ivelisse vs. Catrina: ok+
Early in the match, Catrina locks herself inside Dario's office, and uses that positional advantage to bust Ivelisse wide open by smashing a bottle – or rather, a few of them – over her opponent's head as she manages to barge her way in.
Toward the end of the match, focus shifts to Catrina's rock, which Ivelisse manages to grab and use against Catrina, setting up a DDT for the win.
After the match, Jeremiah Crane runs out and whacks Ivelisse with a hammer, allowing Catrina to reclaim her rock.
There's a lot of effort here, but this match doesn't really work for me; it's a bloody mess without the same sense of intensity, escalation, or wackiness as last week's Hell of War – or even of many other matches in Lucha Underground's history. I think that the intent had been to make the struggle over Catrina's rock feel like the climax of the match, but it comes off as just another prop in this context. And it really shouldn't, given the long build over its powers, but actions speak louder than words, and there's just not enough here, in this match, to get people invested in that particular object.
Fénix vs. Marty the Moth [mask vs. hair]: great
As usual, Marty comes out with Mariposa, who interferes with Fénix twice early on, but leaves in disgust after Marty lets her eat Fénix's tope con giro. The match reaches a turning point when Marty drops Fénix onto an exposed turnbuckle, busting him wide open. We've still got a while to go in the match, and Fénix loses blood at a pretty steady pace for the rest of the way, at least until Marty opens new wounds with scissors toward the end of the match.
This match definitely centers on how much a Fénix can bleed, but in terms of actual wrestling, there are some cool counters and reversal sequences throughout.
The ending comes a bit oddly and abruptly when Melissa Santos interrupts Marty's scissors experiment to plead with him. Marty does not take this well, and pulls her into the ring. Melissa fouls her attacker, allowing Fénix to hit an Ángel Azteca Jr. springboard 450 splash for the win.
Marty tries to escape his haircut by running up the Temple stairs. At the top, he finds Mariposa, who chairshots her brother and handcuffs him to the staircase handrails to allow Fénix and Melissa Santos to give Marty his haircut.
I do think that the ending detracts from the match a little bit, but not enough to drop it from the "great" rating. I tended to go a bit lower on a lot of the matches in the buildup to this one, but the intensity of the finale here makes up for it. This isn't on the same plane of existence as the Hell of War match, but it definitely is a satisfying conclusion to this angle.
OVERALL: Fénix vs. Marty is definitely worth watching, with the caveat that Fénix's blood loss is pretty epic. I thought that Ivelisse vs. Catrina was lackluster, but some people will probably enjoy it more than I did.
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