The Over/Under On Lucha Underground Season 3 Episode 32: Sweet Cuppin’ Cakes


Previously on the Over/Under on Lucha Underground: The Cueto Cup finals were decided, and the show ended in CHAOS that included carrot commentary and the build for Rey Mysterio vs. Johnny Mundo.

NOTE: Don’t worry, everyone! Brandon is still doing these recaps! He’ll be back next week, and likely for every Lucha Underground recap ever, forever. This was a one-time deal, so hopefully I don’t overly crap the bed while he’s gone!

If you need to catch up on the rest of the episodes — if you aren’t caught up, you should need to catch up — you can read about season 1 here, and season 2 here. Season 3 episode recaps can be found here.

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And now, the Over/Under on Lucha Underground season 3, episode 32, originally aired on August 23, 2017.

Over: Previously On

The episode opened with an amazing video package recap of all three major storylines and matches that will appear on tonight’s episode, and it rivaled WWE’s video package team in terms of quality. It made all three things seem like a big deal (or at least two things, and reminded people of what’s happening with the Veneno storyline), and I’m always on board for things being presented like they’re important. There were also some extremely swank “Vs.” graphics during Matt Striker and Vampiro’s introductions, so between that and the Mae Young Bracketology special, it’s a big week for matchup graphics.

Under: Maskus Interruptus

The first match on this week’s show is a lucha apuesta with Veneno and Sexy Star putting their masks on the line. About two minutes into the match, Joey Ryan appears to strip Veneno of his mask, and reveal (to the shock of the announcers, who in-universe are only privy to the in-ring happenings and none of the backstage intrigue) Cortez Castro. Castro flips out and chases Joey, the ref calls for the bell, and that’s that, mattress man.

I guess the match is declared a no contest and not a disqualification, because if the latter were the case, then Sexy Star would lose her mask by disqualification? Anyway, the highlight of this was Joey low blowing Veneno and scampering away, while Vampiro says, “RIGHT IN THE NUTS.”

Over: Diegetic Dubstep

Backstage, Dario is chilling in his office, counting his cocaine or whatever, when a rumbling builds to a crescendo and Johnny Mundo enters in slow-motion, to personal, audible dubstep. The camera cuts to Dario, and the music dies, and then it cuts back to Mundo, and the music RE-ENTERS, right where it left off. Yes, Johnny Mundo is now so powerful that he creates his own music upon entering rooms.

Mundo and his not-Paul-Heyman have a bone to pick with Cueto for the unsafe working conditions he allowed at the close of last week’s show. Mundo threatens to take the Aztec gold to another company, and could do so with one phone call. Cueto said he’s already spoken to the locker room, and everyone is banned from ringside. If they interfere, he’ll personally fire them. When Mundo finds out this includes Worldwide Underground, he says, “That doesn’t work for me,” but Cueto convinces him that he’s Johnny Mundo, and he doesn’t need anyone’s help.

Mundo still says that if he loses unfairly in any way, he’ll take his ball and go home. Mundo is so great, and I’m still sad about him getting this unnecessary mouthpiece, but this was a good skit, as are any segments involving Dario Cueto.

Over: Cup Check

As expected, the Cueto Cup finals between Pentagon Dark and Prince Puma Kinda Dark was DOPE, and as Striker and Vampiro pointed out, all previous matches between these two has non-clean finishes. And it’s been so long since we’ve seen a singles match between these two that it certainly FEELS special, and like a bigger deal than most No. 1 contendership matches normally feel.

This match gets nuts early, as mere minutes in, Pentagon hits a Mexican Destroyer, Puma rolls to the outside to recover, and then he comes back in the ring to deliver a Destroyer of his own. Both of these guys are just so unbelievably good right now, and the only bad thing to say about this match is that it lasted less than 10 minutes. Puma hits a standing top-rope Frankensteiner, points to Vampiro, then nails Pentagon with the 630 and gets the pin.

With Mysterio vs. Mundo on the same episode, I get why this match was so short, but it’s unfortunate the season is so backloaded that this is the match that needed to be so brief. Still hoping we’ll get those unedited Lucha Underground matches on DVD or something someday.

After the match, Puma is presented with the Cup, and gets lightly booed, for sheer benefit of not being Pentagon. Cueto reiterates that Puma will face the champion at Ultima Lucha Tres, and we’ll find out who that champion will be … RIGHT NOW!

Over: Johnny Mun-Deez Nuts

The main event, as expected, was worthy of all the time it got in this episode. Johnny Mundo has turned himself into perhaps the best heel in the world. How do you follow up attacking THE WEE BABY DOMINIC? By ripping the mask of Rey Mysterio in front of the Temple faithful. Mysterio is still a massive, massive deal and can still deliver in spades when it comes to big matches.

These two worked spectacularly well together, and in contrast to the sprint that Puma and Pentagon had, Mundo and Mysterio did pretty much everything, but with the time and natural progression that made the “everything” make sense and logically build and build. And the match even got in Mundo’s specialty: kicking dudes in the beans. Mundo accidentally got sent into the referee with a spear (actually an accident, propelled by a Mysterio wheelbarrow counter), and took advantage by booting Mysterio in the nards and hitting an End of Heartache.

Mundo then tried to use the title belt to clobber Mysterio, but Dominic jumped on the ring apron and stopped it, then took down Mundo and set him up for the 619 and the splash. Cueto pulled the referee out of the ring before the three-count, and slapped Mysterio — because he DID ban people from ringside, which includes sons with topknots — but while Rey-Rey was distracted trying to give Cueto some comeuppance, Mundo hit him with the belt from behind and got the pin.

So we’ve got Mundo vs. Puma for Ultima Lucha Tres for the big title, Rey and Dominic looking for revenge against Dario, and probably Joey Ryan vs. Cortez Castro as FORMER POLICE COP PARTNERS COLLIDE. That’s a strong start, and let’s hope the rest of the card continues to shape up as nicely.

If you haven’t watched this episode yet, you should probably take the 40 minutes or so and do that. The Cueto Cup and championship matches are great examples of the in-ring work that the company does so spectacularly well, from two sides of the coin. Or the ahn-see-ent Aztec medallion, if you prefer.

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