We open tonight’s episode with a video package of Dante Fox. Well, more of a flashback actually. The video highlights his POW days where Fox was captured, tortured, and eventually rescued. Back in present day, Fox is training near The Temple where he sees archrival Killshot staring at him from the rooftop. The two have a staredown before we’re quickly taken to our first lucha contest of the night.
That contest happens to be a Cueto Cup qualifier between Sexy Star and PJ Black. The two manage to find a happy medium between the intensity necessary based on their bad blood history between each other and have a good flippy luchador match, which included one crazy hurricanrana from the top rope by Sexy Star. The finish of the match sees Black’s Worldwide Underground buddy, Taya, make a run-in. Taya throws some brass knuckles in the ring, but Sexy Star catches them instead. As soon as she uses them on Black, the ref catches and disqualifies her, giving Black the win. Even a DQ win is a win, so Black advances in the tournament. Sexy Star doesn’t like that one bit and so she hits the ref out of anger.
Then, as we’ve been treated to for the last month, we get another Johnny Mundo vs Rey Mysterio hype video. This time, with both men trash talking each other while showing respect and expressing why they need to win but can’t afford to lose, much in the same vein as a boxing or MMA hype video.
This next match is a match I’ve been personally anxious to see for the past week: Son of Havoc vs Son of Madness. Even though there is still some mystery in the air as far as how these two are connected, Havoc is stunned to see Madness standing in front of him. The two start brawling before Madness even makes his way to the ring. Again, even though we have yet to know much about the about any of the reasons behind their beef, it’s easy to get invested into this one based on just how hard these two clobbered each other alone. You could feel the hatred pour out of each other with each clubbing blow. It not only makes you want to know more about their story, but you already want to see a rematch before the first encounter ends. The match does end when Havoc misses a Shooting Star only for him and Madness to exchange rolling pin attempts until Havoc gets the final fall, advancing to Round 2 of the Cueto Cup. Madness wasn’t done there as he attacks Havoc after the bell and rips Havoc’s jacket in half, signaling Havoc being kicked out of their “brotherhood.”
In another Cueto Cup contest, we get Prince Puma vs the “intern” of Worldwide Underground, Ricky Mandel. Puma doesn’t even give Mandel a chance to get some offense in. Puma kicks off the match, literally, with some fast kicks and punches before ending it early with a Michinoku Driver. In addition to his darker outfit, seeing Puma show no remorse in a quick squash highlights his new attitude from the teachings of Vampiro.
Right before we get to the final Cueto Cup match of Round 1, Rey Mysterio and Dragon Azteca chit-chat backstage. The two express wanting to have a teacher vs protege match-up if Mysterio wins the Lucha Underground Championship and Azteca wins the tournament. Mysterio’s former protege, Puma, makes his way to the back and tells Mysterio that he better beat Mundo for the title because he wants his rematch from their last Ultima Lucha match.
Afterwards, we get our main event between Dragon Azteca Jr. (with Rey Mysterio Jr. in his corner) and Dante Fox. The two have a quick paced match filled with non-stop action and near falls galore. At some point in the match, Azteca gets injured and tells Mysterio. Mysterio tries to tell the ref, but gets tripped up by Taya. Before we know it, all of Mundo’s Worldwide Underground stable is out to beat up Mysterio. Azteca makes a save with a suicide dive onto the team, but the distraction proves untimely and out of his favor when he rolls back in the ring and receives a Fox Catcher for his troubles, earning Fox the win as the final man to advance to Round 2 of the Cueto Cup as we go off the air.