Where did we leave that power glove? A Lucha Underground season 3 catch up

Lucha Underground is going a breezy 140 days between new episodes. There’s just a slight chance you may have forgotten exactly what was going on last time Dario Cueto was in our life, so here’s a reminder of where we left Season 3 of Lucha Underground.

(I’ll handle the drama behind the scenes in another post.)

Give it to me quick: when is the new episode? What’s on it?

Lucha Underground returns on Wednesday, May 31st at 8pm ET/7pm CT with episode 20 of the season. The episode will have only one match, the All Night Long iron man match between Lucha Underground champion Johnny Mundo and challenger The Mack.

New episodes are expected to air weekly. There are 40 episodes this season, which means the season will conclude with Ultima Lucha 3 on October 18th.

How did Johnny Mundo end up champion? I vaguely remember something with Sexy Star that made everyone either happy or very angry?

Matanza was champion to start the season. He lost it in Aztec Warfare when he was hit by many big moves and finished by a Code Red from Rey Mysterio. Sexy Star defeated Mil Muertes at the end of Aztec Warfare to win the title and everyone went nuts for a week.

She lost it the following week to Johnny Mundo, who had previously beaten Sexy for the Gift of the Gods title and was cashing it in. Mundo beat Sexy Star later again in a cage match; Mundo’s cheated to beat Sexy every time, but has defeated her three straight times.

Why is the Mack getting a title shot?

The Mack won a 16 person Battle of the Bulls tournament (a bunch of four way matches), the winner earning this title shot.

Why is the match an All Night Long match?

Johnny Mundo beat The Mack in a non-title match in episode 18, where the winner got to choose the stipulation for their title match. Mundo picked the show long iron man match “All Night Long” rules, figuring his superior endurance would allow him to outlast Mack in a long match.

Who’s the Gift of the Gods Champion? Who holds the Aztec Medallions?

There is no Gift of the Gods champion. Johnny Mundo cashed in the LU secondary belt for his title shot. Dario has not yet begun handing out Medallions.

Who are the Lucha Underground Trios champions? Who are their rivals?

The current trios champions are Fenix, Aerostar and Drago. They defeated the Worldwide Underground trio of Jack Evans, Johnny Mundo and PJ Black earlier in the season.

Their current enemies are the Reptile Tribe, led by Kobra Moon. Kobra Moon claimed Drago betrayed the Reptiles in a war, and brought back her two surviving generals (Pindar and the tall Vibora) to force Drago back into the group. Drago claims he was never part of the Tribe, simply a slave, but was recaptured and possibly brainwashed. Aerostar & Fenix freed their partner, but Drago didn’t seem to remember them or be completely aware he’d been rescued.

What’s Matanza up to?

Matazna wants to murder Rey Mysterio. Mysterio is the first (and only) person to defeat Matanza in Lucha Underground; Matanza immediately destroyed and hospitalized Rey. Dragon Azteca Jr. tried to avenge both Rey and Dragon Azteca Sr. by going after Matanza, and ended up chokeslammed thru the bleachers. Mysterio escaped his own death by backdropped Matanza thru the Temple’s closet ceiling, which ended the action in the Temple on the last episode.

(Dragon Azteca Jr. still seems to believe it was Matanza who killed Dragon Azteca Sr., while we know it’s actually Black Lotus. Black Lotus definitely believes Dragon Azteca Sr. killed her parents, but we don’t know if Dario was telling the truth about that.)

What happened with Pentagon Dark?

Pentagon paid a price for breaking Dragon Azteca Jr. & Black Lotus’ arms during Ultima Lucha 2. The Black Lotus Triad attacked Pentagon and caused him to be eliminated in Aztec Warfare 3. Pentagon faced the entire Triad in a guantlet match, breaking the arms of Doku and Yurei, but being defeated by Hitokiri. The Triad broke one of Pentagon’s arms, and stepped out of the way to allow Dragon Azteca Jr. to break the other one.

Vampiro may or may not have been helping the Triad, but seemed to greatly enjoy what happened either way.

Pentagon has not been seen since his arms were broke to end episode #13. He should be healthy enough to turn up at any moment.

What’s going on with Prince Puma?

Prince Puma died. Mil Muertes put him in to the casket to win their Grave Consequences match on episode 10, which means death on this show. Vampiro some how resurrected Prince Puma, and convinced him to give into his darker side to grow stronger. Puma has still not been seen in the Temple since his death, only in training vignettes, and it’s unlikely anyone but Vampiro knows Puma is still around. It’s not clear who Puma is actually training for: Puma probably thinks revenge on Mil but Vampiro is clearly not done with Pentagon. Vampiro’s clearly manipulating Puma – he pushed him towards the Mil feud to start all of this – and it’s probably going to end badly for Puma unless he breaks free of Vampiro’s influence.

Why does Cage have a power glove?

Cage won a best of 5 series over Texano for a Unique Oppurtinty. That Oppurtinty turned out to be a metal gauntlet. Cage wasn’t interested until he was convinced to try it on, and then felt great power and strength coming from it. Cage now wears it to the ring for his matches.

Cage doesn’t know that the gauntlet is the representation (or possed) by an evil god Dario and the people he works for are summoning. Cage is being taken over by this essence every time he puts it on, and also becoming more addicted to it.

(Shoter version: Cage won the ring from the Lord of the Rings, doesn’t know it.)

Can we just run thru everyone else quickly? This is a lot…

Jeremiah Crane was introduced as Ivelisse’s new boyfriend, but later revealed to be an old boyfriend from Catrina. Crane recovered an object hidden to in the ceiling of Dario’s office “long ago” to remind her of their past relationship, but Catrina said she was in love with someone else. Crane believes this to be Mil Muertes because Crane just showed up, but it appears to be Fenix based on what we saw in Season 1.

Catrina & Capitan Vasquez each have half of an amulet. We saw that same item given to a girl a 1,000 years ago, which gave the (female only) wearer eternal life. It appears the 1,000 year old girl is Vasquez, since Catrina has been mentioned as being closer to 100 years old, but we don’t know the relationship between the two of them or how they each ended up with half the amulet. They have not interacted on screen yet.

Captain Vasquez is still investigating Dario Cueto, though Councilman Delgado has put pressure on her to stop. Joey Ryan betrayed the operation, revealing it to Dario to get on his side on whatever’s coming next. Ryan exposed Cortez Castro as a fellow undercover cop; Dario had him destroyed by Matanza to run him out of the Temple. Vasquez sent Castro back as the masked Veneno, where he was beat quickly by Cage. His identity hasn’t been acknowledged, but it shouldn’t be too hard for Ryan & Cueto to figure out. I’m still curious why Captain Vasquez has a spare Veneno mask sitting in her desk, but that may not be an important detail right now.

Dario and Delgado were meeting with a mysterious man in a limo who’s identity was never revealed but obviously spooked them out. He may not exist in the form of body (and just be the spirit that’s possessing Cage’s glove.)

Someone’s been harassing Sexy Star with spiders. She confronted Mariposa, who denied it. She suspected Veneno, but we know it’s not likely to be him.

Taya is filming a documentary on Johnny Mundo, in the margins of Mundo’s current story.

Texano lost that best of five series to Cage, and is now being recruited by Famous B to add to his clients (which just includes Dr. Wagner Jr.)

Son of Havoc & Mascarita Sagrada defeated Famous B & Dr. Wagner Jr. in their feud. They haven’t been seen since.

Killshot & Dante Fox were military buddies. Were. Dante seems to believe Killshot left him behind on their last mission, Killshot doesn’t remember it like that. We’re inclined to believe Killshot’s in the right because he’s been portrayed as a tecnico since last season, but we really don’t any details of what happened (so it’s entirely possible Dante is actually in the right.)

Mariposa and Marty the Moth have been attacking each other since losing their feud to Killshot. (The last scene of the first half revealed Mariposa had tied up Marty.) They are weird, so it seemed like it might have brought them closer. Marty is also stalking Melissa Santos.

The Rabbit Tribe of Paul London, Saltador and Mala Suerte having been hanging around on the edge of the trios title situation, but don’t really have anything on going of their own.

Ricky Mandell took some mystery photos from Dario Cueto that he was trying to get rid of, and sees to be a big Johnny Mundo fan suddenly. None of that seems to go anywhere.

Vinny Massaro can’t eat in the bathroom in peace.

That wasn’t quick!

Yea, there’s a lot going on.

Who from this season might we not see?

Ivelisse and Angelico suffered injuries in the aired episode. Angelico had just returned at Aztec Warfare 3 before getting hurt. Ivelisse had already agreed to a match with Catrina for Ultima Lucha 3. Neither has been mentioned since they were hurt.

Chavo Guerrero lost a loser leaves town match to Rey Mysterio and appears to be obeying the stipulation.

Siniestro de la Muerte was killed off on screen earlier in the season.

Daga was said to be dead by Kobra Moon earlier in the season, but we have reason to believe she may have not been telling the truth (or the plans changed somewhere along the lines.)

Are there more people showing up?

Yes. A vignette for later this season aired at C2E2, introducing a new rival to an existing character. Other wrestlers were spotted in dark matches by this point, and could show up in a vignette at any moment (even if they don’t actually wrestle this season.)

Nightclaw and el Bunny are out there, somewhere.