Trying to answer the big LU questions: the hiatus, Netflix, Pentagon/Fenix & S4

even Dario’s a bit confused (via)

Lucha Underground is a strange wrestling promotion that’s called a TV show for marketing purposes. It’s also a great source of news and confusion despite not having run any tapings in about a year. Maybe you heard a bit about things going on with LU during this long hiatus, maybe you don’t pay attention to Lucha Underground when they’re not airing shows but are curious now, maybe you’re just an onlooker trying to figure out how this works. Whatever the case, these are the four out of the ring topics which came up the most during this midseason break, and what we know about them right now

(Information is taken from interviews, podcasts, reporting and other sources. I don’t think anything here is all that secretive, but it is bundling a lot of information.)

Lucha Underground Season 3 wasn’t meant to have a midseason break. It was El Rey’s call (out of appreciation of LU)

The short version of this is “running a successful small cable channel in 2017 is really hard and may cause you to take some serious risks.” Even that much is not short.

El Rey, version 1.0, found a niche audience that liked it’s martial arts and horror movies and sampled other things but wasn’t big enough to compel enough cable systems to pick them up and enough advertisers to spend money there. LU’s own ratings were not impressive compared to other wrestling shows, but they’re easily the highest rated show on the network. They’re also the only surviving original show left on El Rey: the TV adaption of From Dusk Til Dawn concluded, and attempts at series like The Cutting Crew and El Matador never found an audience enough to sustain them. It left El Rey at a crossroads, trying to figure out what would work with the makeup of the audience they’ve reached at this point.

Lucha Underground’s return marks the start of an El Rey version 1.1. It’s not a total remake, you will still find dubbed movies on Friday nights, but there are changes. Lucha Underground is the one thing that seemed to work, so every new concept is something that might work like or along side of Lucha Underground. Wednesday night, in between LU and the repeat, a special on the Baja 500 will air. It’s an offroad car race with lots of action, and the special will focus on some of the stories behind it. Next Thursday, El Rey debuts Rite of Passage (a show with a lot of action based on mystical coming of age trials) and Man At Arms: Art of War (a show with a lot of action based on sometimes mythical weapons.) I hope you’re noticing a pattern.

El Rey didn’t decide on this direction until late last year, and it takes a while to produce these sorts of things. There’s no point in making adjacent Lucha Underground programming if LU is not still airing new episodes. El Rey took the gamble that people would still be with LU if they put them on the shelf for a while and brought them back when the new shows were ready. (That’s also why they went to a hiatus with no clearer return date than “Summer 2017”; those shows weren’t far enough along yet to know when they’d be ready.)

Lucha Underground had no idea their would be this shift when they were producing these episodes. The episode airing this Wednesday was taped way back in March 2016, more than half a year before any sort of decision was made. Instead, LU people were given a heads up that a hiatus was coming and asked which episode would work best as a break point. (They debated between after episode 19 – the one they actually went out on – or after episode 20. We can debate if they made the right pick later on.) El Rey wouldn’t have put Lucha Underground on the shelf unless they believed they could make this work. El Rey believes in LU and hopefully their belief will be warranted.

If you want to help out LU, give the new shows a try. It’ll help El Rey (and LU) to keep going on as it has if even one of them turns out well. There’s also no sign El Rey is in a make it or break it territory, but any media entity which can’t find a way to attract eyeballs is going to be in a little bit of peril in 2017.

Lucha Underground is on Netflix (but only in the US, Canada & Latin America so far)

Netflix

Lucha Underground getting on Netflix has been a public goal of the company since the end of season 1, and it seemed long to be a discussion about how much Netflix was willing to pay for the episodes. They came to an agreement early this year (which seemed to still be a bit disappointing to LU) and the episodes were added to Netflix in the middle of March. (Not February. March. Not February. March.) You can watch them now, in glorious HD, if you’re a subscriber. No one with LU knows how well they’ve done, but we all can look thru Twitter and see people regularly stumbling onto the show via Netflix and enjoying it. That seems good.

However, if you are not in the US, Canada or parts of Latin America, you don’t have Lucha Underground on Netflix. You probably aren’t going to get Lucha Underground any time soon, and there’s probably not much Netflix can do about it.

Part of LU’s ownership plan to make money on this show of monsters, murders an armdrags to sell the show to different markets around the world. They’ve had some good luck with that: it’s on TLN in Canada, it’s on SamuraiTV in Japan, it’s on TNT in Geramy – and now it’s also on an over the air station in Germany too. Netflix gives Lucha Underground some money, selling it to TV networks gives them more money, and the theory is making it available on Netflix in a market will make TV networks less willing to put it on their air.

LU’s looked for TV homes in places like the UK or Australia or Brazil or elsewhere, and hasn’t found anyone willing to take on the show for whatever amount it is they want. Their strategy probably isn’t going to change any time soon, so those places without LU on TV are unlikely to get it any other means any time soon.

If you are someone who’s come to Lucha Underground thru Netflix, you should know that you’re going to have a decent wait for new episodes. Seasons will continue to only show up on Netflix sometime after they finish airing on TV, which means Season 3 won’t be available until at least the middle of October, if not a little bit later than that. In the meantime, if you don’t get El Rey on cable, both iTunes and Amazon are selling individual episodes the day after they air, and there’s some digital TV services (Sling, Fubo.TV) which offer El Rey live as part of their package of channels.

Pentagon, Fenix and others leaving AAA doesn’t seem to affect their Lucha Underground status. Prince Puma is a different story.

La Reblion shirt, from LuchaShop

Last time Lucha Underground aired a new episode, Pentagon Jr. had not walked out on AAA and Fenix had not changed his name three hundred times. That seems very long ago. The short version is Pentagon (& Fenix) found wrestling in English speaking indies more rewarding than working in AAA, AAA started treating them like they were going to leave at any moment, and then that moment came.

This is the important thing, something no one on the outside understood early on but has been made clearer as time has gone on: Lucha Underground is not AAA, and AAA is not Lucha Underground. AAA owns part of LU (no one’s agrees exactly how much), LU has exclusive TV rights over any AAA luchador they use, and there’s a lot of people crossing over between both, but they’re independently managed and run. A wrestler’s status in one promotion is not supposed to affect another.

Lucha Underground officials have repeatedly said they want Pentagon back for a Season 4, they want Fenix back for a Season 4, they want Sexy Star back for a Season 4 – they want everyone back, and they also expect that everyone will be there. All the luchadors involved have also said they want to be back; guys like Pentagon & Fenix are appreciative of what Lucha Underground has done for their careers and how they’ve been treated there. Sexy Star, who’s limited her wrestling dates because she’s trying a boxing career, has said she’ll still find time to work for Lucha Underground. As far as everyone in that group of people are concerned publicly, this is a non-issue and everything will continue on as it has been.

The reason this is an issue is AAA. Reportedly, AAA luchadors were warned during season 2 that leaving AAA would cost them their spot in Lucha Underground. (And, in fact, Flamita never returned to the show as Nightclaw when he left AAA after season 2 – but we don’t know if he just didn’t want to be back.) AAA’s Dorian Roldan, who was likely behind that warning, has also come out in public to say everyone is welcome back to LU. It’s hard to know which side of that story to believe, and there’s been at least one reported attempt to remove any doubt from it – Pentagon was said to be offered a new LU deal which would pay him more and wouldn’t require him to go back to AAA, but would prevent him from working for any group in competition with AAA. It’s unclear if he’s signed, it’s unclear if he needs to sign.

It would be a tremendous no-win situation for Lucha Underground if they came back for a Season 4 with some of the most popular and identifiable people with the show all suddenly missing. Everyone seems super confident this will work out without that happening, and I don’t think there’s much to be concerned about that.

Ricochet/Prince Puma is a different situation. LU dearly wanted him to be on their show, and so gave him an option to leave his Lucha Undeground contract after three seasons. (Others, like Rey Mysterio Jr., are said to also have shorter deals, but most LU wrestlers were signed to seven season deals.) WWE can’t legally talk to Ricochet while he’s under contract to Lucha Underground, but it’s obvious they’d be making him a significant offer if he was available. They’ve offered and signed deals with stars from every major promotion in the world, it’s not going to by any different here. Ricochet will opt out, Lucha Underground may still make a great offer to keep him, but it’s tough to compete with WWE in a heads up battle.

Ricochet’s problem, his source of frustration, is a “three seasons aired” deal; LU contracts specifically prohibit their talent from appearing on another wrestling show while their season is still to air. If it was “three seasons taped”, Ricochet would’ve been a free agent as soon as last June. If El Rey stuck to the original Season 3 plan, Ricochet would be a free agent around now. Pushing back the season meant Ricochet instead has to wait until at least October, something like 16 months after the last time he wrestled in a Lucha Underground ring, to go talk to some one else about working on his TV.

(Pause here to note that even though Ricochet might be the only one who can leave LU after the third season, that 16 month delays pushed everyone involved in the series the same way.)

No one thought it would take this long, not Ricochet, not Lucha Underground. Ricochet’s been fortunate – or just been very good at what he does – so he’s gotten plenty of opportunities to work exciting places in the meantime. His LU’s deal does not affect NJPW TV taped in Japan, so he’s gotten to work there a lot – but he wouldn’t be allowed to work the NJPW TV taped in LA because Lucha Underground will still be airing. He wouldn’t be allowed to work for NJPW’s partner promotion ROH because it’s taped for the US. LU probably could’ve let it some of that slide because of hiatus, but they’ve held the line on protecting their content like so many other wrestling promotions.

Staring at a clock does not make it move faster. I’ve tried it a lot, and it doesn’t work. I wouldn’t blame Ricochet for doing it the next few months, though.

The Chances of Season 4 Are…Really Up To Whatever You Believe

??? (via uproxx)

El Rey definitely wants Lucha Underground back for a season 4 (and more). LU wants to be back for a season 4 (and more.) Even AAA, who might have reason to be conflicted a bit, have said they want LU to be back for a season 4. Yet, no one will actually go on record to say a season 4 is a go, and it’s probably not just because they’re waiting to make a big splashy announcement.

The problem is Lucha Underground does not make enough money to pay for itself, and AAA & El Rey alone can’t pay to keep it going. The show/promotion/brand is also owned by other investors, some well known and some not so much. It’s not public who owns how much, everyone who is involved, or exactly what they’d need to see to go forward with another season. We know MGM is one of the owners, and we can speculate MGM being able to sell Lucha Underground to stations like Germany’s Tele5 is a positive step for them, but we have no idea how much it means or what will be enough. We know that things like merchandising and live events have been pretty non-existent, which is a big failing if you look at at a wrestling company, but these investors might just see it as a TV product that can be monetized around the globe and those other things are just small potatoes. There’s plenty of shreds of evidence here to speculate on, but we don’t know what matters. It’d be easier if there was a cardboard thermometer so we could see how much heat LU needed to generate before they hit the magic mark to get Season 4, but there’s no singular indicator like that (not even the much obsessed about ratings.)

We do know all the same shortfalls have been there after season 1 and everyone decided to pick up the show not just for one season, but for two more at that time. Also, everyone associated with Lucha Underground, when asked, see season 4 as a virtual certainty, something the fans shouldn’t even worry about for a season. They’re confident there’s not even a story here. Sometime in October or November, they’ll be back taping once again with all the old crew reunited.

Still, the people involved have been talking about a Season 4 just needed to be funded since early this year, and then there will be firm taping dates. It’s not halfway thru the year, and there are no firm tape dates. (It’ll take just a moment for everyone to find out when there are some, since people will start getting pulled off indie shows.) Maybe there doesn’t even need to be funding until they get closer to the show and it’ll be find, but he lack of progress in other areas seems worrying. They did get on Netflix, they did add some foreign TV deals, but there’s been no evident progress in turning LU into a full fledged wrestling promotion in other ways. Their plans for live shows didn’t really pan out (limited to a handful of people working shows in Germany and Toronto), there’s still no way to buy a Prince Puma or Mil Muertes mask or most any other merch, they vanished in a lot of ways during the hiatus.

As a fan, I’d like there to be many more seasons of Lucha Underground. (And all of them in LA.) If I was an investor, I’d like to see signs of growth and I’m not convinced that’s happening or happening fast enough. It’s definitely possible Lucha Underground is coming back for a Season 4, but I’m not confident about it either way. I’m not going to argue with people who think it’s doomed or people who think it’s safe for sure – I feel like half the people I read strongly feel like they know it’s one or the other, and I’m just going to throw up my hands and walk away.

I am confident about Season 3: all of it will air, it’s been all taped, edited, and LU people saw the finished version of Ultima Lucha 3 about 10 days ago. I suspect we won’t definitively know about Season 4 until later this year. The Season 2/3 pickup didn’t happen until after Season 1 ended, so it’s at least possible this story could drift on for a while. I just wouldn’t let it impact your enjoyment of Season 3: while there are things which build onto the future, it’s a season finale built around resolving some storylines and final matches in big feuds. You’ll enjoy it no matter what happens next.

UG adds to his Niebla Roja mask collection, Terrible/Marco tonight

a happy Ultimo Guerrero

CMLL (MON) 05/29/2017 Arena Puebla [CMLL]
1) Asturiano & Zaeta Roja b Guerrero Espacial & Rey Apocalipsis LA MEJOR LUCHA LIBRE EN VIVO DESDE LA ARENA PUEBLA 29 DE MAYO DEL 2017 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
tecnicos took 1/3
2) Ares & Metálico b Black Tiger & Espíritu Maligno LA MEJOR LUCHA LIBRE EN VIVO DESDE LA ARENA PUEBLA 29 DE MAYO DEL 2017 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
rudos took 2/3
3) Arkángel de la Muerte, Canelo Casas, Fuerza Chicana b Lestat, Rey Samuray, Starman LA MEJOR LUCHA LIBRE EN VIVO DESDE LA ARENA PUEBLA 29 DE MAYO DEL 2017 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
Rudos took 1/3.
4) Stigma, Stuka Jr., Valiente b Cuatrero, Máscara Año 2000, Sansón LA MEJOR LUCHA LIBRE EN VIVO DESDE LA ARENA PUEBLA 29 DE MAYO DEL 2017 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
tecnicos took 1/3
5) Rush b Mr. Niebla LA MEJOR LUCHA LIBRE EN VIVO DESDE LA ARENA PUEBLA 29 DE MAYO DEL 2017 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
Rush took 1/3.
6) Ángel de Oro, Mistico, Niebla Roja DQ Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero LA MEJOR LUCHA LIBRE EN VIVO DESDE LA ARENA PUEBLA 29 DE MAYO DEL 2017 (posted by VideosOficialesCMLL)
tecnicos took 2/3, Ultimo Guerrero again unmasking Niebla Roja.

The first two matches took about an hour. That’s not good.

CMLL added Dragon Rojo versus Rey Cometa in a lightning match to Friday’s show. The last thing CMLL needs to do is add another match to a tournament show, but at least it should be a good match. You should probably stop watching once it’s over.

Tonight’s Arena Mexico show is headlined Marco Corleone versus Terrible, which could be a title match soon. Or a least an interaction along the away. I suspect the “tournaments” we’re getting will be more along the lines of a cibernetico where the final two advance to a match the final week, so they’d like to run into each other soon even if not in that title match. Terrible cheated to beat Marco last week.

Niebla Roja faces the Guerreros again, but this time without Ultimo Guerrero so he could possibly not lose his mask. This is the semimain listed with Volador that’s physically impossible to make. Ovaciones has a preview of the show which lists Soberano in the spot, teaming with Niebla Roja & Valiente. The rudo side is Gran Guerrero, Mephisto and Rey Bucanero, replacing Euforia. CMLL keeps Soberano and Euforia from facing each other, so Soberano getting the spot probably gave his father the night off.

CMLL’s preview for this show still has the original lineup for this match, even though they’ve told others the correct lineup. It’s pretty obvious the promotions care less about false advertising shows much less than I do. I’m not going to stop pointing out and criticizing it, but while realizing they’re not inclined to change their practices unless someone much more important forces them.

The fourth match is The Panther, Blue Panther Jr. and Pegasso versus Dragon Rojo Jr., Polvora & Sagrado. Universo 2000 Jr. makes his stream debut with Puma & TIger as partners against Starman, Oro Jr. & Esfinge. It’s weird Puma & Tiger are so low, even weirder in a week when they’re going for the national trios titles. Principe Sugehit & Zeuxis meet again in the women’s match, with Estrellita, Sanely, Tiffany and Metalica rounding out the match. The show opens with a competent Leono & Bengala against Hijo del Signo & Artillero. It’ll air on CMLL’s YouTube at 7:30pm.

Guadalajara tonight had Rush versus Caristico, but Valiente will replace Caristico. Caristico suffered an injury at the end of Sunday’s match, but there’s no word on what exactly the injury is. The tercera, the match most likely to air on stream complete, is a women’s match.

Also, The Crash debuts in Arena Queretaro tonight with Daga, Penta and Rey Mysterio facing Bestia, Damian and Nicho. There’s a scheduled semimain of Garza Jr., Jack Evans, Willie Mack versus Black Taurus, Laredo Kid and Super Crazy, but Super Crazy suffered a neck injury over the weekend and may be off. The fourth match is Flamita vs Rey Horus vs Septimo Dragon, which sounds like it’ll be really good. Flamita & Rey Horus meet on Friday in a title match, so normally Horus would be a favorite to build up the match, but it’s likely few in Tijuana will know anyway – it’s unlikely we’ll get results from this show, much less actual video.

La Parka’s column says the TripleMania ticket sales are up to 75%, which would means they sold about a 1,000 tickets this week with nothing particular to push ticket sales. (This column would’ve been written even before Friday night’s show.) That’s an unusual ticket buying pattern, for AAA & lucha, but reason for them not to be worried about the things they’re doing if they’re really that successful.

Maximo changed his Facebook account to take CMLL out of the name.

Ancla has La Mascara versus LA Park on 06/24 in Arena San Juan. I’m not sure La Mascara’s style is going to translate to the indies well, but that match will be a good test. The same night, Mascara & Dr. Wagner take on LA Park & Maximo in Arena Lopez Mateos.

LuchaWorld has this week’s Poster-Mania.

Segunda Caida starts watching Metalico matches.

+LuchaTV has Satanico, Mini Psycho Clown and Centviron as guests on their podcast.

Juventud Guerrera turns up in a story about Lucha Britannia.

Lineups

CMLL (MON) 06/05/2017 Arena Puebla
1) Astro, Meyer, París vs El Perverso, Guerrero Espacial, Sombra Diabólika
2) Astral, Espíritu Maligno, Magnus vs Ares, El Malayo, Joker
3) Fuego, Guerrero Maya Jr., Tigre Rojo Jr. vs Olímpico, Toro Bill Jr., Virus
4) Atlantis, Titán, Valiente vs Hechicero, Máscara Año 2000, Vangellys
5) Ángel de Oro, Mistico, Niebla Roja vs Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero

Main event is a rematch.

It was startling to look back at some 2012 footage and realize exactly how long we’ve been dealing with dancing Olimpico. So long.

Second match includes a rare Magnus appearance; it’s his first match there since September and he only wrestled there three times last year. And he’s there for an Arez/Espiritu Maligno feud.

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

out of habit of seeing this shot about four times every Wednesday

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.

Johnny Mundo (abs not pictured)

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.

The Mack, as surprised as everyone else that he actually won

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.

Drago, in Kobra Moon’s throne room. Kobra spent all her money on that throne and none on a proper dungeon. 

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.

jailed for his own protection

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.)

0 arms

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.

Prince Puma, chilling in a casket

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.

Amulet in the past
Vasquez’s part of amulet
Catrina’s portion of the amulet

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.

not spider-man

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.)

spider

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 and Dante

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.

new lucha videos for the weekend of May 26 2017

YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYyNnOBGWP7Qh416Zi8H5bZEW3bkqy-49

IWRG Zona XXI: 2017-05-24
taped 2017-05-21 @ Arena Naucalpan
Cloud Drive
1) Aramis vs Villano III Jr.
2) Black Dragón, Dinamic Black, Veneno vs Cerebro Negro, Heddi Karaoui, Hijo de Pirata Morgan
3) Freelance vs Dr. Cerebro
4) Danny Casas, Imposible, Mr. Electro vs Black Warrior, Trauma I, Trauma II

CMLL on ClaroSports.com: 2017-05-26
taped 2017-05-26 @ Arena México
Cloud Drive
1) Flyer & Oro Jr. vs Cancerbero & Raziel
2) Fuego, Star Jr., Stigma vs Misterioso Jr., Sagrado, Virus
3) Blue Panther Jr., Rey Cometa, The Panther vs Puma, Sam Adonis, Tiger
4) Stuka Jr. vs Pólvora in a lightning match
5) Ángel de Oro, Mistico, Niebla Roja vs Euforia, Gran Guerrero, Último Guerrero
6) Carístico, Marco Corleone, Valiente vs Bárbaro Cavernario, Pierroth, Rush

CMLL Guadalajara: 2017-05-27
Cloud Drive
taped 2017-05-23 @ Arena Coliseo Guadalajara
1) Esfinge, Soberano Jr., Starman vs Cuatrero, Forastero, Sansón

IWRG Zona XXI: 2017-05-29
Cloud Drive
taped 2017-05-28 @ Arena Naucalpan
1) Dr. Cerebro, Dragón Fly, Mr. Electro vs La Mosca, Pirata Morgan Jr., Veneno
2) Trauma I & Trauma II vs Black Warrior & Súper Mega