Lucha Underground's Weirdest Storylines

If you take a Mexican Telenovela, place a wrestling ring in the middle of it, and sign some of the hottest luchadors and independent free agents to a number of ridiculously constructed contracts, what do you get? The answer is, of course, Lucha Underground.

Despite only lasting a shade over four years as a promotion, with their tapings concluding even earlier than their final episode in November 2018, Lucha Underground can genuinely be considered as one of the most unique and influential wrestling companies of the modern era. They gave some of the most popular stars in the world today a viable platform that they had never been given before, their aesthetic was unlike any promotion had produced, and given the cinematic nature of their storylines, things like Bray Wyatt's Firefly Funhouse match, The Undertaker's Boneyard match, and everything to do with Matt Hardy's "Broken Universe" wouldn't have succeeded without Lucha Underground.

The storylines produced by Lucha Underground are what we are here to discuss today because, in all honesty, no wrestling company in history could feasibly get away with even a fraction of the stuff Lucha Underground put out for the world to see. Supernatural forces, ancient tribes, and so many wrestlers getting murdered and assassinated made Lucha Underground a safe haven for all things weird and wonderful in professional wrestling at the time, cultivating a loyal fanbase in the process.

So sit back, relax, and join us on a journey to The Temple in Boyle Heights, California. The home of one of the most insane wrestling promotions in the history of the business, where we dive into the archives and explore some of the strangest, funniest, and downright bizarre storylines in Lucha Underground history. Expect death, torture, and mystery, because in Lucha Underground, absolutely nothing was off limits. 

When it comes to diving in to the absurd world of Lucha Underground, the Cueto family is Ground Zero for all the weirdness that followed in the four seasons that ended up airing on the El Rey Network.

Dario Cueto, played by Spanish actor Luis Fernandez-Gil, was the "owner" of Lucha Underground. Cueto's backstory was one shrouded in mystery. Growing up, he dreamt of opening up his own fighting league with the seemingly endless supply of money he had in his back pocket, and was so possessed by wanting to see some of the greatest wrestlers rip each other apart, he situated his office mere feet from the ring. Given his love of all things violent, Cueto would actually meet a grizzly end as he was shot dead at the end of season three, one of the many, MANY, characters in Lucha Underground lore to literally be killed.

At the start of season four, fans were introduced (or reintroduced) to Fernandez-Gil playing the role of Antonio Cueto, Dario's father. When Dario was shot, he made one last phone call to the man later revealed to be Antonio, who would run Lucha Underground after his son's death. However, it would be revealed later on that Antonio had always seen Dario as the weakest of his children, and ordered a hit on his own flesh and blood.

Dario would have always been seen as weak compared to his brother Matanza Cueto, who was played by Jeff "JC Mateo" Cobb. A monster who was supposedly possessed by an ancient Aztec god, Matanza had reportedly killed his and Dario's mother, as well as other members of the promotion, and ultimately had to be kept in a cage throughout his time on the show due to how insanely dangerous he was. He spent nearly an entire season "sacrificing" wrestlers to the gods before eventually being killed himself.

One person who tried, but ultimately failed, to kill Matanza was Black Lotus. Played by Angela Fong, Lotus believed that Matanza had killed her parents and was out for revenge, routinely interfering in Dario Cueto's shady business. Eventually, Cueto had Lotus kidnapped and held captive, where he explained that it was actually El Dragon Azteca who was responsible for her parents dying, something that would later turn out to be a complete lie, and that Matanza did kill her parents because, as we've already mentioned, he was so dangerous he needed to be kept in a cage.

Lotus was none the wiser, and after killing Azteca, fled The Temple with Dario and Matanza to avoid being killed themselves. However, they would all return at the beginning of season two, but upon returning, Azteca's most beloved student had become El Dragon Azteca Jr., who was portrayed by Rey Horus. Azteca Jr. and Lotus would have a match at the end of season two, but no winner was ever determined due to Pentagon Jr., better known simply as Penta to WWE fans today, interfering and breaking her arm (we'll get to that in a minute).

Now Lotus had a new enemy in Pentagon Jr., who by season three had morphed into Pentagon Dark, and this new dark side of the luchador required some extra womanpower. Lotus would look east and find three of the best ninjas from Japan to form The Black Lotus Triad in order to take down Pentagon Dark. Those three ninjas were Yurei, Doku, and Hitokiri who would wear Penta down during a Gauntlet match in season three, gaining revenge for their leader — and in case you were wondering, the three ninjas were played by none other than former IWGP Women's Champion Mayu Iwatani, former WWE women's tag team champion Kairi Sane, and former WWE women's and women's world champion IYO SKY, who scored the official pinfall victory over Penta before Black Lotus broke his arm in vengeance.

You might have some questions regarding the previous mentions of now beloved WWE superstar Penta, who had arenas across the world screaming "Cero Miedo" as he broke the arms of any man, woman, or luchador that crossed his path before AEW was even conceived.

In season one, Pentagon Jr. had made a habit of not only breaking the arms of anyone who he beat, or anyone who looked at him funny, but he would sacrifice his collection of arms to his dark master. Towards the back end of the season, Pentagon tried to add Sexy Star's arm to his ever-growing collection, but was stopped by former WCW star and Lucha Underground commentator Vampiro, who stood up for Star. This only ended up in Vampiro getting lumps being beaten out of him by Pentagon, who vowed to sacrifice his arm to his master. This resulted in a brutal "Cero Miedo" match, where Pentagon would emerge victorious after putting Vampiro through a flaming table. However, the story wasn't over. 

After the match, Vampiro urged Pentagon to break his arm to live up to his side of the bargain, to which Pentagon agreed, only for Vampiro to reveal that he had been Pentagon's dark master the entire time. This would lead both Pentagon and Vampiro to become fan favorites, especially after Mr. Cero Miedo himself started targeting the likes of Matanza Cueto. Pentagon Jr. would become Pentagon Dark by the end of season two after getting extensive training from Vampiro, who felt like Pentagon could finally be the one to dethrone Matanza as the Lucha Underground Champion. That never happened, as Matanza picked up the win, leading to Pentagon turning on Vampiro out of anger, and he went back to breaking people's arms for his own pleasure.

Dario Cueto's bloodthirsty ways didn't always lead to bad things happening to random people — only to the people that deserved it. Take Sexy Star for example, a woman who you won't hear from these days, since she was functionally blacklisted from wrestling in 2017 after legitimately shooting on TNA star Rosemary at AAA TripleMania XXV. How Star's career played out is a shame to many Lucha Underground fan give that at one point, she was one of the most popular and inspiring performers in the entire company.

This is in no small part to her story where she was kidnapped by Marty "The Moth" Martinez and his sister The Mariposa (better known as Cheerleader Melissa to SHIMMER fans or Raisha Saeed/Alissa Flash if you're into late 2010s TNA) at the end of season one. Star was held hostage and tortured by the siblings, but would eventually break free of the duo in season two. However, the damage had been done to Star's mind. Playing off the backstory that Star had an upbringing that wouldn't look out of place in a Netflix crime documentary, Star would cower and go into a shell of herself whenever she saw The Mariposa. Star's rise to the top of Lucha Underground originally was her overcoming her demons and inspiring young girls around the world to be as strong as her, and she had a new demon to conquer.

After receiving some friendly advice from Cueto on how to beat someone to death, Star would defeat The Mariposa in a "No Mas" match (essentially an "I Quit" match) and after emerging from the match stronger than ever, she became the first luchadora to win the Aztec Warfare match, and in turn the Lucha Underground Championship in season three.

The idea of an underground Lucha Libre promotion where people can literally be killed at any moment wouldn't go unnoticed by the law, unless they like being paid off by Dario Cueto, in which case the California police were probably enjoying the show on the El Rey Network as much as we were, is crazy. But one man decided to take matters into his own hands, a brave man who many long-time fans of the independent scene will know as Ricky Reyes, but in The Temple, he went undercover as Cortez Castro.

Castro became a wrestler and joined Lucha Underground for the sole purpose of bringing down Dario Cueto because, as you may have noticed by now, he was a lunatic. Castro was part of The Crew alongside Bael and Mr. Cisco, who followed the orders of Ezekiel "Big Ryck" Jackson, but he was doing so well as a wrestler that his police partner wanted in on the action. However, if we have to talk about Castro's partner, it would require us saying the words "Joey Ryan" quite a few times, so for the sake of that, he will simply be referred to as "The Partner."

As Castro got closer to bringing down Cueto, The Partner ended up betraying Castro, aligning himself with Cueto and outing Castro as a police officer whose real name was Reyes. Reyeswas banished from The Temple, but did manage to make a return as the masked luchador Veneno, seeking revenge on his former partner, who once again revealed his true identity. This all led to a 5-0 Street Fight between the former partners, with Castro/Reyes picking up the win, but he felt the wrath of the Cueto family in season four, as he (like the rest of The Crew) was killed by Matanza. The follow-up story involving Reyes' boss having an ulterior motive for investigating The Temple that involved some sort of mystic amulet was never fully explored, though it may have been if the show had been renewed for a fifth season.

A seven-year old Pasqual Mendoza is living in Mexico City, Mexico with his family, when a giant earthquake hits the Mexican capital, killing Mendoza's family in the process. In the rubble, a rock was found that Muertes would later be controlled by, with his valet/sort-of-girlfriend Catrina being the one to harness the power of the rock and unleash Mil Muertes on The Temple in Boyle Heights.

The name Mil Muertes literally translates to "A Thousand Deaths," and that's exactly what he and Catrina attempted to bring to Lucha Underground. Muertes was portrayed by Ricky Banderas, who many North American fans will already know from his time as Judas Mesias in TNA, where he had an ill-fated spooky feud with Abyss, while also wrestling under his real name for Wrestling Society X, a promotion that many saw as the spiritual, "edgelord" predecessor to Lucha Underground. Catrina was played by former WWE superstar Maxine, who featured on the all-female season of "WWE NXT" when WWE's third brand was essentially a game show.

Together, they were an integral part of Lucha Underground's early episodes, with Muertes being one of the first people to kill someone on-screen. He put Prince Puma's mentor Konnan in a casket, and given the powers Muertes possessed through the rock that Catrina had in her possession, Konnan was officially dead, and anyone who was put in a casket in Lucha Underground would be dead as well. Fortunately, when Muertes himself was put in a casket during a "Grave Consequences" match with his archrival, current WWE star Rey Fenix, he was able to be resurrected by Catrina. Over time, however, he would be hunted by King Cuerno — also currently wrestling in WWE as Santos Escobar — who not only killed Muertes, but put him in a glass coffin as a trophy for the whole of Lucha Underground to see. 

One of the first competitive rivalries in Lucha Underground history was between two men who were introduced in the first few episodes. Aero Star, an 11-year veteran of AAA by the time he arrived at The Temple, and the last character created by AAA founder Antonio Pena before his death in 2006, and Drago, a man with a one of the coolest masks in wrestling history and a tongue that could lick an entire ice cream cone in one movement. 

After entering The Temple as babyface allies, Aero Star and Drago would embark in a best-of-five respect series; Drago would ultimately emerge victorious with three victories to Aero Star's two, but the two luchadors became both friends and partners in the months that followed. They would win the Lucha Underground Trios Championships with Fenix, and even the AAA World Tag Team Championships in 2016 at the height of Lucha Underground's popularity — but while they were already fantastic wrestlers, Lucha Underground turned them into supernatural characters the likes of which no other promotion could get away with.

Drago was a fire-breathing dragon who could fly. Like, he was actually supposed to be a dragon in human form, and multiple backstage segments vignettes ended up with him appearing to fly away. This didn't make him as invincible as you'd think — pioneering high-flyer Jack Evans joined the promotion and declared himself as the "Dragon Slayer," and Drago was kidnapped (yes, you could kidnap dragons in Lucha Underground) and imprisoned by Kobra Moon (AEW's Thunder Rosa) and the rest of Reptile Tribe. As for Aero Star, he was an actual astronaut who could travel through both space and time, making him a mysterious harbinger character who tended to be involved in some of the show's wildest later storylines, such as the aforementioned mystic amulet and Fenix being possessed by a dark entity. What Dragon and Aero Star should be best remembered for, however, is their proficiency with nunchucks, which they used liberally both in matches and in backstage vignettes where they beat people up in the bathroom, a bizarrely frequent occurrence in Lucha Underground. Aero Star's nunchucks even glowed in the dark.

Since we mentioned it, The Reptile Tribe wasn't the only tribe in Lucha Underground. The thing a lot of people hate most about modern wrestling is the tribalism between fans of particular companies, but in The Temple, wrestlers, and of course Dario Cueto, thrived off of tribalism. 

In season one, Cueto revealed he had come across seven ancient medallions, one for each of the ancient Aztec tribes, causing fans of the show to sit up and go "wait...ancient Aztec tribes?" There was the aforementioned Reptile tribe, as well the Moth, Jaguar, Owl, Rabbit, Eagle, and Deer tribes, with all of the medallions being up for grabs in various matches throughout the show. If someone managed to win all seven of them, they would receive a "Gift from the Gods" as Cueto called it, which ended up being the Lucha Underground Gift of the Gods Championship, a title that you could trade in for a shot at the Lucha Underground Championship, releasing the medallions back into the company. It was basically Lucha Underground's version of Money in the Bank (except Cueto made it clear that you had to cash in a week in advance so he could promote the title match, because Fernandez-Gil was playing the role of a wrestling promoter, not a moron).

The lore behind the tribes goes a lot deeper than seven medallions being able to grant title shots. Many fans have theorized othat the seven Gods of these tribes were looking for new hosts, and the plan was for there to be a war amongst the Gods in The Temple when all seven tribes had found their new masters or hosts. Others believe it was simply a hoax by Cueto to give him an excuse to pit people against each other for no good reason. Everyone seems to have their own version of what the overall meaning and plot behind the seven tribes was, and the show ended in 2018 without giving a proper explanation.

Famous B was a name many who followed the independent circuit in California might be familiar with. He popped up in companies like XPW, PWG, and Dragon Gate USA, just to name a few, but when he got to The Temple in Boyle Heights, he wanted you to do one thing and one thing only: call 423-GET-FAME. With a name like Famous B, he promised fame and fortune to anyone smart enough to call his number, which fans of the show at the time will remember, as 423-GET-FAME was a real number that anyone could call.

Over time, it became clear that Famous B was not the man he said he was. He oozed an energy that would make a used car salesman cringe, and an enthusiasm that would put someone like Jimmy Hart to shame, but he could never make anyone famous. The likes of Mascarita Sagrada and Son of Havoc were some of his original clients, but after Mexican icon Dr. Wagner Jr. debuted, Famous B did everything he could to make sure he was as close to Wagner as possible, especially after Wagner won $250,000 at the end of season two in a match against Son of Havoc. 

In the end, Famous B would just try and cosy up to whoever had the most going for them at any given time, and the promise of fame he made to everyone was a prime example of why you should never fully trust anyone who can make their own infomercial despite being broke. With that said, at least the fans chanted his own phone number at him.