Lucha Underground Mid-Season Three Awards: Best Feud

The return of Lucha Underground's season three is approaching fast. Wednesday, May 31 at 8pm ET/PT on El Rey Network to be exact.

If your memory is like mine (a quesadilla with no cheese), you will need a refresher on season three’s furious feuds that ignited the Temple. What better a way to do that than to hand out mid-season awards. Hip hip hooray!

Today's award will be for the best feud. The nominees are...

Sexy Star vs Johnny Mundo

This has been the most prominent feud of season three so far. Sexy Star began the season as Gift of the Gods champion. That put a target on her back when Johnny Mundo couldn't convince Dario Cueto to hand him a title shot for the Lucha Underground championship. Sexy Star defeated members of his Worldwide Underground posse with their sweet bandanas despite numerous attempts at cheating. Also, mix in the Super Friends trios champs to even the odds.

It took cashing in $94,373 (minus expenses to cover up some internet photos from the original $100,000) for Mundo to finally persuade Dario Cueto to grant a match against Sexy Star. Mundo capitalized on the opportunity to win via brass knuckles.

Sexy Star had the feel-good moment of the season when she won Aztec Warfare 3 to become Lucha Underground champion. Her reign did not last long. Mundo defeated her the very next week with assistance from a masked Taya hiding in the audience.

Their final encounter took place inside a steel cage. Mundo was up to his old tricks once again by ripping off Sexy Star's mask so he could escape to remain Lucha Underground champion.

Mil Muertes vs Prince Puma

This feud was reignited in season three by Vampiro chirping in Prince Puma's ear. Puma was being a mope in the locker room, which allowed Vampiro to plant the seed of getting redemption by defeating Mil Muertes. Back and forth sneak attacks led to a singles bout and then Grave Consequences. In a cold blooded move, Mil Muertes won Grave Consequences by placing Prince Puma in the same coffin that once contained Puma's mentor, Konnan.

After that, the feud jumped up a notch with supernatural elements. Vampiro brought Puma back to life, Catrina knows of Vampiro's dabbling in the dark arts, Puma is having flashbacks and flash forwards of his enemy's demise, Mil attacked Vampiro, and Vampiro threatened payback to Mil. It appears this will be leading to an epic blow off match to end the feud.

The most intriguing aspect for the second half will be Vampiro's true agenda. Signs point to using Puma as a tool for revenge on his former protege, Pentagon DARK. Getting back at Catrina for slapping him at Aztec Warfare 2 could also be part of Vampiro's master plan.

Killshot vs Dante Fox

Killshot was pumping iron when he received a hand-delivered envelope from short shorts wearing Joey Ryan. The message read, "You left me for dead."

The backstory is Dante Fox being left behind by Killshot on a mission when they were soldiers deployed together overseas. Shortly after the message, Fox showed up in the Temple to confront Killshot. Fisticuffs ensued. The hatred boiled over as tag partners in an Aztec Warfare qualifying match. That led to a fantastic one-on-one bout, in which Dante Fox was the better fighter that night.

I expect Lucha Underground will be digging deeper into this feud in the second half of season three. It could be a sleeper for feud of the year once we see Fox's side of the story and more matches fueled by bitter animosity.

Rey Mysterio vs Chavo Guerrero Jr.

The latest chapter of this long-simmering feud began as Chavo and El Dragon Azteca Jr. were competing to see who would attain the prize of retaliation against arm-breaker Pentagon DARK. Chavo lost the one-on-one match against Azteca with Rey Mysterio as ref. Two weeks later, Chavo bashed Azteca's brains in with a steel chair. That led Dario Cueto to book a three-way with Chavo, Rey, and Pentagon. After that match, Chavo took out his frustrations by pummeling Rey via steel chair.

That was the last straw for Rey. He was tired of wasting time on dumbass Chavo, so that set up a Loser Leaves Lucha match. Chavo Classic did his best to help Chavo Jr. win, but Rey had the last laugh. He defeated Chavo to end Chavo's days in the Temple forever.

Texano vs Cage

There wasn't much story to this feud in regard to Texano and Cage. Just two beefy beefers beefing it out to see who was beefiest in a beef-of-five series. The spice in the story was behind the scenes with Dario Cueto looking for a host body to possess a superpowered godly gauntlet.

Cage took the 2-0 early lead. Texano squeaked out a victory in match three. The series didn't continue for two months as Aztec Warfare and the Battle of the Bulls tournament took center stage. The momentum of the feud was dead, but the combo of matches four and five were straight fire to lift the feud into distinguished territory of the Lucha Underground history books.

Drago vs The Snake Tribe

Kobra Moon slithered into Drago's bathroom hideaway to make a power play for his loyalty. Apparently, Drago was a general for the Snake Tribe army 1,000 years ago. Drago's outright resistance forced Kobra Moon to call Pindar and Vibora for a kidnapping. Aerostar and Fenix did expert detective work checking the bathroom plumbing before suffering a powder room pounding at the hands of the snake men.

Next we saw Drago, he appeared to be drugged and following Kobra Moon's orders in a trios contest against the Rabbit Tribe. Aerostar and Fenix hit the ring post-match to free their friend, but it was unclear how Drago responded. It seemed like he snapped out of his trance, however, that would be way too quick a resolution. It will be interesting to see the chemistry between the Super Friends when they return to defend their Trios championships.

In the off time, Drago's buddy Aerostar has been busy rubbing his nipples. Time-traveling spacemen are weird.

Rey Mysterio vs Matanza

This has been a slow simmering feud. Their first encounter took place at Aztec Warfare 2 when Matanza debuted and pinned Rey Mysterio to win the Lucha Underground championship. Their next confrontation would take place at Aztec Warfare 3, where Rey eliminated Matanza as Matanza's first official defeat. An incensed Matanza sent Rey to the hospital.

Since then, Matanza's singular focus has been to punish Rey. There was a cool scene that showed Matanza punching the wall to paint Rey's patented question mark with Matanza's own blood. Matanza even assaulted his beloved brother, Dario, by smashing Dario’s head against the holding cell to get the giant key. Matanza used that freedom to clobber El Dragon Azteca Jr. That set up a Death Match between Matanza and Azteca, which resulted in Azteca being chokeslammed through the bleachers.

Rey made a surprise appearance to check on the health of his protege. Upon seeing Rey, Matanza went berserk and beat up fans as he forged a path to pummel Rey. Rey turned the tide with a back body drop to send Matanza crashing through the storage room ceiling.

Winner - Mil Muertes vs Prince Puma

It was tough to pick a winner for this award. Over half of the feuds nominated haven't been completed yet. Mil Muertes vs Prince Puma gets the nod for great wrestling action and the type of fantastical story elements that could only occur in Lucha Underground. I'm also hot for Rey Mysterio vs Matanza. Lucha Underground has been giving me just the right amount of tasty teases to build my anticipation for their eventual showdown.

Which feud was the best for you so far in season three? Who do you want to see duke it out in the second half?

If you missed it, check out the awards for Best Moment, Most Outrageous Moment and a breakdown of the mid-season trailer.