Lucha Underground Mid-Season Three Awards: Best Match

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

If your memory is like mine (an ice cube tray with melted ice), you will need a refresher on season three’s best matches to go down in the Temple. What better a way to do that than to hand out mid-season awards. Jam on it, jam on it, ja-ja-jam on it!

Today's award will be best match. For the sake of brevity, only seven matches were picked. There could have been many more included, such as Weapons of Mass Destruction between Marty Martinez and Killshot (also known as, "Huevos of Mass Destruction," when said with Dario Cueto's accent), Mil Muertes vs Prince Puma 1-on-1, Loser Leaves Lucha between Rey Mysterio and Chavo Guerrero, and the Death Match between Matanza and El Dragon Azteca Jr.

The nominees are...

Matanza vs Prince Puma

The match was set up by Dario's Dial of Doom. The name that won the spin got the title shot.

Matt Striker proved to be spot-on with his early analysis, "This will be about Puma's athleticism, Puma's speed, and Puma's heart against Matanza's blood-curdling desire for violence."

Prince Puma provided Matanza's first true challenge of season three. Puma has pretty much been Matanza's only challenge in singles competition. Outside of hoss matches, Puma is the best opponent for Matanza. Puma uses his own athleticism to flip and flop in an effort to showcase Matanza's pummeling power. He really makes it feel like Matanza has the strength of ten men when on the offensive onslaught.

The finishing sequence began as Puma countered the Wrath of the Gods into a DDT. A few kicks later and Puma was set up for the 630 splash. Success! And new champ?

Nope. Mil Muertes hit the ring to deliver a pulverizing spear to Puma. One Flatliner later by Mil and Matanza cleaned up the mess with a victorious Wrath of the Gods.

Believer's Backlash: Mascarita Sagrada vs Famous B

After being fired in humiliating fashion, Mascarita Sagrada finally got his chance at revenge in Believer's Backlash. The premise of the match is that fans can use weapons to attack the luchadores as they see fit.

This contest was extremely entertaining. There was tons of creative comedy, but they took their lumps as well. Highlights include Mascarita in football gear, a little ladder, trash can shenanigans, a bowling ball, oversized scissors, a big shoe, and chopping the head off cardboard Famous B.

The finish was satisfying as Mascarita finally found redemption. After his victory, another feel-good moment occurred as Son of Havoc patched in Mascarita with a motorcycle club vest of his very own. I bet they ate Bagel Bites at the after-party.

Grave Consequences: Mil Muertes vs Prince Puma

Prince Puma needed to get his mojo back, so he picked a fight with Mil Muertes. That eventually led to Grave Consequences. To add some extra oomph to Mil, Catrina declared that she would not be bringing him back to life if he lost.

Grave Consequences 3 certainly lived up to the lofty expectations of the standard set by its Grave Consequences predecessors. Highlights include a powerbomb onto a casket, a crushing spear into a table, a springboard somersault onto a casket, and an astounding Flatliner escape.

The end came when Prince Puma got super chokeslammed through tables. To add insult to injury, Mil dragged out the same coffin that was used to dispose of Konnan. Add in a Flatliner on the concrete floor and that was enough to seal Puma's fate. Lid closed.

Aztec Warfare 3

Aztec Warfare is the Lucha Underground version of the Royal Rumble, except elimination by pinfall or submission only. No over-the-top-rope eliminations. It is always a good time.

The story heading in was champion Matanza entering first to prove he could overcome that challenge. Drago was 20th after winning a three-way with his buds, Aerostar and Fenix.

Some big moments were the Triad ninjas making their first appearance to ambush Pentagon DARK, Rey Mysterio eliminating Matanza, and Angelico leaping from the heavens to get revenge of Johnny Mundo. The biggest moment was Sexy Star defeating Mil Muertes in the final two to become new Lucha Underground champion. The crowd went wild with jubilation.

Killshot vs Dante Fox

Tremendous hatred had already been built from the backstory by the time these two clashed in the ring for their first one-on-one encounter. It was eight minutes of ass-kicking action at a furious pace. I would put Killshot vs Dante Fox on the short list for the best pure 1-on-1 match (no weapons or gimmicks) of any season.

In the ending sequence, Killshot executed a fireman's carry slam from the turnbuckle down onto the outside edge of the ring. He followed up with a top rope flying stomp back in the ring. It looked like certain victory, but Dante Fox escaped before the count of three. Vampiro nailed the moment, "... I am not ready to die. HE KICKED OUT."

That led to Fox getting momentum with a seated springboard Spanish fly C4 followed up by his Fox Catcher piledriver maneuver. That proved to be enough for the three count and victory.

Gauntlet Match: Pentagon DARK vs Triad ninja death squad

As a coming home present to Black Lotus, Dario Cueto booked a gauntlet match against the Black Lotus Triad female quartet. Win or lose, Pentagon DARK had to compete in all four matches. Doku, Yurei, and Hitokiri were the hired guns brought in by Black Lotus.

The entire match was bonkers from the get-go. It was physical and violent. Pentagon won the first two matches despite a crazy elbow drop from Doku, then he gave them a gentlemanly reward of one broken arm each. Hitokiri was next. In a hard fought battle, she turned the tide with a flying crossbody off Dario Cueto's office roof. Back in the ring, she countered out of a package piledriver to reverse into a Canadian Destroyer for the win.

The final stage of the bout was Black Lotus. She didn't wait for the bell to ring and immediately took vengeance via arm break on the prone Pentagon. The night wasn't over for Pentagon. El Dragon Azteca Jr. stormed the ring to break Pentagon's other arm. Hot damn.

Match 5: Texano vs Cage

Midway through the episode, the stage was set for match 4 in the best-of-five series between Texano and Cage. Little did we know it would led to an epic match 5 in the same episode. In match 4, Cage concussed his head on an exposed turnbuckle and bled profusely. Texano finished him off with a powerbomb in a relatively quick bout.

Cue Dario Cueto's music. He didn't want to wait to see who would win his, "really freaking awesome," ultimate opportunity. Match 5 would be right now. RING THE BELL!

These two behemoths hossed it up in savage style all over the Temple. The finish to the match was wild. After an out-of-the-ring thumping, Cage kicked out. After a chair shot to the head, Texano kicked out. Exchange of meat clubs. Crossface submission on Cage. Reversal into a pin. Texano kicked out. After a discus clothesline, Texano kicked out. After a piledriver, Texano did not kick out.

The mini summary reads faster than the action played out. It wasn’t a bunch of finishers being spammed. The maneuvers felt like they suited the story of the bout, and the pace was fitting to match the intensity of the grueling affair.

With the win, Cage received his prize of being an unknowing host body for a gauntlet that posses the spirit of a god. With the loss, Texano may slowly come around to accepting the help of Texan B to become famous.

Winner - Grave Consequences: Mil Muertes vs Prince Puma

These two competitors went all out for an amazing match. Puma provided the beauty and Mil provided the brawn. As a fan of Mil Muertes, his victory delighted me, especially since I viewed Puma as the instigator in this feud. I loved the touch of using Konnan's coffin to defeat Prince Puma. The bonus of Puma losing was getting to see his resurrection at the hands of Vampiro.

Which was the best match so far in season three? How do this season's top matches stack up against the previous seasons?

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