The Lucha Underground Championship was a

professional wrestling Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to Real life, real- ...

world championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

owned by the

Lucha Underground Lucha Underground was an American professional wrestling promotion founded in 2014 by United Artists, United Artists Media Group. ''Lucha Underground'' also refers to its weekly television program, which featured List of former Lucha Underground p ...

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

. The championship was the top championship of the promotion and was generally contested in

professional wrestling matches Many types of wrestling matches, sometimes called "Glossary of professional wrestling terms#Gimmick, gimmick matches" in the Glossary of professional wrestling terms, jargon of the business, are performed in professional wrestling. Some gimmick m ...

, in which participants execute

scripted ''Scripted'' is the debut studio album by American rock band Icon for Hire. It was released on Tooth & Nail Records on August 23, 2011, and went on to break the label's new artist record for albums sold during the first week of release. Backgr ...

finishes rather than in

direct competition Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero-sum game). Competition can arise between entities such as organisms, individ ...

. The championship was introduced in episode 8 ("A Unique Opportunity") taped on October 4, 2014, and broadcast on December 17, 2014, with the first champion being determined on episode 9 ("Aztec Warfare") which was taped on October 5, 2014, and broadcast on television on January 7, 2015. The final champion was Jake Strong, who won the title on the last episode of ''Lucha Underground''. As it was a professional wrestling championship, the title was not won by actual competition, but by a scripted ending to a match determined by the bookers and match makers. On occasion the promotion declares a championship vacant, which means there is no champion at that point in time. This can either be due to a storyline, or real life issues such as a champion suffering an injury being unable to defend the championship, or leaving the company.

History

During Episode 8 ("A Unique Opportunity") of

's first season the storyline owner of Lucha Underground, Dario Cueto, announced that he was introducing the "top prize" in the promotion, the Lucha Underground Championship, revealing the belt to the audience in the arena and viewers at home. He explained that on the following week's show 20 wrestlers would compete in an ''

Aztec Warfare Aztec warfare concerns the aspects associated with the military conventions, forces, weaponry and strategic expansions conducted by the Mesoamerican chronology, Late Postclassic Aztec civilizations of Mesoamerica, including particularly the milit ...

'' match, featuring a mixture of male, female and ''

Mini-Estrella The term ''Mini-Estrella'' (Spanish language, Spanish for "Mini-Star") is used in lucha libre to describe a division of short professional wrestling, professional wrestlers or ''luchadors'', some of whom have dwarfism. The Mexican ''Mini-Estrell ...

'' competitors in the ring at the same time. During episode 8

Mil Muertes Mil, mil, or MIL may refer to: Places * Mil, Syria, a village in Syria * Mil, Azerbaijan, a municipality in Beylagan Rayon * Mil, Markazi, a village in Markazi Province, Iran * Metropolitan area of Milan ( IATA code: MIL), Italy (Milan is city ...

defeated Fénix in a match, earning him the number 20 spot, while forcing Fénix to be the first man in the match. Episode 9 ("Aztec Warfare") was dedicated to the championship match and saw

Prince Puma Trevor Mann (born October 11, 1988), known by his ring name Ricochet, is an American professional wrestler. , he is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW). He is best known for his tenure in WWE from 2018 to 2024 where he is a former WWE Interconti ...

Johnny Mundo John Randall Hennigan (born October 3, 1979), better known by his ring name John Morrison, is an American professional wrestler and actor. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he performs under the ring name Johnny TV. He also perfo ...

to eliminate him from the match and become the inaugural Lucha Underground Champion. During the broadcast a couple weeks later ("They Call Him Cage") after Puma defeated

Cage A cage is an enclosure often made of mesh, bars, or wires, used to confine, contain or protect something or someone. A cage can serve many purposes, including keeping an animal or person in captivity, capturing an animal or person, and displayi ...

by disqualification to retain the championship, Cage tore the championship belt apart in a fit of anger, ripping the leather strap in half. As a result, Dario Cueto introduced a new Lucha Underground Championship belt in Episode 20 ("The Art of War") that was presented to Prince Puma.

retained his championship in many matches for the title against Fénix,

King Cuerno Jorge Luis Alcantar Bolly (born April 30, 1984), is a Mexican professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Santos Escobar and is the leader of Legado Del Fantasma. He is a former memb ...

, Drago, Hernandez,

, and

Chavo Guerrero Jr. Salvador Guerrero IV (born October 20, 1970) better known by his ring names Chavo Guerrero and Chavo Guerrero Jr., is an American professional wrestler. He is best known for his tenures in World Championship Wrestling (WCW), World Wrestling Fe ...

On Episode 31 ("The Desolation of Drago") Drago defeated

, Cage and Hernandez to earn a match against Prince Puma at '' Ultima Lucha'', Lucha Underground's season finale. Afterwards Cueto announced that Drago would face Mil Muertes on episode 33 for the right to challenge the champion. Episode 33 was taped on April 11, 2015 and had Muertes defeat Drago to earn the match against Prince Puma. At ''Ultima Lucha'' Mil Muertes defeated Prince Puma to win the title and end the last episode of the first season as the champion. Overall,

and

Pentagón Dark Pentagón is a lucha libre, or professional wrestling, persona also referred to as a gimmick that has been portrayed by a number of different people over the years. The gimmick was created as an Evil twin of professional wrestler Octagón and is ...

hold the record for most reigns, with two. With 622, Pentagón Dark's first reign is the longest in the title's history. Puma's second reign, Pentagón's second reign, and Jake Strong's first reign hold the record for shortest reign in the title's history at less than one day. Overall, there have been 11 reigns shared among 9 wrestlers, with 0 vacancies.

Reigns

Combined reigns

Explanatory notes

References

General references

* *

Citations

External links

Lucha Underground Championship
{{Lucha Underground Championship Lucha Underground championships World heavyweight wrestling championships