Season 1, Episode 1. That's how far back it goes.
The Lucha Underground "Temple" opened its doors for the first time in Boyle Heights, Los Angeles, on Oct. 29, 2014, when the Lucha promotion aired for the first time. Prince Puma, introduced as Boyle Heights' very own despite being an unknown to the scattered locals in attendance, stood across the ring from a more familiar face. The surname was new to wrestling fans, but the performer wearing tinted sunglasses and a long, extravagant jacket was far from new.
He's known to wrestling fans as John Hennigan (his real name) and many pseudonyms -- such as Johnny Blaze, Johnny Nitro, John Morrison and other nicknames, almost all of them surnames following John. On this night in October 2014, he was announced as Johnny Mundo. His match against Puma headlined the first episode of Lucha Underground, then a new cinematically stylized wrestling show.
It was his first appearance on TV since leaving WWE in 2011. A lot had changed for Hennigan in those three years, even if his long brown hair, shredded body and eye-popping wardrobe looked the same. He was about to wrestle in front of a few hundred fans, inside an abandoned warehouse where he had filmed a movie a couple years prior.
It felt different this time around.
Even though the "Temple" was at half capacity, something special was about to take place.
The display of world-class athleticism and undeniable chemistry between Puma and Hennigan set the stage for what would become the most important rivalry in Lucha Underground's history.
"Sometimes I take a few steps back and I watch some of the matches that we've had, and when I'm watching what I'm doing in the ring with him, it almost seems like an out-of-body experience," Hennigan told ESPN.com. "Like, 'Whoa, that was me. I did that.'"
Lucha Underground needed stars to attract fans to fill those empty seats, and after just one episode it was clear the promotion had already found them. Three years later, the Lucha Underground championship has been around the waist of either Puma or Hennigan for 60 out of 105 episodes across three seasons. Hennigan had never worked with Puma, who also goes by Ricochet - his real name is Trevor Mann - until that night, but Hennigan came away more than impressed.
"Prince Puma is one of the most talented people in the history of the business. He can do anything," Hennigan said. "He's so ridiculously talented. When you're in the ring with someone like him, that means that anything is possible. I mean, I could pretty much do anything I want to, so you're dealing with two ridiculously talented performers who are gunning to steal the show, who both have a chip on their shoulder, who both have something to prove."
Hennigan and Puma's first match, though a monumental moment in the show's history, was a warm-up compared to their jaw-dropping All Night Long match later in the first season. The ironman match featured the lucha libre style that Hennigan and Puma thrive in, but it also brought out a side of physicality from the performers that hadn't been seen to that point. Hennigan, a freak athlete in his own right, knows he has to keep up with the even freakier athleticism of Puma anytime they share a ring.
"He is just so strong, agile and quick that it's impressive and sometimes scary to be in the ring with somebody that talented," Hennigan said. "On the other side of it, I love it because sometimes I'm in the ring with people that don't challenge me in all those aspects -- creatively, with their quickness, with their agility, with the way they think about things. So when I'm in the ring with somebody like Puma, it really forces me to level up and rise to the top of my game. It's sometimes just face-melting, the kind of stuff that he can do."
One of the reasons Hennigan left WWE in the first place was his desire to find new challenges. In late 2011 he turned down a three-year contract, a coveted offer for many wrestlers trying to break into WWE, and even many who are already there. The decision has paid off for Hennigan, as he's currently a main-event attraction for three promotions -- Lucha Underground, AAA (where he's a triple champion) and most recently with Impact Wrestling.
He's also had the chance to enjoy other creative outlets, including writing, executive-producing and acting in his own film, "Boone: The Bounty Hunter." Other wrestlers who have successfully bet on themselves by leaving WWE, such as Cody Rhodes and Sami Callihan, almost instantly went down the path that fulfilled their creative endeavors, which largely still centered around the wrestling business and related efforts.
For Hennigan, the process took much longer.
"I thought things we're gonna go much better, much faster [when I left WWE]," Hennigan said. "I worked on Boone for five years. I tried to find money for it. I couldn't. I ended up selling my house to finance it personally. Lucha didn't start until 2014. Impact, I just started with. I feel like I've been busting my ass since I left WWE to create opportunities. There are some things I did that I'm proud of that didn't take off. I've tried to keep in mind throughout this whole journey, instead of taking the path of least resistance, take the path that I'm most passionate about. That's been my guiding force."
Hennigan's passion for wrestling, writing and acting has made his schedule comparatively busy, even busier than his WWE days. In addition to his Lucha Underground responsibilities, Hennigan regularly travels to Mexico to perform for AAA and is currently their world champion. He also makes appearances for various independent promotions, mostly in the California area.
As of August, due to a recent talent exchange agreement with AAA, Hennigan competes as Johnny Impact for Impact Wrestling. The taping format of Lucha Underground and Impact Wrestling has allowed Hennigan to continue to act and write around his wrestling dates. That extra free time has been especially valuable to Hennigan after he proposed to his fiancee Taya in June. Taya, who has also competed for Lucha Underground, AAA and Impact Wrestling, has helped Hennigan stay on track.
"Taya's got my back. I can't begin to tell you how helpful she is with the juggling of all the responsibilities," Hennigan said. "There's a lot on my plate, but the cool thing is everything that I'm doing I'm really into. I love Lucha Underground. I love Impact. I love wrestling every weekend all over the world. I love promoting 'Boone: The Bounty Hunter.' I truly believe in all these things. Maybe most of all, my wedding with Taya. It feels like I don't have a lot of free time these days, but the time that I spend is well-used."
As gung-ho as he is about the current state of things, it wasn't always easy. Hennigan says he second-guessed himself constantly after passing on WWE's contract offer. Leaving that kind of security is always a risk, but the biggest risks also tend to pay off in kind.
Hennigan will main-event Ultima Lucha Part IV against his rival Prince Puma on Wednesday as part of Lucha Underground's two-hour season finale. On Nov. 5, he'll face Eli Drake for the GFW Global Championship at Impact Wrestling's Bound for Glory pay-per-view.
The Lucha match is expected be the last one Lucha Underground fans and potential investors see for a while, as the future is still somewhat uncertain. The second half of Season 3 has sat in the can for a long time, after it was shot in June 2016, and the show has yet to officially announce future seasons. Lucha Underground will rely on these two performers to deliver one more time as they face those circumstances head-on. Hennigan plans to do exactly that, just as he did the first time he entered the "Temple."
"The longer I'm in the business, the more I think about legacy," Hennigan said. "The trail of memories, emotions that I put out there to affect people. To make people feel things the same way when I grew up when I was watching WrestleMania, when I was watching Shawn Michaels, Macho Man, or even [Hulk] Hogan. In movies too, when I was growing up - 'Rocky,' 'Bloodsport,' Jackie Chan movies, all those things affected me. And the longer I've been in the business, the more I've started to think about it in those terms. It's really important to have matches that you're proud of.
"To be at Lucha Underground at Day 1 when the 'Temple' was half empty because no one really heard of Lucha Underground, to ... [just] wait until you see the place on Wednesday. It's fun to see Season 1, Episode 1 vs. Puma, and then see how far we've come, to what's gonna happen at Ultima Lucha."