| Lucha Underground | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | Professional wrestling Action drama Fantasy |
| Developed by | Mark Burnett Robert Rodriguez |
| Starring | Lucha Underground roster |
| Narrated by | Matt Striker Vampiro |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of seasons | 4 |
| No. of episodes | 127(list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producers | Mark Burnett Robert Rodriguez Eric van Wagenen Anthony Jensen Chris DeJoseph |
| Producers | Matthew Stollman Chris Roach Chavo Guerrero Jr. Sue Vial Ryan Hermosura Nick Staller Barry Murphy |
| Production locations | Boyle Heights,California Downtown Los Angeles,California[1] |
| Camera setup | Multicamera setup |
| Running time | 60 minutes |
| Production companies | United Artists Media Group MGM Television Rodriguez International Pictures FactoryMade Ventures AG Studios Content |
| Original release | |
| Network | El Rey Network |
| Release | October 29, 2014 (2014-10-29) – November 7, 2018 (2018-11-7) |
Lucha Underground was an Americanprofessional wrestling promotion founded in 2014 byUnited Artists Media Group.Lucha Underground also refers to its weeklytelevision program, which featuredcharacters portrayed by wrestlers from AAA and the American and Mexicanindependent circuits. The series originally aired in English onEl Rey Network and in Spanish onUniMás.[2]
The series was developed byMark Burnett andRobert Rodriguez and produced by United Artists,MGM Television, and One Three Media. It premiered on October 29, 2014 and aired until November 7, 2018, consisting of four seasons for a total of 127 episodes. It was set and filmed inBoyle Heights andDowntown Los Angeles,California, while the series later forged creative and production partnerships with other North American promotions.
Lucha Underground received generally positive reviews throughout its run, with praise for its action, characters, and cinematic presentation, with critics noting its in-universe style and departure from depicting professional wrestling as alegitimate sporting contest. The series had moderate viewership in its first two seasons, but the third and fourth season saw fluctuations in viewership after it was made available onNetflix prior to the fourth season premiere. The series was eventually cancelled due to budget concerns.[3]
In January 2014, it was confirmedMark Burnett would partner withRobert Rodriguez'sEl Rey Network to launch a weekly hour-long professional wrestling television series in the second half of the year; it would be affiliated with the Mexican wrestling promotionLucha Libre AAA Worldwide (AAA).[4] In July, it was tentatively titledLucha: Uprising,[5] before officially announced asLucha Underground in August, with AAA wrestlersBlue Demon Jr.,Pentagón Jr.,Sexy Star,Fénix, andDrago joining the cast.[6] It was to be narrated byMatt Striker andVampiro and began filming on September 6 in front of astudio audience inBoyle Heights,California.[7]
The series premiered on October 29, 2014, on theEl Rey Network where it aired on Wednesdays at 8:00 p.m.E.T.,[8] and in Spanish on November 1, 2014, onUniMás where it aired on Saturdays at 4:00 p.m. E.T.[9]
Johnny Mundo won the main event of the pilot episode.Prince Puma was the firstLucha Underground Champion after winning the first Aztec Warfare match on January 7, 2015.[10] On April 22,Ivelisse,Son of Havoc, andAngélico became the firstLucha Underground Trios Champions after winning the inaugural Trios Tournament. The season's two-part finale,Ultima Lucha, which doubled as the promotion's first annual special event, received acclaim.[11]Lucha Underground was subsequently renewed for a second season on September 21, 2015.[12]
Thesecond season began production on November 14, 2015, and premiered on January 27, 2016.[13] Prior to filming, it was leaked the series had been renewed for a third season;[14] El Rey announced the renewal on February 1, 2016.[15] During this period, the Lucha Underground promotion began a collaborative partnership with theInternational Wrestling Syndicate (IWS),[16][17] and held its first touring event, Austin Warfare, inAustin, Texas, as part ofSouth by Southwest in 2016.[18] The promotion was also represented by different teams at three editions of theLucha Libre World Cup, between2015 and2017.
On November 10, 2017, it was announced thatLucha Underground had been renewed for a fourth season to premiere in 2018.[19] In February 2018, filming of the series was moved toDowntown Los Angeles.[1] The following month it was announced that the promotion had entered into a working relationship withImpact Wrestling, holding a joint promotional event onTwitch on April 6.[20] The fourth season premiered on June 13, and concluded on November 7,[21] after which producer Eric van Wagenen stated that the series had amassed budget concerns, and would require "a major reboot on a lot of levels" to produce a fifth season.[22]
A fifth season was not produced in 2019, and in a 2020 interview withChris Van Vliet, Vampiro stated the series was effectively cancelled, and the promotion dissolved.[23]
| Championship | Final champion(s) | Reign | Date won | Location | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lucha Underground Championship | Jake Strong | 1 | March 18, 2018 | Boyle Heights, Los Angeles | DefeatedPentagón Dark atUltima Lucha Cuatro. |
| Gift of the Gods Championship | Jake Strong | 1 | March 17, 2018 | Los Angeles, California | DefeatedKing Cuerno, Big Bad Steve,Aero Star,Hernandez,PJ Black, andA. R. Fox for the vacant Championship. Vacated once Strong cashed in atUltima Lucha Cuatro. |
| Lucha Underground Trios Championship | The Reptile Tribe (Daga,Kobra Moon, andJeremiah Snake) | 1 | March 9, 2018 | Boyle Heights, Los Angeles | DefeatedThe Mack,Killshot, andSon of Havoc in a trios tornado match. |
| Accomplishment | Last winner | Date | Episode |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aztec Warfare | Pentagón Dark | February 24, 2018 | El Jefe |
| The Cueto Cup | Prince Puma | June 11, 2016 | The Cueto Cup |
| Battle of the Bulls Tournament | The Mack | April 23, 2016 | The Battle Of The Bulls |
| Unique Opportunity Tournament | Son of Havoc | January 30, 2016 | Ultima Lucha Dos |
| Trios Tournament | El Dragon Azteca Jr.,Prince Puma, andRey Mysterio | January 10, 2016 | Cage In A Cage |
Lucha Underground was well received by critics. John Moore, from ProWrestling.net, praised the show for "[knowing] their identity and [weaving] together an amazing universe".[24]Lucha Underground has also gained praise from media sites like Uproxx, which saidLucha Underground had two of the top ten matches of 2015.[25] In 2015, the show was featured onESPN'sSportsCenter[26] and won SoCal Uncensored's 2015 Southern California promotion of the year award, endingPro Wrestling Guerrilla's 12 year streak of winning the award.[27]
In comparison toWWE,Sports Illustrated described the promotion as "vastly different", with the show creating a "cinematic approach with supernatural elements and science fiction that also embeds wrestling psychology and storylines".[19]
| Country | Network |
|---|---|
| Canada | TLN[28] |
| France | La Chaine Action[29] |
| Germany | Tele 5 andTNT Serie[30][31] |
| India | 1Sports[32] |
| Japan | Fighting TV Samurai[33] |
| Southeast Asia | KIX[34] |
| United States | El Rey Network[12] |
On February 6, 2019, it was reported thatJorge Luis Alcantar, who played King Cuerno (now wrestles in the WWE as Santos Escobar), had filed a lawsuit in California against theEl Rey Network and the Baba-G production company that madeLucha Underground. The lawsuit claimed that Lucha Underground's contracts "illegally restricted" wrestlers from working in their "lawful profession," by blocking them working for other wrestling companies until their multi-year contracts expired. Production of the series ended in less than 4 years, despite producers signing some original cast member wrestlers to 5-year, exclusive contracts.[35][36] Alcantar stated that wrestler pay was usually less than $1,000 per appearance, with some wrestling cast members earning only about $4,000 a year from the show.[36]
Alcantar's lawyer also revealed that he had filed a class action lawsuit against Lucha Underground on behalf of other wrestlers, claiming their contracts, too, were illegal under California labor law.[35] Other wrestlersIvelisse Vélez,Joey Ryan, and Melissa Cervantes (who playedKobra Moon) joined the class, seeking to invalidate their contracts.[37]
As of March 26, 2019, all lawsuits had been settled in the wrestlers' favor, and they were freed from their contracts.[38]
In the Fall of 2020,Major League Wrestling (MLW) began incorporating story elements fromLucha Underground into an angle on their weekly television series,MLW Fusion. Talent formerly associated withLucha Underground were brought into MLW as part of the "Azteca" stable, withCesar Duran (the former Dario Cueto) and otherLucha Underground alumni appearing for the promotion.[39][40] The stable would later become the central focus of MLW's mini-series,Fusion: Alpha, which premiered on September 22, 2021.[41][42][43]
Elements ofLucha Underground have since continued to appear in MLW programming, with the promotion also holding variousAzteca-branded events.[44][45][46][47] The Azteca concept has been described as aspiritual successor toLucha Underground.[39][48]
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