Posted on by bdamage1
Brian Damage
Lucha Underground was an extremely innovative, action packed television program that aired on the upstart El Rey network owned by famed Hollywood director Robert Rodriguez. It was not a traditional wrestling promotion, but rather a serialized TV show with lucha libre incorporated into it. Lucha Underground helped introduce many to the world of Mexican style wrestling and helped make breakthrough stars out of luchadors like Pentagon Jr, Fenix and El Hijo del Fantasma. LU’s use of cinematic vignettes and backstage segments were later copied by wrestling companies like TNA and WWE. As innovative and groundbreaking as Lucha Underground was…it all came falling down. The show was hampered by litigation, backstage arguments, pay disputes and even a restraining order. This all ultimately led to the downfall of Lucha Underground.
When Robert Rodriguez formed the El Rey network in 2013, it was only natural that to get more eyeballs on his channel that professional wrestling was needed. It has been nothing new, as Ted Turner used wrestling to help build his cable channel, as did other networks like USA, Spike TV and Destination America just to name a few. Since El Rey was a network geared for Hispanic viewers, Mexico’s lucha libre was the style that made the most sense. Rodriguez partnered with Mark Burnett who created a produced hit television shows like the Apprentice, Shark Tank and Survivor. Their team then partnered with the AAA promotion in Mexico for use of numerous talents from that organization. Konnan was brought onboard as a liaison for AAA and a creative consultant. Other wrestlers that were not employed by companies like WWE, TNA, Ring of Honor etc were also hired like John Hennigan, Willie Mack, Ricochet and Swerve Strickland, with most signing exclusive five year contracts. Former WWE writer Chris DeJoseph was hired to help put together the episodes.
Lucha Underground was filmed in the East Los Angeles, California area of Boyle Heights…a heavily populated Hispanic neighborhood. The Lucha Underground Arena aka ‘The Temple’ was the sight where all of the wrestling action would take place. The warehouse location was chosen for its rugged scenery of rusted railings and pipes, broken glass windows and faded graffiti on the walls.
The first episode of Lucha Underground premiered on October 29, 2014. It received solid reviews and ratings…especially considering that the El Rey network was not available on all cable and satellite outlets. Ricochet, who wrestled on LU as the character of Prince Puma…stated he and Johnny Mundo main evented the first episode due to many of the AAA luchadors running into visa issues and couldn’t get into the United States for the show. According to Chris DeJoseph, upper management left the creative team to plan and execute the matches and episodes without interference. A definite stark contrast to the micromanaging DeJoseph was accustomed to while working in WWE. On the flip side of that, Konnan said that upper management for the show aka Mark Burnett was paid a very huge salary and never once showed up for a taping of LU. Instead, Burnett would send people from his team to the tapings and they were more concerned with the look and feel of the sets, than they were the luchadors or the actual in ring competition. Konnan said they were all Hollywood people, who had no passion or knowledge of pro wrestling.
DeJoseph and Konnan also butted heads with each other over the creative direction of the show. DeJoseph said that Konnan wanted LU to be a more traditional lucha libre show, while DeJoseph wanted to focus more on character development and storylines. The issues between the two only got worse over time, with Konnan allegedly gathering all of the luchadors from AAA and attempting a walk out to protest DeJoseph and get him removed from his position. When that failed, Konnan became more difficult behind the scenes and allegedly started giving death threats to some of the talent and LU crew. That led LU to release Konnan and actually had a restraining order against him.
DeJoseph added that another issue that plagued the initial season of LU, was a serious pay discrepancy between the luchadors from AAA and the American wrestlers. While the wrestlers from the U.S. were paid directly from LU’s production company…the luchadors were paid from AAA down in Mexico. The wrestlers were all paid in full for every show which amounted to about $2,000 per episode. Meanwhile, the luchadors were only making roughly $150 to $200 dollars per episode. Apparently, AAA would hold a majority of the money as a fee for allowing talent to work on the show. When many of the luchadors discovered this issue after talking with the other wrestlers, they went to LU’s upper management. DeJoseph said that everything was rectified by season two with the luchadors also getting paid directly from the production company.
Lucha Underground was a success and became the crown jewel and centerpiece to the entire El Rey network. The show was renewed for a second season and the episodes were done over a three month period. The shows ran seamlessly during this period of time with an influx of new characters and exciting segments and thrilling wrestling matches. LU also started touring the southwest which enabled them more exposure and advertisement for the actual show.
As popularity and buzz grew for Lucha Underground, the El Rey network signed one of the biggest names in lucha libre history in Rey Mysterio. Rey would not only appear on LU, but he also signed an exclusive contract which allowed Rey to develop, produce and consult on creative projects and series, both unscripted and scripted. Rey would stay for season two and three, but decided to walk away from LU after the culmination of the third season. Some have believed he left due to his friendship and loyalty to Konnan, who was rumored to be in Rey’s ear about the “mismanagement” of the show.
In any case, Lucha Underground successfully completed three seasons and definitely garnered a strong cult following. A fourth season seemed like a no brainer, but it took well over a year for upper management to make the renewal announcement. Little or no contact was given to LU’s staff and crew during the waiting period. When the fourth season was finally announced and made official, the Temple was moved to a different, larger location in Los Angeles. An abandoned ice warehouse was selected as the new LU Temple and the taping schedule was a lot more strict and condensed.
DeJoseph said that season three of LU. management allowed them more time to write and produce the show…with season four, however, they were given less episodes to produce, but a shorter window to get them filmed. Instead of three months, the creative team were given just one month. DeJoseph said, “It was really hard, really stressful. Really hard on everybody. It was a really crazy ride doing it that fast and doing that many episodes, but we all stuck together, hung in there, and pushed through it. There’s a lot of late nights and a lot of hours worked.”
As season four came to an end…the crew once again waited and waited to hear about a potential season five. During the hiatus, AAA/LU executive Dorian Roldan threatened legal action if any of their wrestlers found work anywhere else other than AAA and/or Lucha Underground. Many wrestlers tried to get out of their LU contracts with no success. A class action lawsuit was filed by four LU wrestlers that included El Hijo del Fantasma (King Cuerno), Ivelisse, Joey Ryan and Kobra Moon (Thunder Rosa) against El Rey Network/Baba-G Productions (the show’s network and the production company) The wrestlers were successful in being let out of their LU contracts. That got other LU wrestlers to follow with Willie Mack, Jeff Cobb, Famous B and Sonny Kiss to seek out legal representation to get out of their contracts.
Truth be told, the revenue streams for Lucha Underground were practically non existent. Each season was getting more and more expensive to produce and without a solid touring schedule and merchandise sales…all the show had to rely on was advertisement revenue. It just became an absolute financial nightmare to keep LU on the air. With wrestlers suing to get out of their exclusive contracts, no new revenue streams in sight and production costs through the roof…..Lucha Underground was cancelled and died a relatively quiet death. There is no doubt the power and influence Lucha Underground had on the landscape of professional wrestling.