By Ryan Dusseau | @ryandusseau
I get it. In 2016, there’s a lot of wrestling out there. With the brand split separating many of WWE’s best superstars across two shows, plus NXT, you’re looking at six hours of wresting per week, plus the two pay per views each month and any potential specials like the Cruiserweight Classic. With that much programming out there it’s sometimes hard to keep up, and adding any more wrestling to your life can seem daunting.
That being said, any wrestling fan should find the extra hour each week to watch Lucha Underground. Airing Wednesday nights on the El Rey Network, Lucha Underground brings the best, most consistent, and most entertaining hour of wrestling to TV each week (and it’s only 45 minutes without commercials!).
It Feels Important
At just one hour each week, Lucha Underground is a very lean program. Unlike Monday Night Raw for example, you don’t spend unnecessary time throughout the show constantly recapping what happened just minutes earlier (Superman Punch! Superman Punch! Superman Punch! Believe that!). Typically, any recap is done at the beginning of the show as a reminder of what’s happened previously that’s relevant to this week’s episode.
With just the single hour weekly run time, Lucha Underground brings back very fond memories of vintage ECW Hardcore TV. No, you’re not going to see gallons of blood every week (although they’re definitely not shy about bleeding and rules are always bent in main event matches), but with a decent sized roster full of great workers, outside of the main eventers, some of them are lucky to get just a single match every 2-3 weeks.
This leads to some great in-ring performances, with the feeling that everyone is making the most of every opportunity and really giving their all in every match. They don’t use the PPV format so big matches happen on regular episodes. Feuds regularly feel fresh as well – since not everybody makes it on TV every week, a feud that runs several months doesn’t feel like it. Are they all great? Of course not, but the heart on display every week it makes it hard to not at least appreciate most of the in ring action.
There’s No Separate Women’s Division
That’s not me saying that women’s wrestling is bad – the women’s division in WWE has had some excellent, though inconsistent, matches this year.
In Lucha Underground, however, the women wrestle in the same division and for the same titles as the men. They’re not presented as inferior like they are oftentimes in WWE (mixed tag matches where a tag means both women need to switch out, with the men not allowed to touch the women), but instead, are presented as being on equal footing. One of the promotions best performers, Sexy Star, defeated 6 others (5 men) to win the Gift of the Gods championship and is currently in the midst of a feud with one of Lucha Underground’s biggest stars – Johnny Mundo (formerly John Morrison in WWE) that has produced some of the most entertaining TV this season so far.
The Characters
Lucha Underground isn’t short on characters. Instead of a bunch of superstars who seem like they’re just playing slightly altered versions of themselves, there is some great character work here. From the mentally unhinged Marty the Moth (legitimately creepy and borderline uncomfortable), to the serial arm breaker Pentagon Dark, the characters are almost a throwback to the larger than life characters of yesteryear. I can’t imagine most of these performers outside of the ring and that’s perfect – they ARE their characters. These aren’t guys you’ll run into at Target.
There are also a couple of my personal favorites – monster heels. Current champion Matanza Cueto is built like an unstoppable monster, getting matches almost weekly from Dario’s Dial of Doom and winning with little trouble. Former champion Mil Muertes dabbles in the supernatural and goes all in with it (he’s even been ‘resurrected’ from the dead) without it being overly silly.
The Slow Build
Unlike other televised wrestling programs, Lucha Underground utilizes a seasonal format. So instead of being on every Wednesday night year round, they take time off after Ultima Lucha (their Wrestlemania) each year. This makes Ultima Lucha feel extra important, as it acts like a season finale of a serialized drama – it gives a sense of finality to many storylines while planting seeds for the next season.
Because of the serialized format, the storylines build slowly and progress throughout the season, often taking several months before getting some kind of payoff. This of course plays into the hourly format each week – instead of seeing a feud end after a series of uncountable matches/encounters/promos, they use a less is more approach and it works. Instead of being annoyed with the constant, never ending screen time afforded to certain superstars, Lucha Underground feuds build slowly, often ending with just a few matches/encounters which helps prevent getting burnt out as a fan.
There are lots of reasons to watch Lucha Underground – in addition to what I’ve talked about here there are things like the unique serialized nature of the storylines, the great announce team of Matt Striker and Vampiro (no need to mute Michael Cole!), and the fact that the most talented superstars are typically the ones who get pushed. These things all combine to give us a product that is consistently the most enjoyable hour of wrestling every week that any wrestling fan should make time for.