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Professional wrestling has been lacking something new for a very long time. WWE has been the number one wrestling company for over 20 years, with no other company close to matching them in terms of size and power. The wrestling business does have other alternatives for the wrestling fans like Ring of Honour and Total Nonstop Action. TNA has been a company that has continued to try many different things, but has never found an identity to be different from the WWE and have also tried to compete with them. This nearly caused them to go out of business.
ROH is a great wrestling promotion, with great matches’ week in and week out, but for me has been at the same level for a long time and is never really going to set the wrestling business a light. In the last year we have found out that Jeff Jarrett has been working on his own project to create a new wrestling promotion called Global Force Wrestling, which is great to see when there is very little out there at present, but with no TV deal set for 2015 at present, there is no guarantees this project will last through 2016. I hope it does, but until they have produce TV and got a TV deal, we cannot judge them as an alternative to watch.
But there is one wrestling promotion that has really made a lot of grounds in the last 6 months and have been gathering pace over the last few months, as a true alternative for wrestling fans to admire great matches and unbelievable moments. People debate whether they are an actual wrestling promotion or not because they are considered as a television series, but to me they are a wrestling promotion.
The wrestling promotion I am talking about is Lucha Underground. The promotion made its debut in October bringing together a mix of stars from Mexico, US stars from the indy scene and former WWE talents to battle it out in a temple against each other. With stars coming from Mexico with a Lucha background and showcasing it off in the US, has brought a new alternative for the wrestling fans. Lucha Underground is only a 1 hour show, but in that hour you are guaranteed some great wrestling and some high flying moments that will want you to come back for more the next week. The storylines are setup to allow the talent to develop and they have not been over exposing the talent putting them in matches week and week out. The storylines have been setup to allow time to build the wrestlers, get to know them and also understand who the heels are and who the faces are. The roster I believe is one of the strongest in wrestling at the moment, with some top named talent like Alberto Al Patron formerly called Alberto Del Rio in WWE and Johnny Mundo, another former top WWE star. But with that they have talent like Son of Havoc, Prince Puma, Cage, Fenix, Pentagon Junior and many more. These wrestlers are some of the best talent out there at present and with the morale so high they are producing some of the best matches at present, better than any other promotion including WWE. But with that they have some veterans like Chavo Guerrero, Vampiro, Blue Demon and Mill Muertes that offer lots of experience. With a strong mix of top stars, future wrestlers and older talent, the roster has the right balance to allow for talent old and new to shine. I have watched every episode and seeing some of the matches so far from Prince Puma vs. Cage in a strong singles match. Where Prince Puma successfully defends the title, but Cage still looks strong after. Alberto Al Patron vs. Johnny Mundo recently was a good match, where they faced each for the first time since being in WWE and this match was better than any previous match they have had together before. The Aztec Warfare match was also the best type of battle royal match in recent times that went 1 hour.
They are only 1 hour a week on the El Rey Network in the US and if you are bored with what WWE and TNA is offering, Lucha Underground is definitely one show you should be looking at. The backstage segments give it a different feel from the WWE and TNA, where it actually feels like it is reality, even though wrestling is predicted, the segments make you care about the wrestlers. I feel that I know more about the Lucha Underground wrestlers than I do in WWE and TNA, because they introduce each star correctly that is brought into the promotion and also they have been given time to build the characters.
The promotion has spent a lot of money on production and talent, but you would hope they will be able to be renewed for a second season, when the first one finishes in August. I like the idea they have an open door policy bringing in talent, freshening up the roster and also with potentially some more big names joining them in the second season. Big rumours of Rey Mysterio joining in the next season.
If WWE and TNA could learn from Lucha Underground regarding how to book a show for one hour and be able to cover so much, without throwing audience into boredom, then they should watch. Lucha Underground has worked out how to produce a one hour show that means something, that keep the audience hooked for more. WWE and TNA at present are drawing the wrestling fans away and being honest it has gone stale.
My concern is how after watching wrestling for well over 20 years is how they can keep fresh and ensuring they have long term stability. The reason for bringing this up is because wrestling is known for going stale and when something is good, it does not tend to stay around for very long. TNA had a great run producing matches from 2005-2006, but since then they have never really been able to consistent. They do still have good matches in the promotion, but not on a consistent basis. So if Lucha Underground is going to stay around they need to ensure that the promotion carries on producing a fresh product, without losing the audience. They have built the ground works and the first season is likely to go out with a bang. But when it comes to the second season they need to ensure they don’t fall into a trap of just producing a TV show just to fill time. I really believe that there is more to come and we have the chance to see something grow and continue to develop going forward.
Thank you for reading.
