Lucha Underground: Season One Recap

Fantastic wrestling, interesting characters, and a heavy dose of kayfabe return for the second season of Lucha Underground.

I love the WWE. I do. But I really love Lucha Underground and chances are you do too so long as your cable provider doesn’t have the El Rey Network.

The first taping for Lucha Underground’s second season took place back in Nov. and the premiere is scheduled for Jan. 27, 2016.

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So where did we leave off? At the end of season 1, owner and all-around bad guy Dario Cueto saw his beloved temple (i.e. arena) usurped by seemingly undead forces, causing him to flee. In his absence, Catarina, a woman with an affinity for licking people on the face is in charge and undoubtedly rules with a sexy iron fist. Back from the grave and by her side is the current champion, Mil Muertes, a hulking brute of a man with a surprising amount of athleticism. Think Ryback with more personality.

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So why have people gravitated towards this promotion so much? In its first season, Lucha Underground introduced new tournament formats such as Ultima Lucha and new titles like the Gift of the Gods belt. Season 2 promises to deliver more of the same right off the bat with a tournament named after Aztec culture, which is a heavy influence on the show. Appropriately named Aztec Warfare, Dario Cueto claims it will be, “the most inventive, brutal, and grueling match ever.” With the level of talent on this roster (that now includes Rey Mysterio), it’s a safe bet that Aztec Warfare will be as much of a success as their previous experiments.

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Besides the unique innovations, Lucha Underground separates itself from the WWE by taping its shows, which allows for backstage segments that can be polished and edited for maximum effect. This isn’t a light-hearted wrestling show; the storylines invoke darker themes such a murder and revenge, a far cry from its WWE and TNA counterparts. The show’s timing is also a nice literal change of pace. Devoting only one hour per week to programming gives Lucha Underground the freedom to tell a variety of stories over a longer period of time and actually give the audience time to digest them piece by piece. Again, I love the WWE but three hours every Monday night is tough to maintain even with great matches sprinkled amongst the obvious time fillers.

Lucha Underground stick to its stories no matter what. For instance, Dario Cueto wears a large key around his neck that was teased during most of season one. All we know is that the key unlocks a cage that contains someone or something. While it has been inferred that it is a larger than life colossus, it will be interesting to see what role if any this “thing” will play in Cueto’s return to the temple. It’s this kind of commitment to kayfabe that I respect from Lucha Underground and what keeps it from being just another wrestling show. It harkens back to a time before the IWC came into existence and demanded that we stop pretending as if wrestlers actually had supernatural powers or hailed from a place called “part unknown”.

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Whether you call yourself a wrestling fan or a sports entertainment fan, Lucha Underground is the show for you. If you watched any of season 1, the chances are good that you’re already a fan. If you didn’t, January 27th is your chance to see what all the hype is about. You won’t be disappointed.