Post by The Ultimate Nullifier on Jan 7, 2017 18:10:54 GMT -6
www.pwinsider.com/article/106959/tna-ppv-strategy-going-forward-lucha-undergrounds-future-william-regal-wwe-hall-of-famer-more-four-shots.html?p=1
LUCHA TRAPPED UNDERGROUND?
One regular question we receive here at PWInsider.com for the Q&A is what the future of Lucha Underground will hold and honestly, there's no clear cut, definitive response as I write this column.
The third season of the El Rey series, with a huge focus on Sexy Star, doesn't seem to have maintained the buzz of the first two seasons, even with the addition of Rey Mysterio and the continued greatness of names like Prince Puma/Ricochet. Even the Aztec Warfare bout, a cornerstone of the season, didn't generate the explosive response of seasons before.
Perhaps even more telling is that unlike the first several seasons, there's no public relations firm sending out episode previews, videos, etc. There's no real touring. No new merchandise deals. The much talked about deal putting the series' episodes on a major streaming platform like Netflix has yet to materialize.
There has also been rumblings among talents signed to LU deals that the taping of the next season has been delayed, although for how long remains to be seen. LU is primarily a TV series, not a wrestling promotion and the way televison works, the mantra has always been "Hurry up and wait." With talents signed in for as many as seven cycles, they could be waiting a long time for that next pick-up. That's not unusual for television, although for pro wrestling, where everything is always in the moment and about the now, that's a disconcerting feeling.
As is always the case with pro wrestlers, such a thing leads to concerns that the worst is about to happen, although truth be told, the same thing happened in between the first and the second season. Wrestlers always fear the worst. They also want to work, now. With a potential delay in when the series will continue on, one talent has even been calling around to others pitching the idea they put together their own touring troupe using the "Underground" name as their hook.
It will be interesting to see whether LU continues on past this third season, but I'm hoping that it does, because it's been produced and filmed differently from any promotion before, did a tremendous job of creating and establishing its own mythology and expanded the idea of what a pro wrestling show could be. It deserves a better fate than to quietly fade away and be lost, truly, to the underground.
LUCHA TRAPPED UNDERGROUND?
One regular question we receive here at PWInsider.com for the Q&A is what the future of Lucha Underground will hold and honestly, there's no clear cut, definitive response as I write this column.
The third season of the El Rey series, with a huge focus on Sexy Star, doesn't seem to have maintained the buzz of the first two seasons, even with the addition of Rey Mysterio and the continued greatness of names like Prince Puma/Ricochet. Even the Aztec Warfare bout, a cornerstone of the season, didn't generate the explosive response of seasons before.
Perhaps even more telling is that unlike the first several seasons, there's no public relations firm sending out episode previews, videos, etc. There's no real touring. No new merchandise deals. The much talked about deal putting the series' episodes on a major streaming platform like Netflix has yet to materialize.
There has also been rumblings among talents signed to LU deals that the taping of the next season has been delayed, although for how long remains to be seen. LU is primarily a TV series, not a wrestling promotion and the way televison works, the mantra has always been "Hurry up and wait." With talents signed in for as many as seven cycles, they could be waiting a long time for that next pick-up. That's not unusual for television, although for pro wrestling, where everything is always in the moment and about the now, that's a disconcerting feeling.
As is always the case with pro wrestlers, such a thing leads to concerns that the worst is about to happen, although truth be told, the same thing happened in between the first and the second season. Wrestlers always fear the worst. They also want to work, now. With a potential delay in when the series will continue on, one talent has even been calling around to others pitching the idea they put together their own touring troupe using the "Underground" name as their hook.
It will be interesting to see whether LU continues on past this third season, but I'm hoping that it does, because it's been produced and filmed differently from any promotion before, did a tremendous job of creating and establishing its own mythology and expanded the idea of what a pro wrestling show could be. It deserves a better fate than to quietly fade away and be lost, truly, to the underground.