Lucha Underground, the Latino professional wrestling promotion meets the telenovela, of El Rey Network was received with great excitement at the Jacob Javits Center for the 2016 New York Comic Con.
They brought along former WWE Champion Rey Mysterio along with more members of their roster which included Catrina, Ivelesse, and Taya. Also present were Executive Producers Skip Chaisson, Dorian Roldan, and Eric Van Wagenen at the Lucha Underground Panel as 411mania.com shared.
Lucha Underground is in it's third season as a darker version of the Lucha Libre era. A wrestling promotion that uses hollywood movie style vignettes to set up storylines has served as a unique twist to Sports Entertainment as uproxx.com summarized.
El Rey founder Robert Rodriguez has brought the same touch to Lucha as he has for his films like 'Dust Til Dawn' and 'Desperado'. As Dorian Roldan pointed out, "Everybody is trying to make something different," Roldan said, "The manner in which we have two Mexican investors who put in a lot of investment and time making all this happen."
Based in a small studio termed "The Temple", Lucha has exploded on the wrestling scene. Now Rey Mysterio has been added to the mix not only to perform but with a great deal of creative control in the product backstage. "The way wrestling is displayed there is an art form," Rey explained at Marvel Live at the Con, "Lucha Underground displays Lucha Libre at it's best, high flying, non-stop action."
The executive producers of a show can sometimes be fans themselves as Skip Chaisson pointed out, "I grew up watching WWF and I loved how the characters had their back story and I believed it," Skip explained, "I wanted to bring that richness of character back in a cinematic form."
Eric Van Wagenen added more details. "We worked with Mesoamerican studies and a company that developed IP for some big comic book companies and that's where we developed the ideas for Aztec tribes," Eric explained, "Before we cast a single person we flushed out ideas with costuming or the Aztec medalion in center ring."
Lucha looked for Latinos that could speak English, perform Lucha, and be flexible enough to work with any performer on the roster whether man or woman blurring the lines. "It's an honor to represent what a luchadora is and not what a diva is," Kaya explained, "We really push the envelope wrestling with men all the time and show our strength and character as an athlete and person and really elevated the bar."
Catrina fielded questions about the "Lick Of Death" that she would lay out on defeated opponents. Marty Elias admitted it was her idea. "After every show Marty would come up and ask, 'So, are you mad yet that you came up with the Lick of Death?' Catrina added, "I was just trying to think of something different."
After leaving the WWE on not the best of terms, Catrina found in Lucha a second wind to her pro wrestling career. "This gave me love for wrestling again and acting," Catrina explained, "I lost my passion a little bit. I'm very passionate about my character and I feel it's lacking in this industry."
Ivelesse was just happy to find a promotion that she could trust to come through with their promises but reuniting with Van Wagenen, who she worked with in "Tough Enough" helped her overcome her doubts. "I had reservations but with Van and Robert Rodriguez I knew this was going to happen."
But with a fourth season to come in the future Rey Mysterio is hoping to contribute to a company and this run establish a longevity for the company. "I hope we can do this for many, many years entertaining the fans on a different level."
Lucha Underground was surprised at the rapid fan reactions to their product that they were slow in getting mechandise put out. They also will tour for selected dates in 2016 and second half of 2017. The most interesting problem is how to bring the Temple environment to other arenas a it has become a character of the show. But it's a good logistical problem.
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