Posted By James Walsh on 10/24/17


Sometime early last year, after being told for months by Patrick Kelley that I'd love Lucha Underground, my wife and I sat down and watched an episode. It featured Ivelisse Velez against Mil Muertes for the World Title in a hard hitting inter-gender match.

SOLD!

What I mean by that is Lucha Underground had it all. They had a small venue that was dirty and gritty somewhat like the ECW Arena and the Dallas Sportatorium. The audience was red hot for the characters which were colorful and larger than life. The announce team was spot on and a joy to listen to. And, the overall show just felt special.

So, how do you take a show that has it all in its own unique way and kill it?

Three words, my friends. Or, is it two words with one being hyphenated? Forget it. Here it is.

Mid-Season Hiatus

When the 3rd season of Lucha Underground took an unplanned and unwanted hiatus in early 2017 for 4 months, it damaged the progression of the product, its feel among the fans, and its feel among the talent that put so much into that product. Simply put, whoever made that decision may well have killed the brand.

Don't get me wrong! The shows were still good and I was still excited to see them. But, knowing something you were watching in September of 2017 was filmed in April of 2016 made it somehow feel less than cutting edge. Part of why the Monday Night Wars were so popular is anything could happen. Could anything happen if a September 1998 Nitro was actually filmed in April of 1997? Not likely. And, adding in the world's short attention spans due to the Internet and cell phones, it lost even more steam.

I mentioned the boys lost faith. We interviewed Vampiro in April. He talked about how excited he was to have people see the show. But, when we discussed a possible Season 4... His energy level dropped. Because, we all know things weren't going well in that part of the planning.

Furthermore, Prince Puma who wrestles as Ricochet elsewhere, was involved in the company's main event of their season fianle, Ultima Lucha Tres. On Twitter, he was posting pictures of clocks to indicate when it would air so he could be free of his contract. He was not actively promoting the event. Because, well, it took place a year and a half prior and his faith and loyalty to the brand had been shaken.

If there is no Season 4 of Lucha Underground, the history books will show that the unwanted mid-season hiatus for Season 3 was the death blow that killed the momentum the company had built.