The second season of Lucha Underground is about to premiere, a TV action series that seems to be a wrestling promotion (and not like WWE, which is a wrestling promotion that wants to appear as a TV action series), where the wrestlers are characters that can "die".
That's right: If many WWE angles are in poor taste, at least they don't show supposed murders, like this one with Bael, with Matanza living up to his name:
In the first season they did not do well in terms of audience levels, especially because their kitsch concept full of clichés was not well received by the Latino audience. With ratings that made TNA look super successful, the forecasts indicated that there would be no second season.
Finally, the financing for the new episodes was obtained, although this time there is no Spanish commentary table.
Despite that, according to Lucha Underground's creative, Chris DeJoseph, WWE tried to steal their entire cast. That revelation (which doesn't make sense considering Lucha Underground's ratings) was made on Indy Mayhem Show:
"They basically tried to sign our entire cast, and they really tried to shut us down... I think that's what they want to do: Just take everyone, sign them for NXT and make the companies disappear. I know they tried to do it with TNA, and I'm sure they did it with Ring of Honor too.
"For them it's easy: They pay them $750 a week in the developmental territory, and they complete it by taking the cast from another company. And they can leave them stuck in NXT."
It is hard to believe that, as we had already commented on Lucha Underground's leonine contracts, where the wrestlers are completely unprotected:
"The wrestlers who -for better or worse- signed with Lucha Underground, were tied to advantageous contracts that prevent them from signing with competition with TV in the United States -be it WWE, TNA or ROH- for a period of seven years.
"In that period, Lucha Underground can extend or cancel the contract, but the wrestlers cannot do it. If Lucha Underground releases them (dismisses them), they cannot appear in the competition for a period of six months after their last TV appearance. In WWE, the clause is three months after their last public appearance, but in Underground, it is not really established, as if they record a fight and broadcast it a year later, the wrestler is left a year and a half without being able to sign elsewhere.
"That's why although WWE wanted to hire Angelico, he was prevented from accepting because of his contract with Lucha Underground, and even if the program had not returned for a second season, the contracts do not specify the time that the program must be off the air for a wrestler to be considered a free agent."