The Entertainment Trifecta is when a character or team make a successful move into all three of the entertainment categories; comics, video games and the big or small screen (movies or tv). Some may consider movies and tv to be separate categories, which is fare, but that really makes it hard.
I've found seven examples who have had indisputably great comics, video games and a film or tv show. There are many close calls and some depend on your opinion of the product but I think these one's are undebatable. I want to make a list of runner-ups soon but if you feel like I missed anything important just let me know.
So here, in no order, are the characters and teams how have achieved the Entertainment Trifecta and what got them there:
1) BATMAN: This should come as no surprise. Batman's had great comics for how many years? For movies, you could use any number of examples, including animated films, but The Dark Knight is my favourite. Equally you have many options for video games. I'll use the original Arkham Asylum game though.
--Batman also has a handful of great tv shows. My favourite was Batman the Animated series.
2) SPIDER-MAN: Once again you've got a long history of great Spider-Man comics. Films aren't a problem either, thanks to Sam Raimi. My favourite's Spider-Man 2. Plus his great video games are prolific. I still remember the first time I played Spider-Man 2 and how much time I spent webslinging around New York.
-- Spider-Man also has a great 90s cartoon and a bevy of new cartoons that a lot of people seem to like.
3) HULK: Hulk's one of the most forgotten on this list but I can't tell you how much fun I had playing Ultimate Destruction. One of the best games I played on PS2. The Incredible Hulk film is also one of my favourite Marvel Studios movies but even if it's not your favourite it still belongs on this list.
4) X-MEN: Comics are no problem for the X-Men, that's a no brainer. They've also had a host of fun games. My favourite is X-Men Legends 2, but they've had good fighting games as well. Movies... That's a bit tougher. For some it'd be easy to just put First Class and Days of Future Past in here and call it a day but I never liked those movies much. To me X2 was the best of the franchise. But regardless, they're on the list.
-- What's that? Another awesome 90s cartoon? I guess you can guess what decade I grew up in :p
5) THE PUNISHER: Comics are no problem for the Punisher. Games and movies are a bit tougher though. Personally, I'll watch the Thomas Jane Punisher movie anytime. I loved it (ok it wasn't perfect but it was good). And the Punisher video game that came out of it was super fun as well. Didn't get to play it? Don't torture yourself about it (that's an inside joke for the people who've played it).
6) TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: Comics, check. Video games, check. Movies, check! Ok, movies aren't as prolific for this mega-franchise but the original live-action movie was amazing, the second one was... interesting, but for me there's actually a recent film that could make this list. Turtles Forever was a really cool animated movie.
-- Maybe I should have put up a tv show instead of a movie because almost all the shows have been extremely popular.
7) SCOTT PILGIM: Oh wait? Did you forget about Scott Pilgrim? Great comic, Great movie then low and behold... a great video game! I loved playing Scott Pilgrim vs The World even more than I loved watching the movie. Great retro gameplay, tuned to perfection.
***Edit***
8) THE WALKING DEAD: Did I say 7? Weeeeeell I meant 8. I totally forgot about the Walking Dead. The comic is a huge success as is the show (every season of which I've enjoyed thoroughly! I don't care what anyone says). The game from Tell Tale Games was definitely the biggest surprise though. They tried a few other genres but the creepy point and click adventure was definitely the only way to play.
The Entertainment Trifecta is when a character or team make a successful move into all three of the entertainment categories; comics, video games and the big or small screen (movies or tv). Some may consider movies and tv to be separate categories, which is fare, but that really makes it hard.
I've found seven examples who have had indisputably great comics, video games and a film or tv show. There are many close calls and some depend on your opinion of the product but I think these one's are undebatable. I want to make a list of runner-ups soon but if you feel like I missed anything important just let me know.
So here, in do order, are the characters and teams how have achieved the Entertainment Trifecta and what got them there:
1) BATMAN: This should come as no surprise. Batman's had great comics for how many years? For movies, you could use any number of examples, including animated films, but The Dark Knight is my favourite. Equally you have many options for video games. I'll use the original Arkham Asylum game though.
--Batman also has a handful of great tv shows. My favourite was Batman the Animated series.
2) SPIDER-MAN: Once again you've got a long history of great Spider-Man comics. Films aren't a problem either, thanks to Sam Raimi. My favourite's Spider-Man 2. Plus his great video games are prolific. I still remember the first time I played Spider-Man 2 and how much time I spent webslinging around New York.
-- Spider-Man also has a great 90s cartoon and a bevy of new cartoons that a lot of people seem to like.
3) HULK: Hulk's one of the most forgotten on this list but I can't tell you how much fun I had playing Ultimate Destruction. One of the best games I played on PS2. The Incredible Hulk film is also one of my favourite Marvel Studios movies but even if it's not your favourite it still belongs on this list.
4) X-MEN: Comics are no problem for the X-Men, that's a no brainer. They've also had a host of fun games. My favourite is X-Men Legends 2, but they've had good fighting games as well. Movies... That's a bit tougher. For some it'd be easy to just put First Class and Days of Future Past in here and call it a day but I never liked those movies much. To me X2 was the best of the franchise. But regardless, they're on the list.
-- What's that? Another awesome 90s cartoon? I guess you can guess what decade I grew up in :p
5) THE PUNISHER: Comics are no problem for the Punisher. Games and movies are a bit tougher though. Personally, I'll watch the Thomas Jane Punisher movie anytime. I loved it (ok it wasn't perfect but it was good). And the Punisher video game that came out of it was super fun as well. Didn't get to play it? Don't torture yourself about it (that's an inside joke for the people who've played it).
6) TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: Comics, check. Video games, check. Movies, check! Ok, movies aren't as prolific for this mega-franchise but the original live-action movie was amazing, the second one was... interesting, but for me there's actually a recent film that could make this list. Turtles Forever was a really cool animated movie.
-- Maybe I should have put up a tv show instead of a movie because almost all the shows have been extremely popular.
7) SCOTT PILGIM: Oh wait? Did you forget about Scott Pilgrim? Great comic, Great movie then low and behold... a great video game! I loved playing Scott Pilgrim vs The World even more than I loved watching the movie. Great retro gameplay, tuned to perfection.
- I’m only comparing the Royal Rumble match to the Aztec Warfare match. The rest of the Rumble PPV does not count here.
- The winner is decided by my own personal entrainment level. Just like every wrestling fan I have my biases and favourites in each promotion so I can’t be completely non-partisan. But feel free to disagree with me. We can debate on the comments like grown men (or women, but that’s not likely).
BACKGROUND:
As you probably know the Royal Rumble PPV took place on January 25th in Philadelphia. This is (arguably) WWE’s second biggest PPV of the year and kicks off the “Road to Wrestlemania”. It’s essential for establishing potential matches at Wrestlemania and sets the tone for the next few months of programing. Meanwhile, Lucha Underground is in their first season of existence and quickly built up to their own rumble style match. They call it Aztec Warfare and though the rules may differ, it’s a very similar match. It took place on January 7th, coincidently in the same month as the Royal Rumble.
Some important facts to know, while WWE has been in existence for over 60 years (depending on when you start counting) LU only began in October of 2014. Obviously WWE has more fans, more money and more wrestlers while LU is starting fresh. So keep in mind that after all these years WWE fans have become rabidly possessive of the product. Meanwhile LU is brand new so they can basically do whatever they want with the characters without anyone getting too upset.
TALE OF THE TAPE:
- AZTEC WARFAR:
o 20 Combatants enter the ring at 90 second intervals.
o They are eliminated from the match if they are pinned or submitted.
o Men and Women are allowed to compete together.
o The winner becomes the Lucha Underground World Champion.
- ROYAL RUMBLE
o 30 Combatants enter the ring in 90 second intervals.
o You are eliminated when you’re ejected from the ring, over the top rope with both feet touching the ground.
o The winner gets a chance to face the current WWE World Heavyweight Champion (Brock Lesner) at Wrestlemania.
THE REVIEW (which is just a cleverly disguised rant, hahaha!):
So if you don’t know already let me be the first to tell you that this year’s Royal Rumble was been unanimously hated by both critics and fans. The reasons for this are numerous but can be boiled down to a few bad decisions. We’ll get into this later though because Aztec Warfare was actually really fun to watch. So just like the Royal Rumble, you know who’s going to win this review before it’s over. But the bigger question isn’t who wins, it’s why and for this I’ll go over each match from my own point of view.
I watched Aztec Warfare shortly after aired but had a hard time finding a decent version. This is because LU only plays on the El Rey Network and Unimas. As far as I can tell those channel are only available in certain parts of the United States and Mexico. You also can’t order the shows on PPV or pay for them online, so my only means to watch is through streaming video websites (lock me up now, I deserve it!). Even though it’s totally free I actually hate this because it can be hard or impossible to find a good version of something that I would gladly pay for (I’d go up to $9.99 a month). This hurt my experience because I had to watch it over several days on a small screen with crappy sound. Booo!
That said, what I did see was excellent. The rules of Aztec Warfare aren’t focused on the spectacle of someone being thrown over the top rope (which is a bit outdated to me) and allows the wrestlers more freedom to move around as they like. This in turn gives them more space to do cool spots. Very often the ring was cleared of combatants so that two or three wrestlers could go at it with their signature moves. We get to see plenty of amazing areal spots and glimpses of singles matches that could come out of this. I also prefer that you must pin or submit your opponents. It gives you the thrill of near falls plus saves from other fighters.
I also realized that I really love the LU roster. We got to see every wrestler in the promotion right now and they are such a cool bunch of weirdos! They’ve got the obvious baby-faces like Johnny Mundo, Puma, Fenix and Sexy Star who I thoroughly enjoy. A surprisingly large collection of quality heels like Mil Muertes, Chavo, Son of Havoc & Ivelisse, Pentagon Jr plus all of Dario Cuetos enforcers (all four of em!). A few great workers like Super Fly and El Mariachi Loco. And finally the ‘Wild Cards’, or perhaps ‘oddballs’ would be a better description. These guys range from creepy to exotic(o), but at all times kick ass. That would be Drago and King Cuerno, Mascarita Sagrada and Pimpinela Escarlata. I love the depth of the roster and how well it was built from day one. That’s why every episode of the show features great matches and very little BS, and why Aztec Warfare was so awesome. You get amazingly acrobatic moves and high flying spots. Plus you get a few non-high flyers like Big Ryck, Mil Muertes and Chavo to balance out the group. As I said above they tend to keep the ring clear of everyone except about 2-3 people (at least in the beginning) and this means we see more than just corner beat downs and shoving matches. It was basically a bunch of great matches rolled into one.
One thing I’m not totally sold on yet is the Women fighting Men aspect of LU. On one hand I like the equality. If I compare it to comic books (another media I really enjoy) we don’t see female characters only fighting other women so why can’t that apply here? Well if I’m listing reasons one is that despite their skill and strength they still aren’t a match physically for the men. Even though I think they could they don’t want the men to job for Sexy Star. So even when she beats somebody like Son of Havok or Chavo it’s either a very tough battle or with the help of a male wrestler. It doesn’t necessarily hurt her feuds because even if she can’t actually beat her opponent she stands up to him anyway. What you end up with is less about her being physical equal and more about her strength of character and courage. Maybe that makes her a more realistic role model? I don’t know, that’s why I’m conflicted. I’d like to see more women in this promotion to allow for more even feuds and more character development.
Now we move onto the second portion of this review. The part where I tear apart the Royal Rumble and point out all its mistakes!!!! Just kidding, I’m only going to point out its mistakes :p And let’s not forget, the title match with Cena, Lesner and Rollins was excellent. Not much to say except that I’m glad I watched it. Was it worth the price of admission? Probably not but it was a good match anyway. Now, as for the Rumble if you’ve been following WWE this year and you thought anyone other than Roman Reigns would win you are an idiot…. Wait, that’s not the right word… you are an optimist! That’s what I meant. His win doesn’t necessarily ruin the Rumble though. I mean it’s not my company so I don’t get to choose who wins, but as you’ll see, the way it was done just made everyone unhappy.
Instead of dissecting the entire match I’ve made a pros and cons list of the things I noticed in Chronological order:
1) CON: The match opens with Miz and R-Truth as the first to wrestlers. To me this is a boring start. We know that neither guy is going very far, and they’ve got no beef with each other (although I think they could have a great feud if they allowed it). It just seemed like a blah way to start (you could also use the word meh in place of blah).
2) PRO: The third guy in the ring is none other than… Bully Ray!! (I mean Bubba Ray Dudley). A nice surprise that really sparked the crowd. I personally didn’t know he left TNA (though it makes sense) and it was great to see him back in his Dudley outfit. He did some of his classic tag moves with R-Truth (explaining why Truth was there so quick) and just generally got the crowd going.
3) PRO: Bray Wyatt looked GREAT! He entered early and dominated the first third of the match. The moments where he’s alone in the ring were excellent. He may have been in some weak feuds lately but when this guy’s allowed to do his thing he’s just perfect.
4) CON: Daniel Bryan is eliminated from the match about half way through. I’m not trying to book these matches for them but seriously?? Let him win the F***ing Rumble?? It pissed everyone off when it didn’t happen last year and it pissed everyone off when it didn’t happen this year. I mean the guy gets the title taken off him by an injury (in a stupid feud with stupid Kane!) so why isn’t he a number one competitor now that he’s back?? I don’t get it. At least he was eliminated by Wyatt, hopefully Bryan will destroy Kane and move on to a good feud with Wyatt (again?).
5) CON: Mizdow comes in at 21 after everyone’s still pissed about Bryan being eliminated. Right away he pops the crowd. Brings them back to life and even has a nice angle where Miz tries and fails to take his spot. Then what happens? He spends 20 seconds in the ring before he’s launched out by Rusev?? WTF man!? I liked that they were teasing the feud with Miz but it’s wasted if he looks just as lame as the Miz. These guys will make you money if you stop squashing them! (sorry, I’m just yelling at the computer monitor).
6) CON: Ziggler comes in last, pops the crowed, spends a couple minutes in the ring, then gets beat down by Stupid Kane and Stupid Big Show and dumped out of the ring. Again, the crowed was silenced. Thanks for trying Dolph but you work at the WWE remember? You can just stop trying now.
- At this point Reigns was clearly going to win. This does happen a lot with Rumbles where you know who’s gonna win before it ends but in this case it just meant the crowd could start booing early. We heard nothing but BOO and HISS coming from the fans towards the guys who’s supposed to be the next face of the WWE! And he’s not even a heel! How’d this happen???
7) CON/PRO/CON: Reigns basically wins after eliminating Stupid Big show and Stupid Kane but they come back and beat him up for sh*** and giggles. THEN THE ROCK ENTERS!!! The crowd goes NUTS for him… until he starts helping Reigns and (trying desperately at) giving him a rub. This does not work and the fans boo the two of em!!! Talk about… Rock Bottom!!! (hahahaha)
8) PRO/CON: After the Rock thing and everyone thinks Reigns has won it turns out Rusev didn’t get eliminated at all. He was hiding under the ring this whole time!! (Not a very Rusev-y thing to do but whatever) He jumps in, takes it to Reigns, then gets thrown out as fast as you can say WHAT. A totally pointless move and it had everyone thinking “Oh good, Rusev might win” not “Oh no Reigns might lose”. This is completely backwards!! Were they trying to turn Rusev face?? #WTFWWE.
As you can see the Cons beat the Pros by a score of 7-4 and I am a disappointed viewer. Even after all the nitpicking and bellyaching above my two biggest complaints about this year’s rumble were
A) The transparency with which the WWE tried to force Roman Reigns down everyone’s throat using every cheesy, ridiculous tactic you can imagine like; getting the real baby face out early so we’d forget, having a big stairdown between Reigns, Kane and Big Show, getting The Rocks seal of approval, using a surprise spot at the end with Rusev… If you need to go to these lengths to put a guy over HE IS NOT THE RIGHT GUY! Nobody wants the show to end in a chorus of boos when a baby face is winning, it’s ridiculous. And I’m not just gonna blame the Philly crowd for being bitter. If anything they all went home depressed and questioning why they paid for this when it’s so easy to get it for free.
B) After watching Aztec Warfare I felt like this year’s Rumble was really slow and lumbering in the ring. Not nearly enough big moves or interesting elimination spots. I mean if people can leave the ring by going under the ropes why aren’t more people fighting on the outside?? Give the guys in the ring some breathing room and space for big moves. It just felt tedious as far as in ring action to me.
So with that you can see that I clearly liked Aztec Warfare more. Nothing but good times over at LU, meanwhile the top faces of WWE are getting booed out of the building and network subscriptions are cancelled all over the world.
Now that the holidays are here and we get a two week break from Lucha Underground I thought it would be a great time to jot down some of my thoughts on what has become one of my favorite wrestling programs around.
In my 3 week review I started by talking about the overall look of the show. Well, the first positive note is that it hasn't changed since then, in fact I think they've continued to improve. It's still highly polished (it's a dirty and dusty polish but polish none the less) and heavily pre-produced. It's a very different feeling than the "live" atmosphere of WWE, ROH or most other promotions. At first it was awkward getting used to this much editing but after one episode it's all good. I may have mentioned it before but the only downside to this is that it makes botches (which do happen from time to time) and stalling (which happens a lot in my opinion) seem far more noticeable. You'd half expect them to simply edit out a slip up or cut to another camera. Luckily it doesn't happen enough be a major issue. Going back to the positives, I feel like they've hit a very good balance with they're backstage segments. They don't overuse them (which was one of my early concerns) and therefor a segment still seems special. They also don't try and tell entire stories behind the curtains. They serve only as little tidbits of interaction to help propel the in-ring action, which is rightfully where the stories should unfold. Some of my favorite segments have been Konnan warning Chavo about backlash from his beatdown of Blue Demon Jr, Johnny Mundo's fight scene on his way to speak to Dario Cueto (not unlike something you'd see on TV's Arrow), and pretty much any segment with Konnan and Cueto (like when Konnan drinks from Cueto's glass which he then proceeds to throw out).
Just like my last review I also need to bring up the announce team of Matt Striker and Vampiro again. They've maintained they're standing as a solid team and I find that Striker is especially good with his play-by-play. He gets in his little digs at the other promotions (which aren't really necessary but whatever) and even finds time to mention comic book and movie characters while still keeping our attention on the match at hand. He also does this cool (creepy) thing with his voice where it lowers down into this gravelly, old man tone. At first I thought this was his "excited" voice but it happens too often for that. On the other side of the table Vampiro is definitely the weaker of the two. He provides decent colour commentary and can back things up with his Spanish accent and supposed street-cred. I suppose there isn't much to criticize but I do find his enthusiasm to sound pretty fake sometimes. He plays a better "too cool for school heel" type but when it's just the two of them he can't really act negative or bad mouth the company without bringing down the whole vibe of the show. I have two notes to make about them and I'll leave it at that:
1) I'd like it if either Striker or Vampiro (or possible a third announcer) could find a higher pitch to use during particularly exciting sequences. Neither of them can do this and it makes me miss people like JR, Joey Styles and even Michael Cole.
2) What is the deal with Vampiro and Konnan?? Vamp takes every opportunity to burn Konnan, saying that he's a snake, he can't be trusted and other things of that nature. I have no problem with a feud between them but I find it strange that Striker NEVER asks about it? He just pretends not to hear him like he's a kid trying not to listen to divorced parents bad mouth each other! Plus Konnan has never mentioned Vampiro in any of his segments so it comes across as Vampiro sounding out of touch. If it all ends up with a big "I told you so" moment it'll all be worth it but we could still use a little back and forth about this issue between the announcers.
Now I could spend a long time talking about the stellar in-ring action that has come out of the show but that would take all day. The main point is that LU has some of the best talent in the world right now and every episode I've watched has had at least one incredible match. Keeping in mind they only run three matches per show so one our of three isn't bad, and that's on a bad day. Most episodes are three matches strong. They kept it very traditional to start with but have expanded to a ladder match, a street fight (or should I say a Boyle Heights Street Fight... waaaaay different) and the impressive two10-man battle royals on episode 8. They managed to make each battle royal have different stipulations and both had a good reward (seemingly). These were all impressive, though the ladder match had a lot of stalling and some weird chemistry. I didn't love the idea that Big Rick (I mean Ryck??) was too big (or scared... or lazy) to actually climb a ladder properly but I'll let it go because it brought in some more fodder for Puma and Johnny to battle with. I'm also VERY excited for the Aztec Warfare Special Event. It's basically a Royal Rumble but with an Aztec vibe to it (I'm guessing there'll be a live sacrifice at some point). It's already spoiled for me from scanning Wikipedia (I was just looking for an up-to-date roster!!) but even at that I'm excited to see how the match plays out. Episode 8 told us who the first and last entrants would be and this alone brings a lot of interest to the table. I feel bad though that the winner of one of the 10-man matches had to end up as the first entrant. That's Dario Cueto for you (what an A-Hole!!).
Anyway, the matches are great, the build up to Aztec Warfare has been great and if you like high flying spots you must watch Lucha Underground.
Before I end this review I just wanted to mention what has become my favorite part of the show. Previously it was the in-ring quality, but now I'd like to shine a light on the amazing talent in the promotion. I think LU has not only done an amazing job of finding great talent but also introducing them properly on air. They started the series with the lead characters like Johnny Mundo, Prince Puma, Chavo Guerrero and Mil Muertes but have gone on to bring in really interesting guys like Drago, Fenix, Pentagon Jr, King Cuerno, Pimpinella Escarlata and basically everyone else. They've even got a few jobbers to go around so it's now a complete roster. I've often considered high flying to be my favorite spots in wrestling and LU provides a ton of it. These guys know what they're doing in terms of pulling off crazy aerial stunts as well as telling stories during the matches. I give them a lot of credit for this as it's been the main reason to keep watching each week.
So far my personal favorite wrestlers are:
- Drago: Best gimmick I've ever seen! This guy is literally a dragon-man...in kayfabe.
- Pentagon Jr: By far my favorite ring attire and makeup EVER!!! (although Devitt is pretty cool too)
- King Cuerno: He gets the award for best hat!
- Prince Puma, Fenix, Johnny Mundo: These guys are so talented it hurts.
- Chavo Guerrero: He's had an amazing heel turn and I like that his arch-enemy is Sexy Star. I'm also looking forward to the return of Blue Demon Jr who has been made all the more interesting by his absence.
In closing, my rating of Lucha Underground remains the same. It's a 5 star show and I think everyone should watch it. We can debate the legality of watching if you want (no I don't get El Ray or Unimas, no I CAN'T get El Ray or Unimas, yes I will find it online wherever I can until it's available legitimately) but you're not doing them any good by not watching. The least I can do, since I'm not contributing monetarily, it to push the show to everyone and tell people how great it is in an attempt to increase interest and hopefully keep this company around long enough for them to get a larger tv deal. I'm looking forward to more fun with LU in 2015.
PS: I can't confirm but I THINK the Lucha Underground Championship belt has magic powers.
PS (also): I've successfully left the cult of WWE and no longer watch Raw, Smackdown or anything else. I miss NXT but that's it. I live off of ROH, LU and on occasion NJPW. Leaving WWE has made me a lot happier about being a wrestling fan and overall my life has improved 10 fold!
PS (again): Please watch Wrestle Kingdom 9 from NJPW. It's on January 4th and it's actually available on standard PPV! Also, what's going on with TNA? What is Destination America and is that a thing? Does anyone watch TNA anymore? TNA?
PS (one last time, I promise): Don't forget about Mascarita Sagrada. He may be small but he is mighty!!!
This is just a quick review of my thoughts on Lucha Underground after 3 episodes. First off, I am enjoying it thoroughly and recommend it to anyone looking for an English language alternative to WWE or TNA.
It's production value is consistently high and you can tell they make a huge effort to come across as a professional operation. While this is one of it's strengths it doesn't quite match the ascetic they're trying to create, which is that of a dirty, underground fight club. To me the overall product ends up feeling a little fake(r than what I'd like) but doesn't damage the show so fatally that I tune out. Aside from the in ring action (which I'll get to in a minute) the pre-produced vignettes, which serve to set up most of the matches and build the overreaching story arc. We usually find the evil promotor and owner of Lucha Underground, Dario Cueto, plotting maliciously agains his own wrestlers. Maybe not the smartest business man in the world but I can buy his "richest A-hole in town" gimmick and that holds everything together for me. We also meet few of the luchadores in these segments which tend to go better than the average WWE live vignette. You can feel money being spent on these segments and most of the time they work for me but when they fall flat the thought of how much money was wasted makes the fall even harder.
We also have Matt Striker and Vampiro on commentary. To me they serve as competent and usually entertaining voices to narrate the show. They seem to have good chemistry and do a good job telling us about the luchadores and their moves. On the opposite end they seem to be given strict instructions to constantly reinforce that Lucha Underground is crazier and better than anything else you'll see. They really want you to know that they let men and women fight each other, and that they allow minis and non-minis to fight each other, and they that you can't find lucha wrestling like this anywhere else in the US. Which may be true for all I know but I don't need to hear it every 5 minutes.
The best part of these last 3 weeks of Lucha Underground for me has definitely been the in ring action (and rightfully so). The smartest thing they did wasn't to pour money into the promos and vignettes; or build an authentic looking, grimy old gym for their underground club, it was find some of the best talent in the world and allow them the freedom to show what they can do. Admittedly, a few matches have felt pretty cold but that's a tiny, forgettable few minutes out of several hours of well executed, smartly planned, exciting and original matches. As someone who was not overly familiar with lucha style wrestling I've seen a lot of moves and spots I've never seen before. It's a very dynamic and fast paced style. As a fan of highflyers I'm at home here. They also have their big bruisers who slow things down but deliver enough of an impact to keep me interested.
As I said, I've been loving it so far and though it's not without it's flaws (some of which are glaring) I'm still looking forward to the future of Lucha Underground.
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