It turns out that the rumors of Lucha Underground leaving the El Rey Network have been greatly exaggerated. Wrestling promoter, writer and producer Court Bauer took to Twitter and revealed that LU seasons one and two will debut on Netflix on Wednesday, February 15.
Meanwhile, according to LU’s Facebook page, season three of the serial wrestling drama is scheduled to return from hiatus on Friday, May 31. While this is good news in the short term, the hiatus might not speak to LU’s long term future on El Rey.
Lucha Underground has generated a lot of excitement with wrestling fans, however, El Rey is a niche station that severely lacks clearance with cable and satellite providers. LU has supplemented their accessibility by making the show available on iTunes and the streaming network Sling TV. This has helped, but a greater platform is needed for a chance at optimal success.
Lucha Underground is, for a lack of a better term, the cool kids wrestling show. It’s different in a way that is fresh, hip, stylish and unique. People love it a lot. That’s a good thing, but it’s the amount of people who love it that borders on too little.
Enter Netflix, which was immensely popular long before they created award winning television shows such as Orange is the New Black, Marvel’s Daredevil, House of Cards, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and Stranger Things.
The mainstream and pop culture cache that Netflix possesses went a long way in making these quality programs vastly popular. The streaming service could very well do the same for Lucha Underground since their arrival will exponentially bring more eyes to the product than ever before.
Unlike the aforementioned shows, Netflix doesn’t have exclusivity with Lucha Underground. The right amount of subscribers watching a show that already has some buzz could influence Netflix to go all in on LU.
After all, they’re already producing a fictionalized wrestling show called GLOW aka Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling inspired by the 1980’s wrestling promotion of the same name staring Alison Brie. Netflix is feeling out the wrestling game right now. Perhaps their trip to the Temple will seal the deal thus bringing Lucha Underground to a level that could legitimately rival WWE.
All of the wonderful possibilities aside, Netflix and Lucha Underground seems like a brilliant match made in heaven…Although, the sounds of Matt Striker and Vampiro’s commentary will probably deter Netflix and Chill practitioners.
Ringside Logic 