Lucha Underground?
February 18, 2015 11:44 PM - Subscribe
I'm wondering if enough people to make it interesting are following Lucha Underground.
A quick synopsis for those not already watching it: It's a lucha libre show, produced by Robert Rodriguez, that plays to its being a TV action series rather than a sporting event in arenas.
It plays on El Rey (in English), and episodes are also available, albeit with region locking and in Spanish, from UniMàs. As far as I know, however, there's no legal way to watch it outside on the US and Mexico.
It plays on El Rey (in English), and episodes are also available, albeit with region locking and in Spanish, from UniMàs. As far as I know, however, there's no legal way to watch it outside on the US and Mexico.
It's a fun show. The cutscenes have a pleasingly sleazy grindhouse vibe to them, as one would expect from a Rodriguez product. The cast is C-listers for the most part but they try hard, are suitably athletic and don't shy away from aspects WWE fans would find unusual; the face team on the last episode was a female luchador who visibly outwrestled her male heel opponents, a 50-year-old masked mini and a veteran exótico (male wrestler in drag). The one-hour-a-week time slot lets them advance storylines without overexposing their small roster, and the production values are solid.
The problem is, of course, that if you don't have DirecTV you don't have El Rey for the most part. I have spammed Verizon with requests to bring it to FiOS, with predictable failure so far. The network is tailor-made for me -- lucha, pulp action movies, Shaw Bros. kung fu, horror movies, original series -- and I would really like to see it reach a wider audience.
Interestingly, the newly released Sling Television service carries El Rey in its basic $20/mo package, alongside mainstream networks like ESPN, TBS, CNN and Disney. For those who cut cable but miss that kind of thing, it's an option.
posted by delfin at 9:48 AM on February 20, 2015
The problem is, of course, that if you don't have DirecTV you don't have El Rey for the most part. I have spammed Verizon with requests to bring it to FiOS, with predictable failure so far. The network is tailor-made for me -- lucha, pulp action movies, Shaw Bros. kung fu, horror movies, original series -- and I would really like to see it reach a wider audience.
Interestingly, the newly released Sling Television service carries El Rey in its basic $20/mo package, alongside mainstream networks like ESPN, TBS, CNN and Disney. For those who cut cable but miss that kind of thing, it's an option.
posted by delfin at 9:48 AM on February 20, 2015
My understanding is that it's a way for the Mexican AAA promotion to get a foothold in the US. For those raised on WWE style rasslin it will probably prove to be either incomprehensible or revelatory.
At the moment, I don't think that enough people actually have access to the show to have any real sort of discussions.
posted by Burgoo at 6:58 AM on February 25, 2015
At the moment, I don't think that enough people actually have access to the show to have any real sort of discussions.
posted by Burgoo at 6:58 AM on February 25, 2015
El Rey is on Comcast too, or at least it is in my region.
I've only caught a little LU here and there; I already spend more hours than I really should watching wrestling, because I can't stop hate-watching the big leagues and I can't miss NXT. Not sure I could regularly watch LU enough to participate, but I'm not voting against this. Just not sure I could participate even though I want to!
We've kind of been wrapping all wrestling talk up in the WWE Raw threads - Raw, PPVs, Smackdown if anything happens on it, rumors stuff, and NXT - and I would not be opposed to people talking about LU there. We only post a new WWE post like once a month or so. I also get that LU is a different animal than the WWE products so it may not make sense to roll it all together.
posted by misskaz at 3:24 PM on February 26, 2015
I've only caught a little LU here and there; I already spend more hours than I really should watching wrestling, because I can't stop hate-watching the big leagues and I can't miss NXT. Not sure I could regularly watch LU enough to participate, but I'm not voting against this. Just not sure I could participate even though I want to!
We've kind of been wrapping all wrestling talk up in the WWE Raw threads - Raw, PPVs, Smackdown if anything happens on it, rumors stuff, and NXT - and I would not be opposed to people talking about LU there. We only post a new WWE post like once a month or so. I also get that LU is a different animal than the WWE products so it may not make sense to roll it all together.
posted by misskaz at 3:24 PM on February 26, 2015
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posted by Ik ben afgesneden at 1:40 AM on February 19, 2015