When Lucha Underground debuted back in October of 2014 the expectations for the show were low. It was on a relatively new network, El Rey, and the show was going to Lucha style themed, which might not appeal to everyone. There was also a lack of known stars, but within just a few weeks Lucha started to build momentum. Now some eight months later the product is on fire. So how can the little company that could make a bigger splash?
One of the smart moves that LU has done is to promote their product through commercials that air during Raw. It’s a total common sense approach as Raw draws the highest wrestling audience each week. The commercials are general and don’t promote the matches, but just the show. At first a general commercial works, but now that the brand has been going they should promote the match coming up on this week’s show.
This would be especially effective when they are either doing something with a cool stipulation like Mask vs. Mask or using stars like Patron and Mundo who have appeared as major players in WWE before. They need to hype specific shows and drop the general approach. Their Grave Consequences match a few weeks back was a huge event. That could have drawn even bigger ratings if properly hyped.
In order to keep people tuned in they need to allow a little more breathing room for match booking. Even Dario Cueto, the show’s heel owner, has stated that he wants time to hype matches, but LU has typically only allowed a week to pass before delivering a match. In some cases, like this past week, they didn’t even do that and made a big main event between Johnny Mundo and Patron to start the show. That match could have used two weeks hype no doubt. LU has to stop giving away the goods so easily. It was ok at first when they were trying to draw attention, but now they need to start using the phrase “in two weeks!”
It would also probably help if they started truly defining who the heels and faces are. They have mastered the art of shades of grey. Everyone in LU has a little bit of a bad side to them, but it’s unclear who fans should really be cheering for. Son of Havoc and Angelico have become clear fan favorites, but they were portrayed as heels at some points. To really get people invested LU needs to really draw the line in the sand.
Alberto El Patron is perhaps the most confusing character. He was cleared debuted as a face and in his feud with Texano he was the face, but now suddenly with Johnny Mundo he is the heel. Even Texano is coming off as a bit of a face lately. While LU wants to lean towards that mature darker style of storytelling they still need to remember they need that divide between heels and faces to really book some great matches.
Although it sounds cliché the company needs a big swerve. Someone needs to get screwed over badly and that person would appear to be Prince Puma. Since his debut with Konnan there has always been some confusion over why he’s getting help from Konnan who is clearly a heel. Puma has been treated like a child in some cases. It would really be a solid turn if Hernandez and Konnan were working together and Konnan helped Hernandez win the title away in the next month or so. Dario could also be revealed to have supported this angle. This could all lead up to a big rematch at the August live event.
The other issue the company has, that also NXT suffers from, is hour show length. Due to commercials the show is even shorter than NXT. Some matches that could be a bit longer are rushed, but many fans will point out that they like the hour. Yet in the end it really drags out story lines that perhaps are slow burning too much.
If LU expanded to an hour and a half weekly it would do wonders for the show. They actually could use the extra time for longer matches and a few more squashes to help get guys over. The mentality of always have top stars battling doesn’t work in the long run because it will make everyone a .500 wrestler and cause fans to not be as invested.
It might not be a bad idea for the show to start later as well. It’s a mature product that mature fans enjoy. Going on an hour later would not be a bad idea and also would help avoid being on the same time as NXT. The fans that like NXT are the same fans that would love LU. Even though NXT is on demand why bother going head to head. LU might actually benefit from start right after as fans could go from one show to the next. Fans that follow twitter trends might be encouraged to flip to LU after NXT.
LU is a great product being produced and written by smart people who seem to understand the business. The hope is the show will start thriving soon and more seasons will happen, but whatever the case it’s a show that has proved you can make a show that fans really do enjoy.