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Trivia / Lucha Underground

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  • Acting for Two:
    • Aside from being on the roster, Argenis, Ricky Mandel, and El Mariachi Loco pulled double duty as they were also The Disciples of Death. Referenced when Mandel took part in Aztec Warfare III, coming in at #13, which Vampiro translated into Spanish: Trece.
    • After his character's death in Season 2, Mr. Cisco also appears as Mala Suerte of the Rabbit Tribe starting in Season 3. Saltador is the former El Mariachi Loco/Siniestro de la Muerte again, after his character's death earlier in the season.
    • Following the death of his character, Dario Cueto, in the Season 3 finale, Luis Fernandez-Gil returned in Season 4 as Antonio Cueto, Dario's father.
    • Big Bad Steve is the same guy who was Pindar.
    • Dragon Azteca Senior was, for at least his action scenes, King Cuerno, as identified by a stomach tattoo peeking out of his shirt.
    • El Bunny was initially believed to be this for Mascarita Sagrada, but this is a misunderstanding, as the character is played by the wrestler mostly known as Mascarita Dorada or El Torito, who previously played Sagrada from 2000-2007. The person who played Sagrada in Lucha Underground is at least the 5th mini-estrella to do so and isn't known to have portrayed him in any other promotion.
    • Bael is best known for playing B-Boy elsewhere in pro wrestling, but he made an uncredited appearance as B-Boy at the end of S01E02 to take a chair shot from Chavo Jr.
    • Similar to Bael above, Mariposa had an unmasked cameo and was directly mentioned as Cheerleader Melissa during Johnny and Taya Mundo's wedding.
  • Actor-Inspired Element:
    • Karlee Pérez came up with the idea of Catrina licking Mil Muertes' defeated opponents, suggesting that a "kiss of death" was too cliched.
    • Having been in the military, Shane Strickland came up with Killshot's (and by extension, Dante Fox's) backstory himself.
    • Taya suggested that the theme color for her and Johnny Mundo's wedding be a violently neon lime green, legitimately baffling the producers.
  • Colbert Bump: Not for the show itself, but for some of its wrestlers. Guys like Pentagon, Fénix, Drago, Aerostar and others were relatively unknown outside of Mexico, and even then were lower-card performers. LU has put them on the map and they've been getting more bookings throughout the United States, notably Pro Wrestling Guerilla and CHIKARA. Hell, Pentagon Dark (still working under his old name Pentagon Jr.) actually became the IMPACT World Champion in early 2018 following the LU/Impact crossover event, while also holding the LU championship!
  • Fake Nationality:
    • It goes without saying for Aerostar, who is an alien. From outer space.
    • Mil Muertes (AKA Ricky Banderas AKA El Mesias) is implied to be from Mexico like most of the roster. He is actually Puerto Rican.
    • Prince Puma (AKA Ricochet) is African-American.
    • Konnan is Cuban.
    • Catrina is apparently Latina, as Wrestling/Karlee erez performs in Brownface. However in real life she is a mixture of Cuban, English, Hawaiian and Chinese.
    • Matanza (AKA Jeff Cobb) is from Guam.
    • Black Lotus reappeared in Season 3 accompanied by a trio of assassins she brought back with her from the Black Lotus Triad. Except all three of them are played by Japanese wrestlers (Kairi Hojo, Mayu Iwatani, and Io Shirai of World Wonder Ring ST★RDOM).
      • Subverted two weeks after their debut when we found out their names, "Doku", "Yurei" and "Hitokiri", meaning their characters probably are Japanese... which just raises the question of why a Chinese Triad employs Japanese fighters.
    • Surprisingly averted with Marty "the Moth" Martinez, whose performer (Martin Casaus) genuinely is half-Mexican on his father's side, despite looking as white as white can be. Played straight by his sister Mariposa (supposedly a full-blooded Aztec descendant), as Cheerleader Melissa is American, but she can get away with it as she hasn't been seen unmasked yet.
  • Playing Against Type:
    • Initially. Son of Havoc is one of the few times that Matt Cross has been able to work as a heel, having mostly been a babyface wherever he goes. However, he didn't stay heel for long.
    • Likewise Angela Fong was a Genki Girl Face when she was in the WWE system, so a dark character like Black Lotus is different for her.
    • Jeff Cobb is a former Olympian wrestler who used that background to play a likeable babyface on the indie circuit. Naturally, him playing the masked monster Matanza Cueto is a bit of a change.
  • Quietly Cancelled: Ratings steadily declined during Season 4 as the budget slowly spun out of control, both potentially tied to the fantastical special-effects heavy storylines. The producers said the show would have to be rebooted for a fifth season; apparently no one was interested in doing it, as the next season was simply never produced. No word was put out until Vampiro confirmed Lucha Underground was cancelled in an interview a year later.
  • Real-Life Relative:
    • Fénix and Pentagón Jr. are brothers in real life, and team together elsewhere as the Lucha Brothers.
    • Rey Mysterio and Dragon Azteca Jr are real life cousins. Dragon Azteca Jr has also been known as Rey Horus and El Hijo de Rey Misterio (II) in California and Mexico indies.
  • Recast as a Regular: Jeff Cobb initially worked tryout matches under his real name during Season 1 tapings. He impressed the writers so much that they chose him to portray Matanza (who had previously been played by an actor during the storyline segments) in the ring.
  • Role-Ending Misdemeanor:
    • Rumours that Melina's planned storyline after her debut on the season finale was cut short because of "attitude problems". Melina denied these rumours and claimed producers had decided not to rehash her familiar pairing with John Morrison from WWE. Given that the two were no longer dating by the time she debuted, it's up in the air. She'd later claim that she was a stand-in for Taya, who she'd also claim was always meant to have the role, except Taya was also being considered for the role of Kobra Moon at the time.
    • Sexy Star is not being brought back for Season 4, after trying to injure Rosemary at a AAA show for some unexplained reason. The producers also implied she's not the first person to get canned for unsafe behaviour.note  She was later written off completely as having been Killed Offscreen by Reklusa.
    • MVP was supposed to be joining the roster for Season 3 after helping with production in season 2, but inadvertently violated his non-disclosure agreement by interviewing other roster members on his podcast.
  • Romance on the Set: Melissa Santos and Cage, whose daughter, Skylar Faith, was born in January 2018.
  • Screwed by the Lawyers: Lucha Underground contracts originally forbid the performer appearing on American TV in any other wrestling promotion, and contracts are binding until the season they apply to is finished airing. Several changes were made to this for Season 4, most notably a working agreement between LU and Impact Wrestling via AAA's affiliation with Impact, though the no-compete still stands. This caused several issues:
    • Hernandez showed up in TNA before Season 1 was done, which led to legal action and every segment he'd been taped in to be pulled. This had the knock on effect of getting the entire Beat Down Clan stable canned, as he was heavily involved in it, and specifically getting MVP canned for suggesting bringing him in in the first place, even though really it's on TNA to check that kind of thing out.
    • A segment of TNA featuring the Hardyz invading Konnan's The Crash promotion in Mexico had to be hastily edited, as the referee was LU senior ref Marty Elias, held to a similar contract. Though general opinion is that this was AAA's doing as Konnan was on bad terms with them at that point, and AAA has a history of pettiness with screwing over any recently departed talent (though both AAA and The Crash now work with TNA so clearly things are better off).
    • King Ricochet, aka Prince Puma was vocally unhappy with being stuck in one of these contracts, and implied he was headed to WWE once Season 3 finished airing.note  He was furious when the program took a several month mid season break,note  keeping him from appearing on NJPW's G1 USA special aside from a cameo they could edit out for the TV airing.
    • Ironically enough, talent contracted to AAA averted this, as Drago made televised appearances for TNA while still being under LU contract. (Almost certainly because AAA owns a minority stake in Lucha Underground and is affiliated with TNA/Impact.)
    • Johnny Mundo and Taya showed up in TNA (renamed Impact Wrestling) in late 2017, and both showed up in Season 4. They were among the beneficiaries of the Impact–Lucha Underground agreement that came to be at the time.
    • The no-competes got so bad post-Season 4 that Texano, King Cuerno, Ivelisse Vélez, Joey Ryan and Kobra Moon eventually joined together in 2019 and actually filed two separate lawsuits against LU to successfully release them from their contracts.
  • Screwed by the Network: Partially. While much of the demise of LU has been blamed on AAA owner Dorian Roldán's unfairly structured contracts and general interference (including an incident where he unlawfully impersonated MGM in an attempt to enforce cease and desists), El Rey and Univision were pointed at as being a cause of delays due to disagreements over the budget for each Season. Season 4 got screwed over particularly hard by Univision, as, not only did they drastically cut the budget, they forced everything for the Season to be filmed within a month instead of the standard 3-4 months for previous Seasons.
  • Those Two Actors: Ivelisse Vélez, Matt Cross, and Martin Casaus had all been contestants on the fifth season of WWE Tough Enough. And if you want to stretch it, John Morrison (who won the third season) guest starred on an episode of that season too.
  • Short-Lived, Big Impact: Definitely. The promotion only lasted four years and two days, but its presence is still being felt to this day in other promotions. Most of its major stars went on to sign with sign with WWE, [[AEW, or ROH. It is generally accepted as the birthplace of the cinematic match, a new type of match that uses cinematic elements more similar to an action movie than a traditional wrestling fare.
  • Wag the Director: Subverted; while Chavo Guerrero Jr. is actually one of the producers, he doesn't hog the spotlight or make himself into an Invincible Villain. In fact, if anything he makes himself the Chew Toy.
  • What Could Have Been:
    • Karlee Pérez was in talks to join TNA after working a Knockouts PPV. But when this was offered to her - and Robert Rodriguez's name was mentioned - she opted to sign with Lucha Underground instead.
    • According to producer Chris DeJoseph, Bael was initially going to be Son of Havoc, but his role was changed the week of the first taping.
    • Exec Eric Van Wagenen told "Stone Cold" Steve Austin that the first six episodes had to be rewritten overnight because three AAA wrestlers had the wrong visas.
    • The main event of the first episode wasn't supposed to be Mundo vs Puma. Mundo signed a half-hour before taping.
    • There were plans to bring Havoc, the father of Son of Havoc, but the character was axed entirely after Son of Havoc caught on with the crowd and was turned tecnico.
    • Alberto El Patrón was going to be in season 2 before WWE won him back.
    • Night Claw hasn't appeared since the end of Season 2, as between seasons his performer left AAA after they forced him to take up the mantle of Octagon Jr in place of the real one (now WWE's Kalisto) and the original Octagon confronted him about it at an autograph signing. However, Chris DeJoseph has hinted that Night Claw may return in some fashion (and Chris Roach has outright stated that he wants to bring him back), plus his performer returned to AAA in 2018.
    • Matanza was originally meant to debut in the first Aztec Warfare.
    • Yet more for Son of Havoc: He was originally called Son of Chaos and set to be in a group called the Invisible Cult. The latter was later implemented in Season 3 with the introduction of Son of Madness, becoming their motorcycle club.
    • Marty "The Moth" Martinez was almost Mil Muertes, a magician, and a Mormon. As a magician, he would've been The Magnificent Martin, and his assistant would've been The Beautiful Brenda.
    • Taya was almost Kobra Moon until Thunder Rosa was discovered, to the point where Moon's original gear was sized for her. She was then paired with Johnny Mundo, and the rest was history.
      • Taya also wasn't supposed to wrestle Cage in her debut, as that match was supposed to be Cage vs. Mundo. Mundo was suspected to be injured (he turned out to be fine afterward) and Taya subbed in on the fly.
    • Matt Sydal, Candice LeRae, The Young Bucks and Frankie Kazarian all turned down offers to star. Joey Ryan turned down a deal to star in Season 1, but changed his mind and joined the cast in Season 2, while LeRae turned up in dark matches before signing with WWE. Rich Swann was later mentioned as almost coming in for Season 4.
    • Ivelisse was supposed to be the one to win Aztec Warfare III before she broke her ankle. Sexy Star had actually elected to retire to a boxing career between Season 2 and 3's taping, and only showed up to drop the Gift of the Gods belt. Still wanting a woman to win the belt and with Taya (who was also unavailable at the time) and Mariposa firmly entrenched as heel lackeys, the writers convinced Sexy to come back, and taped a few matches out of order to be slotted earlier into the season to create a feud with Worldwide Underground.
    • Those who attended the taping for Aztec Warfare IV have mentioned that up to thirty people were involved in it, with several different people cut entirely from the broadcast version, and that others were supposed to be involved but could not make the taping.
    • Chelsea Green was initially set to debut as Sexy Star's spider-linked tormentor Reklusa before it became an Aborted Arc due to Sexy being Put on a Bus, and her role was later repurposed into being an ally of Marty "The Moth" Martinez. It was later picked back up with the reveal that she had taken Sexy out offscreen.
      • Chelsea was also not the first choice for the character, but she was cast in the role because the producers had another role in mind for their first choice in case they became available.
    • Dante Fox was supposed to continue feuding with Killshot in Season 4, but for reasons listed above under Real Life Writes the Plot, his place in the feud was given to Son of Havoc. He was also meant to be in the first Gift of the Gods match of Season 4, but was replaced by Dezmond X, who himself was only available for a short time.
    • Jeremiah Crane wasn't originally planned to join the Reptile Tribe, but was slotted in to replace someone who couldn't take part in the show.
    • David Arquette was originally set to play Benjamin Cooke, in what would have certainly been a Casting Gag referencing how Arquette infamously won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship as part of a promotional stunt for WCW. David Arnott was cast after Arquette reportedly showed up to a taping drunk.
  • Written-In Infirmity:
    • If Blue Demon Jr. vs. Texano at Ultima Lucha struck you as odd, it's because it was improvised; it was supposed to be Texano vs. Chavo (as Texano's interference to save Prince Puma from the Crew during his match with Chavo suggested), but Chavo's torn hamstring in that match was actually real and the feud had to be set aside, with the writers creating the backstage segment where Chavo subtly turned Blue Demon Jr. against Texano instead to give them an alternative. It was resumed and finished early in Season 2, after Chavo had healed.
    • Ivelisse's broken foot that supposedly happened during the Trios Tournament finals (which would go on to handicap the team for the rest of season 1) had actually already happened before the event, which is why the crossbody where she supposedly broke it was her first meaningful contribution to the battle up to that point. Then she broke the same leg again mid Season 3 taping, during the match that qualified her (and 4 others) for Aztec Warfare 3. This is why Ricky Mandel made a completely random return in Aztec Warfare III (for the first time since Season 1, though he'd reappeared in a backstage segment not long before), as he was filling her vacated spot. This one was particularly tragic as Ivelisse was originally booked to win the title in Aztec Warfare!
    • If you're wondering why during Pentagon Dark's gauntlet match against the Black Lotus Triad, Black Lotus' own contribution was reduced to attacking the ref then simply knocking down an already-weakened Pentagon and breaking his arm while he was helpless, it's because at the time Angela Fong was actually pregnant and incapable of wrestling. This is also why the character went back to Hong Kong afterwards.
  • You Look Familiar:

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