YMMV / Lucha Underground

• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • It's safe to say that Mascarita and the White Rabbit have the biggest amount of ACL in them.
    • What was Mascarita Sagrada's reason to give the Rabbit Tribe that rabbit's foot? Was he trolling them? Was it he being Innocently Insensitive? Was it an order from the White Rabbit themselves? Did he want to help the Tribe or just to get the group off his back? And how exactly does Mascarita know about the White Rabbit in the first place? The Season 3 ending has Mascarita telling the trio that he'd take them to the true White Rabbit, suggesting that the foot may have been from the White Rabbit.
    • Better yet, what is the relationship between Mascarita and the White Rabbit since the former didn't seem worried about being killed by London as per the White Rabbit's orders? Was Mascarita aware that he was going to die? Was he brainwashed? Is this part of some bigger scheme involving London someohw??
    • Why did Mascarita decide to take the Rabbit Tribe to the White Rabbit anyway? Was he just annoyed because of them worshipping him as the real one? Was it because he was thanking London for saving him from Son of Madness?
    • The White Rabbit never requested London to off Mala Suerte or Saltador, yet he was okay with London murdering Mascarita and subsequently didn't care much about London having gotten either of the above killed. Was he fully aware of London's descent into insanity?
  • While resurrecting Fénix was nice, did Aerostar have something else in mind when he asked Melissa to hand him that half of the Piedra Immortal? Considering he claimed Captain Vasquez's half of the amulet soon afterward, he likely had planned on resurrecting Dario Cueto from the start.
• Awesome Music: A lot of the bands they get in to perform in the Temple really rock hard, including the crazy Voodoo Glow Skulls, the masked luchador band El Conjunto Nueva Ola and Robert Rodriguez's own band, Chingon.
• Badass Decay:
  • Johnny Mundo was probably the best technical wrestler of the temple early in season 1, even beating out Prince Puma, who he never thought twice about jumping in the ring to save. As of season 2, his heel turn and alliance with Taya has lowered him to relying on cheap hits, weapons, and running away from Cage. Season 3 mostly fixes this, including having him become Lucha Underground Champion.
  • Chavo became a super heel real quick when he attacked Blue Demon Jr, but seemed to be less and less of a threat as time went on, eventually becoming a punching bag for Texano.
• Base-Breaking Character:
  • Johnny Mundo. For fans of Johnny Mundo they'd at least get to see him in the main event picture and enjoyed his reign as Lucha Underground Champion. For others....see Badass Decay for more details.
  • For many fans, the first champion, Prince Puma. While he's technically a face, most of Puma's defenses came with some kind of outside interference; the most dramatic example being his Ironman match against Johnny Mundo, in which Alberto El Patron cost Johnny the title after he had a MASSIVE lead over Puma. This made his status as a face VERY dubious amongst fans. This was compounded by the fact that he never talked until midway through Season 2, with Konnan always speaking for him until his departure, and made him hard to relate to with many fans. Despite all of this, Puma still does have his share of fans.
• Broken Base: The casting of Luis Fernandez-Gil as Antonio Cueto after Dario was killed off at the end of Season 3. Antonio himself isn't the problem and isn't a Base-Breaking Character; it's the fact that he's played by Dario's actor and, despite a pretty good wig and makeup job, it's still pretty obviously the same guy. Some people think that it's just good that they were able to keep the superbly-talented Fernandez-Gil on the show (when it was originally believed he wouldn't be returning after Dario was killed off), while others think that having him put on a Paper-Thin Disguise and continue playing his own father rather than bringing in a new actor is just silly. People in the first camp counter by asking why people in the latter can accept Aztec gods, a time-traveling spaceman and an actual dragon taking human form to become a luchador, but draw the line at a guy in a wig?
  • It's additionally been theorized that Antonio might be an in-universe Paper-Thin Disguise for a Not Quite Dead Dario, see the WMG page for more.
• Crazy Is Cool: Many, many of the more high-flying wrestlers count as this, with Angelico probably taking home the prize. The 25 Secrets of Lucha Underground spent about the first third of its length ranting about him, particularly his first dive from the roof of Dario's office.
  Angelico’s leaps, in context, are not sane; they come from the balconies and from the top of his boss’s ringside office, and often begin with a full-bore running start. Angelico does not drop like Batman from the rafters. He hurtles into the ring with the violence of a flying squirrel misjudging its flight path and smacking headlong into a tree. He is also proof that a flying squirrel the size of a man would be a terrible, terrible thing.
• Creepy Awesome: Marty "the Moth" Martinez started out as just a loony fanboy who was convinced he had Aztec blood, but rapidly evolved into an outright lunatic who kidnapped Sexy Star and held her prisoner for months, never stops grinning, doesn't seem to feel pain and just loves creeping on Melissa Santos. The fans love his heel work and have a special chant of "CREEPY BASTARD!" *clap clap clapclapclap* reserved just for him, to the point where the chant follows him outside of Lucha Underground. His sister Mariposa isn't considered as awesome, but is still quite creepy.
  • Taken up to eleven by the Rabbit Tribe in Season 3: Paul London, Saltador and Mala Suerte. London dresses all in white, including a stylish top hat and a sequin-studded codpiece, Mala Suerte wears a mask with a rooster-like comb on top and a shirt that says "I do it like a rabbit", and Saltador wears a weird-ass full-body checkerboard outfit. During their debut match against the Trios Champs they linked hands and danced ring-around-the-rosy around Melissa while she did their introductions and trolled the hell out of their opponents, perhaps most notably when London and Saltador dragged Drago and Aerostar off the apron and jumped up in their place, holding their hands out for Fenix to tag to, with London grinning like a lunatic. London's new look in Season 4 (black with white-makeup) gives him a sinister The Crow (1994)-esque vibe where he now resembles Brandon Lee's Eric Draven.
    • Naturally, "The Moth" and The Rabbit Tribe collided against each other when Marty fought Saltador in their Cuerto Cup match. Saltador was able to out-creep the Moth, for one thing.
  • The new members of the Rabbit Tribe in Season 4 contribute to this as well: the White Rabbit is a guru-esque figure with some supernatural abilities (he levitated his staff to Saltador's hands in "Sacrificio") who is obsessed with time, speaks in a calm voice and corrupted London to murder Mascarita and then offer his own partners to Matanza. Meanwhile, El Bunny is a vicious little thing who is known for Laughing Mad at everything and anything.
• Cult Classic: While the audience viewership is rather small, Lucha Underground has become very popular with many people and well praised.
• Designated Hero/Designated Villain: The feud between Johnny Mundo and Alberto El Patrón. Alberto was supposed to be the face while Johnny played the heel, but Alberto's behavior towards Johnny was nonstop arrogant barbs and harassment, with Johnny trying to remain stoic through it all. Then it culminated with Alberto beating Johnny for the right to face Hernandez for the #1 contendership. Alberto had just arrived at the Temple one day, already a champion in AAA and acting like he owned the place, while Johnny had been with Lucha Underground literally since day 1 and had never gotten a title shot since Prince Puma's inaugural win at Aztec Warfare. It is VERY hard to find a fan of LU that thinks Johnny went too far when he made Alberto eat Dario Cueto's office window.
  • Even after that, when Johnny had gone full-blown Heel, Alberto continued acting like the injured party, declaring in a promo that "I thought we were friends", when he'd never been sincerely friendly to Johnny at any point and Johnny had at least always been upfront about his distaste for Alberto and his arrogant attitude.
• Draco in Leather Pants:
  • Man, they just can not get people to dislike Pentagón Jr.! He was vicious and nasty and violent, and the crowd loved him for it. They tried having him snap the arms of the jobbers he beat, that only made them cheer him more. He had to assault and nearly cripple Melissa Santos before he could actually get any boos, and even then people were back to chanting "Cero miedo!" by the next time he appeared! Eventually they just gave up.
    • At the end of Season 2 they had him attack Vampiro again in a desperate attempt to have people boo him, but it just won't happen.
    • Pentagon's pants are starting to actively damage the product: after he defeated Drago (who'd recently turned heel on Aerostar and Fénix to join the Serpent Tribe) during the Cueto Cup, Aerostar ran out to save Drago from Pentagon's arm breaker- and got booed for it as if he was a heel himself! When Drago rejected Aerostar's attempt to bring him back to the side of good anyway, beating him down and leaving him in the ring for Pentagon, the Believers cheered Pentagon for breaking Aerostar's arm! And a few weeks later, Pentagon went back to the well of the Moral Event Horizon that had at least once gotten him booed (when he attacked Melissa Santos) by attacking the Beautiful Brenda and actually breaking her arm too when she was trying to attend to Famous B (who Pentagon had already snapped first). Again, despite a disturbingly realistic sell job from Brenda, sobbing in convincingly tearful agony rather than going for over-the-top hysterical screaming, he got cheered for it. Pentagon is probably at the stage where he could literally eviscerate toddlers in the ring and people would still chant "Cero Miedo!" for it, which runs the risk of making him actively difficult to book around. On the other hand, this actually HELPS the stories if one treats the crowd as an In-Universe crowd rather than the Real Life audience. The Temple is meant to be an underground fight club that celebrates violence, so it makes sense that it would have such a bloodthirsty audience. In many ways, it actually ADDS to the ambience by having them cheer the most brutal fighters regardless of alignment.
  • They're having similar problems with Johnny Mundo, albeit not to the same level. Unlike Pentagon, who is at least characterised as a "badass psycho monster" wrestler, ever since Johnny went rudo he's been a gutless, slimy, cowardly douchebag, who trash-talks everyone while being unable to win a single match without shameless cheating. And yet there are still people in the crowd who cheer him! In the Season 3 mid-season finale they even had him come out and cut a promo where he ran down the Believers for supposedly never believing in him, and you could audibly hear one guy in the crowd shouting "I believed in you, Johnny!", which Mundo had to ignore in order to continue trying to make the crowd hate him. Regardless, when he held up the Championship belt, he still got cheers from quite a few of the Believers.
• Ensemble Dark Horse
  • The promotion itself could be considered this for wrestling fans that want a better alternative outside of WWE and TNA.
  • Among the actual roster Pentagón Jr. is easily one of the more popular wrestlers despite starting out as a jobber. Son of Havoc and El Mariachi Loco are apparently the most over wrestlers with the crowd at tapings.
  • Son of Havoc seemed to be slipping into the life of a jobber early on but put on a great performance every time. It wasn't until Angelico showed up that his booking improved. Him dumping Ivelisse while on the top ropes before pinning Angelico remains one of the biggest pops of the show.
  • Additionally, Angelico was very much over for his Crazy Is Cool antics, where he would jump off many high places, most notably the office.
  • Fénix has won the crowd over for his complete inability to contemplate surrender. The Grave Consequences match against Mil Muertos lifted him from ensemble darkhorse to superstar, however.
  • Drago, not only for being a great worker, but for having what some feel is one of the coolest looks in the wrestling world, especially the mask that makes him look like he actually is part dragon. Drago is SUCH a fan favorite that in the Believers' Revenge lumberjack match between him and Hernandez, not a single fan lifted a finger against him.
  • Dario Cueto, who's not only a refreshing take on the 'evil authority figure' trope, he's a damn good one at that.
  • Melissa Santos may only be the Ring Announcer, but she's an incredibly popular member of the cast and highlighted by critics as one of the best ever in the position, able to be a subtle but relevant part of the show without overshadowing the actual wrestlers.
  • Ivelisse, one of the resident Action Girls, is among the most popular on the roster. Sexy Star was also incredibly popular until several incidents turned fans against her. See Harsher in Hindsight below.
  • Mr. Cisco seemed to have developed a following before his murder, at least among people in the Temple.
  • Marty "the Moth" Martinez started out as just a Joke Character, but ended up as one of the most beloved (in a really hated sort of way) rudos on the roster. He plays the Combat Sado Masochist Psychopathic Manchild Giggling Villain so well that the Believers just LOVE to watch his entertainingly creepy antics and have even created a special "CREEPY BASTARD" *clap clap clapclapclap* chant just for him.
    • Marty has actually gotten so over (albeit very subtly) that at the start of his match against Saltador in Season 3 episode 23 there were even a few Believers chanting "Marty! Marty! Marty!" Fortunately for him, though, he's still too much of a creeper to fall into the Draco in Leather Pants problem they have with Pentagon and Johnny Mundo.
  • The Mack didn't take long to make an impression on the Believers thanks to his incredible Acrofatic abilities, but it was making him the best friend and ally of Sexy Star (first in her feud against the Martinez siblings and then against Johnny Mundo and the Worldwide Underground) that really got him massively over, to the point that he's been catapulted into the main event scene, fighting Mundo for the title with the entire audience behind him.
  • XO Lishus to the point of it being lampshaded In-Universe even from his first appearance. At first it seemed like he'd simply be another flamboyant jobber to kill time, but then he's dishing out high-flying moves to keep Jack Evans on his toes before laying him out with an X-Factor from the top rope. His refusal to submit to the point of passing out in the rubber match and his "No Mas" match cemented him in record time as a legit part of the roster.
• Evil Is Cool:
  • Dario Cueto looks like he's having a good time as the heel authority figure.
  • Pentagón Jr., to the point that he has graduated into a full on Anti-Hero.
  • Johnny Mundo just can't seem to get the audience to not cheer him, no matter what underhanded heel tactics he pulls off.
• Fan Nickname:
  • "Team Dysfunction" or "Team Havoc" for the trio of Son of Havoc, Ivelisse and Angelico, who don't have an official name. Recappers at Uproxx's wrestling page referred to them as "The Unlikely Trio" after a comment made by Matt Striker. Striker has also called them by the Team Havoc name.
  • During his first actual appearance in the Temple, the Believers gave Vibora the nickname "Luchasaurus". After he hit Aerostar and Fénix with double chokeslam and followed up by giving Drago a Tombstone Piledriver, online fans immediately dubbed him "The Undersnaker". "Luchasaurus" has since been used by his performer on Twitter and outside LU.
• Fashion-Victim Villain:
  • King Cuerno would look pretty cool if he came to the ring wearing a headdress with deer antlers on top of it. Instead he comes out wearing an entire deer head on top of his head, which just looks absurd. (And for some people, it unfortunately brings to mind Pierre the stuffed deer head Al Snow used as a replacement Companion Cube after his usual Companion Cube, Head the severed mannequin head, turned heel on him.)
  • When Mil Muertes first appeared, his striped blue pants looked less than impressive, like he was wearing half a pinstripe suit that was far too small for him. The solid black pants he wore on his return after Grave Consequences were a considerable improvement, and the black pants with the same patterns as his mask he wore later on even moreso.
• Friendly Fandoms:
  • Despite the fact Lucha Underground has close ties with ex member AAA and has a much different tone, the World Wrestling League encourages its fans to support, or at least be friendly towards it.
  • There's a lot of overlap between fans of Lucha Underground and fans of NXT too, as both are seen as shows in which talent comes first, and as alternatives to WWE. At one point, Wednesday night became the night for wrestling for many people because it was the night when both shows aired.
• Genius Bonus:
  • Most of the stuff found in Lucha Underground make more sense if you know a bit of Aztec mythology.
  • A Rabbit Tribe with the group being based on Alice in Wonderland seems obvious. But a little digging reveals that there's a myth based on the 400 Rabbits who are essentially the gods symbolizing drunkeness. Combined with how Alice in Wonderland has lots of drug parallels, it makes a little more sense.
• Growing the Beard
  • The company really started to flesh out a bit more right after the Grave Consequences match, that completely won first time viewers over due to its incredible storytelling psychology and its innovative approach to a casket match.
  • Jobbers and joke gimmicks have almost disappeared or were altered as of Season 2, as the show settled into a much darker, high performance drama.
  • In universe: Team Havoc were dysfunctional all season 1 but returned in season 2 as a legit powerhouse team.
• Harsher in Hindsight: Before the No Mas match between Sexy Star and Mariposa, Dario encouraged Sexy to continue hurting Mariposa after she'd cried "No mas!" in order to exorcise her fear of Mariposa once and for all, and at the end of the match Sexy indeed refused to release the armbar even after Mariposa gave up until the referee and her friend The Mack convinced her to let go. In late 2017 at Triplemania XXV in a 4-way match for the AAA Reina de Reinas Championship, Sexy Star genuinely attempted to injure Rosemary with a shoot armbar by refusing to release it after Rosemary submitted, dislocating her arm. The incident was seen by those in the industry as a Moral Event Horizon that utterly destroyed Sexy's career^note when you work in the ring with someone, you're entrusting your bodies to each other, and deliberately injuring someone else is a betrayal of everything that makes wrestling possible and saw her immediately dropped from further seasons of the show.
• Ho Yay:
  • In "Sacrificio", Saltador is sitting on Mala Suerte's lap while waiting for Mascarita to arrive with news of the White Rabbit and looked horrified when Mala Suerte was sacrificed to Mantanza. Well, considering rabbit breeding habits and the back of Mala's shirt...
  • Aerostar and Drago just drips of this, seeing as they've known each other for about a thousand years or so. In particular, Aerostar was determined to align with Worldwide Underground in "A Match Made in Heaven" just to get Drago back. And once Mundo gives Aerostar said wish and Kobra Moon frees Drago, the two leave the ring together. In "Kill Mil", Drago pushes Aerostar out of the way so Strong doesn't break his ankle, then returns during the Gift of the Gods match in "Seven To Survive" to help him out, bringing a forklift along.
    • In that very same episode, we have XO Lishus, who actually is gay in real life, and Joey Ryan - a notable ladies' man - looking gobsmacked when Lishus gives him a good ass pounding. Joey actually looked like he liked it, and the Believers chanted to that effect. Ryan does have feelings as he stopped Jack Evans from permanently crippling XO Lishus in their No Mas Match. In their Trios Match against the Reptile Tribe, Ryan even dons trunks that matches XO Lishus' ring gear!
• I Knew It!: As soon as Marty "The Moth" Martinez mentioned that he had a sister, many fans immediately thought of Cheerleader Melissa, who had been reported as working dark matches - and they were right. Others guessed that California-based luchadora Thunder Rosa was it, as she was also reported as working dark matches, but she became Kobra Moon instead. As some of her dark matches featured her teaming with Martinez and Sexy Star, this might've been a deliberate red herring.
• Les Yay: Let's just say Catrina's charms isn't limited to just men, as Ivelisse found out when Catrina gave her a very long Lick of Death when the Disciples of Death won the belts. Catrina has even been quoted as saying that Ivelisse tasted the best out of everyone she's given the Lick of Death to.
• Memetic Molester: Marty "The Moth" Martinez, to the point that he couldn't wrestle a match without the crowd chanting 'Creepy Bastard' at his direction.
• Moral Event Horizon:
  • Dario Cueto forcing Sexy Star and Super Fly into a mask vs mask match. To put it into perspective, in lucha libre, a mask vs mask match is traditionally the kind of match two wrestlers who hate each other would agree to, in an attempt to give a heated feud closure. Putting two wrestlers who are considered best friends into a mask vs. mask match, while disregarding the tradition behind it, is considered the lowest thing Dario has done. All to torment Sexy Star because he can.
    • Prior to that, his hiring The Crew to conduct a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown on Sexy Star, Pimpinela Escarlata, and Mascarita Sagrada, just because he considers them "freaks" and can't stand the fact that they're popular with the fans. Even heel announcer Vampiro didn't support this arrangement.
    • Cueto went into full-on super-villain territory by forcing The Crew to pick a member to be punished for failing him, then having that member (Bael) be fed to Matanza.
  • Pentagon Jr. crossed it in Episode 23 where after weeks of breaking wrestlers' arms (a MEH in of itself) he attempted to break the arm of Melissa Santos the ring announcer. It's one thing to injure your fellow wrestlers like he has been. It's another thing entirely when you try to break the arm of a defenseless announcer. He gets worse from there, as he demands that Vampiro face him at Ultima Lucha, beating him up, soaking him in gasoline and flat out telling him that if he didn't accept the challenge, he'd be burned alive.
    • The Death Glare Vampiro gave Pentagon Jr. is a glaring example that even he couldn't stomach Pentagon Jr.'s actions in that segment.
    • And THEN Vampiro crossed it by revealing that he was being a Stealth Mentor as Pentagon's evil teacher all along, meaning every time Pentagon tried to "sacrifice" someone else's arm to his master, including the above with Melissa and even including Vampiro's own arm as the last task before TheReveal, was all part of Vampiro's twisted training to hone Pentagon's violence.
    • Vampiro yet again when it was revealed that everything he'd done to further both Pentagon and Prince Puma was at the behest of his own master, who'd been plotting the downfall of both all along!
  • If you don't consider Marty the Moth to have crossed it when he kidnapped Sexy Star and (implicitly) tormented her for months after Ultima Lucha, then he probably crossed it in front of the crowd during his Weapons of Mass Destruction match with Killshot when he tried to take Melissa Santos hostage against his opponent.
    • And if you don't consider him to have crossed it then, he more than likely crossed it when his Stalker Shrine for Melissa was revealed, or when he went after and bloodied up Fenix because of her.
  • If Paul London gleefully murdering Mascarita wasn't enough, "A Match Made in Heaven" has him smiling when he offered Mala Suerte to be sacrificed to Mantanza under the context that the White Rabbit decreed this all while Saltador is absolutely shaking in fear. And if that didn't do it, him offering up Saltador to Matanza in the very next episode with a manic grin on his face just might. Or how about in "The Hunted" when it's revealed that the White Rabbit never gave the request, though admittedly he didn't seem too concerned about it.
  • Ricky Mundo pretty much crossed it when he put The Beautiful Brenda (tending to Famous B) in a submission hold with a crazed grin on his face.
• Older Than They Think: A TV company-financed wrestling program featuring Ricky Banderas, Vampiro, Joey Ryan, Jack Evans and some of the best independent wrestling talent in North America had already happened in Wrestling Society X.
• OT3:
  • Shipping Ivelisse/Son of Havoc/Angelico has become very popular among the fans.
  • "A Match Made in Heaven" has started a pairing of Ivelisse/XO Lishus/Joey Ryan due to the results of the match and them becoming a Trios Team.
• Pet the Dog:
  • Knowing his usual snakeyness, you could interpret it as more manipulation on his part, but Dario Cueto actually confessing to Sexy Star about his messed-up childhood to show sympathy to her trauma at the hands of the Moth Siblings and motivating her to beat Mariposa might very well be a Pet The Dog moment, especially considering Cueto's usual disdain for Sexy.
  • Johnny Mundo using the wish he won from Kobra Moon to order her to release Drago from her thrall, as Aerostar had joined forces with the Worldwide Underground to defeat the Reptile Tribe in an Atomicos match. Granted, he had something of an ulterior motive (he was about to ask Taya to marry him and thus didn't actually need the wish), but many viewed it as a kind gesture given in return for Aerostar's help.
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap:
  • Joining Lucha Underground had this effect on Rey Mysterio, of all people, given the way fans treated him during his last WWE run.
  • Chavo Guerrero's infrequent runs as a sneaky cheat and general chew toy (and his involvement as a producer) have been received this way, as many had tired of the "second-rate Eddie Guerrero clone" character he had been playing in quite a few other places.
• The Scrappy:
  • For a time, the biggest scrappy in the company was easily Hernandez. Even when he was a face, he was disliked by a large majority of people for being incredibly cocky. One particular example that comes to mind is rocking King Cuerno like a baby in an attempt to belittle him. To the show's credit, they seemed to acknowledge it and they turned him heel as a result. He soon became more of a Hate Sink, averting this trope.
  • Another Season 1 scrappy was DelAvar Daivari. He was supposed to be hated for being an arrogant Jerkass (and he was, though he was originally positioned as tecnico opposition for the then-hated Texano), but his slow-paced, resthold-heavy, WWE style wrestling stuck out like a sore thumb compared to the rest of the show. His matches were widely seen to be the worst on the show when he wrestled. Probably for this reason, he was not brought back after Season 1 ended, despite initially claiming that he would be back.
  • Courtesy of the incident involving her match against Rosemary, Sexy Star cemented herself as this towards not just the fans but also her fellow wrestlers, so much that she was directly Put on a Bus after word of the incident spread.
  • Season 4 saw Jake Strong fall into this, as he had been brought in with not much fanfare, did not have much in the way of storyline or gimmick despite getting a push (he broke ankles and took trophies, that was pretty much it until a late season vignette that hinted at him having more of a demonic presence and the post-Ultima Lucha video package put him with the Order), put Drago (by then returned to being a tecnico) on the shelf for a while, won the Gift of the Gods over the more popular Dante Fox, and used that to steal the Lucha Underground championship away from Pentagon Dark just after Pentagon had finally regained it from Marty "The Moth" Martinez. Those last two had the live Believers audibly chanting "Bullshit" for the second and third time in Lucha Underground's history and internet-based Believers up in arms. The post-finale scene of him snatching the Gauntlet of the Gods away from Black Lotus and Dragon Azteca Jr. and delivering that to the Order didn't help, either.
• Shocking Moments: As Lucha Underground is a lucha libre-focused promotion, many of the wrestlers are high-flyers. Even bigger wrestlers, like Son of Havoc and The Mack, can take to the air when they need to. This leads to a lot more jumps off of the ropes, the turnbuckles, the barriers separating some of the fans from the ring, and even the roof of Dario Cueto's office, both into the ring and to the floor outside the ring, than one would see in many American-style promotions. It certainly gets the crowd chanting the first two words of this trope's name on a regular basis.
  • Parodied in the match between The Mack and Mala Suerte that kicked off the Cueto Cup. Mala Suerte knocked Mack down, then ran across the ring to the opposite corner and climbed the post, signaling some kind of massive aerial move. Instead, as was becoming a Running Gag for him, he hopped down, trotted across the ring, and hit Mack with an ordinary running senton instead. The crowd played along perfectly by chanting "HOLY SHIT! HOLY SHIT!" anyway. Then played straight at the end of the same episode when, in a backstage vignette, Cage exploded Councilman Delgado's head with one punch!
  • The last scene of "The Cup Runneth Over" starts with Johnny Mundo talking smack about Rey Mysterio's son—and then it escalates from Rey beating the crap out Mundo, Worldwide Underground coming into help, and then nearly every single member of the roster going at it as the Believers look in absolute awe. "Holy Shit!" indeed.
  • The end of "Sacrificio" when we first see the White Rabbit and two things happen: The White Rabbit asks London to prove his loyalty by killing Mascarita Sagrada and London complying with a crazed grin on his face!
  • The first ten minutes of "The Circle of Life" which involved Melissa in a brawl against Catrina, Mil killing Catrina and Aerostar going back in time to return Fenix's life force back to him, all in one cinematic!
• Special Effects Failure:
  • It's not "special effects" as such so much as Kayfabe Failure, but one of the most common recurring errors that make it hard to suspend disbelief is when a wrestler takes a huge bump in a match and, instead of writhing on the floor in pain, the first thing they do after hitting the mat is adjust their ring gear (usually their elbow and knee pads, or tugging up the waistband of their pants). Pentagon and his elbow pads is a notable repeat offender.
  • One actual example of special effects failure was the spider that was creeping along the floor at the end of the scene where Sexy Star celebrated The Mack's win in the Battle of the Bulls with him. The first one that had been left in her locker looked realistic enough (mostly because we only barely got a glimpse of it) but this one was obviously a fuzzy toy wobbling ridiculously as it was pulled along by a piece of string.
  • The Gauntlet of the Gods, despite supposedly being an artifact of world-changing power, is a poorly-made prop and constantly seems to be on the verge of falling apart, which kind of detracts from its supposed aura of doom.
• Sophomore Slump: The general consensus is that, despite a lot of shining moments and still being a very good product overall, Season 2 was a considerable step down from Season 1. Ultima Lucha Dos in particular came in for major criticism, especially for the booking of part 3. Season 3 is considered a strong return to form, though.
• Spiritual Successor:
  • In its innovative approach and cult status to the wrestling fans it became this to ECW.
  • In much the same ways, it's also one to Wrestling Society X, to the point where several former WSX wrestlers work or have worked for LU.
  • MLW gave it one in the form of the Azteca Underground faction given its references to the late brand (especially its website) as well as having MIL MUERTES himself as part of the roster. What's more, 'El Jefe' is implied to be Dario Cueto himself, albeit under a different name.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
  • The Disciples of Death were built up at the end of Season 1 as a dangerous and imposing force, but in Season 2 they were little more than Mooks and lost The Trios Championship at the beginning of the season. It looked like Siniestro was going to get more focus after he absorbed the souls of his partners but wound up being defeated by Prince Puma and killed by Catrina.
  • Night Claw, who was a descendant of the same tribe of Puma and had wowed many in his debut match had a lot of fans excited. Sadly it seems that it was only a one off appearance for him as the guy who portrayed him quit due to how AAA was treating him and how he was threatened by another wrestler. Not even a new person was brought in to play him. Both Chris DeJoseph and Chris Roach are in favor of bringing the character back and his performer returned to AAA in 2018, so he may be seen again in the future.
  • Daga seemed to be this for a long period. He had a couple of decent matches in Season 2, but aside from a weird bit about Kobra Moon having a starry-eyed (and unwanted) crush on him that never went anywhere, never actually did anything or got involved in any stories at all. Owing to Visa issues, he didn't appear in almost all of Season 3, and was assumed Killed Off for Real with the reveal that Kobra Moon actually had her minion Pindar tear him to pieces... except he showed up alive and well in the ending montage after Ultima Lucha Tres, beheading Pindar with a long sword, and received a larger role as Kobra Moon's king in Season 4.
  • While Catrina was well received as a manager, Karlee Pérez was noted to be an extremely gifted wrestler and was one of the favorites to emerge during WWE's Diva Era. A lot of women's wrestling fans were annoyed that Catrina didn't get in the ring herself, since her appearances on the indies and with TNA showed that she could still go in the ring. She did eventually wrestle Ivelisse however.
  • Likewise Black Lotus appeared in an entirely non-wrestling capacity, despite Angela Fong likewise being compared to Gail Kim and Trish Stratus while she was training in FCW. Angela's real life pregnancy may have put a stop to any plans of having Black Lotus wrestle, along with the signing of two of her trio to WWE.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: When Son of Havoc was screwed out of a title opportunity in the Season 2 finale of Lucha Underground it appeared that we would be seeing the beginning of a Daniel Bryan-esque underdog push in Season 3. Unfortunately there's no build to that and Son of Havoc has been spending most of his time in undercard matches.
  • At the time, Sexy Star's title reign felt like a complete waste. All that build up to being rewarded the Lucha Underground Championship was flushed down the toilet as she lost the belt on the very next show without even being given a proper title reign. After the season ended, it was revealed that she was never meant to hold the title in the first place or even be on the show after losing the Gift of the Gods, as she had retired for a boxing career between Seasons and had to be begged back after Ivelisse (who was meant to win the title) was injured.
  • The Black Lotus Triad debuted as an Amazon Brigade trio who harbored a grudge against Pentagon Dark. They managed to succeed in doing what few LU wrestlers ever did by not only winning a feud against him but also break his arm. A pretty solid debut for the trio. Sadly, owing to limited dates on their part, nothing came from their one episode appearance, and two of them (Doku aka Kairi Sane, and Hitokiri aka Io Shirai) eventually signed with WWE.
• Too Good to Last: An immensely entertaining show that garnered an intensely passionate fanbase for its uniquely slick production, memorably campy characters, and off-the-wall storylines, but due to troubled backstage drama regarding unfair contracts, mismanagement, and budget problems, it only lasted four years, though with much of its impressive roster moving onto bigger promotions and influence on the cinematic potential of wrestling, its impact the medium remains palpable.

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