The first season of Lucha Underground, a lucha libre or professional wrestling show, aired from October 29, 2014 through August 5, 2015 on the El Rey Network in the United States and on later dates on UniMás in Mexico. The debut season of Lucha Underground had 39 episodes in total and presented Lucha libre as a mixture of reality and fiction, adding fantastical elements and movie style backstage clips mixed in with wrestling matches.
| Lucha Underground | |
|---|---|
| Season 1 | |
 The Logo for Lucha Underground | |
| No. of episodes | 39 |
| Release | |
| Original network | El Rey Network (English) UniMás (Spanish) |
| Original release | October 29, 2014 – August 5, 2015 |
| Season chronology | |
Plot overview
The first season on Lucha Underground introduced the viewers to Dario Cueto (Luis Fernandez-Gil), the owner of the "Lucha Underground Temple" in Boyle Heights, Los Angeles. Cueto uses his money and influence to stage fights, promoting violence and often rewarding rule breakers while punishing those that play by the rules. During the season Cueto introduced the Lucha Underground Championship, won by Prince Puma in episode 9 (Aztec Warfare). Later on the Lucha Underground Trios Championship was added, with the first champions being the mismatched team of Angélico, Ivelisse and Son of Havoc. During the season Cueto began rewarding several wrestlers with an "Aztec Medallion", later revealing that they all played a part in the creation of the Gift of the Gods Championship, won by Fénix during the season finale called Ultima Lucha.
Other plot lines included the introduction of the mysterious, supernatural character Mil Muertes ("One Thousand Deaths"; Gilbert Cosme) and his companion Catrina (Karlee Perez) as they first fight against Fénix and later targeted Prince Puma. Catrina also brought in a trio called "the Disciples of Death" (Barrio Negro, El Sinestro de la Muerte and Trece). The season also included a side plot featuring Cueto, his brother Matanza, and Black Lotus (Angela Fong), who tries to kill Cueto and a masked wrestler known as Dragon Azteca who trains Black Lotus during the season. In the final episode of season one, Black Lotus kills Dragon Azteca, causing Cueto to flee the temple with both Black Lotus and Matanza in tow.
Cast and crew
Episodes
| No. in series |
No. in season |
Title | Taped date | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "Welcome to the Temple" | September 6, 2014[1] | October 29, 2014 |
| 2 | 2 | "Los Demonios" | September 7, 2014 | November 5, 2014 |
| 3 | 3 | "Cross The Border" | September 13, 2014 | November 12, 2014 |
| 4 | 4 | "Thrill Of the Hunt" | September 14, 2014 | November 19, 2014 |
| 5 | 5 | "Boyle Heights Street Fight" | September 27, 2014 | November 26, 2014 |
| 6 | 6 | "The Key" | September 28, 2014 | December 3, 2014 |
| 7 | 7 | "Top Of the Ladder" | October 4, 2014 | December 10, 2014 |
| 8 | 8 | "A Unique Opportunity" | October 4, 2014 | December 17, 2014 |
| 9 | 9 | "Aztec Warfare" | October 5, 2014 | January 7, 2015 |
| 10 | 10 | "Law of the Jungle" | October 18, 2014 | January 14, 2015 |
| 11 | 11 | "Last Luchador Standing" | October 18, 2014 | January 21, 2015 |
| 12 | 12 | "They Call Him Cage" | October 5, 2014 | January 28, 2015 |
| 13 | 13 | "Johnny Mundo vs. The Machine" | January 17, 2015 | February 4, 2015 |
| 14 | 14 | "Open Mic Night" | January 17, 2015 | February 11, 2015 |
| 15 | 15 | "Eye for an Eye" | January 18, 2015 | February 18, 2015 |
| 16 | 16 | "Caged Animals" | January 18, 2015 | February 25, 2015 |
| 17 | 17 | "A War Started in Mexico..." | January 24, 2015 | March 4, 2015 |
| 18 | 18 | "No Escape" | January 24, 2015 | March 11, 2015 |
| 19 | 19 | "Grave Consequences" | January 26, 2015 | March 18, 2015 |
| 20 | 20 | "The Art of War" | January 25, 2015 | March 25, 2015 |
| 21 | 21 | "Uno! Dos! Tres!" | February 7, 2015 | April 1, 2015 |
| 22 | 22 | "Mask vs. Mask" | February 7, 2015 | April 8, 2015 |
| 23 | 23 | "Fire In The Cosmos" | February 8, 2015 | April 15, 2015 |
| 24 | 24 | "Trios Champions" | February 8, 2015 | April 22, 2015 |
| 25 | 25 | "The Way Of The Drago" | February 21, 2015 | April 29, 2015 |
| 26 | 26 | "The Best In the Business" | February 21, 2015 | May 6, 2015 |
| 27 | 27 | "Ancient Medallions" | February 22, 2015 | May 13, 2015 |
| 28 | 28 | "Shoots And Ladders" | February 22, 2015 | May 20, 2015 |
| 29 | 29 | "Fight To The Death" | March 21, 2015 | May 27, 2015 |
| 30 | 30 | "Submit To The Master" | March 21, 2015 | June 3, 2015 |
| 31 | 31 | "The Desolation Of Drago" | March 22, 2015 | June 10, 2015 |
| 32 | 32 | "All Night Long" | March 11, 2015 | June 17, 2015 |
| 33 | 33 | "Death Vs. The Drago" | March 22, 2015 | June 24, 2015 |
| 34 | 34 | "Gold And Guerreros" | April 12, 2015 | July 1, 2015 |
| 35 | 35 | "Fuel To The Fire" | April 12, 2015 | July 8, 2015 |
| 36 | 36 | "The Beginning Of The End" | April 11, 2015 | July 15, 2015 |
| 37 | 37 | "PenUltima Lucha" | April 18, 2015 | July 22, 2015 |
| 38 | 38 | "Ultima Lucha Part 1" | April 18, 2015 | July 29, 2015 |
| 39 | 39 | "Ultima Lucha Part 2" | April 19, 2015 | August 5, 2015 |
Production
All the wrestling matches were taped on location in Boyle Heights, California where a warehouse was converted into the "Lucha Underground Temple" set. The shows themselves were taped over several weekends, usually with two shows being taped per day. Some of the matches were not shown on television but served more as try-outs for wrestlers, often referred to as "dark matches". Throughout the season Matt Striker and Vampiro (Ian Hodgkinson) provided the English language commentary,[2] while Vampiro and Hugo Savinovich taped the Spanish language commentary used when broadcast in Mexico.[3] For the final show, Ultima Lucha, Vampiro wrestled and his place at the commentator desk was taken by Michael Schiavello.[4]
References
- ^ "AAA NEWS: Lucha Underground SPOILERS - results from first TV taping in Los Angeles featuring former WWE stars". Pro Wrestling Torch. September 14, 2014. Retrieved October 25, 2016.
- ^ Dehnel, Joel (January 8, 2015). "Dehnel's Lucha Underground report 1/7: First Lucha Underground champion determined in Aztec Warfare". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved January 8, 2015.
- ^ "Lucha Underground Vampiro". elreynetwork.com. Archived from the original on 18 July 2016. Retrieved 8 April 2015.
- ^ Moore, John. "8/5 Moore's Lucha Underground Season Finale Review: Ultima Lucha part two". prowrestling.net. Retrieved 16 December 2015.