A few months ago, Ivelisse took to social media and opened up about the one-and-a-half year battle she had been fighting with Lucha Underground trying to get her release from the company. As Ivelisse noted, talent were promised that if they were unhappy after season four, which finished up this past fall, that they would be granted their release. And yet, that didn’t happen and as a result, talent including Ivelisse, Joey Ryan, King Cuerno (El Hijo de Fantasma) and Kobra Moon (Thunder Rosa) opted to take legal action, citing that Lucha Underground was preventing them from being able to make a living. The lawsuits against Lucha Underground, El Rey Network and Baba-G Productions alleged that talent be paid punitive damages for lost wages due to their restrictive contracts and was considered a class action suit.
Now, a month or so after those lawsuits were first reported, Lucha Central is reporting that the situation seems to have been resolved and that the four wrestlers named in the suit, Joey Ryan, King Cuerno, Kobra Moon and Ivelisse have been granted their immediate releases.
“I’m honored to say that we received 100% of the relief that we were suing to obtain and four young talented wrestlers are no longer bound by an unfair contract that prohibits them from taking full advantage of their talents at the prime of their career,” said attorney Andre Verdun, who represented the talent in these cases. “I wish them all the best of luck.”
According to Lucha Central, two separate lawsuits filed by Cuerno, who recently left Lucha Libre AAA, and El Texano Jr. have been dropped or are expected to be dropped soon as a settlement has been reached on the class action suit, granting Ivelisse, Ryan, Cuerno and Moon their free agency.
Lucha Underground has yet to comment on the situation but it would seem that this might be the final death knell for the promotion that co-executive producer Chris DeJoseph said just a month ago was probably “dead.” There doesn’t seem to be much faith internally that Lucha Underground will have a season five but if it does, it likely means it will be without four of its top names. Ryan, who most likely has not signed with All Elite Wrestling yet simply due to his joked about “lifetime contract” with Lucha Underground, is expected to sign with the company sooner rather than later. Moon will most likely continue to work for Women of Honor. Cuerno could go anywhere, with WWE rumored to have interest. Ivelisse, the one who’s desperately wanted her release for a long time now, will certainly look to be more active on an indie scene that she believed had been passing her by due to being stuck in Lucha Underground.
Time will tell what this means for the four wrestlers and for anyone else still under contract with Lucha Underground, but for now, these four are once again free to make their decisions and sign with any company where there is mutual interest. And in today’s indie scene, there is likely no shortage of suitors for any of this talented quartet.
