{"id":14459,"date":"2018-02-20T15:32:06","date_gmt":"2018-02-20T20:32:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lwosonprowrestling.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/?p=14459"},"modified":"2018-02-20T15:32:24","modified_gmt":"2018-02-20T20:32:24","slug":"lucha-underground-season-4-new-tapings-new-temple-and-new-talent-sharing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2018\/02\/20\/lucha-underground-season-4-new-tapings-new-temple-and-new-talent-sharing\/","title":{"rendered":"Lucha Underground Season 4: New TV Tapings, New Temple and the &#8216;Impact&#8217; of New Talent-Sharing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Lucha Underground<\/strong> is back with new TV tapings scheduled for February 23-25, a new temple, located at the Union Central Cold Storage building in downtown Los Angeles, and some new talent-sharing agreements which could have an impact on their remaining talent.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s a lot of news to digest from a company that had been pretty much radio-silent since the season three finale aired back in October of last year, but here is a look at what we\u00a0know, and what we don&#8217;t know, about the\u00a0impending fourth season of\u00a0El\u00a0Rey&#8217;s hit wrestling show.<\/p>\n<h2>Saying Goodbye to\u00a0Boyle Heights<\/h2>\n<p>In mid-October of\u00a02017, the fourth and final\u00a0episode of the four-part <strong><em>Ultima\u00a0Lucha\u00a0Tres<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0season\u00a0finale went off the air following a huge\u00a0cliffhanger. <strong>Dario\u00a0Cueto<\/strong>, owner and proprietor of\u00a0both Lucha Underground and the Temple of Boyle\u00a0Heights, was shot in the chest by his associate, <strong>FBI Agent\u00a0Winter<\/strong>. Winter told\u00a0Cueto that\u00a0he\u00a0didn&#8217;t have to worry about the messes he created anymore\u00a0as\u00a0new management would take care of things. Cueto managed to\u00a0make a\u00a0huge\u00a0phone call to the never seen but oft-referenced, &#8216;Papa\u00a0Cueto,&#8217; before passing out to end the season.<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=CxTvNsWpQU4<\/p>\n<p>Fast forward to 2018 and season four, where it is likely that &#8216;new management&#8217; has\u00a0decided to move\u00a0Cueto&#8217;s temple\u00a0to a new location.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/uproxx.com\/prowrestling\/lucha-underground-season-4-new-temple-pics-tickets\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Uproxx\u00a0received an exclusive first-look at the new temple<\/a>, and from the images, the new building seems a\u00a0fitting place to continue the show. This new\u00a0temple also seems to have a new cold\/icy motif, which fits in line with how Lucha Underground has\u00a0done things in the past. Fans will remember\u00a0how the temple was decidedly darker in season\u00a0two, following\u00a0<strong>Mil Muertes<\/strong> and\u00a0<strong>Katrina<\/strong> taking over and leading to the\u00a0arrival of\u00a0<strong>Matanza\u00a0Cueto<\/strong> as\u00a0Dario looked to regain control.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">February 23, 24, 25 is gonna be a really fun weekend! Get ready for some crazy twists, turns and surprises! Oh and it\u2019s gonna be loud! \ud83d\ude31 <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/LuchaUnderground?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#LuchaUnderground<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/u4mHz4pDpD\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/u4mHz4pDpD<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Chris DeJoseph (@chrisdejoseph) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/chrisdejoseph\/status\/963545503580413952?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">February 13, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>As producers, <strong>Chris DeJoseph<\/strong> and\u00a0<strong>Eric\u00a0van Wagenen<\/strong> told Uproxx, it was important to them for this new temple to feel like a character in much the same way the old one did. The pair added that with the\u00a0set being a character, they felt\u00a0they\u00a0had pretty much gotten everything they could out of the\u00a0old building and are looking forward to rebuilding the story\u00a0in the new place.<\/p>\n<h2>AAA and Impact: What Does it Mean for Season Four?<\/h2>\n<p>In March 2017, while Lucha Underground was on hiatus, <strong>Impact Wrestling<\/strong> signed a partnership agreement with <strong>Lucha Libre AAA<\/strong>, Mexico&#8217;s premier wrestling promotion and the source of much of LU&#8217;s talent pool. The alliance began that summer as talent from AAA, including Lucha Underground&#8217;s <strong>Drago<\/strong> and <strong>El Hijo del Fantasma<\/strong> (LU&#8217;s <strong>King Cuerno<\/strong>) appeared at <em><strong>Slammiversary<\/strong><\/em> and talent from Impact were featured on the <em><strong>Triplemania XXV<\/strong> <\/em>card as well.<\/p>\n<p>The co-branded shows were considered to be pretty successful for both companies but the talent-sharing didn&#8217;t stop there. In addition to semi-regular appearances from Fantasma and <strong>Texano<\/strong>, Impact was able to land <strong>Johnny Impact<\/strong> (aka Johnny Mundo), <strong>Taya Valkyrie<\/strong>, <strong>Sami Callihan<\/strong> (LU&#8217;s Jeremiah Crane), and the Machine, <strong>Brian Cage<\/strong>, on full-time contracts with the promotion.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">We\u2019re hungry for more <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LuchaElRey?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@LuchaElRey<\/a> and now we finally get to GO BACK TO THE TEMPLE!!!!! See you all there \ud83d\udd25\ud83d\udd25 <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Slamtown?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#Slamtown<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/herewegoagain?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#herewegoagain<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/S4?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#S4<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/luchaunderground?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#luchaunderground<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheRealMorrison?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@TheRealMorrison<\/a> @MrGMSI_BCage <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/darewolf333?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@darewolf333<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JackEvans711?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@JackEvans711<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ThisIsMelSantos?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@ThisIsMelSantos<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/HollyMeowy?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@HollyMeowy<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/famousb23?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@famousb23<\/a> @hijodelfantasma <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ylALQfSFJW\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/ylALQfSFJW<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; TAYA VALKYRIE (@thetayavalkyrie) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/thetayavalkyrie\/status\/963536627212607488?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">February 13, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>On its face, this could seem problematic given Lucha Underground&#8217;s strict contracts and exclusivity clauses. Trevor Mann, who portrayed both indie star <strong>Ricochet<\/strong> and Lucha Underground&#8217;s <strong>Prince Puma<\/strong>, revealed details of his own contract, in an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/extra-mustard\/2017\/07\/25\/ricochet-rey-mysterio-xwa-providence-diary\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">interview with\u00a0<em>Sports Illustrated<\/em> this summer<\/a>. Mann said that while LU was airing, he was unable to appear on TV for any U.S. shows. This included NJPW&#8217;s first ever show in the United States, which aired on Axis TV. While Mann did have a unique contract in that he was <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mandatory.com\/wrestlezone\/news\/607587-details-lucha-underground-contracts\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">one of few Lucha Underground stars not signed to the seven-season deal<\/a>, it is likely the &#8216;not being able to appear on U.S. TV&#8217; clause was something not so rare to just him.<\/p>\n<p>Impact Wrestling itself is no longer a U.S. indie, as in November 2017 the company moved their headquarters and TV tapings to Canada. It would have been interesting to see if Impact being in Canada had any effect on the LU contracts, but as it seems, there won&#8217;t be much drama or semantics there. Due to Impact&#8217;s partnership with AAA, it is likely that talent including Mundo, Cage, Callihan, Valkyrie, etc, will continue to be able to work both promotions without much issue. That means you can expect to see the quartet, along with potentially other Impact\/Lucha Underground talent, on El Rey Network Wednesday nights, and Pop TV on Thursdays.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">One of the most dominating destructive forces in IMPACT history will be unleashed THIS THURSDAY on <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PopTV?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@PopTV<\/a>! The Machine @MrGMSI_BCage arrives. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/IMPACTonPop?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#IMPACTonPop<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/IydhQg2ojH\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/IydhQg2ojH<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; TNA Wrestling (@ThisIsTNA) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ThisIsTNA\/status\/963080271229784065?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">February 12, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>For those who don&#8217;t work for Impact Wrestling, the news isn&#8217;t all that promising as this is the only promotion that Lucha Underground will regularly allow its talent to appear. <a href=\"http:\/\/uproxx.com\/prowrestling\/lucha-underground-season-4-rumors-details\/2\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">According to the Wrestling Observer, LU talent will continue to be blocked<\/a> from working dates with WWE or <strong>Ring of Honor<\/strong>, and are being limited on what they can do with New Japan. In addition, with TV tapings set for Friday, Saturday and Sundays over the next few months, talent will be unable to take outside bookings during that time.<\/p>\n<h2>Everything Else<\/h2>\n<p>In addition to the information about the talent-sharing, the Observer revealed that the deal Lucha Underground signed is reportedly for two seasons, that all of the talent save for Puma and <strong>Rey Mysterio<\/strong>, are still under contract as of season four, and that the new season could begin airing as soon as May of this year.<\/p>\n<p>The budget is going to be smaller and some of the top names will be missing, but overall, Lucha Underground will be returning with so many stories left to tell and so many great wrestlers and performers left to tell them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lucha Underground is back with new TV tapings scheduled for February 23-25, a new temple, located at the Union Central Cold Storage building in downtown Los Angeles, and some new talent-sharing agreements which could have an impact on their remaining talent. It&#8217;s a lot of news to digest from a company that had been pretty [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2418,"featured_media":14517,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16,2,7,15,6],"tags":[733,1243,872,226,1668,345,137,488,1146],"class_list":["post-14459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aaa","category-featured","category-impact","category-lucha-underground","category-north-america","tag-aaa-lucha-libre","tag-brain-cage","tag-dario-cuerto","tag-impact-wrestling","tag-johnny-impact","tag-johnny-mundo","tag-lucha-underground","tag-sami-callihan","tag-taya-valkyrie"],"modified_by":"Jamie Greer","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2418"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14459"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14459\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14517"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}