FanPost

What surprised me about Lucha Underground

I just finished watching season one of Lucha Underground last week, and I can't wait for season two. My previous experience with professional wrestling consisted mostly of WWE programming on and off for the last six years, so it's quite different from what I'm used to.

I was expecting to enjoy Lucha Underground, because I like high-flyers, but the show surprised me in a few ways. (Warning if you haven't finished watching season 1 - there are a few minor spoilers.)

1) What happens backstage, stays backstage

In WWE, it seems like everyone watches what happens backstage, or finds out what happened fairly quickly off-camera. In Lucha Underground, we're the only ones privy to what goes on in Dario Cueto's office, or in the locker room. I wasn't expecting that at all.

As an example, Dario told Sexy Star in his office that her trios tag team partners would be Superfly and Pentagon Jr. When the first two came out to start their match, the commentators wondered out loud who the third member would be. It actually surprised me that they didn't know yet.

It makes a lot more sense this way. Why should everybody on the show know what goes on when they're not there?

2) The masked wrestlers are just as interesting as the mask-less ones

I really did not expect to be a fan of anyone with a mask. I thought, how can I get into the characters if I can't read their emotions, so much of which is understood from a person's facial expressions?

I was wrong. You can see a whole lot of personality and emotion in these guys, even the ones that hardly say anything. The impatience and anger of Pentagon Jr., the frustration of Fenix, the moment you know that King Cuerno has picked a new target - all of that is visible enough, mask or not.

I got to know them so well that, in my current top four, three of them wear masks.

3) The fans cheer for everyone

I'm used to seeing fans pick their favorites to root for. Lucha Underground fans cheer for all of them. Except for maybe ones featuring the Crew or the Disciples of Death, there's rarely a match where the believers agree on who to support. Dueling chants happen regularly, and it sometimes sounds like the exact same people doing both chants.

They cheer for talent, plain and simple. They don't care who wins, they just want to see a great match.

Thankfully, in Lucha Underground, that's exactly what they get.

The FanPosts are solely the subjective opinions of Cageside Seats readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cageside Seats editors or staff.