Eric Bischoff Confirms Having Talks With Lucha Underground Series

The pro wrestling world has seen several shows and promotions come and go, including Wrestling Society X and others. Among them, Lucha Underground holds a special place for many fans, but Eric Bischoff has a different perspective.

Lucha Underground was a professional wrestling promotion and show that debuted in 2014. It aired on the El Rey Network and was created by Mark Burnett and Robert Rodriguez. The series ran from October 29, 2014, to November 7, 2018, which consisted of four seasons with 127 episodes in total. It was filmed in Boyle Heights and Downtown Los Angeles, California, in a venue known as “The Temple.” The venue featured high ledges, which wrestlers often used for risky dives that created viral moments practically every week.

On his 83 Weeks podcast, WWE Hall of Famer Eric Bischoff revealed his past conversations about working with Lucha Underground. Things didn’t work out, but he always thought it was a fascinating concept for a pro wrestling show.

“I don’t know if I ever told you this, but I almost went to work for them. I had a meeting, maybe two meetings with them, and Mark Burnett was involved. I had met with Mark and done some things with Mark previously, so I took the meeting and was kind of interested. They didn’t offer me a job, but I love the idea of it. Again, it was different. It was taking wrestling in a different direction, not to compete with the traditional wrestling format, but to be kind of added value, so to speak. I liked the idea of it. I don’t know if it was given enough time, or if the people involved kind of hit a limit in terms of what they could do with it creatively, or if it was a financial issue. I don’t know anything about the end result of Lucha Underground, but conceptually, I really thought it was kind of a cool idea. I did watch some of it, and I liked it, and it was different. At least it captured my imagination.”

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When asked if something like Lucha Underground could work today, Eric Bischoff shared his thoughts. He said that something like that could work, but right now there is a lot of competition in the pro wrestling world.

“Something like it could, sure. I mean, there’s so much wrestling out there right now between WWE, AEW, TNA, whoever else is out there. There’s a lot of wrestling on television, and it’s all essentially the same. Some of it is way better than others, but essentially it’s the same thing. I think if somebody came along and could figure out, from a production point of view, how to present the product in a completely different way so it isn’t really trying to compete with traditional wrestling as we know it on television, but just provide something that’s a little unique and different, I think there’s an opportunity there. If I was a network executive and somebody came to me with an idea that was pretty well thought out and we’re able to answer a lot of the production questions that would come along with something like this, because it’s a highly intensive production. One of the reasons that wrestling has been so successful for so long on television is relatively speaking, it’s inexpensive as hell to shoot. Once you start going off into the cinematic world, that changes dramatically the amount of time it takes for pre-production. You’re making little movies every week, and that’s a whole lot different than showing up and shooting wrestling matches in the ring. It would be cool if somebody could figure it out. It’s a tough one to figure out, though. It’s expensive.”

Although Lucha Underground is no longer active, its influence lives on. In 2020, Major League Wrestling introduced story elements from Lucha Underground into its show, MLW Fusion. Former Lucha Underground talent joined MLW as part of the “Azteca” stable, led by Cesar Duran, who used to perform as Dario Cueto for the defunct series. The stable became a focal point of MLW’s mini-series, Fusion: Alpha for a while. Elements from Lucha Underground continue in MLW programming through Azteca-branded events, which were described as a spiritual successor to the original show.

We will have to see if nostalgia brings back the Lucha Underground branding, but there are a lot of things in play with the company. If anything, we can thank LU for bringing a lot of names to the forefront of the pro wrestling world, from Ricochet to Penta and Fenix, who may not have seen that spotlight yet. After all, Dominik Mysterio even had a cameo on the show years before he broke out into WWE on his own.