New Notes on Lucha Underground Contracts & The Company’s Financial Situation

The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that the talent situation is going to get very interesting for Lcha Underground. The site reports that the contracts for talent are that they are exclusive on U.S. television to Lucha Underground, which is why AAA hasn’t been able to syndicate in the U.S. If they did, they couldn’t use anyone from Lucha Underground on the shows. Depending on the contract, talent can’t be used in a U.S. televised show for between 6 and 12 months after the final episode of the season they are part of airs. Talent taping season three will be paid through the end of the tapings, but season three will not debut until January of 2017. That means, depending on their contract, that it would be somewhere between October 2017 and April 2018 before talent could appear on another U.S. television show.

Running live events could help, but the end game has always been about using television to create characters to do movies and video games. The hope there would that they would recuperate the start up costs through those deals.

Word is that the time between the end of the season three tapings and 2017 is crucial for the company’s long-term health. While El Rey is unlikely to cancel the show, a fourth season will depend on the investors from Mexico once again putting up the money. The hope there would be for a big money score from movies, international syndication, or to get rights fees from a major television network, like Univision or Televisa. Unfortunately for the promotion, the negotiations with Univision have stalled again.