wrestling / News

Univision Divests Stake in Lucha Underground Network El Rey

November 9, 2020 | Posted by Jeremy Thomas
Lucha Underground Image Credit: Lucha Underground

Univison is getting out of the El Rey business, divesting its stake in the cable home of the defunct Lucha Underground promotion. The Spanish-language network announced on Monday (per NextTV) that they were divesting their minority stake in the Robert Rodriguez-created cable channel. El Rey will continue under Rodriguez and FactoryMade as an independent entity.

“This is an important and significant milestone for El Rey, and we’re thrilled to have full ownership of our brand,” said Rodriguez. “Thanks to Univision’s support and guidance, El Rey has been able to achieve more than we ever imagined and I’m confident that with this strong foundation we will continue to successfully serve one of the most important and influential audiences.”

El Rey has carried a fair amount of wrestling programming during its seven years of existance, airing all four seasons of Lucha Underground as well as being the current home of Vampiro’s talk show Vampiro Unleashed. Univision is in the middle of a sale to ForgeLight and Searchlight Capital Partners, which is expected to be completed before the year is up.

“Univision initially partnered with Robert and the El Rey team in an effort to support an innovative brand with the goal of successfully reaching young Hispanics in a way that nobody had done before,” said Vince Sadusky, CEO of Univision. “We look forward to watching all that El Rey will undoubtedly accomplish in the future. For Univision, we remain focused on the anticipated close of our transaction with ForgeLight and Searchlight and we are excited about all that lies ahead.”