Vampiro: Without Lucha Underground, There’d Be No AEW
Lucha Underground won’t be coming back for a fifth season, but the legacy lives on through other promotions. At least, according to Vampiro.
Lucha Underground, which ran for four seasons, was critically acclaimed for being “a television show with wrestling” as the cinematic production and long-term storytelling were a highlight of the show.
Speaking to Chris Van Vliet, Vampiro, who served as the color commentator for LU for all four seasons, discussed the show’s influence on wrestling in 2020.
“Without Lucha Underground, there’d be no AEW. I don’t give a fuck what kind of money that guy [Tony Khan] put into it or what their initial vision was. Okay, Cody, Young Bucks, and Jericho jumped on board — good businessman — and Kenny Omega doing bullshit YouTube videos in Japan. This would have never happened because the mindset of the fan at the moment was ready to support something different. Lucha Underground fed the change in WWE. Fed the boom. I believe we were responsible for re-igniting that spark,” he said.
Lucha Underground helped build the careers of talent such as Pentagon Jr, Fenix, Brian Cage, and more.
“Brian [Cage] is so fucking talented. It almost sucks that he exists in wrestling because I don’t see somebody following him. His physique, charisma, talent. ‘You’re too fucking big. Stop doing that.’ Jeff Cobb is another one. [Killer] Kross is another one who is about to break,” said Vampiro.
Cage went on to become IMPACT World Champion while Jeff Cobb became ROH Television Champion following Lucha Underground. Kross and Cage are currently free agents.
Elsewhere during the interview, Vampiro discussed Lucha Underground coming to an end. You can find his full comments by clicking here.
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