8 Traits WWE Should Take From Lucha Underground
The action at The Temple could serve to inspire WWE.
Fans that have grown weary of WWE's stale and largely paint-by-numbers product seem to have migrated toward other wrestling shows to get their fix. The in-house NXT has been an obvious alternative, fusing elements of Ring of Honor and EVOLVE with old-school territorial wrestling into a fine cultural stew. Elsewhere on Wednesday nights, there exists another wrestling alternative, this one more outworldly. Lucha Underground, the brainchild of reality TV magnate Mark Burnett and splat-tastic film guru Robert Rodriguez, airs on Rodriguez's El Rey Network, blending high-risk wrestling, outlandish characters, and surreal storylines in a way that gives it the feel of a comic book come to life. Recognizable names such as Johnny Mundo (John Morrison), Rey Mysterio, and Alberto Del Rio (prior to his WWE return) have flocked to the Los Angeles-based company, which has also been a haven for eclectic, colorfully-masked characters such as the immovable Mil Muertes, the sky-scraping Prince Puma (Ricochet), and the sadistic Pentagon, Jr. If you've seen Lucha Underground even once, you understand how different it is from WWE. Fans that have wanted something fresh have found it on Wednesday nights, and that's putting it very mildly. For those holding out hope that WWE can become just as fresh once more, perhaps they could take a page out of Lucha Underground's playbook, and adopt some of these eight traits that make the controlled chaos inside "The Temple" so captivating.