8 Things Lucha Underground Did Better Than WWE

3. Gimmick Matches

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El Rey Network

WWE’s transition into a PG product has neutered the gimmick matches that the company now builds many pay-per-views around. It isn’t all about blood either - the promotion’s neurotic fear that kids will copy the moves has created an entirely watered down product. Hell in a Cell, Elimination Chamber and the rest are now irrelevant because of this.

Lucha Underground managed to breathe new life into previously tired gimmick matches. The promotion took the casket match and made it genuinely must-see. It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that the overwhelming majority of casket matches in history have been forgettable, as The Undertaker vs. Token Huge Heel was always a bore. Lucha Underground took this tired trope and created incredible drama through it.

Mil Muertes vs. Fenix was the first match of this type on the show, and it stands up as one of the five best matches in the entire history of Lucha Underground. The promotion did the same for ladder matches, battle royals and general weapons-based brawls, taking the plunder dial and turning it up to 11.

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Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.