Lucha Underground has aired three episodes, the latter of which I caught up on last night, and if you like wrestling, you should be watching this show. It’s the perfect blend of an actual TV drama mixed with amazing Lucha Libre wrestling. It’s directed by Robert Rodriguez and Mark Burnett, who bring the TV background to the show, including awesome Lucha profile vignettes which allow the audience to get to know the wrestlers they’re watching. The rest of the show is pure wrestling, with the most basic storyline in play: good vs. evil. Some of the wrestlers people may recognize: Johnny Mundo (formerly John Morrison), Chavo Guerrero, Mil Muertes (Judas Mesias in TNA) and the announce team of Matt Striker and Vampiro. The rest of the roster is made up of AAA (the Mexican promotion) talent and independent wrestlers from around the world. It takes place in “The Temple”, a grungy looking arena with a wrestling ring and an office for it’s on-air owner Dario Cueto. Cueto is evil, and he uses his power and money to corrupt wrestlers into doing his dirty work. While he is compelling, and the backstage vignettes have movie type quality, the thing that hooked me was the wrestling. I’m not familiar with AAA or the true Lucha Libre style, so the matches these men and women put on are amazing. Guys like Prince Puma, Fenix, Pentagon Jr., Drago and the formerly mentioned Johnny Mundo absolutely tear the house down with every match. The back stories they do on each wrestler not only enhance the talent, but they help you decide whether you love or hate the wrestler. Lucha Underground has a different feel from TNA or even WWE, and that’s a great thing. They have great talent, great production value and an announce team only worried about getting the wrestlers over. Go out of your way to give this show a try. It airs Wednesday at 8PM on the El Rey Network. You won’t be disappointed.

– Ryan