The panel was moderated by Sam Roberts and included wrestlers Rey Mysterio, Catrina, Ivelisse, and Taya, as well as referee Marty Elias, executive producers Eric Van Wagenen and Skip Chaisson, and AAA co-owner Dorian Roldan. It began with a trailer for season 3 (which had been playing non-stop on certain screens in the building throughout the weekend), turned into questions from Roberts, a couple clips were shown involving the next episode, and then a somewhat short Q&A from the fans in attendance.

  1. We got some idea of how things came together from the three producers in attendance. Dorian wanted to bring lucha to the US for quite some time and the others decided to incorporate Aztec mythology, including getting help from experts who know their stuff on the subject. While Eric had experience working with wrestling – mainly through Tough Enough – Skip did not, although he was a big fan back in the day. He loved the larger-than-life backstories from late-80s/early-90s WWF and wanted to bring that back, giving us over-the-top characters in a more modern setting. Also, as a comics and martial arts film fan, he wanted to mix in some of their styles of storytelling.
  2. Sami Callihan, who appeared recently on the show as Ivelisse’s dipshit boyfriend Jeremiah, is an example of a wrestler who was sought out first before they wrote the character. Once they saw he was available, they jumped at the chance of using him.
  3. Taya talked about the unique gender roles in Lucha Underground. How men can fight women like it’s no big deal. She said it’s a huge honor to be a “luchadora” and not a “Diva” and is proud of how women are getting stronger and stronger. She feels that it shouldn’t be just a Lucha Underground thing and that intergender matches should be a normal part of wrestling. She’s constantly teased about it being her brainchild because, you know, it’s kind of gross and she made that bed.
  4. Catrina lost her passion for wrestling after her less-than-memorable WWE run. Lucha Underground has reinvigorated her interest and she feels this was meant to be. “It’s been quite the ride since day one.”
  5. When asked about being skeptical about Lucha Underground when it was starting up (while not being specific, Roberts seemed to allude to Jeff Katz’s Wrestling Retribution Project as a comparison), Ivelisse admitted that after twelve years of wrestling and bad experiences, she was definitely skeptical. Fortunately, she had experience working with Eric Van Wagenen and that gave her enough faith to see it through.
  6. When talking about the show’s early goings, Marty Elias joked about having to beg people to come to the Temple early on because it seemed like just another failed attempt at a promotion. They had to move people into the frame during those initial episodes. Now they need to kick people out because everyone wants to see it.
  7. In a clip of this week’s episode, there’s a situation involving Chavo Guerrero and El Dragon Azteca Jr. backstage. I won’t spoil what happens in it, but Rey Mysterio’s hammy reaction to it needs to be seen to be believed. After the clip, Mysterio owned to it and said that due to Skip’s cinematic background, he trusts his guidance and loves doing the backstage vignettes.
  8. Skip told an anecdote about how since Game of Death had a fight involving two nunchucks, they figured maybe they should find a way to do a fight with more. Then the different wrestlers started chiming in with their own crazy ideas and that’s how we got the ridiculous Aerostar/Drago vs. PJ Black/Jack Evans bathroom fight.
  9. Eric loves the post-production style instead of going live like other wrestling shows because they can keep adding and fine-tuning their show. “That’s what you see in movies and that’s what you see in dramas.” “I’m proud of the people we work with.”
  10. Roberts talked to Mysterio about being the grizzled veteran. Rey described himself as chill and in no way a trouble maker. He tries to pass on advice when he can and is very happy to be part of this. He hopes that this can continue for many, many, many years so they can entertain fans on a different level.
  11. A fan asked about getting more merch. There is definitely more on the way, but it’s taking time. It’s growing pains from the fanbase interest growing faster than they prepared for. Roberts made a callback to a discussion from earlier about how you have to go into these things knowing how fickle wrestling fans can be, only now it’s the other direction. They were so prepared for the criticism that they were blindsided by the fan demand.
  12. In easily the biggest bombshell of the panel, they announced that touring is indeed in the works. The crowd was very happy to hear this. They simply don’t want to make the mistakes of others and would rather go too slow than too fast. Someone shouted out “TNA!” as a way to call out their touring failures, which got a response from Eric of, “I’m not saying anything about TNA…” Dorian said that it should be starting next year. The big problem is that the Temple itself is such a part of the show, so how can you tour when the arena itself is a character in itself? But they have big news coming soon, so stay tuned.
  13. Roberts asked Mysterio about his opinion of the current WWE cruiserweight division. Mysterio was there in the early 2000s and saw as the existing division fizzled due to lack of interest from behind-the-scenes despite Dean Malenko’s best efforts to keep it going. Mysterio feels that the division is probably stronger now because of what Lucha Underground brought to the forefront. Dorian added to this by talking about the time he was reading scripts for AAA and Lucha Underground and the differences were staggering. Namely because the Lucha Underground script involved the world “teleportation.”
  14. Catrina discussed having the confidence to come off as the controlling one in her relationship with the massive Mil Muertes. Much like the Lick of Death, she said that you simply have to own it. She joked about the Lick of Death and how sometimes she tries to find the cleaner spots on her victims because by the time the match is over, they’re all sweaty and bloody. As always, Lucha Underground airs 8pm ET on the El Rey Network on Wednesdays and is available via iTunes. Check back here at Den of Geek for some interviews with the cast. Gavin Jasper is jonesing for this year’s Aztec Warfare. Hopefully it’s soon. Follow him on Twitter!