– As noted yesterday, the premiere episode of Lucha Underground on the El Rey Network drew 8,000 viewers in the 18-49 demo, which was the second most watched show on the network last week. Dave Meltzer noted on Wrestling Observer Radio that the total audience for the El Rey airing was probably in the 18,000 – 20,000 range. While El Rey is available on Comcast, DirecTV and Time Warner Cable, it is on the higher-tier packages on many systems, making it unavailable for many fans unless they upgrade. A Spanish version of the show also airs every Saturday afternoon on UniMás, which probably garnered a few hundred thousand more viewers last weekend.
– Many members of the Lucha Underground creative and production teams found out online about the viewership for the series premiere. One Lucha Underground writer, Chris Roach, took to Twitter asking @LuchaBlog if it was a real number, however he quickly deleted his tweet.
Since the number has come out, internally the creative and production teams have been reassuring wrestlers and staff that El Rey is on board for a 39 episode commitment and that they aren’t going anywhere. They have big plans for the series, and advised staff to be patient as the series finds its audience.
– The Associate Press has an article about Lucha Underground, which you can read here. Robert Rodriguez, who launched the El Rey Network last year, spoke about what fans can expect from the series.
“For fans of lucha from Mexico, we’re adding to it, making it even more mythical and exciting than it’s ever been presented before,” Rodriguez said. “And for new fans it will feel like a new thing as well.”
– The next episode of Lucha Underground airs this Wednesday night at 8pm ET. We will provide match-by-match results of the show as it airs.
