Lucha Underground writer Chris DeJoseph took part in a Q&A session over the weekend at The Wrestling Guy Store in Huntington Park, California.
The following are some Q&A highlights from the event, courtesy of Reddit user butterflyinthesky:
– There are many ideas for other AAA wrestlers that have yet to make an LU appearance.
– DeJoseph had to fight for certain ideas because he wanted to get wrestling fans on-board, who would then tell others about the product. “El Rey was great to work with and trusted my team, and let us do our thing.”
– Originally, they had an entire LU season arc, separated into 3-4 cycles. However, Pentagon, Drago and Fenix were not able to be at the first night’s tapings. They had to hotshot Prince Puma and Johnny Mundo, who they wanted to save for later in the season. He is happy they didn’t do what they had as everything worked out.
– LU was originally shot by a cinematographer with boxing experience. Early on, it was difficult to get shots of their faces and emotion. Eventually, they all figured it out. The cameraman were very talented but were not used to shooting fast-paced lucha libre.
– DeJoseph called the Hernandez situation unfortunate given that many people were ultimately affected. He questioned why TNA didn’t do their due diligence to call about Hernandez’s contract.
– He noted that he loves the Wednesday night wars, as he loves competition. He also has friends working for all the competing shows. The shows are different and the more wrestling shows there are the better.
– When asked any wrestler that he had a say in hiring, DeJoseph was adamant about hiring Ricochet.
– At one point, Martin Casaus (Marty “The Moth” Martinez) was Mil Muertes. And Matt Cross was not the original Son of Havok.
– Ricochet recommended Shane Strickland (Killshot).
– He called John Morrison first after getting hired. They go way back to filming the dirt sheet segments with Miz.
– It helped credibility getting Chavo Guerrero because he was trusted and eventually getting El Patron was huge.
– DeJoseph reached out to Matt Striker 24 hours before LU’s first taping. He signed his contract right before walking out to announce.
– It was the coolest backstage environment he’s been a part of. Talent has a say and the writers made it a point to get that across to the talent. It’s a very different feel from WWE’s creative process. For example, Hernandez had the idea of fans as lumberjacks hitting you with belts.
– LU producer Eric Van Wagenen (who hired DeJoseph) picked out the warehouse in Boyle Heights because they wanted people in the neighborhood to hang out and come just walking in. * DeJoseph asked for them to reinforce Dario Cueto’s office roof. Others looked at him like he was crazy when he said eventually someone is going to jump off of it.
– Bonus WWE fun fact: Triple H was supposed to be the anonymous GM.
Nick was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, and lived there until the age of 18, when he decided to pack his flack jacket and move to New York City.
