I've railed in this space for years about how Vince McMahon refused to be written off as being clinically insane when it was clear to the television audience that he was. The WWE Chairman/CEO didn't understand that letting his on-air persona deteriorate mentally was hurting his programming. That he's now largely a background player is a case of getting the message years too late, and yet, you still get the sick feeling that he'll still screw up the works, ignorant of the fact that he really doesn't have the magic touch to turn the ratings back upward.
So what does this have to do with Lucha Underground? Plenty. Bear in mind that a former Uncreative team member, Chris DeJoseph, is credited as one of the show's executive producers, and likely is the head writer. The former "Big Dick Johnson" is to blame, unless proven otherwise, for the sordid storyline playing out in season 3 of LU, with Ultima Lucha Tres, having been taped more than a year ago, finally going on air on September 27.
The storylne being played out has sexy ring announcer Melissa Santos, who's also doing commercials for one of the show's sponsors, in love with Fenix. Psychotic heel Marty Martinez (nee Tough Enough '11 alumnus Martin Casaus) has been stalking Melissa in much the same way he pursued Sexy Star two seasons earlier. As shown on the September 20 episode, Martinez attempted to cut some of Melissa's hair as a trophy after pinning her in an intergender tag match. Fenix had been illegally incapacitated by Martinez's partner/storyline sister, Mariposa (Melissa Anderson), but broke free to save his lady.
After the Sexy Star angle, or, for that matter, after Martinez lost his last feud with Killshot, they should've done something to show why Martinez is insane. They haven't. Either DeJoseph and his writers are too stupid to realize that what McMahon taught them (assuming all the writers are WWE alumni, not including Chavo Guerrero, Jr.) doesn't apply away from WWE.
Imagine if Cage wasn't saddled with his gimmick. In real life, he & Santos are an item, and recently announced they are expecting their first child. If you sub Fenix with the man-machine, this story is over already, and you see the man overcoming the machine within Cage. That story sells itself.
Some of the matches for Ultima Lucha Tres have that sickening feeling like they were recycled from angles during DeJoseph's time with WWE, not including the hair vs. mask match between Fenix & Martinez, where the technico (Fenix) should win, but on this show, nothing is guaranteed to hold to form. And that's another problem.
Heel owner Dario Cueto (Luis Gil) is now even more of an overbearing Latino McMahon wanna-be, and if this is the end of LU after 3 seasons, as is being rumored, then Cueto may not get his comeuppance, which is a shame. I think part of the reason the show is ultimately failing is because the storylines are taking too long to reach their natural conclusions.
We already have seen Taya, Texano, Jr., and Johnny Mundo/Impact over on Impact Wrestling, with rumors of Rey Mysterio soon to follow. We will likely hear rumors of others, such as Jack Evans (now healed from his jaw injury), PJ Black, and others resurfacing elsewhere with new gimmicks. Or, in Black's case, returning to WWE as Justin Gabriel, where he was a 3-time tag team champion in 2010-11. WWE clearly fumbled the ball with him at the end. The malingering uncertainty of a season 4 prompted the defections of Texano, Taya, and Johnny, and you can also trace some of the issues to El Rey's decision to split season 3 into two parts, creating a 4 1/2 month gap from early January to late May. That particular strategem has backfired on Robert Rodriguez big time, and it will cost him LU if he's not careful.
How would I write this? That's for another time.
