Lucha Underground is hoping for a fifth season but that may all change thanks to one brand new dispute. Lawyers for El Hijo del Fantasma, also known as King Cuerno in Lucha Underground, has filed in Los Angeles, California against Baba-G Productions and the El Rey Network on the grounds of an employee dispute.
The lawsuit cites the American Arbitration Association’s National Rules as source. The AAA is used for employment arbitration under a third party arbitrator. The cause for this filing has to do with Cuerno wanting out of his deal with El Rey and Baba-G. For those unfamiliar, Lucha Underground is less a company and more a brand name for several united companies, like One Three Media, El Rey, Baba-G Production and I think AAA still has some stake in the promotion.
Pro Wrestling Sheet broke the story, and was sent a documents from an unnamed third party, who was asked if they want to be involved in the proceedings. Ryan Satin of Pro Wrestling Sheet goes on to post it in pieces which I’ll help expand on;
Plaintiff brings this action seeking to invalidate illegal provisions of a contract between himself and Defendants. Defendants is enforcing contracts with Plaintiff which are illusory, in that they require Plaintiffs to stop engaging in their lawful trade, while Defendants have no obligation to provide work to Plaintiffs, and only have an obligation to pay Plaintiffs if they are provided work on their show. This contract also violations California Business and Professions code 16600 and California public policy as they restrain Plaintiffs from working in their lawful profession.
This is pretty obvious. The accusations is that Lucha Underground as a whole is prohibiting Cuerno from working elsewhere under their contract. This is something El Rey and folks are legally obligated to do; however, only if they are providing work. Since Lucha Underground only films for several days a year, that means that Cuerno is going most of the year without work. Since Lucha Underground isn’t paying for his time when he’s not working and prohibiting his ability to work elsewhere in his down time, this violates the contract.
Lucha Underground launched in 2014, a time when there was not a lot of options in the United States in the professional wrestling industry.
Though it is a violation of California law, all of the contracts offered by Defendants contained restrictions that prohibited the professional wrestlers from engaging in their lawful profession.
Since the creation of Lucha Underground, the professional wrestling has improved, and legitimate professional wrestling organizations started offering competitive contracts that did not exist when Lucha Underground was launching.
Specifically, Ring of Honor (ROH) wrestling is offering better contracts than where being offered in 2014. Ring of Honor is a highly respected legitimate wrestling company owed by Sinclair broadcasting. Contracts offered by ROH allow wrestlers to make a living wage.
A new wrestling company, All Elite Wrestling, is owned by a billionaire businessmen Shahid Khan and Tony Khan. They are offering top dollar contracts that allow wrestlers to make a good living working on a full time basis as professional wrestlers and attracting top talent – including talent from the WWE.
WWE is the king of the wrestling industry, and has been for decades. They have shown heightened interest in wrestlers currently working with Lucha Underground, partly due to the new competition posed by All Elite Wrestling and some of their biggest stars looking to jump from WWE to All Elite Wrestling. WWE wrestlers are well paid.
Finally, Impact Wrestling, often considered the #2 company over the last decade, recently was purchased by a Canadian company. The change in ownership has opened up opportunities that did not exist in 2014. Impact Wrestling wrestlers are well paid.
The document then goes on to put over ROH, IMPACT, AEW and the wrestling scene as a whole, citing the boom period as a reason why Lucha Underground contracts are prohibitive. The point of this is to highlight that the contracts were signed in desperation by many, hoping to make the most money they could in an industry that, in 2014, wasn’t as lucrative as it is today.
By contrast, Lucha Underground broadcasts between 22 and 40 television episodes per year, with no live events like the other described wrestling promotions. If a wrestler appears on a show, it is usually just a couple. The payment per episode is usually less than $1,000.
The current contract that wrestlers signed with Lucha Underground require that wrestlers not perform services for other wrestling companies anywhere in the world without Defendants permission, but does not require Defendants to use Plaintiffs in their wrestling-theme television show.
While Plaintiffs are obligated to restrict their trade under the contract (which is illegal), Defendants are not required to use or pay Plaintiffs. Defendants have the option to use Plaintiffs, and IF Defendants use Plaintiffs, Defendants will pay Plaintiffs. IF Defendants chose not to use Plaintiffs, Plaintiffs are prohibited for working for years, are not paid, but still under the restrictive contract until it expires.
Most wrestlers under a Lucha Underground contract make less than $4,000 a year. Wrestlers working for other wrestling promotions make a living wage, usually starting around $50,000 a year and entering either 6 or 7 figures.
The Young Bucks once infamously turned down Lucha Underground due to their terrible contracts, and now we know why.
While this may seem very much like Cuerno is demanding a release, and he might be, this isn’t the only positive outcome. Cited several times was the restrictions for whom they work and not being paid for being forced to sit out. The filing allows Lucha Underground and crew to negotiate a settlement that could see all talent remain under the banner for a bit longer, assuming they make necessary changes.
Cuerno and Ivelisse have both spoken publicly about this, and there have been rumblings elsewhere. The thing though is this filing is perplexing at best. Cuerno has worked in IMPACT over the last two years and still wrestles in AAA so it’s not like he’s not getting work or paid. The only reason I can think of that Cuerno would file now is that someone made him an exclusive offer and he can’t take it, or he was made an open-offer by a rival promotion and was told he couldn’t take it.
The only way out, because Lucha Underground have violated California contract law, is to throw out the restrictions provision in their deals unilaterally. This would allow the talents the opportunity to perform elsewhere unrestricted, while giving Lucha Underground the ability to enforce the contracts in place for a fifth season of the show, should one happen.
Keep in mind, this is an arbitration hearing, meaning that the wrestler or the company walking out with everything they want isn’t going to happen. There has to be a middle ground and this makes the most sense.
It’s entirely possible that Lucha Underground just gets cancelled, and the contracts get voided but that’s something we’ll have to wait and see about.