I went to a Lucha Underground triple taping on Sunday and thought I'd write a little bit on my experiences attending, from the perspective of a guy crazy enough to fly out to Mexico multiple weekends a year just to watch lucha. (This is probably the perspective of no one else.)
Someone asked me how I thought a LU taping differed a normal (i.e., Mexico) lucha show. The tl;dr/bottom-line/executive-summary version is that I don't think it really does. There are far more similarities than differences, and the differences are more in form rather than actual substance.
Yes, there are the well-known entrance logistics: you have to email in advance for tickets, and there is a strict dress code and an equally strict prohibition on using cell phones. But once the actual wrestling started, it felt like a normal lucha show in pretty much every way. I saw crazy spots that I couldn't dream up even in the ample time that I spent failing to fall asleep before my trip. We had to vacate our seats because spots were going to happen there. That happens all the time in Mexico. So, check.
As far as the crowd goes, the LU temple was hot all night. In Mexico, this isn't always the case, especially in the CMLL venues, but the more popular indie venues (Coliseo Coacalco, Arena San Juan Pantitlán) tend to have boisterous crowds most of the time. The LU faithful is very well aware of some of the more common vulgar chants that are thrown around in Mexico (though they avoided the ch word). There are also the chants that you would expect from an American crowd, but it seemed slightly weighted towards Spanish when I was there.
After the show, a lot of fans hung around in the parking lot to get autographs and photos with luchadors as they left. Just as in Mexico, some guys barely made a step every 30 seconds. But everyone that I could see was taking time for all fans.
As I said earlier, I'm one crazy fan who travels 2,000+ miles each way for one show. But I know guys who live in the Mexico City area and get to see as many crazy lucha matches as they care, and yet would love to see a LU taping. Perhaps Lucha Underground gets the live taping experience as authentic as it can, at least within the legal constraints of an actual TV program. I know I had a blast, just as I do in Mexico.
