It’s hard to believe that Ultima Lucha Dos is already upon us. Fans who have followed Lucha Underground since day one know that one of the cornerstones — and secret best thing about the entire show — is Johnny Mundo, the scumbag of the universe. In a former life, Mundo was a multiple-time champion in WWE under the moniker John Morrison. So it’s natural that people would often ask him about the differences between his current employer (a cult favorite with a passionate following) and his old place of business (the biggest pro wrestling company in the world).
On a recent interview with Ring Rust Radio, Mundo was asked that very question and his answer was pretty classic Johnny Mundo.
“Similarities wise, it’s pro wrestling, it’s lucha libre, it’s entertainment and that’s the bottom line. The whole point of it is to entertain. You’re telling a story in the ring, you’re wrestling; that’s the biggest similarity. At the end of the day, the reason I am doing it is I grew up watching pro wrestling and fell in love with it as a kid. Hopefully when people watch Lucha Underground and WWE, Ring of Honor, New Japan, AAA and any other promotion out there, they fall in love with pro wrestling. Pro wrestling as it affects pop culture is bigger than any one promotion. I love it. I love being able to perform in the ring in front of people and that’s the greatest feeling in the world. So that’s a universal similarity between every promotion.
“As far as differences, Lucha Underground and the way it is filmed with its TV episodic format, allows it to have deeper, multilayered, darker and almost supernatural type characters woven into the fabric of the storylines. The storylines of Lucha Underground are more complex and always follow through to fruition which is different because a lot of time with WWE and the size of the organization, characters sometimes are simpler and storylines are dropped. With a one hour show, Lucha Underground is more respectful of the time of the people watching. We don’t have a three-hour Raw to fill every week. We have one hour of wrestling and what you get is fast paced, hard hitting, acrobatic action interspersed with the stories we are telling backstage and the vignettes backstage. The vignettes are really polished and tightly cut that flesh out the characters and move the story forward week to week. I feel like it’s the best wrestling show on TV right now. If you compare it to an episode of Raw you will agree with me. If not, tweet me and we will argue about it.”
Definitely an interesting gauntlet to throw down. NEVER offer to argue with anyone on the internet, people. Unless you’re Johnny Mundo, I guess.
But I really, really like his call to encourage people to fall in love with pro wrestling, no matter what it takes. That’s a sentiment you don’t hear nearly enough, and especially not from actual wrestlers.
(Transcript via Wrestling Inc.)
