Lucha Underground News: King Cuerno sues El Rey Network; class action lawsuit coming
What's the story?
Lucha Underground is still working out the kinks for a possible Season 5. However, some talents simply want out of their contracts to be able to explore other options in a booming wrestling world, and King Cuerno has taken legal action to make that happen.
In case you didn't know...
Back in January, former Lucha Underground Trios Champion Ivelisse revealed on social media that she'd been trying to get out of her contract for well over a year. She revealed that the company essentially begged her and others to stick around through season 4, and then they'd allow them to leave if they still wished to do so.
Many did, and many are still held under contract with a show that has no Season 5 in sight, keeping them away from the business that they love and a steady paycheck. Joey Ryan even backed up her claim on Twitter, claiming the company was being petty.
With the wrestling world essentially going through another boom with the indies blowing up and companies like WWE, ROH, and Impact offering better deals, and the sudden appearance of AEW, there's no better time for someone to explore other options and get themselves seen.
The heart of the matter
Pro Wrestling Sheet revealed today that King Cuerno's lawyers have officially filed a lawsuit against El Rey Network and LU's production company Baba-G Productions. PWS revealed several key points in the dispute, stating that, while Lucha Underground stars are prohibited from performing outside of the company unless allowed by them, they "have no obligation to provide work to Plaintiffs, and only have an obligation to pay them if they are provided work on their show."
Considering LU doesn't run house shows and their fifth season is in limbo at the moment, this means that their roster has been going without pay. And what payment they were getting wasn't much anyway, as they were getting less than $1000 per episode, according to the documents.
Most wrestlers under a Lucha Underground contract make less than $4,000 a year. Wrestlers working for other promotions make a living wage, usually starting around $50,000 a year and entering either 6 or 7 figures.
The claim explains how the wrestling world is currently exploding, and companies like WWE, AEW, Impact Wrestling and Ring of Honor are all offering contracts that could guarantee wrestlers steady pay.
Cuerno's attorney, Andre Verdun, also stated that there was another lawsuit in his office filed as, "a class action to invalidate certain portions of their contracts that we believe are illegal." LuchaCentral.com revealed that Ivelisse, Joey Ryan, and Kobra Moon are some of the LU talents named in this lawsuit.
What's next?
If King Cuerno and the rest of the wrestlers looking to leave are successful, they'll certainly have been freed up at an opportune time. With competition ramping up between WWE, ROH, Impact, and AEW, not to mention promotions around the globe like NJPW, many of the Lucha Underground roster will be able to find work on a weekly televised program.
El Rey and Lucha Underground have allowed certain performers to work elsewhere while they work on getting the next season together. Stars like Pentagon Jr., Fenix, Johnny Impact, Brian Cage, Taya Valkyrie and more have been working with Impact Wrestling, for example.
It's doubtful that Lucha Underground will indeed get that fifth season at this point, though. With so much bad press, it might be better to give in before more performers step up.