During the interview, Striker addressed whether El Rey Network’s wrestling franchise could compete with WWE; if the Lucha Underground approach to working aides in the long-term health of its wrestlers; and whether he feels BOTH WWE’s “Compound” match with The New Day vs. The Wyatt Family AND TNA’s “The Final Deletion” match with Jeff and Matt Hardy could have been inspired from Lucha Underground, and more. You can read some transcribed highlights (courtesy of Bonnerfide Radio) and listen to the full interview by clicking here.
Matt Striker comments on if Lucha Underground is planning to compete with WWE?
“As far as rivaling Vince, I don’t think that’s the mindset. In good business, competition creates cash. Eric Bischoff wrote a book about that, so you don’t want to crush them. You just want to be present. I don’t think they want to go into that road.”
Does Lucha Underground filming in seasons prove to be better for the health and longevity of wrestlers?
“With any sport that is so strenuous on the physical and the human machine, of course time off is beneficial. There’s also a benefit of time off to storylines, character arcs, and visuals. Sometimes when you stare at something too long, your eyes hurt. It’s nice to take that break because then you appreciate things a little more.”
Was TNA’s “The Final Deletion” match and the subsequent WWE “Compound” match influenced in any way by Lucha Underground?
“Ah…speculation man. It’s the political season and that’s what we all do. I can’t speculate on things like that. As far as all that goes, there was “Nature Boy” Buddy Rogers and “Nature Boy” Ric Flair and both of them succeeded. If the relationship between the Hardy match and the other match is so close that people want to draw the comparison, at the end of the day, the bottom line is that people are talking about it, and that’s good. So, was it copied? Was it borrowed? Was it influenced by Lucha? I don’t know. I can’t comment to that.”
