Partial Source: Pwinsider.com
We have confirmed a previous report that John Hennigan, Hernandez, Chavo
Guerrero, Richochet and others have been offered contracts for the Lucha
Underground series being produced by El Rey. According to sources, the contracts
being offered are a point of concern, as they are vaguely worded and would
require talent to be exclusive to the series for up to “seven series cycles.” It
isn’t clear what “series cycles” means, depending on how long each season goes
and if it follows a traditional season format, that could be as long as seven
years.
There are several other issues raised by the talent, including that there is
no specific number of guaranteed appearances on the series. If they are
prevented from competing elsewhere, obviously this could be a major issue for
them. The wording would prevent them from working not only national TV
promotions, but indie dates if Lucha Underground didn’t clear them. The site
notes that the impression is that it would be the case even if they weren’t
doing the same characters as on Lucha Underground. Clearing every indy date
isn’t particularly feasible and so there appears to be a misunderstanding at the
show level of how indy booking really works.
Because of the length of the contracts, it also means that they are not
structured in a way to provide for raises from season to season which has talent
concerned about the commitment length. There is also a no-compete clause that is
said to be longer than WWE’s ninety-day period and is also unpaid (as opposed to
WWE’s paid one). They call for talent to work publicity days without pay and
with no cap on how many they might have to do.
Several prospective talent have met with Andre Verdun, who worked on
Wrestling Society X for MTV and is now a lawyer. Verdun is representing several
of the talent and is trying to negotiate deals that give El Ray what they want
in terms of talent while protecting the wrestlers. The show is currently set for
taping dates on the following in Los Angeles:
* September 6th
* September 7th
* September 13th
* September
14th
* September 27th
* September 28th
* October 4th
* October
5th
* October 18th
* October 19th
* October 25th
* October 26th
