WrestleMania absolutely brought the house down with Saturday’s Boneyard Match and Lucha Underground fans are taking notice. The Undertaker and AJ Styles’ main event on night one proved to be a crowd-pleaser in a major way. Sometimes all you need to tell a compelling story is a closed set, an open grave, and a derelict farmhouse. Taker threw things back to the American Badass era with the motorcycle and bandana. Styles bringing out Karl Anderson, Luke Gallows and more to meddle only heaped more theatrics on the proceedings. For Lucha Underground fans though, things seemed to be really familiar.
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Twitter was basically hitting on all cylinders during the event. All the amazing memes from wrestling fans of The Undertaker hovering behind Styles and The Phenomenal One’s hand coming out of the ground had people laughing. One thing that was unmistakable was how many people were bringing up Matt Hardy’s Final Deletion and Lucha Underground‘s role in popularizing these highly produced, cinematic-style matches and they’ve got a point.
Hey, letโs go ahead and give Matt Hardy and Lucha Underground their flowers too. No way you convince me to be into anything like this like five years ago
โ Kazeem Famuyide ๐ (@Kazeem) April 5, 2020
Hardy’s hand in things is undeniable, as his output with the Broken persona and the general surreal tone of he and Brother Nero’s output was absolutely wild during their time with Impact Wrestling. It’s almost too much to layout here, but The Final Deletion and Total Nonstop Deletion are absolutely worth going to find if you have the time. (We’re all stuck inside, go ahead and find that once you’re done reading this article.) But, that wasn’t the only option for these kinds of wild matches.
lucha underground walked so the bone zone could fly
โ Bill Hanstock (@sundownmotel) April 5, 2020
Lucha Underground had quite a few of these segments where supernatural events would occur. We all love coffin matches, but in LU you had Grave Consequences matches where the performers died if they got closed inside. There was Drago literally transforming into a dragon and Aerostar being a time-traveler randomly. Matanza literally was killing and eating people for a whole season before it really got explained. So, there’s obviously a feeling among some wrestling fans that these matches and storylines have influenced decisions like the BoneYard Match.
Do you think that Hardy or Lucha Underground deserve more credit? Let us know in the comments! Check out the discussion down below:
Vampiro wants to set the record straight!
Then make sure they know what the hell theyโre talking about, and where it originally came from!https://t.co/ZbApMAvQ8p https://t.co/iHuYHpKkxv
โ vampiro (@vampiro_vampiro) April 5, 2020
Matt Hardy sounds off!
My twitter feed exploded.
โ #BROKEN Matt Hardy (@MATTHARDYBRAND) April 5, 2020
Thanks for all the love, folks.. Iโm truly honored. Cinematic matches 100% work with the right characters, scenario & fanbase – I envisioned them as a new branch of pro wrestling years ago.
Much like TLC did, The #BROKEN Universe will leave its mark.
One fan’s response
Hate to burst your bubble but you werenโt the guy who came up with that style. There was something called Lucha Underground that did it long before you. Letโs keep it ๐ฏ https://t.co/omWPJbeGK1
โ Mike Greenberry (@DialUpWIFI4Life) April 5, 2020
Just insanity
An evolution of what the Broken Matt/Final Deletion insanity and some of the stuff they were doing in Lucha Underground. Production values, a little cheese…great stuff. Revved to see Cena-Fiend now
โ RoldBoxing (@RoldBoxing) April 5, 2020
Goldust and Piper shout-out
Shout outs to lucha underground and Goldust vs Rowdy Roddy Piper if we keeping it a whole buck #BoneyardMatch
โ jojo’s bizarre ride II the pharcyde (@gregmutah) April 5, 2020
People just loved this match
WWE became Lucha Underground and I am here for it https://t.co/7ZNksC8Tz2
โ andrew mencias resists (@andymancy) April 5, 2020
The arguments are rolling online
Everybody’s talking about how the #WrestleMania #BoneyardMatch ripped off the cinematic stylings of Matt Hardy’s Total Nonstop Deletion.
โ ๏ผฃ๏ฝ๏ฝ๏ฝ๏ฝ ๏ผจ๏ฝ๏ฝ๏ฝ๏ฝ๏ฝ (@stalegum) April 5, 2020
Meanwhile the ghosts of Lucha Underground are like … pic.twitter.com/ZG2NwgbgKl
That Mortal Kombat reference
That mania just makes me think how Lucha underground wouldโve been great without a crowd and without announcing or an announcer treating it like mortal kombat
โ Goo Punch (@xwilkmanx) April 5, 2020
People are HYPE
Being a huge fan of Lucha underground this really excited me & Hardy as well. Just glad itโs on a bigger platform for other people to enjoy. I know I was in the minority even when WWE tried to do their own thing with Matt/Bray/Orton. I enjoyed those things- tonight was great!
โ Devon Ashmann (@d7dawg) April 5, 2020
Not a fan
Lucha Underground never did Cinematic matches. They did skits and promos.
โ RedZero (@lRedzero) April 5, 2020
The Final Deletion was dope tho
mentioning The Final Deletion but not mentioning Lucha Underground pic.twitter.com/sfE6v09JCD
โ Aaron (@AaronHastings15) April 5, 2020
F I N A L D E L E T I O N
Matt Hardy has every right to take credit for the boneyard match. Final Deletion changed the game in so many ways
โ most wholesome man on this app (@GARDNERWINSHEW) April 5, 2020
Taker is a legend for a reason
Um. Let me tell you something. The Undertaker blazed the trail for gimmicks like the one he has now,with put a doubt Mattโs entire gimmick has inspiration from Taker. And they have done graveyard types of matches before. Donโt go trying to pull that sh*t out
โ Steve Taylor (@SteveTa60742529) April 5, 2020
There are so many people showing love
All Iโm saying is that Lucha Underground was way ahead of its time.
โ Headlocked Comics (@HeadlockedComic) April 5, 2020
Sad, but true
This is as close to Lucha Underground coming back as we’re going to get.
โ Dandy Chiggins (@BobbyFJtown) April 5, 2020
LOL
Is this Lucha Underground
โ VinceMcMahonGoogling (@VinceGoogling) April 5, 2020
A real question
Is Lucha Underground available to watch anywhere then because I’d like me some more of that #BoneyardMatch #WrestleMania
โ Al (@IWR_Wrestling) April 5, 2020
