I have opinions… lots and lots of opinions. And to be honest, these opinions didn’t hit me at first. When it was announced in the pre-show that WWE bought AAA, my first thought was cool. This means a large billion-dollar company will be invested in Lucha Libre. Now AAA isn’t traditional Lucha Libre, it’s designed to be easily digestible for American audiences. Unlike CMLL, AAA has introduced elements of American and Japanese style, which is why they are the most known Lucha Libre company globally. So, if TKO and WWE were going to purchase one of the companies, it makes perfect sense for that company to be AAA.
To further my initial feelings, lately, AAA has been not just cold, but ice cold. In Mexico, AAA has a larger TV audience because of the better deals it has, but in terms of a live audience, CMLL draws larger crowds and is even a tourist attraction, bringing in visitors from all over the world to witness it live. So when looking at numbers, you can’t compare the two. They are after different things. So when I say AAA is ice cold, I mean Alberto Del Rio is their Mega World Champion, their biggest show goes viral each year for the large number of botches. If there was ever a company that needed a change, it was AAA.
How Did We Get Here
There is a rumor that AAA has been looking to sell for a while. Both CMLL and AAA have had financial troubles since the pandemic. Which leads me to point this out. Before the pandemic, AAA was seeing an uptick in popularity. After the success of Lucha Underground among the hardcore fans, many of them turned into AAA. AAA also partnered with TNA, and MLW, and after the pandemic, they’d work with AEW. All of these partnerships kept the product fresh and allowed big names to appear on TV.
But after the pandemic, both CMLL and AAA had to recover their live audience. CMLL was more equipped to do this. AAA did see a huge increase immediately after people came back into the buildings. But lately, attendance has not been what the promotion would like. Not to say it’s been terrible, as the last TripleMania event of 2024 (for those who don’t know, there are 3 days in 3 different months) had close to 19,000 in a 22,000-seat venue. This is the highest event since the pandemic. But it still feels like AAA has cooled off greatly.
Why AAA is the perfect company to join TKO
In the 90’s, wrestling all made sense. The aftermath of the territory war in the United States saw WWF and WCW emerge as the dominant two promotions. In Japan, All Japan and New Japan emerged, and in Mexico, Antonio Pena broke away from CMLL to start AAA and almost immediately dominated Lucha Libre. The transition was so quick you barely remembered CMLL was the established company. AAA wrestlers were in WCW, the hottest angle in Mexican history, “Los Gringos Locos” was in AAA, and AAA even partnered with WWF to have their wrestlers in the Royal Rumble in 1997. By the late-90s, CMLL was an afterthought and the world saw AAA as the dominant Lucha company.
Eventually, CMLL was able to regain its footing and establish themselves again. One thing CMLL did was lean heavily on the tradition of Lucha Libre. The mask was still sacred, they still had two referees, and AAA eventually transitioned to just one referee; mask vs. mask felt like a yearly happening in AAA. Because CMLL stayed steady, when they hit a down period, it was still traditional Lucha and at worst CMLL is a watchable show with decent matches and no story. AAA on the other hand, if it’s hot, it’s the greatest show in all of Mexico. But if it’s cold, it is a series of car crashes on an icy cold day in the Michigan winter.
Just because they can, should they?
With WWF dominating wrestling with sports entertainment, AAA copied this formula and made Lucha easier for casual fans to enjoy. There was one world champion, instead of the many weight classes of CMLL. The angles AAA took were American base, with Los Gringos Locos taking influence from the Four Horsemen. And it was not taboo to pull off another wrestler’s mask in AAA, it could be used as a strategy. In some ways, the mask wasn’t seen as sacred, but rather a gimmick. This allowed AAA to replace wrestlers when needed to fill the mask. So if any company would eventually be ready to be owned by Americans, it’s AAA.
This is all to ask, should AAA be owned by Americans? You see, AAA is as much a Lucha Libre company as ECW was a territory. Sure they may have started as such, but their main purpose was to turn Lucha on its head. In some ways, AAA, even though it’s closer to Americanized wrestling, shouldn’t be owned by Americans. When you are there to fight against tradition, you have to have an idea of the tradition you are fighting against. ECW worked because Paul Heyman knew what he was rebelling against. AEW is struggling because Tony Khan is a fan. TKO and WWE right now have no clue about the mission and purpose of AAA, they just know having Lucha shows in Mexico and selling masks to a Latino audience is a profitable business. What they don’t see is they are also buying a movement.
Could AAA be saved without TKO?
Listen, last time I thought AAA was too far gone, Psycho Clown caught fire and they hit an upswing. Children all over Mexico begged their fathers to take them to see Psycho Clown battle Dr. Wagner Jr. So AAA could find a way to catch fire again. Konnan as head booker has found those stories that connect with the audience. But lately, and maybe it’s his health, Konnan seems to have lost a step in the booking area. This is not to say AAA couldn’t prosper on its own.
What needs to happen is AAA needs to find young Lucha bookers with fresh ideas. Their partnership with AEW worked because they were two companies with the same vision. When AEW started working with CMLL because of their partnership with New Japan, this left a huge hole in AAA’s strategy. That hole would have been filled by AEW, or TNA before. It’s not to say they need to partner with an American company, but without someone to bring fresh ideas, AAA could stay in their cold period longer than they need to. They could catch fire again, but the longer they stay cold the less likely it seems.
What now?
I am very worried about rumors that WWE will change AAA to NXT Mexico. First of all, AAA is the most recognizable name in the world for Lucha Libre. AAA is seen on TV in not only Mexico, but on Spanish speaking TV stations across the US. When purchasing a name this big, you’d hope that the purchaser would want to keep the brand they are buying. With that said, WWE did let the WCW name die, and killed the WCW/nWo brand very quickly. They left a lot of money on the table. I hope TKO/WWE does not repeat this mistake.
Next, I honestly hope, other than talent exchanges, WWE has nothing to do at all with AAA. AAA should not be seen as a part of WWE’s wrestling division. Instead, Lucha and pro-wrestling should be seen as separate. Sure, keep Dorian Roldán as a Triple H/Dana White type boss over AAA, and send TKO people to help improve the production. TKO has done wonders in helping WWE become an even better show overall. But let the Lucha Libre people run Lucha Libre. Thinking that Lucha is the same as professional wrestling will do way more harm to wrestling in Mexico overall than they could imagine.
Overall
After thinking about this, whereas at first I was excited, I now cannot see a positive for this move. Unless AAA was in such dire financial need that they needed to sell, the overall business of Lucha Libre is in trouble. AAA is not a perfect company, it doesn’t even show pure Lucha. Of the companies, it’s the most reckless, sometimes sloppy show in Mexico. But, it’s still authentically Mexican, and it still is Lucha in a way that pushes Lucha to modernize. That cannot be obtained by being run by Triple H and Shawn Michaels. Unless the ghosts of Jose Lothario and Gory Guerrero run AAA themselves, I don’t see qualified people associated with WWE able to run it.
So what this means in TKO needs to find people in Mexico to run AAA. They need to keep AAA separate. In Mexico, AAA cannot be seen as an American company trying to do lucha, it has to be seen as a lucha company that brings in Americans to enhance the show. Since its inception, AAA has used the American flag as the villain. What will become of the promotion when the American flag is now the owner? I honestly don’t have that answer.
