Lucha Libre Thread - AAA, CMLL, & the rest of the masked lads

[Browser Brady]

What is the immediate benefit of buying AAA ?

 

 

Which company has the better talent at the moment , CMLL or AAA ?

[westlondonmist]

I haven't watched AAA in a long time but I was under the impression it wasn't very good (although the Mexican audience probably disagrees). 

Seems like it's basically WWE saying we're the big boys,the rest of you are nothing. Just like Kahn saying AEW stars will just come to us. Just seems like one less place for people to work in reality. 

Edited April 20, 2025 by westlondonmist

[Merzbow]

CMLL has by far the better and bigger roster right now, but as others have said they're totally different companies. CMLL are also very, very close to New Japan and host a fair few shows with both companies, Fantastica Mania events hosted in Japan are often a great watch.

[Carbomb]

After what happened with NXT:UK, this is rather sad news. Hope CMLL can fend the bastards off.

[BomberPat]

Until they actually start running shows, you're not going to get a better summary of the situation than this:

https://thecubsfan.com/cmll/2025/04/20/wwe-buys-lucha-libre-aaa/

 

[Cousin Jim Bob]

2 hours ago, Carbomb said:

After what happened with NXT:UK, this is rather sad news. Hope CMLL can fend the bastards off.

 

TheCubsfan would know so it feels rather ominous from the article @BomberPat posted that he fully expects them to sign some big names asap from CMLL and go from there.

[ultimo the great]

There's zero good about this, nothing.

Good from cubsfan but find it very hard to believe this came about due to AEW doing a show in Mexico. there's been rumours of WWE/AAA for a long while. some just felt it was bullshit or wishful thinking from AAA

From the most respected lucha journalist in Mexico

Edited April 20, 2025 by ultimo the great

[simonworden]

How do the actual Mexican fans in Mexico feel about WWE? I always got the impression that while popular, there was somewhat of a cultural preference for the Lucha Libre style with then a divide between CMLL doing it more traditionally and AAA being more storyline/ sports entertainment driven but still in the Lucha Libra mould?

 

In this day and age, I've not got a clue how they'll go about this whether they'll send all the "nothing for you" wrestlers down there to domiate, strip all the best Mexican's from CMLL etc, turn it into another attempt at Super Astros or what. 

[BomberPat]

On 4/20/2025 at 10:58 PM, ultimo the great said:

There's zero good about this, nothing.

Good from cubsfan but find it very hard to believe this came about due to AEW doing a show in Mexico. there's been rumours of WWE/AAA for a long while. some just felt it was bullshit or wishful thinking from AAA

From the most respected lucha journalist in Mexico

I 100% this came out because of AEW running Arena Mexico. AAA have been wanting to sell up for years, and WWE have expressed an interest before, but there's a reason the sale happened now. An NXT/AAA crossover was rumoured before the buyout happened, and AAA and WWE potentially working together has been floated for a long time, but WWE weren't going to break the bank and flat-out purchase the company unless they absolutely had to, and the fact that they decided they had to once AEW announced Grand Slam Mexico is no coincidence. 

The key point in that Tweet to me is "over an entire expression of popular culture". This is so much bigger than WWE purchasing a company in another country would be, in that it genuinely puts an iconic symbol of Mexicana at risk - depending on how badly they pursue and put pressure on CMLL, this is something that impacts on the Mexican tourist industry, not just on wrestling, even potentially going so far as to clamp down on mask sellers in markets and outside arenas. I was round at a mate's place watching night two of Wrestlemania yesterday, and they straight away asked me what my thoughts on this was, and my kneejerk response was that it has the potential to be the worst thing to happen to professional wrestling in decades.

Especially with WWE being a Trump-affiliated American corporation, I could see some Mexican politicians making a genuine issue of this.

On 4/21/2025 at 5:30 AM, simonworden said:

How do the actual Mexican fans in Mexico feel about WWE? I always got the impression that while popular, there was somewhat of a cultural preference for the Lucha Libre style with then a divide between CMLL doing it more traditionally and AAA being more storyline/ sports entertainment driven but still in the Lucha Libra mould?

It's less that it's a cultural preference, it's more that WWE's presence in Mexico has been intermittent - RAW and Smackdown both had periods of not being on TV there, and of being moved from free TV to behind a paywall. The Netflix deal puts them in a much stronger position in Mexico than they have been for years.

When it comes to live shows, WWE just price them too high for a lot of the Mexican audience, so TV tapings there have never really worked out, and they only run a handful of house shows a year. I've spoken to friends who live(d) in Mexico City, and they've said that it's less a preference for the style of wrestling as it is for the community and tradition - CMLL run shows with very cheap family tickets, and whole multi-generational families go and watch the Lucha together, while WWE charge premium prices that don't appeal to that market.

Edited April 22, 2025 by BomberPat

[Merzbow]

If you ever get sad at the fact Del Rio is well... doing anything let alone maybe going back to WWE just watch this.

Left Leg.. Cemetery

 

[Hannibal Scorch]

AEW Grand Slam Mexico has sold about 6k tickets on their first day. Great start

[Snitsky's back acne]

I'm not overly familiar with AAA. Is there anyone there worth a squirt? I've had a quick look over their current roster and don't recognise most of the names bar Del Rio and Cibernetico. 

[Hannibal Scorch]

6 hours ago, Snitsky's back acne said:

I'm not overly familiar with AAA. Is there anyone there worth a squirt? I've had a quick look over their current roster and don't recognise most of the names bar Del Rio and Cibernetico. 

Vikingo is probably the only one I know of tbh.

[SaitoRyo]

Have we discussed the possibility that lucha might be the best wrestling? 

[Merzbow]

CMLL with the superior stars there.