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WWE acquired Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (AAA) before WrestleMania 41 in 2025 and the Mexican promotion’s growth over the last year may be one of the underrated stories in pro wrestling over the last 15 months.
AAA garnered a ton of attention with the buildup to its Mask vs. Mask match between El Grande Americano and Original El Grande Americano, Worlds Collide in June 2025 was a great way to introduce to re-introduce Lucha Libre to an American audience and TripleMania is going to be a two-night event for the first time in the company’s history.
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“I think it’s the hottest program in the world right now. It’s unbelievable. They got incredible characters,” WWE Hall of Famer John Bradshaw Layfield told Fox News Digital in a recent interview.
He recalled working in Mexico early in his career and how incredible the energy was in the country when he would perform there.
“I’d go down there and work and people have thought since then if Lucha Libre ever takes off, as I’d always say this is a sleeping giant, I think what people are now starting to see what we’ve known all along about Lucha Libre is just fantastic. There’s Incredible characters. There’s incredible passion, especially with the Mexican fans. I’ve always enjoyed working down there. I always say you gotta work in a few arenas to make it in life. You gotta work at the Sportatorium, you gotta work at Staples Center, you gotta work at The Garden, you gotta work in Budokan, you gotta work in Earls Court – anywhere in Mexico is like that.
“It’s just unbelievable. The passion that the people have down there – I love it. And I just think that AAA has done an incredible job. Jeremy Borash, who is incredibly talented, Undertaker, who is a good friend of mine and also a very smart guy, I believe they’ve just done an incredible job with the product.”
Mask vs. Mask was one of the first major hits since the WWE acquisition was announced.
It saw El Grande Americano defeat Original El Grande Americano, who later revealed himself to be Chad Gable. The match had everything a pro wrestling fan could want – incredible characters, exciting buildup and one of the best matches of the year.
Bradshaw said there were two matches he’s seen in his career that he thought the men in the ring were doing a “different art form.” – Fit Finlay vs. Tony St. Clair in Europe and Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker at WrestleMania 25. He said the Mask vs. Mask match felt very much the same.
“I felt the same way with Mask vs. Mask. I never thought I’d see another match (like that),” Bradshaw said. “I was hoping I would but I don’t know if I’d ever see a match like I saw with Finlay and St. Clair and Undertaker and Shawn Michaels. I’d put that in that category. I just thought it was absolutely incredible. The passion, the emotion that went with it. Everything about it worked.”
Now, El Grande Americano has a new challenge – the revitalization of Los Perros del Mal.
The group recently reformed with Daga, Angel, Berto, Bronco Nima and Karmen Petrovic wreaking havoc on the AAA roster.
Bradshaw said he was looking forward to seeing where the new story goes.
“It just kills me with Los Perros del Mal. It’s kinda like in episodic television like in ‘The Walking Dead’ when the governor dies and it’s like, ‘What are you gonna do now?’ And then all of sudden you have a new villain,” he told Fox News Digital. “The first day of the next season and you go, ‘Oh great! This is awesome.’ I’m watching ‘Blacklist’ and as soon as they get rid of one villain you have another one comes in. … And you’re thinking what could top that?
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“As soon as we got done with Mask vs. Mask, Jeremy Borash starts bringing back Los Perros del Mal – this incredible group. That visual of them there, I just thought, my God, man, this is awesome. Now we got something for, I don’t know how long, the next year or whatever long it is. But this is an incredible new journey it’s gonna look like for El Grande Americano.”
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