AS I SEE IT
Bob Magee
Pro Wrestling Between the Sheets
PWBTS.com
Condolences to the family, friends, and fans of Steve
"Mongo" McMichael, who died last Wednesday after battling
ALS for years.
A Chicago sports website said it best: "A Chicago icon
and courageous son of a bitch. Many are in the Pro Football
Hall of Fame but only one can say he was also in the Four
Horsemen. Teammates with Walter Payton AND Ric Flair? That’s
a legacy. St. Peter, flash the four fingers.
Go with God, Mongo.
In news that seemed unthinkable to many fans.... during the
pre-show of Wrestlemania 41 night one; WWE and Mexico-based
sports and entertainment holding company Fillip announced
the acquisition of Lucha Libre AAA.
The announcement was made in Las Vegas during the
WrestleMania 41 Saturday Countdown show with WWE CCO Paul
Levesque, Fillip’s Chairman, Alberto Fasja, AAA’s Marisela
Peña and Dorian Roldán Peña, alongside talent including WWE
Hall of Famer Rey Mysterio, Stephanie Vaquer, and El Hijo
Del Vikingo.
Additionally, NXT/AAA Worlds Collide was announced to take
place at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles, CA on Saturday, June
7, as a sort of afternoon matinee to Money in The Bank,
which will take place that night at the Intuit Dome.
For those not aware, AAA was founded in 1992 by Antonio
Peña and has been a family-operated business for more than
30 years, with some of the greatest talent in lucha libre
history, including Eddie Guerrero, Rey Mysterio calling AAA
home . The announcement claimed that the Peña family will
continue to be involved in the next chapter of the AAA
business alongside WWE and Fillip.
AAA has a rich cultural heritage with some of the most
passionate fans in the world and it’s an honor to work with
the Peña family to embark on this journey," said Paul
Levesque. "By bringing together WWE’s global capabilities
and AAA’s amazing tradition, we look forward to an exciting
future filled with new opportunities."
"We look forward to partnering with WWE and TKO on this
venture to secure the future of AAA for fans and to help
take this business to the next level," said Fillip Co-
Founder and Co-CEO Hugo López-Velarde.
"AAA has been a family-operated promotion for over three
decades and our trust could not be better placed than with
one of the biggest sports entertainment businesses in the
world," said AAA General Manager Dorian Roldán Peña. The
transaction is subject to the satisfaction of customary
closing conditions and is expected to close in Q3 2025.
With any corporate acquisition, however, the reality is that
founders of the company that's been purchased are often
pushed out. So we'll see what happens by 2026.
As for the acquisition itself, it turns out that what seemed
unthinkable, was anything but. According to lucha authority
The Cubs Fan, AAA has been actively investigating the sale
of part or all of the promotion for at least two years, and
had been bringing up the idea of selling to WWE as early as
2018. Dave Meltzer went so far on Wrestling Observer Radio
to imply that AAA hoped to sell at least a minority of the
promotion since founder Antonio Peña died in 2006.
Fightful reported that discussions had heated up since the
WWE/TKO merger, but that it took AEW's April 16 announcement
on Grand Slam Mexico Dynamite, (scheduled for June 18) to
push the agreement to the finish line. Both Meltzer and The
Cubs Fan agree with that conclusion.
Meanwhile, while all the above was going on, with 130,000
fans drawn between 2 nights of Wrestlemania and Stand and
Deliver with tens of millions of dollars made; AEW continued
to live rent-free in WWE's heads all Wrestlemania week.
It continued even the Monday after RAW when Paul Heyman went
into a kayfabe rant at Michael Cole, who questioned if
Heyman was for sale (after the finish in the Reigns-Punk-
Rollins); Heyman responded with a crack about Cole starting
working cheap as a lackey for Jim Ross and, asking if Cole
had ever aspired to more and talked to WCW...then asked Cole
if he'd talked "to Jacksonville".
As a side note: this was followed by a real-life classless
move by Heyman at a fan: “Who’s the smart ass, you, the
one that’s gonna get deported. Hey amigo, I may suck but
it’s your mother that taught me how.”
At this time and place in history, cutting promos on
deporting someone is a reprehensible thing to do. But that's
in keeping with a company that allies with MAGA.
Side note #2: there was more MAGA friendly classless
behavior from WWE with the Tony Hinchcliffe Roast. I won't
bother linking to the many bootleg copies, since the
Fontainbleu and WWE are yanking them down.
But the filth on it was transcribed. The "Roast" involved
"jokes" about Hitler, Charlotte Flair's plastic surgery and
divorces, Alberto Del Rio abusing Paige, claims one female
wrestler supposedly had a penis and another into BDSM,
Diddy's rape/sex orgies, claims that Shinsuke Nakamura "eats
dogs", saying Braun Strowman looked like “a meth lab
exploded next to a GNC", Paul Heyman commenting on a female
performer's "private parts", claims Jinder Mahal was with
ISIS, comments about the suicide of Freddie Prinze, Jr.'s
father, plus various racist jokes about different WWE
talent.
At the Roast, HHH also hit back at anyone who didn't like
WrestleMania 41, telling them to "f*ck off."
One question: ask yourself about what kind of company OKs
this kind of offensive crap; and if their sponsors are OK
with it;.and ask yourself what message HHH is sending to
you.
If you think that's just in my head, and I'm just an AEW
mark, witness the April 26 political website AlterNet's
article "Trumpmania: How the world of professional wrestling
influenced the presidency" that discusses at length the
nexus of McMahon-TKO-and Trump/
Back to the WWE obsession with AEW...
More proof of the it came in another not-so-coincidental
moment, when AAA announced TripleMania Regia to take place
on Sunday, June 15 in Arena Monterrey... three days before
AEW comes to Mexico City with Grand Slam Mexico. While
Monterrey is 567 miles away from Mexico City (comparable to
the distance between Cleveland to St. Louis). While I don't
think this will have any effect in Grand Slam Mexico's
attendance, it's another example of AEW living rent-free in
WWE's heads (and their newly acquired AAA) to schedule such
an event.
Meanwhile, All Elite Wrestling Tuesday announced updates to
its existing live event schedule.
AEW Beach Break will take place Wednesday, May 14 at NOW
Arena in Hoffman Estates, IL; and will feature a live
broadcast of AEW Dynamite as well as a special taping of AEW
Collision for the following Saturday. The AEW Collision
event originally scheduled for Saturday, May 17 at INTRUST
Bank Arena in Wichita, KS has been canceled, and refunds are
available at all original points of purchase.
AEW has also announced that ROH Supercard of Honor has been
moved to Friday, July 11 at Esports Arena in Arlington, TX
as part of AEW All In: Texas week. Tickets are on sale now
via ROHTix.com and priority seats are included as part of
the All In VIP and Champion VIP packages for AEW All In:
Texas.
Fans purchasing those packages will receive information
about redeeming their ticket at a later date. Refunds for
the previously scheduled ROH Supercard Of Honor on Friday,
May 2 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, NJ. are available
at all points of purchase.
In addition, ROH Death Before Dishonor has been moved to
2300 Arena in Philadelphia on Friday, September 5, marking
the first time since 2021 that Ring of Honor has held an
event at that arena.
Ticket information for ROH Death Before Dishonor will be
forthcoming, and all original purchasers for the previously
scheduled ROH Supercard of Honor in Atlantic City will
receive an exclusive presale offer for ROH Death Before
Dishonor.
Additional details will be available in the coming weeks.
If you'd like to contact me, you can do so at my
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