Why Dave Meltzer Says Stephanie Vaquer Upset AEW, NJPW & CMLL By Signing With WWE
Former CMLL star Stephanie Vaquer's move to WWE has ruffled a few feathers as her former employer is reportedly miffed with her decision to leave unexpectedly.
As per Dave Meltzer of "Wrestling Observer Radio," Vaquer had been booked for several shows with CMLL and NJPW but pulled out of them despite holding the CMLL World Women's Championship and the CMLL World Women's Tag Team Championship.
"She was leaning towards WWE and she told CMLL, and I suppose ... I believe she told New Japan, but it may have been that CMLL told New Japan," he began. "New Japan and CMLL have been aware of this [WWE's interest] before she signed."
Meltzer revealed that when Vaquer had informed CMLL about her decision to join WWE, they told her they wouldn't stand in her way, but asked her to drop the titles before leaving. CMLL wanted her to lose the titles at NJPW's San Jose show and give her a sendoff. But, she signed with WWE on Monday and told CMLL that the show in Guadalajara on Tuesday, where she defeated Tessa Blanchard, would be her final match.
"On Monday when she signed [with WWE], she told them that Tuesday, last night in Guadalajara, was her last night, and she wouldn't be coming to Arena Mexico on Friday, she wouldn't do any of the dates. She's got dates all over the world; she had dates in Germany, Copper Box [RevPro] on August 24th, other New Japan Strong dates that have been agreed to."
CMLL was very upset with Vaquer
Stephanie Vaquer's decision to leave CMLL has angered the Mexican promotion as they wanted her to do business the right way by finishing all her promoted dates.
"CMLL was very upset with her because of what happened, and also, they had never been targeted this way by WWE," said Meltzer. "This has happened before, but in all of those cases, it was, you know, finish up in a good way and it was a different type of a thing."
Meltzer detailed why NJPW and AEW, both CMLL's partners, were also upset with the way she handled her business. He stated that both WWE and AEW were interested in signing her and that AEW is unhappy at not securing her signature but also how it all went down.
"New Japan was very upset because when they first announced this show in San Jose, she was in the first batch of people announced and they've been advertising her for months," Meltzer added. "AEW wasn't happy because they did want her and they made an offer to her, but she went with WWE."
He said that AEW did NJPW a favor by having Willow Nightingale feature at NJPW's show in San Jose, where she will face Lluvia and Viva Van for the CMLL World Women's Championship that Vaquer vacated. Meltzer added that WWE could introduce Stephanie Vaquer to their programming almost immediately at the promotion's shows in Mexico over the weekend.