More Backstage Details On Timeline, Specifics Of WWE Purchasing Lucha Libre AAA

WWE's purchase of Mexican promotion AAA was announced over WrestleMania 41 weekend in what many are describing as one of the biggest wrestling news stories in recent years, and in the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer went over some of the backstage details on how the deal came to be, as well as what it could mean for the future of wrestling in Mexico as a whole.

Meltzer explained that this deal has been discussed for a long time, with negotiations dating back to 2007, one year after the death of AAA's founder Antonio Pena. Nothing was ever worked out because WWE didn't want to put their money into AAA and not have full control, and a working relationship was never able to last because neither party could agree on who would own the majority of the company. However, the goal was to always have AAA expand into the United States as they saw going north of the border as a more prosperous opportunity financially.

With this new deal, WWE now has complete control over the promotion, with Chief Content Officer Paul Levesque stating that he wanted to take AAA back to being a traditional Lucha Libre promotion, to which Meltzer responded by saying that AAA has never done traditional Lucha Libre outside of its first few years of existing. WWE reportedly won't take over officially until the third quarter of the year, so while it will be business as usual for AAA for now, WWE's people will study the situation and decide on what to do later in 2025. Having said that, Meltzer noted that multiple publications in the know in Mexico believe that AAA will now encourage their wrestlers to learn English, and wrestle a more WWE-centric style so they can transition to WWE programming much easier.

Meltzer went on to shut down the idea that the deal was hastily put together, further explaining that the deal has been talked about for many years, with WWE personnel being at AAA's last show at Juan de la Barrera Gym. Everything was kept very close to the chest, despite many people knowing that AAA had wanted to sell essentially since Pena's death in 2006, but WWE's purchase of the entire company didn't gain any real traction until Fillip, a Mexican sports and entertainment company, entered the picture. A figure of $50 Million was thrown around by the Mexican media, but Meltzer believes that figure to be false, and that those in AAA are now very well off thanks to the deal.

While acknowledging that the deal has not been thrown together at the last minute, Meltzer did acknowledge All Elite Wrestling's partnership with CMLL, specifically the announcement of AEW's Grand Slam Mexico show on June 18, most likely sped up the announcement to take away some of AEW's thunder. What's more, AAA announced their TripleMania Regia event for June 15 in Monterrey, three days before AEW's big event in Mexico City, almost immediately, an event that no one saw coming, something that Meltzer believes is another retaliation from WWE to AEW.

WWE stars are slated to be appearing on that show, as well as other TripleMania events later on in the year, which was amplified by the high price of tickets which Meltzer, while not being able to confirm that the high pricing is due to WWE stars being at the show, stated that the price of admission can only mean one thing; WWE involvement. However, until later in the year when WWE takes complete control, AAA and its 13 wrestlers under contract (they do bring in a number of people for one show deals), there are still more questions than answers when it comes to the future of AAA under WWE's leadership.