AEW President Tony Khan Personally Asked For Luchador's Arena Mexico Return

After fourteen years away from CMLL, The Beast Mortos' sudden return to Arena Mexico's ropes to replace Claudio Castagnoli at "AEW Grand Slam: Mexico" have struck some as welcome, but odd. Despite the confusion, reports have come out to state that AEW CEO Tony Khan had a personal hand in crafting Mortos' Wednesday return to CMLL.

According to Fightful Espanol, Khan met with Salvador Lutteroth Lomeli, CMLL's CEO, to request that Mortos be allowed to participate in Wednesday's 10-Man Tag Team main event. Lomeli and CMLL were reportedly "very accommodating," and Mortos was announced for the Grand Slam: Mexico card shortly thereafter. Mortos appeared alongside The Death Riders and The Young Bucks in Wednesday's main event, and got a win on his record after AEW World Champion Jon Moxley rolled up Swerve Strickland. It is unclear why Castagnoli was removed from the Grand Slam: Mexico card, and if his absence is expected to go beyond Wednesday's main event.

Grand Slam: Mexico marked Mortos' first entry into a CMLL ring since 2011 (apart from a 2024 collaboration event between CMLL and Barba Producciones A La Conquista). Mortos' last official CMLL appearance saw the luchador, then-named Semental, lose a two-out-of-three falls tag team match alongside his partner Disturbio. During his three-year run in CMLL, Mortos claimed no championships. It is unclear whether this appearance in CMLL is a one-off for the AEW star, or if he will make future appearances in Lomeli's promotion.

While Mortos has not been on CMLL programming, he has been pursuing other endeavors. Mortos recently shared that he was due to become a lawyer in the coming months, and was recently confirmed to be in a relationship with current TBS Champion Mercedes Moné. Moné also appeared on Wednesday's card, where she won the CMLL World Women's Championship.