Backstage Report On Santos Escobar Re-Signing With WWE

It's been a week for WWE star Santos Escobar, mainly because it started out seeming like he would no longer be a WWE star. On Monday, news emerged that the luchador's contract with WWE was expiring at midnight, and he would not be re-signing, despite a lucrative offer to stay, with creative frustrations being cited. While he did enter free agency on Tuesday, by Wednesday it was revealed he had re-signed with WWE after all, thanks to an even more lucrative offer than WWE had originally put on the table.

At the start of Wednesday afternoon's "Wrestling Observer Radio," Escobar's re-signing was the main topic between Dave Meltzer and Bryan Alvarez. And while the importance of the pay raise Escobar received was touched upon, Meltzer noted that wasn't the only reason Escobar returned, claiming that Escobar's creative frustrations are set to be addressed.

"Yeah [he's been re-signed], with the idea that he'll be used better creatively," Meltzer said. "We'll see. I remember that was said about Ron Killings too."

Killings, aka R-Truth, went through a slightly different situation than Escobar earlier this year, announcing he was leaving WWE in May after his contract expired, only to return a week later following fan uproar. Initially rebranded under his real name with a more serious gimmick, Killings was heavily featured for a few weeks before being de-pushed and reverting back to his comedic character, appearing less frequently on TV as the year has gone on.

Prior to this week, Escobar had hardly been featured on WWE TV himself, wrestling only seven matches this year. A storyline involving him challenging then AAA Mega Champion El Hijo del Vikingo was seemingly set up early in the summer, only to be quietly dropped; it's unclear whether it was related to his contractual status.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Wrestling Observer Radio" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription