Konnan Responds To Andrade’s Claim About Not Being About To Work NJPW
Things appear to be on the upswing for one Andrade El Idolo. He recently got married to his long-time girlfriend, WWE's Charlotte Flair, and returned to AEW last week as the joker in the Casino Battle Royale. He will also soon be joined in AEW by one of his closest friends, Rush. Not everything can stay gold, however, and if Andrade is to be believed, backstage politics in Mexico could prevent him from appearing at important events.
In the early hours of Monday morning, Andrade, seemingly unprompted, tweeted out the following statement.
"I can't work with NJPW, thanks CMLL and AAA," Andrade said, adding a thumbs-up emoji for good measure.
Some have interpreted Andrade's statement to mean he cannot appear at the upcoming AEWxNJPW: Forbidden Door event due to his loose relationship with Lucha Libre AAA. Whether that is what Andrade meant or not however isn't clear at this time. The Los Ingobernables founder has appeared twice for AAA in the past year, first at TripleMania XXIX and most recently at TripleMania XXX: Monterrey.
Andrade's tweet caught the attention of Konnan, the long-time lucha libre legend who currently works for AAA as their head booker. He responded to the AEW star a little over an hour later.
"We have nothing to do with NJ or CMLL's arcane decisions," Konnan tweeted.
We have nothing to do with NJ or. CMLL arcane decisions
— Konnan (@Konnan5150) June 13, 2022
For those who don't know, CMLL (aka Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre) is the oldest wrestling promotion in North America, having been founded by Salvador Lutteroth in 1933. Since 2008, CMLL has had a working relationship with New Japan; the promotions have shared talent and co-promoted the FantasticaMania tour, which had run yearly until the COVID-19 pandemic made travel impossible.
Andrade himself benefited from that relationship, working several tours in New Japan while he worked for CMLL as La Sombra. He would capture the IWGP Intercontinental Championship at one point in 2013, and was instrumental, along with Rush, in inspiring Tetsuya Naito to become "tranquillo" and form the popular stable Los Ingobernables de Japon, an offshoot of Andrade and Rush's Los Ingobernables stable in CMLL.
In contrast, AEW has been in a worked with AAA since AEW was formed in 2019. In addition to Andrade, AAA has also used AEW stars such as the Lucha Brothers (Penta Oscuro and Rey Fenix), the current AAA World Tag Team Champions FTR, the Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson), Kenny Omega, and others. In addition to FTR, the Bucks and Lucha Brothers have also held the AAA Tag Team Championships since AAA and AEW began working together.
Omega notably held the AAA's top title, the AAA Mega Championship, from the fall of 2019 till November of 2021, the longest reign in Mega Championship history. He was forced to vacate the title due to injury. AEW meanwhile used AAA World Cruiserweight Champion Laredo Kid for several shows between 2019 and 2021 and has shown interest in using the current AAA Mega Champion Hijo del Vikingo.
It should be noted that AAA and CMLL have been promotional rivals ever since AAA was formed in 1992 by disgruntled CMLL booker Antonio Pena, who took a large number of young CMLL talent with him. The two have largely maintained a hostile relationship since, providing the potential hurdlers for AEW and NJPW as they try to work together, while also working with their respective lucha libre partners.
Whether or not CMLL has put pressure on New Japan to keep Andrade off Forbidden Door, or any other New Japan shows, is unclear at this time. For those looking on the positive side, it should be noted that AAA Tag Team Champions FTR are expected to work Forbidden Door, while AAA/AEW star Penta Oscuro will face Malakai Black in a qualifier for the AEW All Atlantic Championship match to take place at the event, suggesting AEW talent that has appeared for AAA isn't excluded.
For those less optimistic, it should also be noted FTR has not carried the AAA Tag Titles to the ring since the build to Forbidden Door began, despite doing so previously. Perhaps more importantly, AAA/AEW star Rey Fenix is currently scheduled for an AAA event the same day as Forbidden Door, hinting that he may miss the show.