4 days ago
What Is WWE's Goal with the AAA Purchase and Worlds Collide Show?
What Is WWE's Goal with the AAA Purchase and Worlds Collide Show? originally appeared on Athlon Sports.
If you wrestle for WWE, you're not necessarily performing for millions on Raw and Smackdown every week. NXT is the developmental brand, and then Evolve and LFG are new shows that are searching for the next WWE superstar.
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So what's going on with AAA? On the WrestleMania 41 preshow, WWE made the shocking announcement that it was purchasing Mexico's No. 2 promotion. This was surprising because WWE never made a big deal out of Lucha Libre. The company spent two decades looking for the next Rey Mysterio (who still wrestles there), and the answer may be his son, Dominik.
WWE's partnership with AAA will begin on Saturday with the Worlds Collide show. Looking at the card will give us some clues about WWE's intentions with the Lucha promotion.
Stephanie Vaquer (Getty)
Stephanie Vaquer, who lost the NXT women's title in a shocker to Jacy Jayne this week, will compete at Worlds Collide. She will team with NXT's Lola Vice against AAA's Chik Tormenta & Dalys. The latest Worlds Collide match announcement came from an unlikely source.
Comedian Gabriel 'Fluffy' Iglesias announced that the Latino World Order (Dragon Lee, Joaquin Wilde & Cruz del Toro) will wrestle Octagon Jr., Mr. Iguana, & Aero Star. This is appropriate because the original Octagon teamed with El Hijo del Santo at the WCW-AAA Worlds Collide show in 1994, beating Eddy Guerrero & 'Love Machine' Art Barr in a double-mask vs. double-hair match.
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The rest of the show includes these WWE vs. AAA matches:
· Chad Gable vs. El Hijo del Vikingo
· NXT North American champion Ethan Page vs. Je'Von Evans vs. Rey Fenix vs. Laredo Kid in a Fatal Four-Way match
· Angel, Berto & Santos Escobar vs. Psycho Clown, Pagano & El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr.
So it looks like WWE is trying to raise the profile of AAA and introduce the Lucha brand to an American audience. WWE doesn't seem to be challenging CMLL for promotional supremacy in Mexico.
Instead, WWE may have purchased AAA as a shortcut to starting an NXT Mexico brand. The company already started NXT UK before folding it into the regular NXT, and it could try again with a new version of NXT Europe.
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The good news for Lucha Libre fans is that they can watch Worlds Collide for free on YouTube in English or Spanish. The show will start at 3 p.m. Eastern on Saturday.
This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on May 30, 2025, where it first appeared.
