Triple H comments on WWE acquiring AAA Lucha Libre.
WrestleMania Saturday had some landscape-changing news before the opening bell even rang on the first match. It was announced that WWE had acquired AAA, and a WWE x AAA Worlds Collide event was scheduled for June.
During the press conference that followed WrestleMania on Saturday, Triple H spoke about the acquisition and his goals to grow and expand the wrestling style, as well as AAA serving as a platform for that style.
"Very exciting time for us. Very exciting opportunity, I think, for us to continue to grow Lucha Libre. It’s woven into the fabric of the culture. It resonates with everybody. It’s impressive to see. We want to make sure that not only exists, but continues to thrive and continues to grow. I’m a big fan of lucha as a style. I think having all styles is incredibly valuable. Obviously, we have a particular one that we like to do with WWE, but that does not mean we’re looking to massively revamp anything. I’m looking to keep traditional Lucha Libre as traditional Lucha Libre within that world and just help it to grow, and help the athletes who grew up fans of it in those markets to realize their dream, just like we’re helping to do in the US. That will be our goal globally. To have the best of the best from around the world, and we will continue to do that. Very excited about that," he said.
Later in the press conference, Contralona's Joel Torres asked for further comments on the acquisition and the goals moving forward, and Triple H expanded on his fondness for Lucha Libre and his desire to use AAA as a platform to help talents become globally recognized entities.
"The intent is to grow it and grow Lucha Libre," he said. "It has such a cultural impact in South American, Central America, Mexico. Then, you come into the United States, there was a New York Times article where they talked about the power of Lucha Libre and what it means, especially in markets in the US like [Los Angeles]. The intent is to grow it, to grow that brand. NXT started [small] and over time it became massive. When done right. Shawn [Michaels] mentioned it last night; when you look at WrestleMania now, most of it came directly out of NXT. A large percentage of it. That’s the success of it. Mexico, AAA, Lucha Libre, it opens up the door for those athletes as well to not only grow to be the biggest thing in lucha, but if their desires are to go beyond that.
"You can call it what you want, sport, sports entertainment, what we do is the greatest form of that entertainment in the world," he continued. "It’s a global thing. There are places in the world where it is culturally significant to them. We’re not looking to take away from that culturally significant product, we’re looking to enhance it, to grow it, to make it bigger. To give opportunities for talent to grow beyond that and become worldwide celebrities as opposed to, not that there is anything wrong with it, but as opposed to a certain genre of something. There is room for everybody. As people grow through their careers, they don’t have to stay in one place. From a learning standpoint, to learn different styles and techniques, it’s important and it’s powerful for us to be in those markets and to be able to grow our talent in that manner."
Fans can learn more about the acquisition here.
Check out the full results of the first night of WrestleMania here.
Fans can find Fightful's coverage of WWE WrestleMania 41 Saturday by clicking here. Check out the post-show podcast for a full review by clicking here.
