When Paul “Triple H” Levesque publically acknowledged the rumors that a former WWE Champion would make an appearance on the first RAW of 2024, Day 1, it led fans to key in on one name and one name alone: Andrade El Idolo.
On paper, it made sense, right? It was widely reported that Andrade was going to be finishing up in AEW at the culmination of Worlds End, and after taking a loss to Miro that reunited him with his wife, CJ Perry, WWE would be able to capitalize on the former La Sombra's strong push in the Continental Classic with an immediate appearance on RAW without having to wait through any 30 or even 90-day non-compete clause.
… but then Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson made an appearance on College Gameday in Pasadena, California, before the Rose Bowl, and suddenly, fans across the world dropped Andrade like a bad habit in order to put all hopes into the return of the “People's Champion” in what would certainly spell the start of a build towards WrestleMania 40, where the two highest-profile members of the Anoa'i-Fatu family would finally wrestle one-on-one.
Could that happen? Sure, it is arguably the most in-demand match in the WWE Universe, and Levesque has proven he will try to do what the people want when he can, as the return of CM Punk clearly shows, but why would that affect the return of Andrade, a performer who could be a workhorse midcarder and maybe even unseat Gunther as the Intercontinental Champion if he plays his cards right? No, if WWE was planning to bring back Andrade when he's arguably the hottest he's been in years, they shouldn't sideline that concept just because Rocky spent his afternoon two hours away from the RAW venue, if anything, doubling down on the Superstar returns could spell excellent news for the promotion both in starting the year off with a massive rating and in getting fans talking online.
Tony Khan wished Andrade well after AEW Worlds End.
Though he didn't appear in the media scrum after AEW Worlds End, Andrade was a topic of conversation during the nearly two-hour ordeal all the same when Tony Khan, fresh off of answering some burning questions, not answering some burning questions and wearing a very interesting glasses-hat combo at the behest of Toni Storm, decided to confirm his free agency status and thank him for his service over the years.
“Somebody who has not been with us the entire five years, but they’ve been with us about half the time, and they’ve been outstanding and somebody I really respect, and I don’t expect to see necessarily, as it stands right now, renewing the contract, but somebody that I have a great amount of respect for and would be parting on good terms and was tremendous and was here and did wrestle tonight was Andrade El Idolo,” Tony Khan told the assembled media via Fightful. “Andrade El Idolo’s contract is up at the end of the year, we’ve had great talks. I have a ton of respect for Andrade El Idolo, he’s been a huge performer in the Continental Classic. I wanted to keep him involved at the top, and if had been able to reach an agreement, certainly he would be somebody we would slot in in a prominent position. I think we did everything we could to show Andrade El Idolo that we do value him, and this last run he’s had in recent months has been tremendous. If this is the way he’s going to leave AEW, talk about leaving on a high note.”
In hindsight, if TK didn't think he could re-sign Andrade, why did he push him so hard in the Continental Classic? Granted, it's not like he should have gone 0-5 as Dave Meltzer suggested on his Wrestling Observer Radio podcast, but why not flip-flop Mr. Charlotte Flair and, say, Rush, who looked like a star in all of his matches despite finishing out the tournament with a 2-3 record and didn't earn a win over a legitimate legend like Bryan Danielson? Maybe it's because Khan really did think he could retain the Mexican-born Superstar, as, by his own admission, he played a big role in bringing the former champion back to CMLL and could have even reunited him with Tetsuya Naito at Forbidden Door III. Either way, if Andrade returns to WWE on RAW, AEW will probably take a minor PR hit but nothing more, as he was seldom used by the promotion in 2023, as he worked just 14 matches, mostly on Collision.
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