To say Backlash in Puerto Rico was anything other than a resounding success for WWE would be disingenuous. The promotion did fantastic numbers both in terms of ticket sales and streaming numbers, and the fans who funneled into the Coliseo De Puerto Rico in San Juan were some of the loudest WWE has been graced with in months, maybe even longer. And, in the opinion of one of the performers who made the show special, Santos Escobar of the lWo, Puerto Rico should serve as just the beginning of WWE's expansion into Latin America.
After taking Puerto Rico by storm, with Savio Vega still taking media requests to discuss the show, Escobar believes that Mexico City is a prime target for a Premium Live Event in the future.
“Trust me, this weekend means a lot. Not just to me, but to any other Latino Americans out there,” Escobar told the Getting Over podcast via Fightful. “Of course, Puerto Rico is gonna be amazing, but what’s the next step? Mexico City? The Aztec Stadium, over 110,000 people there for a premium live event maybe, for a WrestleMania maybe? The superstars are ready for it, we’re ready for it, Mexico is ready for it, Latin America is ready for it. Yes, every time I can, I mention it to whoever wants to listen. The stage is there, it’s set. We’re ready to go, take over the world.”
Would WWE actually consider WrestleMania 39 to Aztec Stadium in Mexico? Potentially so, but not any time soon, as seemingly every major football stadium in America is lining up for a shot at “The Showcase of the Immortals.” But hey, who knows; after a strong showing in Puerto Rico at an admittedly smaller venue of just under 18,000, maybe the WWE Universe could descend onto Mexico City for a future SummerSlam to see if Escobar's prediction of 110,000 hungry Lucha Libre fans will fill out the arena and turn in an unforgettable evening for all parties involved.
Santos Escobar explains why he brought back and then lost his mask in NXT.
Though Santos Escobar has really found his voice and his place in the WWE Universe as the right-hand man of Rey Mysterio in the lWo and the leader of Legado Del Fantasma, when he debuted for the promotion, he performed under a different name, El Hijo del Fantasma, and operated as a babyface, instead of the heel fans came to know and love in developmental. Speaking with Booker T on his Hall of Fame podcast, Escobar explained why the mask is so important to Lucha Libre tradition and why he ultimately put his back on despite losing it before his WWE run, only to take it off early in NXT to establish the “Santos Escobar” character fans know and love.
“Well, the thing about the Lucha Libre tradition is, when you have a mask, and you lose your mask, we have stipulation matches where you put your mask on the line, and what that means is if you lose, you have to take your mask off, never to wear it again,” Escobar told Booker T. “Now this happened to me in Mexico in 2018, I lost my mask to LA Park, LA Parca, who was actually an lWo original member, by the way.
“So I lost my mask, I took it off, but when I got to WWE on NXT, my thing has always been to represent who I am, where I come from, and what I am about, and that is Lucha Libre all around, that’s what I’m about, that’s my life in a nutshell, Lucha Libre. So I couldn’t distance myself from that, so, I think we all agreed, Triple H, Road Dogg, Shawn Michaels, the creative team, that the best way to do it was to reintroduce the masked luchador and eventually introduce the actual character that I was gonna bring life to, which was Santos Escobar. And I think the result was positive because we did get that first Lucha Libre first stint when I first became the Cruiserweight Champion. But then everyone’s like, ‘whoa, he took his mask off,’ and that raised a lot of questions that, of course, I had the answers to and to have the opportunity to actually stand in the middle of a ring with the mic and tell you my story and who I am? That’s priceless.”
For those out of the know, Escobar actually lost his mask in a four-way cage match at AAA TripleMania XXVI, where, after Psyco Clown and AEW’s Pentagon Jr. escaped the ring, Park pinned the future Cruiserweight Champion and forced him to take off his father’s mask. From there, Escobar worked 57 matches largely across Mexico, including a bout with Austin Theory for The Crash, before making his debut for NXT in 2020, first on the live circuit under his real name, Jorge Bolly, and then under the El Hijo del Fantasma moniker once more in the NXT Cruiserweight Title Tournament. While Escobar may not have been stoked on the idea of putting back on his mask in WWE, as that’s typically a no-no in Lucha Libre, it worked out pretty well for Rey Mysterio before him and ultimately worked out pretty well for LDF too.
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