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When Santos Escobar and the rest of Legado Del Fantasma, Joaquin Wilde, and Cruz del Toro, were elevated from NXT to SmackDown, leaving their former valet, Electra Lopez, in developmental for further seasoning, it excited more than a few fans of WWE's developmental brand.
Sure, losing Lopez was unusual, but replacing her with Zelina Vega, one of the more polished managers on the main roster, rounded out the group in a major way. Factor in Rey Mysterio, the WWE Hall of Famer and greatest luchador in WWE history, and suddenly, the faction looked as impressive as any in WWE, even if they haven't secured many wins in their feud with Dominik Mysterio and The Judgement Day.
Speaking on the prospects of uniting with the older Mysterio under Eddie Gurerro's lWo flag, Escobar noted that, because the faction has a deep respect for the traditions of Lucha Libre, they have the foundation in place to become a worldwide enterprise.
“We share the acronym and the flag, and the nostalgia is there, but in this case, what generated the LWO was the respect for lucha libre and the respect for who we are, where we come from, and what we're about,” Escobar told Phil Strum on Under The Ring via Fightful. “Legado del Fantasma was my faction and the legacy of Fantasma, my dad. I'm always representing the respect and tradition of lucha libre. When we saw Rey being disrespected by his son, his blood, Dominik, that's when I decided to step in and not let this happen because if anyone disrespects Rey Mysterio or any luchador, they are disrespecting the whole tradition of lucha libre. That's why I stepped in and tried to help Rey in this issue. The difference is, back then, the LWO may have been created for different reason, but it means the same, it means Latinos United. It's time to represent who we are around the globe. The time is perfect. If you think about it; music, movies, sports, sports entertainment, Latinos are there. It's our time to shine, and under this flag, I have no doubt that it will happen.”
With Bad Bunny, one of the most popular acts in all of music and an unofficial member of lWo, set to wrestle Damian Priest at Backlah, Escobar's assertion is hard to argue. As Escobar and the rest of lWo prepare to stick around on SmackDown following the WWE Draft, the world really is the faction's oyster moving forward.
Santos Escobar has a firm supporter in his lWo associate Joaquin Wilde.
Also afforded an opportunity to discuss what it's like to be a member of the lWo and Legado Del Fantasma before them, in his case on Out Of Character with Ryan Satin, Wilde echoed many of Escobar's talking points, noting that, after a slow start, the faction really found a way to work as a cohesive unit.
“Yeah, it took a little bit of time at the beginning. You know, you’re trying to find your footing, it was during the pandemic era too, so it was a little strange,” Wilde said via Fightful. “There was no audience. It did take some time, it was a journey, for sure I’d say that. Eventually, we did get some natural chemistry going, there was some natural chemistry that developed. We’re all kind of in similar places in our lives too, so I think that kind of helped. We all have similar goals and a similar mindset about wrestling, and that helps because when you’re in a group, if there’s like one guy that’s not on the same page, it can affect the other ones. It’s great that all three of us think similarly about wrestling, we understand what the business is. We understand what we want from the group, what the goals of the group are. We know how to co-exist with each other, and I’m just thankful for that, because it doesn’t always happen in groups.”
Theoretically, it's never a good thing to see an NXT act get elevated to RAW or SmackDown and quickly see their moniker and manager swapped out for other options. That turned out disastrously for Karrion Kross during his first run on RAW, and the USA Network is still clowning him over it to this day. Still, going from Legado Del Fantasma and Lopez to lWo, Mysterio, and Vega is a serious upgrade across the board and signifies that maybe Paul “Triple H” Levesque really does see something special in the faction he assembled back in developmental.
