After initially building the LWO around Rey Mysterio and Santos Escobar, with the rest of Legado Del Fantasma, Zelina Vega, and eventually Carlito, it now looks like the faction is firmly a vehicle to elevate current NXT North American Champion Dragon Lee, who leads the faction against the “Emperor of Lucha Libre” and his new familia, the faction formerly known as Los Lotharios, Angel Garza and Humberto Carrillo.
And yet, in a recent interview with Freddie Prinze Jr on his Wrestling With Freddie podcast, Escobar decided to break Kayfabe ever so slightly in order to put over his masked luchador raza, letting him know that, despite his on-screen issues with the high-flying dynamo, off-screen he wants nothing more than to see him succeed.
“Dragon Lee is going to be a big star. It's pretty obvious that he's got something going on. He's been on the main roster for less than two months. He already had his first one-on-one at a premium live event,” Santos Escobar told Freddie Prinze Jr. via Fightful. “(We have) crazy chemistry. Triple H said it in the press conference after. Two lucha guys that bring more than just being two lucha guys. That's what I wanted. That was my vision. I know the urge is there, you have 12 to 15 minutes, to go out and just do crazy stuff, but the truth is, if you stay lucha, you stay lucha. I want to create a hybrid, much like we did with Lucha Underground and other places. Try to bring my style with the American style, so anyone that watches the show will connect and understand what I'm trying to do. Also, because I want to work with Randy [Randy Orton], I want to work with Roman [Roman Reigns], I want to work with everyone out there. Keeping myself in a box is not going to help me. I needed to portray this and share this vision. Dragon Lee, he got it.”
In professional wrestling, sometimes styles make fights. Pairing up a bigger guy against a smaller guy can provide an audience with the sort of natural storytelling cues that make it easy to follow sans extensive lore, and that same formula has been working for years, even when Hulk Hogan fills the underdog role against a bigger foe like Andre The Giant. And yet, other stories run much deeper, as the one told between Rey Mysterio and Eddie Guerrero and now between Dragon Lee and Santos Escobar. If WWE can play their cards right, who knows, maybe this feud could be just as impactful.
Santos Escobar is proud of his new WWE family.
Stopping by the backstage area after his win over Bobby Lashley alongside his new factionmates, Santos Escobar made an appearance on the SmackDown LowDown and let it be known that, while he was thoroughly betrayed by his former faction, at least in his eyes, the entire Blue Brand will have to take notice of him soon enough, as he doesn't take traitors lightly.
“Catalina, before we go to the finals, let me address something else. One of the most important things in a man's life is famila, family. But when your family turns out to be a bunch of traitors, traitors, that could break a man, but not Santos. Which is why I took care of them one by one and now,” Santos Escobar told Cathy Kelley.
“See Catalina, this is my familia and now, at New Year's Revolution, I will go through the finals and take away what I gave to Logan Paul and become the new United States Champion. The Emperor, Santos Escobar.”
What does the future hold for Escobar on SmackDown? Will he, and should he, win the final match of the tournament over Kevin Owens and punch a ticket to a match with Logan Paul, presumably at the Royal Rumble next month? Or should he lose the bout, maybe with Dragon Lee and the rest of the LWO getting back at him for being a certified cheater against Lashley? Or will Lashley and the Street Profits instead turn their attention towards Escobar and company, punishing him for his efforts in Green Bay and starting a feud between the two sides that could theoretically ride all the way until the Elimination Chamber in Australia? Either way, it would appear Escobar is a wanted man within the WWE Universe, and he will have to pay for his decision to play by his own rules one way or another in the forthcoming weeks.