El Grande Americano is making his AAA Lucha Libre debut!
The WWE Speed Champion will go back to his roots on Friday, July 25 as AAA has confirmed the debut of El Grande Americano. His opponent is former AAA Latin American Champion, Octagon Jr.
In April, WWE shocked the entire wrestling world by announcing that they acquired AAA Lucha Libre. It’s still not clear how WWE plans to use the promotion, but the company came out of the gate with a World’s Collide PLE that saw some of NXT and WWE’s best take on AAA talent.
Some of the matches include Ethan Page defending the NXT North American Championship against Laredo Kid, Rey Fenix, and Je'Von Evans. El Hijo del Vikingo defended the AAA Mega title against the man formerly known as Mr. Americano, Chad Gable. The American Made leader suffered a shoulder injury in June that forced WWE officials to write him off of television. It’s not clear when Gable will be back, though it’s rumored that he’ll be out for the rest of the year.
In terms of El Grande Americano, WWE kept the character alive and well the following weeks as Ludwig Kaiser surprisingly appeared in the El Grande Americano gear in a backstage segment during American Made’s interview. The AAA Lucha Libre TV taping is being held at Mexico City’s Juan de la Barrera Olympic Gymnasium.
Americano’s opponent has been a mainstay in AAA since 2018. Octagon Jr has been wrestling since 2010 and competed in multiple promotions such as TNA/Impact Wrestling, Major League Wrestling, and NWA. Octagon Jr. was also on the World’s Collide card where he teamed with Mr. Iguana and Aero Star to take on Lince Dorado & LWO (Cruz Del Toro & Dragon Lee). Octagon Jr. was also the first AAA contracted talent to compete on a WWE PLE as he fought Dominick Mysterio for the Intercontinental Championship.
Given the talent involved, this should be a great match. It’s not clear if El Grande Americano will just appear for the single match or if there’s more planned beyond the announced bout against Octagon Jr. WWE stars are already making waves down in AAA as Los Garza (Angel & Berto) won the AAA World Tag Team titles last month at TripleMania Regia, so Mr. Americano won’t be alone during those AAA tapings.