The rumor mill in professional wrestling continues to spin tidbits of gossip online, this time about the future of one of the tag teams that were a featured part of the original stages of All Elite Wrestling, The Lucha Brothers. The Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer reported that Pentagon and Rey Fenix were probably on their way out of the promotion, with the notion that they would probably land in WWE relatively soon. Fightful Select also reported that the popular tag team were expected to sign a WWE deal. Ironically, Pentagon rebutted the rumors on his Twitter page with the claim that he’s currently with All Elite Wrestling.
All things considered, if Pentagon and Fenix were headed to the WWE, it’s very doubtful that he would confirm the rumors online, especially if the team’s current contract hasn’t expired. Furthermore, it would also serve them well to deny the rumors, as the notion that they already have a contract offer waiting for them at the WWE might be considered contract tampering, which was the subject of debate a few years ago.
That said, it wouldn’t be too surprising if the Lucha Brothers made the jump to WWE, mostly because they haven’t been a spotlighted portion of AEW programming within the past few years, and they have only worked a handful of matches for the company within the past few months.
I think it would be fair to say that both brothers were individually and collectively underutilized in All Elite Wrestling, especially given their level of skill and the marketing potential of the characters. This is the same story that can be said about many on the All Elite roster, as repetitive as it is, it remains a continuous problem, as talented performers get lost in the shuffle of Tony Khan’s quest to seemingly sign every qualified talent on the market. As I’ve mentioned before, just because a wrestler is good enough to be on national television, that alone isn’t enough of a reason to throw a contract at them. Does that talent have a place in the organization and are there plans for them? If not, you have to question if there will be a significant return on the investment. However, we’ve seen numerous times that money is no object for Tony Khan, and being profitable isn’t the top priority so the argument is moot. It seems that Tony wants to have certain talent on his roster just for the sake of being able to say they work for him. That’s not necessarily meant as a knock, the more guys that can make a full-time living in the wrestling business the better, but the point remains that it creates a scenario where talented guys might waste years of their prime on the sidelines because Tony got distracted with his latest signing. Has anyone seen Ricky Starks lately?
As I’ve said before, I think the Lucha Brothers can be main event guys. They have the talent in the ring and a really cool persona that can be used to promote something unique among the current crowded pro wrestling landscape. When Pentagon had a run with the Impact championship years ago, it gave a glimpse of a formula that can work for an American audience. There were subtitles during video packages, and even now, a manager to translate for live promos are a way for him to be used in a variety of storylines. It worked in boxing and MMA for decades so I don’t think it’s too far outof the box, especially with the more sports-based presentation that the WWE is bringing to the table under the Triple H regime that the same concept couldn’t be used successfully under the WWE banner. It becomes even more of a possibility when you take into account the lucrative foreign markets for the TKO corporation, with the expansion of premium events outside of the United States. Rey Fenix, the younger of the two brothers, is spectacular in the ring. He’s simply too talented to only be featured in a trios team when Pac decides to comeback from England once every few months.
Aside from the in-ring ability of the team, I’d say that Tony Khan has missed the boat on marketing the lucha tag team as well. Pentagon has such a cool mask design, the fact that it isn’t used more prominently on merchandise is definitely a missed opportunity. Take this into consideration, given how the WWE machine advertises and and merchandises its talent, you can see the potential that the Lucha Brothers bring to the table in terms of generating revenue for an organization. Furthermore, we’ve seen how management continues to look to develop and promote lucha stars for the Hispanic audience, and this would be a chance for them to sign two lucha talents that already have experience working on American television.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that Pentagon or Fenix would be the next stars to main event Wrestlemania, but All Elite Wrestling has such a disjointed presentation on a week-to-week basis that only a few names on the roster are truly safe from being lost in the shuffle. If they decide to make the jump, they would only be offered a deal if the office has at least an initial plan for them on either NXT or the main roster. This isn’t to say that there’s no where for them to go in All Elite, Tony Khan could make the decision to push them with high-profile matches with a turn of his charts or graphs, but the reality is, where are the Lucha Brothers right now? Again, they work a trios tag team when Pac decides to show up, and are mostly forgotten about after that. At this point, would it be a negative to at least explore their options?
As for if they will actually exit All Elite Wrestling, I can’t really take a guess because that would completely depend on what they are looking for from their status in the sport. They could stay in All Elite Wrestling, a brand they’ve been familiar with for the past five years and thus continue to collect a good paycheck from a billionaire, or they could venture into the WWE, a new system, but get the chance at being bigger stars in the long run. Listen, I don’t blame anyone for taking the money that’s on the table, and similar to anything else, it’s possible that Tony offers an amount of money that the brothers can’t say no to so they opt to re-sign with AEW. While the odds of their decision are more or less 50/50, if they are going to test the waters in WWE, now is probably the time to do it, as Pentagon is almost 40 so he would still have time for at least a few prime years on the major stage. Fenix has more years ahead of him in theory, but if he would want to make the transition a few years from now would be a completely different situation.
The biggest takeaway, at least right now, of this story isn’t so much the eventual destination of one specific tag team, but rather that the trend of All Elite Wrestling stars, making the jump to WWE continues to play a role in the dynamics of the industry. Cody’s Return, and even CM Punk’s comeback to the WWE were still based more on their history with the promotion than their work in AEW. However, Jade Cargill was an example of an AEW project that hit a ceiling there, but was made to look like a much bigger star in a much shorter amount of time under the WWE banner. The same can be said for Ethan Page, who is currently the NXT champion. If the Lucha Brothers were next to transition from AEW to WWE, it sends a message about the impression of each company in the future because some talent view WWE as a better option which is a very different dynamic than the industry had five years ago.
What do you think? Share your thoughts, opinions, feedback, and anything else that was raised on Twitter @PWMania and Facebook.com/PWMania.
Until next week
-Jim LaMotta
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