Newest WWE Signing Upsets Many Promotions
Stephanie Vaquer is heading to WWE just days after appearing on an AEW pay-per-view and how her signing has been handled has not gone down well.
At AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door, Stephanie Vaquer lost her NJPW STRONG Women’s Championship to Mercedes Mone in a title vs. title match that also saw Mone’s TBS Title on the line.
Vaquer’s future very quickly became a hot topic after she apparently gave an impromptu farewell at the 9th of July CMLL show where she defeated Tessa Blanchard. Shawn Michaels soon confirmed that Stephanie Vaquer was WWE-bound and she’s pulled out of all other dates as she seals the deal with the sports entertainment giant.
Speaking on Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer discussed Vaquer’s move to WWE and noted that CMLL expected more dates from her to round off her time in the company and potentially lose to another of the promotion’s top stars but she told them she wasn’t returning:
When she had told them (CMLL), they basically asked her and said you know ‘we won’t stand in your way or anything like that, if you want to go you can go, but just do business the right way’. She’s got the tag titles in CMLL, she’s got the CMLL singles title, and it was basically go to San Jose, where she’s been advertised for months and drop the title there, drop the tag title, we’ll do a farewell.
And the feeling was, that they expected that of her and basically told her ‘look they want you and they may not want you to do that, but you haven’t signed yet so you can just tell them: I want to go out the right way’.
Then on Monday when she signed, she told them that Tuesday, which was last night in Guadalajara was her last night, and she wouldn’t be coming to Arena Mexico on Friday, she wouldn’t do any of the dates – she’s got dates all over the world.
She had dates In Germany, she had the Copper Box date on August 24, other New Japan STRONG dates and things like that that had been agreed to. Some may have been advertised some have not, and the idea was to come to San Jose and drop the title and she didn’t do that. Last night, in her last night she beat Tessa Blanchard. I’m not sure if that’s how it was originally booked or if they would have asked her to lose on the way out, but she didn’t, she did a farewell.
WWE Signing Leaves Many Upset
Meltzer continued, noting that the way the whole thing was handled has left a bitter taste in several company’s mouths:
CMLL was very upset over her, you know because of what happened, and also they had never been targeted in this way by WWE. People are expecting that she will be announced at the (Mexico City Arena CDMX) show on Saturday (July 13), which is probably why they were so adamant about her not going to San Jose on Saturday (July 13).
New Japan was very upset because when they first announced the show in San Jose she was in the first batch of people announced and they have been advertised for months. It’s kind of like their basic thing is ‘you’ve been advertised for months for this show, in a championship match and then five days before the show you pull out, and you’re the champion.’
AEW wasn’t happy because they did want her and they made an offer to her but she went with WWE, and it’s not a surprise because she grew up in Chile and when she grew up wanting to be a wrestler there was no such thing as AEW. Her wrestling pre-dates AEW by years, and she did have a WWE tryout before she got good and they didn’t sign her then. That’s the place she wanted to go, but how it happened was not well received.
In an example of how quickly the wrestling business moves, Stephanie Vaquer will be reunited in WWE with the woman she defeated in March for the NJPW STRONG Women’s Title, former Stardom competitor, Giulia.