AEW Announcement Pushed WWE To Finalise Shock Deal

WWE has acquired AAA.

In the hours before WrestleMania 41, WWE shocked the world by announcing the acquisition of the famous Mexican Promotion AAA. Michael Cole broke the news during the WrestleMania 41 pre-show, shortly after a new Worlds Collide event involving talent from NXT and AAA was announced.

Several of WWE’s Mexican stars were on hand when the news was broken, alongside AAA President Marisela Pena and breakout star El Hijo del Vikingo.

How Did AEW Impact New WWE Deal?

The news comes just days after AEW announced it would be partnering with Mexico’s other major promotion, CMLL, for Grand Slam. The event is set to take place on June 18 at the world-famous Arena Mexico.

The most recent Grand Slam event was held in Brisbane, Australia, back in February.

The closeness of the announcements has led to speculation that the sports entertainment giant was spurred into action by the deal between AEW and CMLL, and interestingly, it seems the theory isn’t too far from the truth.

According to a report from Fightful Select, while the deal between WWE and AAA was kept close to the vest, it was only finalised after the announcement from AEW and CMLL. Talent noted that there have been talks about AAA having partners for several years, but a partnership with WWE appeared to become a possibility following the creation of the TKO Group.

AAA talents were said to be skeptical of the announcement, and found it difficult to believe that the Roldan family would give up control.