LWO Member Recalls Pitching Return Of Group To Triple H
A member of the Latino World Order (LWO) has recalled how Triple H initially turned down the idea of bringing the group to WWE.
The Latino World Order was originally a short-lived WCW stable from late 1998 into early 1999. They were led by one of the greatest Latino wrestlers of all time, Eddie Guerrero, who brought other WCW Latino stars together to form the group known as the LWO.
It was WrestleMania 39 weekend this year when Rey Mysterio was about to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame when the members of the Legado del Fantasma group pledged their loyalty to him.
In NXT, Legado del Fantasma consisted of Santos Escobar, Cruz Del Toro & Joaquin Wilde. They also had Elektra Lopez in the group, but she has remained in NXT. On the main roster, Zelina Vega joined the group. That foursome would end up joining Rey to form the LWO.
Thanks to the LWO’s presence, Rey was able to beat his son Dominik Mysterio at WrestleMania 39 because the LWO was there to prevent The Judgment Day from interfering in the match.
During an interview on Out of Character with Ryan Satin, Santos Escobar explained how he always wanted to bring the LWO group to WWE to represent Latino culture.
“That was something I wanted since day one. So here’s the thing. I’ve always thought that, as a minority, we have to stay together somehow to present who we are, where we come from, and what we’re about. If we present those three every time we go out there, eventually everyone will know what lucha libre is, who I am, where I come from, and all these rules and regulations and traditions that lucha libre has.”
As he continued, Escobar explained how WWE’s Chief Content Officer Triple H initially turned down the LWO idea.
“The very first conversation I had with Triple H, and he asked me, ‘What do you want to do?’ I told him, ‘Can I bring back the LWO?’ Before I said the letter ‘O,’ he said, ‘No. I want you to be you, and I want people to see you, and not think of anybody else. I want you to think of something. You want a group? We can do a group. But write something down, think about it, give it to me, and we’ll see. So that kind of shot down my initial desire, but Triple H was right. The time wasn’t right, it wouldn’t have been what it is right now.”
Escobar would go on to explain that it was the right decision because the group needed somebody like Rey Mysterio to be in the group.
Also, it needed a very important ingredient, an O.G., an original LWO [member], and that’s Rey. So that’s why Legado came about, and it was beautiful. It gave me the opportunity to do everything I wanted to do. Who I am, where I come from, what I’m about, and that’s what I did every single time I was out there.”
“Every promo, every backstage, every scene, every feud, every rivalry was letting people know that I’m all about lucha libre, that lucha libre is about tradition, heritage, culture, familia. All the values that you have, whether you’re Mexican, Latino, or not, are the values I have. We relate, and that’s how Legado got over, that’s how Santos got really over on NXT. Because everything I say, it’s real.”
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