Taya Valkyrie Has Left AAA After Being Screwed Out Of Her Title

Well, this is certainly crummy. It looks like we might finally have a Montreal Screwjob for a whole new generation, courtesy of Lucha Underground’s parent promotion, AAA. They recently stripped Taya Valkyrie — perhaps best known to American fans for being part of Lucha Underground’s Worldwide Underground faction — of her Reina de Reinas championship, the top women’s championship in the promotion, under highly dubious circumstances.

The title has since been won by Sexy Star, who has made her sudden return to AAA after retiring from lucha libre to start a boxing career. But Taya is not pleased with the situation, and for very good reason.

https://twitter.com/TheTayaValkyrie/status/886764300253118464

Lucha Blog relayed information from a recent Wrestling Observer Radio where Dave Meltzer discussed the situation. Apparently, AAA asked Taya’s fiancee (and current AAA triple champion) Johnny Mundo to bring Taya’s Reina de Reinas title belt to the June 30 taping in Puebla, under the pretense that they needed to hold onto it to take photos. The next day, AAA announced the title was vacated, stating that Valkyrie had been stripped of the title due to using a choke hold in a no-disqualification match.

In Monterrey, Vampiro (the public face of AAA for most things) announced to the live crowd that Valkyrie did not show up to defend her title, even though the truth is she was never booked or scheduled to appear in Monterrey anyway.

Lucha Blog reported much more information about the situation on Monday, saying that to the best of their knowledge, a deal was worked out at the end of June between Sexy Star and AAA for her to return. It is possible AAA would have asked Taya to drop the title at the June 19 taping, but Valkyrie was unable to be on that show due to a neck injury. It is unknown whether Mundo will actually return to AAA to lose his titles, as is apparently on the books.

Vampiro has since taken to Twitter to blame Valkyrie for the mess, saying she refused to go along with the plans, and that having talent dictate booking decisions would set a bad precedent. Interestingly, Lucha Blog noted that Sexy Star has so much pull that she will never have to lose the Reina de Reinas title again if she doesn’t want to.

This is a rough situation for all involved, obviously especially for Valkyrie. It’s very likely that she will be done with both AAA and Lucha Underground after season three of LU finishes airing.