If you aren’t familiar with Dorian Roldan Peña, think of him like the real life Dario Cueto, with John Laurinaitis’ title. He’s AAA’s Executive Vice President of Business Development and the founder of Lucha Underground, which means he’s responsible for a lot of wrestling you like. It also means he was at ground zero for Alberto Del Rio’s surprising return to WWE back in October when he was still AAA Mega Champion. Del Rio’s return left AAA hanging, and since then, they’ve had to take a, “well, sorry, hope it all works out” approach.
In an interview on the Sam Roberts Wrestling Podcast, Peña spoke about the issue, explaining that AAA simply couldn’t compete with the timing and quantity of WWE’s offer. H/t to Joseph Lee of 411 for the transcription, if you’re wondering where all the brackets are coming from:
“[Del Rio] was our champion and we were in negotiations and after that WWE arrives to the table and you cannot compete with a company like WWE when you’re talking about that amount of money. We were closing his [new] deal in Mexico and he was just finishing his deal in Lucha Underground, so the timing for him was perfect [for him] to do whatever he wants. And he had this offer from WWE. [It] was a really good offer. I think he [made] a smart decision …
“We were trying to figure out with Alberto if we can have [him] for the next two shows. We asked Alberto if he can work with us until the end of the year, for two or three more shows that we have on television, and he was like, “I think, yes. Let me ask the WWE.” And the answer was, “no, I can’t.”
So, that’s that. Too much money at the right time, and no need for WWE to give AAA anything.
No word on what Peña thinks about MexAmerica, though.
