Lucha Brothers reportedly to leave AEW and join WWE

Monday, WrestlePurists reported that AEW sources believe Fenix and Penta will leave the promotion when their contracts expire this year. Bryan Alvarez confirmed the report later that day. I have no information I can personally add to this story. Both wrestlers are still under contract to AEW, so this technically can not be a final decision. No one on the Lucha Brothers’ side can officially speak about going someplace until the AEW deal is done. The situation appears to be AEW staff being told to stop pitching ideas for these guys – the WrestlePurists report mentions the Lucha Brothers were pulled from a trios title match at All In – and then putting together why they were being told to stop. There was no tease or build of a Lucha Brothers’ trios title match on AEW TV recently; it doesn’t seem like that idea got the idea was far enough along to get on screen. It’s unclear if this means the Lucha Brothers are done in AEW completely or will just be used for one-off appearances. As it stands now, their final appearance was the July 17th match against Private Party on Rampage.

The only possible destination for the Lucha Brothers guys is the WWE. CMLL will not come close to any offer WWE or AEW can make, and they’ve expressed no desire to take less money to wrestle in Mexico full-time. In his report, Bryan Alvarez indicates WWE is the landing spot. Lucha Libre Online reported WWE had an interest in signing them earlier this year. It was always a question of how much interest went the other way. Andrade and Stephanie Vaquer went to WWE in large part because they really wanted to be in that place. Penta and Fenix have talked complimentary about WWE over the years, but they’ve never portrayed it as a place they had to go as part of their career. Penta talked about treating his next contract as the last big one of his career and wanting to make the most of it. Penta probably makes the most money of the two – he’s taking a lot of outside bookings – and he’s still living in the Mexico City area and gets flown into the US into the show, unlike WWE wrestlers. WWE’s either had to offer so much over the top that it’s worth Penta’s time to relocate to the US, or they’ve waived the relocation requirement. Either way, WWE/TKO must’ve offered a very strong deal when they’ve seemingly been reluctant to do so recently. That’s positive news for all wrestlers.

If WWE is ever going to make a serious push into Latin America, they’ve got the best guys to do it: Rey Mysterio Jr. and the Lucha Brothers. Everyone saw what the Lucha Brothers meant as a special attraction with their appearance in Arena Mexico. WWE would want to strike while the novelty of seeing the Lucha Brothers with the WWE (or NXT) logo is still strong. It’s tough to spin up something meaningful in just a few months, but the pieces aren’t going to always fall in place like this – they’ve got everything they need for a strong Mexican PPV event except a location. A stronger Latin America push would also explain why WWE/TKO would be willing to go over the top for these two. That sort of move would have ramifications for the existing groups. (To be clear, no one is reporting that WWE is actually making a move to Latin America; this is just reasonable speculation.)

The Lucha Brothers leaving AEW to WWE is significant reputational damage to AEW. The Lucha Brothers were founding AEW wrestlers who embodied the alternative wrestling spirit the promotion started around. WWE signing Fenix & Penta is another signal about how the differences between those two companies have shrunk and how AEW’s lost part of what was their big edge. They were also forever more popular than their push – tag team title challengers who’d occasionally win the titles – and a lot of their fans are going to feel like AEW never got the most out of them in their time there. Fenix was the only one of the two to win a singles title – which appeared to be an unplanned victory and one ending quickly due to injuries – and neither was used as much as a big PPV singles title challenger. The Lucha Brothers had great moments in AEW and really memorable title wins, but they were always used as guys who would work with the top performers but not be the top performers themselves. A long-term Lucha Brothers might look questionable on an accounting actuarial table. Fenix has missed a lot of time in recent years with injuries and other maladies; Penta wrestles the same match 95% of the time; the first years of them will be more valuable than the last few years, no matter how long they’re signed. The Lucha Brothers may create space for a Hologram, Mortos, or someone else (even a non-Mexican) to get more creative focus and perhaps break through the ceiling they’ve been trapped under in AEW. There are just very few logical arguments anyone can make that will mitigate the emotional impact of AEW losing two very popular wrestlers who’ve been there in the beginning.

WWE historically has struggled to make use of lucha libre style wrestlers outside of Rey Mysterio Jr. Their current group includes Dragon Lee, who has struggled to find a full-time role since coming to the main roster, and a host of others stuck in secondary factions. It still is the best time in WWE history for a Mexican wrestler to come in – they were doomed under Vince McMahon’s creative leadership. I believe Fenix and Penta will be less bothered by lackluster creative if they’re still being paid great – if they’re around and not doing much in a Nakamura-like fashion, they’ll survive – but I’m sure WWE will go strong with them at first. WWE will want to justify their decision to jump and their own decision to pay them big money. WWE has changed in many ways, but the best bet that a wrestler will be pushed as a big star is if they’re already getting paid like one.

Penta and Fenix’s going to WWE will have minimal direct effect on the Mexican promotions (outside of WWE possibly coming in stronger). There was definitely more mileage for them in CMLL, but they have plenty of other options. Penta and Fenix both withdrew from AAA. Fenix stopped working in Mexico years ago. Penta still works a fair bit of shows, with mixed results. Promoters will just move to another indie name, probably with slightly worse results.

The Lucha Brothers’ situation closely mirrors the Andrade one. He finally returned to CMLL as part of an AEW deal. He seemed to have fun, and then he immediately left for WWE. If The Beast Mortos/Semental ever asks AEW for a chance to return to Arena Mexico, I guess AEW should be concerned. More seriously, this is a small victory for Konnan, who was clearly unhappy about two of his long-time proteges no longer working at AAA and instead working for CMLL. Those two going to WWE will end that situation and may add a couple more positive voices to any deal between AAA and WWE. It’s not good news for Konnan if this leads WWE to have a stronger presence in Latin America, but otherwise, this is exactly what he would’ve wanted.

Penta is scheduled to wrestle Friday night in Arena Queretaro, a show that’s undergone many changes because of the currently fraught AAA/Penta relationship. Mas Lucha may be covering that show; perhaps Penta will speak about this situation to them.