As noted in the lineup post for today’s taping, AAA’s recent behavior indicates they’re having some finical difficulties. They’ve cut back on bringing in outsiders (1), they’ve cut back what they’re paying those outsiders, they’ve been unable to sign Wagner or Park to long term deals, they’ve moved from the expensive Arena Monterrey to the not expensive Orizaba bullring. There is a reason behind this.
On this Tuesday’s Figure Four Daily, Steve Sims explained AAA had issues one or two TV tapings in February. Dr. Lucha explained it’s common for AAA (and others) to have to pay a sort of protection fee to the local drug cartel and/or mafia to prevent problems from occurring on the show. On one of those tapings, there wasn’t much protection – AAA was robbed of the entire gate. No specific taping was revealed, but you can look at the listing of tapings from February and probably make a strong guess.
AAA normally pays it’s wrestlers straight out of the gate they receive (2), so they’ve been cash poor since this incident. Much of the belt tightening has come as a result; while they’ve got money from the movie and other things, they apparently did not have deep enough reserves to easily take this hit and things had to change. (3)
The cutbacks are part of the reason for the double tapings in March and April this year. The other reason was to reconfigure the taping schedule. AAA has decided to run all tapings within two hours of Mexico City, feeling there’s not near the same mafia/drug cartel control that close to DF. Arena Naucalpan, which is much smaller than the usual tapings locations, becomes an option when they’re looking in the small area. Arena Monterrey, far away from Mexico City and in an area surrounded by drug violence, is not. Dr. Lucha didn’t speculate on this situation changing any time soon. My guess is, if they were cutting a pay a month after TripleMania, they’re still struggling and may have not started to recover.
This may have far reaching affects; Perro Jr. showing up in no condition to perform is one problem, and being a costly guy at time where they can’t afford a costly guy is an extra problem. With most of the members of the Perros either in AAA or CMLL full time, going on his own seems less viable by the day. At the same time, AAA may be offering Wagner and Park more benefits and freedoms (like working their own schedules) in place of stronger money offers. Homegrown talent becomes even cheaper relative, because they’re driving two hours max and not being flown anywhere.
(1) – though, oddly enough, Jack Evans is listed as working a spot show tonight. And the WON said Hernandez got the last TV taping off to visit his family.
(2) – which better explains the periodic “AAA may fold” rumors we heard about every eight months when Pena was running the promotion; just a down gate or two could start a bad set of dominos.
(3) – cut backs, yes, but easy ways to make more money – like an online store – not so much. In a world where I still get people asking me where they can buy a Perro del Mal shirt, where every small promotion in the US and Japan is at least able to put together some merchandise with their logo on it, and where everyone involved could very much use the money, it’s appalling how far behind the curve the Mexican promotions are in this.
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Excellent post Cubs!!! Informative,opinionated with solutions offered. Really well done. Thank You
So uh…
Where can I buy a Perro del Mal shirt?
:D
Man, that’s scary to think you could have your whole gate robbed from you! Is there a chance AAA would ever go under or do you folks think they’ll be able to work through these monetary issues?
Also aaa has no USA market because lucha libre USA owns the aaa rights in the USA. So the fact aaa has no possibility of expanding north of the border when things aren’t exactly great in Mexico is huge. When business is a little slow for wwe in the USA you usually see them do a little heavier foreign schedule which monetarily is beneficial. Aaa doesn’t have that opportunity for the American market
That’s crazy. I didn’t know the drug mafia would have a huge impact on of all things a lucha libre company. It’s scary that you have to give your hard earned money to these assholes or hey will rob everything. And the wrestlers not getting paid because of that is messed up too.
I hope they make it back to normalcy as soon as they can.
that’s really scary.@Petey sullivan: Does AAA has a TV Space on Galavisiòn US?
Does AAA have any tender coming their way from advertising and/or Galavision?
I cannot believe one of the largest wrestling companies in the world survives from gate-to-gate. Ignore the fact the mob was the one behind the gate missing – what if there was a storm, a fire or something else that wiped the gate out. AAA would be in the same kind of trouble. Them having this kind of trouble also seems to indicate the company has no insurance for such a matter.
Just goes to show the major problem in Mexico. They have already practically declared war on the drug cartels, but sadly the only way they will purge the country of them is starting a civil war in their own country, and sending South America into a state of war.
But back on the somewhat subject, over-active spending is the problem most wrestling companies have. More income, hire more people/hire better people. If something notable crashes, it can hit hard.
I have two points to make:
1. I agree with Nikita that if AAA is surviving from show to show then they are in a bad financial situation, and if they are still suffering from two lost gates back in February then it is not as simple as to blame the mofia for their current problems. Last year they had to cancel shows because of the swine flu and they weren’t in fear of going under back then.
2. The only way to eliminate the drug cartels in Mexico is to enstate temporary martial law and have the military find these guys and pump them full of bullets. No trails, on arrests, just kill them because they are nothing but a disease to the world. Sounds harsh but that’s the only way.
@Daniel: Ok, but that does not eliminate the problem. If the giant drug cartels are wiped off the face of the earth, there is still gonna be someone with guns running a protection racket.
Make no mistake, CMLL more than likely has to deal with the same issues.
Ya know, I wonder if the problems are actually a case of AAA having been in bed with the mafia in the past, and trying to break away from them now? Weren’t there recently issues with this in Japan, with NJPW transferring from Inoki to a corporation, and with the deaths of Baba/Misawa in AJPW/NOAH? I do not follow Japan as closely as Mexico, but I seem to remember gleaning something about Yukes not wanting to do business with the Yakuza like Inoki and others had done previously.
I agree with Nikita’s point about how AAA didn’t have a plan in place if this sort of thing happened. Its not like the drug cartels strong-arming promoters was a new thing. Its been going on for years.
The online store idea should have been something done 5 years ago.
The drug cartel violence and other crimes really grew when that one guy who ran the Northern Mexico cartel got captured and the people replacing him were guys with military backgrounds who have no regard to who they hurt. I don’t know if killing these guys is gonna solve the problem, since there will probably be someone else jumping at the chance to replace them.
I was also pretty surprised when Dr. Lucha said AAA was surviving off show-to-show profits. You would think a company that has been around so long and is so big would be in a better position than that. You also have to really question the brains in charge when money is being spent to constantly fly-in foreigners/offer guaranteed deals to foreigners who don’t mean anything to the box office… which is the main source of income. I mean if I’m booking a major show and I know I make my money based on the # of sold tickets – I’m not flying in Hernandez, Christopher Daniels and Nozawa who mean 0 extra fans combined. I’m giving Latin Lover whatver he demands b/c his name alone is the difference between selling out 8,000 seats in Orizaba or 17,000 seats at Arena Monterrey. (This goes back to Konnan hating Latin Lover and putting personal feelings ahead of business)
“Make no mistake, CMLL more than likely has to deal with the same issues. ”
Not so much b/c they run in DF which has thus far been largely unaffected by the drug cartels. Not to mention the Luterroths have a huge real estate empire outside of the world of wrestling so if they start drawing less and less fans – there is no money issue. You can just dig into the real estate bank account and take out what CMLL needs which is likely 0.00000000000000000000000000000003% of what the real estate business makes.
Also, as Dr. Lucha noted on his recent F4D appearence – the wrestlers don’t need to fear not getting paid for the shows they work outside DF b/c it’s all done (the booking that is) through the head office so they don’t even get paid at the shows, they get their pay Monday when they go to pick up their schedule. No worries about being held up after a show in Guadalajara and having your payoff taken.
This re-enforces my opinion that AAA could be taken down very easily if there was any sort of capable promoter in Mexico who had the backing of someone with money. Instead all you have is Perro Aguayo Jr., EAW and IWRG. The first more useless than the second and the third which just doesn’t have deep enough pockets nor a TV deal. You find someone with deep pockets who can get the big buildings, find a TV deal and hire a promoter who knows what he is doing and AAA could be taken down quickly. Especially if they lose out on their Televisa deal.
Speaking of Televisa – how bad must their relationship be with AAA if AAA is in financial trouble and Televisa which has billions of dollars isn’t helping out at all?
Well, let me expand upon what I meant. If drug cartels or Mexican Mafia or thugs running protection can hold up AAA events, they could do the same with CMLL. CMLL obviously just deals with it better. Yeah, CMLL runs DF a lot, but they do a ton of tiny spot shows we never hear about – and we do not hear about them being robbed or whatever. I’m sure they have to deal with the same things – they just either deal with it, or have enough security and stuff in place to handle it.
AAA obviously doesn’t, or as I suggested, maybe the mafia was working with AAA to buy tickets as the Yakuza does with the promotions in Japan.
Solid article– always a pleasure to read everyone’s input here, even when the stories are gloomy :/
Killing everyone is not the solution in Mexico. It’s just like Al Qaeda, every time they kill the “top guy” there are ten more “top guys” to contend with. They need serious government reconstruction and international support but I don’t have any brilliant ideas about how to go about that. I’m pretty sure our 1070 ethnic cleansing policy isn’t helping anything.
I strongly agree that AAA needs more of a marketing/merchandising push in the U.S.; it sounds like they could use some serious leadership reconstruction too, haha. Maybe the success of the new MTV show will be a good catalyst? Someone said that “lucha libre USA owns the aaa rights in the USA”, can you expand on that?
Also, someone asked if AAA was shown on Galavision? That’s where I watch it here in the Bay Area…
Follows ups! (and thanks for the link)
@Dave: You can buy that shirt in Mexico. Or on eBay! But not on the Perros del Mal website, which hasn’t been updated since January. But they do have a podcast.
@Rob J: AAA probably can tkae a couple of these sort of hits, but it’d result in more cutbacks and lower morale. I would have to figure there were worse situations during the Pena years.
@Petey sullivan: Going to the US wouldn’t be near as succesful as going to Mexico/elsewhere has for WWE. As LLL posts every week, WWE shows get big ratings in Mexico. It’s been a while, but last I heard a number, AAA was getting in the 0.1 “so small, it’s probably not accurate” range.
Still, the general point is every little bit helps and it’s silly they’re not doing every little bit.
@Norb: AAA does have a space on Galavision, it’s on every Saturday and Sunday. Check some other posts for the info.
I think it’s part of the package Televisa sells to Galavision (or their parent company), so I’m not sure AAA benefits besides the exposure.
@Daniel: If it was simple to find the guys, they would’ve found them already. Just killign people doesn’t seem to work when (as has happened) their replacements are worse than those before them.
@Nikita: It didn’t sound like this was a long term relationship, specifically between AAA & the cartels. More like the cartels in some areas and everyone who runs an entertainment show who comes that area. and more of regional groups preying on people in that area rather than the same group following them around in Mexico; whoever ripped AAA off did it believing AAA wouldn’t be back any time soon (correct call) and wasn’t content waiting until that return for more.
The different between AAA & CMLL is if a show outside of DF (and GDL) gets held up (or just has a high protection fee), it’s the local promoter who’s taking the hit in CMLL. Since CMLL is just loaning out it’s wrestlers for the show, they have very little exposure if things go badly (and may demand some money up front.) That’s the same for AAA spot shows, but their TV shows have a lot higher gate and a lot more vulnerable.
@Rose: The company that runs the MTV bought the exclusive rights to promote AAA in the US. They’ve run some tours, which haven’t been succesful, and AAA completely blames the US promoters for the problems. In turn, the US promoter has stopped using running shows with AAA wrestlers in the US.
Last time that contract was mentioned, I believe Konnan said it ended next year. AAA would like to promote in California and southwestern US, (and part of the theory of bringing in US guys is they’d be easier to use on those shows) but they’re still frozen out for the time being.
The only way AAA lucha libre will die is if:
1. Televisa sell the television rights to WWE or CMLL.
2. If, PAP decides to sell the right to promote the AAA brand to WWE or CMLL.
Other than those two things, the AAA name will always live. The brand is too strong for it to die in Mexico. I can see PAP give the rights to promote AAA to IWRG or Perros. Of course,that means changes like a new roster and smaller buildings but as long as they got material, Televisa will air it. Televisa knows the AAA name is what sells. It still going to be the same faces since IWRG uses AAA wrestlers these days. In matter of fact, the only guys IWRG have to keep is La Parka,Mesias and Cibernetico. Maybe Wagner and La Park.
I can also see Lucha Libre USA/Cookie Jar making a play for the rights to promote AAA in Mexico if PAP was selling. They would love that.
We will always see the AAA brand but it’s in the hands of Televisa and PAP.
From my experience of living and wrestling in mexico for so many years i have a different twist on this then most, though some will argue this. But i have worked with all 3 offices so i do know how they work.
I don’t think everyone understands that AAA sells the TV Shows to the promoters. AAA I am almost 99.99 % sure had the money for that TV show Long before the wrestlers arrived. I don’t see that having any effect on AAA.
all AAA really is, is a Booking office. Promoters Call ask for a group of wrestlers pay the money and then the wrestlers show up. Thats part of the reason they don’t have 3 falls, they need to get as many guys on Tv as possible. That way they can sell those guys to the promoters across the country.
the way AAA makes their money is getting a % on what they charge the promoters… only way AAA will die is if the promoters quit calling and booking the wrestlers.
the name AAA sells tickets bottom line! if you promote a CMLL show which i have or a AAA show as I have. The AAA show will always out draw the more talented CMLL guys.
I always thought AAA business model was the awesome. Charge the promoters HUGE money to do a TV show that the promoter has ZERO say so on the show… Tv is the only show that the office really has any dealings personally in. and that is just to book it…
Normally the promoter who pays for TV makes a killing so they really dont mind not having any say in the show. we all have seen the TV tapings they are packed….
Now as far as the big shows they do those a bit different and cant really say how…. But i can tell you the promoter getting robbed at the gate, most likely only hurt the promoter and had ZERO effect on AAA.
hope that helps clear that up…. and unless they changed their Biz model they always have done then their Money issues as you say have nothing to do with live gates…
@gigolo americano:
I thought the majority of the luchadores were paid by % of the house? So if their is no money made from the show, the wrestlers don’t get paid/paid much less.
The money made by AAA for booking the wrestlers goes to AAA the company & not AAA the wrestlers correct?
So if AAA has to dig into their booking funds to pay the wrestlers because of a lost house, I could see how that would affect their bottomline
@Flashmagic:
Well, from my experience in the business (which is not Mexico, but this isn’t necessarily a “wrestling thing”, but live events), a sold show works like this: Venue/local promoter desires a show. They go to the booking office, and negotiate a fee to host the event. That fee is all that the office gets, everything else goes to the event promoter.
Perhaps part of the negotiated contract between office/promoter may be that the office receives a flat fee, plus a percentage of the gate/concessions/parking/merchandise/whatever.
Often for concerts and other such touring acts, the performer gets a flat fee (Springsteen, for example, gets $1million), and the venue gets the gate plus concessions. I would assume the performers get merchandise, but I dunno for sure – it is probably negotiable. In a situation like this, the performer gets their fee regardless of how many tickets are sold, or at what price they are sold. This is why you will see some acts play both stadiums and arenas – because the performer is getting the same booking fee regardless.
Now – if AAA was booking wrestlers into venues/events or booking television as AmGig stated above, but perhaps on *consignment* rather than getting the booking fees upfront – then if the promoter gets held up, they wouldn’t have the money to pay AAA, who has already paid the expenses to get the talent there. Thus, AAA cuts ties with the promoter (which is why they haven’t returned), capital is short for future events, and the company tries to absorb the loss by cutting expenses (including paydays for the boys).
@Nikita: Hey Nikita, can you link to your matches on youtube? I’ll bookmark it this time(I know I asked you the same question a year ago).
Most arenas provide personnel for merchandise, and keep 35%. That’s an industry standard. It also includes sales tax.
An act like Springsteen or WWE can ask for a flat fee plus a piece of the backend if a certain number of tickets are sold. It’s called “promoter profit”.
A lesser known act, playing a small venue, may have to tour on a percentage, with support coming from a source like a record company, to keep the band going if the turnouts are bad.
@LLL:
Just do a search for “Nikita Allanov” on youtube or dailymotion to find my videos.
Check my facebook or twitter out to – I post links there to stuff.
:-)
They never worked on consignment before. they always asked for the money upfront. Things could have changed a bit the last year or so but i doubt it and if not prob even stricter on it.
every guy has a different deal, but most just get a flat rate for working. The office will pay for example $1200 pesos for a young guy but charge the promoter $1500. used to be like 20-25% extra that the office would get.
But you used to have to pay like 10 – 14 days in advance or no wrestlers showed up. again things could have changed a bit. but im sure not in the favor of the promoters.
as far as merch goes, again unless something drastically changed , NO the wrestlers don’t get any money on merchandise at the arenas.
Those vendors go to the mercado, usually mercado sonora across the street from The gimnasio Latino americano. They buy everything and them go and sell it.
On a said note: Pray for the family of Lance Cade as he passed away. His wife is the Daughter of Black Gorman and the sister to Paul, Black Gorman Jr…