Dorian Roldan Peña who is the founder of Lucha underground and AAA's Executive Vice President of Business Development spoke with Sam Roberts' Wrestling Podcast. Here are some highlights from the interview:
He said that he got to know that Del Rio was leaving to join WWE only 3 days before the Hell In a Cell PPV:
"[Del Rio] was our champion and we were in negotiations and after that WWE arrives at 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 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."
He said that they offered Del Rio to work with them till the end of the year, but WWE didn't agree:
Also Read: WWE Raw Results 30 November- Sheamus defends World Title"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.'"
He talked about protecting the young talent:
"I think that there are two expenses that you cannot cut in your company, and [it is] even more [true] in a [professional] wrestling company: [accountants] and the lawyers. [They are] the two most important things in a wrestling company. right now, for example, with the legal department that we have in Mexico and that we have in the United States, of course, we are trying to protect all of our talents and I think we are not the only ones. If you are going to invest in your talent and young talent, the thing you want to do is to be really protective. And, of course, if they have a better opportunity, they are [free] to take it, so I think the only thing you want is in soccer or another sport, if you want to take one of our talents, come and tell us."
He also talked about the unexpected death of Aguayo, who died during a match which involved Rey Mysterio, Manik and Xtreme Tiger in Tijuana:
"I don't like to throw out bad answers about things, but, for example, the thing about Perro Aguayo, it was an accident. It happened in an indy show. It was the only show in Mexico that wasn't promoted by AAA with Rey Mysterio. It was the first show, so when Perro called us to tell us that he wants to have this fight with Rey Mysterio because he was the first fight of Rey Mysterio in Mexico, we were like, 'you can do it!' We weren't expecting to have an accident like that. It's something really tragic and something that you don't know how to handle."
He said that they talked to the family of unfortunate wrestler:
"We had this conversation with his family and his family understands really well that there are accidents in this business and it [was] a really sad moment. It's one of the saddest weeks in AAA [history], in all this 23 years."
When asked about which WWE Talent he would like to add to AAA roster, He said that Prince Devitt would be the one. Prince Devitt is the former name of WWE superstar Finn Balor.
This interview comes from Sam Roberts' Wrestling Podcast and was first published on WrestlingInc.com