Organized crime isn't just for PRIDE: AAA is hurting due to drug cartels robbing shows
by David Bixenspan on Aug 6, 2010 4:20 PM EDT
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Over at LuchaBlog, The Cubs Fan has put up a fascinating post about AAA's recent cutbacks. According to Steve "Dr. Lucha" Sims on this past Tuesday's edition of Figure Four Daily (subscribers-only), it's commonplace in Mexico for wrestling promoters to have to pay protection fees to the local drug cartel and/or mob. At at least one TV taping in February, "there wasn’t much protection," and they were robbed of the entire gate. Since AAA pays its wrestlers directly out of the gate money and they apparently don't have much in the way of cash reserves, this was a major hit on their finances and they've been struggling since, with various cutbacks to try to save money however they can:
- They taped two TV episodes per taping on multiple occasions in March and April.
- All TV tapings are done within two hours of Mexico City, since they're under less organized crime scrutiny in that area. This limits the choices of venues suitable for TV.
- They've been cutting payoffs.
- Top stars who have prospects elsewhere, like Dr. Wagner Jr. and L.A. Park (the original La Parka) are being given the freedom to work their own schedules in lieu of more money.
- Less fly-ins are being used.
This doesn't appear to be changing any time soon, and it explains why in the past, rumors of the company's demise would pop up regularly even when they appeared to be successful on the surface. While none of this is surprise, as with the Yakuza issues in Japan, it's not something that was discussed publicly.
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This isn’t surprising to me at all. After watching shows and reading about the mexican cartels, I can see that AAA is in a very rough spot. This is something you would expect to see in a movie, or read in a fiction novel, but this kind of thing happens throughout Mexico.
I hate that this is the case, but I don’t see a solution to the problem. They have Mexican police in their pocket and it isn’t The United States’ responsibility. The idea of something I love being ruined by organized crime sickens me.
This.
The situation that AAA has found itself in ain’t nothing to sneeze at.
It’s impossible to imagine Vince McMahon having to pay some gangster to avoid getting robbed when they roll through town but unfortunately, as you said, this behavior is commonplace in Mexico.
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by Applejack McNeil on Aug 7, 2010 3:40 PM EDT up reply actions
boxing too
People in the Monterrey boxing/wrestling scene were – at one point – 90% sure they were getting the next Mayweather fight. It would’ve been held in Arena Monterrey, the same arena AAA decided to move their major show out of to avoid the cartels.
From what I read, it seemed more like Arum was using them as leverage against other venues, but they would have to deal with the same issues one way or another.
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