The Undertaker is the creative head of AAA, in charge of crafting one of the promotion’s biggest recent storylines. He ended up delivering one of the greatest wrestling matches. Speaking with Chris Van Vliet, The Deadman revealed that he came up with the idea for the Original El Grande Americano vs. El Grande Americano rivalry during AAA creative meetings.
Undertaker added that he and Jeremy Borash (WWE’s Vice President of Content and Development) came up with the rivalry. However, he credited Chad Gable (Original El Grande) and El Grande Americano (Ludwig Kaiser) for taking the concept to another level. The Deadman pushed both competitors before their matches to escalate the intensity.
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“Myself and Jeremy Borash had this idea, but El Grande and Chad Gable, man, they took the thought and the idea, and they really took it to a whole different level. There were some highly motivating speeches that I gave both of them before they would go out… I would reiterate to them how important what they’re about to go out and do is not only for AAA, but for their own personal careers. Trying to motivate them to do things differently and be more edgy, more aggressive, more violent, right? It took a while for that to set in, and for them to see my vision,” said The Undertaker.
His vision paid off, resulting in one of AAA’s most compelling storylines in recent memory. The rivalry culminated at Noche de los Grandes in a high-stakes Mask vs. Mask match, where Gable was finally unmasked as the Original El Grande Americano.
The Undertaker wants to shape AAA way different from WWE
On the same Chris Van Vliet podcast, The Undertaker said that his vision for the future of AAA is distinguishing it from WWE. Rather than duplicating WWE brand formats, The Phenom wants the promotion to build its identity.
“My vision is, I want us to put out a product that is completely different from NXT; it’s completely different from SmackDown or RAW. I want it to be different from every other wrestling. That starts with storytelling, athleticism, and aggression. It’s a process, and everybody’s starting to buy into it and realizing that what we’re doing down there it’s got the attention of the wrestling community,” said The Undertaker.
The El Grandes rivalry was Undertaker’s huge step in making AAA stand out. Under his creative direction, more such storylines could be the blueprint for AAA’s new era under WWE ownership.
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Edited by Angana Roy