WWE is the largest wrestling promotion in the world, with hours of content opportunities to fill. Its roster is packed with some of the best performers known in the industry, with young stars looking to become the next big names. Still, fans are puzzled with the promotion fails to find anything of value to do with several talented individuals who’ve stepped through its doors. Santos Escobar is the latest to walk away from WWE and he’s the latest to add to the list of performers WWE has fumbled in recent years.
There have been several reports about Escobar leaving WWE, with most of the stories pointing toward either creative issues or the value of the contract. Fightful Select reported more of the former than the latter.
“Sources that we spoke to indicated it was more creative dissatisfaction than it was about money, and that he was offered a raise. We were told not to be surprised to see him at NYCC this week.”
Escobar reached the NXT Cruiserweight Championship, holding that title for 321 days. That title ended four years ago, and Escobar hasn’t been anywhere near a championship since. He was positioned as a top name in WWE NXT, but that momentum did not follow him to the main roster, just as it has several other names recently. See Carmelo Hayes as an example.
Escobar wasn’t a young performer who was unable to perform at a top level. This is a name who has more than 25 years of experience under his belt. Along the way, he’s performed for some of the top companies in the world, including AAA and Warrior Wrestling. Plus, Escobar fit in a specific demographic that WWE and TKO Group Holdings has tried to crack but continues to struggle to gain a foothold within. Even as the company looks to leverage AAA as a way to strengthen its presence in Mexico.
Rey Mysterio is an icon in professional wrestling. So much so, that at 50 years old, wrestling has been unable to find the next talent who will step into his shoes as the face of lucha libre for North American fans. Santos Escobar is 41 years old, so he is past his physical prime as well, but he’s someone who could have helped cover that gap if WWE invested the right amount of time and effort into his and Legado del Fantasma’s run. That doesn’t mean he had to be the man to defeat Roman Reigns or topple Gunther, but to completely relegate him to near nothing on the main roster was quite the choice.
This isn’t a new problem. Nick Khan may take shots at All Elite Wrestling for “benching” stars, but there needs to be something said about how WWE either ignores performers building momentum or finds a way to completely kill it before it starts. This is the company that had names on the roster like Sareee, KUSHIDA, Karrion Kross, Toni Storm and others who fans wanted to see succeed, but instead leveraged them in such ways that facilitated their exit. That trend cannot be ignored. Santos Escobar is the latest to add to that list.
There’s no telling where Santos Escobar will show up next, but fans are already paying attention. Hopefully, he gets the opportunity to truly show how great of a performer he can be when the spotlight shines on him.