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Although Rey Mysterio had been set to negotiate a potential new deal with World Wrestling Entertainment, Nashville-based newspaper The Tennessean is reporting this evening that Mysterio has signed with Aro Lucha and has been given co-ownership of the upstart promotion as part of the deal.
"I think what we are doing with Aro Lucha being fan-owned is revolutionary," Mysterio told The Tennessean's Nate Rau. "We are giving the fans something they have never had before, a voice and a chance to get in on the action."
PWInsider.com has not confirmed whether the ownership aspect of the announced deal is storyline or legitimate as of this writing.
Aro Lucha, owned by former Impact Wrestling minority owner and production company Aroluxe, held their first event on 12/10/17 in Nashville, TN at the Nashville Fairground (aka the former TNA Asylum) with Mysterio headlining a TV taping featuring a mix of former WWE and lucha libre talents.
Aroluxe had been funding Impact tapings in exchange for a percentage of ownership in the company and as PWInsider.com reported in 2016, the company would have been able to claim ownership over Impact had Dixie Carter not maintained regular payments reimbursing Aroluxe. As it turned out, Anthem Media would come in as an investor and eventually purchase Impact from Carter's company Impact Ventures LLC. That left Aroluxe out in the cold as they were not retained as Impact's production company, although the belief among several is that they continue to own a share of Impact while they are in the process of being bought out by Anthem.
Since running their debut TV taping, Aro Lucha has held four live events in Texas, targeted at the Hispanic market. They are slated to begin taping TV later this year with Konnan, who has always been close with Mysterio, in place as the head writer. The promotion's social media promises, "High-energy Lucha Libre for the entire Authentic family. Authentic stars, characters & stories. Live events & digital content. Lucha for the fans by the fans."
Part of Aro Lucha's strategy, according to The Tennessean, is to offer fans a chance to buy into the promotion, using rules relaxed by President Barack Obama that would allow Aro Lucha to potentially raise $1 million via sales of stock to non-credited investors.
"This gives fans a chance to get in on the action, but more so than that it really gives them a voice," Aro Lucha owner Jason Brown said. "Especially at a company like ours, fans are so passionate. They critique every storyline, every character. Well we're able now to actually listen to them."
Mysterio was slated to meet with Triple H at WWE HQ in Stamford, CT several weeks ago to try and lock down terms of a new contract with World Wrestling Entertainment. Mysterio had been on WWE's radar since his surprise return at the Royal Rumble in January, easily receiving the biggest reaction of anything on the show up until that point. That appearance opened WWE up to signing a new deal with Mysterio, where before, previous talks had stalemated over WWE management seeking on a full-time return, something Mysterio, 43-years old and with an untold number of knee surgeries behind him was not interested in. Mysterio's meeting with HHH was postponed after HHH was needed to go to Saudi Arabia to finalize the new contract there that would see WWE locked in to produce live events in that country over the next decade, commencing with April's Greatest Royal Rumble event.
Mysterio is also slated to wrestle Jushin Liger at the 3/25 New Japan Pro Wrestling "Strong Style Evolved" event in Long Beach, CA, but a partially torn bicep suffered several weeks back continues to leave the status of that match unconfirmed. Should the match go forward, it will be the first in-ring meeting between the two since WCW Starrcade 1996.
Thanks to Chad Burdine for his assistance.
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