Mr. Iguana’s WWE Push Raises Eyebrows Amid Concerns

Mr. Iguana is quickly becoming one of the most talked-about names in WWE, thanks to his viral showing at the WWE x AAA Worlds Collide event. With a deal reportedly in the final stages and his NXT debut already in the books, many are calling him the breakout star of the event. But while fans are riding the wave, Dave Meltzer is pumping the brakes—suggesting this could be a short-lived phenomenon if WWE leans too hard on the gimmick.

On Wrestling Observer Radio, Meltzer and Garrett Gonzales discussed the bizarre origin of Mr. Iguana, the backstage scramble to reframe his character, and WWE’s rush to capitalize on his surprise popularity. Gonzales opened by referencing Meltzer’s recent newsletter:

“Alright, you wrote about in the issue the origin story of Mr. Iguana, which I found hilarious. I can’t even do it justice. Talk about—you just gotta go read it—but where the name comes from, and the character, and the name of the doll, and what it really means, and how WWE is spinning it, and how he is now having to spin the story about why he’s doing this character. It’s fascinating to me. It’s so funny.”

Meltzer added more backstage context, revealing that things got awkward after a very honest interview:

“Oh, I know, I know. Plus, he went and did like an honest interview—and that didn’t work very well, because he begged them to take it down. You know, they didn’t want it out that Shawn Michaels told him, ‘You’re not going to be in developmental, but I’ll give you money.’”

Despite all the noise, WWE is going full speed ahead with the Mr. Iguana character, banking on its instant fan appeal.

“The thing is, he did get a big reaction—he got a big pop from the WWE audience. But even in Mexico, it’s not like he’s some giant superstar. He’s a guy on the card. There’s a cuteness to the gimmick, but it’s like Hiromu Takahashi and the cat in Japan. It worked until it didn’t.”

“It may just be one of those things where everyone thinks it’s cute for a week, you know what I mean? And now they’re all behind it and thinking they’ve got this merchandising machine—and maybe they do. Who’s to say? But sometimes I just think, this iguana thing… yeah, maybe he’s going to be a giant sensation. But I don’t know.”

But Meltzer wasn’t just critiquing the character—he offered a broader insight about today’s wrestling landscape.

“The thing I think is important—and this is the real takeaway—is the lesson that it is far more important as a wrestler to come up with something unique, along with having ability, than just worrying about your ability.”

“Because going forward in this business, everyone is going to have ability. You’re not going to survive without ability. The standards in the ring are so high now that everyone’s got to be good. But that’s not enough anymore. It’s about standing out.”

Whether Mr. Iguana becomes the next big merchandising machine or fades out after the novelty wears off, WWE is clearly giving him a real shot. His gimmick might be over, but how long it stays over is the real question.

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