Andrade isn’t happy with the difference he sees between how WWE treats its Samoan and Mexican wrestlers. Roman Reigns gets a pass from him, but Andrade thinks WWE has spent years giving other Samoan talent chance after chance while Mexican wrestlers barely get the same opportunity.
Speaking with Latin Lover, Andrade was already talking about wrestlers he believes WWE never truly got behind when he brought up Santos Escobar. Then he stopped for a second, admitted what he was about to say might “sound bad,” and went straight for the Samoan comparison.
“Santos Escobar never got the opportunity either. There are a lot of wrestlers who don’t get it. Maybe this is going to sound bad… you talk about the Samoans, but a lot of them—the majority, not all of them, right? Roman Reigns, of course, he made it. He did it. But there are several of them who haven’t, and they give them opportunities and give them opportunities, and they’re still there, they’re still there, they’re still there.”
Andrade El Idolo didn’t name the Samoan wrestlers he meant. He just thinks there comes a point where WWE has to stop trying to force something that still hasn’t worked.
“I’m like, ‘They’ve already been doing it for 20 years.’ You can’t force it, gentlemen. You can’t force it. I’m like, ‘This guy has already been doing this shit for 20 years and he still hasn’t gotten it.’ I’m like, ‘We didn’t get that opportunity.’”
That last part is really what bothers him. Andrade thinks Mexican wrestlers have to make something happen with far fewer chances. He pointed directly to Berto and Angel Garza, saying both have the look, size, charisma and wrestling ability to become WWE stars.
“Mexicans get very few opportunities. It’s that simple. They have Humberto and Garza—well, Garza and Berto. They’re very good friends of mine. They haven’t been given the opportunity.”
Andrade’s frustration isn’t only about what he’s seen happen to other Mexican wrestlers. He feels the same thing happened during his own WWE run, where he had to make whatever television time he received count because he never knew when another real opportunity would come.
“I feel like I never got that opportunity. I never got that opportunity. But whenever I had television, whether I won or lost, I took advantage of those 10 minutes, those 20 minutes, those 15 minutes and sold myself because I would say, ‘The audience is watching me and I’m staying relevant.’ That’s how I thought about it, but they didn’t give me the opportunity.”
Becoming a champion didn’t change that feeling either. Andrade could see other wrestlers being given multiple chances to make something work, while he felt like WWE never simply gave him the ball and let him run with it.
“Yes, I won a championship in WWE and all that, but no. I would see other people getting opportunities, and they would keep getting opportunities. I was like, ‘Okay, with just this little bit, let me loose.’”
That’s why Andrade sees the whole thing as being about who WWE actually decides to invest in. In his view, once the company wants someone to become a star, it can keep giving them opportunities until something finally works.
“There are wrestlers that WWE has given opportunities to 20, 30 times, and they keep them there until they make them stars. No matter how bad you are, no matter how bad you might be, when they want to make you, they make you.”
That’s Andrade’s complaint in a nutshell. He thinks WWE will keep trying with certain wrestlers for years if it wants them to succeed, and he believes some Samoan talent has benefited from that patience while Mexican wrestlers haven’t.
Andrade probably knew exactly what kind of reaction this was going to get the second he said it might “sound bad.” Now that he’s put the comparison out there, wrestling fans are going to have plenty to argue about.
Do you agree with Andrade’s take on WWE giving Samoan wrestlers more opportunities than Mexican talent? Let us know in the comments.
This transcript was produced exclusively for Ringside News from the original recording. Republishing the transcription in full is prohibited. When using excerpts, provide prominent credit and a link to this article.
