El Grande Americano got a reaction inside the stadium during Mexico vs. England, but viewers watching at home were left with a very different picture.
According to Dave Meltzer in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, WWE sent Americano to the World Cup match, where he was shown on television alongside his girlfriend, Andrea Bazarte. The problem was that most of the broadcast teams apparently had no clue who he was. Neither the U.S. English announcers, the U.S. Spanish team, nor the British commentators identified him when he appeared on screen.
Meltzer said he was told the U.S. English and British announcers simply did not recognize Americano. That sparked some discussion behind the scenes about what the moment said about wrestling’s place in the mainstream.
“I was told the U.S. English and British announcers did not know who he was, and some saw that as kind of a sign of whether wrestling was mainstream at all. They would have known who he was, and if he was important, the respective networks would have told their announcers to identify him.”
Inside the stadium, though, Americano did get a pop. The Mexican broadcast also pointed him out, which makes sense considering he has become a legitimate star in Mexico. Outside of that market, Meltzer said the situation is very different.
“He did get a pop inside the stadium. In Mexico, he was pointed out on their broadcast, but he’s a legit big star in Mexico and really is just a guy on the roster everywhere else.”
Meltzer also said the FOX announcers not personally recognizing Americano was not the real issue. The bigger detail was that the network apparently did not give them a heads-up before putting him on camera.
“The announcers on FOX, in particular, not knowing him is no big deal — why would they? The idea that FOX itself didn’t tell them tells you a lot more.”
So the snub was not necessarily the announcers deliberately ignoring a WWE star. According to the report, they simply did not know who they were looking at—and nobody at the network thought it was important enough to tell them. Americano may be over in Mexico, but the World Cup moment showed that recognition has not fully followed him everywhere else just yet.
Do you think Grande Americano not being identified says anything about WWE’s mainstream reach? Let us know in the comments.
