Andrade El Idolo is airing a frustration he’s clearly been sitting on for a while: he believes WWE has spent years giving certain Samoan wrestlers repeated chances to succeed while Mexican wrestlers rarely get that same runway.
Speaking with Latin Lover, Andrade was discussing wrestlers he feels WWE never fully committed to — starting with Santos Escobar — when he pivoted to the comparison, acknowledging upfront that it might not land well.
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?
His point was that while Roman Reigns clearly broke through, several other Samoan wrestlers have gotten opportunity after opportunity without a similar payoff, in Andrade’s view, yet keep getting pushed forward regardless.
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 didn’t name specific wrestlers, but argued that WWE needs to recognize when something isn’t working rather than continuing to force it after two decades of trying.
He contrasted that with what he sees Mexican talent dealing with, pointing specifically to Angel Garza and Berto as two wrestlers he believes have the look, size, and in-ring ability to be stars but haven’t been given a real chance.
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 sh*t for 20 years and he still hasn’t gotten it.’ I’m like, ‘We didn’t get that opportunity.’”
“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.
The frustration is personal for Andrade too. He said he felt he never got a genuine opportunity of his own in WWE, so he tried to make the most of every television segment he was given, using even brief wins or losses to stay visible with the audience.
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.
Even winning a championship didn’t change that feeling, he said, since he still watched other wrestlers get repeated chances while he had to make do with limited chances of his own.
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.’
