7 Implications Of Alberto Del Rio And Rey Mysterio Defying WWE 3

3. Diminished Popularity In Mexico

WWE likes to tout itself as the global leader in the world of sports entertainment, and that’s surely true. However, the United States remains the company’s main market for business. Other nations, meanwhile, have many devoted WWE fans, but they also have their own homegrown promotions to care about.
Foreign fans have their pick of the litter with many smaller but popular promotions. The UK are great supporters of TNA and have many indies to support, like Scotland’s popular Insane Championship wrestling. Fans in Mexico have the aforementioned AAA and its competitor, CMLL. Meanwhile, Japanese fans have a plethora of promotions to pick from — New Japan, All Japan, Noah, DDT, Dragon Gate, Zero1, and so on.
While WWE, as the established worldwide leader, is also popular in these nations, a lot their popularity stems from their crop of foreign stars. Kenta and Fergal Devitt were recently signed to help grow the company in both Japan and the UK. Meanwhile, Alberto Del Rio and Rey Mysterio were two huge facets to WWE’s popularity in Mexico.
When WWE toured Mexico in 2009, Del Rio competed as Dos Caras Jr. — his former AAA persona — in order to garner interest and support from fans. Meanwhile, the company held their first and only television tapings in Mexico in 2011. Arguably, this feat would not have been accomplished without the popularity of Mysterio or Del Rio.
With Alberto gone, and Mysterio potentially soon to follow, the WWE may find themselves losing steam in Mexico. With a lack of developed and popular Mexican competitors within WWE, there is not a large appeal for Hispanic fans. Instead, many fans in Mexico will probably turn their attention back to the established Mexican promotions — AAA and CMLL — and begin ignoring WWE.