Last night WWE made the announcement of the release of Andrade from his WWE contract. Andrade trended all night on Twitter and the speculation about his next move was a big subject in social media.
Andrade’s run with WWE is the best example that the current system in WWE is not working. The fact they weren’t able to make Andrade into a top guy is very baffling to this day.
Andrade since day 1 in WWE he had a rocky start. When Zelina Vega became his manager in NXT, things finally started clicking for him and became one of the best NXT champions seen so far.
When the time for his call-up to the main roster happened, you could feel the excitement in the air. Andrade and Zelina Vega were a very strong act and nothing could go wrong, except, Vince McMahon was the head of creative.
You could tell from Andrade’s first day in the main roster that McMahon didn’t understand Andrade and Vega’s act, especially considering at the time he wans’t a big fan of managers, with a few exceptions. Andrade was booked in a lot of average at best feuds, but Andrade would manage to perform amazingly in the ring when needed. There’s thousands of stories of Andrade working really hard to become a top guy and to get the approval of McMahon, from doing interviews even when he wasn’t asked to do them or doing the extra work to improve his English.
Andrade never complained about his situation and would always work hard to be considered a top guy. Things looked to be great for him once Heyman took control of RAW and gave him a push and a run with the US title, but once Heyman’s run was over, Andrade’s push vanished.
Also, it didn’t help the comparisons he would get with the late Eddie Guerrero. Every single match the commentary team would mention Eddie Guerrero for no reason at all and fans would do the same. Andrade is a very different wrestler from Guerrero and WWE were trying to force him to be something he isn’t. This constant comparisons to Eddie Guerrero or Rey Mysterio is a constant thing that happens with Hispanic wrestlers in WWE.
Andrade’s run in WWE shows the inability the promotion has with pushing wrestlers from Hispanic descent. WWE doesn’t seem to understand Hispanic wrestlers and always fail to push them. WWE has the obsession of replicating Eddie Guerrero and Rey Mysterio instead of letting the next big Hispanic happen naturally.
The fact WWE also tried to breakup his act with Zelina Vega will also be a very baffling decision. They were a money act and the fact Vince McMahon could never see that potential says a lot about Vince McMahon and WWE’s creative process nowadays.
Andrade did everything right. He worked really hard and yet, that hard work was never rewarded. WWE lost a generational talent and they will regret this decision someday.
Andrade is right now the biggest free agent in the market and all promotions will try to sign this talented wrestler. Andrade would be an excellent addition to any roster.
