Impact Wrestling has announced today that Tag Team Champions LAX will be defending the Tag Titles in a Fatal Four Way match at Slammiversary.
Interestingly, one of the teams in the match will be Drago & El Hijo del Fantasma, who both work for AAA, which is at war with The Crash promotion in Mexico, headed by LAX’s Konnan.
When Impact Wrestling first announced its working relationship with both AAA and The Crash promotions, the deal was that talents from each promotion would never interact with each other on Impact Wrestling programming, however that situation has clearly changed with the announcement of the Slammiversary Title match.
Additionally, in Mexico, the talents from one promotion are forbidden from working with the other, rival promotion, and in one instance AAA pulled Pentagon, Jr. from a show in The UK because it featured talents from The Crash promotion.
Also of note in this situation is that Drago and Fantasma are under exclusive TV deals with Lucha Underground, as Fantasma works as King Cuerno in LU, so this is the first time LU is allowing its talent on another TV program.
The following press release has been issued by Impact Wrestling:
Mexican Wrestling Stars Set to Debut at Slammiversary 15
El Hijo del Fantasma, Drago Team Up for Shot at World Tag-Team Championship
NASHVILLE | MEXICO CITY – IMPACT Wrestling, a subsidiary of Anthem Sports & Entertainment Corp., announced today that it will bring two superstars from Mexico-based Lucha Libre AAA (AAA for short) to participate in Slammiversary 15 on July 2, a live pay-per-view filmed on the backlot at Universal Studios Florida.
AAA stars El Hijo del Fantasma and Drago will team up at Slammiversary in a 4-way match for the IMPACT Wrestling Tag-Team Championship, now held by the Latin American Xchange (LAX). The match will also feature talent from two other international promotions.
El Hijo del Fantasma (Spanish for Son of the Ghost) is a second-generation wrestler who has been wrestling since 2000, following the wrestling boots of his father, El Fantasma.
Drago, who has been wrestling professionally since 1998, has won multiple tag-team championships and is regarded as one of the most colorful, charismatic and creative wrestlers ever.
In March 2017, IMPACT Wrestling announced a landmark alliance with AAA, including a talent exchange between the organizations and other opportunities to collaborate in their respective markets. The high-flying lucha libre style synonymous with AAA events was an early influencer of IMPACT Wrestling’s X-Division, which has produced some of the most memorable matches in professional wrestling history.
“I have worked with the founder of AAA, Antonio Pena, and his family for 15 years,” said Jeff Jarrett, who is the founder of IMPACT Wrestling and now serves as the company’s Chief Creative Officer. “Slammiversary is 15 years in the making, and we are thrilled to have these two AAA stars be part of the show. I am sure the fans who have never seen them before will be so impressed. AAA has been a revolutionary wrestling promotion at the forefront of lucha libre wrestling in Mexico. We are looking forward to taking the working relationship between IMPACT Wrestling and AAA to the next level later this year, and fans can look forward to more collaborations between the two promotions through the rest of 2017, including Bound For Glory in November.”
Dorian Roldán, the owner of AAA, said he is thrilled to be expanding the relationship between the two promotions during a milestone year, as AAA celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2017, while IMPACT celebrates its 15th anniversary at Slammiversary.
“I feel really proud to send Drago and Hijo del Fantasma to participate in this important show, that is IMPACT Wrestling’s 15th anniversary, not only for the importance of this promotion worldwide, but also because of the high quality entertainment they offer to thousands of people in each of their presentations, live and on TV. I’m completely sure that AAA and IMPACT Wrestling have a long and bright future together, where great battles, and extremely intense matches will be achieved,” Roldán said.
TripleMania is the biggest annual event promoted by AAA, commemorating the anniversary of the company’s founding. The show has been promoted for 20 years with 27 shows in total under the TripleMania banner.
TripleMania XXV is scheduled for August 26 in Mexico City, highlighted by Psycho Clown against Dr. Wagner Jr., in a mask vs. mask match. Several IMPACT Wrestling stars will also appear on TripleMania XXV, Jarrett confirmed.
For more information, please visit www.impactwrestling.com.
Nick was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, and lived there until the age of 18, when he decided to pack his flack jacket and move to New York City.
