I first saw Vikingo when he was maybe 19 or 20 working as a freelancer on a AAA opening match hoping to earn a deal. If you’ve never seen those matches…they’re like a war where three or four guys are thrown out there to impress and they all try to break their necks to get noticed. Wildly dangerous looking stuff, honestly. Anyway…I think it took a total of 90 seconds watching Vikingo for me to tell anyone who would listen that he was going to be a star. Quickest I’ve ever identified a guy as A GUY in decades of watching wrestling. He just had all of it.
AAA knew it too…they signed him and then years passed without them helping him get a visa to work in the states. He did a few TNA tapings when they were in Mexico and then another year would pass before they’d come back and he’d be on US TV again. He obviously got one eventually and popped up on AEW where he was immediately seen as a star…but they strengthened their CMLL ties and that iced out AAA. He’s done some TNA shows including one recently…but, as someone who has loved this guy from practically first sight…I’m very happy that he’s being pushed as the face of this whole thing by the biggest company in the world.