Damian Priest spent his Fourth of July in Mexico, and he made sure everyone in the building knew it.
The current WWE Tag Team Champion (alongside R-Truth) turned up as the mystery “former WWE World Champion” that AAA had been teasing for weeks, arriving on the July 4 episode of AAA on FOX, taped in Merida, Mexico. AAA General Manager Rey Mysterio brought him out personally, and Priest grabbed the microphone and cut his entire promo in Spanish.
“I’ve wrestled on the biggest stages in the world. I’ve wrestled some of the best superstars in the world, and I’ve beaten them,” Priest said. “But I haven’t done that here in AAA.”
A Surprise Weeks in the Making
AAA had been advertising a mystery former WWE World Champion for its July 4 show for several weeks, and speculation ran through the lucha libre world before Mysterio finally revealed the name in the ring. Priest, 43, is one half of the current WWE Tag Team Championship, making this a rare case of an active top-level WWE star popping up on another promotion’s television in the same week, as 411Mania noted. According to POST Wrestling’s coverage of the show, the crowd in Merida gave him a massive pop. Mysterio has already set up next week’s follow-up, teasing a segment with Priest, AAA Mega Champion Dominik Mysterio, and a confrontation between El Grande Americano and Los Perros del Mal.
Then Rey Mysterio Dropped the Bad Bunny Tease
Later in the broadcast, back on commentary, Rey Mysterio was asked by Corey Graves and JBL about the long-running rumors of Bad Bunny showing up in AAA. His answer was not a denial. Mysterio said he and the relevant people are actively working to make it happen.
It would not be Bad Bunny‘s first time in a wrestling ring. He teamed with Priest against The Miz and John Morrison at WrestleMania 37, took part in the 2022 men’s Royal Rumble, and wrestled Priest in a San Juan Street Fight at Backlash 2023 in Puerto Rico. He’s also been a fixture around Mysterio‘s family story lines for years, going back to helping Rey fend off Dominik at WrestleMania 39.
Why It Matters
Put together, one night in Merida delivered both buckets at once: a genuinely big, confirmed appearance from a reigning WWE champion showing up on a rival promotion’s flagship show, and the reopening of a pop culture crossover that’s been dormant since Bad Bunny’s last WWE run. AAA has been building its U.S. presence through its FOX deal, and pairing a WWE crossover appearance with a tease of one of the biggest musicians in the world walking back into a wrestling ring is about as good a one-two punch as a lucha libre go-home segment gets.
Nothing is official yet on Bad Bunny‘s side, and AAA hasn’t put a date on it. But between Priest‘s debut and Mysterio‘s comments, the promotion just gave fans two reasons to keep watching in the same nine minutes.