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00:00You and I know the story of El Grande Americano by now, the mid-card comedy act that became part
00:05of a main event blood feud culminating in an all-timer mask versus mask match just the other
00:13night. How did it get to this? And by this, I mean a German-born Ludwig Kaiser being on the
00:21brink
00:21in less than two years of becoming a modern Mexican stone-cold Steve Austin. Let's get into
00:30that with little hyperbole as possible. It was never meant to be anything like this, was it? Because
00:34El Grande Americano was a character made for Chad Gable. It was a mockery of the lucha tradition.
00:42It was done as part of Chad Gable's war on the luchas. And when Chad Gable went down with an
00:48injury, we didn't foresee that the company would want to continue the character going.
00:53But they did. And at this point, we welcome Ludwig Kaiser to the picture, who was no doubt relieved
01:00to be offered the mask of El Grande Americano because he'd fallen so far under the radar by
01:07this point, the only pilot fish could see him. Imperium were long in the rearview mirror. His
01:13relationship with Gunter had disappeared. Giovanni Vinci had been released from the company. Outside
01:18of some flirting with Maxine Dupree on Monday Night Raw, some shots at the Intercontinental title,
01:25and a whole bunch of matches on WWE main event where the best paddle hadn't done a whole lot
01:33had Ludwig Kaiser. And there was some concern that he might go a similar path to Giovanni Vinci.
01:40In fact, before he put the mask on, he hadn't been on TV for over a month. So there was
01:46a lot of
01:46concern for what would come next for Ludwig Kaiser. This would actually be a benefit because WWE needed
01:52somebody who didn't have any storyline or character commitments currently. When Kaiser appeared under
01:59the mask, he did so after a long absence from TV with no real storylines in tow. So it was
02:05a good
02:05time for Ludwig Kaiser. It always helps when you've got somebody in the office who has your back. Stone Cold
02:12Steve Austin was recognized as a future key player by the WWF when WCW didn't quite know
02:18what to do with him. And Ludwig Kaiser had similar support in heavy hitter Mark Calloway,
02:26aka The Undertaker. Undertaker had spoken very glowingly about Ludwig Kaiser on his podcast,
02:32Six Feet Under, when he could get a word in edgeways from Michelle McCool. He had said that he was
02:37really
02:37high on Ludwig Kaiser, said he was easy to hate as a wrestler, and talked about offering him advice
02:43backstage at some point. Ludwig Kaiser spoke about this a year later in an interview with Chris Van
02:49Vliet, and he had sort of added on to the fact that he had a good 20-minute discussion one
02:54-on-one,
02:55unsugar-coated advice from Mark Calloway about what he does next in his career. This all happened long
03:03before the El Grande Americano experiment, long before El Grande Americano was even a thing with
03:10Chad Gable. This was long before The Undertaker would assume his current role as booker creative
03:17for AAA, which I remember when that was announced. It was something I kind of balked at a little bit,
03:25the idea of Mark Calloway booking AAA. What's he going to do, book everything in casket matches?
03:32Douglas Adams, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I'd rather be happy than right. And that I was.
03:37He's had a blinder of a year as booker for AAA. So I do wonder whether Undertaker's appreciation for
03:45the work of Ludwig Kaiser, Undertaker seeing the position that he found himself in, Ludwig Kaiser that
03:53is. And Undertaker in his role that was overseeing AAA, El Grande Americano being a character that was
04:01part of AAA, maybe Undertaker was the one that helped seeing Kaiser's writing on the wall,
04:09helped him offer a bit of a lifeline in the form of a lucha mask. Possibly could have been that.
04:14Because the former general to the ring, General, didn't have a glittering Mexican history behind
04:21him. Kaiser began his wrestling career in Germany before he packed his bags and moved to the US in
04:272017. He had his first match in Mexico in 2023. It's part of a super show in Mexico City for
04:34WWE,
04:35in which Imperium lost to the LWO. A little side quest on that. LWO were the only Mexican wrestlers
04:42that won that night. We saw Dirty Dom fail to capture the world title from Seth Rollins.
04:48Austin Theory beat Santos Escobar in a US title match. And Rey Mysterio could not stop the Tribal
04:55Chief. And he failed to capture the Universal WWE title all on that night. So the LWO were the only
05:01Mexican guys that won. I do wonder, as Ludwig Kaiser looked at the lights, whether he thought,
05:07hmm, there's something special about Mexico. Actually, Kaiser's love for Mexico goes further
05:15back than that. A video popped up just the other day of our favorite German luchador alongside
05:23Rey Fenix. It was on Penta's Instagram. And it was Penta and Kaiser singing Cielito Lindo,
05:32which is the ya, ya, ya, ya, ya, ya, ya, ya, ya, ya, ya, na, ya, what are they? That
05:37one.
05:37Singing it backstage at a show. Kaiser nails the words, they hug, it's all very wholesome.
05:43I've tracked this. This was a video that was filmed in 2019 at WXW 16KGold in Oberhausen in Germany.
05:53Despite how well he knew the ya, ya song lyrics, he wasn't fluent in Spanish at this point,
05:59Ludwig Kaiser. He revealed in an interview, again, with Chris Van Vliet, that he speaks
06:05fluent English and German and has about enough knowledge of Spanish to have 60 seconds worth
06:13of conversation. This was at the start of 2025, he said this. And then he runs out of words.
06:17He said his friends were ones that taught him a lot of Mexican, a lot of Spanish. A lot of
06:23Mexican friends taught him some Spanish terminology. Words and phrases that almost
06:27always got him in trouble as well. In fact, Raw, not long after Ludwig Kaiser began his El Grande
06:34turn, told Dragon Lee in a backstage promo, Vita a la Vega Gui, which I believe translates as,
06:41go to hell, dude. So for this new role, Ludwig Kaiser has absolutely thrown himself into learning
06:48the language and speaking Spanish. I presume he set up an account with Duolingo. It was between a
06:54Duolingo session and a AAA match where he popped up on WWE Espanol socials, doing an interview
07:02segment called Pin Pon, in which the guests give quickfire answers and questions to like their
07:07favorite food, favorite hobbies, favorite wrestlers, etc. And it's all hosted by WWE correspondent
07:13Andrea Bazzotti. A segment like this allowed Ludwig Kaiser to showcase some of the Spanish that he had
07:21been learning in punchy rehearsed bursts. He even gives us a new rendition of Cielito Lindo,
07:29which is very nice of him. There's two recurring opinions around this particular video. One,
07:35how did we not know they were a thing? I mean, look at the chemistry. Watch the chemistry. They're
07:42adorable. And also, a lot of people pinpoint this episode of Pin Pon as the moment that the crowd
07:50sentiment towards El Grande Americana began to turn. And because of the way that he presented himself
07:59was so different to Chad Gable. Chad Gable parodied Lucha Libre based on how he moved,
08:06how he spoke, what he said, and the fact that he was learning fully-fledged Spanish,
08:12it was clear that El Grande Americano was celebrating the Mexican traditions, the Mexican
08:20cultures, rather than mocking them. Because you only need to watch that video of him doing
08:26Pin Pon, and then you spin forward to just the other day on AAA, where he's cutting this impassioned,
08:32fully fluent Spanish promo. And the crowd are just absolutely captivated by him. You don't need
08:41to be Mexican to be embraced by Mexican wrestling fans. There's a great phrase that goes,
08:47Mexicans can be born wherever the hell they want. And you need to look at the history of wrestling to
08:53see that some great Lucha Libre talent hasn't necessarily come from Mexico. Ultimo Dragon was
08:59from Japan. Conan was from Cuba. Vampira was from Canada. That's just three. I know there is many,
09:05many more. El Grande has in common with those guys that there's a shared love for Mexico. And Mexico
09:12has loved them all right back. Kaiser speaks Spanish. He knows the gestures. You watch him as you walk to
09:19the ring. And you see him doing the poses, the taunts, the moves, and engaging with the fans in such
09:28a way
09:28that it's clear that he is in love with being there. And they love him being there as well. He
09:36has wrapped
09:36himself in the Bandara de Mexico. And when somebody is that passionate and commits that much, it's really hard
09:46not to love them all the more for doing it. It's really not. You'd have thought things would have slowed
09:52down a touch
09:52for him when he was arrested. This was as a result of an allegation of assault in a lift when
10:01he and his
10:01partner were heading back to their home in Florida. Not the case at all. It followed, what followed was
10:08unwavering support from Mexico. Many Mexican fans see what happened and saw it as a guy fighting for the
10:17honor of his Mexican girlfriend. So all it did was ramp up the love for El Grande Americano to the
10:26point that we had the serenade and the emotional outpouring from El Grande Americano and from the
10:32fans at the same time as well. All that that did, this legal implementation, all it did was strengthen
10:40the bond with Ludwig Kaiser and Mexico. Not the bond that Gunter paid to get him out of prison. No,
10:47no, the bond between him and the fans. He was being offered legal representation in the comment section
10:52of his Instagram, for goodness sake. I mean, it shows you how much there is love for him. I mean,
10:59doing something wrong in the eyes of the law that is celebrated by the fans. Oh, how very stone cold
11:08Steve Austin of you, El Grande Americano. For WWE, Ludwig Kaiser was a sigh of relief, just as the gimmick
11:20was a sigh of relief for Ludwig Kaiser. They got what they wanted. They got a baby face that they
11:26could build
11:26their triple A vision around. This is something they had already tried that hadn't quite worked out in the form
11:34of El Jijo del Vikingo. The Vikingo experiment on the outside seemed like a strange one. It felt like
11:40it couldn't fail. He's not just Mexican born and bred, but he's a former triple A mega campeon,
11:47longest reigning mega campeon of all time. So the fact that the crowd cheers became jeers so quickly
11:54was a surprise to many in the office. But those on the ground truly knew what was going on. It
12:00was
12:01made clear that WWE had chosen Vikingo as their guy. In fact, they wanted to make him triple A mega
12:07champion very quickly. So quickly, in fact, that they announced that he was the new triple A mega
12:12champion several days before he beat Alberto El Patron for the actual title. Another thing that
12:19got under the skin of the fans in Mexico was Alberto El Patron was very much beloved by the triple
12:24A
12:24faithful. So to have him shut out in favor of WWE pushing this new vision ahead did not sit well
12:31and
12:31Vikingo got the brunt in the form of booze. WWE wanted El Jijo del Vikingo to be their Roman Reigns.
12:39In
12:40many ways, they got their wish. Unfortunately, it was 2016 Roman Reigns that they got as opposed to the
12:48modern day one. WWE needed somebody to build the company around a babyface that they could put in
12:55place and lead the way. And this was a character that absolutely nobody thought was going to be
13:02that character. It was a surprise to many when this caught on. And they've run with it. And
13:11consequently, we're now at a point where we have El Grande Americano as the guy who is clearly going to
13:18be what triple A is built around. And this hits differently to many other times where a new
13:27leader has been chosen in wrestling. This is a mid card talent on his last roll of the dice going
13:33all
13:34in. He's learning the culture. He's embracing the country, the language, the lifestyle. And triple
13:40A fans have easily warmed to him for that as well. Maybe it's because it feels like this isn't supposed
13:47to have happened that it feels all the more special. There was a time in WWE where in the
13:57previous administration, had somebody had the audacity to forge their own path, to create their
14:03own energy, to build their own persona, and to work really hard at what they're doing, that they get
14:10over on their own. They would be in a lot of trouble for it. How dare you try and alter
14:16the sacred
14:18timeline? It would be a branch that would be pruned very quickly. But this is a different time. And this
14:25is a different administration. Undertaker is overseeing triple A. And I'd like to think that Undertaker and
14:31several of the people on the creative team, Jeremy Borash is part of that as well. I'd like to think
14:35that
14:36they've seen in previous administrations, the best and the worst of WWE creative. And instead of going,
14:44this isn't what we want to do, let's kill it stone dead. They've gone, what happens if we lead into
14:53this? Undertaker has seen a guy who he holds in high regard, who believes has a massive, massive
15:01potential, get himself over through hard work and dedication with a passionate fan base, with a
15:09character that was never meant to be. And instead of going, no, that's not what we're doing, we're
15:16actually going to lean into it. Instead of putting Vikingo in a wheelchair and pushed him off the stairs
15:22and having John Cena kiss his girlfriend, they're actually leaning into it. And consequently,
15:30we have followed this branched path. And it has led us to where we are at now, where a character
15:37that started out as someone that had an absolute ceiling is now on the verge of pushing through and
15:44breaking through, not even on the verge has broken through and has done so because the fans absolutely
15:52made them undeniable. The people behind them recognized that there was a desire for something
15:58different and absolutely rolled with it. A guy who, despite having authoritarian issues that he is
16:05dealing with and legal stuff, has become an absolute man of the people. Gee, I wonder who that reminds me
16:18of.
16:19I'm very excited to see where we go with El Grande Americano and if truly he genuinely becomes
16:28the modern Mexican stone cold Steve Austin. Oh, hell see. Stay safe. Love you. Bye.
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