As per Dave Meltzer on his latest newsletter, El Hijo Del Vikingo lost U.S bookings due to Lucha Libre AAA’s streaming policy they implemented for their star.
Independent promotions were informed by Lucha Libre AAA that El Hijo Del Vikingo matches are not allowed to be streamed live or placed on Video On Demand. Any PPV or streaming of Vikingo would remain exclusively with AAA. This policy was told to promoters up front so their would be no issues to anyone who had booked Vikingo.
Dave Meltzer reported that this has cost Vikingo bookings as numerous U.S. promoters who wanted to use him on their shows had felt the income Vikingo could generate for them from FITE PPV’s would help offset the price of his booking.
Per Dave Meltzer: “It should be noted that all promoters who booked Vikingo were told this right away so this isn’t anything being sprung on people who booked him. It has also cost Vikingo bookings in the sense that many promoters who wanted to use him felt that money from FITE PPV’s would help offset the costs so it has cost him bookings. AAA wants him to be their guy exclusively for streaming content with the idea it would make him more valuable when they use him for shows in the U.S. market, or for them when they put their big shows from Mexico on PPV. None of the other AAA talent has those restrictions”
It was also indicated by Meltzer that he would expect this PPV/Streaming policy to be waived by Lucha Libre AAA should AEW want to use El Hijo Del Vikingo on their programming. He felt this policy could possibly be waived for IMPACT Wrestling as well.
