WWE Announces Stephanie Vaquer to Make Official Debut at This Weekend’s Events in Mexico, More on Vaquer’s CMLL Departure & Backstage Reaction

As noted before, Stephanie Vaquer departed from Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre this past Wednesday and recently signed a contract with WWE.

WWE announced earlier today on Twitter that Vaquer will be making her official debut appearance for the company at this weekend’s house show events in Mexico.

🚨¡ÚLTIMA NOTICIA! ¡Apareciendo EN VIVO en Ciudad de México y Monterrey este fin de semana, la recién firmada por WWE, @Steph_Vaquer! Visita https://t.co/oe3NxHaK5U para obtener boletos 🇲🇽 #SuperShows pic.twitter.com/N6o0VyEZmE

— WWE Español (@wweespanol) July 12, 2024

In regards to Vaquer’s signing with WWE, Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that while both AEW and WWE were interested in her, those spoken to close to the situation stated that Vaquer did not seriously consider going to AEW. Meltzer reported that the key reason for Vaquer signing with WWE was due to her growing up watching WWE on television in Chile and working in WWE being her major goal for her wrestling career. Meltzer reported that AEW’s offer included terms that would have allowed her to continue working for CMLL and also honor all of her previously announced international bookings.

In regards to the backstage reaction over Vaquer’s departure from CMLL, Meltzer reported that CMLL and NJPW officials had been aware of her talks with WWE last week and had asked for her to work at their Fantasticamania USA 2024 event due to they had advertised her for the show and NJPW hates doing false advertising. CMLL officials reportedly had also wanted Vaquer to first drop her titles on the way out. Vaquer reportedly told CMLL that she had signed a contract with WWE on July 7th or 8th. Meltzer reported that it is currently not known if Vaquer had also informed NJPW or if it was CMLL that informed NJPW of her signing with WWE and would not be appearing on any of her upcoming scheduled bookings for them and also Revolution Pro Wrestling.

One person spoken to within WWE stated that Vaquer had been offered a “tremendous contract” on July 7th due to them being away of AEW’s offer for her.

In regards to the reaction within NJPW, Meltzer reported that NJPW officials were upset at Vaquer due to she had been advertised for their Fantasticamania USA 2024 event for the past three months and made the decision to pull out just five days before the show.

One person spoken to reportedly stated that while WWE pulling talents out of their scheduled bookings with other companies after they sign has been WWE’s m.o. dating back to 1983 under Vince McMahon, this was the first time ever that WWE ever did this to CMLL to the degree they did with Vaquer’s signing.

One person close to the situation reportedly stated that they knew Vaquer was leaving since she never hid the fact she still had her WWE dream goal “but after everything they did for her they 100 percent expected her to go to bat for them and leave the proper way so they didn’t look like they had no say in the matter.” This same person reportedly also stated that “Gala Lutteroth in particular is mad at Stephanie. She helped Stephanie out with many private matters and considered her a friend not an employee.”

LuchaBlog reported that Vaquer’s departure from CMLL could end up having a major ripple effect over the way CMLL contracts could be legally viewed and enforceable.

It was reported that while CMLL allows their talents out of their contracts if they get a bigger offer in the United States, the company wants it to be done in way that comes off looking positive for them. It was reported that Vaquer’s departure was not done this way and CMLL is not fond of having to post an announcement basically saying that someone quit the company and they have to change announced cards for shows as a result.

It was reported that CMLL were also upset at Vaquer because they had supported her publicly and privately in her case against Cuatrero following his arrest for femicide charges.

It was also reported that if CMLL feels that WWE is going to start going hard after any of their talents, it will be harder for them to put their talents on AEW shows if they feel WWE will just sign them up quickly afterwards. It was reported that while WWE was aware of Vaquer before, her wrestling at this past June’s Forbidden Door 2024 event appears to have been the factor to get them to jump on signing her. It was reported that this likely does not mean that AEW’s current partnership with CMLL is in any great danger but CMLL likely will become worried over the perception of Forbidden Door and AEW shows being an audition of their talents for WWE.

In regards to the current legal issues against Vaquer’s former life partner Cuatrero, it was reported that Cuatrero will likely be released from his jail in Mexico due to Vaquer moving to the United States and Mexican law would no longer view him as being a threat to her life. Cuatrero has been jailed since this past April due to the judge believed he had the potential to harm Vaquer if he was released and also due to Cuatrero’s supporters on social media had threatened her life.