The Curious Week of Stephanie Vaquer
La Primera seems to be leaving CMLL for WWE a week after being CMLL's breakout star at Forbidden Door - how did we get here so fast?
Stephanie Vaquer’s NJPW Strong Women’s Championship reign began as auspiciously as any championship reign can: in Tokyo’s Korakuen Hall.
For the next 112 days, Vaquer showcased herself internationally on the brightest stages, defending that piece of her burgeoning triple crown (also holding the CMLL World Women’s and CMLL World Women’s Tag Team belts) in three countries, culminating in her title-for-title match against Mercedes Moné at AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door III. She wowed audiences, with the crowd in Long Island even cheering for her over Moné. All signs seemed to point towards Vaquer being the centerpiece of CMLL’s outreach to Japan, the US, Canada, and Europe, with matches lined up for her in partner promotions such as NJPW and RevPro.
Ten days later, Shawn Michaels was welcoming La Primera to WWE. How did things go so quickly? And what should we be expecting next from Vaquer?
Fightful reported following Vaquer’s fantastic showing at Forbidden Door that she had received interest and contract offers from AEW and WWE. The presumption is that her recent performance in AEW piqued interest in both promotions. One could presume the interest from AEW is due to their continued desire to work with her over the last few months. The interest from WWE, however, is much more intriguing.
As mentioned in an excellent interview with Denise Salcedo and outlined by Vaquer in a 2019 tweet, Vaquer tried out for WWE in 2018 when the promotion was in Chile. By then, Vaquer was already in Mexico training to be a professional wrestler, and the WWE tryout motivated her to increase her conditioning and training in jiu-jitsu. Despite an unsuccessful tryout, Vaquer was flowery when discussing WWE in the 2019 tweet and this new Salcedo interview.
Today, CMLL announced on Twitter that Stephanie Vaquer was leaving the promotion. The following is a translation of the original Spanish text provided by WW Contributor Chris Rivera:
To our appreciated fans, members of the press, and the lucha libre community:
We wish to inform you that Stephanie Vaquer has abruptly informed us that she will not be participating, for personal reasons, in her next bout at FantasticaMania USA, where she was set to compete against Lluvia. As of today, Stephanie also ceases to be part of the talent within CMLL and NJPW.
CMLL has had no other option but to strip Vaquer as the holder of the CMLL Campeonato Mundial Femenil and the CMLL Campeonato Mundial Femenil en Parejas. Both CMLL and NJPW wish to apologize to our fans around the world for any inconvenience and thank you for your continued support.
This Saturday at FantasticaMania USA, we will have an exciting triple-threat match for the vacant title involving Lluvia, Willow Nightingale of AEW, and Viva Van of NJPW. We remain committed to guaranteeingertainment of the highest caliber for our fans at FantasticaMania USA this Saturday and at lucha libre at all future events.
This lit speculation regarding where she would be going upon leaving CMLL, considering the abrupt exit and stripping her of her belts rather than losing them in defenses.
It was noted that the language seemed slightly more acrimonious in the original Spanish than in the English version released by CMLL, and there was nothing in the release thanking or wishing well to the departing Vaquer. This is intriguing also when combined with Vaquer seeming to have no-showed CMLL’s show this past Saturday at Arena Coliseo (as mentioned by RobViper).
La Primera did tweet soon after seeming to clear this up (again, translated by WW Contributor Chris Rivera):
From this moment, I cease to be a part of CMLL and NJPW.
To clear things up, I AM LEAVING THROUGH THE BIG DOOR, and I am forever thankful to CMLL and NJPW on the best of terms.
Today I vacate CMLL Campeonato Mundial Femenil and the CMLL Campeonato Mundial Femenil en Parejas.
Because of this, I offer my apologies to the fans. For obvious reasons, I won't be present in the following few shows, and I hope you can understand that the terms between companies are what lead to this statement.
She also thanks Salvador Lutteroth III (owner of CMLL) for his well wishes.
The phrase that’s translated above as “through the big door” (“por la puerta grande”) can colloquially mean “leaving through the front door” - as in, Vaquer seemed to be assuaging fears she had been leaving through the back door on bad terms. However, this is in contrast to Vaquer leaving with dates on the book (such as FantasticaMania and a date with RevPro in August), and by not informing CMLL before recently, it means they were not able to do a proper final match for her in the promotion (instead, she beat her rival, Tessa Blanchard).
Vaquer’s departure also has the CMLL World Women’s Tag Team Championship, a belt seemingly made for Vaquer and her partner Zeuxis (recently also featured on AEW), which is now vacant. This was only the first reign of that belt’s existence.
This reading that the exit was indeed not “por la puerta grande” is reenforced by Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, who outlined that CMLL and NJPW were aware of negotiations between Vaquer and WWE last week (the week following Forbidden Door). CMLL and NJPW wished for Vaquer to at least work the Fantastica Mania PPV which she was already announced for and to drop her titles on the way out. New Japan especially does not like advertising someone who won’t then appear on a show. These requests weren’t honored.
Meanwhile, AEW - a partner promotion of CMLL - was also trying to negotiate with Vaquer. According to Meltzer, AEW indeed did make a play at Vaquer, offering her the ability to work weekends for CMLL and other international bookings. It also appears that AEW, CMLL, and NJPW were in conversations with each other regarding the situation, showcasing the “in the family” attitude seen about previous free agents like Will Ospreay and Kazuchika Okada; CMLL and NJPW don’t seem to see one of their wrestlers getting a contract from AEW as a big slight and look at it positively to be able to continue booking those stars while they’re paid big money by AEW, whereas if they go to WWE, then they’re blocked for years in getting them (and, sometimes worse, sometimes aren’t informed of the decision with enough leeway to give them a proper farewell or get their championships off of them in a respectful manner).
It turned out that a promotion “outside of the family,” so to speak, was the winner: WWE. This was confirmed by Récord, who reported that Vaquer had signed a multi-year deal with WWE. After Shawn Michaels's subsequent tweet that welcomed Vaquer to WWE, it was clear what had happened.
This was a mere five hours after CMLL’s announcement.
Further reports from Fightful cite sources who claim Vaquer was even backstage at NXT Heatwave this past weekend in Toronto. The next day, per WON, she signed the contract and informed CMLL, NJPW, and RevPro she would not be appearing on any of the dates they had booked and advertised her for. AEW’s Willow Nightingale is one of the replacements for Vaquer at Fantastica Mania, further showing the strength of that partnership.
This leads us to the likely timeline of:
3/10/24: Vaquer wins the NJPW Strong belt and is set up for a program with Mercedes Moné to culminate at Forbidden Door
5/29: As Vaquer appears on AEW TV, this piques the interest of WWE
between 5/29 & 6/30: Vaquer & WWE start to negotiate, AEW finds this out and presents a counter
6/30: Vaquer is leaning towards or has decided on WWE by the time of FD3
between 7/1 & 7/5: CMLL & NJPW ask if she would at least honor the date of Fantastica Mania and/or delay going to WWE to drop her belts
7/6: Vaquer travels to Toronto for WWE Money in the Bank and NXT Heatwave, no-showing a CMLL event she was scheduled for
7/8: Vaquer signs with WWE the following day, informs CMLL
7/10: CMLL announces Vaquer has left the company, will not be appearing at Fantastica Mania nor future bookings, and has been stripped for titles
7/10: Vaquer is announced to have signed with WWE
It is noteworthy to point out, again, that she tried out with WWE six years ago, yet they only seemed to have had an interest in her and speedily put the wheels in motion to sign her after she appeared on AEW TV. CMLL also has a history of allowing their contracted wrestlers out of their deals early if they get a big offer from elsewhere, such as what occurred for Mascara Dorado / Metalik when he went to WWE. This way of doing things means there is an increased risk for CMLL to lose stars to WWE if they appear on AEW TV unless they change how they structure their contracts or go about these situations in the future.
For further insight on how CMLL might be viewing the departure: CMLL did not mention Vaquer during CMLL Informa that evening, nor did AEW when discussing how Moné won the NJPW Strong Women’s Championship on that night’s Dynamite.
As we’ve mentioned before on the WrestleWatch podcast, the pitches that AEW and WWE present when competing for free agents seem to be the following:
AEW usually offers a bigger money contract with fewer guaranteed dates. They leverage their global partner promotions, such as NJPW, Stardom, and now CMLL, to present opportunities for a free agent beyond AEW. There is an emphasis on in-ring dream matches, creative freedom (not just within AEW but to pursue projects outside of AEW—see Mercedes Moné’s comments regarding filming The Mandalorian), and increased family time.
WWE usually tries to leverage prestige and place in the greater entertainment industry. The allure of a “WrestleMania Moment” is given prominence. The connections WWE has, both on its own historically and also via its parent company Endeavor, allow WWE to connect wrestlers with endorsements, appearances, and exposure outside of wrestling proper.
Considering Vaquer’s history of trying out for WWE in 2018, it’s no wonder she’d look favorably to a WWE offer. WWE’s long period of having a monopoly essentially means an entire generation of performers grew up dreaming of that “WrestleMania Moment.” It seems that Vaquer has had WWE as a goal for several years now.
Where will Vaquer slot into WWE? Some people consider the main roster between the Latino World Order (LWO) and the Legado del Fantasma (LdF) a potential place to put her. However, the battle on t sees a different route and has its roots back to where we started: in Tokyo’s Korakuen Hall.
Stardom has been in flux over the last nine months due to the poaching scandal centered on founder and then-booker Rossy Ogawa. Ogawa seemed to have been scheming to get Stardom talent to leave their contracts and follow him to a new promotion, which appeared to have a WWE connection even at the beginning of this saga. By the time the annual Cinderella Tournament rolled around, Ogawa had already been forced out of Stardom and replaced with the new President, Taro Okada, and speculation was brewing regarding who might be following him out the door. Chief among those performers? The then-current NJPW Strong Women’s Champion: Giulia.
Stephanie Vaquer defeated Giulia for the NJPW Strong Women’s Championship not at the finals for the Cinderella Tournament but in the main event of the less-notable second show of five for this year’s tournament in an 11-minute match. There seemed to be confusion in the post-match segment: either Giulia was attempting to take the title from Vaquer that she had just lost, or she was trying to take the belt to present it to the new champion respectfully. Whichever happened, it resulted in Vaquer decking the former champ with the belt.
A month later, Giulia was no longer in Stardom. She’s joined Ogawa at his new promotion, Marigold, and she appeared with him at WWE WrestleMania XL and NXT Stand & Deliver; it later was revealed that those rumors of a Marigold-WWE partnership might be true, as reports indicated Giulia is signed to WWE and will be leaving Marigold for NXT at some point this year. There is an obvious rivalry for Vaquer if/when she arrives in WWE with her past foe.