Andrade El Idolo on Understanding WWE Enforcing His Non-Compete, Debunking Rumors of Him Missing WWE Dates & Stopped Answering Calls, Original AAA Worlds Collide Plans Before WWE Release, & Hoping to Have Another Match with Kenny Omega

Eduardo Bates held a recent interview with Andrade El Idolo. One of the topics discussed included Andrade’s thoughts about him understanding why WWE decided to enforce the 12-month non-compete clause after his firing from the company and him returning to AEW.

“The current situation was that after my appearance in AEW and that I was in The Crash and won the Heavyweight Championship in Tijuana, on that Monday, I received a letter from the WWE company, where it said that it had a 12-month non-compete clause. My lawyers are currently in talks with WWE to reach the best deal. At first, it was a little closed and difficult on both sides because I was disoriented and a little upset about the clause. By WWE, I understand it of course, after my appearance in AEW. I don’t know if that was what annoyed WWE, I’m not sure.”

Andrade also gave his thoughts about him not feeling bad over his recent departure from WWE and debunked rumors of him missing dates with the company and stopped answering calls.

“The truth is a long story. I don’t feel bad about my WWE exit. I am very grateful for how much, or little, I did in that year and a half. I never missed dates and never stopped answering the cell phone as many gossipy people who broke the news said. Yes, I was traveling and they called me. What happened was that I had a day trip because I was not scheduled and they called me to me. I returned the call at about one or two hours, but nothing to do with the fact that I didn’t want to answer or that I disappeared. It was one, two, three hours that I didn’t answer and it was just the company sending me a message that ‘where are you?’, and things like that. I don’t know who got that story that I didn’t want to answer. I was out of the country, I explained to them that it was because of the time difference, the internet, no signal, many things, but nothing to do with me never answering them or anything like that.”

Andrade also gave his thoughts about WWE’s original plans for him for their NXT x AAA Worlds Collide event this past June prior to his release from the company.

“With the purchase of AAA, it was like ‘now there will be more opportunity for all Mexicans’. Well, yes, but (Angel) Garza was already a star in AAA, (Santos) Escobar already headlined a TripleMania, Penta was already a star in AAA. Will there be more stories in AAA? Yes, but you join WWE because you want to be a star in WWE, you don’t want to be a star in AAA. It’s good for El Grande Americano, because he’s always been in Germany and now he’s coming to the United States. AAA is something new for him, and that’s fine. When the American goes to CMLL, it’s always ends well. To add, AAA doesn’t have its own arena like CMLL, or an identifiable “home” like Madison Square Garden. I never had any legal problems with them (AAA), i do have my qualms with them, but that’s just me. I don’t know how you (Eduardo) see it, but that Penta and Fenix return to AAA after joining WWE so that they could do something different. I didn’t see it in a good way, but I didn’t see it in a bad way either. I was going to be at the first AAA event. He told me that he was going to be (Hijo del) Vikingo, Fenix and I believe the NXT Champion Oba (Femi), I’m not good with the NXT names, in a four way. It was going to take place in the first Worlds Collide. They told me that ‘we want you in this because we know that you can work with Fenix, and also with Vikingo so that he doesn’t look so small compared to Oba.’bThen everything was changed and I entered Money in The Bank and never returned to AAA. Then it was Dominik’s turn and Dominik has been wonderful. His dad was part of AAA, but he had never stepped on AAA. How long did it take for Dragon Lee? I had barely left, and he had just become a champion. In AAA, he had already competed for the Mega Championship against Kenny Omega, among other things. He is an incredible wrestler, he has everything, and after three years he finally won the championship, which is great… but he was already in AAA and then he returned to AAA and goes there every week when he came here to be a global star. No offense to AAA, Mexicans already know the AAA people, but many foreigners don’t know the AAA people. If you go to Saudi Arabia and ask them about AAA, they only know about the Main Roster. That’s what I was meaning.”

Andrade also gave his thoughts about his match against Kenny Omega for the AAA Mega Championship at AAA Triplemania XXIX in 2021 not living up to expectations and him hoping to get another match with Omega in the future to give a better match for fans.

“It was difficult. I want to fight Kenny Omega again. I hope the future allows me to, and of course, if it allows him. I met Kenny on my first tour in Japan. I was 19 when I went to Best of the Super Junior, and in that group there is Group A and Group B. I remember Finn Balor, Kenny Omega, Kota Ibushi, KUSHIDA, (Koji) Kanemoto, they were all there. Kenny was in the other group, and I never got to fight Kenny Omega, which is what I was hoping for. My first match was going to be in AAA, for the Mega Championship, but the day before, we wrestled in the southern United States. Kenny wrestled for one of his championships, and we finished the event at midnight and had to be there at 2 p.m. I hired a driver because I had heard things about AAA, and it was my first time competing at that time, and it’s still the same (AAA), I’ve heard that they haven’t changed and now they go and complain to WWE, I’m not lying to you. But that’s how it is, and it has to change. Every company has to have problems, but that’s normal at work. Nothing is perfect, even one self makes mistakes. I hired a driver so as not to look bad with Mr. Ric (Flair). Kenny, I don’t think he checked in (luggage) that time, because he left quickly in 40 minutes. I had to check-in, I was carrying a suit, my gear, and my ex-wife also brought her bags, and then they sent me messages from AAA. I left in about 40-50 minutes and Kenny was still outside, they hadn’t picked him up (from the airport). He came with us, we arrived at the hotel, they were waiting for us in the lobby. We received the rooms until 4, and then they told us that we were leaving in half an hour. I told them Kenny arrived at 2pm and it’s 4:30pm. He could have rested for two hours. The event starts at 8 and we are one of the last matches, at least let us leave at 5:30pm so that there is no issues, and my father-in-law until 7 because he will not be there from early. Well, they picked Kenny and me at about 5:30pm, we arrived at 6. They passed at 6 to my ex-partner and father-in-law. We arrived and I felt tired and sleep-deprived. In that match it felt like we needed more time, we were tired because Kenny had consecutive matches (and very good ones), he was champion of everything and was wrestling every week. The match was not too bad, but I hope that the next time I have to fight with Kenny we will give them the best match possible. I imagined winning that championship, I couldn’t do it that night, but it did open many doors for me in AEW and I was able to get a lot of feuds. It’s great to face Kenny, I got to face him in several matches, but only once in singles action.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com 1, 2, 3, & 4