This past Saturday’s AAA TV show in Mexico City, Mexico featured Original El Grande defeating Octagon Jr. in a singles match. This match was notable for Original El Grande deliberately unmasking Octagon Jr. and not being disqualified for it despite that being the traditional rules for lucha matches in Mexico.
Un final irritante en #AAAenFOX: El Original Grande Americano le quitó la máscara a Octagón Jr. para ganarle. Parece que en la nueva AAA no hay descalificación por quitar máscaras. pic.twitter.com/ZZdHLz2dMw
— Ernesto Ocampo (@ocampoxlaw) April 12, 2026
El Grande’s unmasking of Octagon Jr. and not being disqualified for it quickly led to online speculation of this being another rule change and thing WWE has changed for Lucha Libre AAA shows since their acquisition of the company in April of 2025.
Dave Meltzer reported in a recent episode of the Wrestling Observer Radio that many people were really upset over the unmasking situation during the match and were justifiably so over more and more of lucha libre in Mexico turning into the American style of wrestling. Meltzer reported that while unmasking someone during a match is an automatic DQ in Mexico, this is not an actual rule in WWE for the reason why El Grande was not DQ’ed despite Rey Mysterio bringing it up on commentary.
Meltzer also reported that this issue of traditions being changed in lucha libre was something that was going to happen once WWE bought AAA. Meltzer also reported that this has also been happening to a smaller degree in CMLL of late.
Bodyslam+ reported that their sources stated that the reason why El Grande was not disqualified was simply due to a miscommunication and not a case of WWE imposing their own rules on AAA.
It was reported that the referee was supposed to call for a disqualification to end the match but he did not do so for some unknown reason.
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