In this visit to the “Wrestling Salvage Yard,” we’re looking at the brief WWE career of Essa Rios, better known as Mr. Aguila. This is a brief one, folks and you’ll probably finish your coffee or your snack before we’re done.
A Brief WWE Career
After gaining success in Mexico and getting some polish with WWE partner IWA Puerto Rico, Rios returned to WWE as—Essa Rios in 2000. That’s right, he was actually in the company two years earlier when he was brought in as part of the new Light Heavyweight division at 19.
At that time, he wrestled as Aguila and was a North American rival to Taka Michinoku whom the division was being built around. On his re-debut as Essa Rios, he defeated Gillberg for the Light Heavyweight title before running in a random, limb-collecting Dean Malenko who took the title. Part of his character was coming out with a high flying redhead who performed his finisher after he defeated his opponent.
Matt Hardy might be interested in this valet.
After that, his WWE run moments when he was involved in things. He had a feud with Eddie Guerrero and Chyna over the European title, broke up with Lita as his manager resulting in her becoming the Hardy Boyz’s valet, and—according to a friend who watched at that time—had a feud with Kurt Angle.
Considering how ridiculously athletic Aguila was at this time, a rivalry with Kurt Angle is something I would’ve watched and remembered. Looking it up, it apparently went down on the B-shows—which was how I usually caught up on RAW.
Also, by late 2000, the Essa Rios experiment was done on TV. You would see him her and there but eh…WWE was done with him.
Salvaging Essa Rios
I liked Essa Rios, I was actually really excited about the Light Heavyweight division after enjoying the Cruiserweight division so much. Rios would become like other talents initially brought in for the division –either he showed some charisma or he was living on the B-shows and house shows until his contract was up.
At the time, WWE had affiliate promotions they could send their guys to but no dedicated promotion for developmental. Rios could’ve benefited greatly from developmental. Technically, that’s the job IWA PR was doing but Puerto Rico always had a different crowd from the U.S. It worked for seasoning the Hardy Boyz and Taka Michinoku but it did take the same way for Mr. Aguila.
I’d say that he couldn’t be salvaged in 2000-2001 WWE unless he went extreme—which he has done years after leaving in 2001—or really start showing some charm with the comedy. Seeing his work from the time and prior to that, Rios seems like he could play crazy and excitable better than cool and cocky.
Maybe he should’ve just remained Aguila but at that time—and even now—the U.S wrestling scene at the top hasn’t sorted out how to actually make masked wrestlers work.
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