Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide
Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide, commonly referred to as simply AAA, is a Mexican professional wrestling promotion based in Mexico City, Mexico. Founded as Asistencia, Asesoría y Administración de Espectáculos, the promotion has been dubbed "La Caravana 3 Veces Estelar" due to its extensive touring schedule.
The promotion was founded in 1992, when Antonio Peña, a booker from Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre, broke away from CMLL to set up his own promotion with the backing of Televisa that would provide him more creative freedom. Under Peña's direction, AAA incorporated telenovela-inspired sports entertainment elements into its product and developed a reputation for outlandish gimmicks and characters. In addition to the conventional "squared circle", the promotion occasionally uses a hexagonal wrestling ring and features much more extreme match styles compared to CMLL's conservative in-ring style. AAA, like all other wrestling promotions, does not promote legitimate sporting contests but rather athletic theater performances, featuring storyline-driven, scripted, and partially choreographed matches; however, matches often include moves that put performers at risk of serious injury or death if not performed correctly.
AAA has had working relationships with other Mexican promotions, like the International Wrestling Revolution Group, and with American promotions such as the National Wrestling Alliance, Major League Wrestling, and All Elite Wrestling. AAA primarily hosts its major events in Mexico, but has also promoted international events in the United States and Japan. The promotion previously aired its events on Gala TV in Mexico and on TUDN in parts of Mexico and the United States. AAA events began airing on Fox properties in Mexico and Latin America in 2026.
In April 2025, American wrestling promotion WWE, a subsidiary of TKO Group Holdings, announced it would acquire AAA in partnership with Mexican company Fillip. This acquisition was finalized in August 2025 with WWE holding a 51% controlling stake.
History
Formation and early years
Between April and May of 1992, Antonio Peña, booker of the Mexico City-based Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre, broke with the promotion in favor of establishing his own group, along with Konnan and much of the younger talent from CMLL. This split resulted in the founding of the Televisa-backed Asistencia, Asesoría y Administración de Espectáculos promotion. AAA would look for talent from other markets outside Mexico City, as they found and signed Tijuana natives Rey Misterio Sr., Rey Misterio Jr., and Psicosis. The promotion became known for signing top talent away from CMLL, such as El Hijo del Santo, Octagón, Blue Panther, Heavy Metal, Cien Caras, and Perro Aguayo. Peña would quickly sign up top UWA draws for AAA, including El Canek, Dos Caras, and Los Villanos.In 1994, AAA co-promoted the When Worlds Collide pay-per-view event with World Championship Wrestling, with WCW airing the event in the United States. The event was critically-acclaimed and is credited for popularizing lucha libre in the United States. Weeks after the show, Art Barr died while visiting his family. AAA subsequently vacated the AAA/IWC World Tag Team Championship, which Barr held with Eddy Guerrero, and Barr's Los Gringos Locos stablemates Guerrero and Madonna's Boyfriend made their departures from AAA. In the aftermath of When Worlds Collide, El Hijo del Santo also departed the promotion as a result of creative problems. When the Mexican economy began to slow down due to the 1994–1995 peso crisis, AAA's ability to offer consistent work was impaired, leading to wrestlers like Fuerza Guerrera and Blue Panther departing the promotion. Talent such as Rey Misterio Jr., Psicosis, La Parka, and Juventud Guerrera would depart AAA in 1996 to join Konnan's short-lived TV Azteca-backed Promo Azteca before landing in the US-based Extreme Championship Wrestling and WCW promotions.
In the mid-1990s the name of the promotion was changed to simply be AAA, with Televisa maintaining ownership of the original Asistencia, Asesoría y Administración de Espectáculos name, after Peña bought out Televisa's ownership stake and became independent of the media conglomerate. AAA events would continue to air on Televisa after the purchase. In early 1997, AAA established a working agreement with the World Wrestling Federation, with several AAA luchadores appearing at the WWF's 1997 Royal Rumble event.
AAA developed a working relationship with American wrestling promotion Total Nonstop Action Wrestling in early 2004. Through the relationship, AAA sent the luchadores Juventud Guerrera, Héctor Garza, Abismo Negro, Heavy Metal, and Mr. Águila to TNA to compete in the America's X-Cup Tournament as a contingent known as Team Mexico, defeating Team USA in the finals to win the cup. TNA and AAA's initial working relationship would end in late 2004. TNA continued utilizing luchadores, but opted to contract them individually rather than booking them through AAA.
2006–2014
On October 6, 2006, AAA founder Antonio Peña died of a heart attack. Following Peña's death, his sister Marisela Peña took over the management of AAA's finances, while Joaquín Roldán and Dorian Roldán became AAA's operational managers. Konnan would take over the booking of AAA. In 2006, AAA would again partner with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, co-promoting TNA's inaugural event in Mexico, held at Arena Monterrey in November 2006. This partnership would end after AAA booker Konnan left TNA in June 2007 and filed a racial discrimination lawsuit against the promotion; the lawsuit was later dismissed. TNA would maintain a relationship with AAA rival CMLL from 2007 to 2009, but would begin another working relationship with AAA in February 2010.In 2008, Lucha Libre USA presented AAA's Legendary Battles of Triplemania program on American pay-per-view. In 2009, AAA announced the development of a video game titled AAA El Videojuego. The game was later retitled Lucha Libre AAA: Héroes del Ring and released on October 12, 2010.
2014–2020
On January 12, 2014, it was announced that, with the backing of Mark Burnett, AAA would co-produce a show for the American El Rey Network in the second half of the year. The one-hour weekly program would be accompanied by monthly and quarterly specials as well as live pay-per-view events. The show, titled Lucha Underground, premiered on October 29, 2014. The series ran for four seasons, and received generally positive reviews.Beginning in March 2015, the promotion announced that it would be known as Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide from that point on, marking the second name change since its founding in 1992.
On April 8, 2017, AAA operational manager Joaquín Roldán died. On June 14, AAA events began airing on the Front Runner TV free-to-air channel in the United Kingdom.
In April and May 2018, some Lucha Libre Elite talent including Teddy Hart, Juventud Guerrera, and Taurus made their returns to AAA wearing their Elite jerseys, launching an interpromotional angle between the two promotions. On June 4, at Verano de Escándalo, Jeff Jarrett returned to AAA after three years away from the promotion to defeat Rey Wagner and Rey Mysterio Jr. and win the AAA Mega Championship. Jarrett was assisted in the match by Konnan, who also returned to AAA at the event after two years.
On February 1, 2019, AAA announced the end of their relationship with Televisa after 27 years, with the promotion's programming moving to the Multimedios television station. On February 3, AAA announced that they had reached an agreement with TV Azteca to broadcast their programming on Azteca 7.
On April 4, 2019, AAA announced that it would be holding an event in the United States, AAA Invading NY, which would take place at New York City's Madison Square Garden on September 15, 2019. The promotion also announced that it would hold a second event in the United States, titled AAA Invading Los Angeles, at The Forum in Inglewood, California on October 13, 2019. On August 16, 2019, it was reported by Pro Wrestling Insider that AAA Invading NY would be moved to the nearby Hulu Theater due to poor ticket sales. AAA Invading NY was held on September 15 at the Hulu Theater, headlined by Dr. Wagner Jr. vs. Blue Demon Jr. in a No Disqualification match. AAA Invading Los Angeles would later be canceled.
COVID-19 pandemic and aftermath
AAA would postpone and cancel its televised events in mid-March 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, with its final pre-pandemic event being the AAA vs. MLW Super Series on March 13. In April 2020, AAA hosted a tournament called Lucha Fighter, which consisted of 12 male wrestlers and 8 female wrestlers; all Lucha Fighter matches were held without a live audience.As a response to the indefinite recess of live sporting events in Mexico, on July 20, 2020, AAA announced a project called AutoLuchas, which consisted of events at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez where fans could attend from their car.
In December 2020, FactoryMade Ventures, one of the co-producers of Lucha Underground, filed a lawsuit with AAA; claiming to have exclusive rights to distribute AAA events and merchandise outside of Mexico. The lawsuit resulted in the geo-blocking of AAA's YouTube and Twitch channels in the United States.
On February 2, 2021, AAA secured an alliance with SECTUR to promote Mexico's tourist destinations. The alliance resulted in the launch of the Lucha por la Identidad Nacional Tour shows, which were held behind closed doors and included major AAA events like Rey de Reyes and Verano de Escándalo.
On August 14, 2021, Triplemanía XXIX was held at Arena Ciudad de México. It was the first AAA event since the COVID pandemic began to have a limited number of ticketed fans in attendance. October's Héroes Inmortales XIV would also have a limited live audience present.