Andrade El Idolo Channels DC Comics Villain in AEW Dynamite Debut

Andrade El Idolo made his in-ring debut for All Elite Wrestling during AEW Dynamite: Road Rager on Wednesday night. The former NXT Champion arrived with new gear channeling the DC Comics villain Black Mask, complete with a white pinstripe suit and all-black luchador mask. The villain, typically a part of Batman’s rogues’ gallery, was depicted in live-action by Ewan McGregor in the 2020 film Birds of Prey and has been in a number of animated features including Batman: Under the Red Hood and Batman: Bad Blood.

El Idolo was victorious over Matt Sydal after pinning him with his Hammerlock DDT finisher. He then proceeded to brutalize the high-flyer with his belt, still angry over Sydal interrupting his announcement weeks prior.

Andrade explained in an interview with Lucha Libre Online why he chose to request his release from WWE earlier this year, stating, “When the pandemic started, they put me with Drew McIntyre. Drew was great with me and behaved well with me in NXT and on the main roster. We had the matches and a producer came to me and said, ‘Make sure Drew looks like a monster, because he’s the champ.’ Drew came to me and told me to wrestle how I know to wrestle, saying that he doesn’t need me to make him look good, but to wrestle how I wrestle best. A lot of people treated me well, Drew too and Randy Orton. [Randy] would ask me, ‘Why aren’t they using you?’ I didn’t know what to say and didn’t know what was going on. After that, I made the decision [to leave].”

Since his arrival, Andrade has already called out Kenny Omega for an AEW World Championship match. The two are set to clash at Triplemania in August over the AAA Mega Championship.