Why Triple H Rejected Santos Escobar's Original Idea To Revive The LWO in WWE

WWE finally decided to revive The Latino World Order (LWO) faction back in March after being dormant for over two decades. The group is now comprised of Rey Mysterio, Santos Escobar, Joaquin Wilde, Cruz Del Toro, Zelina Vega and Grammy-winner Bad Bunny. And while the group hasn't picked up many big wins since returning, they did help Bunny beat Damian Priest in a San Juan Street Fight at the Backlash and have become top merchandise sellers with their LWO t-shirts. 

The idea of restoring the group had been openly pitched by stars like Rey Mysterio for years and Escobar revealed in a new interview on the Out of Character Podcast that he was pushing the idea as soon as he arrived in NXT. However, Paul "Triple H" Levesque initially shot the idea down.

"The very first conversation I had with Triple H, he asked me what do you want to do, and I told them, 'Can I bring back the LWO?'" Escobar said (h/t Wrestling Inc.). "Before I said the letter 'O,' he said 'No.' [He said,] 'I want you to be you and I want people to see you and not think of anybody else' ... That kind of shut down my initial desire, but Triple H was right. The time wasn't right. It wouldn't have been what it is right now. Also, it needed a very important ingredient: an OG. An original LWO [member], and that's Rey [Mysterio]."

"[Legado del Fantasma] gave me the opportunity to do what everything I wanted to do," Escobar later added. "Who I am, where I come from, what I'm about ... every single time I was out there. Every promo, every backstage, every scene, every feud, every rivalry was letting people know that I'm all about lucha libre [and] that lucha libre is about tradition, heritage, culture, and familia. All the values that you have whether you're Mexican, Latino, or not, are the values I have. We relate, and that's how Legado got over. That's how Santos got really over on 'NXT,' because everything I say is real."

WWE Money in the Bank 2023 Card (So Far)

• Men's Money in the Bank Ladder Match: Ricochet vs. Shinsuke Nakamura vs. LA Knight vs. Santos Escobar/Mustafa Ali vs. Butch/Baron Corbin vs. Matt Riddle/TBD
• Women's Money in the Bank Ladder Match: Zelina Vega vs. Zoey Stark vs. Becky Lynch vs. Mia Yim/Bayley vs. Shotzi/Iyo Sky vs. TBD