The WWE has seen its fair share of ridiculous gimmicks over the last few decades. Some gimmicks have been rather bizarre, but for the most part were successful. Characters such as The Undertaker, Kane, Ultimate Warrior, etc. were all rather strange, but they have become legends throughout the wrestling industry. Many gimmicks were somewhat successful, but never really amounted to anything better than the mid-card scene, with a few exceptions. The Boogeyman, The Hurricane and Goldust would probably fit into that category. And of course, some gimmicks were not so fortunate. Various names spring to mind when I think of failed gimmicks, such as The Spirit Squad, Eugene, Kerwin White. These guys were all over-the-top ridiculous, and I think a lot of us were happy to see the back of them. Not to say that they weren’t entertaining, but they’re not exactly the characters I’d refer to when trying to convince a non-wrestling fan to watch the product. But it looks like WWE are trying to beat their previous records by introducing us to yet another cringe-worthy, ridiculous gimmick. Olé!
Hello, everybody! I’m Adam O’Brien, and it’s time for yet another edition of everyone’s favourite wrestling article, ‘Under the Spotlight’. This week, I’m going to be discussing the newest tag-team to make their mark in the WWE. The team of Fernando and Diego (not forgetting El Torito), Los Matadores. I’ll be talking about why I don’t like the gimmick, and why I don’t see it being a success. And before you leave the page because I’m just another smark that whines about the company I love, hear me out. I think I make some pretty good comments. I’m still a whiney smark, but that’s neither here nor there.
Most people reading this probably know Los Maradores as Primo and Epico. I’ve always thought of these two men as talented performers. I like their athletic style, and I’m a fan of the lucha libre technique (who isn’t?), but the two never really interested me that much in their previous stint. They were good Tag-Team Champions, and they were entertaining, but I never tuned into Raw to see Epico and Primo. I don’t think anybody did. I’m sure some people tuned in to see Rosa Mendes, but we won’t get into that…
With that said, I’m on the fence about the Los Matadores gimmick. Here’s where I get a bit aggressive about WWE’s fucked up double standards, so bear with me if I go off topic. Obviously the gimmick itself is terrible. Seriously, the guys are from Puerto Rico and they’re supposed to be Spanish Matadors? That’s kind of racist on WWE’s behalf. And those who want to say “oh they’re just adapting to the Spanish style, and they’re paying homage, blah, blah” are just dumb. It’s cultural appropriation. Unless the guys were actually Spanish, they shouldn’t be portraying Spanish matadors on television, or anywhere else for that matter. I know I sound like I’m saying that bullfighting is only traditional in Spain, and not Portugal, France, and a few Hispanic American Countries, but it’s clear that these guys are representing the Spanish side of things. Puerto Rico isn’t exactly synonymous with bullfighting (sure it used to happen there, but it wasn’t a huge deal) so that’s why I’m mad. I mean, they wouldn’t give someone like The Great Khali the gimmick of a Native American, like Tatanka had, because they’d find it disrespectful to have a non-American wearing the native clothing and representing the heritage of America. Yet they insist on getting people to portray races and cultures outside of America. It’s like the Muhammad Hassan fiasco. That guy is from New York, but he was practically portraying an Arabian Terrorist during his time with the WWE, which came to an abrupt end when he was fired for a storyline coinciding with terrorist bombings in London. Talk about your strange gimmicks, am I right?
The WWE goes to such extreme lengths to make the people of America and the US Military happy (hell, they fired Finlay for having The Miz interrupt the National Anthem at a House Show for God’s sake), yet they seem to disregard the heritages and customs of other countries, and jump at the chance to poke fun at them on their shows. If I’m to speak from personal experience about my own country, take Hornswoggle for example. The man is from Wisconsin, yet he debuted in the WWE as a Leprechaun that lived under the ring and helped Finlay in his matches. He was billed from the end of the fucking rainbow. No, there’s no such thing as a Leprechaun, but the WWE literally grabbed the most overused Irish stereotype (after the idea that we’re drunk 100% of the time) and threw it out there for the world to see. And then they fire a Northern Irishman for not respecting the American National Anthem. Double standards are running rampant at WWE HQ, and we see it once again with Los Matadores. If you were to go back to a time where bullfighting was still the biggest thing in Spain, I doubt the matadors would be prancing their way down to the ring, dancing with the Bull. Something tells me that the performances of Los Matadores and El Torito would piss off a lot of people if it was done during the glory days of bullfighting.
I should probably take a step back from the racial, cultural side of things, because I’ve grown to accept WWE’s blatant disregard for that kind of stuff. I don’t think this gimmick is going to do these guys any favours. They are probably going to win the WWE Tag-Team Championships at some stage, but nobody is going to care. With a gimmick like Los Matadores, it is very difficult to provide a storyline that actually works. Right now, we’re seeing a great rivalry involving the Tag Titles, because this whole thing between the Rhodes, The Shield and the McMahons is an incredibly deep, serious and emotional rivalry. You are never going to get that kind of immersion with a team that is basically taking the piss out of a world renowned Spanish culture. Storylines are obviously a very important part of the WWE, so why create something that you literally have nothing to do with?
Why has Santino Marella never had a good storyline? It’s because of his character. You can have comedic storylines, but the real ones, the ones you remember are intense, explosive, serious rivalries. People would love all of John Cena’s feuds if he didn’t constantly make fart jokes and wiener jokes. If two people absolutely despise each other, they’re not going to be making jokes, pulling pranks and calling each other silly names. They’re going to want to kick the living shit out of one another. And since the tag-team division is dwindling, with the exception of a few teams, a duo like Fernando and Diego is never going to help the problem. In fact, it’ll likely make it worse.
El Torito is the main problem behind it. If they’re going to force us into this gimmick, fine. But if the only bull they fight is a dwarf in a Giant Gonzales costume, and instead of fighting, they’re dancing and helping each other out, then we’ve got something to worry about. El Torito hops in the ring, he’s all acrobatic and stuff, and he does this thing where he jumps in and out of the ring on the bottom rope. I think he makes a mistake every time he does it. If he keeps screwing up, he’ll be known as El Sin Carito. He doesn’t exactly make Los Matadores look intimidating. I know they could kick my ass, but they certainly don’t look like it. And yes, I do understand that they are supposed to be a comedy act, but in a division that already has several gimmicks that involve dancing and making a fool out of oneself, there’s only so much more you can take before things start to blow up.
Going back to what I said about compelling storylines, there are really no opportunities with Los Matadores. The best I can see for them is a lengthy feud with 3MB, or what appears to be the case, the Real Americans. If anyone can make this better, it’s Zeb Colter. I don’t even care, the guy is just a genius. I’m sure he’ll have a lot to say about Los Matadores “sneaking across our borders” to take his jobs and stuff. 
And I’d love to see Cesaro swing both of them around fifty times. Imagine a double Cesaro Swing? Book it! Or if he swung El Torito around so much, when he let go, Torito actually flew back to Mexico. We’ve seen a good few promos where Colter has hinted at a feud between the Matadors and the Americans, and after both parties got involved with each other on Smackdown, it seems likely that they’ll be squaring off at some stage or another. As long as it’s not another squash tag-team match, it’ll be interesting. But it’s likely that Los Matadores will come out victorious. And Zeb Colter’s involvement will give off the impression that the team actually has the ability to pull off a good segment, when it’ll just be Colter being a boss. Seems legit.
I think I’ll wrap up here. Maybe I’m completely wrong. Maybe I’ll start loving Los Matadores on tomorrow night’s Raw. It’s unlikely (considering my rant about cultural appropriation), but stranger things have happened. Right now, I’m looking at this team in a very pessimistic light, and I predict that these guys will be alongside Kerwin White, Eugene and Muhammad Hassan on that list of ridiculous failures. They’ll probably win some gold in the process, but in a few years, I’ll be saying “I told you so”.
And that’s the end of that chapter. These articles are getting gloomier and gloomier as the weeks go by, so I hope you’re all enjoying my rage. That’s proper use of your anger right there, kids. Say no to violence, just write about scripted violence and it’ll be fine. If you happened to be the one person that enjoyed this article, go ahead, leave a like on Facebook, Tweet and Retweet the link and leave your Comments down below. They really do help us out, so give it a go. You can also like SLTD Wrestling on Facebook on the right-hand side of this page, so do that and take part in the questions, insights and other stuff that I throw out on the page. The SLTD community is growing as the days go by, so be a part of it. And once we’re getting into Shameless plugs, go ahead and follow me on Twitter @AdamOB_SLTD. You can talk to me about wrestling, my writing, future ‘Under the Spotlight’ topics or anything at all!
Thanks for reading!
Self-Professed Conversational Wizard.
Admin, Editor and Writer for SLTD Wrestling.
Creator of 'Under the Spotlight'.
Studying Computing in Games Development.
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