AAA star Mr. Iguana has publicly addressed his debut on the August 18 episode of WWE Monday Night Raw. He teamed with Dragon Lee in a losing effort against The Judgment Day’s Finn Balor and JD McDonagh. Following the match, Iguana posted on social media, stating, “A pleasure Philly! Monday Night Raw Debut! @WWE. P.D Wa Wa has Yezka’s respect.”
The post included photos from Philadelphia, one featuring his plush iguana companion, La Yezka, next to the city’s famous Rocky statue. The mention of Yezka references a recent confrontation at AAA Triplemania XXXIII on August 16, where it was confronted by Finn Balor’s “Demonito” character. Before his Raw appearance, Mr. Iguana had stated his intent to get revenge on Balor.
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The tag team match on Raw concluded after interference from Dominik Mysterio at ringside. This allowed Finn Balor to hit the Coup de Grace on Dragon Lee, securing the victory for The Judgment Day.
Mr. Iguana’s appearance is part of the ongoing partnership between WWE and Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide. While this was his debut on Raw, it was not his first match on WWE television. The 36-year-old wrestler, real name Santiago Ibarra Calderón, previously appeared on the August 1 taping of SmackDown, where he and Psycho Clown unsuccessfully challenged Los Garzas for the AAA World Tag Team Championship.
The luchador first gained significant attention from the WWE audience following a viral performance at the joint WWE x AAA Worlds Collide show. His popularity from that event reportedly led to a fast track to the main roster, bypassing the NXT developmental system.
The presentation of his debut on Raw drew criticism from wrestling veteran Vince Russo. Speaking on his “Legion of RAW” podcast, Russo argued that WWE did not provide any backstory for the character to a wider audience and suggested that having him lose in his first appearance “killed his credibility instantly.”
