WWE today announced the signing of Manual Alfonso Andrade Oropeza, better known as Consejo Mundiale de Lucha Libre (CMLL) star La Sombra. Oropeza has already reported to the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida. For several years, Oropeza has been one of the top wrestling talents in the world, holding a bevy of the CMLL's titles and defeating top stars El Felino, Olimpico, and Volador Jr. for their masks. He also competed for New Japan Pro Wrestling as a result of the talent exchange between the two companies, headlining New Japan's Fantasticamania tour and defeating Shinsuke Nakamura for the company's Intercontinental Championship. Recently, Oropeza's fortunes had changed, signalling that he was reaching the end of his tenure with the two companies. In August, he lost the NWA World Historic Middleweight Championship to Ultimo Guerrero, and the following month, he lost his mask to Atlantis in the main event of CMLL's 82nd Anniversary Show. He was expected to be announced as participating in New Japan's World Tag League tournament and 2016 Fantasticamania tour, but when his name was absent from both lists, suspicions about his future deepened. At only 26 years of age, Oropeza has plenty of time to learn WWE's trademark style and become a major star in the organization. For their part, WWE is hungry for a major Latino star to replicate the past successes of Rey Mysterio and Eddie Guerrero. With Alberto Del Rio already struggling after less than a month back with the company, La Sombra may be WWE's best hope.
Scott Fried is a Slammy Award-winning* writer living and working in New York City. He has been following/writing about professional wrestling for many years and is a graduate of Lance Storm's Storm Wrestling Academy. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/scottfried.
*Best Crowd of the Year, 2013
