7 Ups And 1 Down From Last Night's WWE NXT (May 25)

5. A Lucha Legend In The Making

Jax Asuka
NXT

Over the past several months, WWE has gone on an international signing spree that's sent shockwaves through the industry. Though the most obvious example of the company's poaching prowess is the New Japan Four (AJ Styles, Shinsuke Nakamura, Karl Anderson, and Luke Gallows), they've also picked up quite a bit of independent talent, as well, such as Austin Aries, Rich Swann, and Biff Busick.

Overshadowed by those acquisitions, though, is the hiring of possibly the hottest young talent in all of Lucha Libre - Manny "La Sombra" Andrade, whom the company hired in November. The 26-year-old CMLL headliner soon began competing in non-televised matches under his real name, with many fans expecting him to debut in the Cruiserweight Classic.

This week, we learned that isn't the case. A vignette aired on NXT showing a masked wrestler with his back to the camera watching grainy black-and-white footage of himself competing. He then unlaced and took off his mask, although he was facing away from the camera.

This was Andrade, who will now be known as Andrade "Cien" Almas, according to the graphic. No matter what his name is, Almas is a superstar in the making. Like Nakamura, his charisma transcends language barriers and his skill is one-of-a-kind. The sooner he debuts, the better.

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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