Rellik (Johnny The Bull) On Why He Left Mexico's AAA
01/09/2009 by Bill Behrens
The following from, Rellik (Johnny Hugger)is his take on his recent experience in Mexico's AAA. Several guys had spoken to him and I had heard this story from them, but he lays it out pretty well himself.
One side note is that there were some in AAA who believed his gimmick was not getting over so that may have had something to do with it too. Rellik notes that the gimmick needs to be "pushed" a certain way for it to work in what he writes below.
Rellik writes:
Ok, It's like this. wrestling companies these day's want to get you for as cheap as possible and if its not WWE then there is NO money. I'm done getting pimped by these companies. AAA being the worst that I've came across. And I've worked for every major company out there except New Japan.
Dorian the owner has NO clue of what he's doing and he's making a grave mistake by trying to make his shity product similar to WWE. So, my prediction for AAA is that it will be OWNED by WWE as will all the territories in Mexico in the near future. It happened here in the states and the same formula will work in Mexico.
AAA isnt the same as it was when the late great Eddie Guerrero and my good friend Rey Mysterio was there. Antonio Pena was running it was different. Now, you got some spoiled rotten boy who doesn't know shit about this business, with family money running it. The wrestling is god awful as are most of the storylines. There is no method to the madness. WHY do they even use a ref??? The best Mexican Wrestler AAA has is Zorro. He is a great wrestler with a good mind for the business. Look out for him .
All the American wrestlers are great. Teddy,Jack are superb and they do some amazing shit, Alex and Rocky are really good as well. Xpac is still good and has a great mind for the business but Dorian's dumb ass doesn't listen to him.
So here's the real reason why I left,
I flew out to Mexico City on my own dime, when I get there, AAA normally puts Americans up at the Hotel Fornos in Mexico city. That didn't happen with me. They knew that Mark Jindrack was there and they knew we are boy's so they took advantage of that. I slept on his couch for 3 months! During this time was working Illegally without an work Visa. I could have been deported at any time. For the first month I only did T'V's for 5000 pesos (370 dollars)x3 for that month. I could barley eat and if it wasn't for Mark then I don't know were I would have stayed. Everyone thinks Oh, your in Mexico City and your money will go along way. bullsh*t. Food is expensive and without a car you have to take taxi rides everywhere. Also, without my work visa I cant get things I need like a checking account or rent my own place.
I asked for meetings time after time and I would get blown off. I felt lost, alone in a different "world" and the company didn't do anything to help me out. Meanwhile, I'm on the cover of they're magazine for the month of Dec doing all the Main Events. oh, I didn't get paid for the Magazine shoot but that took all day.
The travel schedule has got to be one of the most difficult schedules in the business. Most of the time we had 6 to 8 hour bus rides, wrestle outside in dirty bull fighting arena's and hop back on the bus and ride to the next city or back to Mexico City with no shower. Oh, we also had a 12 hour bus ride at one point. So, 24 hours on a bus no shower. So, I did the math and it came out to be like 15 to 20 dollars an hour to live that lifestyle and put up with AAA's unorganized ass backwards way of doing business. No thanks. Let those other guy's do it if they want to. I no showed TJ because AAA wasn't working with me and they wanted me to DRIVE my car to TJ, wrestle and drive back on Christmas Day!! REALLY?? Saturday night live. lol Not to mention all the drug violence that is in TJ right now. I have a nice car with nice rims. If I drove that to TJ it probley would have been stolen.
I also told Dorian that Rellik needs to be used a certain way. It's a gimmik and has to be booked right if not you will kill it. I know the Mexican fans loved it and he's full of shit. He's trying to save face with his comments. The bottom line Dorian. You cant pimp me. I left you.
I'm 31yrs old I don't have to to be dealing with shit like that. The bottom line is, there is no more money in the wrestling business unless you are with WWE. It's not the way it used to be and it will never be like that again. As an athlete with the NFL or MLB, if you leave one organization you have many other teams to go to and make money and they have benefits. With WWE there are 10 guys that make big money and that have long term contracts. They don't have to worry about retiring. If your not one of those 10 then you may get in and have a good run for 3 to 4 yrs but you better have something to fall back on because if you don't you are f*cked! Everyone should know this before they decide to get in this business.
So, if anyone that wants to go work for AAA be prepared to eat a shit burrito with no sauce, and be prepared to do it often.
CMLL is a little better from what I've seen. At least most of they're shows are in the city and you can make it back to your house and sleep in your own bed. And the wrestling is much better there as well. But you still aren't going to get rich.
I'm not sure where I'll be in the future but I'll let you know where and when.
Thanks to Mark Jindrak for being a good friend.
What did he think was going to happen down in Mexico? I guess I didn't realize it was that bad but he really should have realized he wasn't going to make much down there. Pesos are worth next to nothing up here and that is why the country is in the state its in. He may have thought it through a little more before he went. Thats the risk you take when you try to enter wrestling (especially in another country) there are no benefits and if you don't make it to the top then your screwed.
Although he did bring up some good points in his message.
The way AAA is booking their matches is to much like WWE. Instead of sticking to the regular Lucha Libre style they are doing everything like WWE. I have a feeling his prediciton for the territories in Mexico may come true if they don't shape up. If the promoters don't at least listen to the ideas of they're workers how will they know what works and what doesn't?
I would think the wrestlers more than anyone would know whats good and whats not after all they are the ones out there in front of the crowd practically night after night. They don't have to be like WCW and let the inmates run the asylum but just listen to what they have to say, there can't really be any harm in that. Even if its something you don't want to hear they may have a point if you just listen to them.
Now I can see why Ciber left AAA and why Mesias was trying so hard to get work up here in the states.
01/09/2009 by Bill Behrens
The following from, Rellik (Johnny Hugger)is his take on his recent experience in Mexico's AAA. Several guys had spoken to him and I had heard this story from them, but he lays it out pretty well himself.
One side note is that there were some in AAA who believed his gimmick was not getting over so that may have had something to do with it too. Rellik notes that the gimmick needs to be "pushed" a certain way for it to work in what he writes below.
Rellik writes:
Ok, It's like this. wrestling companies these day's want to get you for as cheap as possible and if its not WWE then there is NO money. I'm done getting pimped by these companies. AAA being the worst that I've came across. And I've worked for every major company out there except New Japan.
Dorian the owner has NO clue of what he's doing and he's making a grave mistake by trying to make his shity product similar to WWE. So, my prediction for AAA is that it will be OWNED by WWE as will all the territories in Mexico in the near future. It happened here in the states and the same formula will work in Mexico.
AAA isnt the same as it was when the late great Eddie Guerrero and my good friend Rey Mysterio was there. Antonio Pena was running it was different. Now, you got some spoiled rotten boy who doesn't know shit about this business, with family money running it. The wrestling is god awful as are most of the storylines. There is no method to the madness. WHY do they even use a ref??? The best Mexican Wrestler AAA has is Zorro. He is a great wrestler with a good mind for the business. Look out for him .
All the American wrestlers are great. Teddy,Jack are superb and they do some amazing shit, Alex and Rocky are really good as well. Xpac is still good and has a great mind for the business but Dorian's dumb ass doesn't listen to him.
So here's the real reason why I left,
I flew out to Mexico City on my own dime, when I get there, AAA normally puts Americans up at the Hotel Fornos in Mexico city. That didn't happen with me. They knew that Mark Jindrack was there and they knew we are boy's so they took advantage of that. I slept on his couch for 3 months! During this time was working Illegally without an work Visa. I could have been deported at any time. For the first month I only did T'V's for 5000 pesos (370 dollars)x3 for that month. I could barley eat and if it wasn't for Mark then I don't know were I would have stayed. Everyone thinks Oh, your in Mexico City and your money will go along way. bullsh*t. Food is expensive and without a car you have to take taxi rides everywhere. Also, without my work visa I cant get things I need like a checking account or rent my own place.
I asked for meetings time after time and I would get blown off. I felt lost, alone in a different "world" and the company didn't do anything to help me out. Meanwhile, I'm on the cover of they're magazine for the month of Dec doing all the Main Events. oh, I didn't get paid for the Magazine shoot but that took all day.
The travel schedule has got to be one of the most difficult schedules in the business. Most of the time we had 6 to 8 hour bus rides, wrestle outside in dirty bull fighting arena's and hop back on the bus and ride to the next city or back to Mexico City with no shower. Oh, we also had a 12 hour bus ride at one point. So, 24 hours on a bus no shower. So, I did the math and it came out to be like 15 to 20 dollars an hour to live that lifestyle and put up with AAA's unorganized ass backwards way of doing business. No thanks. Let those other guy's do it if they want to. I no showed TJ because AAA wasn't working with me and they wanted me to DRIVE my car to TJ, wrestle and drive back on Christmas Day!! REALLY?? Saturday night live. lol Not to mention all the drug violence that is in TJ right now. I have a nice car with nice rims. If I drove that to TJ it probley would have been stolen.
I also told Dorian that Rellik needs to be used a certain way. It's a gimmik and has to be booked right if not you will kill it. I know the Mexican fans loved it and he's full of shit. He's trying to save face with his comments. The bottom line Dorian. You cant pimp me. I left you.
I'm 31yrs old I don't have to to be dealing with shit like that. The bottom line is, there is no more money in the wrestling business unless you are with WWE. It's not the way it used to be and it will never be like that again. As an athlete with the NFL or MLB, if you leave one organization you have many other teams to go to and make money and they have benefits. With WWE there are 10 guys that make big money and that have long term contracts. They don't have to worry about retiring. If your not one of those 10 then you may get in and have a good run for 3 to 4 yrs but you better have something to fall back on because if you don't you are f*cked! Everyone should know this before they decide to get in this business.
So, if anyone that wants to go work for AAA be prepared to eat a shit burrito with no sauce, and be prepared to do it often.
CMLL is a little better from what I've seen. At least most of they're shows are in the city and you can make it back to your house and sleep in your own bed. And the wrestling is much better there as well. But you still aren't going to get rich.
I'm not sure where I'll be in the future but I'll let you know where and when.
Thanks to Mark Jindrak for being a good friend.
What did he think was going to happen down in Mexico? I guess I didn't realize it was that bad but he really should have realized he wasn't going to make much down there. Pesos are worth next to nothing up here and that is why the country is in the state its in. He may have thought it through a little more before he went. Thats the risk you take when you try to enter wrestling (especially in another country) there are no benefits and if you don't make it to the top then your screwed.
Although he did bring up some good points in his message.
The way AAA is booking their matches is to much like WWE. Instead of sticking to the regular Lucha Libre style they are doing everything like WWE. I have a feeling his prediciton for the territories in Mexico may come true if they don't shape up. If the promoters don't at least listen to the ideas of they're workers how will they know what works and what doesn't?
I would think the wrestlers more than anyone would know whats good and whats not after all they are the ones out there in front of the crowd practically night after night. They don't have to be like WCW and let the inmates run the asylum but just listen to what they have to say, there can't really be any harm in that. Even if its something you don't want to hear they may have a point if you just listen to them.
Now I can see why Ciber left AAA and why Mesias was trying so hard to get work up here in the states.
came out before the match saying that he was stripping the Clowns & Chessman of their Mexican National Atomicos Titles due to them assaulting him after the match. 
