Conrad Thompson produced arguably the most notable non-WWE or AEW show last year with Ric Flair’s Last Match. The show saw the podcasting juggernaut work with Impact, AAA, NJPW, GCW, MLW, and others to put together a dream card for diehard fans. Despite some questionable moments during the main event, like Flair faking a heart attack, the show was largely well-received and opened the door to speculation Thompson may do more promoting in the future.
Flash forward to earlier this year, as rumors began circulating that Thompson could be working with AAA to put on a huge event in LA during WWE WrestleMania 39 weekend. In a recent interview with The Business of The Business podcast, AAA President Dorian Roldan confirmed that he and Thompson had been in communication but noted the event they were discussing fell apart due to poor ticket sales for another AAA show around the same time in Phoenix.
On today’s Haus of Wrestling episode on Premier Streaming Network, now also available on the Haus of Wrestling podcast feed, Thompson shed some light on his talks with Roldan, and how they went from his perspective.
“We had a lot of hypotheticals,” Thompson explained. “You know, he and I worked together a little bit when we put together the lucha match on Ric Flair’s Last Match. And so he actually came into Nashville and attended his first Starrcast and saw The Roast of Ric Flair, and saw some of the panels, and saw how the meet and greets were going. And he really liked the idea of seeing if there was a way to do something like that in Mexico.
“So, he flew me and a guest down, and we got to hang out at one of his Hard Rock shows, and it was fantastic. It was a blast, and he invited me to come back and check out TripleMania, and I had always wanted to go to a TripleMania so I was excited to go do that. And we had lots of, sort of, ‘what if’ type conversations, and I knew he had that big Phoenix show coming. I did not attend that one but as I understand it, it was really smooth and well done, and a really fun show but I don’t think it was financially successful.
“So, maybe some of the big ideas he had, he just said, ‘Hey, maybe later.’ but we definitely had a lot of, ‘Hey, what if’ type conversations but we never got so far as ‘Here’s the card and here’s the arena,’ and you know blah blah blah. I mean he had hypothetical site valuations and all that, from what I understand, but I don’t think it ever got to the point where he put pen to paper, and, ‘Okay, here’s the building, and now we need dot dot dot.’
“So, fun idea. I think maybe because there were so many Spanish-speaking folks in the Los Angeles area, it felt like hey, this could be a no-brainer, and it just wasn’t the right time business-wise. Maybe he’ll try it again in the future. I would love to see it. I mean that whole When Worlds Collide Pay Per View years ago, when I was going down to see TripleMania, I watched that show back and that was a blast. I would love to see him have some big shows here stateside.”
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