I’ve never been a fan of El Grande Americano, ever since the bit came about while Chad Gable was feuding with luchadors.

I didn’t like the “character” then, I didn’t like it when another EGA popped up while Gable was doing the shtick, I didn’t like it when Ludwig Kaiser was then boxed into the EGA role while Gable was out injured, and I certainly didn’t like it when WWE decided to throw more Americanos into the mix in the form of Tyler Bate and Pete Dunne.

Obviously, WWE cannot book exclusively to my liking. But I do get to complain about it here, so read on if you disagree, because chances are I am not going to convince you otherwise. Still here? Okay, wel,l let me at least rationalize it.

This week’s “WWE Raw” saw Je’Von Evans teaming up with TBC to take on Los Americanos, with EGA Kaiser standing at ringside. TBC wound up being the returning OG EGA – Gable, who, of course, entered the Royal Rumble, which was too full for Finn Balor, so he could eliminate EGA Kaiser.

But before we could get to the graps, Los Americanos cut a promo to the crowd, and I will concede that at the very least Kaiser knows how to speak Spanish, while the other two just spoke in a stereotypical accent, ensuring to roll every ‘R’ and turn every ‘Y’ into a ‘J.’

It feels somewhat obvious to say that there is absolutely no need for Kaiser, a German, Bate and Dunne, Britons, and Gable, from the US, to impersonate luchadors when there are legitimate luchadors scattered across the promotion. Once more, the issue is not that they are wearing a mask. The issue is not that they are performing as characters. The issue is that there is a conceited effort to parody lucha libre and Latin people in the most tasteless, dregs-of-the-barrel way.

When we did get to the match, Evans took a backseat to the OG EGA as he got the winning pin – albeit after a really impressive cutter – and then had a little tussle with EGA Kaiser in obvious promotion for an eventual Mask vs. Mask match.

The match wasn’t bad because it was Evans, Kaiser, Gable, Bate, and Dunne wrestling. But the story, if one could be so bold as to call it that, sucked all the way to the core.

One may say not to see it as a political thing, but I would say that while the head of creative stands next to a President open in his contempt for the people being parodied on WWE programming, it’s impossible not to see it that way.

Written by Max Everett