This week’s episode of NXT saw a big reveal in the masked man kidnapping storyline. Former Lucha Underground star El Hijo del Fantasma unmasked and revealed himself to be the leader of the mysterious group.

The episode saw the new Cruiserweight Champion come to the ring for an interview about his win over Drake Maverick last week in the finals of the title tournament.

Maverick was the next to come out and demanded a rematch against the masked star. The two mystery man who have been involved in the kidnapping storyline in NXT then came out as well.

It looked as if Drake and Fantasma will team up to take on this challenge as both stood in the ring together, that was until the current champion turned on the former 205 Live general manager and three men took down the high flying star.

El Hijo del Fantasma then went on to remove his mask and announced that he will now be known as Santos Escobar. The two masked men who stood with him were revealed as Raul Mendoza and Joaquin Wilde of NXT.

The segment then ended with Escobar hitting a Phantom Driver on Maverick before his peers hit top rope splashes on the former TNA star at the same time.

There is no word yet on what the company is planning for Fantasma after this big reveal and it would be interesting to see if their group adds more members in the near future.

You can check out the complete NXT results at this link.

El Hijo del Fantasma is the interim WWE NXT Cruiserweight Champion and Drake Maverick is staying with WWE. 

Maverick battled Fantasma in the finals of the tournament to crown a new champion on Wednesday’s episode of NXT on the USA Network. 

The back and forth bout took place in the main event. The finish saw two masked men, who had been attacking various stars over the last few weeks, come down to the ring but Maverick took them out with an outside dive. Moments later, Fantasma hit his finisher for the win. 

Post-match, Triple H came out and offered Maverick a new deal to re-sign with the company. Of course, Maverick was released back in April due to budget cuts but allowed to work through July due to a clause in his deal. 

The tournament was done due to current NXT Cruiserweight Champion Jordan Devlin being stuck in the UK over travel restrictions from the coronavirus pandemic. It started back in April. 

Group A consisted of Kushida, Drake Maverick, Tony Nese, and Jake Atlas while Group B had Isaiah “Swerve” Scott, El Hijo del Fantasma, Akira Tozawa, and Gentleman Jack Gallagher.

With the travel ban preventing Devlin from making it to the United States, Devlin is expected back on NXT television in the near future. 

• WWE Reaches Out To Released Talent About Returning

WWE announced the signing of El Hijo del Fantasma, the former King Cuerno from Lucha Underground, last year. Despite signing the luchador in September, he has yet to wrestle a match for the promotion. In fact, his last match was on August 4th, 2019 in Mexico.

According to a recent report from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Fantasmo has been on the shelf with a knee injury. He is expected back shortly.

“The reason there has been no sighting or mentions of Jorge Alcantar (King Cuerno/El Hijo del Fantasma) since his signing was announced is that he blew out his knee. He’s expected to be cleared imminently,” wrote Dave Meltzer.

• WWE Announces They Have Signed King Cuerno And Former Football Player Edgar Lopez

El Hijo del Fantasma To WWE

The 35-year-old luchador began his career with CMLL in 2008. He would leave the promotion for AAA in 2013.

On an episode of his podcast last spring, Sean Waltman commented on Fantasma.

“He was a guy that I talked to WWE about when they asked me. Canyon Ceman had asked me to take a trip down to Mexico after Alberto Del Rio left the first time.”

He continued, “Fantasma was one of the guys I told them about. He can speak English, he’s got a great look, and he fit most of the criteria they were looking for.”

• Sean Waltman Says El Hijo del Fantasma Should End Up In WWE

Sean “X-Pac” Waltman believes El Hijo del Fantasma will end up in WWE. Fantasma is one of the wrestlers who has been granted a release from Lucha Underground. He worked there as King Cuerno.

According to Waltman, Fantasma has everything WWE looks for in a lucha star and would be a great fit for NXT. In fact, he encouraged WWE to sign him when the company asked about scouting Mexican wrestlers.

On the latest episode of his X-Pac 12360 podcast, Waltman said, “He was a guy that I talked to WWE about when they asked me. Canyon Ceman had asked me to take a trip down to Mexico after Alberto Del Rio left the first time.”

He continued, “Fantasma was one of the guys I told them about. He can speak English, he’s got a great look, and he fit most of the criteria they were looking for.”

Waltman says that Fantasma got as far as a tryout with WWE several years ago, but the company ended up not offering him a contract.

“He had a tryout down there, and he got a lot of heat for going in there and doing it, and then ended up not getting hired, for some technical reason,” says X-Pac.

Waltman believes that whatever the issue was that prevented Fantasma from signing years ago, would not be an issue today.

“It was some silly little thing, that, obviously, I think they would overlook now,” he says. “Maybe they changed their criteria, or maybe they just got less picky on certain things.”

• Update: WWE Reportedly Offers El Hijo del Fantasma A Contract

Multiple wrestlers from Lucha Underground have filed a class action lawsuit against the El Rey Network and Baba-G Productions. According to a report from Lucha Central, Joey Ryan, Ivelisse, and Thunder Rosa are the complainants in the lawsuit.

Pro Wrestling Sheet broke the story earlier today that Fantasma has also filed suit against El Rey. In the case of Fantasma, however, he is not seeking his release.

Lucha Underground Stars Seek Release From Contracts

Andre Verdun, the lawyer for the complainants and former luchador himself, spoke to Lucha Central about the suits. He mentioned that he has been assisting wrestlers from Lucha Underground to get releases from their contracts.

“Until now, everyone that I assisted has been released without the need for litigation,” Verdun said. “Lucha Underground appears to be pushing back in midst of what appears to be a mass exodus by their top stars if they can get their release.”

• Lucha Underground Star Says She Feels “Held Hostage”

Fantasma Seeking Compensation

Verdun would continue to say that in the case of Fantasma, he is not seeking a release but rather compensation.

“(Fantasma’s) lawsuit is not a tactic to get his release,” Verdun continued. “It is just a lawsuit saying essentially, ‘Had you not used this legal contract to prevent me from taking these other opportunities, I would have made money, and therefore you should compensate me’.”

Verdun then clarified more details about the lawsuit involving Joey Ryan, Ivelisse, and Kobra Moon. He also clarified further it had initially been incorrectly reported that Fantasma’s lawsuit was to seek a release from the company.

“My office filed as a class action to invalidate certain portions of their contracts that we believe are illegal,” Verdun said. “There are several wrestlers that have signed onto that lawsuit, others that have reached out requesting to join. So that lawsuit actually seeks to do what it I saw reported that Fantasma’s lawsuit is attempting to accomplish. I am sure it was reported that way because so many people have been searching for help in getting released.”

The full interview with Andre Verdun can be read here.

At TripleMania, El Hijo Del Fantasma lost his mask in the main event. The match featured four luchadors and guaranteed that one would lose their mask.

The rules were that all four would star inside a steel cage. After two luchadors had escaped, then the final two would have a single’s match. After Pentagon Jr. and Psycho Clown escaped the cage, the match came down to LA Park and El Hijo Del Fantasma.

While speculation had been that LA Park would lose his mask, it was the man known as King Cuerno in Lucha Underground who would drop the fall.

“Some guys in Mexico wear a mask because they’re told to, but it means more when it is passed down from the generation before you,” Fantasma said to Sports Illustrated recently. “Myself, like Rey Mysterio before me, I wear a mask because of my heritage. Rey Mysterio Sr. gave Rey Mysterio Jr. the mask, the name, and the legacy, and that is what happened with me.”

El Hijo Del Fantasma

The popular luchador competes in Mexico as well as with Lucha Underground. Earlier this year, he wrestled several matches for Impact Wrestling. Its possible Impact brings him back when they head to Mexico City for their next set of television tapings.

Fantasma continued to say that Lucha Libre could do a better job of communicating to other wrestling fans about the importance of the mask in Mexico.

“We need to let the American audience know what the mask means because they already dig Lucha Libre. So we’re still in that process, which is a cultural part of Mexico City. It’s more than a sport, it’s a culture. Lucha Libre is in almost every house in Mexico all over the country.”