Albert Perez
Sports Editor Angeleno NewsAlbert Pérez is the sports editor at AngelenoNews.com. He is a former sports writer at LA Times, Sporting News, HOY Newspaper, among others. He has...Read more
The Mexican holidays, which include Mexican Independence Day weekend and Cinco de Mayo, are undoubtedly among the most lucrative times of the year for Las Vegas.
Since U.S. businesses began recognizing the enormous purchasing power of the Latino market in the early 1990s, the gambling capital has rolled out the red carpet to attract Spanish-speaking visitors, particularly those of Mexican descent, who come to celebrate and spend during these holidays. That has included a steady lineup of major entertainment events designed to appeal to their culture.
According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Mexican Independence Day weekend in 2025 recorded a citywide hotel occupancy rate of 94.4%, making it the 12th-busiest weekend of the year.
Carín León’s historic run of concerts, which made him the first Latino artist to perform at the lavish Sphere, has also proved to be a major box-office success during this year’s Mexican Independence Day celebrations. According to Pollstar Boxoffice, a publication and data provider specializing in the global live entertainment industry, the first three shows of the run, from Sept. 4-6, generated nearly $10 million in revenue.
Although music concerts account for a large share of the entertainment Las Vegas offers during the Mexican holidays, combat sports — particularly boxing — remain among the biggest draws.
The major events featuring legendary Mexican boxer Julio César Chávez Sr. helped open the door for Mexican music stars such as Vicente Fernández, Juan Gabriel and Luis Miguel, among others, to perform in the gambling capital each September and May.
After Chávez, other fighters of Mexican descent, including Óscar de la Hoya, Saúl “Canelo” Álvarez and, this year, Ryan García, have become fixtures of the lucrative Mexican holidays in Las Vegas.
But there is another combat sport that has the potential to become a Las Vegas attraction during these celebrations.
It is a spectacle that is more Mexican than street tacos.
It is lucha libre.
On Friday at MGM Grand Garden Arena, Lucha Libre AAA presented the first night of its annual marquee event, TripleMania 34 Noche 1.
It was an entertaining night in which the “Caravana Estelar” showcased some of its biggest current stars, including Psycho Clown, Mr. Iguana and Los Perros del Mal, alongside stars from its parent company, WWE, including Rey Mysterio, El Grande Americano and Dominik Mysterio.
The card, filled with high-flying moves and wrestling holds, was headlined by a “David vs. Goliath” matchup between Rey Mysterio and Nigerian giant Omos. It was an action-packed contest in which Rey, strapped to a stretcher, was brutally slammed onto a table by an opponent who stood nearly a foot and a half taller than him, leaving the crowd stunned.
TripleMania 34 Noche 1 was originally scheduled to take place at the theater inside the Luxor hotel, also in Las Vegas. The venue holds up to 1,500 people. But about six weeks before the event, WWE, which purchased AAA in March 2025, moved the card to the iconic and much larger MGM Grand Garden Arena, a venue that has hosted several historic boxing matches and can accommodate as many as 17,000 fans.
The move came after what WWE described as “extraordinary demand” to see the “Caravana Estelar.”
According to several reports, about 6,433 tickets were sold for the event. While it was not a massive crowd, it was a solid figure considering that the full card — including the Rey Mysterio vs. Omos main event — did not come together until a week before the show.
More importantly, the event demonstrated that AAA’s lucha libre shows have the potential to become a profitable attraction during Mexican holidays in Las Vegas.
During Mexican Independence Day weekend in 2025, AAA held Worlds Collide at the Thomas & Mack Center. It was the company’s second event on U.S. soil after joining forces with WWE. The show drew only 2,485 fans in a venue with a capacity of roughly 20,000.
Overall, however, interest in AAA in the United States is clearly growing. The 2026 edition of Worlds Collide, featuring wrestlers from AAA and WWE and scheduled for later this month in the Chicago area, has already sold more than 10,000 tickets despite no matches having been announced.
The U.S. audience is the primary viewership for the “Caravana Estelar’s” programming on YouTube. In Mexico and the rest of Latin America, AAA programming airs on FOX Sports.
Since AAA’s weekly show, produced by WWE, began airing on both companies’ YouTube channels in English and Spanish, it has averaged more than 200,000 viewers. Two days after TripleMania 34 Noche 1, the event had already accumulated nearly 1 million views.
In a recent interview on the Varsity Podcast, WWE President Nick Khan said the company is currently making all of AAA’s programming available for free on YouTube to expand the brand’s reach. He believes the strategy is working.
“YouTube, obviously, is free globally, so you’re seeing significant audience growth in our Lucha Libre AAA product,” Khan said.
One of the key factors that could help AAA become a regular attraction during Mexican holidays in Las Vegas is the machinery behind the brand. AAA and WWE are both owned by TKO Group Holdings, a sports and entertainment company with a significant presence and influence in the gambling capital.
The last two editions of WWE’s marquee event, WrestleMania, were held in Las Vegas. TKO also owns UFC, the world’s largest MMA promotion.
For nearly three decades, UFC, which is based in Las Vegas, has staged major events in the city. In 2023, with the goal of attracting the audience traveling to Las Vegas for Mexican Independence Day celebrations, UFC President Dana White created the annual Noche UFC event. The card celebrates Mexican heritage and features fighters of Mexican and Latino descent.
The first two editions of Noche UFC were held in Las Vegas. The most recent, in 2024, was staged as an immersive spectacle at the Sphere.
But over the last two years, White and TKO have focused on the centerpiece of Mexican holidays in Las Vegas: boxing.
In 2025, TKO promoted the Canelo-Crawford fight, which drew 70,482 fans to Allegiant Stadium and generated a $47.2-million gate. This year, the company staged Ryan García vs. Conor Benn, which drew a reported sellout crowd 18,855 fans to T-Mobile Arena.
Albert Pérez is the sports editor at AngelenoNews.com. He is a former sports writer at LA Times, Sporting News, HOY Newspaper, among others. He has a degree in Communications from Cal Poly Pomona. A passionate journalist loves controversial topics and sports statistics. He won three editions of the national competition “Sabio de la República” on Univision's República Deportiva.
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