WWE: Why Hunico, Epico and Primo Are Dead in the Water with Sin Cara Injured

The WWE is supposed to be in the midst of its so-called luchador era, but that has gotten off to a bit of a rocky start. 

Rey Mysterio has been out of action for a few months with yet another knee injury, and after getting suspended this summer for violating the WWE’s Talent Wellness Program, Sin Cara will be out until well into 2012 with a ruptured patella tendon. 

All of a sudden, the WWE’s two biggest lucha libre stars are on the sidelines, and no one seems to know exactly when either of them will be coming back. While that certainly isn’t good news for Mysterio or Sin Cara, it could prove to be just as bad for three other luchadores: Hunico, Epico and Primo. 

Plans seemed to be in place for those three stars to be involved in a long-running program with Sin Cara, and that was about the best situation they could have hoped to be in.

Sin Cara is pushed as one of the WWE’s top mid-card baby faces, and had he not gotten hurt, Hunico, Epico and Primo all likely would have had prominent mid-card roles for at least the next few months. 

But, now, they’re kind of just there. 

Hunico has proven week in and week out that he can be a reliable mid-card worker, Primo’s much better than his spot in the WWE indicates and Epico looks like he has a lot of potential. But I liken their situations to that of Alberto Del Rio’s upon his debut in 2010. 

Before ADR even debuted in the company, the money matchup that most of us wanted to see was Del Rio vs. Mysterio. We got it right away, and it turned out to be very good. 

Well, with Mysterio out of action and Del Rio working as a heel, the money matchup we wanted to see from Epico, Hunico and Primo was a feud with the WWE’s top luchador at the moment, Sin Cara. But, thanks to Sin Cara’s injury, that can’t happen for a while. 

And that sucks for Hunico, Epico and Primo. 

There’s still a chance that we see the creative team go in a different direction with these three guys now, and in fact, there is one possible plan for the trio. 

From F4Wonline.com (via WrestleNewz.com): 

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More of the same regarding luchador Averno finally coming to WWE. Averno recently lost his one singles title with the CMLL promotion in Mexico, which immediately started the talk up of him leaving for the WWE roster. 

Averno’s WWE debut faces another roadblock this time as Sin Cara is injured and out of action until some time in 2012. The upside for Averno is that WWE may bring him up now to feud with Hunico, Epico and Primo since Cara is out. 

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Oh yeah, and another one from F4Wonline.com (via WrestleNewz.com):  

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More victims of re-writes at RAW this past week were Rosa Mendes, Primo Colon, Hunico and Epico. Reportedly, WWE officials had plans to begin a storyline with the new stable. 

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I’d be a big supporter of either or both of these things happening, but as you can see, these reports are filled with words like “may” and “plans.” In the WWE, those words usually translate to “probably not” and “there’s a slight chance that…” 

The WWE is notorious for changing its plans or scrapping them altogether, especially when the focal piece of said plans (in this case, Sin Cara) is out, and every plan the company comes up with afterward is probably nothing more than a back-up plan. 

It would be wise for the WWE to keep Hunico, Epico and Primo around, and keep them relevant. In fact, either one of those proposed storylines above would do so. 

But, just like Del Rio’s debut probably would have suffered had there been no Mysterio on the roster at the time, the early portions of the careers of Epico and Hunico will take a hit as well now that Sin Cara’s gone. 

I might actually look at their situations optimistically if it wasn’t for the awful timing of Sin Cara’s injury. There’s no doubt that Sin Cara is the one luchador who the WWE is committed to pushing, so he likely would have gotten the heel trio a prominent spot at The Royal Rumble and WrestleMania 28. 

With Sin Cara out of action and the WWE slowly but surely approaching WrestleMania season, however, the WWE’s main focus will be on it building up to its top programs for the granddaddy of them all. 

And, with all due respect to Hunico, Epico and Primo, those guys aren’t going to get the spotlight in Miami.