Santos Escobar reemerges as Romeo Malverde after WWE release

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Two days before he was free to start wrestling outside WWE, Santos Escobar sent a message to two of his former bosses at the company, president Nick Khan and chief content officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque. I gave everything and that’s what was taken, no regrets. Grateful for the people, the places and circumstances I was put in. I’ll keep growing my legend and my indentation in the industry. Watch me Paul and Nick. 2 dias: WWE. I gave everything and that’s what was taken, no regrets. Grateful for the people, the places and circumstances I was put in. I’ll keep growing my legend and my indentation in the industry. Watch me Paul and Nick. Lo di todo y eso es lo que se tomó de mi. Sin… pic.twitter.com/U1Zk82BVpQ — Romeo Malverde 💀❤️‍🔥🇲🇽 (@JBElFantasma) July 21, 2026 Those two days have passed, and he’s no longer Santos Escobar. WWE owns that name. We’re pretty sure AAA owned El Hijo del Fantasma, the name he worked under both there and in CMLL, so WWE probably owns that now too. The other identity Escobar (real name Jorge Bolly) used back before he unmasked, King Cuerno, is locked in the Lucha Undergound Temple, which seems unlikely to ever open again. He’s now Romeo Malverde, which he unveiled when posting this video saying goodbye to his WWE identity. Renovation through expiration. Hasta siempre emperador Santos. BIENVENIDO ROMEO MALVERDE pic.twitter.com/WL8rMIfiVZ — Romeo Malverde 💀❤️‍🔥🇲🇽 (@JBElFantasma) July 24, 2026 While I was trying to decide what I think of Romeo Malverde, a reply to his post took Manolo down an internet wormhole on the legend of Jesus Malverde, an unofficial or folk saint from the Mexican state Sinoloa who is sometimes called “the patron saint of drug dealers”, but who for many is known as the Robin Hood-like “angel of the poor”. Is that what Romeo was going for? Seems like it’s a reference he could employ as a face/tecnico or heel/rudo, and either way you can’t go wrong with a myth-based wrestling name, can you? It’s certainly different than his WWE one… Let us know what you think of the name Romeo Malverde, and what’s next for him outside WWE and AAA.