Hopefully, when people watch 'Lucha Underground' and WWE, Ring of Honor, New Japan, AAA, and any other promotion out there, they fall in love with pro wrestling. Pro wrestling, as it affects pop culture, is bigger than any one promotion.
What excited me about Ring Of Honor, again, was that promotion is based, for the most part, on in-ring action. And I felt like I, as this character, I feel like it has so much potential to do some really great things and touch people more than any pro wrestling match could.
Back in the day, when I was getting into the business, you could watch Pro Wrestling Noah. You could watch Ring Of Honor Wrestling, and a lot of people would say, 'the best wrestling in the world is actually at Ring Of Honor.'
I trained at All Pro Wrestling in the U.S. Later, I signed up with the New Japan Pro Wrestling. Then WWE noticed me.
'Lucha Underground' really is the first episodic professional wrestling show. There are storylines in every promotion, but the way 'Lucha Underground' is crafted really is more of a TV show than your traditional wrestling show.
Regardless of who leaves and who stays, Ring of Honor is going to continue to be a healthy, growing, successful pro wrestling promotion.
'Lucha Underground' is like a combination of Lucha Libre, American Pro Wrestling, and gridy action films. It's got a lot of things I like - action, wrestling, and really good storytelling.
I think Ring of Honor is becoming a legitimate threat in the world of pro wrestling. To say that Ring of Honor would be WWE is getting a little bit ahead of yourself. At the same time, I think Ring of Honor can definitely be a place where guys can make a living.
My favorite part of working with 'Lucha Underground' is learning more Lucha, combining that with my WWE psychology, and taking wrestling to a place we've never seen before in the evolution of wrestling.
Many people ask me about WWE and if I'd go to WWE in the future. They ask me if I'm going now. I will not go. I want to make New Japan Pro-Wrestling bigger.
I feel like I started with wrestling, and a love of pro wrestling, that lead me to MMA and the UFC. And now it's come full circle back to pro wrestling.
For me, there are so many art forms in wrestling. There's the Ring of Honor art, the New Japan art, so whatever you enjoy, there's a facet of wrestling out there for you to watch.
'Lucha Underground' is a combination of new psychology, new moves, and a new take on wrestling: an evolution of wrestling. In my opinion, it is entertaining. It is the kind of wrestling I want to watch. It is the kind of stories I want to tell, which is why I intend to be part of it.
The generally big places in the world, the big countries for pro wrestling or lucha libre are Mexico, U.S.A., Japan, and U.K. And now WWE is in all countries and it's different.
I love what I'm seeing out there with Pro Wrestling Syndicate, Northeast Wrestling, Big Time Wrestling, and WildKat in New Orleans. There is a lot of good stuff out there.
When I was growing up, I thought there was only WWE. That's it. One promotion in the world. And then, as I grew up, I found that there's local wrestling. There's WCW, there's ECW. In Mexico, there are the luchadores. And then, finally, I realized there's wrestling in Japan.
I'm going to show you how we do it in New Japan Pro Wrestling. That's what you get whenever I wrestle, whoever's in the ring with me.