Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Kalisto on his WWE release, Rey Mysterio mask vs. mask match, Lucha House Party

Episode Date: July 15, 2021

Kaliso (aka Samuray Del Sol) is a professional wrestler and entrepreneur. He joins Chris Van Vliet from his home in Orlando, FL to talk about his 8-year career in WWE and being released in April of this year, what his plans are next, the businesses that he has started, his love of horror movies, the storyline he pitched for a mask vs. mask match with Rey Mysterio, the meaning behind his luchador mask, why his wife "Lady Lucha" wears a mask, how he transformed his body and got into incredible shape and much more! Submit your Blue Wire Hustle application here: http://bwhustle.com/join If you enjoyed this episode, could I ask you to please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcast/iTunes? It takes less than a minute and makes a huge difference in helping to spread the word about the show and also to convince some hard-to-get guests. For more information about Chris and INSIGHT go to: https://chrisvanvliet.com Follow CVV on social media: Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Well, here we go, my friends. Welcome back to another audio adventure here on the podcast, here on InSight. I'm Chris Van Vleet, and thank you for deciding to put on our show in a sea of other podcasts out there. I appreciate you listening to ours and for coming back each and every episode. And this is a special one. Palisto, Samurai del Sol, Manny, whatever you want to call him, he does not do a lot of interviews. Like at all. In fact, the only other podcast that he's ever done, done was Stone Cold Steve Austin's podcast, and we're talking years ago. So this conversation here today is the first and only one that he's doing since being released by WWE back in April after eight years with the company. So I'm super honored to have him with us. I'm honored that he would trust us with this conversation. And I want to thank you for being along with us on this ride. Take a screenshot.

Let us know that you're hanging out. Tag him on social media. he's at Samurai del Sol on Instagram, and he's at gloat on Twitter. That's gloat. G-L-O-A-T for greatest luchador of all time. Tag me. I am at Chris Van Fleet.

And I really appreciate these reviews that you guys keep leaving on Apple Podcast. And I'm going to keep reading one out on every single episode as my small token of appreciation to you. I know a lot of podcasts, like give out their PayPal and say, if you want a shout on the show,

you just got to pay PayPal me $5. Well, that's not how it works here on Insight. If you want a review, just, or if you want a shout out, just leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Leave a few words, leave a few emojis. Leave the poop emoji. I've said that before, but sure,

there's actually been a few people that have left the poop emoji. And I appreciate you for that. Five stars and a poop emoji. Hmm. Adam, in my home in native land in Canada, who goes by the username Massonite, says the best.

I'm honestly not much of a podcast guy, but I really enjoy Chris. He's always very positive, and his podcasts and videos always get me, give me something to look forward to. I appreciate his unbiased approach and variety of guests on his show.

If you like wrestling, you need to subscribe. I'd give him 100 stars if I could. Thank you for keeping us entertained during these crazy times, and I look forward to seeing what 2021 brings you. Hopefully, an interview with Triple H. Take care and stay safe, Adam.

Well, an interview with Triple H would be great. I mean, I had a poster of him on my bedroom wall when I was 16 for, well, not just when I was 16, for a lot of years in high school. So it would be so great to come full circle. So we'll throw that out into the universe. But Adam, thank you so much. I hope that you're staying safe up there in Canada. Thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule of Tim Hortons and Swiss chalet to leave a review. All my Canadian friends are going, oh, I know, I know what Swiss chalet is and everyone else was like, what's a Swiss chalet? It's only the best rotissory chicken. Oh, man, aside from missing like my family and friends, of course, because I haven't

been able to travel back to Canada and a long time because of COVID, I definitely miss Swiss chalet and that chalet sauce. All right. I am pumped for this one, so let's dive right into it. Please welcome Samurai del Sol, aka Culleystone. Thank you so much for coming on. Thank you. Should I call you Manny? Is that the best thing to call you? You can call me Manny, Carnal, Manny Money Productions, Lote, Samurai del Sol.

Call me, Manny. You're the man of many names. You're the man of many names. You reference the name that you're going to be going by now. I think most people will be watching this knowing you as Calisto, but it's now Samurai del Sol. Samurai del Sol. It's the name that I first started with.

Actually, I started with Samurai first. Then I had a spell differently with a Y, just to be different, than Samurai del Sol. So I started as Samurai del Sol in Chicago, and that's where I adopted the name and everything else is history. So this isn't a new name by any means. This is you going back to your roots, really. Yes, going back to my roots, exactly what you said. Yeah. That's exactly what I'm doing.

Everything behind you here is just so fascinating to me. We're in your office right now. Is that right? Yes, sir. Oh, we're going to get a little tour here. Oh, my gosh. So the thing about this, I get to step back and just see everything that I have and what I accomplished is very emotional. very emotional

I mean when we look at all this stuff you're like a big kid we've got Superman we've got a lot of horror stuff oh yeah we see Freddie Kruger's head next to you yeah right there oh yeah there's my wife's accomplishments

on the corner right there you see more Chuckies on top but yeah have a little bit of everything so you're obviously a huge horror fan yeah definitely that makes me happy. I grew up watching horror movies

all my life, so just I love it. All right, so what's the go-to horror franchise for you? Believe it or not, when I was a kid, all I watched was him. That's terrifying.

Come on. Yeah, like, believe it or not, even my wife, like, oh, you love Chuckie? I was terrified at Chuck E. I was like, whoa. But, all right, we're meant for each So, all right, cool. But, yeah, actually, you know, horror movies, it just takes me away.

It makes me feel happy. You know, when you have this one favorite movie, you just want to watch it just because it makes you feel good. That's why I always went to that. I don't know why horror movies, but I was just always thrilled with horror movies, and I love special effects. And I can go long, long. I was talking about special effects because I'm a big horror movie fan.

And speaking of special effects, I had the honor to have Tom Savini and his crew, Jason, too. They did an amazing mass for me at WrestleMania, and it was awesome. It was really great. Sex machine, you know, big shout out, bro. Yeah, it was really cool. Like, I was really, I'm really blessed to have the opportunity. opportunity to work with people like them, you know, work with celebrities, work with everyone, and just knowing people. I'm blessed. I'm blessed to have had the opportunity to travel the world

and do what I do. So I get to step back and see what I have and see what's next, you know. Well, you have traveled the world and obviously this, you know, this is not even close to the end. You're really just getting started here. I also feel like you probably spent more time at home over the last year than you had for most of your career. Well, you know what? That's really hard because I'm going to go talk about the time when I got injured. I got injured back in 2019. That was a life-changing experience for me because let me just throw this out there two months

before, I was in a bad place. You know, when things don't go the right way, the way you want it to be planned, it's just, it's just you get in your head. So I was in my own head. I was just going through so much stress. And two months before I got injured, I reached out. out to one of my good friends that passed away, Luke Harper, Brody Lee.

Yeah. And I was looking at actually, right before talking to you, I was looking at his text messages, his last text messages that he sent me. And I actually reached out to him. And he's like, hey, bro. Man, I wish I could show you right now. But it's like, hey, no, usual, how are you? How's everything?

I was a family. First of all, he's like, who's this? It's new number. Like, it's Maddie, Calisto, bro. Like, oh, what's all? This is that. All right, cool. After all that.

He's like, how's everything? And I just looked, I looked at my response. And I responded to him trying to reach God. I'm like, why did I text? I'm like, oh, man, I was in a bad place. I was in a bad place. And his response, he was like, how's that going? I'm like, ah, good old him.

I love him. He was so great, man. Yeah, I was like, no, you know, it's just, I was playing to him and stuff. Like, but no, everything's going to be great. No. And he says, the last thing he told me, it's like, I miss the boys. And I'm like, I miss you, bro. I like, that's the last thing he told me.

I miss the boys. Wow. And, oof, maybe I just get chills. Just think about it because like, I actually, like, you know, I reached out to him and he listened and, you know, it's just, it's hard, you know, like, I was looking through those text messages, like I said, just grateful for talking to you and just to get my mind flowing and just what is it that I've been through? Because I've been through so much.

I've been through so much. So after that, two months later, that December in 2019, I got hurt at the Staples Center. I got hurt at the Staple Center in 2019. It was last week of December. I signed on a Friday, my new contract, and I got hurt on a Sunday. So when I got hurt, I believe, like, I just got all of a sudden super worse than that.

I got super sick. Then I got home. I went to the hospital. And I told my wife, like, I'm not feeling good. There's something wrong with me that bad. Throughout the whole flight, man, it was the worst. I had the worst pain. On top of that, I was super sick, me not knowing.

And it was just back in 2019. So I'm just telling you what I went through. This is my breaking point that opened me up and just helped me be awake. I'm just going backwards. So this is what happened. Once I got back to Orlando, went to the hospital and they told me, you have 105 fever. Do you feel sick? I'm like, no, it's just my shoulder.

I'm in a lot of pain. I keep shaking. Like you have a, you have a raptured. Not rapture. They have a torn shoulder. I don't know how I say rapture. Like a torn rotator cuff? Yeah.

I have a slight tear on my shoulder. And you could have surgery. That's optional. They told me, but that's TP-1. I'm like, no, of course. I'm trying to avoid surgery as much as possible. So on top of that, I'm super sick. So they gave me Percocet.

They gave me Percocet. And I'm just like with the pain, just give me anything. I'm in pain. And I just feel like a zombie. Like, man, that is the worst ever. So I was going through hell that night. And, and again, I was in a bad place.

I was falling out of love of wrestling because I was in a bad place. You know, I was listening to Buddy Murphy's interview with you. And we have a lot of similarities, a lot. But obviously, different paths. Sure. So, and I have a lot of respect for Buddy, Matt. So yeah, and I was in a bad place. Yeah.

I couldn't go. I couldn't go to the hospital. I couldn't go to therapy. I was at home stuck. Being sick for seven days, I'm assuming I had the COVID. It sounds like maybe you had COVID before COVID was really. Nobody knew what COVID was. And I had it really bad.

And on top of that, I had a rotation. I had a rotator, like, what is that? A tear, yeah, tear. Yeah, tear. So, yeah, man, I was going through a lot. It's just, I was having a mental breakdown. So on top of that, the media, you know how media is, man. I have a love and hate relationship with media, social media.

but then again, you know, I can't hate social media because that's where all my fans are. Sure. They, you know, they rely on me. Right. But then they're the other fans that kind of ruin everything, you know? So, I mean, that's just nature. It's just nature. That's what it is.

So the thing with me, I was in a bad spot. And believe it or not, like, I even thought about, well, I was driving me with one arm. Like, what the hell am I going to? to do now. Like, I feel throughout my whole life, my whole career, no matter what I did, I just

felt underutilized, undervalued, no matter what I did. But that's why I believe in myself, and I'm a human being. Yeah. We can go off track really easily.

But it's just, takes so much for you to get back on track. And especially with something that you love and you can't control, and you work so hard for it. And you just see no change. So it's just the worst, it's a really bad feeling because as one of the few Latinos that in sports entertainment, my major goal is to be a,

a symbol outside of wrestling. Not just Lucha Libre. Lucha means to fight. So, and I've always said this to all my interviews. There was always one fan in Mexico. She dressed like me. She said, I'm not a Lucha fan. I'm not a Lucha Dibre fan.

But you inspired me so much of your scream, Lucha, Lucha. And I'm like, why is that? I'm picking her brain. Why is that? It's because you're a fight, your scream. Every time you're down, you fight, you struggle. It's that fight of the struggle that made me want to be a doctor. I'm like, oh my God.

And I just wanted to cry. I wanted to cry. I'm like, man, I'm like, please wear this US title. Please take a picture with me. You inspired me. So like that moment right there, and I'm like, this is what I need to do. Not just wrestling. it's more than that.

My mask means more than that. I want everyone to wear my mask that is not even a Lucha Libre fan, but it's a symbol. It's a symbol that no matter what you can do, you can be a superhero. You can also be the symbol of hope. Yeah. No matter what.

But like I said, we're all human. We need that motivation. And it's just really hard to find that motivation that it factor in you. Yeah. So, I mean, you were going through a lot here, Manny. What was it that helped you to get out of that? I know I'm going all over the place with this, but we got all day. It's great.

No, no, no, no. Like my stories are like all over the place. It's not even like in the right. When I was going with this is because it like me being injured. Like I thought I thought about so much. It's just like what I was saying when I was driving, I was in a bad place. I even thought about driving off. sometimes because like I it's like no matter what I did it's just I couldn't you know like like what can

I do what can I do to to to make people happy you know yeah and then I realize you know what I myself am not happy I'm I got to change I got to stop what people I got to stop what people are thinking about me and just think about myself I've never done that. I'm always been nice. I'm always been, I'm always done everything right by the book. And it's just like, and I worked so hard. And Vince even told me that you're such a hard worker.

I'm like, Vince, you know, I'm a hard worker. So yeah, cool. So we always had a good relationship. I just wish we talked more and we just didn't get that chance. You know, that's one thing I, that's one of my biggest regrets. I'll go back to that. Remind me my biggest regrets is not going back to Vince and pitching him my pitch, my idea that I had. What was it?

Yeah, I mean, we can talk about it right now. What was the idea? Well, pretty much the whole world knew except for Vince, a mask versus mask against Ray. And I had Ray's blessing, Dominic's blessing. I have everyone. Like, they all love the idea. Yeah. Paul Heeman.

I showed it to Paul. And he's like, this is genius. Go. Do it. All right. This is great. This dude is like, wow. Mass versus mask.

Oh, man. It's just something that it's such a good story. I kind of don't want to reveal it. But it's that good that that's my biggest regret not talking to Vince about it. And right before I was going to talk to him, the following week, that's when I got released. Wow. Were you prepared to wrestle without a mask if you lost that match? I was prepared for anything.

I had such a great story that nobody would expect it. So for Paul Heiman to say that's genius, to me that's like, I got something. Yeah. I got something. Everybody, the right, everybody loved it. I even showed it to Daddy Bryant. Edge. They loved it.

But I was, it's my own fault. You know? I should have just, you know, gone. Do you think in some sort of way, had you pitched this to Vince, had Vince loved this idea, you might not have been released, is that what you're thinking? I believe so. Really? I believe so, because it was such a good story.

Not only that, I chose to better myself. I chose to be different. Make my promos better. Have a Hollywood acting coach. Help me with my promos. Wow. And on top of that, coming back in the best shape in my life.

Yeah, definitely. Like, I laid everything down. Like, you know, I, that's why I let my action speak. Because words speak,

they're useless. I'd rather see action. Sure. You know? But it just takes so much. Like I said, I am human. Yeah. When you work so hard for something and you see everything around you, it's like, man, you ask yourself, why?

Why? Maybe I'm not working hard enough. Let me work harder. Even more harder. Let me be more wiser. It's still not enough. It's still not enough. You know, that was my whole career, pretty much.

My whole life. I've always been underutilized. And, but then again, they're like, whoa, what a great show, this and that. I'm like, all right, cool. Put me your main event. You know? So I bring you, like even before WWB, hey, can you do that crazy, flip this and that? And it's like, all right, cool, but you know, you're asking too much of me.

So, you know, I don't know where I was going with this, but it's just, I'm a human being. It's hard. But at the same time, I look at what I've built and what I went through, I have no connections. I had no friends to begin with in wrestling. I had no family relatives in Lucha Libre or in wrestling in general. I knew nobody. Everything on my own. I went out there and got it.

I went out there and talked to people. Just like when I went out in the WWE, I went out there in the red carpets. I went out there on the Latino game shows. I went out there and did publicity in all the Latino markets, Telemundo, Televisa, everything. Nobody else has done that. Nobody. I'm the only one doing all of that.

And then again, I'm the one trying to make a difference. I'm just saying that even being in GQ, Mexico, it's a big deal. And to me, it still doesn't hit me until now. I look at this and just like, I look at this. And it's just like, I look at this every day. That's pretty badass. And I tell myself, look at what you accomplished. Yeah, GQ.

GQ, Mexico. But now it's just, I don't know. Well, you've had this. I'm really out of words, man, because I'm still, I guess I'm still in shock. I'm still in all. I'm guessing you didn't expect to be released. back in April. No.

But then again, deep down I did because I wanted to lay down everything on the table and say here. I'm giving you my best. You either take it or you don't. They didn't.

So I feel good. You feel okay. You've had this countdown on your website, samuraidelsolde.com. And I kind of feel like it's a countdown to one chapter of your life ending and now another chapter of your life beginning. It's basically the countdown was to when your 90 days, your 90 day compete would end.

So, you know, as we, as this is published, the countdown's now down to zero. So one chapter's done. New chapter begins now. My chapter begins now. And it begins with my projects. Candela Labs. It's a CBD company that I've been working on for the past couple years, and it's going to launch soon. You can follow it at Candela Labs on Instagram and on Twitter. And I'm going to be promoting it. So it's my own CBD company. And it all came from experience.

I didn't know anything about CBD, but after years of research and experiencing CBD, for me, from my personal experience, and I even wrote it down on my Instagram, like me going upstairs, downstairs in general, it's just my knees started hurt, my back, everything, but once I started CBD, because on the road, I was taking Tadano, Adaville, anything for pain. I'm like, man, it's just like, I'm, you have to keep in mind. I'm a small guy. But I flip and I'm a hard hitter too.

So I'm beating my body every day. And I was taking Tylenol and Adelville like Skittles. And I knew this was going to be bad in the long run. So man, like, man, I'm in pain. What can I do? So then I started CBD. I just kept hurting about it, hearing about it. And it's just like, all right, CBD, CBD.

But it's just, But okay, let me just try it. So I once researched and I tried it, it just changed my life. It changed me until the body transformation, too, that you see on my Instagram photos. That actually helped me too. So that helped my mindset. You're more ripped than we've ever seen. I'm trying, man.

It's not easy. It's not easy. Coming back, coming back. That was my major, my major goal. So I got hurt. I got hurt. I'm going back. I got her back in 2019.

I got COVID, I thought. And I was injured for, I was out for like eight months. I did my own therapy, my own fitness, workouts, therapy, yeah, all that stuff. But then, like, I guess we were allowed back to the performance center. And I started going here and there. and I started doing my own thing. My major focus is to have one goal, is to when I come back, have all eyes on me.

Not only they're going to see me, my new look, they're going to see my body. And that was my major goal. And that's exactly what happened. I came back, oh, hi, hi. Even when I went to talk to Vince, one time I just decided to show up at the Emory Center. And I stayed

I stayed back And I talked to Vince I had a big shirt on I said I said impossible Just out of I just wanted to wear it Because I like him seeing that And I see if he gets it No it is possible

So I wear a big shirt And I'm just like covered so he won't see That I'm ripped So I'm like all right cool So I do it And I come back We did this segment this and that, and I go inside the office.

I guess they were inside a meeting. I think Shane was in there, Vince. Kitch you not. I turn around and I look at Vince, hey boss, how you doing? He's like, God damn, they're fucking rinse. Oh, shit. Yeah, exact words.

I'm like, oh, he said, holy shit, they're fucking writs. Like, man, that was awesome. Like, hey, my exact words, I don't know. Why? Like, I looked at myself. Like, you know what? This is my, I don't give a body. You know?

Thank you, boss. I'm ready. I don't give him. Yeah. I'm ready. So do you think that impressed him and made him go, okay, well, we've got to use Calisto a little bit more now? So my promos, I started doing my promos here and there.

And they're like, man, you promise have gotten better, this and that. I'm like, all right, well, because I was having an acting coach helping me. Yeah. The Hollywood acting coach. That is so smart. And I think that more wrestlers need to go down that path. Yes. You're trying to tell a story.

And that's, I mean, who tells a story better than Hollywood? Exactly. Because WWE is, it's a movie. You know, you got to tell stories. And nowadays, every year, wrestling has changed. Everything's entertainment, you know. And before anything, for me, I've learned so much throughout the years. I'm a businessman first before being a wrestler.

That's one advice. I will tell to all the wrestlers, everybody out there, all the luchadors, everybody up and coming. Be a businessman first. Be smart with what you're doing with your character. Be smart. And yeah, don't take shitty bookings. Earn your status.

Also, you know, work hard. Yeah, see what connects. But then again, it's a balance of everything. It's also about who you know and what connections. It's a balance of life. Yeah. Everything. You mentioned the CBD company is a big thing you're going to be doing, you know, post-WB.

Yes, Candela. Wrestling. Where might we see you next? Well, before I say that, let me talk about my other. project. That's, it's called Lucha Eats. Lucha Eats is where I'm a big fan of food. And I'm a big, actually, one of the big, big, big major things why I wanted to do Lucha Eats is because not only I like supporting local businesses and helping people out there, because I've done that myself.

I, I had my first job when I was six. I used to sell cheaplys, gum in the streets in Mexico City. Wow. I used to sell, like, pieces of gum. But that's how I got my toys and my candy. So my dad was like, yeah, you can have everything you want. Yeah, just go get a job. I'm like, all right.

Yeah, that's, you know, that's how I learned because I've always earned everything from me working my ass off. Yeah. You know? So, yeah. And with Lucha eats, that's what I'm going to be doing. I'm going to be traveling to Texas. And I'm going to be collabing with the Taco King. The Taco King.

Texas. You can follow them at Eatmigos and you can follow us on Lucha Eats. We'll be starting soon. So that's something that I'm cooking up and I'm very excited about. So Candela, Lucha Eats and Lucha Family where I'll be traveling to doing a bunch of shenanigans, training, you name it, everything. Yeah. So you can see at Lucha Family little videos of what I've done so you can see a little glimpse of everything. And yeah, I'm excited. And a little bit of wrestling peppered in there as well, I'm guessing. A little bit of wrestling peppered in there.

But I'm taking my time with wrestling because, like I said, it's been really hard for me. And it's just here and there. I only talk to a few people. I don't talk to anybody as much. as one person for sure Sasha that's my girl Apollo Cruz

that's my boy I talked to a few people not a lot but Sasha is my sister you know and that she's always been there she was actually there when I got the call along with my wife

and yeah I was I mean I'm just I was just happy I was just happy to be surrounded by the friends and people I love around me, you know? It sounds like in a way

like you've got like almost like a broken heart from wrestling. Like, you know, like you're really like it's definitely hurt you this situation. Well, man. I want, I don't know, it's just, it's really hard, man. Like I want us to take this to the next level,

you know, with, wrestling. It's not just wrestling. I wanted to expand it more. The gap between WWB and the Latino market needs to change. I think so. And I believe it can't. Little by little, everything's changing. But we'll see. We'll see how it goes, you know. We'll see. You know, you've mentioned your mask a few times, and I actually want to know the history behind your mask, because every Luchador has a story behind their masks. So what's the story behind the mask that you wear? Well, besides, I mean, this mask, it's very new, and it's a remembrance of my very, very, where is it? Oh, I thought I had it up there.

I have to have a junior mask because of the tail. So I'll tell you this, I'll tell you about this mask later. Sure. Let me tell you. Let me show you this one. I'm going to show you my Chucky one real quick. Chucky inspired. Oh, yeah, that's badass.

But I'm going to tell you about the spikes, see the way. So each spike represents the style that I developed throughout the years, Lucha Libre, Japanese, and American. Well, I left the American style in the middle because WWE has his own style. It's their own style. I'm glad and I was blessed that I went to NXT first because I learned a lot.

And it also made me better. It made me wiser as a wrestler. So yeah, these are the styles that have developed throughout the years. The design of the wing here is the type of high flyer that I am. And the tail in the back will represent the journey. This one's a different tail.

This represents in remembrance of Octagon Jr., which is a big accomplishment in Mexico. Yeah. And every color is, you know, it has meaning to, like, it could be for cancer, diabetes,

for autism, anything. So to me, the mask means a lot. If you're going to wear a mask, I suggest that you take your time and pick every symbol that you feel deep within you that you feel strongly about.

The wing or the type of spikes or why are you going to do that? Why are you going to put that type of tail in the back or something? The type of tail, actually the back of the tail is my very first tattoo. Oh, wow. Yeah. And I see that a lot. I'm like, oh, my tattoo. My tattoo in the back.

My tattoo. So, yeah, it's actually my very first tattoo. And anybody that's seeing your wife knows that your wife also wears a mask. So when did she start wearing a mask? So she started wearing a mask with me. And we started doing all the red carpets, Latin Grammys, the, everything. Even the, the Sien Latinos di Giro, it's kind of like a family feud show. that I had against Ray.

It was me and my family versus Ray and his family. Oh, wow. I'll go and talk about that later. Okay. But, yeah, my wife wears some masks, and she decided to support me. She actually, her first time wearing a mask was in Mexico. Back in 2011, before WWE. We were at this expo called the Expo Lucha.

This huge expo, AAA, all the shows, everybody, all the shows did their shows there. From 8 a.m. till midnight. It was long, long day. So anyways, my wife's like, I'm going to be there for a long. Like, what am I going to do? I'm like, well, you know what?

Let me make you a mask. You're going to come out with me. How about that? So I'm just going to dance all sexy and just take off my jacket. And that's it. All right, cool. I'm like, is there going to be people? I'll probably like 10 people.

It was like 10,000 people. Her first time, like, babe, I'm nervous. What am I going to do? I'm like, no, no, it's okay. Just take off. My jacket. All right. All right.

So it was fun, fun experience. That was her first time. Right. Cool. So she did that a couple of times in Mexico. And that's it. And she wears a mask also because she wants to be a symbol, too, for women empowerment. I'm like, wow, you know, that's actually great.

And that's what your mask represents, even though it has my eyes. Because my eyes is my design. is one and only. That's one thing too about my designs that I make sure that there's not a single eye out there that looks exactly the same. So when I researched and did all my research, because I want to be one and only. I don't want to copy anybody. I don't want to be like anybody else.

I want to be my own person. So to me, the eyes mean everything. It's on my Lucha family logo. It's on my Candela logo. It'll be on everything. So the eyes to me is everything. So that's what I told my wife. And I'm like, yeah, but to me also, it could mean women empowerment.

Like, you know what? That's what it is. Your mask represents women empowerment. My mask will represent hope. And Lucha, Lucha, we all are. We can be, anybody can be part of the Lucha family. We're the mask. So that's what we did in all the red carpets.

And everybody knew us. My major goal is to be to be a start. outside of WW. Even though I know WW is doing a great job, they're doing their job on booking me at the time and getting me out there, this and that. But my wife,

she's the one helping me, letting me know, hey, there's a, while we were so busy, hey, there's a Latin Grammys coming up, this and that. So my wife helped me and their media too. because there weren't there weren't a lot of a lot of Latin people that understand how how we work you know so it's just it was kind of difficult and at first but we made it work we went out there we talked and people knew us hey even though they were not wrestling fans or WWE fans yeah you're that mass wrestler from last year right Calisto and Lady Lucha

Yeah, there you. Yeah, we're Lucia. We're here to support everybody. We're here to make sure that everybody's free. Lucia. Oh, man. Awesome. Awesome.

Making my connections. Working outside of the movie. Just trying to be a voice. Trying to be a voice for everybody. Because that little girl that told me that she wanted to be a doctor, but she was dressed as me from head to toe. And I'm thinking she's a wrestling fan. I'm like, no.

I've watched you. Yeah. You're impressed. me, but you inspired me to be a doctor because of your scream. I'm like, oh, man, still to this day, I still get chills. Just

and going to India, India, no English or Spanish, whatever, but they know Lucia, Lucia, man. So, where did that start? Where did the Lucia chant start? The lucha chant

started in 2010. Okay. In Miami, Florida. When was Miami, Florida, WrestleMania? 2010? That was 20, it was 28. So yeah, that would have been,

no, 28. So that would have been, yeah, damn, 10 years ago or nine years. Yeah, wow, 2012, 2012, I think. 2012, well, I started it back in 2010, 2011-ish, in the beginning right there. So, yeah. I'm going to look it up right now.

Yeah. And I brought it to WWE. And that's something that I've always connected with. WrestleMania 28, 2012. There we go. There we go. All right. So I started,

I started using my Lucha, lucha chant when I was feuding with El Generical. His ole. Yeah. That's catchy. He's connecting with the people. Yeah. How can I connect with the people?

Oh, luca, Luca. all right so then I brought that to the WWE and the rest is history man I'm blessed to have that and I'm blessed to I mean they still play it on raw so it's pretty cool that's true yeah and it I mean

was that chant the genesis for the tag teams the factions that you were part of yeah it is it's the same one I'll tell you how it happened we were in NXT we were trying to figure out a theme song. Like, all, all, well, they say they're going to mince and got a, at the time on NXT. We were just thinking about, like, oh, I wonder what's our engine music going to be.

And all of a sudden, it just happened without nobody telling us. I'm like, oh, that's my voice off a promo. I'm like, oh. I mean, I could have gotten it and record, you know, you could have just told me. And I'm like, well, I'll just go along. Maybe they'll change it. I don't know. Lu chan and they kept it

Oh man, all right, cool I'll go with it Because the one I used to use in the Indies It was more It's called a group called Maching gon And then they go Lucha, Lucia It's like more rock

Yeah, yeah Like oh okay cool But I mean they made it more kid friendly Which I don't mind you know Because my audience My kids, you know And they're all my kids So that's great

So it's just something that I just love seeing them scream blue child loom chat loo chat like that motivates me and and just me remembering that and that that gives me that spark you know and remembering them telling me is like oh i want to be a doctor you inspired me you'll be a wrestler you inspired me to do this but i'm like wow that's that's really amazing that that that to me changes my whole mindset and i need that because again we're all human You know, we need that, we also need that, that gas, you know, to give you that energy, you know, that motivation. You need that motivation.

So that's why to me, still to this day, even thinking about it and talking about it right now because I've been quiet for a while. And that's one of the reasons why I don't like talking as much because I'd rather have my action speak. Just when I came back, I let my actions speak. And I came back, ripped. And I came back, if I'm doing a promo, I'll cut a promo. Just give me an opportunity. You know, don't say, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait an hour. Oh, okay, wait.

Oh, we're about to go live. No, okay, wait. Go, oh, okay. Man, man, where are they going to be messing? All right, cool. Oh, hey. Oh, look your things. Man, I forgot what I was going to say.

That's exactly what happened. I think there's a lot of fans that, you know, if they aren't following the product week to week to week, maybe they don't even know that you speak English. And I think they go, oh, you know, he must be Mexican, he must just speak Spanish. Well, I'll tell you this. Opportunity is everything, right? Right. I'll tell you that. Opportunity is everything. I speak English. I speak Spanish. I'll follow Portuguese. Come on. Well, I think a lot of people are surprised to find. out that you were born in Chicago. So it's actually an amazing story. So born in Chicago, raised in Mexico City, though, right? I was born in Southside, Chicago, and Little Village,

then in Pilsett, then in Archer Heights. Never in Berwyn. I don't know where Wikipedia got that from Berwyn, Illinois. I'm like, come on. I'm from Southside, Chicago. Someone watching this will fix your Wikipedia. So what town should they fix it to? Fix that, please. Or put I'm a Pilsen guy. Someone's going to fix this for you. There you go. Yeah, I grew up in the hood. I grew up in a bad, bad neighborhood.

So pretty much when I was living in Mexico City, I was born in Chicago, then immediately we went back to Mexico City. Why? I don't know. I was a baby. I was there for five, six years. I went to school over there. And so yeah, Spanish was my first language.

Then I picked up English in Chicago. And I was going back and forth every time. So it kind of felt like I was raised both in Chicago and in Mexico. So you see what I'm saying? So I felt like I was raised in both sides. Watching Rucha Libre shows and watching WWE shows at WWF at the time. My very first match that I saw was The Undertaker. I'm like, whoa, this is way different.

Why is it so different than Lucha Libre? Like, man, but I love Octagon. I love El Santo, Blue Dima. The Niablas is one of my favorite ones. Like, man, but this world is different. So, like, I was always balancing, you know, different worlds of, you know, of entertainment. So, once I stayed in Chicago, I stayed, and we, I don't know, I think my parents split. I don't quite recall because I'm the youngest in my family.

So I was never told anything. We were living at a friend's house, I guess, and we hardly had enough for food. We struggled a lot. And I mean, I saw my mom having different jobs here and there. My dad struggling back in Mexico City, but also carrying his businesses too. We were all working back and forth, but we were still kind of connected. But we just went our own ways for, like, maybe it was like, all. Almost close to 10 years.

And how many brothers and sisters do you have? Older sister, older brother. Okay. Nobody loves wrestling except for me. Don't. Yeah. Well, my grandma, thank God. Thank you, grandma.

Because of her, I love wrestling. Wow. And she lived in Mexico at the time. Well, she always lived in Mexico. And she always used to tell me stories that she used to go to Lucha Libre shows, taking her tortas, her big Mexican sandwiches,

and sneak them in her purse and go and watch the shows and stuff. My grandpa did the same thing when I went to go see him a couple years ago before he passed. He told me the same thing, and I told him the same story. But yeah, because of my grandma,

she wanted to be a Luchadora. Like, yeah, you, do Luchabora, Luchadora, my grandma, really? I'm like, all right, she's making me watch these shows. I'm like, all right, cool. It was Octagon and then watching the Santo movies.

I'm like, wow, okay, cool. And because of her, I started loving wrestling, you know, and I felt that I was fulfilling her dream to be a wrestler. And it's from my mom's side. And it's something that it hit me, you know, like when she passed. I'm like, man, like, it's something, ever since I saw that ring on TV, especially with The Undertaker, I told myself,

and it's just a feeling that I felt. I'm like, something tells me that I'm going to be in there. The United States Soccer Federation presents the U.S. soccer podcast. My name is David Goss, and I'm joined by my co-host, Megan Clevenberg. And now we're giving people an inside look at the World Cup. Time's ticking.

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Growing up and watching Lucha Libre and watching WWF, and you said you wanted to do this. Did you have other jobs along the way before you got to ask? Yes, I did. And I'm glad you're asking these questions because I'm forgetful. Please, because I'm going to forget. I had many jobs. I had, from me selling, Um, gum in the streets.

Yeah. I was a waiter with my mom at a big, I think it was like a big factory. It was like a big, it was like a big convenience store, like a big factory full of stores in Chicago. Um, it was, it was called the, I can't remember the name. Anyways, so anyways, I was a waiter, um, eight years old. And I used to make pizza, pizza puffs. Um, I, what else can I do?

I do burgers, hot dogs, you know the basics. I love making pizza puffs. That was my favorite. And that was actually, that was the first time I learned how to hustle in a way. Because I went out there, I'm like, oh, man, this watch is pretty cool. You know, like, hey, man, you got you made really awesome pizzas. Can I have one? Can I have one?

I'm like, I don't know. Here, I'll give you this watch. Oh, well, all right, I'll make you a pizza. But yeah, that's not, you know, I started thinking as a kid. Then I started, I love to work. So, and I used to tell my dad, my dad, what all the jobs can I do? I'm like, well, you can cut the grass,

you go wash the dishes. I'm like, oh, hang. I'm like, all right, cool. And yeah, just like, as a kid, I have always done that. I've done roofing. This is the, oh, man, being a roofer is the toughest job ever.

Construction is so tough. I used to come home every night, just drain, full with mud from head to toe, taking off carpets, wet carpets, stepping on nails and being sick. Oh, dude, it was insane. I've done painting. I've done security.

I've done security for Daddy Yankee. I've done security for Jimmy Buffett. Security for Twista. College graduations, college football games. Northwestern University. my major one I did, always security for every year in high school. I was a librarian. I was, you were a librarian?

Yeah. I worked at a video story with my grandpa every Sunday. I was, let me see, let me see. I did, let me see, I was working at a carpet factory. Oh, my major one, why am I forgetting this? I'm a life skills instructor for the mentally disabled. I did that for three and a half years. And I had 25 clients with different goals and from ages 25 to 75.

I had to bathe them, wash them, teach them their goals, take them to their coach. I had the job coach to their little work that they had. Or like they go to Taco Bell or they have to work. or they have to work there. I have to job coach them. I have to drive them. Sometimes it was hard and rewarding,

but it's a really tough job and not a lot of people can do it because it tends to get, they tend to have accidents, a lot of accidents. I have to shower them. Again, you know, I have to like teach them how to bathe themselves.

So I had a job coach from 11 p.m. till 6 a.m. sometimes, making sure they're good, good, they go to bed, they don't get up at night and snag because they'll choke. I had a big responsibility. It was a huge responsibility. And I'm trying to remember all my jobs. I mean, that's a lot of jobs.

I'm guessing after all of those jobs, we finally come to wrestling. Oh, yeah. Well, after there's many more. I'm just forgetting right now. There's many more. But let me see. After that, well, actually, you know what, besides all those jobs, that I had. At the same time, I was practicing

Lucre Libre, practicing American wrestling at the same time. Is it Chicago? Yeah, in Chicago. And I was working out and trying to catch up with my homework. Never had time to go out with my friends. My friends, I had a few friends, because I was just into myself and my college, and I actually wanted to get better. And, you know, I've always, this is something always that I told myself, I want to get better. I don't think I'm good. If you tell me, man, you're good. I don't think I'm good because I want to get better. I want to get way better. If you tell me I'm good, I'm not good enough. I need to get better. That's something for me that

I've always told myself, I sometimes push myself too hard that during my bodybuilding stage, there was a couple of times I might have passed out here and there so I'm like oh what the I think I'm working out too much I'm like man and then my wife smarted me out and like okay take your vitamins

your vitamin D vitamin K2 your potassium you need your potassium because you're gonna faint you're gonna dehydrate this and then she she's a blessing I'm telling you like she she helped me so much with that

And plus with the red carpets too I didn't even tell her her first time at Hall of Fame there was going to be millions of people watching Oh yeah there's only a few people watching it's okay You're gonna go to camera to camera There's actually the whole world We're doing interviews everywhere from around the world Like hey you know

Okay now I can tell you you realize you were like In front of millions of people I'm like please don't tell me No I'm glad I didn't tell you because you would have been nervous Right Yeah Back at your time in WWE, what's the standout for you? What's your favorite moment there?

If I had to pick one moment, okay, man, it's hard to say. Maybe it can be top two or three then. Now, let me answer your question real quick. Okay. Okay. My favorite moment, moment throughout my whole career in WWE, everything. It was that couple of people. seconds, that one minute or seconds that face off with Ray, the Royal Romo. Why? Because I've never, ever stepped in the ring with Ray Mysterio. My whole life,

my whole career, I've always been compared to the Ray, which is great. It's awesome. But I'm my own shadow. I'm my own person. even as Octagon, Octagon Jr. Yeah, this is great and all. This is amazing. But I kind of feel like I want to create my own legacy, you know?

I respect Octagon's legacy. I respect Rébi Stereo's legacy because I've always been compared to that. Compared to him. And I have mad respect for him. And him, I have him. actually praising me a lot means a lot to me because

that still to this day, I still keep in contact with him. And he's a great inspiration. He's heard that so much. I'm sure he's heard that so much. But one thing, actually, I never got to tell him. The very first time I met him was in college.

I was in Robert Morris College, downtown Chicago. I was doing, I was actually on my second semester, my last second semester. And they had WrestleMania there where he won the title. And I met him there. I'm like, I'm a couple months in training, wrestling. I just ran into him. I went to the bathroom.

I ran into him. Oh, Ray. Hey, you're doing a, you're doing like a reading challenge for the kids. And I saw, I ran into Shelton Benjamin, too, at the time. I told him, I think. He was wearing the icy title. And, yeah, at the time, but it was pretty cool. And I remember telling him, telling Ray, face to face,

I'm two months into wrestling. I just started. But because of you, like, seeing you right now, it motivates me and I want to see you in WWE one day with you. And him telling me, well, he's like, Go ahead, man. Good luck. I was like, all right, you shook my hand, gave me an autograph.

I'm like, oh, that's cool. Second time I saw him was when he came back. And I'm like, man. Actually, I saw him at the performance center first time. And I just, I wanted to tell him, but I'm like, nah, not yet. I'm like, eh, I want to meet him in the ring first, you know, Because I never, you know, it's pretty cool. Pretty cool.

You know, I grew up watching. You know, now he's there. I've always been compared to him, you know. It's pretty cool. And it's really rewarding to be in there with him in WW. What do you think is the biggest thing you've learned from Ray, whether it's something he told you or just from watching him in the ring? Both.

Okay. Because what he told me, that's what sparked me. that spark that's like yeah it's like a fire up my ass so it's like it's that motivation you know that that spark in me

and I'm like right next time I tell myself next time I'm gonna see him I'm gonna see him in WWE just like I told myself I'm never going to win a title outside of in the Indies if I'm gonna have a

wrestling title it has to be in WWE and look my first WWE title was the NXT tag title being the first Mexicans NXT tag team champions the Lucha Dragons

me and Cincara. I mean I wish you can be in the history books but it's not but yeah that motivated me a lot it motivated me a lot and when I saw Ray coming to the main roster

man his like he told me like man yeah he just respects me and and um yeah man he he

he wanted to pass the torch to me and I get like I said like things change which I understand and the nature of the business but um yeah it's just I I'm always going to wonder

what if this would have happened What if I would have had that match, mask versus mask? And I was willing to put my mask on the line with my wife on the side and her mask. So that's one storyline that I'm still going to keep. And I'm sure one day, hopefully one day, it can be revealed. Are you hopeful that you could go back to WWE one day, that the doors maybe still? No, I'm not going to hold my breath. I'm not going to hold my breath.

I'm just going to focus on me. I'm going to focus on my mental state, which is very important. And I'm just trying to fix myself first. I'm trying to see what I can do. So I like challenging myself a lot. I've never a box before, but I want a box. And that's one thing that going back in what I talk. talked about it with my grandma.

The reason why I became a wrestler because of my grandma. She inspired me. Just seeing her excitement, her wanting to be a wrestler. My grandfather, me working at the video store with him every Sunday in high school,

he wanted me to be a boxer. Like, no, no, no, my ho. Like, go boxing. That's where all of the dinner is. Like, wow, abelito, come on. And not only that, but we have always all the paper views, everybody, we, like, this is my dad work at a, at a fish factory.

He always brought like a box of oysters. And this is kids. We were, we ate boxes of oysters. All right, here's your hammer. Here's your, here's your, not drill, but like those. Here's a screwdriver. Here's your hammer. All right.

I'm going to show you how to do it. And then we're going to clean them all and then we're going to prepare them all. And then we're going to feast. Oh, okay, cool. And that was our pay-per-view nights. with my grandpa and we talked boxing, we ate oysters, everything as kids. So that was pretty cool. And yeah, I ate that, you know, as kids.

So, like, I was always a big fish guy. So, yeah, my grandpa inspired me a lot. And I'm like, you know what? I'm still going to wrestle here and there, within reason, if the time is right. and they've everything's right. I might give it a shot here and there. Boxing? You're in there.

Oh, wrestling. I'm talking about wrestling. But with boxing, I've been training with the best. So, man, I'll give you a glimpse here and there later on, but I like boxing.

I'm learning to love it. And that's something that I'm not, I'm not experienced, but I want to get better. That's something that I'm always eager to look for. Something that I'm not good at, but I'll get better.

I'll get better. I'll get better. It's hard. It's very hard. But at the same time, it's also challenging. And also, speaking of our challenge,

there's this guy, a huge guy named the Iranian Hulk calling me out. I'm like, oh, okay. So the Iranian Hulk calls me out on my video. It calls me that he could eat me

like a taco. I'm like, oh, come on. I already have a challenge already. Put this on Triller. Put me in the Iranian Hulk. Why not? Let's go at it. Now, that's the real David and the Goliath story. Yeah. Why not? Let's go at it. I'm willing to go. I'm willing to go for it. Hey, whatever happens, happens, but I'm down. I am down. So, Iranian Hulk, if you're listening to, all right, man. You know, you mentioned it earlier, and we got to go back to it. It was the family feud, your family, against the mystery. So what happened? Thank you for reminding me again, please.

Like, I have so much stories. So please. Well, going back about talking about me representing more of the Latino community outside at WWE, doing outside projects like that, the family feud show was amazing. It was pretty cool because I got in contact with my family in Mexico and Ray got in contact with his family in Mexico. It was Ray Mysterio, Angie, Dominic, and his family. Me, my wife, Lady Lucia, and my cousins.

So, and they were like in all, like, oh, wait, a game show? What are we talking about? Yeah, we watched this show. They didn't believe it until like, hey, you guys got to be there now at this time and this time. Like, oh, okay, yeah, we're going. All right. So they were so exciting. I was excited, too, but, because that's the very first time I actually faced

Raymond stereo in anything. Mm, sure, yeah. I've never faced them in anything except for that one night at the Royal Room, that little face off. That's all I wanted. I'm like, I don't want to do anything crazy, nothing. Like, I just want that one face off. I want to feel it. And without me doing it.

anything, he just went up to me. I'm like, oh, come on. Oh, man. And I put that picture out there. People were talking about it. They've always talked about it since I started wrestling. You remind me a Ray. You remind me a Ray. Even Ray's uncle, Miguel, the original Ray Mysterio. He's like, you remind me a lot of my nephew when I was starting when he was doing shows in Chicago. He always kept telling me that. You remind me a lot of my nephew, Oscar. I'm like, oh, I hear that a lot. Yeah, Thank you. Thank you. I'm samurai.

Samurai do so. Samarai do so. Samad al-So. So, yeah. And like I said, I was blessed to be on that game show. And it was so fun. It took eight hours. It took a long time.

But it was fun. It was so fun. I got to do a Nickelodeon show with my good friend, Apollo Cruz, Bailey, the Uso's. It was fun. The Nickelodeon show was. amazing. And it was in Hawaii. So it was pretty cool. I got opportunities to do that. I did the Sour Patch Kids commercial in English and in Spanish. That was pretty cool. So that was my main

focus, doing outside projects like that, even though I wasn't booked enough. Okay, let me focus more out there because they're focusing in here. I'm going to focus more out there. Let me make more of a name them out there. Yeah. Let me make some noise. Let me see what I can do because nobody else is doing this. Let me be the one doing this. And yeah, and I got out, you know, it just everything took off from there.

And I just started seeing other opportunities. And that's my mindset right now. And wrestling here and there. Yeah. Like I said, if the time is right, if everything's right. You can contact me at samurai do soul.com. Should be an email and we can talk. I want to ask you about Juan Sina because...

Juanito. Right, it was so interesting to see John Sina wearing a luchador mask. What was your reaction when he first told you about this? It was cool and interesting because me, Lise, Metallic got together. is like, hey, yo, I think, like, we were talking about it. Like, yeah, I think Juan has a, he's Juan Sina. And Linza is like, yeah, I think he has a mask. I'm like, oh, yeah, that's right.

Yeah, dude, like Juanito, like Juanita. Like Juan Sina. Yeah, he's Juan Sina. Yeah, Juan Sina. Yeah. So, Linson and I, Metallic, well, Linson went to talk to him first. And then we all went and like, hey, yo, what did you think, man? Like, all right, man, that's great.

Like, all right, cool. I'll bring next week. I'm like, all right, cool. Damn, next week. All right, cool. He brought it. And he did the, he, cabron.

Oh, she said hookers. Luke chah. I was like, all right. That's so dope, man. I'm like, all right. And I love the fact that John never says no. He'll sit down. And, you know, if you have a question,

if he's busy, obviously, or something, he's doing something. He's like, oh, just give me a minute or meet me here or at this time, whatever. but he's always willing to give you time. And when I first got up there, it was a whole different world. It's not like how it is now.

Every year kept changing, even in the back, everything just kept changing. When I went up there, and I was feeding with the Rio, he helped me a lot. I was picking his brain. I'm like, man, like, what can I do? Like, he gave me such great advice, man,

how he's obsessed. and how to hear the crowd and the crowd reaction and how to control the crowd. It's just so many good techniques and so many great advice that he was telling me. It's just he's a great person to talk to. He's really, really cool.

And yeah, I just wish I could have talked to him more. Yeah. Yeah. Do you think that John is the person who gave you the most advice when you were in WWE? He's someone who helped you out the most? Besides John De Rio for sure, Cinque. He helped me out a lot in the next tea.

Ricardo Rodriguez, he helped me out a lot too when I was in the Performance Center. Norman Smiley, he, because of him, I felt I did not give up. I didn't give up at the Performance Center because the Performance Center was a different world. And I know everybody that's been in that performance center when I first started, they know what I'm talking about. It was really hard, really hard. But we pulled through. There was a lot of people, I mean, besides being tired, there was a lot of people like, like seeing new faces here and there, you know, like leaving, you know. It was hard.

It was hard. And a lot of new people coming in and new rules every time. It's just like, man. Yeah, it was it was a, it was a difficult time too. You know, like I said, it was a different world for me. Yeah. Coming from Chicago, never living in Orlando, Florida, you know. It's home now for it.

It's, yeah, I mean, yeah. But what I'm trying to say is that it was hard. And I'm glad I went through that because it made me who I am now. And Norman helped you out through that process? Yeah, Norman. And because of Norman, man, he just understood me. He understands and he understands the nature of the business. And he gave me such a lot of great advice.

And he just understood me. And I've always told him because we had reviews. We had reviews every month for every two weeks for every month. I don't know. But anyways, and I always told Norman, like, please, please, don't tell me my, what I'm doing good. Give me my negatives. Give me everything that I'm doing bad. Give me what I need to work on.

Please, don't tell me all my good stuff. He's just like, you know, you're the only one who told me that? What do you mean? That everybody wants to hear their good stuff, but they don't want to hear the bad. Then why are we here? I want to get better. Yeah. They're like, man, that's all right.

This is mad. And that's where they're all started. started like, you know, I was under his wing. He was, he was helping me. And he was, he's such a great person. And every time when I was at the performance center, I've always went to him for advice, you know, for him, what should I do? Or when I went to practice, I wanted to go practice to the performance center because

I loved to practice. We just, we couldn't go practice because we were always on the road. and, you know, but I wanted to go, and I've always, they told me, I forgot who told me, it's like, how come you don't go practice with Billy Gun or anybody? No, because I like practicing the basics, you know, Norman's son of first class, and I like, I kind of like, not re-learning, but like, kind of like, oiling up my old moves, if that makes sense. Yeah, sure.

In my own words. Yeah. So I'm just trying to remember everything else and just have everything, just be, you know, normal for me, you know. I was just like practicing. I like to practice. And yeah, man, it's just anything else I forgot.

I'd have to think that winning the United States Championship was a huge career highlight for you. What did it mean for you? The United States Championship, yeah. It didn't hit me until I got in the back. Because at first, I first, At first, what was it, like two weeks before that, Singata got hurt.

His shoulder got hurt. We were supposed to be in a tag team program with New Day. And Singara was in a match with Big E, and I think he did a diet spire or something happened where he messed up his shoulder, and he was out. And I'm like, oh, great. Man, like, what's going to happen? Like, I'm going to be sitting down. Like, what's going to happen?

All right, cool. So let me just wait and see what happens, you know? Um, yeah, two weeks later, uh, actually the following week, I went to Vince's office for the first time. And because I was tired myself, like, man, I want to go to Vince's office. Like, uh, I just want to go in there. I'm like, man, fuck it. All right, cool. I went in there like, hey, boss, how are you this and that?

Like, yeah, great conversation. I had a really great conversation. What are you supposed to call Vince? Do you call him Mr. McMahon? Do you call him Vince? Do you call him boss? What do you call him? I call him boss.

Hey boss. Hey, sir. How are you doing, how are you doing, boss? Yeah. Mr. McMahon, I just call him boss. Hey, boss. So, yeah, he's like, man, you have a lot of potential. This is bad.

And you're going to go far in this business. He just kept putting me over. I'm like, oh, I'm just wanted to say hi. But, man, thank you. All right. Cool. Yeah, this and that. I want to have more meetings with you like this.

And can I come back next week? And yeah, definitely this and that. And I was going to talk to him next week until they say, hey, you're in a program with John Cena. Whatever. Really? They showed me the paper.

I'm like, oh, cool. All right, cool. You're in a match with, what they're real. Like, oh, okay, cool. Two sides. All right, title match. All right. How is he going to win?

Oh, I don't know. So they don't tell me anything. You don't know anything in that business. But the professional that I am, I'm always ready. You throw anything at me, I'll give you a show. Yeah. So that's always my mentality.

You know, that's how I'm always ready. So the thing is that when that happened, they told me the finish right before going out there. I'm like, all right, cool. See what it is. We'll do our show here and there. DeRio guiding me so much. He helped me a lot. He helped me a lot because, man.

because of him too he ray helped him a lot ray helped the real and the real help me and he told me he's like and now i want to help you i'm like oof that's dope man definitely yeah let's do it man all right i'm all for it and uh we went at it man we went at it we went at it um when i won i'm in the back and i'm like oof and i start tearing a little bit i'm like what's going on i'm like man this is crazy um so yeah and then I'm in the back and it still doesn't hit me. It started hitting me when the real right in front of Vince and me. He's like, you see this kid? This kid is ready.

You need to do something with him. I'm like, oof. I just needed that, man. Opportunities everything. Yeah. I'm like, just give me something. Like, if I fail, give me another opportunity. Man, I'll make it 10 times better.

So that was my, again, I'm going back. That was my mentality, now that I remember, my mentality going back, getting my Hollywood actor coach, me being ripped, working out six times a day, having a crazy routine that nobody else knows, and going in the back, going back to Smackdown, going in the back, and having all the boys look at me and like, what the, have you done? Well, this is my, I don't give a fuck body. Yeah.

You know? So I want to, I want to let my action speak because I can say, I'm going to be the best. I'm going to be the best in the world, this and that. I'm going to beat this guy. I'm going to do this and that. Like, no, that's all bullshit. I want to see action.

Yeah. I want to see action. And that's what I told myself, you know what? I can tell myself, Yeah, I'm going to be great. I'm going to do this and that. I'm the best in the world.

I'm going to have the best promos. Fuck that. I'm going to come back looking great. I'm going to come back doing the best promos ever. The best that I can do. And I'm going to let people talk. And that's my opportunity. And that's me laid down everything on the table.

And my biggest regret is not going back and talking to Vince, telling him, pitch. That's my biggest regret. You can't live in regret, though. You know, everything happens for a reason. I don't. But then again, that was my mindset. Now I'm in a new mindset because it took me a while. That's why I put that time. Yeah. I needed time for this. And I needed time for this. And it sounds like you're in a much better place now than you were when you were injured. Now, before the, yeah, before my injury and before me being let go. Yeah.

Yes. Yeah. That's, I'm still recovering from that. It's great and all. I feel great because I laid everything down on the table. Yeah. You know, the world knows what I can do. And the people that don't, don't know me or haven't seen my work.

Yeah. You guys can see my work. Or you guys can book me. But I'm going to be smart about it. What do you think you've learned about yourself over these last three months? You were with WWE for eight years. Huge part of your identity, huge part of who you were, being Calisto. What have you learned about yourself since not being Calisto?

What I learned about myself is to always trust yourself. Trust your gut instinct. Never look back. Work ten times as harder as everybody. But also be smart in what I'm doing. Be smart with my moves. Be smart as a businessman. And what I learned too is that life in general

is based on about not only hard work is about with who you know and what you do with it. So that's life in general. It's in everything. It's in every job. Right?

It's about who you know and, oh, this guy has a good job opportunity. Oh, okay, cool. But it's not only that, but it's always a balance of everything. You've got to look apart too, you know? So that I learned all of that.

So for me, it's like, man, maybe if I tune down a little bit and me working super hard and aiming at something that I'm only focused on one thing and not looking at what's outside and I can use that for my benefit, that's what I learned too. Just being smart. Just being smart, man, being a smart businessman. Yeah. Also. So, and I'm still learning as is.

I learn how to medicate. I learned how to control this because this is a bad, it's a bad place to be in, man. I mean, you don't want to be in here because it's a bad place. Like I said, man, I've had my days like, man, even my moments that I had at work. For example, me, the fan that threw the water bottle on my face and, you know, I had stitches. Christmas night. I miss out on the MSG. I think, yeah, I missed out on the other shows. And yeah, I worked. I missed out at work because of that. And I had a fat lip. And on top of that, I was attacked in New Jersey. This homeless person threw a water bottle. Actually, not a water bottle. It was a glass bottle.

It almost hit my face and I dodged it. So that same night when the water bottle hit my face. That same night, I'll never forget it, I got attacked by a homeless person. And my Uber driver left me because she was waiting too long. Yeah, it was a bad night that day. Like, I've been through so much, you know, and I put up with so much, I just never said anything. I never put my foot down until when I came back, I finally put my foot down. Yeah. I noticed a difference.

I'm like, all right, cool. but it's just I understand it's the nature of the business and I don't know it's just to me it's life and we learn when we fall

we get back up I heard that term so much so much but you won't know you won't once you experience that you'll see like it's really hard to get up

but once you start getting up little by little man you see that struggle that lucha that I still want to portray out there I want to, it's not just Nucha Libre, Nuch is a symbol of the struggle.

Just fight, fight, fight. I say that myself too, but even for me, too, it's hard. But I do it. I do it. Why? You just got to tell yourself, man, you know what? Look this.

Yeah. Screw all of this. You're going to be great. You're going to be successful. Why? Because you're telling yourself that. And you're going to go out there and do it, not just talk about it and do it.

It's going to take some time. but you're going to do it. You're going to have so many bumps on the road. And that's one thing I learned, too, that life throws so many curveballs. So what I want to say, like me being through a whole bunch of stuff, besides me being in my mental state, on top of that that I didn't talk about, only a few people know that I was holding from talking. my wife was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Oh, wow. But they misdiagnosed her.

They had us wait for a whole month, month and a half for the results. So imagine me, I'm pissed off in the office telling the doctor. So you're telling me my wife's going to die? How long does she have? This and that. And I'm like, what the hell?

you're telling me right now in my face my wife's going to die are you telling me this and i'm going through this and so imagine i'm going through everything and that that's the same year i got hurt pretty much that that whole year that it was a bad year man and then pandemic happy yeah and then this happened so it's been a bad three years but your wife does not have a brain tumor it's a balance it's a balance your wife so your wife's okay she does not have a brain too yeah no no no so like i said she was misdiagnosed. So that's one thing, too, that I learned that don't never trust your doctors. But I have second opinions, third opinions, if you're not sure.

Because, like, so many tests, too, can harm you. I missed funerals. I miss my uncle's funeral, my grandpa's funeral, anniversaries, birthdays, you name it. That's another story. But, so, yeah. Yeah, like it all, you know, goes to that. Because like the year before that,

two years before that, that's my uncle passed away. And then with that year, in 2019, that's when my wife was misdiagnosed or having a brain tumor. I'm like, are you kidding me? So after that whole month was just waiting, weighing, hey, man, you seem sad. Dude, I'm just, yeah, having my day.

Imagine having this, keeping inside, like pretending to be happy. I don't know if my wife's going to die, but yeah, yeah, I'll hold my, you know, yeah, Luke Chach, yeah. This is what we hide. This is what we do for you because we love the sport, you know, we love what we do. But with people that, you know, there's good fans and they're bad fans. I understand. They're fans.

They're allowed to speak, speak their minds. But you don't know what we go through, you know. nobody knew that I thought my wife was going to die and I had a whole month to wait for the damn results so on top of that I was going through that BS and that was really hard She's okay wow

No no she's fine yeah So because you know what it was It was a damn gluten allergy That's it Wow Because she's gluten allergy That's it And so imagine having that

mindset that your wife's going to die in that whole month, not knowing, and you're touring, you're wrestling, you're pretending everything's fine, but it's not. Yeah. We all have our personal lives. We all have our lives. We all have our problems. We all have our goods, our ups and downs. So that's what I want people to understand, you know, that we're human too.

So why not also respect what I do in the ring and outside the ring, too? Yeah. What we do, what we do is entertainment. But it's also, like, the hits, everything. Like, it's just, it kind of makes me mad. Me talking about that and having that fan throw that water bottle in my face because that happened afterwards after the, we found out that my wife's going to be okay. And I'm like, oh, my God, thank God, you know, this is like, all right,

now I can go back to work happy, this and that. Oh, my God. All right, cool, and then everything's great. Boom. Wow. This is the thanks I get for coming. Man, so you see what I mean? You see what I mean?

Nobody knew what I was going through, but that kind of like, wow, man. All right. So I was always like this because of that. And I always find a way to just manage to pull through. And I managed to pull through. So me coming back, ripped. it was getting everything, everything that I've been through, putting all that together and showing it outward. Showing my body, showing my promos, every single thing that I've gotten better.

And I want to show it. I just don't want to talk about it. Hey, I've gotten good at my promos. Hey, I did this. I did that. I'm working out a lot of this time. No. No.

I'd rather just show it. Yeah. Because anybody can say, hey, I'm the best in the world. I'm the best talker, this and that, or I'm the best guy. No, I'd rather just show it, you know. So then again, it's entertainment. You know, we're here to entertain you. And we love what we do.

I love what we do. I love the fact that WWE gave me an opportunity. It gave me an opportunity to have a contract and showcase what I can do, the times that I had. My favorite moment, too, besides being U.S. champion, in also doing my finisher off the top ladder, doing my salida del sol. And that's something that I've never seen. I've never done. It's just something when I feel I can do, I can do it.

And throughout the years, I'm just, I was able to do stuff like that and getting the opportunity to wrestle the Dudleys. Man, I grew up watching the Dudleys too. That's an honor, too, that I was the dream of mine to wrestle the Dudleys. I wanted my brother on the side, my actual brother. So, because we always talked about it. Hey, man, we should go against the Dudley. He's like, come on.

Yeah, that was always right. I think. So, um, so yeah. And I mean, I'm, I'm blessed. I'm blessed to have all those accomplishments that I've done. And me telling myself, I'm never going to have a wrestling title outside of WV unless it's in WWE. I had the NXT tag title.

I was, uh, I won the Slamy Award. winner. I think I beat Undertaker for the moment. That was pretty cool. Yeah, and I was a U.S. champion twice. I was crucible a champion.

Yeah. It's just, and I wanted to do more, more and more. Well, I mean, you've got the opportunity to do more now. You've got endless amount of opportunities. We've learned a ton about you through this. I think you for-

I'm going to a little. over the place. That's great, but thank you for being so open with everything. And, you know, I'm curious, is there any, like, is there any main points that we didn't get to here? Well, besides, I didn't mention my CBD company. It's called Candela Labs. Yeah, give us all the plugs. Let everybody know where they can find you, your website, social media, your businesses. Yes, samurai do so.com. And you can follow at Lucha Family on. on YouTube. We got a good following.

This is pretty cool. I'll link to it. This will be on YouTube as well. Oh, yes, please. There you go. Yeah, yeah, please.

There you go. Awesome. Even better. Even better. Guys, follow all the links down there. You can see all of my businesses. There you go.

There you go. Mani, I end every interview with the same question. Because I'm a big person when it comes to gratitude. I think that if you can be grateful, you'll live a great life. So what are three things in your life that you're grateful for right now?

I'm grateful for my fans, for my family, my support, my wife. I'm grateful for WWE, again, giving me the opportunity to showcase my ability, showcase my Lucha Lucha around the world.

Yeah, I mean, it's a fun ride and we'll see where this world takes me. And hopefully it's not the last of me and you'll see more of me. You see more Lucha Lucha around the world. You can see me Lucha eats around the world.

You can see me Buccia family around the world or anyone around the world wants to book me or book me against the Iranian Hulk in the boxing match. Even that too. I'm down for that. But yeah. So guys, I'm not dead. No.

I'm alive. You're just getting started. I'm getting started. Mani, I've really enjoyed this. I really appreciate your time. Thank you. Me too. And one thing, too, I want to tell you about everyone, not just wrestling fans.

People, you guys are alive. It can be anything you want. I've been told you're never going to be this. You're never going to be that. The world has a raid mysterious. Just quit wrestling. You don't need to wrestle. no one. That's from my personal experience. But what I'm saying, don't let your guard down.

Be smart. Be a business person first. Then think about your actions. Then act. And follow your dreams. Everything is possible. I stay that alive. You hear that so much. But just act on it. that's better because actions speak louder. Screw words. Act. I think that's a perfect place to end this. So, Manny, thank you very much. Thank you, man.

And, um, Lucha, Lucha. Well, there we go, my friends. Big thank you to Manny for trusting us with this interview. And of course, thank you to you for being on this ride with us. How amazing would it have been to see Calisto versus Raleigh? Mysterio. Mask versus mask. Oh man. The future is very, very bright for Samurai del Sol. So I'm excited to see what's next for him. Take a screenshot. Let us know what stood out for you the most from this one. Share this with a friend. Share it on social media and tag us. He's at Samurai del Sol on Instagram. He's

at gloat on Twitter. That's gloat for the greatest luchador of all time. Tag me as well. I'm at Chris Van Vleet. And I'll leave you with these inspiring words for Muhammad Ali. To be a great champion, you must believe that you are the best. If you're not, pretend you are. Be great. Be grateful, my friends. We'll see you on the next one for some more insight. Jim Rome takes on sports. Why? Because I have a job to do.

With rapid fire takes. So I don't want to hear from you lava pigs on this notion today. No idea what you're talking about. You're complaining more than you like to breathe air. It's like you get up in the morning. only to complain and cry and moan on social media about things that you don't even understand. He's the spitfire of sports smack. Take advantage of it, but get up in here.

The Jim Rome Show podcast. What's your beef? Follow and listen on your favorite platform. You've been warned.