Lince Dorado on Building his Lucha Lit Brand, His Entrance Theme, Working with WWE on His Theme, CWC

one and only, Lince Dorado.

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Because there's only one of you, and there should only be one of you.

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No one can be you and no one should try.

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No one can even come close.

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can be the 2010 AND 2011 Mr.

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Puss in Boots, Luchalet, Ligues Adorados.

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That's right, there's only one.

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There's only one.

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so good to talk to you again, my friend.

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It's been a little bit of a time.

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How's the family?

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How are the kids?

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How's everyone doing?

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My boys are in school.

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My oldest daughter actually just graduated school, so she's no longer attending school

anymore.

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It's kind of weird.

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She's going to do college though in January.

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And then my babies, my twins, they just went down, so they're doing great.

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Everybody's doing great.

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We're blessed, man.

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I can't really complain.

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I did shave, as you guys can see a little bit.

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So they just, I did that like three days ago just to be funny.

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I honestly, I'm not going to lie.

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I just did it to be funny and nobody found it funny.

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except for me.

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I was going to say, do your kids come home sometimes and they're like, hey, you know, what

would happen if we removed the facial hair?

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And you're just like, you don't want to do that, but maybe I will.

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Or is it always a you thing?

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yeah, for a while my sons were like, you should grow goatee, you should grow goatee.

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And I'm like, I don't know, man.

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Like, I don't think I look right with a goatee.

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So I did it randomly.

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Well, one, it was getting like too crazy.

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I wasn't maintaining it.

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I should maintain it, but I wasn't.

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And then I think I just had that like Britney Spears moment.

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like, I'm gonna shave it off.

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But before I do, let me try all these different facial hair, goatee, mustache.

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all of them before I ended up as like, know, let's just shave it all off, we'll grow back,

but start brand new.

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But I'm looking at my camera, dude, I look so weird.

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look like 2005, 2006 when I first started.

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Let's say it's weird.

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I don't know.

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Yeah, it's crazy too.

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And for me, it's the same thing.

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Like I've had the family say, why don't you shave everything at one point?

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And I did.

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And I went down like 20 years, like I looked like a baby.

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And I'm just like, even if I just trim it up, it looks okay.

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I also had hair for years that was like past my elbows when I was performing a lot.

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And you know, we say it's a Britney Spears moment sometimes where it's just like, my God,

you just removed it one day.

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Dude, one day I woke up, it was like a Monday or whatever.

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And I'm like, I wonder what this would look like.

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All right.

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But I remember hopping on the phone with my mom and my wife and they were just like, my

God.

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Then they were asking me like, are you okay?

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Like, is everything okay in your life?

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I'm like, dude, I promise it's fine.

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It's just, it's time for a change, baby.

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That's what it is.

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Yeah, I had to go pick up my son at school the day after I did it and he was not happy.

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And also too, the person at the desk was like, cause he didn't come to me right away.

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He didn't recognize me right away.

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It's been honestly almost like 10 years since I actually shaved it all off, I guess.

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And the lady was like, do you not know this guy?

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And he's like, he's like, yeah, yeah, I do.

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He just looks weird because he doesn't have hair anymore.

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But she almost didn't let him come to me, which I thought was funny, but I was like,

whatever.

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That's awesome.

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Well, we are here on ropes and riffs and we talk to wrestlers.

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talk to musicians.

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And the thing I love to do is talk to you guys, you wrestlers, all you amazing people and

just talk, just talk about wrestling music and specifically talk about wrestling themes

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too.

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Cause there's such an important part of wrestling and I don't think we talk about it

enough.

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We don't think about it enough, but you know, maybe over the last couple of years, it's

gotten a lot more visibility in mainstream and things like that.

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But.

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know why though, because it's been bad.

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The music has been bad.

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So the talk that you've been hearing is and I don't wanna say bad.

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I just don't think like it's not connecting worthy when it comes to the wrestlers and the

fans like there's such a big disconnect.

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In fact, there's a clip from WWE and I'm not just saying WWE, I'm just saying.

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There's a clip of Seth Rollins watching the rumble and somebody's music hits and he's

jamming out for a second But then you could see him say who is this?

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I'm like bro.

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You're in the same company.

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It's not his fault You know, it's not WB's fault It's the people who create the music for

these for this for the wrestlers and it's also too and like I'm not like pooping on the

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wrestlers or shitting on the wrestlers, but it's also hard to write a story or music for a

wrestler who doesn't have a character like

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When we sit down with WWE or somebody, like when we sat down, it was very clear what I

wanted.

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When you sit down with other people, it's like, well, I like this and I like that.

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And I'm like, well, what does this have to do with your character?

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What are you trying to portray?

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I know when we talk and we'll talk about the creation of my theme, I was very specific.

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I had an idea of what I wanted to do with it.

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I had an idea of.

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how it changes the atmosphere in the room, how it changes my mindset for when I go through

the curtain.

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And a lot of people don't do that.

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A lot of people are so gung-ho of like, I like this theme song, or this is popular, or

there's a line in here out of all the other lines that makes sense, but then the rest of

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the song doesn't.

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So there's just a lot of music right now since probably 2010-ish maybe.

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2010, the last 14 years, I guess, have been unoriginal.

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Like I said, there's a really bad disconnect when it comes from that first bar to when the

person comes out where I might have to question who this person is until the bell rings,

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or maybe until the bell rings at the end.

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And then I'm like, okay, I kind of get that.

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But then the music is such a disconnect.

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Yeah.

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think that's what the chatter's coming from.

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There's a lot of chatter, but I don't think it's a lot of good chatter.

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And I'll tell you that one time I had just on LinkedIn, and I've said this story in a

couple of different times before, but I think it speaks here.

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I was able to speak to Jim Johnston through LinkedIn when I had started doing this, right?

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And one thing that I had always heard through, obviously, The Great Vine is, well, you

know, he's the, obviously because I'm a fan, but like Stone Cold's theme is great.

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Undertaker's theme is great.

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Of course.

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And when I started talking to him, I sent him a couple of my themes.

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gave me some feedback.

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And he was like, you know, think about the undertaker, think about those people.

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And my question wasn't so much about those, because when you think about the undertaker as

a character, the whole presentation is there, you know, so you can really fit something a

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little bit more eerie and a little bit more like funeral dirge to him.

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But for me, it was less like, okay, cool.

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What do you do for him?

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Makes sense.

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But what do you do for somebody who in the world of professional wrestling in the world of

like combat fighting is

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for lack of a better term, just a wrestler, right?

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Or that's the portrayal.

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And I remember that he told me at one point, he goes, everybody is unique and everybody

has a story.

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He goes, you have to find that story because that's what makes the people unique.

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And, you know, I would bring up like a Daniel Bryan.

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was like, what do you think Bryan Danielson obviously in AEW as of this recording, but how

do you do someone like that?

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He's just a great wrestler.

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How do you do someone like a Steve Blackman is, you know, some of the people I was going

to.

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And I remember when he said that it struck such a chord because you have to understand who

you're working with.

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And even when I've talked to you and others, I always ask people, what's the thing that

you want people to know about you before you hit the ring?

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Cause that's important.

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You should hear the song and you should know, at least get a vibe for who's coming out.

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Totally.

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like one of my theme songs, I used to use Megadeth's Duke Nukem theme song, but before it

I would put in the Meow Meow remix, the Meow Mix remix where it'd be like meow meow meow

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meow, and then it would jump into the thing.

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And I just remembered when I first started in 2005, 2006, El Generico had the ole, ole,

ole, ole, ole, ole, then it went into his song.

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And I remember Gabe Sapolsky was like the only guy on the Indies right now that has a

theme song because they know who's gonna come out, they know who it is, is El Generico

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because of the way that it fit his character.

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So I wanted to replicate that with all my music moving forward.

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So it started with the Meow Mix and to the Duke Nukem.

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And then it always had like either my voice or a tagline because again, for me as a

luchador, it's important for people to understand like my face, my eyes.

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but also to understand my voice.

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So, you know, at any moment that I'm allowed to talk or do a promo or play my music where

they can hear my voice, like they know like, that's Lin-Said Dorado.

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Because we don't have that luxury anymore of having those sweet entrance videos of showing

the character, the moveset, you know, before the entrance.

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We don't have that anymore.

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So we have to create like this atmosphere, this captivating image of persona and aura.

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that we have in the 30 seconds that we have to get from the curtain to the ring.

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And with the music, with the presentation of the gear and the swagger, like, you know, the

confidence, it all comes as the total package.

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But going back to what you were saying, like, if you're just a wrestler, like, what are

you gonna do?

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Your music hits, you just walk to the ring.

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You don't have any, you know, moment or a cue in your music that...

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know, the beat drops or something, like we're like, okay, now I'm coming to be, you know,

this good guy.

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Now I'm going to become an ass kicker.

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There's no, there's no transition in that.

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And it's just music right now.

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Like I, there's a, there's some music out there right now that I'm like, that's pretty

good.

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20 years from now, 30 years from now, nobody will care.

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But we're still talking about all the music from like the nineties attitude era, even like

the crappy WCW rip offs.

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Like some people are still, they're banging, they're bangers when it comes to

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know, theme songs.

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But yeah, they're just like, it is hard when you're just a wrestler.

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It's hard for the writer and it's hard for the composer just to create something for the

wrestlers because you're really doing an injustice, you know, for they're doing an

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injustice to themselves.

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And like, you're just kind of going with the flow, just creating this something, you know,

this music just to like make them happy.

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But at the end of the day, is it really contributing to

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their overall aesthetic as a professional, most likely not.

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And I remember that when you and I started working on Lucha Lit, you and I were talking a

lot about like who you saw yourself as.

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And one of the things I always appreciated when we wrote that theme was you have this idea

of who you are and who your character is, and it's very defined.

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But one thing that you had always said, and one thing that you made very clear was your

in-ring is very different than a lot of luchadors.

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You know, there's a lot of high flying that goes on in

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that Lucha Libre style.

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And for you, you can obviously do all those things.

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But one thing that you had always focused on, at least from when you talked to me, was,

you know, I have more of that grappling background and it's a little bit more on the

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floor.

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It's a little bit rougher and a little bit more rugged.

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And obviously if you look up any Linsey DeVarado videos or you see any matches, you see

all of the things that Linsey can do.

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But I think it was really important in that moment for me to hear, okay, cool.

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Like a lot of Luchadors may go in this direction, but for me,

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I really want to highlight these parts of my personality because that does differentiate

you when you're coming to the ring, when you're in ring and it really amplifies who you

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are, whether you're being more of like a brutal type or anything like that.

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So that was such a good call out that you brought up like, Hey, my style is very different

intentionally than other luchadores in the space.

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the music needs to reflect that.

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Yeah, for me personally, like again, I can do all the styles if I really wanted to.

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Japanese, neutral, very British.

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My background growing up has always been amateur Olympic wrestling.

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I just, there's something about hand to hand grappling or combat that, you know, it's a

one-on-one sports.

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The only one-on-one sport that really means something.

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And I wanted to definitely translate that in wrestling because I wanted to bring the

authenticness of being real, being

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angry, being aggressive, you know, in the ring rather than like just look like it's a

choreographed exhibition of professional wrestling moves.

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Like to me, that's, I don't do professional wrestling matches.

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You know, I do storytelling.

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So I wanted to make sure that whatever my music was relayed that like, you know, you're

not just getting, for example, here's, we're going to get into it now.

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WWE, right?

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205.

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I, they asked me what music I wanted and I gave them,

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Originally, I said, hey, this is the music I've had the mega deaf theme song.

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Do you have something similar to this?

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So the first round of the CWC, they gave me a song that was like, I was all right.

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It wasn't the best, but it wasn't like ultra lucha.

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So was like, I could I could work with this for right now.

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We'll change it when I get to the main roster or whatever.

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But the same round, three matches later, they gave the same song to Tony Nese.

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So when we came to the second round, I go, hey.

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Can you play my theme song and then play Tony Nises?

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It's the same theme song and you're about to put this out right now.

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And then sure enough, it was the same theme song.

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So I'd said to Tony, said, why don't you keep this one?

209

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Let me see if they can find something closer as we're getting closer.

210

00:13:13,802 --> 00:13:14,938

So I'm talking to the dude.

211

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I'm like, hey, listen, I don't want anything like you gave super crazy.

212

00:13:19,144 --> 00:13:20,744

I don't want any Mexicools.

213

00:13:20,744 --> 00:13:21,955

In fact, I'm not Mexican.

214

00:13:21,955 --> 00:13:22,885

It's no offense to Mexicans.

215

00:13:22,885 --> 00:13:23,626

I'm not Mexican.

216

00:13:23,626 --> 00:13:24,896

We don't need that.

217

00:13:26,027 --> 00:13:27,020

not even offensive though.

218

00:13:27,020 --> 00:13:29,904

It's like, hey, that doesn't represent my background.

219

00:13:30,212 --> 00:13:32,293

they ended up giving me something that was I.

220

00:13:32,293 --> 00:13:37,845

wasn't like, it ended up being like a super crazy-esque like thing.

221

00:13:37,845 --> 00:13:39,476

And I'm just like, this isn't me.

222

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And it made me want to run to the ring.

223

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Like I didn't even want to like stand there and like have this music play.

224

00:13:46,539 --> 00:13:52,922

So then, you know, once we got to the main roster, I actually, I think that song was

called Gold Rush.

225

00:13:52,922 --> 00:13:53,754

And then,

226

00:13:53,754 --> 00:13:57,754

And real quick, let me, let me pause you for a sec before you go through, cause you

brought up Tony Nese.

227

00:13:57,754 --> 00:14:06,464

And when he had originally gone, you know, to the Indies and then to AEW, the first theme

that he had used there was one that I had put together for him.

228

00:14:06,464 --> 00:14:08,394

And he had a similar story with that.

229

00:14:08,394 --> 00:14:14,824

goes, yeah, the theme that he really had given to WWE or like the reference track was

something by a band called Atreyu.

230

00:14:14,824 --> 00:14:19,476

And if you listen to the premier athlete, which was a theme I had worked on with him.

231

00:14:19,476 --> 00:14:23,807

It's very much in line with what he had given WWE and that was my reference for it.

232

00:14:23,918 --> 00:14:26,769

but I remember he was just like, yeah, I gave that to them.

233

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And then they gave me something that was completely in a, like a different tempo and same

thing.

234

00:14:30,330 --> 00:14:33,731

He was just like, it made me want to feel like I had to run to the ring.

235

00:14:33,731 --> 00:14:38,543

was like, it was in the same key, but like in terms of like my pacing, felt a little bit

different.

236

00:14:38,543 --> 00:14:40,513

I'm sorry to cut you off, but you mentioned Tony Deese.

237

00:14:40,513 --> 00:14:42,274

And so I know exactly the theme you're talking about.

238

00:14:42,274 --> 00:14:42,737

Yeah.

239

00:14:42,737 --> 00:14:51,485

frustrating because like we're being very specific and these people are getting paid a lot

of money to create something and they're just like, we'll just find something or just

240

00:14:51,485 --> 00:14:52,450

create something quick.

241

00:14:52,450 --> 00:14:57,750

Was this a theme that was made for you or was it something where they had like a library

and they were like, all right, cool.

242

00:14:58,050 --> 00:14:58,623

Got it.

243

00:14:58,623 --> 00:15:00,483

they just like recycled it.

244

00:15:01,324 --> 00:15:08,837

then later on we ended up adopting the Lucha Lucha song from Kalisto, which kind of made

sense because we were the group.

245

00:15:08,837 --> 00:15:13,029

That was my idea, but it didn't translate to what I wanted to do.

246

00:15:13,029 --> 00:15:18,481

So then when Kalisto left, the very first thing that we said was like, hey, we don't want

the Lucha Lucha.

247

00:15:18,481 --> 00:15:19,972

Like we want our own theme.

248

00:15:19,972 --> 00:15:25,570

had a, dude, I had in Premiere Pro and After Effects made this like.

249

00:15:25,570 --> 00:15:27,950

awesome entrance that I gave to them.

250

00:15:27,950 --> 00:15:30,590

said, this is exactly what we need to be.

251

00:15:30,590 --> 00:15:36,490

Like, you know, I just need you guys to create the theme song similar to this and nothing.

252

00:15:36,490 --> 00:15:40,310

Like they did it, but then like it was not what we wanted.

253

00:15:40,310 --> 00:15:41,550

And it was like another thing.

254

00:15:41,550 --> 00:15:46,210

Like I just felt like I had to run to the ring and I was just like not happy about it.

255

00:15:46,210 --> 00:15:51,070

I kept telling them, like, yo, we bring the energy, but we don't need to be energy the

whole time.

256

00:15:51,070 --> 00:15:54,090

Like it's, it's cool to like, you know,

257

00:15:54,090 --> 00:15:57,323

If we bring the energy, we never are able to have a switch.

258

00:15:57,323 --> 00:16:03,998

But if we're in there, like, cool, calm, collect it, and then somebody grabs our mouse or

whatever, now we're able to get mad.

259

00:16:03,998 --> 00:16:07,661

But how can I get mad if I'm just so jolly all the time?

260

00:16:07,661 --> 00:16:10,683

It doesn't work that way in the real life.

261

00:16:10,804 --> 00:16:14,737

So that's when, once I left, I asked for my release.

262

00:16:14,737 --> 00:16:23,534

And once I left, that first song, dude, by Nekro, Head Split, it just hit me so hard

because

263

00:16:24,270 --> 00:16:27,243

One, was like, that's how I felt all the time.

264

00:16:27,243 --> 00:16:32,598

Not that I'm an angry person, but I don't want problems, but I don't mind problems either.

265

00:16:32,598 --> 00:16:33,739

I don't look for them.

266

00:16:33,739 --> 00:16:38,103

But some reason they look for me and I'm like, all right, well, I guess we got to do what

we got to do.

267

00:16:38,103 --> 00:16:46,911

It makes me, you And that song just put me in the temple where I'm just walking and I'm

just like, okay, I'm vibing for this.

268

00:16:46,911 --> 00:16:49,864

I'm head bopping, like boom, boom.

269

00:16:52,368 --> 00:16:56,606

And it was like something about that bass and that piano.

270

00:16:56,606 --> 00:16:58,753

I love the piano and the violin.

271

00:16:58,753 --> 00:17:00,975

I'm getting goosebumps just thinking about it.

272

00:17:00,975 --> 00:17:01,495

I love it.

273

00:17:01,495 --> 00:17:02,796

I just like the way it sounds.

274

00:17:02,796 --> 00:17:05,038

It sounds hard but elegant at the same time.

275

00:17:05,038 --> 00:17:08,931

And I was like, I'm hard and elegant at the same time.

276

00:17:08,931 --> 00:17:10,202

Like that's me.

277

00:17:10,202 --> 00:17:15,986

But obviously, you know, knowing me being a businessman, I was like, well, if I get to go

and do these...

278

00:17:16,378 --> 00:17:20,780

Shows outside of WWE who have like TV or copyright.

279

00:17:20,780 --> 00:17:30,615

They're most likely not gonna play my entrance now I want to make sure that my entrance

gets played I want to make sure that everybody can use my music whether it's TNA or or AEW

280

00:17:30,615 --> 00:17:40,770

at which I did right and You know, I was it super important for me that that was the theme

and Going back to what we were saying like yeah, I don't Russell

281

00:17:40,852 --> 00:17:43,684

like everybody else in the Lucha Libre community.

282

00:17:43,684 --> 00:17:46,145

So that also means I should come out different.

283

00:17:46,145 --> 00:17:47,816

And the music is very different.

284

00:17:47,816 --> 00:17:55,430

A lot of people, like, I always tell people that I'm like the Pink Panther and the most

interesting man in Lucha Libre.

285

00:17:55,430 --> 00:17:57,481

So there's a lot to be desired.

286

00:17:57,481 --> 00:17:59,072

There's a lot to be uncovered.

287

00:17:59,072 --> 00:18:04,995

There's a lot that you know, but there's a lot that you don't know that now you're so

captivated that you have to watch.

288

00:18:04,995 --> 00:18:10,016

And I love when my music hits and you hear the cough and like Lucha lit.

289

00:18:10,016 --> 00:18:10,706

And

290

00:18:20,566 --> 00:18:21,372

Yeah.

291

00:18:39,700 --> 00:18:42,462

is the most important part of my match, because it's my shine.

292

00:18:42,462 --> 00:18:45,915

I want to make sure that I look like a superstar.

293

00:18:45,915 --> 00:18:50,589

So I get the cameraman, and I make sure that they get all these angles that I want.

294

00:18:50,589 --> 00:18:58,146

And then get with the announcer, because there's a whole script that I have them read to

introduce me before I even get in the ring.

295

00:18:58,146 --> 00:18:58,674

So that

296

00:18:58,674 --> 00:19:06,914

with Miranda one time, like literally you were walking out, you were doing all the poses

and she was just walking in step right behind you to saying this thing.

297

00:19:07,255 --> 00:19:11,447

they get it, they love it, they get the pageantry that comes with it, you know?

298

00:19:11,447 --> 00:19:18,049

And it's supposed to be fun, and you look at this character coming out in a cat mask and a

robe, you're like, that's a cool dude.

299

00:19:18,049 --> 00:19:22,481

And then you see him in the ring, you take his robe off, like, that guy kind of looks

legit.

300

00:19:22,481 --> 00:19:31,015

And then the way that I move and strike, people are like, I don't know if this guy is

actually wrestling, he might be fighting this dude, which is a great compliment, you know?

301

00:19:31,015 --> 00:19:34,196

Because they think whatever we're doing in the ring.

302

00:19:34,196 --> 00:19:41,008

is legit, mean, you know, it is legit, but like, now it looks like I have intentions to

hurt, which I don't.

303

00:19:41,028 --> 00:19:48,429

But my music, man, like really puts, I always said it to people when you watch any other

interview, I said, my music puts me in the right state of mind.

304

00:19:48,429 --> 00:19:50,490

I know what bar to go out to.

305

00:19:50,570 --> 00:19:51,490

I'm not in a rush.

306

00:19:51,490 --> 00:19:53,956

I always tell people now, like, don't rush me.

307

00:19:53,956 --> 00:19:57,192

You I even came to you, I said, hey bro, I need it longer.

308

00:19:57,192 --> 00:20:01,973

I need you to double it, like a minute and 24 or whatever it was, it's like not cutting

it.

309

00:20:01,973 --> 00:20:03,433

I said, by the time they,

310

00:20:03,514 --> 00:20:07,396

get through the first part of my intro that, you know, we're recycling it.

311

00:20:07,396 --> 00:20:18,923

So that's why I had, you know, four minutes and like 34 seconds that I'm okay taking that

time away from my match for the people to see my entrance, hear the music vibe out.

312

00:20:18,923 --> 00:20:25,646

Because again, I'm not bringing a pro wrestling experience to, you know, any show.

313

00:20:25,646 --> 00:20:29,248

I'm bringing the Lucha Lit experience to the show.

314

00:20:29,869 --> 00:20:32,610

it's an act that you're gonna...

315

00:20:32,688 --> 00:20:34,594

and it starts with the music, you know?

316

00:20:34,594 --> 00:20:42,609

And it's important because you're seeing yourself as the overall product, you're seeing

yourself as the brand and everything that you do from the time that the music hits to you

317

00:20:42,609 --> 00:20:43,940

getting back out of the ring.

318

00:20:43,940 --> 00:20:46,351

All of that is all part of your presentation.

319

00:20:46,351 --> 00:20:53,426

And the fact that there's one part that you and I had gotten back and forth with a bunch

of times and it was that intro, it was that cough.

320

00:20:53,426 --> 00:21:00,802

And I remember I had told you, was like, so, you know, since you're doing TV, I don't know

if it's something that you should have in there.

321

00:21:00,802 --> 00:21:01,307

Hmm.

322

00:21:01,307 --> 00:21:04,172

something that we can have two versions, one with, one without.

323

00:21:04,172 --> 00:21:06,927

And the message I think literally says the cough is staying.

324

00:21:06,927 --> 00:21:09,160

I'm like, all right, cool.

325

00:21:09,281 --> 00:21:09,733

yeah.

326

00:21:09,733 --> 00:21:14,145

that I ever got was from TNA and it wasn't even an issue of the cough.

327

00:21:14,145 --> 00:21:18,066

They were just worried about, because I had gave them the intro.

328

00:21:18,066 --> 00:21:19,567

I gave Dave Penser the intro.

329

00:21:19,567 --> 00:21:22,778

said, hey, I just want you to say 2010 and 2011, Mr.

330

00:21:22,778 --> 00:21:23,269

Puss in Boots.

331

00:21:23,269 --> 00:21:29,031

And he looked at me and walked away for like two hours and he was like, hey, man, I didn't

see anything about no Puss in Boots.

332

00:21:29,031 --> 00:21:30,442

I can't find anything on the internet.

333

00:21:30,442 --> 00:21:33,193

I'm like, no, it's a fake up, fucking made up thing, man.

334

00:21:33,193 --> 00:21:34,053

Come on.

335

00:21:34,433 --> 00:21:36,256

But when it came to the cough,

336

00:21:36,256 --> 00:21:41,488

The only issue was that we were running out of time when it came to the match.

337

00:21:41,488 --> 00:21:43,618

So they were like, where can we save time at?

338

00:21:43,618 --> 00:21:44,969

And I said, you know what?

339

00:21:46,289 --> 00:21:52,881

Just take the cough out and just make sure that my music is like, like I actually have

some music, like my music.

340

00:21:52,881 --> 00:21:55,052

Don't give me no generic, I won't come out.

341

00:21:55,052 --> 00:21:56,813

I told them straight up, said, I won't come out.

342

00:21:56,813 --> 00:22:00,314

I won't like thank you for your money, but I won't come out.

343

00:22:00,314 --> 00:22:01,568

Like I'm okay.

344

00:22:01,568 --> 00:22:03,289

Like I'm not a mark for money.

345

00:22:03,289 --> 00:22:04,504

I'm not a mark for like matches.

346

00:22:04,504 --> 00:22:05,620

I'm a mark for my brand.

347

00:22:05,620 --> 00:22:12,764

Like you said earlier, like I want to make sure that my brand is always represented

correctly and you know, right.

348

00:22:12,764 --> 00:22:14,585

And so far, I mean like A.W.

349

00:22:14,585 --> 00:22:21,989

and TNA has hooked it up to like honoring, having my music on the program, which is great.

350

00:22:21,989 --> 00:22:25,131

But I never really ever had any other issues.

351

00:22:25,131 --> 00:22:27,792

know, nobody ever said anything.

352

00:22:29,313 --> 00:22:31,126

But like I said, if

353

00:22:31,126 --> 00:22:34,625

TNA and AEW were able to use it without any issues.

354

00:22:34,625 --> 00:22:36,186

Everybody else should be able to.

355

00:22:36,186 --> 00:22:36,576

Yeah.

356

00:22:36,576 --> 00:22:38,698

And I remember on Twitter, someone had mentioned it.

357

00:22:38,698 --> 00:22:40,689

Someone was just like, that cough is gold.

358

00:22:40,689 --> 00:22:43,471

And they tagged Mikey, Mikey Ruckus over at AEW.

359

00:22:43,471 --> 00:22:44,532

goes, that was John.

360

00:22:44,532 --> 00:22:49,495

And I literally posted, I was just like, yeah, Lince and I went back and forth in that for

a while.

361

00:22:49,495 --> 00:22:51,686

And you know, it's just, it's the best to see it.

362

00:22:51,686 --> 00:22:53,617

And you were just like, I know who I am,

363

00:22:53,696 --> 00:22:55,367

Yeah, I'm very stubborn, man.

364

00:22:55,367 --> 00:22:56,348

I'm very stubborn.

365

00:22:56,348 --> 00:23:04,415

know I can be like, I just know what I want and I'd rather go down on my own shield, you

know, like on my back and with my shield rather.

366

00:23:04,415 --> 00:23:08,949

Like if it sucked, I'd rather it be my fault than your fault or somebody else's fault.

367

00:23:08,949 --> 00:23:18,684

I'd know that my idea works or is working rather than like, because I've taken so much

advice, good and bad from

368

00:23:18,684 --> 00:23:21,887

people who've made a lot of money and people who've made no money.

369

00:23:21,887 --> 00:23:27,851

And at the end of the day, I'm the only one that's gonna back myself.

370

00:23:27,972 --> 00:23:31,465

I'm the only one that's gonna be there and be like, hey, that was a good idea or hey, that

was a bad idea.

371

00:23:31,465 --> 00:23:36,329

Because at the end of the day, like I said, I'm the only one that I respect my opinion.

372

00:23:36,329 --> 00:23:44,326

I do respect everybody else's opinion, but I wouldn't put people in certain situations or

places in my life if I didn't respect their opinion.

373

00:23:44,326 --> 00:23:47,482

But sometimes I just have to go with my gut feeling and...

374

00:23:47,482 --> 00:23:49,849

I think that gut feeling was like, God, keep it.

375

00:23:49,849 --> 00:23:52,880

It's my El Generico, meow, meow, meow mix.

376

00:23:53,162 --> 00:23:57,427

Ole, ole, like it's my, it's the hook, you know?

377

00:23:57,530 --> 00:23:57,780

yeah.

378

00:23:57,780 --> 00:23:59,461

And it sets the tone and everything too.

379

00:23:59,461 --> 00:24:02,823

And like you said, with entrance music, it's that's what it's supposed to do.

380

00:24:02,823 --> 00:24:05,254

It's supposed to set the tone for who you are.

381

00:24:05,254 --> 00:24:08,326

And you mentioned something that I want to bring up again here.

382

00:24:08,326 --> 00:24:13,558

You had mentioned that when you hear your music, it puts you in a mind frame, it puts you

in a state of mind.

383

00:24:13,558 --> 00:24:15,600

So it's not even just about your brand.

384

00:24:15,600 --> 00:24:16,851

It's also what it does for you.

385

00:24:16,851 --> 00:24:22,074

And that's something that before you even go out the curtain, we talk about what we want

the people to see.

386

00:24:22,074 --> 00:24:24,675

But another important part of it is what does it do to you?

387

00:24:24,675 --> 00:24:26,446

And when you think about

388

00:24:26,493 --> 00:24:35,160

Golden Rush and you think about the you think about Lucha lit and you think about all

these themes that you've had How do these themes affect you backstage or in gorilla before

389

00:24:35,160 --> 00:24:36,688

you even go to the ring?

390

00:24:36,688 --> 00:24:47,202

Yeah, well, all the songs that I've had before Lucha Lit, I honestly felt no different

from when I was talking about the match to when I went out.

391

00:24:47,202 --> 00:24:50,981

I always felt like I was in the motions mode.

392

00:24:50,981 --> 00:24:56,346

Like the music never changed me and never put me in the right state of mind, like I like

to say.

393

00:24:56,346 --> 00:25:00,499

And then it was because it wasn't me, you know, it wasn't my music.

394

00:25:00,499 --> 00:25:03,652

It wasn't the one that got me to the level.

395

00:25:03,652 --> 00:25:06,063

in the right state of mind that I need to be to wrestle.

396

00:25:06,063 --> 00:25:11,876

Like sometimes in wrestling you need to be relaxed, but sometimes you need to be

aggressive.

397

00:25:11,876 --> 00:25:15,227

like I'm naturally an aggressive person.

398

00:25:15,227 --> 00:25:17,958

I'm very calm, like I'm down.

399

00:25:17,958 --> 00:25:18,768

You know what saying?

400

00:25:18,768 --> 00:25:19,888

I'm down, always down.

401

00:25:19,888 --> 00:25:21,680

Like say the word, I'm down.

402

00:25:21,680 --> 00:25:25,721

Like I look forward to it, but that music never got me to that point.

403

00:25:25,721 --> 00:25:28,843

That music got me to like, hey, I'm happy to be here.

404

00:25:28,843 --> 00:25:30,557

And I'm like, am I really happy to be here?

405

00:25:30,557 --> 00:25:32,614

Like I am happy to be here, but like I'm...

406

00:25:32,614 --> 00:25:35,675

I wanna be here for long time and that wasn't gonna get me there.

407

00:25:35,675 --> 00:25:49,151

And then when I heard the original theme song that we changed by Necro, that got me to the

point where I wanted to kill somebody in a good way, like in a wrestling way.

408

00:25:49,151 --> 00:25:51,082

wanted, yeah, right?

409

00:25:51,082 --> 00:25:59,555

I wanted to bring that aggressiveness out so that way, one, I wasn't worried about what I

was doing, but two, I wanted to look like an ass kicker.

410

00:25:59,555 --> 00:26:01,478

I wanted to look like an ass kicker.

411

00:26:01,478 --> 00:26:11,516

I actually used that same song by Necro at all my jujitsu contests to listen before I went

out and it wasn't like, I'm gonna go out there and kill this guy, but I'm gonna go out

412

00:26:11,516 --> 00:26:14,018

there and not get killed.

413

00:26:14,039 --> 00:26:24,647

So there's a mindset to that level of primal instinct of just being there, man.

414

00:26:24,647 --> 00:26:26,069

Just being there and ready.

415

00:26:26,069 --> 00:26:30,692

And that song literally, that song gets me to the mindset of like,

416

00:26:30,714 --> 00:26:35,888

I'm now treating this no longer as a professional wrestling match, but as a fight.

417

00:26:36,089 --> 00:26:44,675

And that's what I feel like we've gotten away with in wrestling is like making it real,

making it look real, making it look like somebody's in jeopardy.

418

00:26:45,076 --> 00:26:48,939

like, I don't sell motion, you know, I sell emotion.

419

00:26:48,939 --> 00:26:52,222

At the end of the day, that's, it starts with the entrance and the theme song.

420

00:26:52,222 --> 00:26:54,694

So got me in the right state of mind.

421

00:26:54,694 --> 00:27:01,076

Now for you with that Necro song, is that music that even outside of wrestling inspires

you and kind of gets you going?

422

00:27:01,076 --> 00:27:08,928

Because like you said, I think that a lot of people think of the music that they love and

they start there as opposed to just thinking of the character side.

423

00:27:08,928 --> 00:27:16,470

But let's kind of take it into a different direction in terms of just music that you grew

up with, music that you love and music that kind of gets you going.

424

00:27:16,470 --> 00:27:21,748

What are some of those artists that you always go to and what are some of the musicians

that you listen to?

425

00:27:21,748 --> 00:27:22,832

And you're just like, you know what?

426

00:27:22,832 --> 00:27:23,484

That's it.

427

00:27:23,484 --> 00:27:25,554

They get me and this is totally about me.

428

00:27:25,554 --> 00:27:31,345

I'm not gonna lie, I'm like culturally illiterate when it comes to music.

429

00:27:31,466 --> 00:27:35,127

I grew up in Camden right outside Philadelphia.

430

00:27:35,127 --> 00:27:49,060

So a lot of the music that I heard besides like, know, WWE, WCW, when I went to ECW when I

was younger and I heard now I know like Pantera and all these other guys, I thought those

431

00:27:49,060 --> 00:27:50,771

were wrestling theme songs.

432

00:27:50,871 --> 00:27:52,721

Never like, let me look this up.

433

00:27:52,721 --> 00:27:55,332

Cause remember too, the internet wasn't crazy back then.

434

00:27:55,494 --> 00:27:59,466

You had to download it illegally if you were trying to listen to music.

435

00:27:59,466 --> 00:28:02,048

YouTube wasn't around, Apple music wasn't around.

436

00:28:02,048 --> 00:28:09,272

So a lot of these songs I legit thought were theme songs from wrestling, and then Guitar

Hero and Rock Band came out.

437

00:28:09,272 --> 00:28:13,214

And that was like what, early 2000s or some shit like that.

438

00:28:13,495 --> 00:28:15,537

And when I realized, I was like, wait.

439

00:28:15,537 --> 00:28:17,307

That's not Tommy Dreamer's thing, it?

440

00:28:17,307 --> 00:28:20,908

And they're like, yeah, it's Tommy Dreamer, but it's an actual band that plays them.

441

00:28:20,908 --> 00:28:33,792

Because growing up, again, I'm Puerto Rican, so growing up, not only, I listened to lot of

rap, because I'm from the hood, and then lot of salsa reggaeton, a lot of Latino music.

442

00:28:33,792 --> 00:28:39,544

So I wasn't introduced to a lot of the culture until very late in my life.

443

00:28:39,544 --> 00:28:43,414

I'm talking high school, college, super late.

444

00:28:45,659 --> 00:28:49,771

Some of those music, man, like I said, I could have sworn they were wrestling theme songs.

445

00:28:49,771 --> 00:28:55,645

So now going back, I actually never heard of Necro until I left WWE.

446

00:28:55,645 --> 00:29:05,174

Like I'm sure I've heard a song or whatever, but it never was on my playlist until I

started like going down this rabbit hole of like songs that I was like, man, need to find

447

00:29:05,174 --> 00:29:06,591

a head bumping song.

448

00:29:06,591 --> 00:29:08,132

I need to find a new song at the gym.

449

00:29:08,132 --> 00:29:09,202

I need like something new.

450

00:29:09,202 --> 00:29:12,554

And that song popped up and then all of these other things started popping up.

451

00:29:12,554 --> 00:29:14,395

I was just like, my gosh, like what?

452

00:29:14,587 --> 00:29:17,658

How am I so culturally literate being in my 30s?

453

00:29:17,658 --> 00:29:21,309

Well, it's because I'm obsessed with wrestling and I'm obsessed with my family.

454

00:29:21,309 --> 00:29:28,171

I'm obsessed with so many other things I don't really sit down and enjoy just sitting

there like, that's a good song, you know what saying?

455

00:29:28,171 --> 00:29:32,132

But now, I guess it really just depends on my mood.

456

00:29:32,793 --> 00:29:40,167

Whatever frequency I'm running that day depends on what I'm doing, whether I'm making gear

or if I'm gonna go work out.

457

00:29:40,167 --> 00:29:42,767

or go run errands, it really just depends.

458

00:29:42,767 --> 00:29:44,627

I don't mind, I like all music.

459

00:29:44,627 --> 00:29:50,087

I like black, white, country, I like everything.

460

00:29:50,227 --> 00:29:58,787

I'm not gonna sit here and say, this song is better than the other, because every song is

different and every genre is different, every genre, and every song was written for a

461

00:29:58,787 --> 00:29:59,767

different purpose.

462

00:29:59,767 --> 00:30:02,047

You just have to enjoy it, just like wrestling.

463

00:30:02,047 --> 00:30:04,737

You just have to enjoy it, whatever's there.

464

00:30:04,737 --> 00:30:09,849

So right now on my playlist, you'll get stuff from the 70s, the 80s.

465

00:30:09,849 --> 00:30:10,539

all the way to the 90s.

466

00:30:10,539 --> 00:30:16,302

I don't really have a lot of like 2000 songs that I listen to now.

467

00:30:16,302 --> 00:30:22,025

Most of the stuff that I'd be listening to is more back in the day, I guess.

468

00:30:22,666 --> 00:30:28,799

But now I just like also to just try to be more positive, like listen to songs I like

uplifting and like move me.

469

00:30:28,799 --> 00:30:32,050

Because I know the slower the song, the less I'm going to want to move.

470

00:30:32,050 --> 00:30:33,199

know that for sure.

471

00:30:33,199 --> 00:30:33,779

Yeah.

472

00:30:33,779 --> 00:30:40,032

And it's so true too, though, like the different things that you do in a day or the

different, the different bodies you represent in a day, right?

473

00:30:40,032 --> 00:30:41,762

They're all going to have different things that you do.

474

00:30:41,762 --> 00:30:44,654

If you're just in the mode of it, you gotta have something that keeps you going.

475

00:30:44,654 --> 00:30:51,186

It's funny though that you talked about Pantera because obviously we all know Rob Van

Dam's theme was Pantera in ECW.

476

00:30:51,186 --> 00:31:01,901

And, you know, it's funny to me because when I started getting into doing the wrestling

themes, excuse me, when I had gotten into doing the wrestling themes, it became a whole

477

00:31:01,901 --> 00:31:03,055

thing of like,

478

00:31:03,055 --> 00:31:07,809

Wow, there's all of this music that people love and it's like, where do we even start?

479

00:31:07,809 --> 00:31:15,350

And for me, I come from a background of just listening to lots of music, but for me,

mostly is like heavy metal, hard rock, those kinds of things.

480

00:31:15,350 --> 00:31:20,920

And so for me, starting to figure out different styles and, know, even have something like

Necro, it's like, all right, cool.

481

00:31:20,920 --> 00:31:21,911

Can I do that?

482

00:31:21,911 --> 00:31:22,452

Yeah.

483

00:31:22,452 --> 00:31:24,824

But like, I don't want to just do something that's a rip.

484

00:31:24,824 --> 00:31:27,616

want to do something that's really in the vein, really in the style.

485

00:31:27,616 --> 00:31:29,755

And, but if I'm in the studio.

486

00:31:29,755 --> 00:31:31,305

I'm listening to references doing that.

487

00:31:31,305 --> 00:31:34,466

I'm just driving and I'm trying to figure out, okay, cool.

488

00:31:34,466 --> 00:31:35,717

I'm going to pick up my son or whatever.

489

00:31:35,717 --> 00:31:36,837

And it's like 10 minutes.

490

00:31:36,837 --> 00:31:40,198

I'll put on probably some heavier stuff or whatnot, just something there.

491

00:31:40,198 --> 00:31:41,769

If I'm working, it's all lo-fi.

492

00:31:41,769 --> 00:31:50,101

it's like, it's like you said, depending on what you're doing in the day and being a dad

too, that's when like those like real emotional country songs start hitting you.

493

00:31:50,101 --> 00:31:55,082

The ones where they're just like, Hey, they're riding a bike and then they're out the door

and you're just like, damn it.

494

00:31:55,988 --> 00:31:56,729

Come back!

495

00:31:56,729 --> 00:31:58,810

I tell my kids, like I said, my daughter just turned 18.

496

00:31:58,810 --> 00:32:00,101

I said, you can live here forever.

497

00:32:00,101 --> 00:32:01,732

You I don't really care.

498

00:32:02,013 --> 00:32:07,427

And then, but I know she's already at that point where she likes to go out and do this.

499

00:32:07,427 --> 00:32:09,579

I'm like, I can't say no anymore, I guess, right?

500

00:32:09,579 --> 00:32:11,300

Make sure your room is clean, damn it.

501

00:32:11,921 --> 00:32:20,387

But yeah, that's, it's music right now for me at least has definitely, cause I know I like

talk a lot in my head to myself.

502

00:32:20,581 --> 00:32:24,083

So like a lot of times I need distraction from having a conversation with myself.

503

00:32:24,083 --> 00:32:25,474

So I'll put on some music.

504

00:32:25,474 --> 00:32:28,846

But honestly too, I like having some songs that don't have words.

505

00:32:28,846 --> 00:32:32,178

Like there's a lot of, like Bruce Faulkner, I think that's his name.

506

00:32:32,178 --> 00:32:41,953

He does a lot of the Dragon Ball Z music, but he's got an album where I felt like every

song did not have words, but every song told a story.

507

00:32:41,953 --> 00:32:43,694

And I'm just like, God dang.

508

00:32:43,694 --> 00:32:46,626

Like, yeah, it just, it just like hit hard.

509

00:32:46,626 --> 00:32:48,271

And I was like, I like that.

510

00:32:48,271 --> 00:32:49,499

And

511

00:32:50,363 --> 00:32:51,008

I like reggae.

512

00:32:51,008 --> 00:32:52,083

I do like reggae.

513

00:32:52,083 --> 00:32:54,667

I like just mellowing out.

514

00:32:54,667 --> 00:33:00,512

Like I said, I feel as if I'm a very high strung, I'm very like go, go, go, especially in

my head.

515

00:33:00,512 --> 00:33:10,180

So anything that can calm me, me at a lower frequency just for a little bit, because I

definitely function at a very high frequency.

516

00:33:10,281 --> 00:33:12,703

And when I crash, man, I crash.

517

00:33:13,403 --> 00:33:13,703

Yup.

518

00:33:13,703 --> 00:33:15,814

You're basically just like days over couch.

519

00:33:15,814 --> 00:33:16,565

That's it.

520

00:33:16,565 --> 00:33:16,945

Totally.

521

00:33:16,945 --> 00:33:17,855

I'm, I'm the same.

522

00:33:17,855 --> 00:33:18,245

Yeah.

523

00:33:18,245 --> 00:33:25,799

And I think that kind of tying it back into the themes and stuff too, I get a lot of

wrestlers asking me for lyrics, which is great.

524

00:33:25,799 --> 00:33:26,669

I can do them.

525

00:33:26,669 --> 00:33:27,560

I bring in vocalists.

526

00:33:27,560 --> 00:33:37,274

Sometimes I do the words on my own too, but I always ask them, go, when you have lyrics in

your song, you have to understand that now that we're in this age where everything is

527

00:33:37,274 --> 00:33:39,419

streaming and there's more announcers and

528

00:33:39,419 --> 00:33:43,902

The announcers do a great job nowadays in every promotion of putting you guys over.

529

00:33:43,902 --> 00:33:53,468

I think that sometimes the lyrics get in the way because then what's happening is for the

people in attendance, you can go ahead and you can have them hopefully understand the

530

00:33:53,468 --> 00:33:55,509

lyrics through the speakers and what's going on.

531

00:33:55,509 --> 00:34:01,100

But a lot of the times lyrics can get in the way of what the announcers are trying to do.

532

00:34:01,100 --> 00:34:05,945

have these two voices talking back at the same time and it kind of speaks to what you're

talking about is

533

00:34:05,945 --> 00:34:07,946

Sometimes you don't need vocals.

534

00:34:07,946 --> 00:34:10,500

You don't need lyrics in order to get the message across.

535

00:34:10,500 --> 00:34:17,378

You can have these awesome songs that are instrumental and still sell the narrative that

you're trying to, or put you in that mood that you got to.

536

00:34:17,378 --> 00:34:26,219

Like even with your, with your theme right now, we don't have lyrics outside of like the

intro words that you have, even in the redone version, which you've started using recently

537

00:34:26,219 --> 00:34:26,949

too.

538

00:34:27,888 --> 00:34:29,192

Yeah, I think,

539

00:34:29,192 --> 00:34:29,731

Talk to you.

540

00:34:29,731 --> 00:34:38,891

Yeah, I think sometimes too, having lyrics in your theme song, you're compensating for

something else.

541

00:34:38,891 --> 00:34:48,941

You're almost not confident in your character or your presentation isn't as well thought

out that you're trying to use lyrics to enhance when it's actually, yeah, like you said,

542

00:34:48,941 --> 00:34:57,475

more confusing because if I have to sit in the audience and I have 30 seconds to think,

who are you?

543

00:34:57,475 --> 00:34:58,175

What are you about?

544

00:34:58,175 --> 00:34:59,456

Are you a good guy or bad guy?

545

00:34:59,456 --> 00:35:05,557

And I'm listening to theme, like some lyrics that don't match it, then you're confusing

the audience.

546

00:35:05,557 --> 00:35:16,650

know, you're very, very much like confusing the audience to now makes your matches harder

for them to digest because then now they're not only having to watch, but like think about

547

00:35:16,650 --> 00:35:26,563

how your music related to you and how the lyrics, it's just a lot of distractions when it

comes to what you're actually trying to portray, which is enhancing.

548

00:35:26,563 --> 00:35:30,523

your overall aura of your presentation when you come out.

549

00:35:30,863 --> 00:35:35,063

And I know I had some people ask me, like, you should dub over.

550

00:35:35,063 --> 00:35:39,583

Because I actually had somebody else made me a theme song before you.

551

00:35:39,583 --> 00:35:42,323

And I gave them the same Cliff Notes.

552

00:35:42,323 --> 00:35:48,423

And when I got back the first draft, it was not anywhere near I wanted.

553

00:35:48,423 --> 00:35:52,583

And I said, hey, bro, do you think you can find a beat like this?

554

00:35:52,583 --> 00:35:53,433

And he was like, no.

555

00:35:53,433 --> 00:35:54,779

And I was like, all right, well.

556

00:35:54,785 --> 00:36:04,231

I'm gonna pull the trigger on I'm gonna pull the plug on this because I'm not going to pay

for something that I Not happy with like it's not what I want like you said that you could

557

00:36:04,231 --> 00:36:13,768

do this for me And when I'm getting this lyric back doesn't fit me and then in fact and

not only him but like a lot of other guys that I was trying to go to a lot of their stuff

558

00:36:13,768 --> 00:36:17,550

always sounded the same from one person to the other and I'm like, you know what?

559

00:36:17,550 --> 00:36:24,699

need somebody who can start from scratch scratch and who can actually take the notes that

I have

560

00:36:24,699 --> 00:36:26,711

and create them, because that's what I'm paying for.

561

00:36:26,711 --> 00:36:29,683

I hate that I pay people things.

562

00:36:29,683 --> 00:36:33,246

For example, when I make gear for me, it's great.

563

00:36:33,246 --> 00:36:37,370

But when I ask somebody else to make it, because I'm in a rush or whatever, it's always

bad.

564

00:36:37,370 --> 00:36:38,570

It's always bad.

565

00:36:38,570 --> 00:36:39,811

And it's not even kind of good.

566

00:36:39,811 --> 00:36:40,632

It's always bad.

567

00:36:40,632 --> 00:36:42,339

I'm so disappointed in myself.

568

00:36:42,339 --> 00:36:47,458

I'm like, bro, I just gave you these specific points for a specific reason.

569

00:36:47,458 --> 00:36:49,439

I don't need you to put your spin on it.

570

00:36:49,439 --> 00:36:52,282

Now, in our case, you didn't.

571

00:36:52,282 --> 00:36:54,155

You did exactly what I asked.

572

00:36:54,155 --> 00:36:58,707

And there was even a mess up in the key or the tone or something.

573

00:36:58,707 --> 00:37:00,368

And I was like, hey, I think I like it.

574

00:37:00,368 --> 00:37:01,379

I think we should keep that.

575

00:37:01,379 --> 00:37:02,269

And you're like, are you sure?

576

00:37:02,269 --> 00:37:03,170

I'm like, yeah, keep that.

577

00:37:03,170 --> 00:37:06,102

think stuff like that, like happy mistakes are great.

578

00:37:06,102 --> 00:37:14,216

But when it's something so different, like for example too, I used to have a guy make my

mask and I was like, do not change anything.

579

00:37:14,216 --> 00:37:16,197

Don't change the size, don't change the template.

580

00:37:16,197 --> 00:37:17,848

Everything has to be the exact same.

581

00:37:17,848 --> 00:37:18,828

Every mask was different.

582

00:37:18,828 --> 00:37:20,352

So I fired him and I was like, you know what?

583

00:37:20,352 --> 00:37:21,430

I'm gonna make my mask.

584

00:37:21,430 --> 00:37:22,550

And I did that.

585

00:37:22,550 --> 00:37:23,891

Or they would like change,

586

00:37:23,891 --> 00:37:25,852

one little thing and I put their flavor on it.

587

00:37:25,852 --> 00:37:28,833

My bro, this isn't, you know, Jenny Craig.

588

00:37:28,833 --> 00:37:30,634

you got to, this is my food.

589

00:37:30,634 --> 00:37:32,055

that, you know what saying?

590

00:37:32,115 --> 00:37:33,526

So same thing with the music.

591

00:37:33,526 --> 00:37:38,188

Like, like I said, when it came to you, it was super easy.

592

00:37:38,188 --> 00:37:40,289

You know, I think we, knocked it out.

593

00:37:40,289 --> 00:37:44,201

I think within a week-ish, if not like after like two or three drafts.

594

00:37:44,201 --> 00:37:47,932

And I think most of that, I think the first thing that you sent me was like a hit.

595

00:37:47,932 --> 00:37:49,761

And I was just like, can we just.

596

00:37:49,761 --> 00:37:51,292

I just want this to be louder.

597

00:37:51,292 --> 00:37:53,153

I think it was either the bass or the piano.

598

00:37:53,153 --> 00:37:55,835

Like I said, I wanted to make sure that people heard.

599

00:37:55,835 --> 00:37:59,748

Because I don't really hear a lot of that in music today.

600

00:37:59,748 --> 00:38:02,540

So that was already going to help me stand out.

601

00:38:02,540 --> 00:38:09,434

And then I think when we gave the, I think that was like a little bit loud, but in a good

way for me.

602

00:38:09,434 --> 00:38:10,575

I like, I think I like that.

603

00:38:10,575 --> 00:38:12,536

And that was our keep.

604

00:38:12,536 --> 00:38:14,718

So our process was super easy.

605

00:38:14,718 --> 00:38:16,549

I was super happy with it.

606

00:38:16,609 --> 00:38:19,230

Literally that same week, I ended up using it.

607

00:38:20,271 --> 00:38:24,213

A couple months later, I was like, man, I need a slower version.

608

00:38:24,253 --> 00:38:25,157

It was already slow.

609

00:38:25,157 --> 00:38:27,935

I was like, I need a slower and more darker.

610

00:38:27,935 --> 00:38:37,439

Because I knew eventually I was gonna turn a bad guy in a couple places and I didn't wanna

have the same theme, but I wanted to have the same theme.

611

00:38:37,439 --> 00:38:45,663

So I wanted people to have that familiarity, but at the same time, they get it when they

see it.

612

00:38:46,017 --> 00:38:51,331

Yeah, that guy's a lucha guy, but this music tells me that he's a little bit rough and

rugged and maybe a little bit bad.

613

00:38:51,331 --> 00:38:53,613

I'm all about it though, so.

614

00:38:53,613 --> 00:38:54,083

Totally.

615

00:38:54,083 --> 00:39:03,240

And I mean, the thing is there's so many tie-ins that if you listen to the new version and

the original version that we did, there's a lot of tie-ins, a lot of it is similar, but in

616

00:39:03,240 --> 00:39:05,662

the darker version, there's a couple of like little additional things.

617

00:39:05,662 --> 00:39:07,834

If you listen to them, you'll pick them out.

618

00:39:07,834 --> 00:39:13,508

But it's funny too that you mentioned that because for me, I've always considered myself a

composer.

619

00:39:13,508 --> 00:39:19,203

And I think that there is a bit of a difference sometimes between someone being a producer

and being a composer.

620

00:39:19,203 --> 00:39:19,829

And

621

00:39:19,829 --> 00:39:23,940

Nowadays there is a little bit of kind of crossover depending on that.

622

00:39:23,940 --> 00:39:29,882

But you know, I've always looked at someone like a Mikey Ruckus or a Jim Johnston and been

like, these guys get it.

623

00:39:29,882 --> 00:39:33,853

These guys really understand that it's not just about making a beat.

624

00:39:33,853 --> 00:39:36,744

It's about coming up with something completely original.

625

00:39:36,744 --> 00:39:39,795

And that's not to put anybody down at all.

626

00:39:39,795 --> 00:39:46,257

It's just when you're in this line of work, you got to think of each wrestler as a movie

or as a TV show.

627

00:39:46,257 --> 00:39:47,661

And you got to think of.

628

00:39:47,661 --> 00:39:48,902

how to score that piece of it.

629

00:39:48,902 --> 00:39:53,275

And I remember that, like you said, there were some of those happy accidents that we

walked into.

630

00:39:53,275 --> 00:39:59,460

And as a composer and someone in music, you tend to get to those points where you could

overdo something.

631

00:39:59,460 --> 00:40:04,634

And one thing that I've always tried to do is try to be a little bit simpler upfront.

632

00:40:04,634 --> 00:40:11,669

Cause taking a theme like yours, there are so many things, so many layers, so many extra

guitar things, so many extra sounds that we could add.

633

00:40:11,669 --> 00:40:14,677

But the thing is, does it add to the music?

634

00:40:14,677 --> 00:40:20,851

Or is it just kind of like, okay, cool, because it's in this key, I could do this or we

could do this or we can do this.

635

00:40:20,851 --> 00:40:27,015

I think, you know, when you really think about what serves the talent and what serves the

music.

636

00:40:27,296 --> 00:40:28,517

Those are your answers right there.

637

00:40:28,517 --> 00:40:31,859

Music should always be the vehicle for what you're looking to do.

638

00:40:31,859 --> 00:40:37,243

But for you guys, the wrestler and the story has to be exactly where that goes.

639

00:40:37,243 --> 00:40:39,965

And, you know, you had mentioned also about your gear.

640

00:40:39,965 --> 00:40:42,026

You're just generally a creative person.

641

00:40:42,026 --> 00:40:43,063

Like you do.

642

00:40:43,063 --> 00:40:46,186

gear for other people, you do your own gear, you do your logos.

643

00:40:46,186 --> 00:40:55,336

You bring in other people to do things, but do you feel that you became even more creative

and more self-creative through necessity?

644

00:40:55,336 --> 00:41:02,453

Or were you always just someone that was like, okay, cool, I can have all these skills, I

can do them, so I'll just do them on my own and source it out when I need to?

645

00:41:02,735 --> 00:41:04,796

First of all, shout out to my boy Eddie Pozos.

646

00:41:04,796 --> 00:41:06,517

That's one of my business partners.

647

00:41:06,517 --> 00:41:21,323

actually, during COVID, this dude helped me get into Adobe, get into Premiere Pro,

literally stepped my game up when it came to my graphic design and stuff like that.

648

00:41:21,323 --> 00:41:28,206

Because I've always been, since 2006, my first set of gear ever was given to me.

649

00:41:28,206 --> 00:41:29,636

I had to pay for it, but it was given to me.

650

00:41:29,636 --> 00:41:32,129

And then the second set, I had to go out and find it.

651

00:41:32,129 --> 00:41:36,820

And at that time I was 16, 17 and somebody was trying to charge me like 700 bucks.

652

00:41:36,820 --> 00:41:38,270

And I was like, bro, I'm from the hood.

653

00:41:38,270 --> 00:41:39,211

I ain't got 700 bucks.

654

00:41:39,211 --> 00:41:46,273

So I took 500 of that and I bought a sewing machine and some fabric and I made my own

gear.

655

00:41:46,273 --> 00:41:46,843

Was it great?

656

00:41:46,843 --> 00:41:48,273

No, but I was able to do it.

657

00:41:48,273 --> 00:41:50,324

And ever since that moment, I was like, you know what?

658

00:41:50,324 --> 00:41:51,694

I can make my own shirts.

659

00:41:51,694 --> 00:41:53,985

I can make my own this and that.

660

00:41:53,985 --> 00:41:58,326

And I've always been super creative and independent when it came to that.

661

00:41:59,106 --> 00:42:01,611

Because at the end of the day, and we talked about this before too,

662

00:42:01,611 --> 00:42:06,492

I could outsource it to other people, but it's always, always a disappointment.

663

00:42:06,492 --> 00:42:16,353

So instead of being disappointed and saving or spending money, I would rather learn this

skill and do it myself 100%.

664

00:42:16,353 --> 00:42:18,911

Whenever I want, I don't have to worry about somebody else's time.

665

00:42:18,911 --> 00:42:21,136

I don't have to worry about if they're gonna do it right.

666

00:42:21,136 --> 00:42:24,237

I know it's gonna be done right because I'm gonna do it.

667

00:42:24,237 --> 00:42:30,167

I would trust, there's a very small group of creative content creators that I would.

668

00:42:30,167 --> 00:42:33,089

trust to like, hey man, I need this in a day.

669

00:42:33,089 --> 00:42:37,393

Like, could we, you know, help me out or like, you know, do something with me.

670

00:42:37,393 --> 00:42:40,175

And very few people that I would trust to do that.

671

00:42:40,175 --> 00:42:43,497

But now for the most part, yeah, I make my own mass.

672

00:42:43,497 --> 00:42:46,379

make everything is very much in-house.

673

00:42:46,500 --> 00:42:55,767

I would have done the music if I could play an instrument, I, that's the only, that and

basketball are the only two things in my life that I've tried and I suck at, dude.

674

00:42:55,767 --> 00:42:56,599

I'm just like.

675

00:42:56,599 --> 00:42:56,870

either.

676

00:42:56,870 --> 00:43:00,192

My wife kicks my ass every time when it comes to basketball.

677

00:43:00,192 --> 00:43:02,974

but I can't shoot because I can't see more than five feet in front of me.

678

00:43:02,974 --> 00:43:06,994

So it's like I'm a little shorter than most basketball players.

679

00:43:06,994 --> 00:43:08,419

So I'm going to get blocked every time.

680

00:43:08,419 --> 00:43:09,500

It's not fun.

681

00:43:09,500 --> 00:43:12,742

then instruments, I'm just like not I don't have the right ear for it.

682

00:43:12,742 --> 00:43:16,475

Like I I love the music that comes out.

683

00:43:16,475 --> 00:43:18,878

I just cannot play it.

684

00:43:18,878 --> 00:43:22,090

I just don't understand how they baffles me.

685

00:43:22,090 --> 00:43:27,164

Since elementary school, I've been trying and could not play an instrument to save my

life.

686

00:43:27,164 --> 00:43:27,905

I envy.

687

00:43:27,905 --> 00:43:30,176

all my kids or anybody who plays an instrument.

688

00:43:30,176 --> 00:43:41,532

But I've been very, okay, so I played, I picked up a ukulele for a little bit when I was a

teacher, because one of my coworkers, he's from the island too, but and he loves playing

689

00:43:41,532 --> 00:43:42,223

the ukulele.

690

00:43:42,223 --> 00:43:44,054

And I was like, man, how hard can it be?

691

00:43:44,054 --> 00:43:45,104

Actually it's hard dog.

692

00:43:45,104 --> 00:43:47,966

I can play like maybe one song, but it's not good.

693

00:43:48,086 --> 00:43:53,339

I just don't have, like I said, the ear for it, or I see and hear the final piece already.

694

00:43:53,339 --> 00:43:56,360

And I'm just like, how do I, I can't produce that for some reason.

695

00:43:56,360 --> 00:43:57,879

So I get frustrated and I,

696

00:43:57,879 --> 00:44:00,922

just like I'd rather not get frustrated.

697

00:44:00,922 --> 00:44:07,988

But yeah, I'm very much very independent right now when it comes to my gear, even my

clothing, shoes I've made.

698

00:44:07,988 --> 00:44:09,889

I make my own sneakers sometimes now.

699

00:44:09,889 --> 00:44:13,553

I just, again, I'm very frugal, man.

700

00:44:13,553 --> 00:44:18,917

And it's not, if you're in wrestling, it's not about spending money, it's about saving

money.

701

00:44:18,917 --> 00:44:22,981

And if I can save it by doing it, I'd rather just do it myself.

702

00:44:22,981 --> 00:44:25,859

And I actually like to when people...

703

00:44:25,859 --> 00:44:28,299

Like would you get that or who did that for you?

704

00:44:28,299 --> 00:44:32,099

And I was like, I did it and they're like, man, can you do something for me?

705

00:44:32,099 --> 00:44:41,269

And I'm like, no, can't like That was my issue before to I would people would always ask

because I make these tracks and stuff and I like yo We're gonna can you make me one?

706

00:44:41,269 --> 00:44:51,599

I'm like no because then there's gonna be two fly people on the earth Like what makes me

different now if you have it like it just doesn't And that's my always thing like always

707

00:44:51,599 --> 00:44:55,387

just being different sounding different looking different being different

708

00:44:55,760 --> 00:44:59,688

and very independent when it comes to stuff like that.

709

00:44:59,777 --> 00:45:03,291

That being said though, you have also made gear for people like Bailey and things like

that.

710

00:45:03,291 --> 00:45:12,260

Probably people that you're close with and you resonate with, but it's cool to see that

you've taken these skills and you know, when you choose to, you can also parlay them into

711

00:45:12,260 --> 00:45:13,781

other people as well.

712

00:45:15,083 --> 00:45:15,793

Yeah.

713

00:45:15,793 --> 00:45:25,581

I have, know, wrestling, whatever in wrestling, wrestling is my job, you know, whether

it's wrestling, training, making gear, selling merch, whatever, it's part of my job.

714

00:45:25,581 --> 00:45:30,845

So, but I do value my time very much.

715

00:45:30,845 --> 00:45:37,631

Like I want to spend my time with my family and doing the things I want to do, not what

other people want me to do.

716

00:45:37,631 --> 00:45:42,915

So when it comes to that, like, you know, I always tell people you're paying

717

00:45:42,915 --> 00:45:44,845

For the gear you're paying for my time.

718

00:45:44,845 --> 00:45:51,034

So sometimes it's a lot higher than you know, most people but I also One will make sure

that you get it in time.

719

00:45:51,034 --> 00:45:55,055

Make sure that it shows up Fitting a hundred percent, correct.

720

00:45:55,055 --> 00:46:04,175

I actually just sent something out that I told the people I'm like, you have 30 days like

most people wouldn't even give you You know a time frame, but yeah, you have 30 days if

721

00:46:04,175 --> 00:46:08,215

you want anything fixed or whatever But after that you're on your own.

722

00:46:08,215 --> 00:46:12,055

So I For me to whatever I put out there.

723

00:46:12,055 --> 00:46:12,897

That's my art

724

00:46:12,897 --> 00:46:15,889

So I just want to make sure that my art is also being represented.

725

00:46:15,889 --> 00:46:18,531

And my art doesn't just go on everybody.

726

00:46:18,531 --> 00:46:24,416

I'm not a gear maker who will take everybody's gear or their money.

727

00:46:24,416 --> 00:46:28,399

In fact, I only take about four or five projects a month.

728

00:46:28,399 --> 00:46:29,590

Some of them are returning.

729

00:46:29,590 --> 00:46:31,321

Some of them are not returning.

730

00:46:31,321 --> 00:46:33,707

But I don't answer.

731

00:46:33,707 --> 00:46:36,285

I answer everybody who hits me up in the DMs.

732

00:46:36,285 --> 00:46:38,647

But I don't take on new clients every month.

733

00:46:38,647 --> 00:46:39,827

It's just not.

734

00:46:39,829 --> 00:46:51,007

I have other things in my life personally that I would rather do with my family than just

sit behind the sewing machine and, you know, I need to worry about my career, not somebody

735

00:46:51,007 --> 00:46:51,357

else's.

736

00:46:51,357 --> 00:46:54,389

So if it works out where I have time, then yeah, I'll do it.

737

00:46:54,389 --> 00:46:57,872

But if not, it's not that big of a deal for me to say no.

738

00:46:57,872 --> 00:47:07,309

Like for my people, like Bailey and all the other cats, you know, I'd work for high level

people, people on the Indies, it doesn't matter.

739

00:47:07,309 --> 00:47:07,987

It's just...

740

00:47:07,987 --> 00:47:13,609

One, how you are to me and two, do I have the time and three, do you have the money?

741

00:47:13,609 --> 00:47:14,784

You know what saying?

742

00:47:14,784 --> 00:47:21,210

Now, here's a question too, when you do parlay this into other people, do you ever add

like little Easter eggs in there too?

743

00:47:21,210 --> 00:47:26,395

That it's like, you know, you would know that this is my work if you looked for this.

744

00:47:26,509 --> 00:47:29,240

Yeah, okay, like everybody has their own style.

745

00:47:29,240 --> 00:47:32,961

So there's two things I started doing that I think other people started biting off of me.

746

00:47:32,961 --> 00:47:37,242

So I made my own tag, but I call them seasons, like kind of like fashion seasons, right?

747

00:47:37,242 --> 00:47:41,083

So right now we're in season three, all the tags are different.

748

00:47:41,083 --> 00:47:46,644

So you'll know which tag is, know, which person is what, or what season they came out of.

749

00:47:46,644 --> 00:47:53,212

And then also too, for me personally, I always ask them kind of like similar how our

conversation was like, hey, tell me about yourself.

750

00:47:53,212 --> 00:47:55,406

You know, do you have any cats or whatever?

751

00:47:55,839 --> 00:47:59,000

For example, Bailey had asked for some gear in Mexico.

752

00:47:59,000 --> 00:48:00,619

She wanted to do some Day of the Dead thing.

753

00:48:00,619 --> 00:48:03,341

I was like, that's cool, yeah, I like that, we'll hook it up.

754

00:48:03,341 --> 00:48:08,443

But on her gear, she never gave me a concept.

755

00:48:08,443 --> 00:48:11,824

So was like, all right, cool, I'm gonna riff this and make it fun, make it cool.

756

00:48:11,824 --> 00:48:19,426

I knew she had two cats, so I made two small cats in the sugar skull style and put them on

her waistband.

757

00:48:19,426 --> 00:48:20,606

And I didn't tell her about it.

758

00:48:20,606 --> 00:48:22,347

I didn't say anything about it.

759

00:48:22,347 --> 00:48:23,863

I never tell anybody about.

760

00:48:23,863 --> 00:48:26,323

the Easter eggs like that's what the Easter eggs are for.

761

00:48:26,323 --> 00:48:29,208

So when she got them, she was like, dude, these two cats are dope.

762

00:48:29,208 --> 00:48:30,536

I got two cats at my house.

763

00:48:30,536 --> 00:48:38,215

I'm like, yeah, that's what, you know, I, that's why I put them there to now you'll

remember your two cats instead of worrying about like, is my match going to be good or

764

00:48:38,215 --> 00:48:38,395

not?

765

00:48:38,395 --> 00:48:43,399

Like, no, just look at the cats and have fun and realize even my old gear in WWE.

766

00:48:44,040 --> 00:48:45,902

I had a, at the time I had four kids.

767

00:48:45,902 --> 00:48:48,003

Now I have six because I have twins.

768

00:48:48,344 --> 00:48:49,725

But I had four.

769

00:48:49,725 --> 00:48:50,115

Thank you.

770

00:48:50,115 --> 00:48:50,986

Thank you.

771

00:48:50,986 --> 00:48:52,527

I had four cats.

772

00:48:52,903 --> 00:49:02,119

Cat heads on my tights and they were small but like kind of like bread hearts hearts they

were representing my kids and They're all my action figure.

773

00:49:02,119 --> 00:49:12,466

It's pretty cool to like see stuff like that But for other people yeah, I'll put you know,

the tag definitely helps know that it's me but also Whatever Easter egg and I don't ever

774

00:49:12,466 --> 00:49:19,381

post about it either because it's just for them, you If they want to post about it, they

can I think Bailey I think she did but for the most part.

775

00:49:19,381 --> 00:49:22,263

Yeah, it's just for the consumer

776

00:49:22,345 --> 00:49:25,477

the customer and just try to have a...

777

00:49:25,878 --> 00:49:26,837

It's art that you're wearing.

778

00:49:26,837 --> 00:49:27,547

You're not wearing gear.

779

00:49:27,547 --> 00:49:28,600

You're wearing art.

780

00:49:28,600 --> 00:49:32,963

So as long as you feel good and look like art, that's all that matters to me.

781

00:49:33,005 --> 00:49:38,918

Yeah, and every now and again, if you listen to some of the themes that I've done, every

now and again, you'll hear a little Easter egg there too.

782

00:49:38,918 --> 00:49:47,151

Sometimes it'll be a little quip from something maybe, or like what we call in music and

when you improvise, like a little quote from something else, know, like maybe like a few

783

00:49:47,151 --> 00:49:48,601

notes from something.

784

00:49:48,662 --> 00:49:54,484

One thing when it came to a friend of mine, Mercedes Martinez, we've done a couple themes

together over the couple of years.

785

00:49:54,484 --> 00:50:01,495

And whether she was working with Diamante and the No Pas one, whether it was her other

themes that we had worked on.

786

00:50:01,495 --> 00:50:03,586

There's something I've started calling the Mercedes theme.

787

00:50:03,586 --> 00:50:11,202

And if you listen to all three themes kind of together or separate, but you kind of listen

to the little theme that's in there, it goes through all of them.

788

00:50:11,202 --> 00:50:15,625

And, there have even been times before she's like, I like it and I can understand it.

789

00:50:15,625 --> 00:50:19,707

But again, someone who's necessarily not like musical, but they kind of catch the little

things.

790

00:50:19,707 --> 00:50:26,752

so, so long as everything else works and really fits that vision, there are those little

pieces where you can hear in her theme.

791

00:50:26,752 --> 00:50:27,393

Okay, cool.

792

00:50:27,393 --> 00:50:30,967

This is the one that's gone from when she went to TNA Impact.

793

00:50:30,967 --> 00:50:34,108

Then went to AEW and had this, then all of a sudden, okay, cool.

794

00:50:34,108 --> 00:50:37,900

We parlayed this into the Diamante Mercedes theme, Nopaz.

795

00:50:37,900 --> 00:50:41,772

And you hear these little things just like carry over between them.

796

00:50:41,772 --> 00:50:44,693

And it's just, it adds a little bit of an extra through line.

797

00:50:44,693 --> 00:50:48,965

So it's like in any of these creative things, you can always add these little Easter eggs

based on the people.

798

00:50:48,965 --> 00:50:50,326

It's a, it's fun.

799

00:50:50,326 --> 00:50:56,801

And if you're in that creative space, it gives you the ability to just go, Hey, here's

something that even resonates a little bit more or.

800

00:50:56,801 --> 00:51:00,020

It doesn't have to resonate to the whole audience, like you said, with the cats for

Bailey.

801

00:51:00,020 --> 00:51:01,344

It just has to hit her.

802

00:51:01,344 --> 00:51:02,787

And that's what's important, yeah.

803

00:51:02,787 --> 00:51:14,291

Yeah, because then once they it's funny, man, because like once you ever put on a set of

gear or listen to a song, you really do change like your mindset, your state of mind does

804

00:51:14,291 --> 00:51:14,711

change.

805

00:51:14,711 --> 00:51:22,473

And, you know, sometimes you get here a song, like I said earlier, and just makes you want

to run to the ring rather than be in the moment.

806

00:51:22,473 --> 00:51:25,534

And then sometimes it's like, man, look at my look at the song.

807

00:51:25,534 --> 00:51:26,334

I'm vibing out.

808

00:51:26,334 --> 00:51:26,865

Look at my gear.

809

00:51:26,865 --> 00:51:27,564

I cool, man.

810

00:51:27,564 --> 00:51:28,105

Like, I'm cool.

811

00:51:28,105 --> 00:51:28,911

I'm happy to be here.

812

00:51:28,911 --> 00:51:29,827

I'm present.

813

00:51:29,827 --> 00:51:30,247

Right?

814

00:51:30,247 --> 00:51:35,657

Some songs make you feel present and then like some songs just make you feel like I want

to get the hell out of here, man.

815

00:51:35,657 --> 00:51:40,547

Like, but and a lot of my theme songs in WWE made me feel like that.

816

00:51:40,547 --> 00:51:42,187

And I get it.

817

00:51:42,267 --> 00:51:44,077

Like WWE is not a wrestling company.

818

00:51:44,077 --> 00:51:45,547

It's a movie company.

819

00:51:45,547 --> 00:51:49,087

But if that's my trailer, that trailer sucks.

820

00:51:49,087 --> 00:51:50,107

You know what I'm saying?

821

00:51:50,107 --> 00:51:55,967

Like, give me a better trailer, man, than that, because the audience ain't going to buy

this ticket to go see this.

822

00:51:55,967 --> 00:51:57,111

You know what saying?

823

00:51:57,111 --> 00:51:57,696

they did.

824

00:51:57,696 --> 00:52:00,499

They did and they still do and that's testament to what you're doing.

825

00:52:00,499 --> 00:52:01,951

Yeah, you know, it's true.

826

00:52:01,951 --> 00:52:09,824

like you said, like it's not I'm putting my efforts now into myself, the brand, and very

much protecting that.

827

00:52:09,824 --> 00:52:13,826

And I always tell people, especially like promoters, I'm like, you know.

828

00:52:13,826 --> 00:52:20,870

you're not going to bring me in to devalue my brand, but I am going to come in to help

elevate your company.

829

00:52:20,870 --> 00:52:23,141

So we have to find some kind of compromise.

830

00:52:23,141 --> 00:52:24,602

You know what I'm saying?

831

00:52:26,043 --> 00:52:36,548

that was like one of the things that happened in TNA, nothing bad, but, I came in as a,

you know, an extra, but they, they, they brought me in, you know?

832

00:52:37,249 --> 00:52:41,391

and basically just asked to compromise my brand twice.

833

00:52:41,391 --> 00:52:43,128

And I was like, I'll do it once.

834

00:52:43,128 --> 00:52:46,390

but not twice and they were super respectful about it.

835

00:52:46,390 --> 00:52:52,454

And they understood like, this guy, like when I said the word brand, their minds like open

up like, this guy's not a wrestler.

836

00:52:52,454 --> 00:52:54,135

Like he's a businessman.

837

00:52:54,135 --> 00:53:03,141

And, you know, when I gave them the whole presentation, the music, the intro, the pictures

are like, whoa, this guy got it all.

838

00:53:03,141 --> 00:53:04,852

Like, no, the brands got it all.

839

00:53:04,852 --> 00:53:08,184

Cause I've thought about the brand, you know, from the music to the, it looks.

840

00:53:08,184 --> 00:53:08,984

So.

841

00:53:08,996 --> 00:53:15,336

Even the branding, when you get things mailed to you, remember when you sent me the, the

mask for my son and my son still has it in his room.

842

00:53:15,336 --> 00:53:16,766

And I thank you for that.

843

00:53:16,766 --> 00:53:18,346

I had the packaging that it was in.

844

00:53:18,346 --> 00:53:20,186

It wasn't just like a FedEx box.

845

00:53:20,186 --> 00:53:22,970

was literally just like everything was branded.

846

00:53:23,580 --> 00:53:25,970

don't know which one I gave you.

847

00:53:25,970 --> 00:53:27,660

You might have like season one.

848

00:53:27,660 --> 00:53:28,650

Was it this one?

849

00:53:28,650 --> 00:53:30,252

No, no, no, was the one before that then.

850

00:53:30,252 --> 00:53:31,747

Yeah, it was probably season one.

851

00:53:32,591 --> 00:53:33,248

Yeah.

852

00:53:33,248 --> 00:53:36,689

but now, like I said, like everything has, it's a brand, man.

853

00:53:36,689 --> 00:53:40,721

Like, you know, here's me selling, people like it, Lucha threads.

854

00:53:43,203 --> 00:53:44,244

It's art.

855

00:53:44,244 --> 00:53:45,224

You're buying art.

856

00:53:45,224 --> 00:53:47,776

You're not just buying, like I said, you're buying art in time.

857

00:53:47,776 --> 00:53:49,857

You're buying my time, but you're buying my art too.

858

00:53:49,857 --> 00:53:58,212

So I just want to make sure that, you know, it's again, the whole aesthetic of the

experience that you get, whether it's working with me outside of the ring or working with

859

00:53:58,212 --> 00:53:59,160

me in the ring.

860

00:53:59,160 --> 00:54:05,274

I just want to make sure that everybody understands like when they see this logo or they

see this mask, they know exactly who it is.

861

00:54:05,274 --> 00:54:13,150

know, even all my videos right now, a lot of the videos on my Instagram and Twitch,

they're just my theme song.

862

00:54:13,150 --> 00:54:18,113

I'm just educating people to like, you, you hear this theme song, it's me, you know?

863

00:54:19,294 --> 00:54:21,956

I don't mind overplaying it over and over again.

864

00:54:21,956 --> 00:54:24,358

Like nobody's ever said, like, why do you keep using that same thing?

865

00:54:24,358 --> 00:54:26,349

They know, they know why they know what's up.

866

00:54:26,349 --> 00:54:27,970

And for the most part,

867

00:54:27,970 --> 00:54:32,224

I've had even grown men and my colleagues like, dude, that song is bumping.

868

00:54:32,224 --> 00:54:33,252

It's on my playlist.

869

00:54:33,252 --> 00:54:36,697

I'm like, It's on my playlist.

870

00:54:36,697 --> 00:54:40,400

And it's not because I want to listen to it.

871

00:54:40,400 --> 00:54:45,755

It is a really good song to get you in the right state of mind, depending on what you're

trying to do.

872

00:54:45,755 --> 00:54:49,578

for whatever reason, it puts me and gets me in the right state of mind.

873

00:54:49,578 --> 00:54:52,650

And I'm just super grateful that I got it in my career.

874

00:54:52,976 --> 00:54:54,968

And I'm super grateful I got to chat with you today.

875

00:54:54,968 --> 00:54:56,219

You know, I know you're a busy man.

876

00:54:56,219 --> 00:54:57,239

You've got six kids.

877

00:54:57,239 --> 00:54:59,041

You've got so many things that you're doing.

878

00:54:59,041 --> 00:55:02,416

So I just love being able to have the opportunity to chat with you today.

879

00:55:02,416 --> 00:55:03,865

yeah.

880

00:55:03,865 --> 00:55:13,770

for me personally, and I'm super grateful, and I wrote this down a couple of times in the

last year and a half, the music for me was what I was missing.

881

00:55:13,791 --> 00:55:18,494

For me to be like the complete aesthetic character of the brand.

882

00:55:18,494 --> 00:55:22,136

And I had the music before I thought I did.

883

00:55:22,136 --> 00:55:27,219

But, and it was, I did, but it wasn't the brand's music.

884

00:55:27,219 --> 00:55:30,080

It was just, you know, part of the wrestling community.

885

00:55:30,136 --> 00:55:45,432

But now I feel as if when I'm trying to sell myself to a promoter or a commercial or

something like that, and I'm able to give them a Google Drive of updated promos, a video

886

00:55:45,432 --> 00:55:51,805

package that they could play, and then my theme song, and people are like, wow, that's so

professional, thank you so much.

887

00:55:51,805 --> 00:55:54,166

It makes it a lot easier.

888

00:55:54,166 --> 00:55:59,108

And now, like I said, I feel so much more confident knowing who I am.

889

00:55:59,648 --> 00:56:03,914

in and out of that ring, that it helps me out.

890

00:56:03,914 --> 00:56:06,999

Like the music does really help me out and I'm super grateful.

891

00:56:06,999 --> 00:56:08,290

Just wanna say thank you,

892

00:56:08,324 --> 00:56:08,794

Of course.

893

00:56:08,794 --> 00:56:09,144

Yeah.

894

00:56:09,144 --> 00:56:14,727

And I'll just put over you and I'll put over two more people for the thing that you just

said about the professionalism too.

895

00:56:14,727 --> 00:56:16,768

There's three people that have that whole package.

896

00:56:16,768 --> 00:56:26,282

know, and probably more of the wrestling ecosystem out there has this, but you, Leo

Sparrow and Dijak all basically have your stuff in a package.

897

00:56:26,282 --> 00:56:28,192

You have your intros, you have your outros.

898

00:56:28,192 --> 00:56:32,634

have, know, Leo Sparrow has a one sheet with everything too, that has all places he's got.

899

00:56:32,634 --> 00:56:37,180

Like it's just to see people that take that part of the professionalism.

900

00:56:37,180 --> 00:56:39,362

so much more in detail.

901

00:56:39,362 --> 00:56:44,505

It really resonates with me as somebody who, you know, when I put things out to people,

Hey, here's my media kit.

902

00:56:44,505 --> 00:56:45,916

Here's all of the links.

903

00:56:45,916 --> 00:56:46,657

Here's my photos.

904

00:56:46,657 --> 00:56:48,028

Here's the PNG versions.

905

00:56:48,028 --> 00:56:52,211

Like it just makes it so easy for you to be like, here's the whole package.

906

00:56:52,211 --> 00:56:57,404

And I've always told people before, if you're ever getting into this industry and you're

trying to grow your brand, always have a press kit.

907

00:56:57,404 --> 00:56:59,538

Number one, you need to have a press kit with all your stuff.

908

00:56:59,538 --> 00:57:01,337

There are all your links and let people know who you are.

909

00:57:01,337 --> 00:57:03,989

Second, you'd be surprised how many people don't even read that thing.

910

00:57:03,989 --> 00:57:05,189

And they're just like, they have a press kit.

911

00:57:05,189 --> 00:57:06,083

They're professional.

912

00:57:06,083 --> 00:57:06,470

Yeah.

913

00:57:06,470 --> 00:57:12,768

know, but it's just one of those things where seeing like you and those other two being

able to have that whole presentation together.

914

00:57:12,768 --> 00:57:19,054

You know, you're a brand, you know what you're about and being able to give that to people

so easily is just awesome.

915

00:57:19,360 --> 00:57:20,017

Yeah.

916

00:57:20,017 --> 00:57:23,741

people, I'm like, just drag and drop me in wherever your show needs to be in your program.

917

00:57:23,741 --> 00:57:25,102

Here's everything that you need.

918

00:57:25,102 --> 00:57:29,406

Here's, you know, even when they pick me up, I'm like, hey bro, I'm an adult.

919

00:57:29,406 --> 00:57:31,718

Like if you got somebody to pick me up, I'm great.

920

00:57:31,718 --> 00:57:33,490

Like, you know, just let me know.

921

00:57:33,490 --> 00:57:44,499

But yeah, it just, it goes back to what I was saying earlier real quick where I was like,

it makes it a lot easier when you're professional and you have everything set up.

922

00:57:45,432 --> 00:57:51,897

You know a promoter's gonna have to do a poster, you know he's gonna have to upload your

video, you know he's gonna do this and that.

923

00:57:51,897 --> 00:58:03,665

So provide them with PNGs or high res photos, provide them with a link to a YouTube video

that they could play, an intro video, not just a video, just an intro.

924

00:58:03,665 --> 00:58:08,398

And like a MP4 or a WAV file for your music, that way it's there.

925

00:58:08,398 --> 00:58:12,391

And all they gotta do is just drag and drop, make it super easy.

926

00:58:12,391 --> 00:58:13,792

And the more...

927

00:58:13,792 --> 00:58:16,504

easier that you are to work with the more work you're going to get.

928

00:58:16,504 --> 00:58:20,977

That's just like, you know, super basic.

929

00:58:21,057 --> 00:58:30,664

I will say, even though I do send that link that has like pictures and all them, I will

get people who will post, who will go on like Google and find already an edited PNG.

930

00:58:30,664 --> 00:58:32,835

And I tell them, I'm like, bro, I won't, I won't repost it.

931

00:58:32,835 --> 00:58:36,668

said, you're, you're asking me to post something that's not my brand anymore.

932

00:58:36,668 --> 00:58:38,369

Like this is an old photo.

933

00:58:38,369 --> 00:58:39,350

Like you have to change this.

934

00:58:39,350 --> 00:58:42,551

Like at the end of the day, if you really want me to post it because

935

00:58:43,574 --> 00:58:46,075

At the end of the day, I'm not trying to represent that person.

936

00:58:46,075 --> 00:58:47,579

I'm representing this person who I am.

937

00:58:47,579 --> 00:58:50,022

So I need a little bit more consistency.

938

00:58:50,022 --> 00:58:53,235

Especially if I'm doing the work, all you gotta do is just drag and drop, you know?

939

00:58:53,590 --> 00:58:54,343

Absolutely.

940

00:58:54,343 --> 00:58:56,509

Well, let's say thank you so much for making the time today.

941

00:58:56,509 --> 00:59:00,611

Again, you're a busy dude and I just always love the chance to be having a conversation

with you.

942

00:59:00,611 --> 00:59:01,686

So thank you so much.

943

00:59:01,686 --> 00:59:03,088

Absolutely, bro, man, and good luck.

944

00:59:03,088 --> 00:59:07,393

I hope you get more and more people to come on here and talk about wrestling theme songs.

945

00:59:07,393 --> 00:59:12,720

However, I used to say Steve Blackman earlier, Steve Blackman had a bad-ass theme song.

946

00:59:12,720 --> 00:59:13,792

Just want to say that.

947

00:59:13,792 --> 00:59:14,462

Yeah.

948

00:59:14,510 --> 00:59:15,532

yeah, absolutely.

949

00:59:15,532 --> 00:59:19,038

It totally fit him, but even if it didn't, you listen to that all the time.

950

00:59:19,038 --> 00:59:19,798

man.

951

00:59:20,527 --> 00:59:22,796

Yeah, that's it.

952

00:59:22,796 --> 00:59:23,608

hard.

953

00:59:23,608 --> 00:59:26,681

And then even his video too, the way it cut in and everything.

954

00:59:27,011 --> 00:59:27,932

mint.

955

00:59:28,012 --> 00:59:30,804

We could have a whole podcast episode just talking about Steve Blackman.

956

00:59:30,804 --> 00:59:31,886

do the nine.

957

00:59:31,886 --> 00:59:43,498

We have a whole podcast just talking about every 90s theme song like just is every every

one of them was so good and really introduced every character perfectly like Jim Johnson,

958

00:59:43,498 --> 00:59:44,640

you the man, man.

959

00:59:45,329 --> 00:59:46,641

We got to have him on next.

960

00:59:46,641 --> 00:59:48,664

So awesome.

961

00:59:48,664 --> 00:59:49,936

Thank you so much.