Modern wrestling fans may know Canadian vampire cultist Vampiro best as the guy who marks out a lot and sometimes gets in Pentagon Jr.’s face on Lucha Underground. Fans who’ve been watching a little longer may remember his run in World Championship Wrestling, where he accomplished a wide variety of tasks including:
- Being aligned with Insane Clown Posse, the Misfits and The Great Muta
- Wrestling Sting in a graveyard
- Setting Sting on fire and throwing him off WCW’s version of the TitanTron
While that sounds like loads of fun to most of us, Vampiro doesn’t have a lot of great memories of his time there. In an interview with Ring Rust Radio, Vamp opened up about his frustrations with the company, calling it a “horrible, horrible experience” and “the most depressing time of my life.”
“I don’t have anything good to say unfortunately, I wish I did though. I was newly married at the time, I was a kid from a small town and I made it to the big leagues, I had finally made it. I felt in my heart and soul that the biggest mistake of my career (was) going to WCW. I was at the point of hitting my peak, I was still an innovator, I was hungry, and I think I could have been somebody. I had the chance to go to All Japan and make a career there since I had spent some time because of my years working in Mexico. Something was telling me at the time to try the American style so I did and went to WCW. The fans there were really cool, but it was the most depressing time of my life there. It kind of ruined the business for me and I never was really happy in the business since. All the drama, bullsh*t, lies, manipulation, the abuse, it was a horrible, horrible experience.”
Even the better memories lead him back to the frustration and negativity. This is the kind of thing that makes you wander off into The Temple bathroom and bash your face into a mirror.
“The only highlights were the cool relationship I had with the fans and when I got the championship belt with Muta who was my hero in wrestling. Everything else was f*cking brutal, I hate it, I regret it, and I wish it didn’t happen. I really think that is what ruined my career. You know it could have been better but they just didn’t get me and I was just ahead of my time, I really believe that. I was in the wrong place with all the old-school Carolina people at the time. I was a punk-rock kid and they kept telling me I had to be a heel. I told them, ‘Let me go and you will see.’ When I started to and they saw me, they saw the people loved it. Then they tried saying to me that I was Mexican. No, you f*cking guys I have been doing this for 18 years, I’m Canadian, I have been everywhere, give me a f*cking chance. I really hated it and have nothing good to say about it.”
What, you didn’t enjoy being called a bonehead and having the ability to telekinetically make ring ropes catch fire?
The good news is that Vampiro has finally found the opposite of WCW. Lucha Underground allows him to be himself, be a part of logically constructed — ridiculous, but logically constructed — storylines, and connect with fans in a way that doesn’t involve bullsh*t and depression. Although somebody’s probably going to be set on fire before the show’s over. You can’t book a literal dragon and not have someone catch fire.
(Via Ring Rust Radio)
