Vampiro Reflects on His Amazing Career as He Gets Ready to Rock One Last Time

JCW

A few years ago you did a retirement tour. What was the thought process for why this is your retirement match? Why is this the right time and place for it?

Vampiro: I did a very poorly managed retirement tour in Mexico, but that was to say goodbye to Mexico. I have one more at the end of the year in Europe, but to me, the only real loyalty I have to pro wrestling in the United States is to JCW. Even though I had a great run in WCW, it was based on all I did in JCW. I have a very strong friendship and brotherhood with everyone in the ICP world. I really love what is happening with JCW Lunacy. It just seems like the cleanest break for me to let go of that part of my life is to do it with someone I call family. 

How have you been preparing for this? It’s always told to me that it is in shape and in ring shape.

I’m extremely limited due to my injuries and chronic arthritis. I’ve been doing what I can, and I just know at this stage of the game. I think after so many years and with the adrenaline and with what this means, I’ve been doing what I can to get through this. I’m prepared for it mentally. Physically, I’ll never be what I used to be. I’m almost 60 years old with all these broken bones, broken back, and neck, and all that. I’m sure that with the adrenaline, that will be enough. I’m in okay shape. I’m not who I used to be, but I’m going there to have a f*ckin’ blast because the stuff that has been going on with JCW is phenomenal. I’m sure I’ll pull a rabbit off a hat. 

Who are you facing? What can we expect?

This is more of a nostalgia based thing. I think the opponents are going to be Big Vito and PCO, which is really cool. Vito is a friend, and someone I’ve had a past with. PCO is like this Frankenstein, so a vampire versus a Frankenstein is also very cool. I’m looking forward to that versus I want to get down on the mat and wrestle. I can give a sh*t about that. I just think a vampire in the ring with a Frankenstein is really cool. And that can only happen in JCW. That’s the magic of JCW. That’s what is going down. 

Beyond your last match, are you going to be working at JCW in another capacity like a producer role?

I don’t know. We’ve talked about me being a manager. To be honest with you, I’m just enjoying what my friends are doing. I’m watching these guys like Violent J. This is his dream since he was five years old when he was doing backyard wrestling and all that kind of stuff. I think my role now with them is watching and supporting the next generation of what he is doing. I think I have more to give as a friend and someone to give guidance. I’ve seen what is going on in AEW, what is going on in Mexico and WWE. I think one of the few places to work that are actually fun where a younger person is going to have a chance is JCW. I would rather not say I’m going to be involved as a manager. I’d rather support my friends. That’s how I’m looking at it. 

Going back to when you started, what made you choose this profession?

I’ve always been a wrestling fan, but I’ve never been a wrestling fan. What I mean by that is I’ve always loved the rock star moment. Going on stage with that first song and explosion from the people, then the exit before the encore. If you compare it to the rock ‘n’ roll show, that’s the most fun. You can’t wait for the beginning and don’t want it to end. This has always been about that for me. I didn’t want to be known as a great wrestler. I’ve had fun communicating with people. I think at the time in my life I wanted to play in a band. We were really young. There was no social media, so there were no real musicians to find to make that kind of commitment. I was also a hockey protégé, so I was trying to figure out how to combine my two loves, which were sports and music. When I saw the Road Warriors, I was like, “I can take an image like a punk rocker and stay an athlete and do these crazy things.” That was the main reason. Wrestling was a way to combine what I was into at the time. 

Vampiro Sting

Vampiro vs.. Sting (WWE)

Clips of you and Sting have been popping up on social media with it being now 25 years since WCW closed. I look at Sting and his teaming with Darby Allin as similar to your dynamic together. How do you look back at that time?

It was great historically looking at Vampiro and Sting. But as a fan of alternative music, bringing groups like The Misfits and getting involved with ICP and being one of the crossovers before it was in style. Being a top wrestler in another country, coming to the United States, being known and getting together with one of the biggest alternative bands at the time. That clash of fan bases. Going with or without Sting in WCW, but me with ICP was a f*ck’in huge statement as a punk rocker. I got to pin Hulk Hogan, pin Sting, and work with Lex Luger, and all the top guys. Nothing meant more to me than the music crossovers. Even though Sting is the biggest match, and of course there are the comparisons with Darby Allin and all that stuff, but yeah, I was the guy. I was the first one with the long hair and tattoos and all that everyone copied. I didn’t say that. But it was way more important to me to be part of music history in bringing alternative hip-hop on to national television. That was a bigger thing to me than working with Sting. 

How is it for you to see Vince Russo back in the mix through JCW?

It’s awesome. I’m a fan of Vince Russo. Now to be able to talk to him without the pressure and the stress. Everyone was younger then and it was television and it was war. Those guys were into it. Vince Russo like Joe Bruce, those two f*ck’in guys love pro wrestling. Being in JCW and being with a guy like Joe Bruce, Violent J, who is nuts about wrestling. Then to be around Vince Russo, who is worse. It’s awesome. It’s like three kids in a candy store. For me to sit back and watch that and have that relationship with Vince Russo, he is a genius. A lot of people don’t like him, and he is kind of controversial, but pro wrestling sucks like that anyway. They hate within themselves way too much, I just think anyone who has the chance to cross paths with people who are so intensely committed like Joe Bruce and Vince Russo, it’s only going to better your career. To me, it’s an honor. I’ve had a lot of fun. 

Vampiro

El Rey Network

I loved Lucha Underground. I loved the cinematic element to it, the characters, the storytelling, the matches. I just think it’s under appreciated when you look back. What was it like being part of that show? I feel a lot of ways it was revolutionary.  I mean there was even Lorenzo Lamas there.

Yeah, Danny Trejo, the guys from Metallica came, Vanilla Ice, came. A lot of people came to that show. I think a lot of people don’t know what we did with Wrestling Society X (WSX), what we did on MTV a decade before. I think Lucha Underground came from that. I don’t think enough credit is given to that show. I just wanted to give a shoutout to that. To me, this was the brainchild of Kevin Kleinrock, and then they took that idea and ran with it. I think it was a good idea. I think the fans loved it. There was a lot of talent who did crazy sh*t and spectacular sh*t. It was off the chain. Just to have that Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez vibe, to be in Boyle Heights in Los Angeles with rabid fans. To bring lucha libre to an English audience behind a Spanish TV station that didn’t speak Spanish in El Rey Network. It was like what the f*ck is this? It was so awesome. Everybody would get to the show and study their notes, but I would just smoke a joint and go, “I don’t know what the f*ck is going on today, but I’m here to be part of the ride.” It was fun. I had a blast. It was too bad management got in the way. That is why it didn’t work. The owners weren’t capable of working together. That was the reason it folded. It was one of the best times in wrestling for sure. 

ICP Vampiro

Vampiro and ICP (Juggalo Championship Wrestling)

Being so big in Mexico, what do you make of WWE acquiring AAA?

I think it is mismanaged. I don’t think it’s going to work the way it should or would. I think they made it way too complicated. I think it’s inaccessible because they have so much money there is so much talent where I don’ t think there is not enough time in the day for everyone on the roster to give these talents an opportunity. Plus, who can take a family to a show when the tickets are a thousand dollars apiece for wrestling. That’s why I’m so in love with JCW because when you look at the landscape of AEW, we with JCW and some indie shows do the same arenas. We draw as much or even more than AEW on house shows. I’m not speaking bad about AEW. AEW is a powerhouse, but I’m saying the strength of indie wrestling that people can afford is making a big comeback. 

WWE doesn’t even give free tickets to their talents’ families. If you’re at WrestleMania and want to bring your wife, you have to buy a f*ck’in ticket. How are you going to work in that environment and call it fun? How are you going to connect with the fans and call it a fan experience? Again, support indie wrestling, specifically JCW. Ninety percent of the TV tapings they are doing is free. You don’t get that anymore. That was a big part of Lucha Underground. They didn’t charge admission, and that is why the fans were so rabid. That’s what is happening with JCW, and it’s starting to show. I’m not just blowing the horn of indie wrestling, I’m internally telling you there is an alternative that is just as fun and it’s the same show. You’re going to get the thrills, spills, and crashes going to an indie show that you’re not going to get on a WWE show. If you want to be part of the sheep, go see the big shows. That’s fine and great. You want to see Metallica at the Sphere in Las Vegas for $1,500 a ticket, I get it. But I’d rather go to a whisky bar and have a beer, maybe there will be a fight, and I’ll watch a local band play covers and rock out. I’m more into that. If you want that experience, go see JCW. 

What’s next for you?

I’m doing a lot of things with documentary film making. I  have a pretty successful podcast in Latin America. I’m producing my own tequila brand. It’s about my documentaries and radio stuff. That is what I have going on. 

What do you see your legacy in wrestling will be when it’s said and done?

I’d rather them not. I rather look at guys like myself and others who continue to have the opportunities to sell their souls to the devil, which are the bigger companies. Guys like us who grew up like wrestling fans keeping the indies alive. To have guys like me who could have politically done better and probably got into WWE at some point and probably had an opportunity to get into AEW, not because of my talent but logistics. If you see guys like us that would rather be in a JCW, that speaks volumes for our love of the wrestling business. I would rather be remembered as someone who was a fan before a talent. 

Strangle-Mania: Viva Las Violence**, April 17, 11:59/10:59c, TrillerTV**

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