Exclusive: Vampiro Talks Retirement Match, JCW, WWE Buying AAA, and Lucha Underground Nearly Firing Penta

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Of all the wrestling going down this WrestleMania weekend in Las Vegas, Vampiro's retirement match will be one not to be missed.

The wrestling legend's sendoff is set for JCW's Strangle-Mania event at midnight on Friday, April 17th at the Horseshoe Hotel & Casino where he'll be taking on PCO and Big Vito. Ahead of the highly-anticipated bout, Vampiro caught up with WrestleRant to discuss calling it a career, why now was the right time, what makes JCW stand out, his thoughts on WWE buying AAA, memories of working with Penta and how Penta was nearly fired in Lucha Underground, and more.

All eyes are going to be on you going into JCW Strangle-Mania. Are you feeling the pressure right now? How are you feeling?

As you can see I''m coming from therapy. I've got so many injuries from wrestling that I'm angry that I can't enjoy life the way I'm accustomed to, so going into JCW knowing the opportunity I have to do this one last match... I'm grateful. I'm going to go out there. I'm going to do the best I can. I'm extremely limited. But the more important thing is the excitement around what JCW is rekindling among a lot of wrestling fans. Just to be a part of that, I don't want to have the weight on my shoulders that all eyes are on me. I think all eyes should be on JCW.


The rest of the card is going to consist of the likes of Nic Nemeth, James Storm, The Good Brothers, and a whole crop of fresh faces as well. Is there anyone on this card or a few different people that you're excited to see involved with the event, whether it be regular faces with JCW or someone coming in for the first time?

I've answered this a few different ways, but I'm going to continue down the path I'm going on. It's a big wrestling weekend. Anybody who's involved in wrestling as a fan or whoever wants to be in the business will be there. To be such good friends with Violent J over the last three decades and go through this journey with him, like, he's a fucking wrestling fan. I think the most important part of this weekend is, the fans get a chance to come into our world and to see what the underground is like. JCW has always been there through all the fads and phases over the last three decades. The only real constant is JCW, good, bad or ugly, good levels of production, smaller shows, talent not showing up, whatever you want to say about it, JCW has always been there. I think the excitement for us to be behind the curtain and see all these newer people coming in and checking it out. I think that's a real big thing.


You talked about how JCW has that underground vibe to it. How is it important or why is it important that wrestling needs more variety?

One hundred percent. I think the greatest thing about it is you got an underground, successful musician, who is an underground successful indie wrestler, who is a professional wrestling fan. Right off the bat, we don't have the corporate pressure of having to be responsible and answer to all the corporate people who have their fingers in the pie. If you play in the NHL, you don't go out there and wing it. You have a whole structure of coaches who teach you how to win the game. When you go into the bigger wrestling companies, you've got a lot of corporate people who've never been in the gym. And then when you come to an indie wrestling show, you got motherfuckers who are working three and four jobs a week. Some of them drink, some of them smoke marijuana, some of them are fighting with their girlfriends. Some of them are rocking and rolling in their bands on the weekend, but we all come together and just say, fuck it. Our only outlet is pro wrestling. We're not going to let that go a corporate route.

I can sense the passion coming from you when you talk about JCW and going into this last match. How hard is it to let that go? At least from an in-ring standpoint.

I'm dying. I'm broken. I'm brokenhearted. I mean, I'm 59 years old. I've been doing this since I was 14. It's kind of like I don't want to quit. I don't want it to be my last match. But like I said, my injuries are so devastating that I sometimes I can't even put my socks on. This is a young man's game as well, but I'm fucking dying inside that I've got to do this. I've got to say goodbye, you know? I'm probably going to break that rule too. I don't know, man, but it's hurting my heart... It makes me cry. I miss it. I was blessed. It's hard. It's real hard.


Why was now the right time?

To be honest with you, I've already kind of retired. But to see somebody like Violent J, who I consider a friend, a brother, a family member... I see Shaggy and Billy and all the guys in the office and all the guys in the dressing room, to have somebody I call a friend like Violent J and to see him throwing it all in there, spending his last penny, taking his last penny and just throwing his last moment of free time because he believes in this. It's in his heart and to be able to support him from the heart is why I can care less about a retirement match and one more match and to see my friend live his dream and support him, that's why, that's the only reason.


Do you intend to still be involved, even if it's not in an in-ring capacity, with JCW and helping out your friend?

If there's room for me and I have something that I can give that's going to benefit something, and if it's the right move business-wise for a company and myself, yeah, of course, I'd love to be to some extent, but I'm so busy with my other projects in life right now that there comes a time when you've got to make a decision. If JCW would benefit from me being there and I could contribute in a positive way, then yeah, of course, why wouldn't I? But if they don't, then no, my heart's complete for sure.

Over the course of your career, all the success you've had, all the companies you've been synonymous with, AAA has been among them. WWE acquired them last year. Have you seen anything of what they've done as far as how different it was from what it was previously?

I'm so far out of touch with wrestling. I don't watch wrestling. I think when they bought AAA, down here, it was treated like the second coming of Christ. And how long did it last? Two weeks? A lot of Mexican wrestlers thought, "This is our moment. We're going to get that opportunity." And those of us who've been there are like, "No, you're not." They're going to use you. They're going to give you a shot and after about a week and a half, it'll go back to what it was. Penta had more hype going in to then when he's been there. He did two or three matches and they don't even mention his name anymore. Maybe they do. Maybe they don't. I don't know. I don't watch it. They had Rey Fenix. He was was the breakout star of Lucha Underground. Has he been on the WWE show?


Penta might be one of the only people had that has stood out in the last year since they've signed him as far as being “successful,” whatever that definition of that term might mean.

I hope this helps you and other wrestling fans. Take Pentagon and put him in an indie promotion in Poland right now by himself or in India or go to Japan. Will he draw by himself? He is part of his successful TV promotion. Anybody there cannot go anywhere in the world without the WWE machine will draw won't mean anything. To me, success is different, right? When AAA got bought, the fans really thought that the WWE was going to be doing more house shows in the Latino areas in the United States and taking Mexican talent. Right now, it's a good breeding ground. They have a great TV audience. They can send their midcard guys down here to get seasoned. They can include the Latinos who don't speak Spanish who live in the United States and bring them down here and call them Mexicans. I think I'm probably going to get myself in a lot of trouble if I keep telling you the truth. I'm just thinking that the indie scene is what's going to be the big breakout scene. I think it's the indy scene. The territories are coming back and I think JCW is at the front of that.


On the subject of Penta, can you talk about that amazing match you had with him in Lucha Underground and where that ranks among others in your career?

That's the fucking reason I'm going to therapy every day (laughs). I think it was a great moment because it was fun because nobody knew about it. Even Pentagon. Nobody even knew about it till the day of. Nobody knew the storyline other than maybe Chris DeJoseph, probably Eric Van Wagenen and maybe one other person and myself knew the storyline that I was the master. Nobody wanted to work with Pentagon. We needed a bigger name guy to lose to Pentagon so that Pentagon could could have that push. Nobody wanted to work with Pentagon and he wasn't getting it. They were going to fire him. He wasn't clicking. He wasn't understanding. He was trying too hard and we were just trying to tell him, “You're a heel, don't stand up and ask for applause after you do a big move. Kill your opponent. Try to win the match.” Just those little details. We took a long time teaching him the American psychology and nobody would do the work. So I said, "Fuck it. I'll be the master. Let him beat me. I'm old and broken anyway, and I have way more of a name than anybody here. If he needs a victory, that's going to be a surprise. Let's do this.” So we took a whole year to do that angle. We kept it quiet and, you had to be there. What you saw on TV... It was a 47 minute match. And on a TV show that has 43 minutes of TV. You can imagine how much trouble we got into when we went nuts. The walls were moving. The walls were shaking. The energy was mental. I was like, “I'm probably gonna get fired.” I really enjoyed the fact that gave that young man an opportunity to go where he is today. I didn't make him, but I was part of his ascension. It was the best experience I've had.

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