Cinta de Oro can’t wait to get back in the ring and carry on one legacy but until that moment comes, he’s busy building another one of his own.
Cinta de Oro recently spoke with WrestleZone Managing Editor Bill Pritchard and explained how he came to acquire his new in-ring name. Known to fans as Sin Cara (the second wrestler to portray that character in WWE), he says he originally took on Cinta de Oro (and Cinta de Plata) as a mentor. As Sin Cara, he made a mask as a tribute to the original Cinta when he passed away in 2016, then got the family’s blessing to continue on with the Cinta gimmick once he left WWE.
“When he passed away in 2016, I came to his funeral, went back to work on tour and I remember in 2017 I ended up making a mask in honor of him. I was wrestling with a mask with a stripe on and I did a fusion of Sin Cara with Cinta De Oro in honor of him, and I used to wear it a lot of the time on television and at events. So, when I started doing that and when I ended up leaving the company, to be honest, I never thought that I’d become Cinta De Oro. I have a very good relationship with his family, with his kids.”
Cinta de Oro explained how WWE called him to begin changing over his social media accounts once he’d been released from the WWE, and recalled the reaction it got from fans of the original Luchador. He says he not only had spoken to the family about it, but explained why he wanted to keep the original Cinta’s legacy alive.
“It became this crazy news like, ‘oh now Sin Cara has become Cinta De Oro’ and then, like a lot of commotion started happening in the border, people were like, ‘ah, why’s he using the name now?’ and this and that and my main thing is that I spoke with his kids and we had a meeting and we talked a little bit about the idea and they were all for it, the idea of me portraying Cinta De Oro and letting the name of the legacy be passed on.”
“So in my case, it’s in honor of him, [I’m] letting people know who he was and what he accomplished. He never left because he had family, he had kids, so he never went to Mexico City, he never went other places, he always was a local wrestler and it was his choice. It wasn’t because he wasn’t a good wrestler, he was an amazing worker, an amazing wrestler. A lot of people that I spoke with from that era say that he was just great but he never really wanted that, that light in his career. So, for me, I’m doing this in a sense, in honor of him, to keep the legacy alive,” Cinta de Oro said, “and people that didn’t know who Cinta De Oro was, they can go online and check out some videos that are there of those matches.”
Since leaving WWE, Cinta de Oro has been training and waiting to return to the ring, but he’s stayed busy while waiting out the pandemic. He says has also used the time to start a business with his brother in El Paso, mentioning he’s writing a book and makes public appearances to keep his name out there and expand his portfolio.
“[We started] a solar company, that’s what we want to do, so I’m excited about that, working with my brother and doing other projects. I’m also writing a couple books right now and I’m doing other projects here and there and just keeping myself busy for doing other things outside of wrestling. I’m doing promotion for a local place here in El Paso, so I do commercials for them, for the radio, for television and publicity,” he said, “and I’m just keeping myself busy and keeping my image out there.”
He explained that he learned a lot about himself in the past year, including realizing he could prosper outside of the WWE system. Cinta de Oro noted that some people might get used to the WWE system and are afraid to leave the security they provide financially, but he knows he can use his talent and is betting on himself to excel in many other avenues besides inside of the ring.
“I learned a lot about myself this past year, [the fact that] I can do other things, other projects that I have, in a sense, built myself throughout the years. Now, it’s time for me to actually use who I am to do other projects and other things in my life and that’s what I’m trying to do. I’m trying to keep myself busy in that sense and let people know that no matter what you wanna do in your life, you have an opportunity to succeed. It doesn’t matter who says no and they cannot determine that, only yourself. And that’s why I took that leap of faith of asking for my release. It wasn’t an easy choice but I had to, I was just tired of the same situation. I was just not happy anymore and now I have control of my life, of what I want to do, of what I wanna accomplish,” he explained, “and I think I’m happier than ever, right now, in this part of my career and in my life.”
“Obviously, we all went through this crazy year of a pandemic. A lot of people that we love aren’t here anymore and it’s tough, and we have to learn to appreciate what we have. We cannot keep ourselves in that mindset of ‘oh, what am I gonna do? I lost this and I lost that.’ I cannot do that anymore, I can do more now that I know there’s a bright future out there for me and that’s just what I’m trying to do,” he said. “[I’m] keeping myself busy, I’ll keep wrestling and keep doing what I love.”
Cinta de Oro pointed out that while he has not made many in-ring appearances since his WWE release, he is not retired at all. He pointed to the pandemic slowing things down, but said he’s waiting for more opportunities to open up so he can continue his career. One of those opportunities will come in the form of a confirmed appearance at QPW SuperSlam III in Qatar next year, and the Luchador said that more calls are coming in now that things are improving around the world, but he’s staying busy with all of his other projects until it’s time to step into the squared circle again.
“It’s one of those things that’s very uncertain right now, but I’ve been getting calls from promoters that wanna work with me. But right now like, for them, it’s very uncertain. So, obviously, since I don’t know when shows are gonna happen, I’m gonna have to be on standby in a sense,” he noted, “but I’m doing other projects, that’s the main thing. I’m keeping myself busy doing other projects, doing other things and traveling a little bit, keeping myself in that mindset of, ‘when everything gets back into the swing of things, I’ll be able to do what I love’ and that’s wrestle.”
“But for me, right now, the main focus is keeping myself healthy, keeping my mind healthy, my soul healthy and just being ready for when the time comes of me working in wrestling and right now, the only people that are wrestling are the people who are on television, you know? There’s no live events right now for anybody and I think once everything starts going, people are gonna start going to events because they wanna go out, they actually wanna be there now,” Cinta said. “They’ve been home for so long and they’re actually gonna be able to come to the arenas and the gyms or the places where we get to wrestle. So, I’m just excited for the future and hopefully, everything gets back into the swing of things, not just for me, but for everybody.”
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