Former WWE superstar Ricardo Rodriguez, best known for his time being Alberto Del Rio’s personal ring announcer, recently sat down on Talkin’ Sass on VOC Nation. He discussed a myriad of topics such as his WWE release, his first WrestleMania, and how he got his start in wrestling. Check out the highlights below.
On his WWE release and whether he would return to the company:
I didn’t leave on good terms because I was very angry and bitter when I went and asked for my release. I wasn’t happy being there, and I know I said a lot of things that I shouldn’t have. I don’t necessarily take back much of what I said because a lot of people that left after I did said a lot of the same things. I should have taken a different approach. I was angry, I was upset, I had a substance abuse problem, there’s a whole lot of things that went into it. If the opportunity presents itself to work behind the scenes, I would jump on it immediately.
On his beginnings in wrestling:
I started backyard wrestling here in LA right after high school. I found these guys here who had a ring and they had backyard wrestling shows, and I joined them. We were imitating exactly what we saw at the time on Impact move for move. But they had a boxing ring but we didn’t know any difference. Boxing rings are very different than wrestling rings because boxing rings are very stiff. They don’t have any spring in them. We learned how to bump, how to roll, all that stuff in a boxing ring.
On how to get noticed by WWE:
One thing that I noticed, and obviously this is just an opinion, but it seemed like if you had a big online following (a social media following) you had an upper hand as far as getting noticed. Everything now is social media. It was all because of Zack Ryder. Zack Ryder was the whole reason why they were so into social media. I’m sure it would of happened eventually; but it was because of Zack Ryder and what he did online to get himself over.
On participating in his first WrestleMania event:
My first WrestleMania was very special at the Georgia Dome. One year prior we were in Arizona for WrestleMania and I worked 2 shows for Dragon Gate USA. A year later I was in WrestleMania and in one of the main events. So that was always pretty cool, and I got to be with Edge. What got me into American pro wrestling was the TLC match at WrestleMania 17 with the Hardy Boys, the Dudley’s, and Edge and Christian. That’s what got me into American pro wrestling. So to have my first WrestleMania moment with Edge and Christian was amazing.
You can listen to the entire interview below. Let us know what you think in the comments section.
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