Below is an exclusive interview current WWC Universal Champion Mr. 450 granted to WrestleZone Radio. It features Mr. 450 talking with WrestleZone Daily host Nick Hausman.
You can listen to Mr. 450’s interview in the embedded player below. Some of his quotes have been transcribed below the player:
On whether there is a void in WWE for Latin American wrestlers:
450: I feel like they need that top guy. They need a Del Rio or Rey Mysterio. They need somebody that latin people can go, “Man, that’s our guy.” Because they have the Matadores but they aren’t in that spot where the people are like, “They’re our guys.” They need someone that can represent that Latin American culture in a way that is not a “funny” way. They need somebody like Carlito. They have that void, like you said, that needs to be filled.
On the influence of WWC on ECW:
450: There’s no secret that WWC was ECW before ECW was cool. The thing about Puerto Rico is that it’s so hidden that if you weren’t tape trading, if you weren’t someone that was really informed in professional wrestling all over the world, you would have never known that WWC has been doing that (ECW style) for years. WWC is what ECW was for many years. Girls were getting piledriven, they had girls taking backdrops, they did a storyline where Konnan split a guitar on top of Carlos Colon’s daughter… that was year’s ago before ECW was ECW.
On whether he is taking the WWC Universal Championship to AAA in Mexico:
450: The thing I want to do is give the prestige back to this belt that it had many years ago. Like when [Ric] Flair had it or when Carlos had it and they would take it to the states and defend it there. They would take it to different parts of the world and defend it there. If you really think about it the belt was only defended once in Texas. I believe it was Dory Funk versus Carlos Colon. Dory Funk won the belt in Texas and then Carlos got it back in Puerto Rico. So, I want to bring the prestige back to the Universal Championship where people say, “Ok, this guy is going over to Japan with the belt and representing the island there.” Or, “This guy is going to Ecuador and he’s representing there.” Now, I’m going to AAA in a couple weeks and I’m going as the WWC Universal Champion and it brings back that prestige. I want to put the eyes of the world back on Puerto Rican wrestling. That’s my goal and that’s what I’m really trying to do. I’ll be in AAA for a week for my first tour with them. I’ll be bringing the Universal Championship and I don’t know if I’ll be defending it in Mexico. I don’t know if that’s going to happen, we don’t currently have any plans for that. I’ll definitely be there wearing my belt with pride and letting people know, “Here is the WWC Universal Champion.”
On whether he will be defending the WWC Universal Championship at WWE NXT Takeover: Respect or the upcoming WWE NXT TV tapings he will be attending:
450: (Laughs) I think that’s a long shot. Kind of in the “almost impossible” realm. I will definitely be there, I don’t know if I’m going to be doing anything for sure. I’m just there, like always. They call me, I go. I will definitely be there and we’ll see what happens.
In the full interview 450 chats further with Nick about his successful title defense against former WWE Superstar Carlito at WWC’s 42nd Anniversary Show inside the Cage of Death, Tommy Dreamer appearing on the show, WWC’s influence on ECW, the Latin American Superstar void in the WWE, his upcoming debut in AAA, defending the WWE Universal Championship around the world, returning to WWE NXT, how the anime community has rallied around his gimmick, more
Earlier today WrestleZone Daily featured Puerto Rican pro wrestling journalist Joel Hernandez. Joel also spoke at length about this past weekend’s WWC 42nd Anniversary events, Mr. 450’s upcoming appearance in AAA, whether or not Puerto Rican bullfighters exist, more.
You can listen to Joel’s appearance in the embedded audio player below:
You can support Joel by subscribing or listening to any of the links below:
You can listen to the full archive of WrestleZone Radio interviews in the embedded player below:
Support WrestleZone Radio by subscribing on iTunes & Soundcloud.
