Current Lucha Underground star Vibora, who worded in WWE NXT under the ring name Judas Devlin, recently spoke with SoloWrestling.com. Below are some interview highlights, h/t to Walter Rosales for the transcription.
About working with Dusty Rhodes:
“Dusty was great, he was one of the few people that really support me. In the end when I was injured, I was going through a lot of controversy and tried to decide if I wanted to stay or not, and I was still able to do promo class when I was injured. I remember one point during a promo class, he brought me o the front of the group and said ‘look, this guy is injured and he has done some things in here that I think nobody can do’ and he asked for a standing ovation and a round of applause. That means a lot for me, because I was so doubt in that point of my career, so I´ll always remember him as someone who helped me at some many levels and it was an honor work with him.”
About the rumors of being part of The Wyatt Family:
“It was definitely an idea, I mean, I actually did a few promos with Bray Wyatt in front of the camera with Dusty (Rhodes). They tried a few people, Baron Corbin kinda tried out for it as well. Ultimately, I think I could got that spot, but then I get injured, that was a thing. They were like ‘ok, we´re looking at Judas (Devlin), he may be the guy who fits in’, thats when I started to have my hip issues and I needed surgery, so that kinda squash the idea. I didn’t recovery as quick as they wanted, they wanted to do it anyway and that was when Braun (Strowman) came in there, and he was very new, but they hold up until he was ready. So I really never have the full opportunity to try out and I would have love to do it because it kinda fits the name Judas with the concept”
About the controversy with Bill Demott:
“Yeah I was part of that whole controversy, and kinda click to me as the one who spoke out, but it wasn’t really the case. What happened was I was injured, I needed surgery, I wanted make sure of that, and the thing that was supposed to be behind the scenes between me and the bosses, somehow it made it out to the public, and once it was out there I had a decision to make, and I decided to said ‘yeah, this is what happened’, and thats because the kind of person I am is not about saying what other people want me to say, I gonna say what I really feel, and some situations like in WWE that can be good and bad, because they want you to stay in the line and be a good soldier, but they also want you to speak up. It´s a weird situation but a thought I was doing the right time at the time, and it had nothing to do wth WWE, I loved being there, I think it was an amazing opportunity and I learned so much and I respect everyone in the company. I was tangled up with other guys because of the one situation with coach and I wish it had never happened, but it happened and both parts has moved on from it, and now ever since my goal haves been look to WWE and say ‘I can make it to this business on my own’. It´s unfortunately that all that happened with the coach, but again, it didn’t reflect my feelings about WWE, I don´t think they knew what was going on either so I think things are probably great down there”
About Chris Jericho defending Bill Demott:
“You know, I would love to go talk to Chris Jericho, I would love to go to his podcast to defend myself and hear what he has to say. He was not there when things go down and I remember when he defended him (Bill Demott) then deleted his tweet, which is interesting. I’ve never met Chris Jericho, but I know he has a whole differ relationship, respect and business ideas from mine because he has been around so much longer, I respect Chris Jericho and what he has accomplished, and personally I agree with a lot of the things he said about the business. I think his point was that after all people had to be rude because this is wrestling and that’s how it works. He’s right and I feel the same way, there’s nothing I hate more than someone who does not want to commit his entire life to wrestling and I was always willing to sacrifice myself, my health, to injure myself and do whatever it took to make it to the next level. But that was not the situation, it was something totally different and it had nothing to do with wrestling, it had to do with business and the corporate side and making sure I could wrestle again, because I needed to made sure I was healthy. Going forward I agree with him and I also have that old school mentality, especially when I see newcomers who do not respect or are not willing to put the work in, so like I said I would love to talk to Chris Jericho on his show and probably I´ll agree to a lot of things he has to say”.
About a possible return to WWE of he and Bill Demott:
“Well you know, time heals all wounds, especially in a business like wrestling where you see people who believed they would never comeback, comeback. It’s all about who can take a spot, who can make money for the company, who the fans wants to see, so I think there is always an opportunity to comeback to anybody and everyone deserves a second chance. For me, I knew that if I ever want to go back there I will have to cross a harder road and make it on my own, fight every day on the independent circuit or go through other companies to get back there, if that’s what I wanna do, because I would become a bigger name from myself outside of WWE, which will make they want me back. And that’s a tough road, But I was willing to take it when I asked for my release, because I knew that wrestling it´s what I wanted to do, I didn´t wanted sit in the Performance Center injured and wait to be fired, I wanted to go out and prove I was healthy, and that’s what I’m trying to do right now”.
About the decision of being in Big Brother:
“Yeah, of course I missed wrestling, my plan all along was to come back. The thing is after my surgery, my hip wasn’t healing as quick as I wanted, and there were doctors who said it would take even longer, maybe another surgery or just wait for one yer. And I was like ‘I can´t do that’, I could not spend two years of my life without having contact with social media, with not videos, with not Wrestling with nothing. So I needed to get out and I knew that when I had the opportunity to be at the Big Brother show it was a risk, but I also knew that if I was there at least I had the opportunity to get myself on TV and be character relevant to the wrestling world. So I decided to ask for the release of my contract with WWE and go to the Big Brother show, but the goal was never to start a new project or a new career, the goal was to do something to be on television, being a character, being anything that made me notice so people could see me and keep me relevant, and you know, Big Brother has more viewers than Monday Night Raw, so I knew I needed to do something like that. It was definitely a crazy experience and I kinda get sucked into that world for a little bit, but once it was over I went looking for ways to get back into wrestling, that’s when Lucha Underground pop up, and I was hoping to have that opportunity after Big Brother, because I live in Los Angeles and that’s where they shoot. So once the show ended and I proved to Lucha Underground I was healthy, because my body was already totally healthy in that time, I was able to do everything I knew and even more than I could do when I was in WWE, because I learned new things like gymnastics and stuff like that, so I was ready to showcase my abilities at that point, but I used the Big Brother thing always in my head thinking ‘this is not my career, this is me getting back to WWE, this is me getting back to wrestling, this is me coming to Lucha Underground, this is me getting back to what I loved'”.
About the inspiration from Undertaker and Kane in his Víbora character:
“Well, when they gave me the character, they told me they wanted me to be a monster, and when I saw that I was gonna have my hair out of the mask like Kane I said ‘okay, this is Kane, this is Undertaker’ and I wanted to evolve the character from there. So in the few episodes you’ve seen me you see a monster walking around like in a horror movie and I do Chokeslams and Tombstones, things people know, and I wanted people to identify right away because you do not see Kane or Undertaker so much anymore, you can watch them on the Network, but they are not wrestling every week anymore. So I wanted to bring that back a little bit, and the crowd took it right away and start calling me the Luchasaurus, which is the name I use now. What I do was studying Kane and Undertaker to begin with, but what Im going to do es evolve that, you can see it specially in my independent character right now, because I have athletic abilities and I have background in gymnastics and acrobatics, and well Im almost 7 feet tall and I can do some things people my size can´t, I wanna be the lucha version of The Undertaker, I think thats something has never been seen before and I think people are gonna really enjoy that”.
About comments of Bret Hart saying wrestling need more big men:
“I think he’s right. First of all, Bret Hart is probably my favorite wrestler of all time, he’s the one I saw when I was a kid and I wanted to be like him. I think Wrestling has changed a lot and theres a lot of guys of all sizes, but theres not a lot of big men, especially in WWE. Theres a couple they are trying to establish. In the end, it comes down to storytelling, any wrestler of any size can have a great match but there is something on watching a big monster come out that you can´t get with anyone else, is that presence, something large that life. People has came to me and said Im a wrestler, just because Im big and different, and sometimes you need something like that in the business. I want to be a big man and I want to honor the tradition of the big men even if I don´t necessarily always move like a big man, because I can do things that smallers guys also do. I just need to make sure that everything I do makes sense in the match and I not just doing things because I can do them, but I do them to tell a story”.
Nick was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, and lived there until the age of 18, when he decided to pack his flack jacket and move to New York City.
