0:06

Ladies and gentlemen, are

0:08

you ready, it's about

0:10

to hit the fan. Welcome

0:13

to unsanctioned Thursdays,

0:15

honor wrestling with Fready.

0:20

All right, ladies and gentlemen, Welcome to unsanctioned

0:23

Thursdays. You don't need an intro, We've got

0:25

Santos Escobar. This is the continuation

0:27

part two of our interview with

0:30

the legend himself. Santos,

0:34

Welcome back here at my cultura.

0:37

This is a place where Latino culture

0:39

gets a lot of representation. And Jeff

0:41

di and honorary,

0:45

but uh, it's been

0:47

you are honorary brother. So I

0:50

want to talk a little bit about Latino

0:53

representation on television in general,

0:55

not just wrestling. I mean, when I was a kid,

0:58

my grandmother liked professional wrestling so

1:00

much and she had a million reasons

1:02

why, but one of them was it was nice

1:04

to see a Latino not selling drugs or being

1:06

in a gang on television. And she was

1:08

right. And I was a young man and realized that at

1:11

an early age it was wrestling, and it

1:13

was Edward James almost on Miami Fice

1:15

like those are the only Latinos that weren't

1:17

in too much trouble. What

1:19

does it mean to you coming

1:22

from Mexico City, making

1:24

it big, having big dreams,

1:26

having a big enough heart to chase those dreams

1:28

and turn them into a plan, have that

1:30

plan come to fruition, and now

1:33

you're here, a success, and you're able to live

1:35

out your dreams and be an inspiration to others.

1:37

Man, that's exactly my aim. One

1:39

of the movies that I've always liked was Blood

1:42

In Blood Out.

1:43

Oh my, you know, a movie's hardcore, man.

1:46

Yeah, but it also shows hard

1:49

sides of the Latinos living in La By

1:51

then, I have a lot of family living in LA and

1:54

the way back when they were living there actually throughout

1:57

that era. That's one of the movies

1:59

that I liked the most. Piggybacking of what

2:01

you said about Edo James almost and I was inspired,

2:03

but even then to do something

2:06

for my people. You know, sometimes your vision

2:10

is to become someone or to

2:12

go somewhere, Like I wanted to wrestle in

2:14

America. That's what I wanted. I wanted

2:16

to go and work for the FED. I

2:18

didn't know how though, like

2:21

all I had and I come from a Luca family,

2:24

but the

2:26

extent of of my reach

2:28

would be lucha libre, and sure

2:31

enough I did become an international lucha

2:33

libre figure in Mexico, Japan

2:36

into the US. But I wanted

2:39

to cross over. I wanted to do it

2:41

here. I

2:44

saw people do it before me.

2:47

I saw, of course Ed grero Rebi

2:50

Stadio, all the people that

2:53

came back then, El

2:55

Dandie Los Bianos, Lis

2:57

mark At Torgarza, how

3:00

Lween Damien six

3:02

' six, you know, all the people that was

3:04

before me, Nietzsche and Mion Nadio

3:07

or Psychosis as you know, HOVI. All

3:10

this people inspired me and I

3:13

didn't know how to do it, but I knew I wanted to do

3:15

that. Just that La Parka who

3:17

took my mask in Mexico by the way, Oh

3:21

yeah, bitch, yes,

3:23

son of a guy, and I hate him.

3:25

Yeah, I think it's good there.

3:28

Yeah, finally we found one to hate. We found one

3:30

to hate, Santos. That's a real reason it

3:32

is. Yo, you're such a historian

3:35

on lucha libre. I remember I

3:37

sent you like a picture of just a random

3:39

mask that I wear from time to time,

3:42

and you wrote back.

3:44

I was like, Yo, that was so quick, how

3:46

did you know that? And dude writes back, I

3:48

wrestled him.

3:49

I was like, and he's

3:51

an Og. He's an Og, he's seventies.

3:54

That's why I you wrestle that guy

3:57

wrestle on my my beginnings.

3:59

Yeah, talk about the history of Luca, man,

4:01

Like it's such a rich I

4:03

got my education on it from my grandmother

4:06

and from JBL of all people

4:08

who got me hip to Santos, right, And

4:12

like all of a sudden, I was or El

4:14

Santo, you're Santos? And he

4:16

got me hip to him because I was talking about other lucha

4:18

dors and he was like, you haven't heard of al I'll

4:21

do a JBL. You haven't heard of al Santo.

4:23

They got a goddamn day named after

4:26

him down there, boy, And so I

4:28

got I got hip and learned about him.

4:30

But to you, like, what does it mean

4:32

to be Look, I

4:34

think we can all agree that raised

4:37

the gloat right, the greatest luchador of

4:39

all time, but as far as the greatest

4:41

luchador working today, that

4:43

as far as my eyes and a lot of other people

4:45

watching too, is you So

4:48

what does that mean to you to be the

4:50

central figure of Luca. Maybe

4:52

that rubbed some people the wrong way, but this again,

4:54

this is what a lot of people are saying, not just me.

4:57

I'm hoping he does. I'm hoping this rub

5:00

people the wrong way and makes them work

5:02

harder and say I'm gonna I'm gonna

5:04

become better than this guy, because that will

5:06

bring competition, and competition

5:09

is always good. Because this is good competition.

5:11

This is competition to become the best at something

5:13

that people like, which is Luca Livre. And

5:16

I always wanted to become the greatest Luca or

5:18

working. Of course, Rey is and

5:21

will always be the gloat because of

5:24

everything he's done and

5:26

he's I mean, and I know's he will

5:28

do more, but and he's still doing it, you know.

5:30

But that aside him

5:33

being the best, is

5:36

just a notion of what we need to do

5:38

to get there. And that's what I've been doing for a

5:40

while, working hard, working

5:43

hard, showing up, growing

5:45

learning. If I don't know something, asking

5:48

about it, Luca Livre, we're closing

5:50

in on the one hundred years in Mexico. It

5:53

was brought by Lahamille Lutrodes

5:55

and they build it in a Mexico. They

5:58

build it in a coliseo Cola

6:00

Coliso, Monterey,

6:03

Tijuana. That's

6:05

how Luca Libre came about in Mexico,

6:08

and my family has been doing lucca

6:11

for almost sixty

6:13

years of those hundred, which means

6:15

that I should have

6:18

embedded in me in my DNA,

6:21

the need, the destriert need to

6:23

always put out there who I am, where

6:25

I come from, and what I'm about. I wrestled

6:28

in all of those arenas.

6:30

I struggled with all

6:32

of those promoters. I got

6:34

into fights because I wouldn't

6:37

get myself in into a match, because

6:39

that's all I've ever wanted

6:42

to let people know who

6:45

I am, where I come from, and what

6:47

I'm about. And what I'm about is lucha libret

6:49

and the luta libert tradition, the lucha

6:51

libert culture laun lire,

6:54

which is not just the lucha

6:56

libre with the masks and the music and the

6:58

lights and the capes and then

7:00

the shiny colors and the shiny moves. Yes,

7:02

that is, but in Mexico is so much

7:04

more than that. It's a social phenomenon,

7:08

That's what it is. People go and attend

7:11

soccer games, football

7:14

games, sports events with

7:16

their masks, with their capes.

7:19

People get married wearing a mask.

7:22

People show up in

7:24

delivery rooms to deliver their baby

7:28

with a mask. That's how deep.

7:31

That's how deep the lucha culture

7:34

is in Mexico.

7:42

So when someone says you're a lucha

7:44

guy, and they're trying to say it in that the meaning way, I

7:46

never take it like that, because yeah, I am a

7:48

lucha guy, and I represent Alucha

7:50

Nation and I represent Alucha Country.

7:53

And nowadays it's a lucha culture

7:55

because it has no boundaries. It goes

7:58

around the world. It's global. And the more

8:00

I do my thing and the more I am the greatest

8:02

lu chella working today, the

8:05

more this is gonna spread out,

8:07

the more podcast I'll be invited

8:10

to, the more movies I will be castid

8:12

why because they want to

8:15

see more of what I

8:17

am and what I bring to the table.

8:20

How sick would it be if they started making movies

8:22

again like they did It's Persanto back in the day,

8:24

where it's full on mask in the movie. Go ahead,

8:26

Jeff, I know good.

8:27

Oh yeah, So while we're on this subject,

8:29

because I was going to bring it up anyways, I know, I

8:32

don't know how much time we have. I

8:34

have multiple occasions that I've gone

8:36

to Mexico, I bring a laparka

8:39

mask.

8:39

And then there's been times.

8:43

I'm like, I will if I don't

8:45

have it, because sometimes I just forget, So I'll go.

8:47

I'll go.

8:47

I got to find one of these places that sells all

8:49

the masks, and I'll get a Laparka mask.

8:51

I'll wear it around on a scooter. I wear

8:53

it to the bars.

8:54

I wore it on stage for a for

8:56

a Mexican comedy festival in Cabo.

8:59

I wore it at the airport. I

9:01

wear I wear a Laparka mask when

9:04

I'm in Mexico all the time, even

9:06

and people people see it, Like you said, it's a phenomena.

9:09

They go Laparca and all my all my buddies

9:11

that don't know anything about wrestling, and they don't

9:13

obviously know much about Mexico, they're like, dude,

9:15

you're like famous when you wear that. I was like, no, it's

9:18

it's famous. This this is a it's

9:20

a phenomenon that's famous. And when they see

9:22

me wearing it, they're like, we like that. That white boy's rocking

9:24

a Laparka mask everywhere he goes.

9:26

So anyways, I'm a big fan of that. But I

9:29

was gonna ask this question before we got on the subject.

9:31

You you had Laparka took your mask off

9:34

and Luca right, and that was that

9:36

was a big part of the story. Because we only know the story.

9:38

We don't ever get to get to talk to you as a

9:40

as as the man on SmackDown dominate

9:43

to or your mask off that Ray gave

9:46

you. What's the decision

9:48

for for a thing like that, Like, how do we

9:51

how did you come to that decision that you're like okay

9:54

and this or is that that's written for you and

9:56

you have to agree that he's gonna take your mask

9:58

off? How does that come about?

10:01

No, that's something that we we, I mean

10:03

Ray and myself, we we thought that

10:05

would be important to portray. I

10:07

think nowadays our audiences

10:10

are understanding what the importance

10:12

of the mask and now enough, if you recall

10:14

at the latest premium

10:17

live event Survivor Series, I tore

10:20

draug a Lee mask. That

10:23

was one nonscript really

10:26

that was that was just the healing me and

10:29

and I think it's important

10:31

that our audiences get that

10:34

feel because now we have Dragonly,

10:37

now we have Axiom, now

10:39

we have Ray, now

10:42

we have more and more people diving

10:45

into the Luca culture, but

10:48

like really really doing it, you know, like the mask,

10:50

the tradition, the respect that's

10:54

behind the mask, and so it's important

10:56

that our audiences know for

10:58

a fact that when someone goes

11:01

with the mask, goes against the mask,

11:03

it means something. You know, it opts

11:06

to stakes, it makes it harder. And we

11:08

were in Chicago, of both places, Chicago is

11:10

Mexico. So when I tore

11:13

that mask, when because

11:15

when I tore that mask, I could

11:18

feel the white heat.

11:20

Yeah, yeah, No, the crowd did not like

11:22

you. That was a great crowd, by the way, that

11:24

was a great Chicago usually is when

11:26

I worked there, they were always a good crowd. Santos,

11:29

I think you're an extraordinary

11:31

person, crazy

11:33

impressive you. You learn

11:35

so fast and the ride you've been

11:38

on has been so fast. I know you posted

11:40

this on Instagram. You you were able to purchase

11:42

your parents a home this year. I know what

11:44

it felt like to get my mom her house when

11:47

when I did it, and the amount of the pride

11:49

I had for her taking care of me all those years,

11:51

and now is it's our turn to take care

11:53

of them. I love that you're still so close

11:55

with your family, so good to your family.

11:58

You're just you're so laser focused.

12:00

Man, I don't see anything but good things for you.

12:02

And that's all I wish you in the future. Brother, for real,

12:04

Thank you man same.

12:07

I think it's important to take care of the people who took

12:09

care of you and everything that I

12:11

am. All this drive

12:13

that's fire inside me. It was ignited by my mom

12:16

and my dad ignited it in a different way as I told

12:18

you before. But my mom

12:20

was always telling me, you're the number one, you will be the best,

12:22

you will do this, you will do that, and lo

12:25

and behold, I've done everything she said

12:27

and the house is just nothing.

12:29

It's just I would give her whatever

12:32

she wanted if I had the opportunity to do it,

12:35

but to me. And that's also one of the

12:37

things that I want to show to my community.

12:39

You know, to my people out there, that these

12:42

are things that are taught to us as Latinos.

12:45

You take care of your parents, you do this, you do

12:47

that. That's part of Uncle Tura. That's what

12:49

we do. And I

12:51

think the more we inspire people, the

12:53

better for the world. Not just

12:56

what we do. I think I deeply believe

12:59

in what I do. It's not fake

13:01

wrestling, it's not just sports entertainment.

13:04

I do believe the creed

13:07

that we have at the company and as

13:09

as a Luchallo, as an

13:11

entertainer, I believe

13:13

that what we do, the contribution that we

13:16

have for the world is

13:18

genuine. We make people happy.

13:21

We and and trust me Ermano, that's

13:23

a service that we need

13:26

nowadays. Two hours,

13:28

three hours to escape from whatever

13:30

it is that you're going on and just to watch Santos

13:33

and then you know, boo at Santos

13:35

or cheer at me. I don't know, whatever the

13:38

audiences want. I'm there, you

13:40

know, and and I'm getting the freedom to

13:42

do it correct and I'm getting the freedom

13:44

to put myself out there. And that is a

13:46

huge difference. That's the difference between

13:49

l A Night before and La Knight. Now he

13:52

was given the opportunity, he put himself

13:54

out there, and now he's there. They're

13:56

giving me the same opportunity. That's gat

13:58

they gave. They're giving me the same opportunity.

14:01

And in a highlysscrypted world, we're

14:03

thriving because we're genuine,

14:05

because we believe what we do and whatever

14:08

we envision, the people

14:10

get it and that pleases depend.

14:13

You've been doing great man, the show's been

14:15

great. Thank you so much again for

14:17

doing this show. Man, it's it's just

14:20

it's an absolute pleasure to have you on. It

14:22

was a pleasure to have Selena Vegan

14:25

as well. I know you guys are cool anymore,

14:27

but.

14:28

She's got a mean right and brother,

14:30

does you ever I saw that reaction, I

14:33

was like, oh, that's real, nothing

14:36

but love.

14:37

She's amazing. We got love for her too. Thanks

14:39

against the best, Thanks for again for being

14:41

on the show. Man, We appreciate you. Got

14:43

mad love for you. Tons of respect everybody.

14:46

Thank y'all for listening. The Thursday show exists

14:48

because you guys demanded it as always.

14:50

Appreciate y'all. Love to y'all.

14:53

Santos, you got cgi hearts going on. That was

14:55

sick. Yep, that's pretty cool. That's like full on

14:57

anime. I can't do much.

14:59

Yeah, well he knows trip. That's how he got it. Man,

15:01

you could get all this stuff.

15:02

Oh and the Heartbreak kid, what if they just started and

15:04

I was mentored by the heartbreak kids.

15:06

Don't ever forget that.

15:08

Hell yeah, hell yeah.

15:09

All right, thanks again for coming on the show. We'll see y'all

15:12

next week. As always, Peace. This

15:15

has been a production of Iheart'smichael Toura podcast.

15:18

Network For more podcasts from iHeartRadio,

15:20

visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts,

15:23

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