Lucha Underground’s Big Ryck joined Jeff Jackson and Tony Mirabella yesterday on SNS UnPlugged to discuss the show and tonight’s episode which features a triple ladder match for $100,000 between himself, Prince Puma, and Johnny Mundo.
The man formerly known as Ezekiel Jackson from WWE joined the guys from his car while stuck in traffic in Los Angeles for the 30 minute talk.
Ryck said he’s having a blast working for Lucha Underground and it’s something different, something which was much needed in the world of professional wrestling. They can’t replace what was in the past but they’re doing things he said that makes fans look forward to every week.
One of the hosts, Jeff, talked about how the show looks completely different from your typical show and Ryck credits Chris DeJoseph, who heads creative, for the experience. He said that the overall product is super fun to be a part of and is a breath of fresh air for those who’ve been doing it for a while. He also added that companies like WWE and TNA are business-minded companies and they’re gonna give you what they think is right while Lucha Underground will give you stuff which you won’t see on other shows.
The discussion then turned for tonight’s show on El Rey Network with a main event of a triple ladder match with $100,000 up for grabs. Ryck said he’s not a big fan of heights although he’s not afraid of it… he just don’t wanna fall from something high! He puts over his opponents Prince Puma and Johnny Mundo and said that there’s nothing fancy about him, he just shows up to fight and puts people through tables.
The boys then went to some questions which they took from their Facebook fans and one of them was what was the best advice he got from William Regal while working with him in WWE. Ryck said that it was a dream come true to work with one of the people he studied and while it’s not the best advice he got, Regal always complemented him for moving really well in the ring despite being a big guy. He said Regal contributed a lot to pro wrestling and taught a lot of young guys and he would work with anyone who asked him.
The Vince McMahon brass ring comment from his Steve Austin podcast then came up and Ryck said it’s bullshit and no, not everybody can grab it. He said he didn’t see the whole interview yet but he said that WWE missed the boat with a lot of youngsters such as Zack Ryder, Drew McIntyre, Curt Hawkins, and Tyson Kidd and it’s not just up to them to step it up and shoot for the stars as McMahon said.
Another question asked was if he still has the ECW title. Ryck said it’s an honor for him to be the last ECW champion, a title he won on the last episode of ECW TV. He said it doesn’t matter if he was champion for 59 seconds or for four years since technically he’s still the champ. He said yes he still has a replica ECW title back home as WWE has different titles, such as one to carry at house shows, one to use solely on television, etc.
Ryck was then asked to compare WWE and TNA to Lucha Underground. He said as a professional wrestling, your goal is to reach the pinnacle, which is WWE. He said he wrestled in front of 80,000 people at WrestleMania and he got a taste of the big show and really enjoyed that. He said Lucha Underground has a lot of hungry guys who are shining and love to perform. He said he’s sitting back and enjoying having fun and it helps that he lives in Los Angeles, where the show is taped.
He also put over creative and said a big effort was done so everyone on the roster is different and no one is the same. Each character has their niche and the team works their butt off to make sure fans enjoy it.
The hosts asked him about his short time with TNA this past Summer and he was told he’d be part of five shows over a period of three days and then they would see how it would go on from there. On the final night of tapings he was told that he’d be fired for storyline reasons, but he didn’t sweat it as he was already in contact with the people behind Lucha Underground and knew he’d be back on television in September. He said he’s a big fan so it was nice to hang out with the boys backstage at TNA and see people who he worked with in WWE. He prefers being at Lucha Underground though as he doesn’t have to leave his wife and kids for six days in a row so he’s cool with that and believes he’s in a better place now. He said the icing on the cake is that his kids come along to all the tapings and he gets to sleep in his own bed after the show.
Wrapping things up, he said it’s hard to put into words what he could say to fans who have not seen the show yet but they’ll enjoy the different new characters and the old people with new packages. He’s thankful it’s only one hour long as if it’s longer stuff will get repeated and fans would lose interest in the product.
You can listen to the full interview by downloading the MP3 here.
