WWE star Santos Escobar recently appeared on Booker T’s The Hall of Fame podcast for an in-depth interview covering all things pro wrestling. During the discussion, Escobar commented on his struggles to make it to WWE:
“Actually, being a second generation Luchador was super hard for me because, first of all, my dad didn’t want me to do this at all. So that was the first obstacle I had to go through. My mom always wanted me to go to school. I was born and raised in Mexico City. If you go back however years ago when I was born, it’d be difficult to think that I would be here. The place I’m at right now, with the people I am with right now, the position I am right now, I’ve been doing this for 23 years professionally and uf you had asked me 24 years ago before I started this journey, ‘Do you think you’ll ever going to be in WWE working hand to hand with Shawn Michaels, with Triple H, with Fit Finlay, Terry Taylor, Norman Smiley, Booker T’, I would have said, ‘Get out of here. You’re crazy. I mean, I love this. I want to do this, but I don’t know if a Mexicano like me, born and raised in Mexico will ever make it to the big leagues.’ But guess what? I did it. Like I said before, I had to go through a lot of approval here and there. My dad for instance, like I was always with him when I was a little kid, traveling on the road, buses, airplanes, locker rooms, arenas. That was good. But the second I showed interest in actually doing this for a living, everything changed. He was like, ‘No, no, no, no way. Hold on. I would rather you go to school, get a degree, and have a normal life.”
“After more than 20 years doing this, injuries haven’t eluded me. I’ve had back surgeries, knee surgery, nose broken three times, fingers, elbows, hip, you name it. I think he was just trying to protect his son. Who wouldn’t want his son to achieve glory in the very activity that you’ve been doing. My family’s been in this business since the 70s, so I’m sure he wanted me to achieve in life and what better way to do it than his own realm, Lucha Libre, but I think he also wanted his son to be healthy and have a quote unquote, normal life.”
His inspiration to wrestle:
“Well, right before I tell you my ultimate goal which is main event WrestleMania and win the World Heavyweight Championship, I gotta tell you one thing. What we do in WWE is put smiles on people’s faces. Yes, that we do, but we are also in the emotions business. We create emotions We generate emotions. In my case, I always tell my story where I come from, where I was born, and where I was raised. Inspiration that moved me years ago. That put me through a lot. I had to overcome, a lot of obstacles in my life. That I got (inspiration) from many superstars, Eddie Guerrero, Rey Mysterio, of course that’s my people, but also the Triple H’s, the Daniel Bryan’s, the Kofi Kingston’s, the Booker T’s, the inspiration that we can actually generate on thousands or millions of people. That’s why I’m here. If I can do it, then you out there, Mexicano, Latino, you can do it too. All you got to do is show up, show up, show up every day, every day. That’s all you got to do. People are gonna tell you that you can’t do it. ‘You’re not big enough. You’re not handsome enough. You’re not strong enough. You ain’t got it.’ Nevermind, show up, show up. Trust me, it will happen. If I can inspire people to think like that and act like that, they don’t have to become WWE superstars. Maybe they want to be doctors. Maybe they want to rule their country. Maybe they want to be lawyers. I don’t know. That’s on you. But if I can do it, trust me. you can do it.”
You can watch the complete interview below:
(h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription)
