Chris Featherstone sent this in.
On the recent episode of the Pancakes and Powerslams Show, I had the pleasure to interview former Lucha Underground Champion Prince Puma to promote Season 2 of Lucha Underground. Puma, aka Ricochet, had some great stories to share about competing against many wrestlers in the indies who are now popular in the WWE and ROH, wrestling at Wrestle Kingdom 10, and becoming a star in Lucha Underground.
Here are some highlights.
His rivalry with Cesaro in the indies:
“It was wild. He was like throwing me all over the place, especially because at the time I couldn’t have weighed 120, 115 pounds. [Cesaro] is literally the strongest person on the earth. It was really cool, and I was really nervous. I remember at the end it was a really, really good match. Especially for me at the time.”
When asked if WWE has dropped the ball on giving Cesaro a consistent push, he said that he doesn’t know if they are necessarily dropping the ball.
“He’s getting his cheers, he’s getting his money,” Prince Puma stated. “Unfortunately he’s hurt right now, but when he comes back, I don’t know if they’ll use him right or wrong. Of course, he’s my friend, and I want to see him as champion, but there’s always a path for everybody. Eventually, I think the talent will outshine everything and people will see how good he is. Maybe they’ll use him more.”
Prince Puma also praised NXT star Apollo Crews:
“He can do anything he wants to. He’s the best. There’s no limits for him. He’s a superstar. I was his very first Dragon Gate USA tryout match. Dude didn’t even have $50 to his name to pay for the tryout, and look at him now. He like owns the world. Along that whole time, he’s still the nicest guy possible. He’s a really, really cool dude. He’s awesome. He deserves everything.”
How he was recruited by Lucha Underground:
“It’s a really crazy story. Konnan was trying to hit me up for like a long time. I remember Konnan calling me all the time, calling me, calling me, calling me. He keeps telling me about this Lucha Underground. At first I kept saying, yeah, cool, maybe I’ll think about it. But in my head, I was like, no I’m not gonna do this, I don’t want to do it. He called me for like months, and I kept saying, yeah, I’ll think about it.
Because of Wrestling Society X, a really cool concept, but bad delivery, that’s what I thought this was gonna be. I don’t want to be a part of that again. When people think of me, I don’t want them to think of something bad. I was just worried, and I kept saying no. Them finally [they pulled me] into the offices and had a meeting with me. They started showing me these skits, and pictures, and what they’re gonna do with it, and I was pretty interested. They showed me the set and where it’s gonna be, and the Temple. They were showing me around, and it looked really cool. I told them that I was going to think about it, and they said let us know soon because we are going to start filming.
At the time I really wanted to do something with the WWE, but in the future. I didn’t want something to ruin it. So, finally, we started talking over contract stuff, and I kept putting it off for so long.
Then finally, it was like a Wednesday, and we were supposed to start filming on that Thursday. We were still talking over contract stuff because I was still saying I don’t know. I don’t want to be put in something that’s not cool. That night, we finally figured out some contract stuff, and finally came to an agreement. Within 10 minutes, I had a flight [to California], and the rest is history.
I went there, and I saw everything, and it turned out to be one of the coolest projects that has happened in wrestling in a long time. It’s so cool, and I’m glad I did it. I guess [from what Konnan told me] they didn’t have any backup options for the Prince Puma character. It was either me or nothing.”
What to expect on Season 2:
“We’ve got some pretty cool things coming up this season. Of course, everyone knows that Rey Mysterio is on this season. We have some new characters, and of course everyone is interested in seeing if Prince Puma will get his title back from Mil Muertes. We did a lot of really cool stuff, and I’m really excited. There’s actually a big, big surprise this season that has to do with Prince Puma, so get ready for that. You guys sit back and buckle up. It’s gonna be a wild ride.”
Prince Puma also mentions that Paul London is now an agent for Lucha Underground, and much more. You can hear the full interview here.