Just a few hours before taking on Willie Mack at The United Center for Ring of Honor this past Saturday night, rising pro wrestling star Gringo Loco took some time to speak with Haus of Wrestling for an exclusive interview. This past weekend’s match was his third ROH match since his critically acclaimed debut bout against fellow rising star, El Hijo de Vikingo.
“You want to talk about a complete dream? It was, it was like a movie,” he recalled. “I got the email on Monday for a Wednesday taping talking about, ‘Are you going to be at Milwaukee?’ I was like, ‘I don’t know, man. You guys are asking for all this stuff that I definitely can’t get done in two days, I’m probably not going to go.’ I got a phone call personally from Skye Blue saying, ‘You should probably be there.’ And I’m like, ‘Okay.’
“I went into that building thinking I was going to be a security guard separating Wardlow or whoever, right? I didn’t have a clue. But you know the golden rule in professional wrestling is never to show up to an arena without your gear. Of course, I will, obviously, bring my gear, you know? Not thinking it was ever going to be used, and, lo and behold, man, I mean, I debuted in the main event of Ring of Honor in Milwaukee. Against Vikingo! You can’t write that any better. It’s a movie, it’s a movie.”
The match tore the house down, bringing the audience to their feet for an extended standing ovation. The reaction was so overwhelming that it led to a once-in-a-lifetime moment for The Basegod in his Midwest backyard of Milwaukee.
“The ovation was so much that Tony Kahn actually came out for Vikingo first, and I was going up the ramp but the cameras are in front of them,” he described. “And I said, ‘Oh God, I gotta sell. I can’t get go in front of the camera and interrupt that.’ I remember looking up at both of those guys and saying, ‘Man, that would be so cool if one day I can have that moment,’ because he also raised Vikingo’s hand, which he does a lot, apparently.
“So, I was going up the ramp, I looked at the crowd for one last time, I was like, to me, I mean, that was one of the coolest moments, you know? Them going crazy with them seeing so much wrestling before me. I raised my hand, the ovation was huge. Tony Kahn then proceeds to come back out, and he looks to the crowd and says, ‘Gringo Loco, huh?’ As like, you know, for approval? We start walking up the ramp together, and he goes, ‘Gringo, that was great, man. Can you come next week?’ I was like, ‘Oh my God. Are you serious?’
“He’s like, ‘Yeah, can you come next week?’ And then for whatever reason, I just turned around with Tony, and I said, ‘Yeah, I’ll be here next week, man. Of course, no problem.’ And I told Tony Khan to raise money to raise my hand, and he did. And then the ovation was so cool, and when I tell you it was a movie, while he’s raising my hand, my exact words were, ‘Tony, this is so fucking cool, man. Thank you.’
“Like with those AEW spotlights on me, the crowd going nuts, Just killed it with Vikingo, brother. It is a moment that will live in history for the rest of my life, man. I mean, it is something that I will hold true for a long time.”
Having won over the fans, and now the company’s President, it begs the question, what does the future hold for Gringo Loco in Ring of Honor?
“I ended up getting four or five dates with them, and, I mean, we’re off to the races,” he revealed. “I’m just waiting for more work to come my way. I think that what he’s seen so far, I’m sure you’ve seen the Rey Fenix match, there’s a Blake Christian match out there. There was supposed to be a Komander match, which kind of got cut short but there are a lot of people in Ring of Honor that I could still do a lot of cool things with. I’m really looking forward to it.”
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