TNA star Mica recently appeared as a guest on the Two Man Power Trip Of Wrestling podcast and spoke about a number of topics. Below are some highlights of the interview.
On competing in a TNA Gutcheck and getting signed by the company: “I did the Gutcheck and on that day we filmed I honestly thought I was just going to be rolling around and maybe doing a tryout match and next thing I know we are doing an actual show and taking bumps and I was grateful of the opportunity to do it. Tommy Dreamer pulled me aside and said that it was a great performance and don’t be surprised if you get a call and sure enough about a week or two after I got the call from Bob Ryder saying TNA would like to bring me on as one of the TNA Superstars and I was delighted. It was awesome to get a call from TNA and that they wanted me to be apart of their family.”
On Billy Corgan’s influence on the product thus far: “He loves wrestling. Billy’s mind is for wrestling. He is all about it and what’s nice is he does have a wrestling background, he is the Smashing Pumpkins there is no one else, it’s him. His creative genius is amazing. Although we only had him for like four days he is really engaged with a lot of us and their are a couple of story lines that he was apart of and he wanted to make sure he stayed really focused on the story lines that TNA has brought to television. I’m really looking forward to working with him and to see what he has in store for TNA as a whole. You can tell the TNA roster is very excited to have him and we are looking forward to working with him.”
On working against the BDC (Beat Down Clan): “Those guys, especially (Low) Ki and MVP were both in WWE at one time and actually MVP was in a pretty big spot up there so it’s nice to get his insight on how things were, how they are going and how to adjust and adapt to TNA right now. Ki is a hell of a talent and has such a mind for the game. I love talking to him and understanding how to stand out as an individual wrestler and how to make things work. Kenny King for as tall as he is he works as if he could be a Luchador. He is deceiving as far as his ability. Homicide I knew from way back when and got to work with him a little bit but right now he has torn something in his shoulder and I am really looking forward to working more with Homicide.”
On problems injuries caused him while working with Mistico (Sin Cara): “It definitely played a role. He (Mistico) had significant injuries that just happened one after the other. First it was his knee, then his hand. The poor guy was just plagued by injuries and it did hold us up. Their were opportunities for us to start something with another talent on the roster and they tried to get us into something with Ted Dibiase and that came to a stand still creatively because Ted wanted something else and we were just bouncing around doing live events and just doing tag matches with different people.”
On working with Hunico and their relationship: “Hunico is an amazing guy and is ridiculously strong. He has an amateur wrestling background so it was always great to be in the ring with him and learn from him. Besides the amateur background he also has the Lucha background and I learned a lot about being a good base for the Lucha style wrestlers. He himself is a hell of a base for the Lucha guys, he used to catch me which is amazing when we would do Lucha style moves on each other and I always appreciated him taking the time to show me the Lucha style on our off time when we were traveling.”
Check out the complete interview at Podomatic.com.
– In addition to their match at the upcoming WWE TLC pay-per-view this Sunday, CM Punk vs. The Shield in a three-on-one handicap match is also being promoted for the WWE live event on December 27th in Indianapolis, Indiana.
– After working under the mask as Sin Cara on WWE RAW last week, WWE Superstar Hunico was back to working under his normal gimmick at the non-televised WWE live events this past weekend.
– The Spaceship News website in Australia recently interviewed former WWE Superstar Chris Jericho. The interview, which mostly focuses on his rock and roll band “Fozzy”, can be read online at SpaceshipNews.com.au.
– WWE Superstar Sin Cara’s contract is reportedly set to expire in January. WWE has the option to renew it if they choose to, but as noted recently, the original Sin Cara may be done with WWE as the company had Hunico work under the mask this past Monday night on RAW.
– WWE has signed Jasper Orton, the 18-year-old cousin of WWE Superstar Randy Orton, to a developmental deal with the company. Jasper just recently graduated high school and is currently out of action with a torn meniscus. Jasper is also from St. Louis.
– Over the weekend, we posted a video of a recent NXT television broadcast where announcer William Regal implied that Hunico has been suspended. Regal stated:
“Camacho is usually out here with his partner Hunico, but Hunico’s not here and I’m not allowed to say why. He’s in a little trouble, and he got into a little extra curricular activities and causing a bit of grief to people, and he’s not gonna be with us for awhile let’s put it that way.”
Upon checking with a WWE source, it appears that Hunico is actually injured – and Regal was apparently turning it into a storyline, playing up Hunico’s gimmick as a thug.
Regal has since tweeted the following update regarding the situation:
On that note,as an announcer on NXT my job is to give people character and sometimes embellish tales in our world.I have no hidden agenda.
– You may have read in recent weeks that Ricardo Rodriguez has been occasionally wrestling under a mask as the lucha libre character, El Local. This weekend’s episode of WWE Saturday Morning Slam featured the television debut of El Local in a match against Sin Cara:
Posted November 5th, 2012 in News, WWE. Tagged: Hunico.
– With Big Show and Sheamus currently feuding over the SmackDown brand’s World Heavyweight Championship, WWE creative is already looking ahead to future feuds over the “big gold belt.”
Dolph Ziggler is waiting in the wings to cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase and will do so at Survivor Series or shortly after. Ziggler is then expected to feud with Randy Orton over the title, a program that WWE is planning to run through the early part of 2012.
Ziggler and Orton had a short feud earlier this year, but that was cut short when Orton was suspended for 60 days due to his second violation of the company Wellness Policy.
– It appears that WWE superstar Hunico has been suspended. On the October 24th edition of WWE NXT, commentator William Regal made some cryptic comments about the Mexican wrestler during a match between Brodus Clay and Camacho. When Camacho came out without Hunico, Regal said:
“Camacho is usually out here with his partner Hunico, but Hunico’s not here and I’m not allowed to say why. He’s in a little trouble, and he got into a little extra curricular activities and causing a bit of grief to people, and he’s not gonna be with us for awhile let’s put it that way.”
Here is a video clip of Regal calling out Hunico for his “curricular activities” –
In his first match since flooring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson with a clothesline and subsequent Go to Sleep on Raw 1,000, CM Punk appeared as a babyface at Saturday’s SmackDown live event at Freedom Hall Civic Center in Johnson City, Tennessee. He retained the WWE Championship in a Triple Threat Match against Daniel Bryan and Kane. Attendees largely ignored his apparent heel turn on Monday as he was loudly cheered throughout the match.
Chris Jericho rekindled his partnership with Christian as the duo took on Cody Rhodes and Dolph Ziggler. Ziggler donned a Jericho “WANNA-BEE” T-Shirt, which Jericho ripped off during the contest. The match concluded with Jericho striking Rhodes with the Codebreaker.
Drew McIntyre appeared as a babyface on the show as he rushed the ring to aid Ted DiBiase from an attack courtesy of Camacho and Hunico—after DiBiase defeated Hunico due to interference from Camacho. The third generation wrestler then proposed they have a tag team match, which all agreed to. The match concluded with DiBiase escaping Hunico’s sleeper attempt and hitting him with Dream Street.
Other match results were Kaitlyn over Natalya, Jinder Mahal over Percy Watson, Justin Gabriel over developmental wrestler Leo Kruger and World Heavyweight Champion Sheamus over Alberto Del Rio in a Last Man Standing Match.
– After AJ decided not to marry Daniel Bryan on Raw, it was revealed she accepted a proposal from Vince McMahon to become the new permanent Raw General Manager. She stated on Twitter Tuesday evening that she has big things planned.
“Big meetings this week at WWE HQ. Things are about to get VERY interesting. #Raw1001 #businesschucks.”
– Two matches were taped Tuesday night in Kansas City, Missouri for this week’s episode of WWE Superstars: Sin Cara vs. Drew McIntyre and WWE Divas Champion Layla vs. Natalya.
In dark match results, Zack Ryder defeated Heath Slater via Rough Ryder while Jey and Jimmy Uso beat Camacho and Hunico. Both Usos hit Hunico with the Superfly Splash for the pinfall victory.
– Former WWE Superstar Headbanger Mosh weighed in on Monday’s landmark Raw episode via Twitter: “Thought #RAW1000 was pretty good (from what I saw) only thing missing was @steveaustinBSR.”
– Tag team action is slated for Sunday as Kofi Kingston and R-Truth will defend the WWE Tag Team Championship against Camacho and Hunico in the Money in the Bank Pre-Show, which streams live on WWE.com, YouTube.com/WWE and Facebook.com at 7:30 ET/4:30 PT.
– Despite his removal from WWE programming last month, John Laurinaitis is slated to compete at live shows through at least September. The advertised main event for the Saturday, September 22, 2012 Raw live event taking place at the Westchester County Center in White Plains, New York has ‘Big Johnny’ teaming up with Big Show to take on John Cena in a Handicap Match.
– The Raw SuperShow taking place on Monday, September 17, 2012 at the Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport, Connecticut will feature John Cena vs. Big Show in a Steel Cage Match.
– WWEShop.com is selling a Brodus Clay Fedora for $29.99.
– Justin Roberts was conspicuously absent from Monday’s Raw SuperShow as Lilian Garcia instead handled ring announcing duties. It was a one-off appearance.
Garcia stated on Twitter, “Justin was on vacation. He will be back next week. :)”
It was Garcia’s first appearance on the program since 2010.
– Matches taped Tuesday night in Evansville, Indiana for this week’s episode of WWE Superstars were:
* Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso vs. Camacho and Hunico
* Sin Cara vs. Antonio Cesaro (with Aksana)
* Kane vs. Heath Slater
* Epico and Primo (with Rosa Mendes) vs. Darren Young and Titus O’Neil (with A.W.)
Brodus Clay beat Drew McIntyre in approximately two minutes in a pre-show dark match. McIntyre worked Clay’s injured knee, but Clay prevailed and won with the running splash.
Matches taped Tuesday evening in Manchester, New Hampshire for this week’s episode of WWE NXT are as follows:
* Derrick Bateman and Percy Watson vs. Curt Hawkins and Tyler Reks
* Kaitlyn vs. Natalya.
* Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso vs. Johnny Curtis and Michael McGillicutty
Justin Gabriel faced Hunico in a match taped for WWE Superstars.
In a battle of WWE developmental wrestlers, Big E Langston faced Dean Ambrose in a pre-taping dark match. Langston, who was billed from Manchester, beat Ambrose. Prior to the match, Ambrose cut a heel promo denouncing the city of Manchester.
– WWE video game publisher THQ closed down their San Diego offices this week, the studio behind last year’s WWE All-Stars game. This comes the same week that THQ sold the UFC game license to EA Sports, another ominous sign for the struggling company.
– FCW’s Mark Harris appeared on Monday’s RAW as the referee for the Kofi Kingston & R-Truth vs. Tyler Reks & Curt Hawkins tag title match.
– In the latest episode of Superstar Toyz, Hunico shows off his mask collection:
— Sin Cara competed in his first match of 2012 at Saturday’s WWE Supershow in Florence, South Carolina, defeating Hunico in the opening match. He had been sidelined since Survivor Series due to a patellar tendon rupture.
— The following matches are advertised for WWE’s post-SummerSlam tour of Australia taking place August 30 through September 1: John Cena vs. Lord Tensai and John Laurinaitis, WWE Champion CM Punk vs. Daniel Bryan and United States Champion Santino Marella vs. David Otunga.
— Sunday marks the one-year anniversary of the passing of Randy Savage. The legendary wrestler died after suffering a sudden, massive heart attack while driving with his wife in Seminole, Florida. He became unresponsive and lost control of his Jeep Wrangler, crashing into a tree.
— WWE.com is advertising a Six-Man Tag Team match for tonight’s episode of SmackDown on Syfy as World Heavyweight Champion Sheamus, Randy Orton and The Great Khali will join forces against Cody Rhodes, Daniel Bryan and Mark Henry. Other matches airing include AJ vs. Natalya, Brodus Clay and Hornswoggle vs. Camacho and Hunico, Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso vs. Darren Young and Titus O’Neil, Ryback vs. James Lerman and Big Show vs. Alberto Del Rio.
— Brodie Lee, who recently signed a developmental contract with WWE, will report to Florida Championship Wrestling shortly. He concluded his independent wrestling commitments over the weekend.
— WWE Hall of Famer “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase has changed his Twitter handle to twitter.com/MDMTedDiBiase.
— Former WWE star Johnny Stamboli turns 35 years old today.
— Ezekiel Jackson beat Hunico via Torture Rack in the first match held Thursday night at WrestleMania Axxess in Miami, Florida. In a battle of WWE developmental wrestlers, Seth Rollins defeated Dean Ambrose in the second bout. Rollins obtained the victory in the seven-minute match following a foot stomp to Ambrose’s head.
— Alicia Fox, David Otunga, Lilian Garcia, Rey Mysterio and The Miz joined “American Idol’s” James Durbin, Miami-Dade County Commissioner Jose “Pepe” Diaz, and the Miami Dolphins’ Twan Russell and “T.D.” at Miami’s Hialeah Gardens and JFK Middle Schools Thursday to spread the word of anti-bullying and tolerance.
The Miz discussed the barrage of insults he gets over social media every day, and how he uses positivity to counter it. “Every time you have a negative thought or are going to post a negative tweet ,” the former WWE Champion said. “I challenge you to do something positive, say something positive. I guarantee you and that person will feel great about themselves.”
WWE.com has published articles from both events here and here.
– Bret Hart has addressed the rumor that he will induct the late Yokozuna into the WWE Hall of Fame later this month, writing on Twitter:
“As much as I wouldn’t mind, it’s not true. No one’s contacted me about it, at least.”
– Aside from Jim Ross and Goldust, Perry Saturn was also in Tampa over the past week evaluating developmental talent at Florida Championship Wrestling. Saturn tweeted:
“Just finished a week @ WWE training center in Tampa. It was a great time. There’s a bunch of hard working, good people there. Wicked cool!”
– The official Facebook page of the Nationwide Arena has published photos from last night’s WWE Superstars match between Justin Gabriel and Hunico and of fans outside the venue.
— SmackDown ring announcer Lilian Garcia had a wardrobe malfunction at tonight’s SmackDown taping in Columbus, Ohio as the strap of her shoe broke as she made her ring entrance. Despite the untimely mishap, she continued on to the ring to handle ring announcements for the show.
— A match featuring Justin Gabriel vs. Hunico was taped tonight in Columbus, Ohio for this week’s episode of WWE Superstars.
Matches taped Monday night in Cleveland, Ohio were Kofi Kingston and R-Truth vs. Curt Hawkins and Tyler Reks; Beth Phoenix vs. Kelly Kelly.
— Rey Mysterio has been announced to appear at the Wizard World Philadelphia Comic Con taking place on June 3 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center 1101 Arch St. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Other wrestling stars appearing at the event include CM Punk, “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase, Gail Kim, Melina, John Morrison and Paul Bearer.
— AfterbuzzTV.com will begin airing a SmackDown recap show this Sunday afternoon with former professional wrestler Ric Drasin and Patricia Summerland of the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling as hosts. Maria Menounos, who created AfterbuzzTV.com, has trained at Drasin’s wrestling school in Sherman Oaks, California for her WWE matches.
– Former WWE Champion Ultimate Warrior asked his Twitter followers on Sunday to name their favorite Ultimate Warrior moment at WrestleMania. WWE Champion CM Punk took part in the session and answered “Warrior vs Savage.”
– Madusa, who formerly competed for WWE as Alundra Blayze, revealed Saturday on Facebook that she was recently contacted by her former employer. Regarding this, both F4WOnline.com and PWInsider.com speculate that she was among the huge number of former talent invited to take part in interviews for upcoming WWE Network features. WWE will be filming several interviews in the week leading up to WrestleMania XXVIII in Miami, Florida.
– Former WWE Champion Ultimate Warrior asked his Twitter followers on Sunday to name their favorite Ultimate Warrior moment at WrestleMania. WWE Champion CM Punk took part in the session and answered “Warrior vs Savage.”
– Reports of Hunico appearing in place of Epico as Primo’s tag team partner at Friday’s Raw live event at Toronto’s Ricoh Coliseum are incorrect as SLAM! Wrestling published photos of Epico at the show.
– Two-time WWE Cruiserweight Champion Nunzio turns 40 years old Monday while former WWE Diva Nidia turns 33.
— Matches taped Tuesday night at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut for this week’s episode of WWE NXT Redemption are as follows:
* Maxine vs. Tamina Snuka
* Johnny Curtis vs. Yoshi Tatsu
* Darren Young vs. Jimmy Uso
* Percy Watson vs. Titus O’Neil
WWE developmental wrestler Xavier Woods, who formerly competed as Consequences Creed for TNA Wrestling, competed in a pre-taping dark match. He defeated Hunico in a singles match.
Woods appeared before the WWE audience for the first time at Raw live events over the weekend. He defeated Curt Hawkins on all three shows.
— In early viewership numbers for Monday’s Raw SuperShow, the program averaged 4.1185 million viewers over the course of two hours. Last week’s show averaged 4.62 million viewers, resulting in a 3.25 cable rating. The prior week’s show garnered 5.22 million viewers with a 3.55 cable rating.
In a positive note, WWE reversed the long-standing trend of viewership sinking during the second hour. Monday’s show averaged 4.305 million viewers in the second hour compared to 3.932 million in the first.
— WWE.com has added Hunico’s low-rider bicycle rolling partner in crime Camacho to the SmackDown roster page. The son of former WWE star Haku debuted on the December 15, 2011 episode of WWE Superstars.
— Today marks the one-year anniversary of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s return to WWE and arrival on Twitter. Johnson, who has garnered over two million followers, writes of micro-blogging site, “A year ago today – 2/14/11. I joined Twitter. Inspiring & Relentless: #TeamBringItMillionsStrong.”
Florida Championship Wrestling talent Donny Marlow, son of the legendary Haku/Meng, made his WWE debut on Thursday’s episode of Superstars.
During the show, Hunico came out on the back of a lowrider bicycle, which was driven by Donny Marlow.
In the main event of this week’s show, the team of Primo and Epico (accompanied by Rosa Mendes) defeated WWE Tag Team Champions Air Boom in a non-title match.
Neither Hunico or Donny Marlow were ringside for the main event, so at this point it’s still unclear as to whether they will be aligning themselves with the Primo-Epico-Rosa trio.
You can watch Donny Marlow’s WWE debut on this week’s episode of Superstars:
It appears the seeds are being planted for an eventual CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho feud down the road once Chris Jericho returns to the company – which is just fine with us.
– For those wondering, it was in fact Hunico who wrestled as Sin Cara on RAW. According to a source who was backstage at RAW, the general feeling in the locker room is that Mistico is done with WWE.
– Two readers sent word that there was no Sin Cara merchandise for sale at last night’s RAW in Tulsa.
– In related Sin Cara news – in light of the recent backstage heat on Mistico, WWE seems to have scrapped the idea of bringing in Mexican wrestler Averno to work with Sin Cara. Before Sin Cara fell out of favor with WWE management, there had been talk of bringing in Averno, a formal rival of Mistico, into WWE so he had someone familiar to work with. (Source: PWInsider.com)
Luis Ignascio Urive Alvirde, the original Sin Cara, returned to action at Saturday’s SmackDown live event in Tacoma, Washington.
Alvirde is eligible to resume performing since his thirty-day suspension for his first violation of WWE’s drug testing policy expired on Tuesday. He claimed in an interview that he did not know what he had tested positive for and that he had only gotten a routine injection for his injured knee in Mexico.
Alvirde’s future with the organization was believed to be in doubt since developmental talent Jorge Arias (a/k/a Hunico) assumed the Sin Cara character at the last two SmackDown tapings. There was talk that the move would be permanent since company officials were reportedly sour on Alvirde due to his attitude and lackluster performances.
— Cody Rhodes captured the Intercontinental Championship from Ezekiel Jackson last night on SmackDown.
After numerous head butts with his protective face mask and a key distraction by his associate Ted DiBiase, Rhodes executed a springboard kick on Ezekiel Jackson. The second generation wrestler then finished off Jackson with the Cross Rhodes to capture his first singles title in WWE.
— The Sin Cara character returned to WWE programming last night on SmackDown with developmental talent Hunico donning the mask. Hunico carries more body fat than the original Sin Cara, who was suspended last month due to a violation of WWE’s drug testing policy.
The SmackDown broadcast team made note of the noticeable physique change, with Josh Mathews saying it appeared Sin Cara put on some weight during his hiatus. The character was temporarily written off television via an injury angle at Money in the Bank.
— Johnny Curtis – winner of WWE NXT season four – was squashed by Mark Henry in his debut match on SmackDown.