During a recent appearance on the “Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling” podcast, Lince Dorado commented on asking for his release from WWE, if talent in WWE speaks up about creative plans they don’t like or just go with it, and more.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On asking for his WWE release: “When we asked for our release in September or October, I think it was September, I went into it with two things. I was like, ‘Man, I don’t really have a plan, but I know I’ve been poor, I’ve been homeless, I’ve been broke. I’ll be fine, I’ve always been fine. I look forward to all the challenges in my life. So this new adventure of leaving something that I was so comfortable in needed to be done for me personally. I needed to leave. I was looking forward to it.
“I was looking forward to a lot of things, I was looking forward to being my own boss, being creative, saying things how I wanted to say it, be how I wanted to be, dress how I wanted to dress, represent lucha libre how I wanted to represent it. Not how, and again I’m not saying they did, but I wanted to put my flavor on it. I didn’t want to write it off as somebody’s idea, I wanted to fail on my own.
“And that’s why I had asked for my release. I just felt like I was complacent, I felt like I was just floating. I wasn’t progressing creatively, I didn’t like my position. I just needed a change, and as much as it’s scary and as much money I left on the table and how much time I had left on my contract, it wasn’t worth it to me. I needed that peace of mind of being free and being creatively free.”
On if talent in WWE speaks up about creative plans they don’t like or just go with it: “I think a little bit of both. Most of the time you’ll get that second part where they just give in and make it work. There’s nothing wrong with that, right? If you’re going to go into it like ‘okay, this is what they’ve got. I’m going to make it 100% awesome’, great. But then don’t complain afterward. Compromise. Come up with ideas that will help benefit both them and you, because at the end of the day, I think a lot of us only think about ourselves and forget either the company we’re working for or the pro wrestling business itself, which we need to keep afloat. But that word is so important; compromise. Even my kids, when I have an argument with them, I never yell at my kids. I’ve never grabbed my kids, I’m never physical with them. We always have great conversations where I’m saying ‘where’s the compromise here? You left your toys here, I’ve asked you not to do it. We need a compromise so it doesn’t happen again.’
“It’s a great, powerful word and it works in wrestling when it’s like ‘alright, I don’t like this line. Can I say it this way?’ and they say ‘maybe not.’ Well, what’s the compromise there? There isn’t; they’re just trying to bully you. But it isn’t like that. Nobody tries to put their spin on it. And if they do, they’re the ones that become successful. And if they don’t, they’re the ones that become complacent and sometimes bitter. But yeah, I always try to compromise, and sometimes people can take it as being difficult. But ultimately I want to represent whatever I’m doing to the best of my ability. I wanted to represent the best product, the best version of whatever we’re doing rather than just going through the motions. I can’t go through the motions of life. I need challenges, I need options, I need things that will make me want it, rather than ‘well I’m just showing up.’”
On pitching ideas to WWE: “That’s exciting actually, not knowing what you’re doing. But not doing anything or doing the same thing over and over again, that gets boring. It’s not like we were sitting there doing nothing. We came up with pitches. We had powerpoints, we have videos we presented, we had ideas but it’s just a disconnect. There was a culture disconnect that they just didn’t understand we wanted to do it, they didn’t understand how and why it could be successful, among other reasons.”
(h/t – Wrestling Inc)
