Vampiro On Robert Rodriguez's Impact In Lucha Underground, Being Episodic, Matt Striker, The Master
As reported earlier this week on WrestlingInc, Vampiro spoke with The Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling to promote Season 3 of Lucha Underground as well as discuss in great detail his well-traveled career. Below, Vampiro breaks down the difference in the Lucha Underground product as well as give John and Chad a look at what it is like to work with a group of people who are from outside the professional wrestling world. The full episode is available for download at this link.
Robert Rodriguez's influence on the LU production and the people working behind the scenes:
"I think he's taught us all. Even guys who are getting their first break in the business, people who have done smaller type indie shows for example and this is not an indie show so please don't take it that way but I think it has afforded us the opportunity to evolve. Wrestling goes in cycles, it goes every twelve or thirteen years and then it goes on a down swing and comes back up in popularity. I think that the level of production and the quality of people that are running the show behind the scenes has definitely taught us as performers to look at things from a different perspective. I really think that shows in the ring because it just flows and there never is any hiccup and I really think that goes to show that not only do we have extremely talented people behind the scenes but they are also so professional that it has actually taught us how to be better pro wrestlers. There are people who have come from a television world and don't know anything about our business, I think that is something that nobody really touches on but that is what I see."
The episodic nature of the Lucha Underground product:
"I'm a big fan of "The Walking Dead" and I'm also a big fan of the way the Jason Bourne movies are edited. Why do I say it like that? If you remember when The Walking Dead started at the end of Season 1 they didn't even have the budget to pay actors to be extras or to be zombies and that is why there is no dead people and it just turned into this phenom that it is going into like Season 8 and it is the worldwide phenomenon that is is. I think that style of television, the ultra-violent cliffhanger type thing really set the bar high and I think that we are kind of going that route and the way it is edited with the tightness and the crispness of the production value, going into the office and all of the backstories and everybody has a real character and it is shot and cut like those fight scenes in the Jason Bourne movies and it's so tight and so crisp and so violent and on point that I think that's a good way to describe how things are going. When we see it when we are shooting it, it's just another thing and it is not your traditional wrestling show at all. Nobody can even compare but they definitely will try and copy as you well know but they are not even close."
The chemistry established with Matt Striker and making their announce team different:
"Matt is so good at what he does. I've had nothing to do except get better because of his professionalism. I don't know anything about announcing, he's kind of taught me everything as we go along. I certainly know how to get a rise out of people and be different so I think the way it works is we are such good friends and as you know if you are a successful rock band or musical group, the band needs to know when they need to play their instruments and why they need to hit those notes the way they are hit. Matt and I understand that. We are like two guys that have been in a band together since the beginning of time and we know when each other has to have that little breather, when one is going to get pumped and there is something that we do that nobody else does. When Matt will really start hyping up his voice changes and his pattern and his rhythm gets faster, so I turn to the people and I get the people hyped up at the same time and with the same rhythm as he is turning up the volume and the speed of his speech delivery. We have such a timing that I am watching him when I am pumping up the people and I'm running around and I'm off the desk but it is all to help Matt get the point across so you the viewer are almost experiencing the same emotion as the crowd does when it is live. I take a lot of pride in that because that is something that nobody taught me and I don't know if it makes any sense of what I just said but it is such a little detail that I feel separates us from the rest of the pact."
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