Konnan Talks Gino Medina's Potential, MLW Possibly Working With AEW
Konnan is one of the backstage voices at MLW which had a big departure with MJF leaving earlier this year. MJF's void in The Dynasty has been filled by Gino Medina and Konnan discussed Medina's prospects when he joined The Wrestling Inc Daily.
"He's got so much potential from his height to his look. His dad was a wrestler who actually wrestled with me and the Gringos Locos when it was me, Love Machine and Eddie Guerrero," stated Konnan before noting his name means the "Blood Lust one."
"To me, Gino has everything it takes to make it to the next level. Court's gonna help him a lot. The vets are gonna help him and I'm backstage and gonna help him a lot. But potential is nothing if you don't do anything with it. So it's up to him to go in there, get as much experience as he can and watch as much tape as he can. But it's up to him to go to the next level.
"Court's done a good job ? whether it's been Hammerstone or MJF ? in finding these guys that not too many people know about and really taking them to the next level."
Medina is the nominal replacement for MJF in The Dynasty but it's hard to fill the boots of someone as talented as MJF. Konnan talked about Medina trying to fill that void.
"It's pretty hard to be MJF because he is one of a kind. He just has to be Gino Medina and do him," said Konnan. "He's got a natural swag to him and is kind of an unlikeable guy. He's in a group that is over and he's gonna get all the help he needs backstage whether from me, Savio Vega or Court. He's in good hands right now.
"You can't be MJF but you can be Gino Medina. He brings his own swag to the game."
MLW has a working partnership with AAA but Konnan discussed some of the difficulties that the two promotions have had at times.
"It's good. It's been a relationship that?it's kinda hard sometimes to do business in Mexico because we're such a big company that's growing and Court likes stuff to be done yesterday," stated Konnan. "They're very, 'Well we'll get to it when we get to it.'
"We're gonna have a show in Tijuana on March 15 where it will be the AAA stars vs. the MLW stars. What's really cool is that there's a lot of wrestlers that don't have visas that can't come to the United States but you'll be able to see them because we're working in Mexico. You'll see a lot of real good talent that come to the US yet. That's a real good relationship that we're fostering right now."
Not only does AAA have a relationship with MLW, but they also have a partnership with AEW. Konnan was asked if AAA could possibly be a neutral ground between AEW and MLW.
"That would be good because I know AEW has a good working relationship with MLW. We've seen that with MJF and some others. We obviously have an excellent working relationship with AEW, MLW and Impact," said Konnan before noting that most promotions don't work together.
"It's unfortunate but I will say this: I think it's better for everybody to work with each other. But a lot of times there are unnecessary politics and a little bit of ego."
He then talked about at one point AAA and CMLL were at it and it almost resulted in actual fights. Konnan said that they should all be working together to present matches to fans that they have never seen before.
"Look at what ROH is doing with NWA. Aldis and Marty Scurll ? those are the only two they're using right now, right? And Flip Gordon. You don't have to have a whole invasion," stated Konnan. "People go, 'Well how many do we need or what do they bring to the table?'
"It's like, 'You just can't have their champion come to our company and face our champion?' It doesn't have to be 50 guys but let's have everybody work together."
He then mentioned musicians collaborating between labels has always worked well, noting his relationship with Daddy Yankee and how he tells them that to keep the business alive, it's better to work with others.
Konnan can be seen every Saturday night, 9/8c, as part of MLW on BeIn Sports. For information about upcoming MLW shows and tickets please visit MLW.com. His full interview with Wrestling Inc. aired as part of today's episode of our podcast, The Wrestling Inc. Daily. Subscribe to get the latest episodes as soon as it's released Monday – Friday afternoon: by clicking here. The full interview can be heard via the embedded audio player below: