Sam Adonis Opens Up About Becoming Amazon Driver Due To Lost Work During Pandemic

On a recent episode of The Wrestling Inc. Daily, former CMLL star Sam Adonis was on the podcast where he chatted with Wrestling Inc. Managing Editor Nick Hausman about the new series that he features in "Heroes of Lucha Libre". Adonis also opened up about the state of the indies especially as the United States as seen a sharp rise in COVID-19 cases during the winter.

"It's absolutely heartbreaking and really sad for me. This is the first time in my life that I don't feel like I'm in control of my destiny," Adonis admitted. "I've been very blessed and lucky. At 21, I signed with WWE. Then I worked in England for four years, and Mexico for two years [and did] many tours Japan. I've always kind of been planting seeds for six months from now.

"That's how I've been able to make my opportunities in wrestling. Right now, there's just there's no garden to plant a seed in. I continue working for Amazon, driving. It's heartbreaking, but I'm lucky enough to have a job, and it's curious. It's kind of amazing to think about how the world can be flipped upside down like that.

"All I can hope is that everybody stays safe, and we continue to do our best and try to get this beyond us because it makes you realize how important the live event is to the wrestling world. And it just kind of makes me think I've taken it for granted for all this long, and I'm going to do whatever I can to make the most of it going forward."

Adonis said that he has had talks with other promotions, but he noted that he is seeking a full-time opportunity considering his age and the amount of time he has put into pro wrestling thus far in his career. He also noted that he's not the only wrestler out there that had a significant spotlight dim down as of late due to the pandemic.

"I've talked to plenty people. It's just I'm an old man I guess," Adonis said. "I've done a lot of traveling and put a lot of work in. I'm looking for something full-time and just trying to get what I can. I've put a lot of work in, and I think one day, in the future, I will be able to retain something, but again, without the opportunity, without the chance to be seen every week, you kind of blend into the shuffle a little bit.

"And without these shows, I'm not the only guy that you saw every week that you're not seeing at all right. I'm just blessed I have a job. I'm able to work and put food on the table with my new puppy dog, and I'm just doing what I can. And I know we will bounce back. I still believe my best days are ahead of me, but as far as other companies, I haven't been able to reach an agreement with anybody just yet."

On the topic of HOLL, Adonis discussed the new viewing habits of wrestling fans during the pandemic. HOLL was taped well before the pandemic, and Adonis said that will provide something fresh for wrestling fans with a live crowd.

"Well, the fun thing is because of the pandemic right now, everybody has a little free time. There's very little new content coming out with a crowd, and that's kind of something we have," Adonis noted. "It's kind of in our favor because yes, this was taped before the pandemic, but there's just a freshness to it that we've been missing for a while, and I think people just have missed that energy and excitement.

"It's something they can tune in and see, and it's just going to kind of, I hope, make them feel — like I said, I want them to feel the nostalgia of being a kid, eating your cereal at 11 a.m. on a Saturday, watching Superstars from '85. That's the feeling that I think the wrestling fans will get out of this, and maybe if the wrestling fans have a kid that isn't the biggest wrestling fan this might be the way to get that non-fan into pro wrestling."

Adonis also discussed the match types in HOLL and how matches are won. He acknowledged that the rules can be confusing for some fans, even to his parents who know the business well, but he hopes fans can look at HOLL with a fresh view point.

"The beauty of it is the essence of Heroes of Lucha Libre is the classic Mexican lucha libre, and in Mexico, a vast majority of the matches are six-man tag team matches where they are two out of three falls," Adonis explained. "The two out of three falls could be won by pinning either the captain of each team or two of his subordinates if you will. Honestly, it's quite confusing for a traditional wrestling fan.

"My father's a promoter my whole life, and my mom has been around wrestling. When they came to Mexico to see me, it kind of gets you because 'wait, who won this time, and why did they pin twice last fall and this time once?' It can get kind of confusing, but that's the beauty of it. You just got to be objective about it, and you have to open your eyes and see what's coming because they're spoon-feeding the audience.

"And it's so different than if you start with episode one and just follow it like an 11-episode series as it is as opposed to watching it from a critique standpoint as an expert standpoint and comparing it to other shows. I really believe there's legs in this, and I really hope it goes somewhere."

Hausman asked Adonis if he prefers to work that type of lucha libre style. Adonis admitted that it depends on your audience, and he went on to discuss how the characters are like "live-action comic book heroes".

"It's different depending on your audience," Adonis noted. "The really good performers don't necessarily need to rely on the actual story of the match as much as it's their character, the story of the character that's coming out. I think that's something that these luchadores do very well is yes, there is these stories in the match or on the TV show, but at the end of the day, we're live-action comic book heroes. You don't need to read every episode of Spider-Man to know about Spider-Man.

"You could buy comic #46 and then skip to comic #272, and you're still going to enjoy that comic because of Spider-Man. And that's kind of, I think, what the concept they're going for is is putting more stock in into each individual as a character as a storyteller, and the matches and the storyline that you follow along on the TV. It's just kind of the guidelines to get you through the character in the comic book."

Sam Adonis can be seen as part of Heroes of Lucha Libre on Crackle. It is free to stream and all season one episodes are now available! Sam's full interview aired as part of a recent 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.