Lucha Underground’s Cortez Castro Talks About CM Punk Leaving ROH

In an interview with False Comeback, Ricky Reyes (better known as Cortez Castro in Lucha Underground) spoke about CM Punk’s time with ROH, his own WWE tryout and more. Here are highlights:

On CM Punk’s time in Ring of Honor: “Towards the beginning, it was a lot of the fun. The moment Ring of Honor changed for some of us as others did for other companies is when CM Punk [left ROH for WWE]. CM Punk was and is still one of my best friends. [Punk] was the heart and backbone of what Ring of Honor was gearing to be. I felt Punk was the heart and soul of Ring of Honor for years. [He had the] Undertaker mystique to him in the back.”

On his reputation of being hard to deal with: “I have a reputation of being a hot-head. People are somewhat intimidated to approach me. It’s not that I am angry, it is that I care. There is no better way to express emotion genuinely. If something goes wrong, an angle doesn’t come out as hot as its suppose to; you can’t help but admire someone that takes it almost personal.”

On his WWE tryout in 2012: “I did some tryouts in 2012. Joey Mercury called me, and it was when FCW was changing into NXT. The plan was in place for what now NXT is. It did not work out for me there because Canyon Ceman [talent development for WWE] had told me if we had the Cruiserweight show and the Network running, we would hire you. So I said, ‘when does the network start?’. At the time, [WWE Network] did not have an exact launch date so [Ceman told me to] keep in touch and I kept showing up to TV.”

On going to WWE today: “I don’t ever worry about what I don’t have and try to focus my attention and energy on what I do. I am very happy with Lucha Underground. They treat me very well. It is a great company and organization that is growing. There are big plans in 2017 that will be announced soon. My energy and focus is on Lucha Underground, and I am very happy there.”