Sam Adonis Weighs In On Fans’ Biggest Misconceptions About Lucha Libre

Sam Adonis recently shared his thoughts on some of the biggest misconceptions that fans have about lucha libre. The MLW star, who has had a highly successful run in AAA, spoke with Fightful’s Jeremy Lambert & Joel Pearl and talked about the incorrect beliefs many fans may have about lucha.

“The number one would be that lucha libre is more acrobatic,” Adonis said. “There is a North America perception of what lucha libre is based on what WCW presented in the 90s and we think lucha libre is Ultimo Dragon, Rey Mysterio, Juventud Guerrera, La Parka, Psicosis, and that is a good portion of it, but at the end of the day, the biggest money drawing matches and the matches the people want to see are the fights. They want to see La Parka against Rey Mysterio, not flying around. They want to see straight-up punches to the face and fighting through the chairs. At the end of the day, the fight is still what sells.

He continued, “You look at guys like Psycho Clown, there are a lot critics in the United States that turn into AAA and see Vikingo and Rey Fenix and these guys and think, ‘AAA has the best wrestlers in Mexico, why is Psycho Clown the main event guy? He’s terrible.’ They don’t get it because if you’re really down there, you understand that the fight in Psycho Clown is much more valuable to any Mexican consumer than the actual high-flying than any of those guys do. It’s still dramatic, it’s still all about that fight and that struggle. That’s why, for the last 30 years, yes, they have the greatest acrobats and the best high-fliers in history, but a lot of the biggest stars have been Cibernetico, Psycho Clown, Perro Aguayo, Konnan. That’s something that a lot of American fans need to break the grasp of. They need to understand and open their mind that just because we perceive lucha libre as high-flying and fast-paced wrestling, doesn’t mean that’s what lucha libre actually is.”