Sam Adonis on Signing With MLW, Balancing It With AAA

– The Shining Wizards Wrestling Podcast recently interviewed MLW talent Sam Adonis, who discussed joining the MLW roster, continuing to work with AAA, and more. Below are some highlights sent to us by Shining Wizard:

Sam Adonis on his current status with AAA after signing with MLW: “Absolutely I will be at Triple Mania this Saturday. I, for one, have honestly kind of been anti-contract for the last few years. Contracts are kind of an oxymoron. Everybody’s conditioned and taught by their wrestling school that signing is the answer to all your problems. And a lot of times, people aren’t thinking long term, and just want to sign to put that graphic on their social media like this person signs with this company, and then six months down the line, they ask for their release because they didn’t even read the contract. They just want the gratification of “here, today.” So for the longest period of time, I had no desire to sign any contract unless it was going to be the right contract. So in the past four of five years, I’ve turned down my fair share of them. One of which was MLW. They reached out a couple months back and wanted me to sign a deal, and it just didn’t match up. I had my professional plans, and it had nothing to do with their product because, personally, I really do enjoy their product. It kind of has a different kind of approach if you ask me. They go for a different audience and kind of think out of the box in my opinion. Either way, they work closely with Konnan, and Konnan is the principal booker in AAA, and he actually presented me with the opportunity. I made it clear to everybody that right now, I really enjoy my independence. I enjoy what I do. I am obligated to Mexico. It’s where I want to be. I’ve been able to do a lot of the things I want to do in my career right now, and they (MLW) basically made me an offer I couldn’t refuse, so why not? I understand why the tv wrestling companies need their contracts with licensing and agreements and such, and investing in a character and what not, but everything all lined up, Konnan presented it, and I spoke with MSL and Court Bauer and everything fell into place, and now you’ll be able to see me on beIN Sports as a member of the MLW roster, as well as a member of the Lucha Libre AAA roster. I’m still able to do my independent appearances. So I’ve been saying it the last couple years, but it’s finally starting to catch on, and I think my best years are yet to come.”

Sam Adonis on being able to balance working in both: “I’m actually very optimistic about it because AAA has a very unusual touring schedule. They do generally two to three tv tapings a month, but in my opinion, AAA manages talent better than any other company out there. There’s probably about 60 stars in the AAA locker room. You might only know 5 or 10 of them here in the United States as the ones you see on the American independent scene. But if you would go to a AAA wrestling event in Mexico City, or Guadalajara, each one of those wrestlers on the event is a certain portion of that crowd’s favorite wrestler. It doesn’t really feel like there’s mid-card or opening match guys. Everybody has their following. They do a great job at balancing their stars and making sure everybody gets their piece of the pie. So if they’re doing two or three tvs a month, I might be on one or two of them. Right now, living in Pittsburgh, it’s impossible to be on every TV show. I’ve been very blessed to be on a lot of the good ones. The fact that Konnan is working with MLW and with AAA, that’s going to be able to bridge the gap. Clearly. they’re on such good terms. When everyone has a date coming up, they’re going to discuss it and know when who needs me and when it’s going to happen, and what’s going to happen. I’m just going to have a date sheet and be where I need to be.”

Sam Adonis on TripleMania: “There’s an added pressure just anytime it’s the big event just because everybody brings their A game. I don’t think a lot of the wrestling fans understand how big TripleMania is in Mexico. It’s a 21,000-seat arena. There’s airplanes decorated with the AAA logo. This is everywhere down there, the same way you go through Manhattan the week before WrestleMania, and there’s WrestleMania on the taxis and on the billboards. That’s what TripleMania is in Mexico City. So it’s a huge deal, and everybody brings their A game. Everybody gets in their best shape. Everybody buys fancy gear. Everybody wants to make sure that they’re the one people are talking about. And now, it feels, and I can’t say it’s an added pressure, because we’ve been on Fite TV for a few events now, but it’s just now starting to become normalized that the American audience realizes they can see it in English. The longest time, the Lucha fans in the United States were almost like a segregated demographic. You had to really dig and search for your Mexican wrestling. Now, half our roster is featured on other rosters across the world, and this is their home base. This is their home turf. If you look at five of the top independents out there, the best match from this show might have been Taurus. The best match from this show might have been Laredo Kid. The best match from this show might have been Psycho Clown. The best match from this show might have been John Morrison. All these guys that are individual show stoppers are collected under one roof. And when you have a mind like Konnan that could just, you know, he’s a genius, it’s going to be a big deal, and I’m really excited for it.”