Santos Escobar On His Cruiserweight Title Defense Tonight, Working Without a Mask

Santos Escobar is defending the Cruiserweight Title against Curt Stallion on tonight’s NXT, and he discussed the match and more in a new interview with PWInsider. You can check out some highlights below:

On what to expect from his match with Stallion: “I gotta tell you this – Curt Stallion made a huge mistake, it’s almost a career-ending mistake, because I was addressing the NXT Universe when he interrupted me, and I gotta tell you, he wanted to embarrass me. So tomorrow night, this rookie, and I gotta say he is a rookie, I’ve been here for 20+ years doing this, and this kid comes and interrupts me? Well that’s not going to happen and tomorrow night I’m going to make an example of Curt Stallion. So NXT Universe, WWE Universe – tune in because I would love to destroy this guy for you tomorrow.”

On the decision to remove his mask: “Well I had already lost my mask in Mexico in a high-profile match a couple of years ago. When I first came to WWE, to NXT, I was presented with the opportunity to participate in the cruiserweight tournament and I thought to myself ‘A good move would be to introduce me as a luchador, because I am a luchador above anything and wearing the mask was certainly a good way to do it.’ Of course, down the line I took the mask off because I wanted to evolve and I wanted to present a new character and something different, so that’s how Santos Escobar came about. But to me it was always important to put lucha libre before anything I do.”

On working with Joaquin Wilde and Raul Mendoza: “I think Joaquin and Raul are two amazing talents. The main thing we share is that the three of us love and respect the true roots of lucha libre, the tradition of lucha libre, and we practice it every time we go out there. I think that is the most important thing for the NXT Universe to note is that we are luchadores and that’s what we do. Of course that’s the main thing that unites us – lucha libre, and to me, it’s been a ride, it’s been a journey of course, but I’m glad that we are together and that we are this cohesive unit and that we’re advancing.”

On the importance to him of bringing lucha libre to a bigger audience with WWE: “I think what I represent are the true roots of lucha libre. Wearing a mask is the most important attire that you can have. We show the tradition, the culture, the discipline, of course the maneuvers, the high flying maneuvers, the technical aspect of lucha libre, but mainly it’s the tradition – how I present, how I wear a cape, how I wear a mask, how I walk in the ring, how I present the luchador image. To me, that’s the most important thing.”

On his prediction for tonight’s match: “Well I gotta say this about Curt – either he’s very brave or he’s insane to do what he did last week. Tomorrow night I’m just going to go out and do lucha all over the place and destroy Curt. I hope he’s ready, I think he said he’s ready but we’ll see tomorrow because I am very, very angry, I am livid about what he did last week and tomorrow night I’m going to show to the world what an angry luchador looks like. “