Lince Dorado aims to show people how multifaceted his skill set is and that everything is Lucha.
Lince Dorado recently spoke with WrestleZone Managing Editor Bill Pritchard about his post-WWE career plans. Dorado, who requested his release from WWE and had it granted on November 4, 2021, spoke about the perception that Luchadores have a glass ceiling in the company and why there’s a cultural disconnect between writers, fans and talent in general.
“It’s a cultural disconnect. And what I mean by that is when you have writers of certain experiences or cultures. They don’t get your experiences or culture because of environments or how they were raised,” Dorado said. “It’s not a race issue, but it’s hard for a white person to write for a Hispanic person or a Black person or an Asian person because they don’t understand what we went through or what we go through or what our culture embodies, especially with the Lucha Libre, what that means to our culture.
“And when they think of Lucha Libre — and I’m not saying just WWE, I’m just saying a lot of people — a lot of American people around the world when they think of Lucha Libre, they think of just masked wrestlers. When I think of Lucha Libre, I think of masked wrestlers, incredible athletes, I think of vintage movies. I think of men in incredible suits and outfits. I think of a society of athletes that is different than just these entertainers and all that. We had pitched incredible ideas,” he explained. “We thought, and I thought we had pitched incredible ideas, life-changing ideas we thought about breaking barriers.”
Dorado, Gran Metalik and Kalisto enjoyed some success as Lucha House Party in WWE, but the group never went as far as fans — or the trio themselves — thought it could. Dorado, who is a former teacher, voiced his frustrations about knowing how much depth they could add to their characters, but they were still only seen as the Lucha guys.
“It was like the perfect triangle that we had, and I just saw this being so different. I saw us being more than just the Luchadores, I saw us being more than just the Power Rangers. I saw us being the Charlie’s Angels of WWE where they can do everything and anything and still look badass doing it. And there’s just a big culture disconnect. They just didn’t see it as anything more than just the ‘Lucha Lucha’ chants. And it was just very frustrating.”
I just want to #lucha and tell stories. #luchastories #luchalithttps://t.co/mKD0pc4epq
? @cameraguygimmik pic.twitter.com/ZN6aO4has6
— Lince Dorado (@LuchadorLD) February 19, 2022
Dorado spoke about one idea where the group would wear suits for their promos, noting that it was cool and different, but agreed that it was also an homage of sorts to El Santo and the classic Luchadores of Mexico. Many of the ideas Dorado had were a way to stand out on a crowded roster, but he says nothing ever materialized and they were pigeonholed instead.
One way Dorado has a chance to expand his reach and brand is through his partnership with Masked Republic, a company he’s worked with since 2007. Masked Republic has helped Luchadores connect with American audiences and find new ways to preserve their legacies, including securing work visas, establishing literacy programs and creating merchandise and NFTs. Dorado renewed ties with the company after leaving WWE, and he spoke about how important it is for talent to be the complete package nowadays.
“They actually gave me one of my first big breaks when I did their pilot for Viva La Lucha in Tijuana, Mexico. I’ve stayed in touch and never lost track with Kevin [Kleinrock, Masked Republic co-founder]. Right away we hit it off and he understood that here’s an American Luchador that can connect with the audience and build that bridge [from Lucha Libre to the American audience] and vice versa. It’s not just about the in-ring talent, you’ve got to be the total package. I call it the ‘Lex Luger’ effect. You’ve got to be a brand, hitting social media, not just desired in-ring, you have to be desired outside of the ring as well. It’s just not enough right now to have our guys just go out there and perform,” Dorado said. “No, we want guys on the red carpet, doing media, we want guys producing kids shows and all of that. I’ve got the mindset for that, whether it’s wrestling, video, music, all of that, I get it and they get it too.
“We communicate literally every day on ideas, whether it’s audio, books, metaverse stuff that we’ll introduce later, you talked about the NFTs. It’s just about getting more eyes on the product of Lucha Libre. Not so much on the Masked Republic brand, not so much Lince Dorado, but we are going to be the catalyst for this drive moving forward for the Lucha Libre brand in the American scene. Hopefully it goes super global. It is global now, but it could be — with the right people, me, Masked Republic and some other guys — with the right mindset, I think we could definitely put a rocket on Lucha Libre and blow it up,” Dorado said. “It’s our mission, our idea to spread Lucha Libre more and more, where everything is Lucha. That was my campaign in WWE, I wanted everything to be Lucha — Lucha underwear, Lucha snacks, everything Lucha. Now we’re going to bring that brand to the mainstream.”
Friday! 8 pm! Save the date. Snake-man & Cat-man unite again to watch some lucha! https://t.co/0ZMKNwVnCQ pic.twitter.com/5K6On7cZy5
— Lince Dorado (@LuchadorLD) February 22, 2022
