Former NXT cruiserweight champion Angel Garza was recently interviewed by TalkSport to discuss all things pro-wrestling. Highlights are below.
On his on-screen chemistry with Andrade:
The chemistry is perfect. The characters are very different. I am like the little kid, always playing, always running around. Zelina is like the big mumma like ‘Ok, both you guys need to focus’ and Andrade is that old man like ‘Ok, I’m always mad. You need to do these things right!’ – ah why! [laughs]. Just enjoy the process, enjoy our match and he’s always mad. It’s like ‘Andrade, just relax!’ [laughs]. So there are like three different characters all on the same page, it’s enjoyable and I think we just have fun. The different styles and being able to mesh them like that, I think that’s what makes us unique.
On comparisons to Eddie Guerrero:
I have talked to Vince [McMahon] only a few times, but every time I talk to him he’s full of advice like ‘Ok, you need to do this in the right way’ etc. He’s teaching me. I understand that he wants his product to be the best in the world, so, of course, I will take his advice and all of the guys thinking I’m the new Eddie Guerrero? I’m the first Angel Garza. It’s the only thing I can say! If the styles are almost the same, it’s not my fault. When you force someone to do something it’s like ahhh, he’s forcing that too much. But if you are the fish in the water you are just fluid and you are just going. That’s my personality, my character and my feelings are If I feel it, I do it. You can feel it through the TV that way because if I force it, you can tell.
Working with Triple H and being in NXT:
Oh, it was amazing. It was an amazing process that helped myself to mature a lot. It was the developmental process when you get to the WWE. It’s like, what do you want me to be? You want me as a wrestler? You want me as an entertainer? And then when they said ‘give us whatever you want and then we will tell you if you’re in the wrong way and we need to fix that or if you are in the correct way. That first impression that I gave to them they were like ‘that’s amazing.’ My first idea when I talked to Triple H was ‘please, leave me and let me do my things and if you don’t like that, then you make some changes in my character. And he said ‘Ok, just go and do it.’ And I did the thing with the hand and the kiss of the grandma and that match was like the real line in my career for WWE because when I go to backstage he was like ‘that’s your job’ and I was like ‘Yes? I do it correct or?’ [laughs] and he said ‘That’s good, that’s amazing. I love your character, your ring style – I love everything. So let’s keep your character. And I was like that works for me! Because now, I feel it and I enjoy it and if you force me to do something, I want enjoy it. Now that I’m Garza, I can enjoy that and every time I step in the ring it’s going to be enjoyable so that process was just amazing.
On his debut match against Rey Mysterio and having to learn a promo in less than 24 hours:
It was a hard step in my career because it was like hey, we’re welcoming you, but this is the first step. It’s going to be Rey Mysterio and it’s like ‘Woah, Ok’. That’s a big deal. And then there was a bunch of crazy stuff that happened to me. They were like you’ve got to do a promo and they gave it to me one night before. I was reading my promo and I was trying to remember every single line and every single point they gave to me and then I came into the arena and they said ‘just forget about this, remember this’ [handing him a new promo]. And I was like ‘really?! Are you kidding me?’ and they said yep. So I wasn’t worried for the match at the point, I was more worried about the promo! And then they started the show. It was all the pyro and ‘welcome to RAW!’ and the writers just run up to me and said ‘forget about this promo! Remember this one now’ and I was like ‘Dude! You know this is not my first language, right?!’ [laughs]. It’s my second language! And you’re making me do this!?’