In an interview with Gary Cassidy of Inside The Ropes, AEW’s newest wrestler answered questions about his mask. Serpentico says he was heavily inspired to wear a mask by Japanese legendary wrestler, Hayabusa.
Before I even knew I wanted to wrestle, I always wondered what it would be like to be under a mask – thanks in large part to consuming all the Hayabusa content I could get my hands on. His mask was an iconic extension of his character and personality and I wanted nothing more than to imitate that. It didn’t quite turn out that way as my early career took off and took me through a different route and I didn’t start using the mask until later on, but all those feelings and goals came full circle once I did.
Serpentico explains that his mask started as just a stage character, but with the creator’s blessing, he continued using the persona and molding it into his own.
The mask came into play when a really talented artist by the name of Chris Parks from PALEHORSE Design wanted to create a living lucha libra exhibit; his inspiration coming from the spectacle of every lucha libra show he’s ever seen.
His goal was to bring the culture and pageantry to life. It first started with one character, then two, then three and it eventually morphed into PALEHORSE Lucha and two shows/living exhibits were ran with these created characters. I was cast as Serpentico, who was the main villain in these shows and it all took off from there. Once those two shows took place I was given Chris’ blessing to use this character elsewhere and turn it into my own. I’ve been able to take Serpentico to Impact Wrestling, ROH, Mexico, Canada and now AEW.
I love the design due to my entire face being covered and since that’s what we use to invoke emotion in wrestling, its forced me to use my body and mannerisms to sell said emotions. It’s truly helped my character evolve and has made me think outside the box.
Will we ever see the wrestler behind the mask? Serpentico has a definite answer.
Nope. Never. Nunca. Never going to happen. Zero chance. Zilch. Zero percent. No.