Interview with Daga

Internationally known luchador Daga was in the Rio Grande Valley recently wrestling in McAllen for Lucha Powerhouse. The former AAA World Cruiserweight Champion is best known for his time in the AAA organization where he wrestled there for six years. He also made some appearances on Lucha Underground on El Rey Network. Daga left AAA earlier this year, to explore the independent wrestling scene, which is currently going through a unique boom period.

Recently Daga defeated Nicho el Millonario (the former Psicosis, who wrestled in AAA and WCW under that character name), in a Hair vs Hair match. Daga took some time out of his busy schedule to talk to me about his training, his favorites, and the current professional wrestling scene in 2017.

EM: To start things off, I read that you trained with two great legends in Black Terry and Negro Navarro, what can you say are some things you learned from those two maestros?

Daga: I’ve always liked the classic style of lucha libre, I’ve always liked it. I’ve become a complete professional wrestler because I can fly, wrestle hardcore, wrestle on the mat. By training with Navarro, Black Terry, and I also trained with CMLL (Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre), my maestros have always been ‘old school’, so the most important thing I learned was to love lucha libre and to project how it used to be, that pure science, that classic style. I’m in a revolutionary era where there is hardcore and high-flying, so I’m prepared to do whatever style but I learned how to love what I do from those two.

EM: Who were your favorite wrestlers when you were a child?

Daga: When I was a child, I had a few. When I was an adolescent, that’s when I had more. One of them was Negro Casas. I liked a lot of American [and international] wrestlers, like Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit, Dynamite Kid, Tiger Mask I, Mitsuharu Misawa, Masato Tanaka, Satoshi Kojima. All of them were wrestlers I liked a lot, and they are all part of the style I use today. I liked wrestlers from all over the world but those were my favorites.

EM: Do you keep up with current international and independent wrestling?

Daga: Yes, now that I’m an independent wrestler, my goal now is to wrestle more in America. So I keep watching American, ‘indie’, Japanese wrestling. It wasn’t that long ago that I saw [NJPW] Wrestle Kingdom 11, which was a really good event. So I keep watching. People recognize Daga from television, but now [that I plan to tour more] they are going to know a new different Daga, with more wrestling.

EM: You mentioned Wrestle Kingdom, what did you think of the Kenny Omega vs Kazuchika Okada match that everyone is talking about?

Daga: I don’t think it’s a 6-star match, but I think it’s like 5 ½ stars, no more than that. Omega I think is one of the best wrestlers in the world today, if not the best. Okada is good too, but I think the one that made that match was Omega.

Note: The ‘6-star match’ is in reference to Dave Meltzer giving the match that rating in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, which caused a lot of debate online.

EM: You mentioned Omega, who else do you think are among the best in the world today?

Daga: Today, there is Omega, The Young Bucks, Adam Cole, Kyle O’Reilly, there’s so many good wrestlers in the world today. La Rebellion in Mexico too, they are also good wrestlers. The European scene is really good too, with Will Ospreay, Marty Scurll, Zack Sabre Jr. There are so many good wrestlers, I think we are in a moment where I wished all the good wrestlers from around the world, from all countries, would start traveling and touring more so we could see professional wrestling grow more and more.

EM: Are there any wrestlers from the independent scene that you’d like to step in the ring with?

Daga: Lots of them (laughs). I would love to go to Japan and wrestle with everyone, Okada, Katsuyori Shibata (note: this was before Shibata suffered his serious head injury), Zack Sabre Jr., The Young Bucks, Kenny Omega. I think right now there are so many good wrestlers all around the world, that all I can say is that I’d like to wrestle them all. From Japan, Europe, to the United States, all of them.

EM: Last question since you mentioned La Rebellion and you’re in the group, what does La Rebellion mean to you?

It’s the best of pro wrestling. I think we have everything we need to do things the right way and succeed. We have Penta, who is a great rudo. Fenix who is a natural high-flyer. They have me, who wrestles with [submission] holds and strong style. Humberto Garza, who keeps moving forward and who women like a lot. I think it’s a great buffet of lucha libre, it’s a movement where La Rebellion are just not four people, but all the people that support us.