Lucha Underground’s Killshot Talks About Being On The Roster, Developing His Character, Women Being On Equal Ground With The Men

In the interview Strickland discuss his entry into the world of Lucha Underground, developing his character in Season 2, the women’s revolution going on in Lucha Underground, and the landscape of professional wrestling in 2016.

You can read a few excerpts (transcription courtesy of the Chad Dukes Wrestling Show) as well as listen to the full interview by clicking here. The Chad Dukes Wrestling Show is also available on iTunes and Play.It. 

On being a part of the Lucha Underground Roster: 

“Honestly it was a dream come true. I was in a car ride with Ricochet, aka Prince Puma, we were in a car ride together going from show to show, this was about two years ago, and he was telling me about all the stuff that they were doing.  An episode hadn’t even aired yet at that time, I believe, it was a couple of weeks later the first episode aired, but he was telling me all about the experience there, the storyline writing, how the performers are treated, and it was something I just gravitated to because it was like, ‘Man, there’s nothing else being happening out there like that.’  So he was the one who got me brought into the show and just the roster from top to bottom was better than any other roster out there in wrestling, in my opinion, from top to bottom.  Any one of our guys can main event the episode, or main event Ultima Lucha, or get that main event spot, or win a championship.  I think that’s what made our roster so special, that’s what made the show special because there’s always another layer deep to everybody’s character, you don’t just get a very surface person, they don’t just throw you out there and go, ‘This is what you are, this is what you get.’  There’s always a purpose for that person being there.  There’s always a story to why this person looks this way, acts this way, wrestles this way.  There’s so much more depth to it.  I’m more of a thinker than an athlete in the ring, so that just gave me all the tools to think and imagine what I could be and what the Killshot character could possibly be in the temple with all the elements it has already.”

On developing his character in Season 2: 

“After season one ended and we had that long six month break, a lot of guys on the roster weren’t sure about what was going on, I took time and just wrote a back story.  I took time to add more depth to the character because after season one there was no back story, I pretty much got integrated into the system with Big Ryck and Willie Mack.  So I wanted more depth and I took it upon myself to write a back story.  I wrote about three different synopses for the character, I pitched it to one of the head writers and he loved it, and he took it and kind of combined all three of those ideas that I took and made it what you saw in season two, with the back story and being captured and put away for 13 months overseas.  Right then and there you can understand why my character is the way with he is.  He’s very to himself, he suffers from PTSD a little bit, he doesn’t like being in front of cameras,  so the character doesn’t gloat a lot, he’s not a big show man to the fans, but at the same time he gives off a certain type of charisma that the fans can still understand and gravitate to.  That’s why the move set is flashy at points but it’s very direct, it’s always moving, one hit strikes.  It was very important for me, very intuitive for the character, the move set had to match the personality of the character.  The look had to match how I move.  Everything had to come full circle and I feel like in season 2, I was really able to show that to the fans and the fans understood it.”

“We have the best athletes in the world on Lucha Underground, I can’t just be another guy who can do all the athletic stuff, I had to find another way to grasp the fans, and so I did it with character.”

On the female competitors in Lucha Underground being on equal ground: 

“I think we get away with it because more so than any other promotion or any other thing going out there is because we have our own universe.  If you watch the show Arrow, nobody complains about Thea Queen (Speedy) and Black Canary fighting a bunch of men and taking them out because in their universe those are super heroes, they’re highly trained women, trained by some of the best assassins and the best fighters in the world.  Same with [Lucha Underground], Mariposa is one of the most dangerous women in the temple, Sexy Star is one of the most highly trained luchadoras in the world of wrestling, Ivelisse, very highly trained.  All those female characters are some of the best fighters that you can get in the world of Lucha Underground so they should be able to combat other men and in their vignettes they should be able to take down the average person, but when you put them against some of the best fighters in the world in Lucha Underground, that’s a match.  Wonder Woman can fight Superman because they’re superheroes.  In our temple, in our universe, in our world, in that realm, I feel like fans understand that more and they can expect that more and get into it a little bit more too.”