Sam Adonis On "Heroes Of Lucha Libre" Wanting To Compete With Marvel And Power Rangers

One of the hottest rudos in the world, Sam Adonis, was on today's episode of The Wrestling Inc. Daily where he discussed the new pro wrestling series that he is a apart of "Heroes of Lucha Libre". Wrestling Inc. Managing Editor Nick Hausman asked Adonis how he got involved in the series.

"Heroes of Lucha Libre is a project that's been in the works for basically about two years now," Adonis noted. "I was still living in Mexico City, working for CMLL full time, when I received a booking through a friend of mine, and it said, 'we're in LA, Los Angeles.' And I'm thinking, 'okay, cool, just going to be another small independent lucha show,' and as the details started coming in, everything about it was blowing our minds. 'Where's this show at?' It's at the U.S. Bank Arena. 'What? Who's this?' Here's what you're getting paid. 'What?' I mean, all these borderline, red flags.

"The too good to be true red flags, and we're like, 'okay, well, we'll believe it when I see it.' And the next thing you know, the very first TV taping we got there, and as you can see by the TV program, the production is absolutely outstanding. I would hold their production value as high, if not better than the WWE, or AEW [or] New Japan. It's a big money production, and it's absolutely amazing. They've packed these arenas.

"They've filmed some of the most unique content anywhere, and it's really cool because a lot of the American wrestling fans don't know where to look to find modern lucha libre. And this is just another avenue, another opportunity for some great talent to be out there to be seen as well as provide alternative content to American wrestling fans."

Adonis said that the people behind Heroes of Lucha Libre were very upfront about their goals for the series saying that they were not trying to compete with other wrestling companies. Their goal is to market towards children, and Adonis noted that "if you're looking for five-star wrestling matches, you're probably going to want to stick with New Japan and AEW."

"The very first meeting we had with the production staff, with the owners and whatnot, they presented us with a very simple formula. They told us they're not trying to compete with other wrestling companies," Adonis revealed. "They're not trying to compete with WWE, New Japan or AEW. They're trying to compete with Marvel, or Ninja Turtles or with Power Rangers.

"They want to be a very unique new product that's going to captivate children, and as of right now, it's going so well on the Crackle platform. The response has been through the roof, and it's going in the direction they've set out to go as far as creating a new wrestling fan. I don't know if this would necessarily be — if you're looking for five-star wrestling matches, you're probably going to want to stick with New Japan and AEW.

"If you're looking for something that hits you in the feels, something that reminds you of being a kid and losing yourself into a storyline or a character, this is it, and honestly, I'm a big fan of that in my career and what I try to portray. And it's awesome now to see that come to life here in the United States, a product that is a little bit more in the realm of a comic book or a cartoon instead of traditional lines of pro wrestling."

Hausman agreed explaining that Heroes of Lucha Libre has it's own unique universe. Adonis explained the kind of storytelling the series will employ.

"That's exactly right, and that's what I think is something fun as far as they're creating a new concept of storyline," Adonis described. "Instead of just saying, this guy's mad at this guy for this reason, they've devised an entire scheme of you win coins with each match, each match represents their separate island in a fictional world. Honestly, if you're into it for wrestling and you want to see it and you want to critique it, you're going to find a million things to critique it on because that's not what we're going for.

"We're trying to go for something that's completely different, and I think, right now, considering how it's been so far, I think a lot of people will really get behind it because you almost can't critique it because it hasn't been done. The ideas are so far out of left field. They explain it to you as the events unfold, and I think it's just something completely different. And I'm really happy to be a part of it."

Hausman also noted that there are no belts in the series but instead rings, using the example of Captain Planet since each ring represents a natural element. Adonis said he would equate it to the Infinity Stones in The Avengers and explained again that Heroes of Lucha Libre is not trying to take away fans from other wrestling companies, but they are trying to grab a non-wrestling fan.

"I could almost equate a bit to The Avengers and the Infinity Stones. All these teams are on a conquest to collect the rings and whoever has the rings have the power and each win and loss counts," Adonis explained. "Again, if you can get yourself into it enough, you'd be better off comparing it to The Avengers than you would be comparing it to wrestling because it really is more in that Marvel realm. The nice thing is most of us in wrestling, we're all big nerds and love that stuff anyway. Most wrestling fans really get into their comic books and whatnot.

"So it's just a completly different avenue. The nice thing about them, they're not trying to step on anybody's toes. They're not trying to steal this demographic. They're not trying to go out and outshine, WWE, AEW, Impact [or] New Japan. They're trying to create a completely different alternative, and like I said, the beauty of it is it's almost more or less marketed to a non-wrestling fan.

"They want the kids that are at home flipping through the channels or on Crackle, somebody that has never seen wrestling or maybe doesn't like wrestling. They see the colorful masks and amazing production and presentation. They could say, 'I don't really like wrestling, but I'll check this out.' It's so different that I think that could honestly captivate that new fresh fanbase."

Sam Adonis can be seen as part of Heroes of Lucha Libre on Crackle. It is free to stream and all season one episodes are now available! Sam's full interview aired as part of today's episode of our podcast, The Wrestling Inc. Daily. Subscribe to get the latest episodes as soon as it's released Monday – Friday afternoon by clicking here.