Blue Demon Jr. Refused To Remove Mask During Recent Meetings With Disney Executives
On a recent episode of The Wrestling Inc. Daily, Wrestling Inc. Managing Editor Nick Hausman welcomed legendary luchador Blue Demon Jr. and Moxie 88's Dan Carrillo Levy and Eugenio Villamar. Levy and Villamar are co-executive producers of "Ultra Violet & Blue Demon" a new Disney show starring Blue Demon Jr. Demon discussed how he came into contact with Moxie 88.
"Well, the history [started] 11 years ago when I talked with Dan [about] this beautiful project, and Eugenio [came in] later," Blue Demon recalled. "But now, this a dream. This is a real dream in this moment for us. I think this is the biggest deal of my life. The NWA Championship was a big moment in my career, but this is the biggest moment of my life."
Hausman noted the strong influence lucha libre has on today's wrestling. Blue Demon Jr. gave his thoughts on seeing the rise of lucha libre in modern wrestling.
"It feels great, and I can't believe it, but now, I am in another position," Blue Demon stated. "I've worked very hard, but the American people know me, and now, this is now their reality. I feel good."
Villamar noted the tradition of masks in lucha libre and how important they are. He revealed that Blue Demon Jr. never took off his mask during the process of the creation of the show to the point where there was trouble with security at Disney.
"The first thing they needed to understand, which is difficult to explain, is that Blue doesn't take the mask off," Villamar pointed out. "It's a very unique thing about lucha libre. He is the persona, and no one knows his face. Even people that shot the pilot, the executives at Disney [and] the legal team that did the contracts, they don't know his face.
"Even to get him into the meetings at Disney, they don't get to see his face. There was a problem with security in how to get him in. That is the first thing that they need to learn. He's a living character, which is very unique, and it's part of what draws us into doing these projects. He lives his life as Blue Demon, and that's it.
"It's not like Batman has Bruce Wayne, and Bruce Wayne has Batman. No, Blue Demon is Blue Demon all the time. So that was the first thing that we had to make them understand and pitch to them and how we would do this show and continue this because obviously, it's not the case with the girl in the show."
Villamar continued noting how important Blue Demon is as well known as Jesus Christ in Mexico. He talked about the thought process of how to introduce those traditions to an audience unfamiliar with it but also cater to lucha libre and wrestling fans.
"So it was a little bit about understanding not only the importance of the mask but also what the legacy and the iconography and the mask means to Latin America to Mexico but also to Asia to Europe. This is an icon," Villamar noted. "Benji [Samit] always says that there's two things that you know in Mexico if you're born in Mexico and is it is Jesus Christ and Blue Demon, and how do you approach that correctly?
"How do you create a new generation? But at the same time, how do you not alienate fans of lucha, fans of wrestling into creating a new concept? And how do you bring people not familiar with the lucha world and the wrestling world into this show. So that was the first thing that we needed to come up with, a cool idea, cool take and that's something Benji and I did, and we just went in, the three of us. We had planned to go to different studios.
"It was a dream of ours for it to be on Disney because we love what they do, and to us, Blue has always belonged side to side with people like Iron Man and Spider-Man and all that. And we were lucky enough that in the meeting, they understood. They were amazed by Blue. They were amazed by his charisma, by his persona. When you see him in a shot, he's larger than life, and I think that was very important for them, not only to listen but to see it live."
Levy added that there will be wrestling on the show. He also teased cameo appearances from famous luchadors including in the pilot episode.
"We're gonna have lucha in the show," Levy revealed. "Blue Demon is playing himself. Blue Demon Jr., he is a wrestler. That's his front, but at night, he's a superhero. So we are always always always going to have lucha. On the pilot, which is already shot, we did it in October, we had lucha, and we brought one of the famous names there is to fight against him.
"We're not going to say who, but you most probably know him because he's very famous. We're going to start to play with those concepts of bringing cameos and different types of lucha into the show and wrestling, show the styles and all the things, so we can give that flavor for people that love wrestling and people that love lucha."
For more info about Blue Demon's upcoming Disney show "Ultra Violet & Blue Demon" please visit Moxie88.com.
The full interview aired as part of a recent 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. You can find the full audio, as well as the video, below.