YOUR AD HERE »

Interview with (the) Vampiro

by Dan Thomas

World Championship Wrestling nightstalker Vampiro may roll with the Misfits, but he’s hoping to fit right in with the Lawlor Events Center crowd tonight.

Vampiro is renegotiating his deal with the legendary punk band that helped launch Glen Danzig’s music career, but frequently takes extreme measures to make sure he’s no misfit with the audience. He’ll be signing autographs and meeting wrestling fans in front of a T-shirt booth before the WCW’s wrestling visit to Reno at 7:30 p.m. But the Canadian-born, Mexican-trained grappler has taken injudicious steps toward building rapport with the fans in the past – and he seems eager to do it again.

“I’m definitely going to do something crazy,” Vampiro said. “I always like to do a little something extreme.



“I’ll just do something suicidal.”

Vampiro may stick to the shadows during the day, but is a little more visible at night. In the past, the night’s when he’s spiced up the WCW’s combination of stunt-show sports and freak-show entertainment by performing powerbombs in the ring, or jumping out of the balcony, lighting himself on fire, or blowing himself up outside the ring.



“If I look at the crowd and I get a response, I make something up,” he said. “Sometimes, I almost kill myself.”

Vampiro will be live at Lawlor tonight to tape WCW Thunder, along with brethren Sting, Disco Inferno, Dustin Rhodes, Ric Flair, Sid Vicious, Torrie Wilson, and others. The organization continues its West Coast swing – where it taped the pay-per-view Super Brawl 2000 Sunday in San Francisco and the Nitro show Monday in Sacramento – with the Reno Thunder presentation.

“I’m quite comfortable out here,” said Vampiro, who enjoys the area’s Latin roots after training in Mexico. “I like this side of the country quite a bit.”

Vampiro, obviously, is prepared to take extraordinary measures to connect with the Lawlor audience. But he is equally comfortable with the lower-key approach before the match.

“People pay a lot of money (to watch wrestling),” he said.

Vampiro lost to Billy Kidman during the Super Brawl when Kidman applied a reverse DDT off the top rope in San Francisco, then rallied to beat Fit Finlay on Nitro before Finlay attacked him after the bell.

Tickets for tonight’s match at Lawlor cost $26, $19 or $13. For more information, call (775) 784-4444.


Support Local Journalism

Support Local Journalism

Readers around the Lake Tahoe Basin and beyond make the Tahoe Tribune's work possible. Your financial contribution supports our efforts to deliver quality, locally relevant journalism.

Now more than ever, your support is critical to help us keep our community informed about the evolving coronavirus pandemic and the impact it is having locally. Every contribution, however large or small, will make a difference.

Your donation will help us continue to cover COVID-19 and our other vital local news.