In professional wrestling, sometimes what stands out most to a crowd is not your ability to have great matches or be able to do a certain move, but your look, something Drago has been able to do masterfully.
Wrestling fans in the United States recognize Drago's long black tongue and scaly body suit, looking the part of a human-sized dragon, but that wasn't what Drago always looked like. The Lucha Underground and Impact Wrestling star has been known as Drago since 2011 and his popularity soared since then, becoming a major staple in Lucha Underground.
Drago spoke to Fightful to talk about where the idea of the full body suit and the character being incorporated into it came from. Drago stated that he wanted to try something that was a bit of a twist on the traditional lucha libre mask and with the help of people that had worked in the movie industry in special effects, he was able to achieve the look that fans know of today.
"Well, I was looking for something that may leave an impact on the crowd and I wanted to have a different style in wrestling, something that wasn’t conventional. I was looking for something like the classic masks in Mexico. I worked together with some guys that specialize in special effects that’s worked in movies before. That’s their specialty, working with latex and masks. They created a sculpture of what would be the mask of Drago and they took my body measurements for the whole body suit. I think it ended with something that did leave an impact and it was something that has come and innovated wrestling in Mexico and I think in other places as well, so much so that my mask has been used in countries I didn’t even know," Drago said.
The end result was one of the more unique looks for a Mexican wrestler in wrestling today. But if you were to ask Drago about his worldwide appeal, he would tell you that he had no idea how over his look would get with the crowd. Drago also admitted that it was tough to wrestle in the mask at first, but now it feels like second nature to him.
"When I went to Germany and London and Japan and other places like Chile and Colombia, the public knows about Drago. That’s made a big difference for me and I think that has helped me in my wrestling career and has perhaps placed me in a position where people say Drago and they know that they’re talking about my distinct mask. [Working with the mask] made my job a little tough at first but after a while, I got so comfortable working with it that I can work with my eyes closed," Drago revealed.
The full interview with Drago can be seen in the video at the top of the page in Spanish. For English-speaking viewers, there are English subtitles available in the video to follow along. Fightful also spoke to Drago's "United We Stand" partner Daga and that full interview, with English subtitles as well, available to watch on the Fightful Pro Wrestling YouTube channel at this link.
Drago was a part of a mutli-man tag match at the "United We Stand" event in Rahway, New Jersey. Drago represented Team Lucha Underground alongside Aerostar, Daga and Marty "The Moth" Martinez taking on Team Impact's Moose, Eddie Edwards, Tommy Dreamer and Brian Cage.
