Marty "The Moth" Martinez is ready to to lead Lucha Underground.
Last Wednesday, Martinez had a night to remember as he defeated Dragon Azteca Jr to win the Gift of the Gods belt, then turned around and traded the belt in for at shot at the Lucha Underground Champion. Taking advantage of a weakened Pentagon, and some help from Chelsea Green, Martinez stood tall with the Lucha Underground Championship to close the show.
Speaking to Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated, Martinez discussed being the new face of Lucha Underground.
“I am the new face of the promotion that brought time travel to professional wrestling. I worked my freakin’ butt off to make this happen," said Martinez. "I started as comedic relief. When I had the belt wrapped around my waist, I felt that I’d made it to the top of the mountain in Lucha Underground. I have so much fun being the bad guy. I wouldn’t want to be anything else. I always think, ‘How screwed up can I make this?’ Now I get to work with both Mariposa and Chelsea Green, and we can make this evolve into something people love or really hate.”
On the subject of his newfound partner, Martinez revealed that it was Taya Valkyrie who helped get Green into The Temple. Green was immediately thrust into the main event angle. While that might be a lot of a newcomer to handle, Green was in good hands with the man she was working with.
“That was Taya’s idea to bring her in,” said Martinez. “They looked at her character, they looked at my character, then they let us have two dark matches before they started making her a costume that weekend and she was all of a sudden written into a character. They threw a bunch at her. She went in and the first thing she did was kick the champ, and then she was asked to do a move she’d never done before," Martinez continued. "She’d never done a Canadian destroyer before that one that was on TV last week. Pentagon told her, ‘Don’t worry, I got you.’ And she was great. We’re looking forward to seeing how sick we can take these characters. I’m very excited to work with her.”
Before he caught on in Lucha Underground as "The Moth," Martinez appeared on season five of Tough Enough under his real name Martin Casaus. An injury forced him to leave the competition early. He's been with Lucha Underground since season one of the show.
