At the moment, Marty “The Moth” Martinez is enjoying success as the Lucha Underground champion. Martinez was with LU from day one and has grown into one the hottest acts within the company; however, many wrestling fans may remember his stint in Tough Enough before joining the independent company.
Martinez recalls his experience on the show and describes the surreal moment of meeting his favorite wrestlers in person:
"I see Trish Status, Steve Austin, Bill DeMott, Booker T. and, of course, immediately those 'holy crap, it's these people pops up,'" Casaus told Wrestling Inc. President, Raj Giri. "
I had to compartmentalize it. OK, that's my coach, that's the girl's coach. I had to take that part and put it aside and they're just my coaches.
"I think I did that in most of the competition, until after the competition and was like 'holy crap, that just actually happened.' It's a giant trip because it's a guys you watch on TV for so many years and now he's telling you and explaining to you what you need to do to be a better wrestler."
Martinez was lucky enough to spend a few days in the Performance Center thanks to the Big Show in 2014
, but he shortly signed with Lucha Underground after being called by Tough Enough executive producer Eric van Wagenen, who believed Casaus was entertaining on the show and signed him as one of the first talent's to the co-creation of Mark Burnett and Robert Rodriquez before it even had a name.
"I wanted to see where this Lucha Underground would take me and I'm very glad I trusted my gut," he admitted.
"The first day at Lucha Underground it felt like a family and that to me was something I'd take time to invest and trust in … I'm glad it worked out."
Check out the full interview
here.