Show: Wrestling Epicenter
Guest: Black Tiger
Date: 11/05/2026
Your Host: “Arizona” James Walsh
Major League Wrestling doesn’t just present the best wrestlers from the United States! They partner with the best companies throughout the globe to bring the best collection of international talent around. Today, we welcome one of those international stars as we bring you a CMLL star from Mexico, Black Tiger!
Black Tiger, the 9th version of the legendary persona, is the former Magnus. He will be in action at Saturday Night Superfight this Saturday live on VEEPS pay-per-view! Don’t miss it! Check out www.MLW.com for more details about the pay per view.
Don’t forget to check out www.WrestlingEpicenter.com! Over 900 prior interviews free of charge available for you to check out! And, a whole lot of other goodies as well. Check out the store and buy somethin’, will ya?
YouTube URL: https://youtu.be/ez8-o71CkL0
BLACK TIGER:
Arizona” James: Welcome back to Interactive Wrestling Radio. Joining me on the Newsmaker line right now is a gentleman who I must admit, I did not expect to ever have the opportunity to interview due to the language barrier, but thanks to the wonder of modern technology, we have the opportunity to speak to a Lucha Libre superstar. From CMLL and MLW, he is Black Tiger. Are you with me, sir?
Black Tiger: Thank you so much for introducing myself. I feel happy to be here, and I’m just ready to answer all your questions and explain the world of who Black Tiger is.
“Arizona” James: Very good. Well, let’s start there. It was only earlier this year that you donned the Black Tiger mask. It has a huge lineage in the world of professional wrestling, both in Mexico and Japan. What does it mean to you to be the ninth in the Black Tigers?
Black Tiger: For me, means a lot. It’s a big deal because everybody knows the history of Black Tiger since my brother, Rocko, the very first Black Tiger, the biggest, Chicano star like Eddie Guerrero or Silver King, Tomohiro Ishii, every name I can say is a big name in this business, you know? So, for me, it’s like, I made me like, or forced me to have work hard every day at the gym, to work out hard, train wrestling hard, to be more humble because I need to be, maybe not better than the Black Tigers, but I need to be in the same level. I can’t let the level like down, you know? So I need to work hard every single day to explain the world the history of Black Tiger. So for me, this name means a lot. Also, I feel like grateful with New Japan for trust on myself, and I just need to work hard to show and explain how grateful I am.
“Arizona” James: Very cool, and it is an honor to be a character, to play the Black Tiger character, to be the ninth person selected for that historic role. But you had also built up a huge reputation for yourself as Magnus. Do you think we’ll ever see Magnus make a return?
Black Tiger: For me now, I feel great and as Black Tiger. Of course, I love Magnus because Magnus showed me all the world. I have the privilege to travel as Magnus around the world, but that name opened a lot of doors for myself, but now I’m very focused Black Tiger, and I hope this name is going to be with me like for years, because it’s a name that I have so much love for the character, for the mask. Also, I always say that this history, like, my very first mask on my collection when I was like nine years old was the Black Tiger number three mask on my collection. I’m a red fan of wrestling, or Japanese wrestling, or pro wrestling. I grew up with matches about Tiger Mask, Red Sasuke, Rana Niwa, Jinsei. So, I always wear red muda. I like, I love the Japanese wrestling, so for me, this name is amazing, and I will try to be focused in this name, and I want to be Black Tiger for years.
“Arizona” James: Beautiful. You don’t need a translator. You speak English wonderfully, by the way.
Black Tiger: My English is not so good, but I try my best. Maybe some people know, my daughter is from El Paso, Texas. I try to speak in English. Everybody understand, bless her.
“Arizona” James: Well, your English is a lot better than my Spanish. I’ll say that. All right. Well, let’s start here. MLW, you made your MLW debut as Black Tiger against Templario last month. You’ve done the TV tapings. How are you enjoying your time so far in MLW?
Black Tiger: Was great. Also was different. It’s wonderful be always in MLW, but against El Guerrero Leon Templario, everybody knows Templario is one of the best wrestlers around the world. He’s part of the New Japan, also in CMLL, and being with him in the same ring face to face was great. Also because he’s strong, he has speed, so I need to train better because that night he was better than me, but I think it’s just luck. I have the opportunity to be against him for second time. I want to show all the people how hardcore Black Tiger can be.
“Arizona” James: Very cool. And MLW presents a different kind of wrestling show. They used to call it hybrid wrestling. They do a little bit of everything and they do all of it very well. What is the backstage experience like with MLW and having so many different styles of wrestling on one card?
Black Tiger: Well, in the last three months, everything changed in MLW. I seen a new face about the male wrestlers and female wrestlers, but also it’s always nice being in the backstage because it’s friendly. I think everybody is like super nice or also, that’s my history, right? For me, everybody is nice, try to help me with the style, with the language, so I feel great always when I was in MLW. I think for me always is a nice time there. Also, I have a lot of friends there like Jesus Rodriguez, you know, Salina, Aikuro, the Good Brothers. Yeah, I have a lot of friends there. So always is my pleasure be in MLW. Also in the ring when the show starts, but also in backstage, always is nice to be there.
“Arizona” James: Beautiful, beautiful. I have a question about CMLL. I am a huge fan of the Wrestling Territory days, back in the 80s and early 90s, and it’s hard to explain to people that there was a time that people could play, or a company could play one building so often as CMLL still does. How do you guys keep the magic of keeping a huge crowd so many times in Arena Mexico, how do you keep the product fresh and keep people coming back?
Black Tiger: Well, CMLL has like his own school or academy, so we train all the time. All the time we need to train, you know. People I am a wrestler, but I respect the crowd, so I need to be on shape, also train every time. I need to train new moves, new like high fly moves, like holds, like strong moves, whatever. So I think that’s the secret, always train. We train all the time, 24/7. Also, I am a second generation of pro wrestler, so my dad was wrestler in seventies, eighties at the CMO or E-MLO in that time. So I’m like very old school guy, right? So for me, I always like the profession, so I need, for me train is the secret to be a star in every company, not just CMO. Around the world, if you want to have success on your job, you need to be like every time, every time, every time, try it, try it, try it, try it. No matters how many times you fall, you need to stand up and continue.
“Arizona” James: Beautiful, and CMLL has partnerships with MLW, as we’ve talked about, but they also have a partnership with AEW. It’s pretty cool that we live in a wrestling world where the biggest company in Mexico can have multiple working relationships. What do you think of the way that you guys are able to reach out and touch so many different American companies, and also, what was it like working in AEW?
Black Tiger: Well, I think this moment is the best moment for the company because we have partnerships with New Japan, MLW, Repro, AW, a lot of companies, right? ML, MLP. So it’s rare because everybody always learn about others, other wrestlers, right? It’s like in this business, it’s the same like other works, it’s like you, everybody wants to grow up as professional. So we have the opportunity to present the Grand Prix, the Medal of Grand Prix or Female Grand Prix, and we have the best of the luchadores or wrestlers around the world from MLW, MLP, AW, Repro, CMLL, you know? I think the only one winner here is the crowd, because crowd seeing the best wrestlers around the world. So also be, or work with other companies for me, which is my pleasure, because I want to learn more about American wrestling. I always train as lucha libre, but try to understand the style is good. Try, always I try to wrestle for the left side, whatever, you know? Little things like people maybe don’t know, but it’s a little difficult because all the time I just wrestle for the right and some point is like the left with other wrestlers is like obstacles in some matches. But I am open mind about the wrestling. I just want to learn more about the other styles, the European, the Japanese style, the American style. So for me, be part of many of those relationships is very because that’s made me better as a professional wrestler.
“Arizona” James: Very cool. The crowd in CMLL is amazing. And of course, you got to work center stage in Atlanta, Georgia, which was the home of a lot of TV wrestling that has aired over the years. How was the crowd different in Atlanta, Georgia than in Mexico City?
Black Tiger: Well, everybody knows that the Mexican fans are like always bad words, right? Yeah, you know, we have that spicy flavor with the Mexican crowd, but also the people of the crowd in Atlanta, West Red, you already say like the center stage is the house of many companies about American wrestling. So it’s a historic place too. So I think Atlanta has red fans there, and also I have the opportunity to talk about with some fans after the show, and we have a lot of Latinos fans, so it’s great, it’s always is great being in different places in the States, shake the hands with my paisanos, other Latinos in that country, so for me is a big deal because we can bring a little bit of Mexico to the States, so it’s not just about make wrestling. We make every single move or everything just with love, with the heart.
“Arizona” James: Beautiful. One of my good friends who passed away was a wrestler named Manny Villalobos, and whenever we talk about Mexican wrestling, he always said that CMLL was tradition. He said that was the main thing, that CMLL stood for tradition, and I think that’s a very cool thing. Final question for you, MLW has a pay-per-view coming up. We have Saturday Night Super Fight on pay-per-view November the 9th, and I wanted to ask you, well actually, that doesn’t work out, does it? November 7th, I believe it is. My notes are wrong. You don’t have a match yet listed, but I’m sure you’re going to be there. Who are you hoping to face at this pay-per-view?
Black Tiger: Yeah, I think I have match, Super Fight is Ultimo Guerrero and me against Templario and Titan. So it’s going to be a great match because everybody knows Ultimo Guerrero is a great wrestler, and also Titan and Templario has like the opportunity to explain the world Mexican wrestling in Japan, but now in Cicero Stadium in Chicago, it’s going to be crazy. So Ultimo Guerrero and me, of course, we need to be with the hands up after the match. But also is going to be a historic night because it’s the first pay-per-view of MLW in seven years. So nobody miss it because it’s going to be a historic night and also is available on VIP. So you know, if you have the opportunity, you need to watch Super Fight because it’s going to be a historic night for MLW.
“Arizona” James: It will, and you’re going to get your revenge on Templario for that debut match too.
Black Tiger: Yeah, I had the opportunity to explain him and the crowd. That Black Tiger is better than him. Of course, well, I say in Spanish, soy Macho Uncle. Entonces, le voy a demostrar a él y a toda la gente que puedo, que puedo ser un digno representante de la lucha libre del Consejo Mundial.
“Arizona” James: Beautiful. I want to thank you for taking the time to do this with me. And once again, I was told we would have a translator. I am so glad you didn’t need one. You did fantastic. I thank you so much for hanging with me and answering my questions.
Black Tiger: Thank you so much.
