Whats up everyone and welcome to yet another McInterview. This time in the hot chair is none other than indy veteran, Chino Martinez. Chino is maybe one of the most underrated guys today and has had championships all over the indies. Chino gave a great interview and dodged no questions and was very truthful. I hope you guys enjoy this as much as I did.

Sean The MiC McCaffrey: When did you get into professional wrestling, and what made you want to do it? What was your training like? Chino Martinez: I started wrestling May 5, 1995. [Cinco de Mayo. I know the MiC was somewhere drunk. LOL]

I always wanted to be a pro wrestler but when I was about 15 years old I went to "Prettyboy" Larry Sharpe's school in South Jersey. He he tried shitting on me, telling me I wasn't big enough to be a wrestler. At that time I gave up on it but I was always thinking about the ring. When I was about 18 years old I use to go to Pete McKay's and Johnny Rodz's with Angel Martinez and "Fat" Frank Iadevaia. I use to let them practice moves on me. I was their bump monkey. After a while Angel and Frank went seperate ways in their wrestling careers and Angel asked me to team with him. Here I am eight years later.

My training was painful and fun at times. Painful cause when I first started alot of guys didn't wanna work out with me cause I was young, 21 (and I weighed 165lbs). Those days were really hard to get ring time. On top of that the people that trained me were trying to see if I really wanted this by making me bump for 5 weeks straight. No learning the basics, no lock ups, just bumping. These days there's 15, 16 and 17 year olds trying dives on their first day in the ring. Times have changed. Fun at times cause I got to watch Kodiak Bear beat the crap out of some guy for messing up a bodyslam. He punched this guy in the stomach, I thought he was gonna throw up. Maybe I'm an evil bastard but I thought it was hilarious, I guess you hadta be there.

The MiC: You have won many titles over an 8 year plus career. How does it feel when a promoter says you're the man to hold this belt for our promotion?

Chino: Till this day it still kinda surprises me that a promoter has that much faith in me to give me one of their championships. It's an honor but at times still a surprise.

The MiC: You have worked for a buttload of promotions, which is a sign of how versatile and professional you are. After being in the indies for a while and working all these promotions, what have been your favorite to work for, and what were your least favorite to work for?

Chino: My favorite right now is NWA Virginia. It got that old school rasslin feel to it. I'm not making fun it. I love old school wrestling like Mid South and Georgia Championship Wrestling. They were both intense and entertaining at the same time. That's what NWA Virginia is like. My least favorite was Jersey Championship Wrestling. Don't get me wrong, I've known Ricky O for years. He's one of the first people I met in this business. But at that time when he started JCW he had too many ideas, too many workers and a little bit of time. So I had a decision to make, it was either get a 2-3 minute bullshit, nothing matches or stay home and sleep. I chose to stay home a sleep. His shows are looking a lot better these days.

The MiC: Who were your favorite wrestlers growing up? Least favorite?

Chino: Please don't mistake admiration for marking out. Ricky Steamboat has always been and will always be my favorite. Crappy interviews but great in-ring abilities. Rocky Johnson, Dynamite Kid [the real one, not the crappy one from the NY indies], Randy Savage, Jerry Lawler [the wrestler, not the announcer], Scott Hall, Curt Hennig [RIP], The Von Erichs, Brian Pillman [RIP] and Bruiser Brody [RIP].

I don't think I had least favorites growing up. Maybe I was just that dumb and loved watching it that much.

The MiC: What has been your career highlight, and best match in your opinion?

Chino: I have two. First was working against Nova. I looked at it as sort of like a student vs. teacher match. I use to work out a lot with Nova at Iron Mike's school. We went toe to toe, move for move. That match did a lot for my confidence. I matched up almost evenly with my opponent, trainer and friend. Second was working against Gangrel. Honestly, I thought he was gonna try to job me out. But I met him the night before I was suppose to work him at a Phoenix Championship Wrestling show we were both on. He was really down to earth and we had a great match. I look forward to working him again. Don't know when that's gonna happen but I hope it does happen.

The MiC: What's a typical day in the life of Chino Martinez?

Chino: During the week: Go to my regular 8-6 job. My schedule sucks. Work out on my lunch break. After work, review some wrestling tapes, draw, download some 80's rap songs and take notes of the day. Will I write a book? Who knows, who cares.

Show dates: Sleep till 1pm. Not trying to sound like a lazy ass but my regular job works me like an animal, so I try to get as much rest as possible. 2pm: work out. 3pm: head out to the show.

The MiC: What are the positives and negatives about being in the wrestling business?

Chino: Positives are meeting new people and getting a good reaction from the crowd for the match you put on. I don't think I have enough space to list all the negative things in this business. Here are a few that really piss me off. Liars and indy superstars.

The MiC: What do you think about the current state of indy wrestling?

Chino: Sucks, for a few reasons:

Too many promotions popping up in NJ.

Too many promotions using other promotions ideas. I mean really, who's gonna come to your show when company A does, for example, a 10 Man Gauntlet match and company B does the same match a day or week later? Can you say lack of originality?

Too many young guys in the business don't respect what and who came before them.

The MiC: Who are your favorite people to work with? Least favorite?

Chino: I really enjoy working with Magic. Me and him have been traveling together for years. I haven't worked him in years but we still make road trips together. Ace Darling is another favorite. Least favorite are guys who feel they're doing me a favor by stepping in the ring with me. Yeah OK kid, learn some ring psychology first.

Word Association

Fat Frank - FN maniac. Great promoter, great friend.
Carmine Sabia - Innovative booking style.
Bobby Lombardi - Class act.
Ricky O - Carving his own niche in indy wrestling.
Donnie B - Over big with me. I love the 80s.
Gino Caruso - Grateful to him. He taught me the basics.
Iron Mike Sharpe - Father figure. Learned ring psychology from Iron Mike. Has hilarious road trip stories. Andre the Giant's story is my favorite.
Gino Moore - Class act all the way. I remember the first time I met Gino at an NWA/Tri-County Wrestling show back in 96. He messed up my music. LOL
Joe Panzarino - Another class act. Met him this year, he welcomed me into NWS with open arms. Great promotion.
Rick O'Brien - The former Professor Theodore Eacher is one of the best promoters in the state of Virginia. Truly underrated company. Great guy to work for, great guy to know.
Vince McMahon - Evil genius. Have been a fan of his product for years.
Vince Russo - "The Man" behind the curtain. Crazy ideas that got a lot of guys over.
Shawn Michaels - Inspirational.
Kurt Angle - Phenomenal athlete.
Bastion Booger - The original oddity
Giant Gonzales - The original A-Train. Oh wait, that was a body suit with hair and muscles on it.
Kevin Matthews - Reminds me of J-Lover. LOL. Worked him recently at IHPW. I like his style. Getting surgery in June. Get well soon, bro!
Angel Martinez - Good friend, great leader. I still hate you for 69 Degrees. Just kidding.
Gangrel - Over with me. Plus my nephews love vampires.
Ricky Steamboat - Inspirational.
Chris Candido - Professional. Him and Tammy are cool as hell. She showed me her Superman tattoo.
Rob Eckos - Outstanding performer, ugly ass tights. Just messing with ya, Rob.
Mafia - Smashmouth wrestling. First time I saw him working out I said to myself, "He's gonna hurt somebody." And that's what he's doing. Was given the ball and he's running with it. Another worker making the transition from tag worker to singles worker. Shared a room with him a few times in Philly. Funny as hell when he's drinking.
Homicide - Finally got his time to shine and he deserves it. 187's one of the first people I met in this business. Copkiller looks like it hurts. Ouch!
Declaration of Independents - Keeping the Tri-State area informed, as well as the rest of the wrestling world.
Chino Martinez - good worker but kept on taking bad advice from outside people saying he needed a gimmick. No more. No gimmicks, no nonsense - just wrestling.

The MiC: What are your short term and long term goals?

Chino: Short term goal is to get my name out there as much as I can. The last three years I've been a real lazy ass. But recently somebody lit a fire under my ass. I've been around too long not to be noticed. It's my time. I don't care what anybody thinks. My long term goal is to be working with World Wrestling Entertainment. All these workers out there saying they don't wanna be in WWE are lying. I know a lot of the boys are content working Japan but WWE is the top place to be in the US.

The MiC: You have worked alot of promotions, but if any, what promotions would you like to work for that you haven't had the opportunity to yet?

Chino: There are so many but to name a few, I would like to work with New England Championship Wrestling, East Coast Wrestling Association, 3PW, Chaotic Wrestling, CZW, Assault Championship Wrestling and Premier Championship Wrestling out of Canada. These promotions have an awesome talent roster, run great angles and I think I can add to that. I actually had deals with two of these companies but it fell threw. No heat, just didn't happen for whatever reason.

The MiC: What would be your dream match? (living or dead)

Chino: [deceased] Curt Hennig. I think I'm sorta like Hennig. Good worker who didn't get a chance to really show what he has to offer. His heel turn in AWA was classic.

[retired] Ricky Steamboat. Best arm drag in the business.

[living] Bob Holly. He's a vicious SOB. Plus I'd like to put my dropkick up against his.

The MiC: What do you have to say to anyone reading this?

Chino: Thanks for reading. Month of June is kinda slow for me with lot shows being cancelled but you can catch me on July 18th for NWA Virginia. Go to www.nwavirginia.com for more info. And July 25th in Boonton, NJ for International High Powered Wrestling. Go to www.ihpw.com for more info. See ya at the shows and thanks for the McInterview. CM.

The MiC: Thank you for this great interview Chino

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