Hazed & Confused #6: Interview With LuFisto

Hello, good morning, afternoon and evening and once again welcome to another edition of Hazed & Confused.

Just a quick few things from the Indy world before we get to the Interview.

Firstly, this weekend sees the biggest and my favorite tournament in the Indy circuit take place at the ECW Arena in Philly. Of course I'm talking about the King Of Trios taking place on Saturday – Monday, part of CHIKARA's annual events.

CHIKARA have also announced that the Rey de Voladores tournament will ALSO be held on Night 2 & 3 of King Of Trios, with two 4-way Semi-finals on Night 2 and the final on Night 3.

Rey de Voladores, is usually held annually as a separate event, although it is quite a new concept with the first one in 2007. It is literally translated to mean “King Of Flyer's” and is a small tournament mainly used to showcase the high-flying talent in the U.S.

The only two participants announced at time of writing are Fire Ant and Player Dos (Stupefied).

Finally, still sticking with King Of Trios, some of you may recall I made some predictions a few issues ago and didn't know the exact Quarter Final brackets so just followed last years schedule.

Well, I was majorly wrong on what they'd look like as the brackets for this years has been announced and are as follows:

Quarter Final Match: The F1RST Family OR Team EPIC WAR vs. The Death Match Kings OR Team F.I.S.T.
Quarter Final Match: Team PWG OR The Osirian Portal vs. The Future is Now ORTeam DDT
Quarter Final Match: Team Uppercut OR The Roughnecks vs. Incoherence OR The Masters of a Thousand Holds
Quarter Final Match: Da Soul Touchaz OR Team CZW vs. The Cold Front OR The UnStable

So, thats the quick news out of the way, and now for this weeks extra-length Indy Interview!!!

Welcome to another Indy Interview here at Hazed & Confused, this week joining us is the "Super Hardcore Anime", LuFisto.

LuFisto, thank you for joining us this week.

We've got a few questions for you about wrestling and your career and we shall finish up with a few random ones. Some of these have also been sent in by our readers

1) Firstly, for those who may be unfamiliar with you, could you give us some background information about yourself?
I've been wrestling for 11 years now in a few countries like Canada, USA, Mexico, Japan and Germany. I spent most of my career wrestling guys and win male championships but I'm very much involved in women's promotions now as well. My character is inspired by the Japanese Mangas and Animes and I'm involved in hardcore matches as well.

2) What do you consider to be "UNIQUE" about yourself that differentiates you from other wrestlers?
From what people tell me, my character is unique. The Super Hardcore Anime persona, a goofy Japanese-French-Canadian who is extreme cuteness juxtaposed with random acts of violence works good with the crowd. I also try to have some of the most outrageous ring outfits. The fact that I am a woman involved in ultra-violent matches against men and women is also rare. Not too many women won as many male championship and tournaments as I have. :)

3) Who do you consider to be the most influential people on your wrestling career?
Japanese wrestling in general really influenced my style. However, if I have to give a name, I would have to say the Proulx brothers from Quebec because they gave me the freedom to try anything I wanted, from regular wrestling to hardcore. Their advices really helped me and they pushed my limits like nobody else.

4) Which wrestlers do you see as being an inspiration to the wrestling business?
Bull Nakano, Owen Hart, Chris Benoit and Akira Hokuto.

5) What do you consider to be the greatest advice you have received in the wrestling business and from whom?
Mick Foley once told me "Don't think too much... Just do it and everything will be fine". That's how I got through important matches since.

6) What would you see as being highlights in your career to date?
My trips overseas, my CZW Iron-Man championship, wining KOTDM (King Of The Deathmatch) 2006 and QOTDM (Queen Of The Deathmatch) 2007 and my matches at Shimmer, one of them being match of the year 2008 with Cheerleader Melissa.

7) Five years from now, where would you like to see your wrestling career?
I've been wrestling for 11 years already so maybe I will be retired... However, we never know what might happen. TNA would be a dream come true.

8) What type of training/conditioning do you do for wrestling?
I do an hour of cardio 5-6 times a week on a step-master plus weight training 3-4 times a week. I work a lot with supersets and endurance training.

9) What do you consider to be the best thing about being a wrestler?
Traveling everywhere, meeting new people and discovering new cultures doing what I love, pushing my limits in the ring.

10) What are your thoughts on the movie "The Wrestler" and its portrayal of the Indy circuit?
I saw a lot of myself and older wrestler I know in there. It was very accurate to the real world of many, as a lot of us don't have anything else then wrestling. It showed all the sacrifices we have to make, the injuries and so much more. Its really a must see for people who want to become a wrestler and also for people who think that what we do is easy.

11) Are there any companies that you haven't yet worked for that you would like to?
TNA and Chickfight in UK.

12) Who have you had the most fun working with or teaming with?
Teaming would be Jennifer Blake, Sexxxy Eddy and my current partner, Samson.
Working with, there are many that comes to mind: Cheerleader Melissa, Wesna, Sami Callihan, Mickie Knuckles, Sabian, ODB, Joey Ryan, Mercedes Martinez and Awesome Kong.

13) And who, that you haven't worked or teamed with yet would you like to?
MsChif, Daizee Haze, Sara del Rey, Gail Kim and Tracy Brooks.

14) How did you come up with your gimmick and ring name?
I was inspired in Japan by all the anime characters I was seeing on many publicity boards and TV.
The ring name LuFisto comes from my old name Precious Lucy and 2 characters: MacPhisto from Batman and Jedi Fisto from Star Wars...
I wanted something easy to pronounced in all languages and that sounded a bit Japanese...
So I put Lu from Lucy and Fisto together... LuFisto! :)

15) Who would you say, in your opinion, is the best female wrestler of all time?
Very hard to say... Bull Nakano will always be the best me. However, honorable mention to Sherri Martel, Vivian Vachon, Madusa Michelli and Luna Vachon.

16) Your given control of the WWE's female division, what do you change and who do you bring in?
I would hire the girls considering their in-ring talent and then change their looks if needed, not the opposite which they are doing right now.
As for who to bring in... Easy.
The Shimmer roster. They are the best women out there!

17) Have you found it harder to be taken seriously as a female who mainly fights males?
At the beginning it was. I got hit so hard, got stretched, my nose broken and so on just to see how tough I was. But since there were no female wrestlers in my area for a long period of time and I really wanted to be a wrestler, I kept on going no matter what.
Today, most male wrestle see me just as another regular opponent because they know I will hit hard and take all the shots.

18) As you compete a lot in Deathmatches, is there anything that you had a problem with doing during a match?
Actually, I don't compete in a lot of deathmatches. That's the biggest misconception about my career.
People talk a lot about those matches but there aren't many. I would say that 90% of my matches were regular. I never had a problem doing those matches because it was my choice.
Some weapons I won't use because I'm not comfortable in using them in a safe way, but that's about it. Everything I do in a deathmatch, especially big spots is carefully planned to be as safe as possible for me or my opponent. I also won't use any weapon of move on an opponent that is not comfortable doing it.
I will refuse to do anything that is too dangerous for both of us and that I can't control. For example, I can't control fire... I won't use it.

19) You teamed for a while with SeXXXy Eddy, is it correct that hes in his gimmick even out of wrestling?
Eddy is a living character 24/7! LOL He's always entertaining. However, he is also somebody you can talk to when you need. A great guy even if sometimes I tell him that he's full of crap. LOL

20) Finally, what advice would you give to anyone thinking of joining the wrestling business?
Watch the movie the Wrestler. If you can accept that you might end up like this... Then maybe you can become a wrestler.
Do it for passion, not money because there isn't much anymore. I make a lot more money with my design diploma then a lot of full-time wrestler I know.

And now for some less serious questions.

Favorite TV Show?

Seinfeld, 24, Ultimate Fighter, Family Guy, Listed, Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Flight of the Conchords, CSI NY , American Dad

Favorite Band and/or Song?

Seether - Alice in Chains - Three Days Grace - Velvet Revolver - Cinderella - Stone Temple Pilots - Megadeth - Metallica - Guns N Roses - Nightwish - Angtoria - After Forever - Diana Krall - Tupac Sakur - Sting and the Police - Amy Winehouse - Nirvana - The Offspring - Ratt - System of a Down - Marilyn Manson - Tori Amos - Skid Row - Dokken - Poison - Garbage - Breaking Benjamin – Hammefall... Yeah, I love heavy metal from the 80s-90s! LOL

Favorite sandwich filling?

Ham and Suiss Cheese!

As a fan of Anime myself, what are you currently watching?
I'm not watching much anime right now. I'm trying to get into Cutey Honey though as I use its theme music. I used to watch a lot of Sailor Moon too...
I got too much involved into stuff like Batman lately...
Gotta go back to some anime soon! LOL

How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
I have no idea... Is that really important? lol

Who is cooler, Chuck Norris or Mr T?
Mr. T is cool but Chuck kicks ass!

And finally, any message for the readers here at Hazed & Confused?
Thanx for your support. Without your strength and support, I wouldn't be here today. I am still a wrestler today because of you, the fans. Much love!

Thank you very much for joining us here, we appreciate you finding some time for us in your schedule and we all would like to wish you the best for the future.

Seriously, if you've never seen LuFisto I highly advise to check some of her matches out. Very talented and can go punch for punch with most of the male workers.

So thats it for another issue, join me next week where I shall hopefully have results from King Of Trios and also be bringing you the Indy Interview with the other half of Super Smash Bros, Player Uno.

Thank you and goodnight.