TNA star Hernandez was recently interviewed by Houston Wrestling Radio. Here are some highlights from the interview.

On what made him became a fan of pro wrestling:
It was the Paul Boesch Houston Wrestling in the 80s. There you could see the Guerreros, “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan, Butch Reed, One Man Gang, you name it. All of the biggest stars were there back in the early 80s. It was awesome!

On getting his start in the south Texas indy scene: I got trained by Tugboat Taylor and his son, Chaz in the late 90s and I started with Texas All-Star Wrestling around 1999. Back then, everything was hot. WWE, WCW and ECW was really hot. And it all trickled down. We would be drawing 500 to 800 people. Back then I was “Hot Stuff” Hernandez and I wrestled this young man named Necro Butcher. We would draw 500 people for “Hot Stuff” vs Necro in a hardcore match.

On his pre-wrestling relationship with Necro Butcher: Before I was making a living in wrestling, from about 1995 til 2001, I was an impound manager for the Houston Police Department. If you got a DWI or got your car towed for warrants, they would tow your car to a lot and you would have to come to me. I worked my way up from the night shift to manager. So I needed a night manager. The one who got the job was Necro Butcher; So he was my night manager. So if you were drunk in a club and had your car towed for illegally parking and you were talking all kinds of crap on the phone saying you would beat us up and then you would come to get your car, and then there’s this big 6”5? white hippie waiting for you. It was a sight to behold sometimes. We would get lots of cars that were illegally parked from the Houston Rodeo too. We would have to deal with a hundred drunk cowboys a night! And they all want to fight over the phone until they see us in person. Everybody’s tough behind a phone or behind a keyboard.

On how he broke into TNA: I basically took chances. I was the top draw in Houston for two or three years. My pockets weren’t getting any bigger. And unfortunately for pro-wrestling, it’s not a team sport. If you want to make it, you have to go out there and take chances. Necro Butcher taught me that first-hand. He left Houston. He made his name on the east coast doing hardcore stuff. I did it the hard way. I went to Japan three or four times, I went to Mexico. I wrestled there with a mask when TNA called me.

His response to the question of who he would have liked to work with but hasn’t: I’m very blessed. The wrestlers I’ve wanted to work with so far, I’ve worked. I’ve got to work a singles match with Sting. I’ve worked with Kurt Angle. I’ve got to work with AJ Styles and Austin Aries. Those two, as far as putting matches together and working the crowd… and Bobby Roode, those three are the best in TNA. I had a match with Jeff Hardy. I’m a huge fan of lucha. I’ve had matches with Dr. Wagner, La Parka, Cibernetico, guys from AAA. Another guy I was really a fan of, some people like him, some people don’t like him, Mike Awesome from ECW. I got a chance to tag with him in Japan. My bucket list is pretty much done.

If he prefers wrestling singles or tag matches: When I first got into wrestling, I used to love singles because it’s just you verses one man and a ref. It’s just three guys to make one match. But then when I got on television I almost wrestled exclusively tag matches. And me and my brother, well we’re not brothers but he might as well be my brother, Homicide, We meshed so well that I’d rather tag with him than wrestle any other type of match.

On what are his favorite matches of his career: Bound For Glory 2006, me and Homicide and Konnan versus AJ Styles and Christopher Daniels. We won the tag belts back in the cage. That match put us on the map. And then in 2011 with me and Homicide there was a match that wasn’t seen by a lot. Ring of Honor made a special deal to have me go over there for one night only to wrestle Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli. It was at Manhattan Mayhem in March of 2011. We tore the house down. Nothing is better and nothing more rabid than being in front of that Ring of Honor crowd.

On his upcoming appearance for the Clutch City Productions Sports and Celebrity SuperShow on August 31st: I’ll be there from 10:00am to 2:00pm. I’ll be autographing pictures. I’ll be autographing whatever you have, I’ll also be having “SuperMex” t-shirts. You can’t miss it. It’ll be one of the few times in South Texas that’ll you get to see the backbone of nWo. Hall, Nash and X-Pac will be there. I’ll be there. Robbie E will be there. Tessmacher will be there. But just for the fact that Hall, Nash and X-Pac are there, you should go.