Marty ‘The Moth’ Wins Lucha Underground Championship: ‘The Fun Is About to Begin’
The new face of Lucha Underground is a sadistic, serial killer-type who had a taste of WWE on Tough Enough but found his home in wrestling within a whole new galaxy.
Marty “The Moth” Martinez won the Lucha Underground championship this past Wednesday, adding a genuine heel to the ranks of wrestling’s world champs.
“I am the new face of the promotion that brought time travel to professional wrestling,” said Martinez, who is 33-year-old Martin Casaus. “I worked my freakin’ butt off to make this happen. I started as comedic relief. When I had the belt wrapped around my waist, I felt that I’d made it to the top of the mountain in Lucha Underground.”
Lucha Underground’s cinematic approach, combining supernatural elements and science fiction with wrestling psychology and storylines, stands in contrast to the more mainstream WWE storylines—and Marty “The Moth” has fit perfectly in that world.
Martinez defeated Dragon Azteca Jr. in a Gift of the Gods championship title match this past week, finishing him with a double-hook DDT. Lucha Underground’s storyline owner, Antonio Cueto, then revealed that Martinez convinced him that the one-week notice on the Gifts of God championship was no longer necessary, and he granted—courtesy of a bribe—an immediate title shot against Pentagon.
The match was back-and-forth until the debut of Chelsea Green, who delivered a low blow and then a destroyer on Pentagon. Marty the Moth then hit the package piledriver to finish off Pentagon and become the new Lucha Underground champion, avenging Pentagon breaking his arm—and embarrassing the luchador by defeating him with his own signature move.
“I have so much fun being the bad guy,” said Martinez. “I wouldn’t want to be anything else. I always think, ‘How screwed up can I make this?’ Now I get to work with both Mariposa and Chelsea Green, and we can make this evolve into something people love or really hate.”
Chelsea Green was recommended to Lucha Underground by fellow star Taya Valkyrie.
“That was Taya’s idea to bring her in,” said Martinez. “They looked at her character, they looked at my character, then they let us have two dark matches before they started making her a costume that weekend and she was all of a sudden written into a character.
“They threw a bunch at her. She went in and the first thing she did was kick the champ, and then she was asked to do a move she’d never done before. She’d never done a Canadian destroyer before that one that was on TV last week. Pentagon told her, ‘Don’t worry, I got you.’ And she was great. We’re looking forward to seeing how sick we can take these characters. I’m very excited to work with her.”
Courtesy of Lucha Underground
Lucha Underground already taped its fourth season. But even with an array of twists and turns in store for the remainder of the season, Martinez is focused only on the present and reminding the world that he is the new face of a company that has had Rey Mysterio, Pentagon, and Johnny “Mundo” Morrison all previously in that role.
“My focus is on my own work and Lucha Underground,” said Martinez. “Pentagon is at the top of his game right now, so I’m very excited to be in this spot.
“If you saw Mariposa, Chelsea Green, and me coming at you, I’d be wondering what would be going through a lot of people’s heads. The fun is about to begin.”
Justin Barrasso can be reached at JBarrasso@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @JustinBarrasso.
