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Santos Escobar has been NXT Cruiserweight Champion for around 4 months now. He once again successfully defended his title at NXT TakeOver 31 in a scintillating match against Isiah "Swerve" Scott.
Escobar, who was signed by WWE in 2019, wrestled in the Cruiserweight title tournament with his mask on as El Hijo del Fantasma. However, after aligning himself with Raul Mendoza and Joaquin Wilde, he started to wrestle unmasked under the name Santos Escobar.
Santos Escobar was a guest on the latest episode of WWE's The Bump. During the interview, the NXT Cruiserweight Champion spoke about his partnership with Raul Mendoza and Joaquin Wilde and opened up about why he decided to join forces with them:
Both Raul and Joaquin have the right attitude and attributes. They both respect Lucha Libre. To me, Lucha Libre culture is the most important element in sports entertainment nowadays.
Escobar stressed on the importance of Lucha Libre to sports entertainement.
Santos Escobar on his parents' reaction him wrestling unmasked in WWE
At one point during the interview, he was asked about wrestling unmasked in WWE and he spoke about his parents' reaction to it:
It shocked my dad and my mom. But it's true, the mask is one of the most important aspects of Lucha Libre culture and tradition. To be fair, I had already lost my mask in Mexico, and once you lose your mask, you're not supposed to re-mask again.
But what I wanted to do was be El Hijo del Fantasma - this big feature at the Cruiserweight Tournament. It gave me a way to reintroduce Lucha Libre to the WWE Universe because I think they've been misled by masked men jumping all over the place; Lucha Libre is not like that. Putting the mask on again, I managed to capture the attention of the WWE Universe. H/T: WrestlingINC
Santos Escobar went on to say that he wants to continue defending this NXT Cruiserweight Championship against worthy contenders. He said that even though he held the NXT Cruiserweight title, he knew he had to stay "humble and hungry" for continued success.
