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Robert Martyr has been in pro wrestling for more than a decade and, on Saturday, he’s looking to add a win against a "legitimate legend" in Bárbaro Cavernario.
Martyr and Cavernario’s match is one of the bouts on a stacked card that will take place at Pandemonium: Pro Wrestling’s Dismantling Summer event in Portland, Oregon. Martyr told Fox News Digital he was a bit apprehensive about taking the match before committing to it.
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Robert Martyr gets ready for his upcoming match. (Provided to Fox News Digital)
"I’ve been back and forth on it," he said in a recent interview. "Like, I was back and forth on the match when it was presented to me. You always get in your head about things. You always have this level of imposter syndrome. But then I realized, dude, I’ve been doing this 11 years. It’s time to stop sulking. I’m doing this 11 years. I’m good at what I do. I’m truly one of the best on the indies. It doesn’t matter how often or not often I’m wrestling but whenever I do get in the ring, I make magic.
"I’m very excited. I know very much about Bárbaro. He’s one of the best in the world. Legitimately has been one of the best in the world for like maybe 10 years. I’m not a stranger to Lucha. I was born and bred in Lucha. I studied it. That was my first style when I learned how to do pro wrestling. So, I’m very, very excited. I’m gonna be on a huge show with Pandemonium – at this point, my home promotion. The thing with Barbaro is he legitimately has wrestled in Arena Mexico. He’s seen everything. He’s wrestled everything. I’m gonna get to experience that. I’m gonna say I got to step into the ring with a legit legend. And, I’m not gonna lose. I’m not gonna be respectful. I’m gonna be exactly who I am and I’m gonna win."
Martyr got his start in pro wrestling when he was just a teenager. He said he got hooked on the sport from watching old Lucha Libre tapes that his grandmother had recorded.
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While others grew up either watching the WWE (then-World Wrestling Federation) and World Championship Wrestling, Martyr said he got hooked on Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (AAA) and Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL).
"I started doing professional wrestling at 14 years old. I got into it because my grandmother was a huge fan of wrestling. She always recorded wrestling. She had tapes of AAA and CMLL," he told Fox News Digital. "Funny enough, I didn’t grow up on WWE at all. I grew up on Lucha Libre. That’s all I was watching from maybe the time I was 3 or 4 years old.
Pro wrestler Robert Martyr nails his opponent in the back on the head. (Provided to Fox News Digital)
"Eventually, you know, I had ADHD, I’m like, man, I can’t seem to stay still, and my mom was trying to find a sport and nothing was working. And I said, why don’t I just try wrestling. I don’t know if that’s possible. I found a school. They made us sign a waiver and the rest is history. So, that’s pretty much what I’ve been doing. I’ve wrestled in high school. I did boxing, Muy Thai. I’m in music. I do a lot of stuff."
Martyr said his hope was to bring out some emotion out of those watching. He wants to make people feel all kinds of emotion when he puts on his performance in the ring.
Like most pro wrestlers, it’s taken a while to get there and the grind wouldn’t be as such if it wasn’t for wild stories about going on the road.
Martyr shared his own story about being booked in his first show out of his home state of Florida.
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"The craziest one was probably when I drove 20 hours to Chicago to wrestle for three minutes. It was quite the something. Professional wrestler, she’s amazing, Janai Kai, was in that car. EK Prosper, from NXT, was also in that car. We were all together," he explained. "I started with those guys. We got this booking and we were like, you know what, it’s our first out of state booking (based in Florida), we’re gonna make this happen. We’re gonna go. We’re gonna put all our money together, drive up there. So, we drive up there and it’s just a mess. It’s like the worst run show you ever seen in your life.
"Nobody knows what’s happening. The promoter doesn’t know what’s happening. Pretty much, he had forgotten that he had booked me specifically. He had forgot that I was also there. So, when I show up, he was like, ‘Wait, I booked you?’ And I’m like, yeah. Here’s the text messages. And he’s like, ‘Oh.’ So he books me in a squash match and it was literally like two minutes after a 20-hour car ride from Orlando, Florida, to Chicago, Illinois, and back. So really like 40 hours for a two-minute squash match."
Indie wrestler Robert Martyr eyes the pro wrestling ring. (Provided to Fox News Digital)
Martyr admitted he took the loss on that trip and may not have even gotten paid for his troubles.
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Moving forward, he said he hoped to win some gold in the near future. If he does, it would be the first championship he’s held in his professional wrestling career.
Ryan Gaydos is a senior editor for Fox News Digital.
