El Generico began wrestling at IWS in 2002 and quickly rose to prominence. Generico would go on to wrestle for PWG, wXw, EVOLVE, and other companies.
Generico hasn’t wrestled since 2013, and it’s unclear if he’ll ever do it again. According to mythology, Sami Zayn wore the mask of El Generico, however, no one has proven this.
PCP Crazy Manny, the founder of IWS, told Jeremy Lambert and Stephen Jensen on The Spotlight the origin tale of the enigma generic luchador.
“Sami was literally one of my neighbors growing up, he lived a street away from me. He started coming to IWS shows as a broom boy. He would sweep the ring and sneak in early and would be practicing early and taking bumps. One day, TNT, his opponent didn’t show up and he was like, ‘give me the kid.’ We put an Octagon mask on [Sami]. The Generico mask is actually an Octagon mask. We put an Octagon mask on him that somebody had backstage, and we named him El Generico, the generic luchador. He went out there and had his first match. I’ll never forget, he did the Super Crazy corkscrew moonsault to the outside and when he landed it, he just went, ‘Ole!’ because he didn’t know what to say, and the crowd went insane and started ‘Ole, Ole, Ole,’ and it just took off. We all know what happened with him,”
Crazy Manny on El Generico origins
While El Generico’s fate may never be known, Sami Zayn has found plenty of success in WWE as one-half of the reigning Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions.
Manny also mentioned IWS’s collaboration with FITE Plus throughout the conversation.
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