Listen for yourself over at MLWradio, starting at 17:35:
Court Bauer: [T]he Mexicools when they came in… the concept initially was that they were never to be paired together. They were going to enter and revive the Cruiserweight division and give it a boost. You would have all these guys that could wrestle each other and it would really pop the division which had Brian Kendrick, it had Paul London, it had just a who’s who at the time. Of course, you add those guys into the mix, now we’ve got a banging Cruiserweight division!
And then a bad… stereotypical joke was made on a plane ride and before you knew it, they were out there together as a trio. They weren’t wrestling each other, they were running around with lawnmowers — so there went that idea.
Konnan: Would it be the same guy who put [Zeb] Colter and ADR together and also came up with The New Day gimmick?
Court: Nope. It was a writer that actually is still with the company. (laughs)
Konnan: Does he dress like a pimp every now and then? [Note: Konnan hinting at Michael Hayes]
Court: It wasn’t that writer actually! It was another writer, but you gotta be careful. You might make a joke, it might even be a bad joke or a racist joke, but sometimes those jokes become an idea in someone’s mind. Then they say, ‘Well, why aren’t we doing that, Goddammit?! Let’s move forward! Can you imagine those guys on lawnmowers!? It’s such a big entrance! The three of them! They’ll be huge babyfaces!!’
Court: I don’t think the Hispanic audience was excited to see people represented like that from Mexico. It wasn’t gonna click but [Psicosis] got paid well and unfortunately it… you know, they also had an idea for Juvi! At one point, Vince thought Juvi was gonna be the next Rock. He’s like, ‘This guy has so much charisma! He oozes charisma! Do you see how he walks, how he carries himself? How he dresses like a star?!’
Well, yes… and there’s the other side of getting Juicy. (laughs)”
Personally, I’m not really surprised at all this as I remember being completely blown away at how brazen the WWE was with the Mexicools’ lawnmower entrance. No subtlety. No real parody to be found, just the three Cruiserweights playing up a caricature of what it meant to be a Mexican in America. Their debut on SmackDown made sure to point out how they’re not there to wash toilets but take over the Cruiserweight division, all while bragging about their new ride: The Mexican Limo 2005 (which, I guess, would later be branded as a Juan Deere).
They were not Mexican, they were Mexicool!
At that point in time as a Hispanic 21-year-old, I just rolled my eyes at what the WWE was doing for just cheap heat. I never got completely offended over the characters as I was a little excited to see my favorites from WCW finally in the WWE, but it’s such a bizarre group to look back upon in 2015. Times are different now, granted, and I’m not retroactively being offended here a decade later — it’s just bizarre to discover that a racist or off-color joke managed to be the starting point to what would end up defining the WWE careers of three mega-talented wrestlers.
Then again, it could have been worse for Psicosis, Juvi and Super Crazy… they could have been The Dicks.
40-year-old World Championship Wrestling fanatic/collector/hoarder. Safety officer by day, scanner of wrestling magazine by night.
He’s got posters on the wall, his favorite rock group’s KISS.