Cassandro: The Exoctico!
Review by: Don Halliwell
This documentary, directed by Marie Losier, on Cassandro gave a very personal insight into the life of the most famous and accomplished Exotico. Whether you are not familiar with him at all or are a fan you will find this every entertaining and insightful. It gives a glimpse into his past, including some amazing dives which I had never seen before, but not too much as to bore people who are
already familiar with him.
The film mixes interviews while taking you through his home life, along with matches and
training. You get to see Cassandro in his everyday life, where he maintains the amazing sense
of style and personality that he has when he performs. Whenever you see him doing things like
his laundry, with ring attire that any wrestler would be jealous of, to a family cookout, he just
controls the camera and makes you care and enjoy anything he is doing.
Cassandro mentions some things in his past that would have derailed others from having a 27 +
year wrestling career but he nor the movie focuses on these things. He mentions about being
discriminated due to him being an Exotico, along with being a gay wrestler and a lot of times
not given the opportunities based on those things. He also talks about being very proud of
overcoming his additions, along with going to therapy and NA. He never dwells on these things
but instead is proud that he was able to overcome them and become very successful and win
multiple championships. While most of the time Cassandro comes off very secure and
confident, I feel that the moments that he shows his vulnerable side are the most power in the
movie.
His absolute love for pro wresting is one of the things that comes across the most in this film.
He is shown training young wrestlers with the energy and enthusiasm of someone as young as
these students. As he is going through the injuries that he has had to have repaired and injuries
that he still has he never once wants you to feel sorry for him, as you can tell this is what he
loves to do, what he has always wanted to do and what he would always like to do.
As he is at a wresting show in England and he sees the younger wrestlers on the roster he
mentions that it feels so good to him that the rosters are more diverse now and that you have
more LGBT+ wrestlers. I think that he knows that he was one of the people that has broken the
barriers for these young wrestlers and is proud that he was able to have such an influence on
this new generation.
One of my concerns going into the movie was that it was going to be in Spanish or that it was
just going to be like a shoot interview. Cassandro speaks very good English and does so through
most of the movie. The scenes outside of the interview and ring are almost shot like a home
movie, which gave it a more personal feel.
I would recommend this movie to anyone, even if you are not a wresting fan. It sounds very
clique, but I had a giant smile on my face during parts, may have teared up a bit, and definitely
had some laughs. Cassandro is a legend in pro wresting and continues to inspire young
wrestlers. His influence will be seen for years to come.
You can see Cassandro in action next week at The Collective, where he'll be in action at "Effy's Big Gay Brunch, taking on AEW star Sonny Kiss. He's also participating in The Clusterfuck at Joey Janela's Spring Break 4 show.
