Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
What's up, everybody? You're listening to Busted Open After Dark. It's your girl, Denise Salcedo. And today we are going to be chatting with TNA Wrestling's very own Casey Navarro.
This is the Busted Open Podcast.
Chapter 2: What insights does KC Navarro share about his wrestling journey?
TNA Wrestling's very own Casey Navarro. Casey, what up? How are you?
Pardon me. I'm feeling all right. It's cool to be on here. I've never been on the After Dark show. So this is cool.
Here we go. This is where the things go down. So the first thing I got to say, Casey, I got something to say to you. Sure. Can you fight?
Yeah. Yeah.
But it's a quote because I was going to say, Elena Black, excuse me. You know how people say like, oh, when you're like dating someone super hot, you're like, can they fight? Can they fight? I got to take them out.
Absolutely. I got to protect my girl, man. That's my queen. I got to protect her.
Oh, I love Elena. She's absolutely fantastic. And now you are in the same place as her once again. You and Elena now together back in TNA. What was it like? You made your return at Rebellion. How did you feel returning?
Man, it was a lot. You know, I think, speaking of Elena, if I didn't have Elena by my side, I don't know if I would have got through that return okay. You know, it was a long road, you know, eight months. I was supposed to be out for a year. I got cleared about three to four months early. Very blessed for that. It was a lot of hard work.
It probably wasn't until, like, the three-month mark where it was, like, really, really hard, because that's when I started walking again. And, like, you start to feel normal, but you also have to remember ā I'm still very far away from actually coming back. Around that time is kind of where I met Elena. And she had a similar injury back when she was in NXT.
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Chapter 3: How did KC Navarro feel about his return to TNA Wrestling?
At first, I had somebody bring me because I couldn't drive the first two months. So that was a bit rough. But I had a great team over at a hospital of special surgery. They work on the top of the line athletes in the country, in the world.
um so they're such a great team uh they were great supporters as well during all this uh gotta shout out my mom you know if my mom wasn't there during that time you know she got me going so shout out to my mom and that uh shout out to like i said elena black uh mike santana was also somebody that really reached out to me every day um there was a video that came out during his documentary that i also posted on my own of him kind of telling me at slam because
Not a lot of people know, but at Slant Anniversary, my ACL was already gone. I did that match because I wanted to be in it. My family, my friends, my teachers were there. It was in New York. You know, I felt like I was at home. It was a home game for me. And how many people can really say they've wrestled the Hardys for tag team titles in a ladder match? So I did it with one leg. I'm crazy.
But after my match, you know, even in Mike Santana's defeat, he looked at me and he said, hey, You're going to come back. You're going to tear this place up, you know, get your knee together, keep your heart, you know, good and stay out of your head because I've been there. And you know what? Mike Santana was there every step of the way for this.
So I appreciate Mike Santana calling me all the time, making sure I'm on the right track and to, you know, not return and go crazy. Like the one thing that Mike Santana didn't want me to do was to return and go crazy in the ring or go on the Indies on a tear. You know, he wants me to focus. He wants to be locked in. He wants me to be the next TNA world champion.
You know, he's been a great mentor to me. So Mike Santana definitely played a big role. So I think if I didn't have like that support system and, you know, just the heart that I already had, like going back after AJ Francis, after embarrassing me after slam, I mean, geez, I mean, give me some credit, buddy. I risked my career for you.
uh you know that support really meant the world to me so honestly it was support that meant everything to me for that you you you so all this that you're sharing right now about mike santana being there for you know that's really nice because sometimes in this fast-paced world of professional wrestling not that anyone means any harm but sometimes people get caught up in their own busy schedules that sometimes you know you forget to check on people so to always have somebody checking in on you that's honestly really nice
Absolutely. Yeah. Because the one thing with ACL injuries, man, is like I said, you'll get to a point where you're going to start walking. And they warned me about all this after I had surgery. They're like, hey, three, four months, you're going to be walking. You're going to feel normal. But you got to remember, you're very far away.
And, you know, you can hear that and be like, OK, yeah, I understand. And then when it happens, you're like, oh, man, like I can't jump. I can't run. I can't go in a wrestling ring. I can't go play basketball with my friends like this kind of sucks. And then that's when you kind of start to come down. But that's why support is everything in that.
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Chapter 4: What challenges did KC Navarro face during his recovery from injury?
So the moment I got into TNA, I was all for TNA. Now it's the AMC era. This is bigger. More homes are seeing us now. More people are seeing us. There are people that may have never watched wrestling that are like, who's this pink guy? Yeah, he's pretty cool. I like him. And they might start watching TNA. You know, who knows?
But now we have an opportunity to be something really, really big and reach a very big global audience. And it's just exciting for the entire locker room. You can tell everybody's more fired up. And I think that's why I got that win over AJ Francis. I was so fired up. I just knew my first match was...
was against somebody I've been wanting to get my hands on for the last eight months, and it was on AMC. So, you know, it's just, there's a fire. There's a different fire in the locker room.
I was going to say, man, you've made so many mentions of A.J. Francis. He's a friend of the show. I hope he's not listening right now. He might come through.
He'll be fine. He'll be fine.
What is Casey Navarro versus Leon Slater for the X Division title look like?
Man, you know, me and Leon Slater, we've only got to share the ring twice. We were in a singles match on Impact and we were also in the Ultimate X at Rebellion last year. Leon is a good friend of mine. And I gotta say, if there's something I gotta say right now is what Leon has done with the X Division, I really don't think a lot of guys are gonna be able to follow for a while.
I mean, the matches he's been putting on, the history he's been making, the things he's been doing. I mean, he's been representing the X Division Like no one ever has. I mean, showing up on John Cena's last show, doing all these big things on NXT. I'm so proud of him, especially for his age. I think a lot of people forget how young Leon Slater is. I mean, he's a couple years younger than me.
I'm 26. My man's what, 21, 22? He's doing phenomenal things. Honestly, if I had to be honest, I think Leon Slater would take me out right now. Because I am not the same Casey Navarro I was. I'll be honest, because Leon Slater's just on another level. I can't. I'm a man, and I can be honest. I know a lot of people will talk snaggedly. I can beat Leon Slater.
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Chapter 5: What are KC Navarro's short-term and long-term goals in TNA?
I have no idea. Yeah, I couldn't go to Mania last year. That was one thing and I was very sad about it. And so when I heard that it was happening again this year, I made it a goal to go.
So what was it like working these high caliber wrestlers that you did?
Yeah, so with Miyu, I mean, we worked a few times in the past, but for Bloodsport, it was these rules that we're kind of familiar with, but we haven't really worked each other with those specific rules. So we were looking forward to it in that sense. So with Miyu, I mean, she matches my energy and that's what I love. And so we love to go hard. We love to kick, obviously.
So that was really fun at that. With Shayna, that was one match for sure that I didn't think would ever happen. You know, just being on the indies and then just seeing her on TV, you know, it's just like one of those dream matches. So with her, she was just great. And to be honest, I want another round because I feel like that went by too quick. So we're going to have to do it again sometime.
You definitely should. Oh, my God. But here's the thing. You also got to take part of Lodestone. And we've been talking to a lot of the women that took part in this, hearing everybody's story and experience. What was yours like?
Yeah, so I was actually part of the first Lodestone and then I did attend the second one. So for the first one in December, it was a few days down in Orlando and that was just a much needed experience for me. With the Vegas one, it was a little bit different just because it was during mania week. So it was just for a couple of days, but there was a lot more women this time, it seems like.
There was like about 30 of them. And I was very happy to go and to support them and just to see Lodestone grow and to learn a lot more. And of course, more surprise guests came through, like CM Punk came through, Rey Mysterio, Becky Lynch, Seth Rollins. So it was a really good experience. And again, just meeting more women that I would love to work sometime. And I was just very happy with it.
It's a good time at Lodestone. And Bailey is just an amazing human.
So here's the thing. Like, you're hearing the stories from CM Punk and Becky and Seth and Ray. Which one to you touched you the most where you were thinking, oh, my gosh, like, this is such a profound thing that they are saying?
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