The Man Behind the Mask?
by Mia Iseman
If you were at the party for Celebration 2009, you may have had the pleasure of seeing certain luchadores battle it out in the ring. As the person in charge of paying the wrestlers their winnings at the end of the night, many have approached me in awe of one specific wrestler: El Payaso. I sat down with his friend, Chad Stewart, to ask him a few questions and see if I might get any closer to the man behind the mask.
Chad hails from North Andover, MA, and got his BS from Full Sail University, an accelerated program in Winter Park, Florida. He currently programs video games at BioWare. “I also have my own company on the side called Binary Solo.” He clarifies, “Yes, inspired by the Flight of the Concords song.” I had to dig deeper to find out the truth about the real relationship between Chad Stewart and El Payaso.
Mia Iseman: Do you have any nicknames?
Chad Stewart: I think I went by Other Chad or Zack my first Winter League since I was on Chad Larson's team, but nothings really stuck.
Mia: When did you start playing Ultimate?
Chad: My freshman year of high school. We had an Ultimate team and for some reason I decided to play that instead of soccer. I picked it up pretty quick. Eventually I became the captain and helped to grow my home town's Ultimate scene by getting us involved in the local league's planning and team meetings.
Mia: What is different about Austin ultimate compared to Florida and Massachusetts?
Chad: The Austin scene is so much friendlier and so tight-knit. In Boston you played another team and sure, at the end of the game you felt that bond. It ended that day though. In Austin it feels like you make a permanent connection when you chat with someone on the field. Next season you're remembered.
Mia: What do you like most about Ultimate?
Chad: Laying out. I know I probably shouldn't say that because now my team will be expecting this, but really I just like seeing an amazing play. It's great when both teams can admire a feat of athleticism, how amazing you feel just to be involved. It's always a good feeling when you push yourself extremely hard and, damn, it's rewarding.
Mia: Do you play other sports/have other hobbies?
Chad: I like to write, play video games, and (sometimes) I enjoy working out. I want to play basketball again.
Mia: Some people in the ultimate community have commented that you were "awesome," "hilarious," and "the best fake luchador ever.”. How did you feel right after you won?
Chad: I don't know what you're talking about. A good luchador never reveals their identity. Luckily, I am good friends with El Payaso. Now, I can't speak from personal experience, but he always seems extremely pumped up after a win. He's always going on and on about how the crowd was into it and how that's the only reason he wrestles these days. I'll pass the comments along and I'm sure that'll make him even more stoked about his big win.
Mia: Why did La Basurera attack you and put a garbage bin over your head? Is there something going on that the public should know about?
Chad: El Payaso and La Basurera have always had this kind of rivalry. Honestly, that La Basurera is nuts. The whole thing stems back to this one time me, er, my friend was eating a churro in his small home town in Mexico. Sometimes a man just can't finish that second churro. So he did what any self-respecting luchador would do and simply threw it to the ground. That's when this La Basurera chump came by and started ranting and raving about trash.
There was promise of a "Day of Reckoning, where the garbage will finally throw you out," but that was pretty much the end of it. I don't think I planned on being blind-sided in the ring some three years later.
Mia: Do you plan on reclaiming your championship anytime soon?
Chad: El Payaso is actually training extremely hard. A loss like that hurts not only physically, but emotionally as well. A damaged honor is hard to recover from. Maybe one day we'll see El Payaso back and stronger than ever. I would feel terrible spoiling that for anyone, though.
Mia: What is your training routine like since you must become strong for both ultimate and lucha libre?
Chad: I've always been told it takes three things to become strong- will power, courage, and bench pressing anyone. Will power comes once you've got a reason. Courage, well, you have to be born with it. However, you can learn how to bench press a four hundred pound man. That part, my friends, takes practice.
Is Chad Stewart the real identity of El Payaso? I guess we’ll never know. It is clear, however, that he is a shining example of what we love about Austin Ultimate. He doesn’t claim to be the best on the team, is friendly with everyone he meets, and even volunteers his time and energy to help make the leagues/parties better. All this, and Chad only has one thing to ask of the ultimate community: “Please stop sprinting so fast when I'm covering you. I'm running out of breath.”
Pics: El Payaso vs. El Guapo y La Basurera
