How Have A Word’s Harry Robinson became El Horno

There’s a new name taking over the North West independent wrestling scene. Hailing from the “Mexican Quarter of Huyton,” El Horno has quickly become one of the standout names in Atomic Wrestling. In a short time, he has launched his own faction, the Horno World Order (HWO), alongside manager Sensei Carl, recruiting some of the biggest names on the British indie circuit, including veteran Sam Bailey and Scouse tag team FTM. The group has already become one of the most exciting storylines in Atomic Wrestling.

Behind the mask is internet personality, journalist, and documentarian Harry Robinson, best known for his work on one of the UK’s biggest podcasts, Have A Word. I spoke to Harry about his move into wrestling, covering everything from where his love of the sport began to how the support of Have A Word fans has helped him achieve some of his biggest goals.

Like many working-class children growing up in the mid-2000s, wrestling wasn’t always accessible to Harry. “We didn’t have Sky, and it was always on Sky One. So it was almost like this kind of otherworldly thing,” he said. “The only time I would ever catch it was when I would go to friends.”

To get his wrestling fix, Harry remembers being gifted a DVD of WrestleMania 25. “I remember someone bought me a DVD of that Wrestlemania, and I watched that quite a bit, and that felt like a real moment that I've unlocked this world that my parents certainly wouldn't entertain.”

Like many modern wrestling fans and even some wrestlers, Harry’s real love for wrestling grew through the early video games. “I think a lot of my love came from the early games, where there was a career mode that you would be in first person backstage, and you could form tag teams.”

That influence can still be seen in Harry’s wrestling persona, El Horno, who performs under a luchador mask. The story behind buying the mask is classic Harry: “I was on Vinted, and there was a wrestling mask for a tenner, and I turned to my Mrs and said ‘There’s a wrestling mask for a tenner!’ and she went ‘You’re not buying that.’ So I bought it!”

Harry has since taken that passion online, live-streaming WWE 2K26 every Friday night alongside manager Sensei Carl on their show, Friday Night Boffdown. The streams mainly feature custom-created wrestlers based on well-known figures and guests from their podcast, MadThat, including Les Dennis, Harambe, and El Horno himself.

“We had Stephen Mulhern powerbombing Les Dennis the other day,” Harry said. “People see that, and they recognise these characters and see how they are being portrayed, you get invested. You don't have to be into wrestling to understand it.”

Do you remember the “Don’t Try This at Home” advert that aired before every WWE show? Like most people, Harry admits he ignored it. His first taste of wrestling “training” came in a wooden amphitheatre at primary school.

“Me and this lad called Lewis, who was dead skinny, and I was one of the tallest in the year. We used to wrestle, and we were like powerbombing each other onto the side of these wooden benches. It got to the point where we got sat down by the dinner ladies and were told, ‘You're just beating the shit out of each other, you can’t do that anymore!’”

One thing that became clear while speaking to Harry about his involvement in wrestling was his awareness of the position he is in. He is careful not to intrude on a business built by wrestlers who have spent years earning their place on the independent scene. He is also quick to acknowledge that his platform, through Have A Word, has opened doors, including a storyline that sees El Horno and the HWO feud with wrestling and content creator Simon Miller.

“People work their arse off to be in that position and to be backstage, to see behind the curtain,” Harry said. “We (Harry and Carl) applying ourselves to being a bit silly means we got to be in that position without putting in the hours and doing the training, and we are very conscious about that.”

He added: “I'm really putting in the effort now because I want to walk into them changing rooms and not be seen as a kind of local Travis Scott.”

For Harry, sharing a storyline with Simon Miller is especially surreal. “I grew up with Simon Miller, I grew up with WhatCulture Wrestling, and he sent me a message saying it's great what you are doing, after I sent him a message saying thank you for being a part of this silly bollocks that we are doing.”

Speaking about taking his training more seriously, Harry has been attending the FutureShock Wrestling academy in Manchester, where he trains with British independent wrestling veteran Troy Ryan.

“Troy Ryan has put in years and years, and he grafts. He’s so talented, and his body is in unbelievable shape. I had a Wingstop the other day. So I pinch myself a lot about the position I’m in.”

The final question I asked Harry was simple: What is the end goal for El Horno?

For Harry, the answer is modest. “I'm taking it one step at a time; the end goal is to have one match, and that’s my bucket list ticked off,” he said. “The last thing I want to do is linger around and be a detriment to people who have put in the graft. When I was four, I used to flip-flop between either wanting to be a comedian or being a wrestler. I have been able to do jokey stuff on stage at an arena, so if I do the wrestling thing, that's it.”

Harry feels representative of a new generation of wrestling fans and wrestling-adjacent personalities,  someone aware of both public perception and the opinions of hardcore wrestling audiences. That awareness shapes how he approaches his involvement in the industry.

Whatever your opinion on public figures stepping into wrestling, it is difficult to resent Harry’s rise in the business. At a time when celebrity involvement in wrestling can often divide opinion, particularly in WWE, where figures like Pat McAfee have become polarising, Harry's journey feels different.