Luchawiki - User contributions [en]

User:Suplexmasta

2007-09-11T02:14:34Z

Suplexmasta:

My name is Stephen, AKA Suplexmasta. Don't ask, I've had the name since I was fourteen, and it seemed cool at the time.

As far as my contributions to LuchaWiki, I mostly fix spelling and grammar. Seeing as I'm in college to be an English teacher, that kind of makes sense. Plus, for the most part I don't know enough about lucha to contribute actual information.

I have enough credits for a minor in Spanish, but I'm still not very good as far as holding a conversation goes. I can parse out most stuff, though, and give a passable translation. (I still would double-check anything through Babelfish or some similar site if you want to be sure I'm right.)

I can be reached through email at [suplexmasta@gmail.com].

Category talk:Trinidadians wrestlers

2006-06-14T00:47:50Z

Suplexmasta:

Shouldn't that be "Trinidadian wrestlers"? --[[User:Suplexmasta|suplexmasta]] 19:47, 13 June 2006 (CDT)

Mr. Lince

2006-06-13T01:21:32Z

Suplexmasta:

Se inicia en 1964 a los 14 años como luchador amateur en los estilos libre y greco bajo las enseñanzas de el profesor Romeo en el Injuve de Monterrey N.L. compitiendo durante cinco años sin interrupcion. A los 18 años Inicia su entrenamiento como profesional con el Maestro Benny Llanas comenzando así su carrera en la Lucha Libre Monterrey. 3 años después siendo ya profesional inicia sus entrenamientos con el gran maestro [[Rolando Vera]] siguiéndolo hasta el año de 2001 año en que fallece don Rolando Vera. Inicia su trabajo en la enseñanza en el año de 1974 hasta la fecha. Trabaja como Programador y Matchmaker en la Monumental Monterrey de 1985 a 1990. Maneja arenas Chicas en el area metropolitana de Monterrey de 1990 a 1996. Trabaja como Programador y Matchmaker en la arena Solidaridad de 1992 a1993 y de 1996 a 1997. Organiza funciones de lucha libre privadas desde 1980 hasta la fecha. Es el Maestro sinodal de la H. Comision de Box y Lucha de Monterrey para examenes profesionales de Lucha Libre de 1980 a 1999. Continua la enseñanza de Lucha Libre en su Gimnasio Mr. Lince GYM en Monterrey N.L.y manejando Luchadores Profesionales.

[[Category:Mexican wrestlers]]
[[Category:Trainers]]

Blue Panther

2006-06-13T01:20:02Z

Suplexmasta:

== Profile ==

{{bioFields||image=Bluepanther.jpg
|name=Blue Panther
|nicknames=El Maestro Lagunero (The Lagunero Master)
|nameHistory=Blue Panther (debut - )
|family=[[Black Warrior]] (nephew)
|maestro="El Carnicerito" [[Héctor López]], [[Halcón Suriano]]
|birthdate=September 18, 1960 - Gómez Palacio, Durango
|obituarydate=
|debut=October 8, 1978 - Gómez Palacio, Durango
|height=5'7"/171 cms
|weight=194 lbs/88 kg
|signatureMoves=[[El Nudo Lagunero]], [[Fujiwara armbar]], [[Quebradora|Quebradora Lagunera]] (double underhook backbreaker submission), [[Double Underhook Backbreaker]], [[Tapatía Paseada]] (rolling Romero Special)
|titles=[[Northern Light Heavyweight Title]], [[Naucalpan Tag Team Titles]] (w/ [[Black Terry]]), [[UWA World Welterweight Title]], [[UWA World Junior Light Heavyweight Title]], [[CMLL World Middleweight Title]], [[National Middleweight Title]], [[National Trios Titles]] (3, w/ [[Fuerza Guerrera]] & [[Psicosis]], w/ [[Fuerza Guerrera]] & [[El Signo]] twice), [[CMLL World Trios Titles]] (2, w/ [[Black Warrior]] & [[Dr. Wagner Jr.]], w/ [[Dr. Wagner Jr.]] & [[Fuerza Guerrera]]), [[WWA World Welterweight Title]], [[CMLL World Tag Team Titles]] (w/ [[Atlantis]]), [[WWA World Middleweight Title]], 1st Annual [[Leyenda Azul]] Tournament
|}}

== Biography ==

Blue Panther was born on September 18, 1960 in Gómez Palacio. After getting trained first by [[Héctor López]] (a local wrestler that never made it to Mexico City), and later by [[El Halcón Suriano]], he made his professional debut on October 8 of 1978 in his hometown at age eighteen.

The "panther" part of his name obviously comes from the animal, while the "blue" part is a tribute to his childhood idol Anibal who also had a blue mask. He actually designed his own mask, a hood that some journalists laughed at, saying that "a guy with a mask as ugly as that one will never get past the undercards". But seeing the way Blue Panther's career went, it looks like many of those writers had to eat their own words.

During his rookie year, Panther already was a better technician and smarter wrestler than many guys with more experience than him. A year after his debut he started to wrestle for [[René Guajardo]], who was the booker of the Northern Mexico division. He went there with a recommendation from his coach [[Halcón Suriano]].

Even though he was the Northern Light Heavyweight champion (he had defeated Chucho Mar in Gómez Palacio to get that title), [[René Guajardo|Guajardo]] had never heard of him, but when he saw him in actuion he was nothing but impressed. Panther made his Mexico City debut on September 16, 1979. Guajardo saw all the potential and talent in the young boy and booked him regularly in Monterrey for several months and gave him a small mid-card push and the masks of two wrestlers called [[La Bestia]] and Oro (not the legendary [[Oro]] that died in 1993).

Due to his ties with [[René Guajardo|Guajardo]], who was a UWA associate, he got to work for [[Francisco Flores]], and later [[Carlos Maynes]] for more than a decade. Panther made his Toreo de Cuatro Caminos (the main UWA building) debut on March 81. He started out his career as a técnico but now they made him wrestle as a rudo.

Panther's first big title match was when in 1982 he got a UWA Middleweight title shot against Centurión Negro in his hometown of Gómez Palacio. He actually defeated Centurión in the third fall via submission, but he "didn't know" that his opponent had already submit and the referee reversed the decision and Centurión kept the belt.

But it was 1984 when he finally got his big break. He had a good winning streak and he was promoted as number one contender for the UWA Welterweight title, and on December 16, 1984, he defeated El Matemático to win the first major title on his career. But that year Panther got other trophys. He unmasked [[Gorila Infernal]], [[Luzbel]] and [[Bull Power]], and also [[Las Sombras de Plata (I/II)]] teaming with [[Black Man]] on November 20. Also on June 24, he got the hair of [[El Brillante]] at La Arena Querétaro in Querétaro, Qro. Years later, [[El Brillante]] would become popular as the masked [[Kendo]].

Now he was getting booked more regularly un the undercards (first or second match of the night) of the weekly cards at El Toreo, mostly teaming with [[Negro Casas]] against other light weights like [[Black Man]], [[Kendo]], [[Ultraman]] or [[El Hijo del Santo]]. Even back then, Panther was one of the men that provided one of the most solid bases to the athletic flyers, making them look better than they are.

On February 9, 1986, Panther lost the UWA Welterweight title to [[Black Man]] in Mexico City, but a week later, he got his revenge in that same building after defeating [[Black Man]] in a mask vs. mask match. Panther moved on from the Welterweight division and on November 16 he defeated [[El Gran Hamada]] at El Toreo to win the UWA World Junior Light Heavyweight Title.

He lost it to another excellent mat wrestler like him, [[Solar I]], on May 25, 1987 in Puebla. A few months after that loss he moved on to the Tijuana circuits though he kept wrestling for LLI/UWA.

In 1988, and more exactly on February 8, he regained the UWA title from Solar. That same year he also won the masks of the "martial artists" [[Kendo]] and [[Blackman]].

On September 16 of the same year Panther lost the title to the indian chief [[Gran Cochisse]], and around that time he started to wrestle regularly for EMLL as well, though he had already made spot appearances at Arena Mexico and Arena Coliseo in the past.

In 1990 he opened his own gym and became the youngest maestro of lucha libre at the time. A lot of the wrestlers who signed up for his gym were actually women, so he also became the first teacher that trained men and women at the same time. In that same year, Panther also had his first Japanese tour competing for [[Gran Hamada|Gran Hamada's]] Universal Pro Wrestling.

Panther jumped full-time to EMLL in July 1991 and his first feud there was with another great wrestler, [[Atlantis]], who was the NWA Middleweight champion at the time. Both men had an excellent title match in August in which [[Atlantis]] retained his title but Blue Panther surprised everyone and even though he lost, he came off looking better than his opponent. This classic match MADE Blue Panther a big star. The plans of the EMLL staff was having them continue the feud and then have them battle in a mask vs. mask match. Supposedly, Panther had already agreed to drop the mask, but then the wrestlers' strike hit and when it finished the feud was dropped.

EMLL created its own CMLL titles, and on December 18, Panther made [[Satanico]] submit to la tapatía in the tournament final for the vacant title, held in Acapulco. Panther was never defeated for that title but vacated it on May of the following year when he jumped to AAA.

Panther's last money match in CMLL was the first big battle of perhaps his most memorable feud ever, the one against the cocky American wrestler [[Love Machine]]. They had been feuding basically since the end of the strike in late 91, and the first stage of the feud culminated on April 3, 1992 when both men battled in a mask vs. mask match that sold-out Arena Mexico. As we can guess, Panther won that match after [[Love Machine|Machine]] was disqualified for using a martinete (Tombstone piledriver). The angle here was that [[Love Machine|Machine]] didn't know that the tombstone is a banned move, because in his country you can use it freely without being DQ'd.

Going into the business side of things, that match sold-out the building as mentioned - drawing 18,000 fans to the arena, and with 8,000 more fans waiting outside. CMLL had an awful past experience with the [[Rayo de Jalisco Jr.]] vs. [[Cien Caras]] mask vs. mask match as the enraged fans that couldn't get into the arena broke through the gates and damaged everything they could, causing damage that took around a month to repair. The building was overcrowded enough (Arena México "officially" holds 17,678 fans) but management set up a closed-circuit set of giant screens so everybody could watch the match.

Panther was one of the first to jump to AAA as soon as it was born (May) because when in EMLL he was in Peña's "clique". [[Love Machine]] jumped shortly thereafter and he resumed his feud with Panther, culminating in a mask vs. hair match held on July 18, 93 in Tonala, Jalisco. Before that one, Panther also had a rivalry with [[Vulcano|"El Comandante" Vulcano]], the leader of the Los Destructores Del Ring trio, with Panther taking Vulcano's hair in a disappointing match.

Most of his AAA stay was based around him holding a title (National Middleweight) and getting all kinds of talented tecnicos to challenge him for it. To nobody's surprise, many of those matches (especially the ones against [[Angel Azteca]], [[Mariachi]]/[[Solar]] and [[Super Astro]]) rank among the best lucha title matches of the 90s.

In 1995, when the peso went down and there was less work in AAA [[Fuerza Guerrera]] and Panther created the independent promotion PROMELL, and got some AAA guys to jump, plus they used old UWA stars and independent talent including some big names like [[Mascara Año 2000]], [[Universo 2000]], [[Vampiro]], Villanos and Brazos. AAA and PROMELL co-promoted until December of that year, so Panther obviously stopped working for AAA as well.

Panther and Fuerza wrestled briefly for EMLL in 1996, but then they left as soon as they re-started PROMELL that eventually became Promo Azteca. After lots of problems, Promo closed as well, so Panther returned to AAA on July 11, 1997. As soon as he arrived, he was put in a feud with [[Máscara Sagrada Jr.]]

Panther didn't like [[Máscara Sagrada Jr.|Sagrada]] (as a wrestler) and felt that he was not the a good opponent so three months later (October 17) he went to EMLL again. Shortly thereafter he participated in EMLL's Copa Victoria tournament and lost the finals against his old enemy Atlantis on December 5.

Blue Panther just kept wrestling in EMLL without a really hot feud or anything, but he was always on top of the cards due to his charisma and incredible wrestling ability.

On December of 1998, he formed a rudo dream team with his nephew [[Black Warrior]] and [[Dr. Wagner Jr.]], and the 18th they defeated Zumbido, Bestia Salvaje and Scorpio Jr. in the finals of a 2-week tournament for the vacant CMLL Trios Titles. "Los Laguneros" (name of their team) from then started having excellent matches against teams like [[El Hijo del Santo|Santo]], [[Negro Casas|Casas]] & [[Felino]], or [[Emilio Charles Jr.|Charles Jr.]], [[Mr. Niebla|Niebla]] & [[Atlantis]].

On April 2, 1999, Panther teamed with [[Ultimo Guerrero]] (a guy he discovered) to win the one-night Gran Alternativa (a youngster and a veteran) tournament at Arena Coliseo, defeating [[Mr. Niebla]] and [[Atlántico]] in the finals.

During 1999, Panther put over talented youngsters like [[Mr. Niebla]] and [[Olímpico]] in clean scientific matches. So it's not that he's got a big ego and he doesn't like youngsters like many other veterans do, he just refuses to put over in singles matches wrestlers he thinks that don't deserve it, or he wouldn't have a big feud with somebody without a real amateur background that can't work a matwork based match.

He spent most of the 2000 having great trios matches with [[Dr. Wagner Jr.|Wagner]] and [[Black Warrior|Warrior]], and having a singles feud with El Hijo del Santo trading the WWA Welterweight Title with him, and he was also used as a challenger in several championship bouts (vs. [[Ringo Mendoza]] for CMLL Middleweight, vs. [[Villano III]] for CMLL Light Heayvweight, vs. [[Super Parka]] for WWA Junior Light Heayvweight) because the promoters know that he excels at that kind of matches.

There is no doubt that Blue Panther is one of the best wrestlers to ever grace lucha libre. He is able to carry any green luchador and make him look good, he can have great matches with average opposition, and he always has excellent or classic matches when facing a great opponent. He's one of the smartest minds in all of wrestling and probably the best mat based wrestler in the business, he's versatile (excellent rudo, excellent tecnico) and undoubtedly a young legend and a future hall of famer.

 

== Overview of Candidacy For The Wrestling Observer Hall of Fame ==

1. Was he ever regarded as the best draw in the world? Was he ever regarded
as the best draw in his country or his promotion?

No to both.

2. Was he an international draw, national draw and/or regional draw?

He never was an international draw (even when AAA drew big in LA and he main
evented, he was not the draw). On the national level, while he had some
short periods where he was drawing really well in singles matches, he had
the benefit of working in hot promotions with super draws ([[Cien Caras]], [[Perro Aguayo]], [[Konnan]]). He was a main event player during his whole AAA stay, but a
lot of the time in a "supporting role" as a guy who you could stick in a
team with [[Cien Caras]] and [[Fishman]] (a team we saw often during the early years
of AAA) so he'd carry the workload of his team. But his program with [[Love Machine]] worked great in two different promotions, and his run in a trio with the Guerreras, or [[Fuerza Guerrera|Fuerza]] and [[Psicosis]], were very productive on the house show level. But that was the tale of AAA's "[[Konnan]] era" as almost anything you threw on top would draw great numbers for the "regular" shows, and you had [[Konnan]], [[Perro Aguayo|Aguayo]], [[Cien Caras|Cien]], sometimes [[Jake Roberts]], and sometimes huge mask matches, bringing in the big crowds for the special shows.

3. How many years did he have as a top draw?

He never was a top draw.

4. Was he ever regarded as the best worker in the world? Was he ever
regarded as the best worker in his country or in his promotion?

He was never really regarded as the best worker in the world. On the other
hand, he's been consistently regarded as the best worker in his promotion
and country from 1991 to perhaps year 2000, except for a couple of years in
the mid 90s where many would position [[Eddy Guerrero]], [[Rey Misterio Jr.]],
[[Psicosis]] or [[Juventud Guerrera]] above him in terms of work. The only ones I'd
consider better than him are Guerrero in 1994 and [[Rey Misterio Jr.|Misterio]] and [[Juventud Guerrera|Guerrera]] in 95-96 ([[Eddy Guerrero|Eddy]] was not working in Mexico). Also there's a strong case for [[Negro Casas]] and [[Dandy]] in 1991 and 1992, but it's still very close and opinion more than anything else. I'd not argue much with anybody defending either side.

Nowadays he doesn't have the benefit of a huge TV push at Arena Mexico,
which hurts his visibility, so most people would place [[Shocker]] and [[Ultimo Guerrero]] over him, as well as [[El Hijo del Santo|Santo]] and [[Black Tiger]], and probably [[Rey Bucanero]].

5. Was he ever the best worker in his class (sex or weight)? Was he ever one
of the top workers in his class?

In the 80s he was a middleweight and there was some better guys in Mexico alone,
such as [[El Dandy]] and [[Emilio Charles Jr.|Emilio Charles]]. If we are counting as classes the
"heavyweights" and the "junior heavyweights" only, several Japanese like
Takada would rank above him, not to mention Mexicans like [[Negro Casas]],
[[Fuerza Guerrera]] or [[Hijo del Santo]] in lower weight classes. 1990 probably was
the year when he started getting noticed by "the hardcores", but the usual
suspects still were better. In 1991 he got noticed by the "mainstream"
audience and I'd say he arguably was the best in Mexico for single matches,
but [[Negro Casas]] (a middleweight by then) had better night-in and night-out
output. In 1992 and 1993 he definitely was the best in Mexico (though some,
like Steve Sims, would probably make a strong case for Fuerza in 1991-92).
Whether he was or wasn't the best the rest of the years, as said, is more
debatable. However, that he was one of the top 2-3 workers in his class is
something almost universally agreed.

6. How many years did he have as a top worker?

Blue Panther could be considered excellent from 1984 to 1990, and a top
worker from 1991 to 2000. As said, the last couple of years he hasn't been
on TV as much and that has hurt his visibility, but quality has not dropped,
and does not look to be dropping.

7. Was he a good worker before his prime? Was he a good worker after his
prime?

Blue Panther's prime would be something like 1991-93, though some would say
his 94-95 AAA work was better. Either way, he always was not only good, but
a great worker. His first "real" exposure was 1984 in El Toreo in
preliminary or welterweight/lightweight matches (he was a welterweight)
usually teaming with people like [[Negro Casas]], [[Black Terry]], [[Jose Luis Feliciano|Jose Feliciano]] and facing people like [[El Hijo del Santo]], [[Black Man]], [[Matematico]] and [[Kendo]]. His work back then was already getting rave reviews in the magazines. Three
years later he was having a really hot run in El Toreo and Tijuana carrying
athletic guys with [[Kato Kung Lee]]/[[Super Kendo]] gimmicks that couldn't work a
lick, to very good technical matches. In 1990, he was often the second
worker of the team whenever he teamed with [[Negro Casas]] and [[Fuerza Guerrera]]
(quite compliment, since [[Negro Casas|Casas]] was an unbelievable worker then and Fuerza
wasn't too bad either). After his prime, he's steadily been a top 5 worker
in Mexico.

8. Did he have a large body of excellent matches? Did he have a excellent
matches against a variety of opponents?

Definitely. Excellent singles matches with [[Solar I]] in three different
decades, [[Hijo del Santo]], [[Super Astro]], [[Angel Azteca]] and [[Atlantis]] among
others. His only disappointing big profile singles matches that I can recall
have been with [[Octagon]] (loaded) and [[Vulcano]] (pretty good rudo brawler, but
couldn't work the technical style).

9. Did he ever anchor his promotion(s)?

Not really. He was featured in the "main program" of the promotion once in
his career, vs. [[Love Machine]] in CMLL. When they did it in AAA, they
headlined, but there was other feuds drawing the big show money. He was
never put in a real position to anchor his promotion.

10. Was he effective when pushed at the top of cards?

I'd say so. He was always carried the work when he was thrown in as a
support main event player, always got his opponent (and himself) over when
he had to in singles matches, drew when he was in a position to and was
effective working angles both as a rudo and as a tecnico. Problem is
perception, and he isn't big enough (size) to be like an [[Universo 2000]] or
[[Rayo de Jalisco Jr.|Rayo de Jalisco]] figure, so he sometimes was relegated to semi-final or third
match of the card positions.

11. Was he valuable to his promotion before his prime? Was he still valuable
to his promotion after his prime?

Yes in both cases. Somebody with his name value, charisma and work quality
is always a valuable player. He's an eternal favorite of the hardcore fans
anywhere in Mexico, who happen to be the louder ones, too. He's somebody who
can be thrown in at any moment in a main event and deliver even if the
opposition is not good.

12. Did he have an impact on a number of strong promotional runs?

The first stage of his feud with [[Love Machine]] was during the CMLL TV boom,
and it the second stage caught AAA's even bigger success. Since so many
people saw it and it was a brilliantly booked feud, it caught so much fire
that within short time it was elevated to legendary status, and it's a
wonderful nostalgia moment to any fan that watched Mexican wrestling in the
90s.

13. Was he involved in a number of memorable rivalries, feuds or storylines?

The already mentioned [[Love Machine]] feud is the most famous one, but he's
also been involved in several other great feuds. His run with the Guerreras,
or [[Fuerza Guerrera|Fuerza]] and [[Psicosis]], against [[El Hijo del Santo|Santo]], [[Rey Misterio Jr.]] and [[Octagon]] provided so many excellent matches, several of them getting ****1/2 to ***** ratings in the Observer. Panther has also had an eternal feud with [[Solar I]]. Based on
some great matches they had around 1987, they gained so much respect for
each other's mat wrestling ability that they have been feuding on and off
since then, but in the last 8 years the feud has been pretty much relegated
to the independent level. His feud with [[Atlantis]] gave him his big break and
they have had several great matches during the years. Also, the feud with
[[Hijo del Santo]] started in El Toreo when Panther started to make a name for
himself, and it has been carried in for almost 20 years now but I have never
seen anybody complaining about being tired of seeing them against each
other.

14. Was he effective working on the mic, working storylines or working
angles?

Mic work is pretty much non-existant. Working angles and storylines, he's
ranged from effective to excellent. The double turn during the Machine hair
vs. mask match was so beautifully done, and while Machine had the hardest
task to perform in the turn, Panther played his role perfectly. I don't
really think anybody will consider this one legendary or anything, but his
on and off feud the last few years with [[Mr. Niebla]] has had him playing the
"tricky veteran bastard role" really well. One of the coolest moments in
CMLL TV of the last couple of years was Blue Panther (in a cast, playing an
arm injury) put [[Mr. Niebla]] (who tried to attack him) in a quick, masterfully
executed Fujiwara armbar that made everybody think he'd snapped Niebla's
arm.

15. Did he play his role(s) effectively during his career?

Yes. His most famous role is that of the "veteran rudo master" who is a
better technician than the tecnicos themselves, and he has played that one
perfectly during all of his career. He played that role even when he wasn't
that much of a "veteran" (in his early 30s). He also made the perfect switch
to tecnico and showed tons of charisma, which was natural because he always
was a "cool rudo" that people like to cheer (like [[Fuerza Guerrera]] and
currently [[Dr. Wagner Jr.]]).

16. What titles and tournaments did he win? What was the importance of the
reigns?

Panther has got a pretty nice collection of titles, including singles and
trios, but none are truly relevant to make them an argument for him to be a
HOF'er. Then again, no title has been used well long term in Mexico in the
last 20 years, not counting the UWA World Heavyweight and UWA World Light
Heavyweight Titles. He's had really hot short term programs for the National
Middleweight Title (w/ [[Octagon]], but it eventually bombed because [[Octagon]]
would show up loaded every time and Panther could do nothing with him) or
WWA Welterweight (w/ [[Hijo del Santo]]). All in all, Panther's most important
reigns were the two times he held the National Middleweight Title in AAA
because of the great title defenses he had, but he had little impact as a
champion. People would have problably showed up even if Panther had had a
phony title, simply because they'd get to see his trademark "Panther title
match" which means a hell of a technical match.

17. Did he win many honors and awards?

Awards matter so much in Mexico that nobody keeps track of them. I can't
recall him winning a WON year end award either.

18. Did he get mainstream exposure due to his wrestling fame? Did he get a
heavily featured by the wrestling media?

He got some mainstream exposure in the early days of AAA, because Pe?a and
Televisa did a hell of a job of promoting their wrestlers sending them to
tons of shows, but nothing past that. He's always been featured by the
media, but not as a cover superstar kind of guy like [[Perro Aguayo|Aguayo]], [[Vampiro]], [[El Hijo del Santo|Santo]] or [[Octagon]].

19. Was he a top tag team wrestler?

He was a top trios wrestler. Teams with the Guerreras, [[Fuerza Guerrera|Guerrera]] and
[[Psicosis]], [[Fuerza Guerrera|Guerrera]] and [[Negro Casas|Casas]], [[Dr. Wagner Jr.|Wagner]] and [[Black Warrior]], [[Fuerza Guerrera|Guerrera]] and [[Signo]] have had runs as regular partners where they'd have really great matches on a regular basis. He's never really been a tag team wrestler except for his early fame days in the mid 80s, but he didn't have a regular partner then,
either.

20. Was he innovative?

Not really. Nudo Lagunero is his creation, but it's not stolen often. He's
one of the last great old school rudos left, with an style as close as
[[Tarzan Lopez]] (the pioneer technical master) as you will get in Mexico.

21. Was he influential?

His work is definitely influential in the way that tons of young wrestlers
start wrestling wanting to be as good on the mat as him, but that's about
it. That's probably more inspiring than influential.

22. Did he make the people and workers around him better?

That's his strongest point, making everybody around him look better. Some
months ago, Dave Meltzer said (I'm paraphrasing) that he's so good that he
makes everybody look so awesome that the average lucha fan doesn't notice
him as much, and this business it's all about being noticed. He could carry
loads to decent matches and spotty flashy tecnicos to great matches. You can
definitely see how people like [[Mr. Niebla]] improved so much by working often
with Panther.

23. Did he do what was best for the promotion? Did he show a commitment to
wrestling?

He's always done what he's best for the promotion. [[Love Machine]] and him
didn't like each other (there's a story of [[Love Machine|Machine]] sucker punching Panther
in front of Peña at his office) but Panther respected [[Love Machine|Machine]]'s ability and
they could do business together so he put him over like a best friend. The
only time he did the best for Panther and not for the promotion was when he
left AAA in 1997 because he didn't want to put over [[Mascara Sagrada Jr.]], who
Panther didn't respect because he couldn't wrestle (and he's right on that
one). He's prided himself for years in his reputation to have excellent
singles matches and it's pretty much his trademark, so he didn't want to
ruin his reputation. I don't see what's so bad with that, though.

As for showing a commitment to wrestling, yes he showed a commitment. He's
lazy when everybody else in the match is lazy and he's not expected to save
the day, but otherwise, he works for six if needed. He's a total pro and I
haven't heard anybody ever complaining about him.

24. Is there any reason to believe that he was better or worse than he
appeared?

Repeat the Meltzer quote here. Only the older fans, the ones that attend
arenas weekly, the Mexican "hardcore" fans/newsstand magazine reader (the
closest there is to the WON-fan, I guess) and the WON reader kind of fan
appreciate him as one of the best wrestlers ever in Mexico. Nowadays the
average fan sees him as a guy that is "a good wrestler", and is not pushed
much on TV.

== Recommended Matches ==

Dates are actual match dates. Airing dates may differ a bit.

{{SimpleMatchStart}}
{{SimpleMatch|91/08/09|Arena Mexico|[[NWA Middleweight]] champion [[Atlantis]] vs Blue Panther}}
{{SimpleMatch|92/01/31| |[[Ultimo Dragon]] vs. Blue Panther}}
{{SimpleMatch|92/09/04|Cancun|[[National Middleweight]] champ Blue Panther vs. [[El Angel Azteca]]}}
{{SimpleMatch|92/10/09| |[[National Middleweight]] champ Blue Panther vs. [[Super Astro]]}}
{{SimpleMatch|93/07/18|Tonala|Blue Panther vs. [[Love Machine]] mask vs. hair}}
{{SimpleSpan|Not outstanding but must see for the double turn}}
{{SimpleMatch|94/10/30| Torreon|[[National Middlewight]] champ Blue Panther vs. [[El Mariachi]]}}
{{SimpleMatch|00/04/09|Monterrey|[[WWA Welterweight]] champ [[Hijo del Santo]] vs. Blue Panther}}
{{SimpleMatch|00/05/28|Monterrey|[[WWA Welterweight]] champ Blue Panther vs. [[Hijo del Santo]]}}
{{SimpleSpan|this was not as good as the previous one but still real good}}
{{SimpleMatchEnd}}

There was a very good [[Felino]] vs. Blue Panther in [[IWRG]] sometime in the year 2000.

All of the matches above are widely available. The [[Mariachi]] and first [[El Hijo del Santo|Santo]] matches probably are the best ones. That does not mean you should not rush to find the rest...

== Luchas de apuestas record ==
{{astart}}
{{aline|??/??/??|mask|[[Blue Panther]]|[[Misterio de Oro]]|unknown}}
{{aline|79/01/28|mask (1)|Blue Panther & [[El Matemático]]|[[La Bestia]] & [[Simio Blanco]]|Monterrey, Nuevo León}}
{{aline|80/??/??|mask|[[Blue Panther]]|[[Oro]] (not the 90s Oro)|Monterrey, Nuevo León}}
{{aline|84/02/23|mask|[[Blue Panther]]|[[Gorila Infernal]]|Jalapa, Veracruz}}
{{aline|84/06/24|hair|[[Blue Panther]]|[[Kendo|Brillante]]|Arena Querétaro - Querétaro, Querétaro}}
{{aline|84/09/07|mask|[[Blue Panther]]|[[Bull Power]]|Puebla, Puebla}}
{{aline|84/10/18|mask|[[Blue Panther]]|[[Luzbel]]|Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas}}
{{aline|84/11/20|masks|Blue Panther & [[Black Man]]|[[Las Sombras de Plata]]|El Toreo - Naucalpan, Mexico State}}
{{aline|86/02/16|mask|[[Blue Panther]]|[[Black Man]]|El Toreo - Naucalpan, Mexico State}}
{{aline|86/03/16|mask|[[Blue Panther]]|[[Avispón Negro]]|El Toreo - Naucalpan, Mexico State}}
{{aline|88/05/??|mask|[[Blue Panther]]|[[Kendo]]|Auditorio de Tijuana - Tijuana, Baja California}}
{{aline|92/04/03|mask|[[Blue Panther]]|[[Love Machine]]|Arena México - Mexico City}}
{{aline|93/04/09|hair|[[Blue Panther]]|[[Vulcano]]|Gimnasio Juan de la Barrera - Mexico City}}
{{aline|93/07/18|hair|[[Blue Panther]]|[[Love Machine]]|Auditorio Rio Nilo - Tonala, Jalisco}}
{{aline|00/02/03|mask (2)|[[Blue Panther]]|[[El Nuevo Huracán Ramírez Jr.]]|Arena Isabel - Cuernavaca, Morelos}}
{{aend|(1) Torneo de la Muerte; (2) Relevos suicidas - Santo & Fuerza Guerrera vs. Blue Panther & Huracan}}

== Gallery ==

{{Gallery||name=Bluepanther02.jpg||caption=late 80s}}
{{Gallery||name=Bluepanther01.jpg||caption=early 90s}}
{{Gallery||name=BluePanther-CMLLMiddle.jpg||caption=first CMLL Middleweight Champion}}
{{Gallery||name=Bluepanther03.jpg||caption=2005}}

[[Category:Mexican wrestlers]]
[[Category:Current CMLL wrestlers]]
[[Category:Trainers]]

El Hijo Del Gladiador

2006-06-13T01:18:26Z

Suplexmasta:

== Profile ==

{{bioFields||image=Talisman03.jpg
|name=El Hijo Del Gladiador
|realName=Arturo Beristain Ramírez
|nicknames=none
|nameHistory=Santiago Ayala (debut - 73), Talismán (73 - 09/87), Hijo del Gladiador (09/87 - retirement), Filoso (first version, 1992)
|family=El Troyano (brother), [[Máscara Mágica]] (nephew)
|maestro=[[Pedro Nieves]], [[Rolando Vera]], [[Rafael Salamanca]]
|birthdate=September 5, 1949 - Mexico City
|debut=January 1971 - Mexico State
|lostmaskto=Atlantis - September 21, 1984 - Arena México
|height=5'7"/171 cms
|weight=192 lbs/87 kg
|obituarydate=
|signatureMoves=[[Gori Special]]
|titles=[[National Lightweight Title]], [[National Welterweight Title]] (2), [[National Middleweight Title]], [[CMLL World Trios Titles]] (w/ [[Gran Markus Jr.]] & [[Dr. Wagner Jr.]]), [[IWRG Intercontinental Middleweight Title]]
|}}
 
== Luchas de apuestas record ==
{{astart}}
{{aline|??/??/??|hair|Talismán|[[Américo Rocca]]|Arena México - Mexico City}}
{{aline|80/??/??|mask|Talismán|[[Convoy|El Legendario]]|unknown}}
{{aline|80/10/07|mask|Talismán|[[El Mago]]|Arena Coliseo - Mexico City}}
{{aline|84/09/21|mask|[[Atlantis]]|Talismán|Arena México - Mexico City}}
{{aline|84/10/26|hair|Talismán|[[Américo Rocca]]|Arena México - Mexico City}}
{{aline|86/03/07|hair|[[Mocho Cota]]|Talismán|Arena México - Mexico City}}
{{aline|86/03/07|hairs|[[Sangre Chicana]] & [[Mocho Cota]]|[[El Faraón]] & Talismán|Arena México - Mexico City}}
{{aline|86/09/05|hairs|[[El Signo]], [[El Texano]] & [[Negro Navarro]]|[[El Dandy]], Talismán & [[Jerry Estrada]]|Arena México - Mexico City}}
{{aline|88/??/??|mask|El Hijo del Gladiador|[[Sangre Guerrera]]|Arena Coliseo - Mexico City}}
{{aline|00/08/04|mask (1)|[[Rencor Latino]]|El Hijo del Gladiador|Arena México - Mexico City}}
{{aline|01/02/19|hair|[[Tony Rivera]]|El Hijo del Gladiador|Arena Puebla - Puebla, Puebla}}
{{aline|01/10/14|hair|[[Ricky Marvin]]|El Hijo del Gladiador|Arena Coliseo - Mexico City}}
{{aline|03/10/19|hair|[[Justiciero]]|El Hijo del Gladiador|Arena Coliseo - Coacalco, Mexico State}}
{{aend|(1) Finals of a Torneo Cibernético}}

== Gallery ==
[[Image:Talisman.jpg|thumb|1984|100px|left]]
[[Image:Talisman01.jpg|thumb|1984|100px|left]]
[[Image:Talisman02.jpg|thumb|1985|100px|left]]
[[Image:Talisman03.jpg|thumb|1992-93|100px|left]]
[[Image:OlaBlancaII.jpg|thumb|La Nueva Ola Blanca in 1998|100px|left]]
[[Image:Talisman04.jpg|thumb|2001|100px|left]]

[[Category:Mexican wrestlers]]
[[Category:Current CMLL wrestlers]]
[[Category:Trainers]]

Skayde

2006-06-13T01:15:58Z

Suplexmasta:

== Profile ==
{{bioFields|
|image=Skayde.jpg
|name=Skayde
|realName=Jorge Rivera
|nicknames=
|nameHistory=Porsche (debut - 09/91), La Flecha (09/91 - 93), Seminarista (93 - 03/95), Power Raider Blanco (03/95 - 10/95), Boomerang (10/95 - 08/96), Skayde (08/96 - ), Elektra (01/98 - 12/98), Jorge Rivera (Toryumon/T2P, 01/02 - 08/02), Destello (ENESMA, 06/04 - )
|family=[[El Predicador]] (brother), his father was a wrestler (name unknown)
|maestro=[[Robin Hood]]
|birthdate=[[August 2]], [[1964]] - [[Mexico City]]
|obituarydate=
|debut=[[October 8]], [[1987]] - [[Arena Apatlaco]]
|lostmaskto=
|height=5'7"/171 cms.
|weight=192 lbs/87 kg.
|signatureMoves=[[La Cruceta]], [[a Riveracita]], [[Skayde Special]] (pin), [[Skayde Slam]]
|titles=[[UWA World Lightweight Title]]
}}

[[Category:Mexican wrestlers]][[Category:Trainers]]

== Biography ==


 
== Luchas de apuestas record ==
{{astart}}
{{aline|88/03?|mask|El Seminarista|[[Super Crazy]]|Arena Neza - Nezahualcoyotl, Mexico State?}}
{{aline|02/12/05|masks|Skayde & [[Tigre Blanco]]|[[Night Ranger]] & [[Street Fire]]|Arena Isabel - Cuernavaca, Morelos}}
{{aend|}}

== Gallery ==

{{Gallery|
|name=Seminarista.jpg
|caption=as El Seminarista
}}
{{Gallery|name=flecha_skayde.jpg|caption=as Flecha I}}
{{Gallery|
|name=Skayderayde.jpg
|caption=on right w/ Rayde in 1997
}}

{{Gallery|
|name=Elektra2.jpg
|caption=original Elektra look
}}

{{Gallery|
|name=Elektra1.jpg
|caption=1998 as Elektra
}}

{{Gallery|
|name=Elektraasai.jpg
|caption=perfect Asai Moonsault onto Halloween
}}

Espectro I

2006-06-13T01:15:25Z

Suplexmasta:

== Profile ==



{{bioFields|
|image=espectro1.jpg
|name=Espectro I (Spectre)
|realName=Antonio (Toño) Hernández Arriaga
|nicknames=El Hombre Verde (The Green Man)
|nameHistory=Tony Hernández (debut - 53), Espectro I/Espectro de Ultratumba (53 - death)
|family=[[Hijo del Espectro]] (son), [[El Picudo]] (son), [[Antonio Peña|Espectro Jr./Antonio Peña]] (nephew), [[Espectro Jr.]] (modern version, nephew), [[Cadaver de Ultratumba]] (nephew), [[Guerrero de la Muerte]] (nephew), he is not related to [[Espectro II]]
|maestro=[[Rolando Vera]]
|birthdate=[[February 9]], [[1939]] - [[Mexico City]]
|obituarydate=[[October 13]], [[1993]]
|debut=[[1951]] - [[Monterrey]], [[Nuevo León]]
|lostmaskto=
|height=
|weight=
|signatureMoves=[[La Espectrina]]
|titles=[[National Light Heavyweight Title]], [[National Tag Team Titles]] (w/ [[Ray Mendoza]])
}}



== Biography ==
Antonio Hernández started to wrestle in 1951 as Tony Hernández in Monterrey and didn't make much of an impact during his first years.

One day, the popular referee Roberto "El Güero" Rangel, who was still working selling tickets outside the arenas, bought a magazine called "Los Espectros de Ultratumba" (Spectres from Beyond the Grave). He made a comment to promoter Jesús Garza Hernández, better known as Chucho Garza, and they thought that adapting that spectre character to lucha libre could be a success.

During one of the breaks from the lucha schedule, Garza told Rangel (who was also his secretary) to go to Deportes Martínez in Mexico City (Mexico's most famous maskmaker) and to make an spectre outfit for Tony. All of this happened without Tony knowing about it. And one day Tony was told to use the outfit in Monterrey, and so did he.

He knew that this new gimmick was a good idea, but he hated the outfit. He really hated it. It was too hot under that mask and he felt uncomfortable wearing that green full body suit, but Chucho convinced him not to give up with the promise that he'd make him a big star on a national level.

Espectro's rudo personality and big entrance became a huge attraction soon and his rise to the top of the cards was very fast. He'd come from the locker rooms inside a coffin carried by two men dressed as ghosts or spectres, then they placed it in the ring, and when he came out of the casket, the crowd would explode. He was so good and so over with the crowds, that he got signed with EMLL and in 1954 he became a main feature in the Arena Coliseo and Arena México cards, even though the commission there never let him do his big entrance with the casket while he wrestled in the capital.

Espectro started out as a "heavy welterweight", almost a middleweight, but with the years he became bigger and became a light heavyweight. He was a National Light Heavyweight champion twice as well. Back when there was independent lucha shows at the Cine Politerama, Espectro tried to become an independent wrestler, but that attempt failed and he returned to EMLL.

He also often teamed with Karloff Lagarde, who was one of his two best friends in real life, and he became National tag team champion with Ray Mendoza, who was his other best friend. And even though they didn't win any titles together, his most memorable team partners were the original Karis La Momia and El Espectro II.

At some point during 1959 or 1960, he lost the National Light Heavyweight title to Tarzán López at Arena México, and in a decision that shocked everybody, he unmasked himself, revealed his real name and said that he was retiring.

There was a good reason behind this retirement, though. Days before that retirement, in a match in Tampico against Joe Grant, Espectro injured his neck after receiving a badly executed piledriver, and the doctor ordered him to retire because he needed surgery.

His surgery was quite expensive, and he could not afford it. His friend Karloff Lagarde, who was a wealthy man (all the money earned with lucha libre) offered to pay the 30,000 pesos bill, though in the end, Chava Lutteroth (Salvador Lutteroth's son) said that the Empresa would pay it. The doctor that performed the surgery, Dr. Carrillo, made them a half price so they only had to pay 15,000 pesos plus an extra 3,000 of nursery services. Also while he was inactive, the Union of Luchadores promoted several cards to collect money for Antonio.

He kept draining during his semi-retirement and he came back during the first half of 1962, but without the mask he was not the same, and the Mexico City commission didn't let him wrestle there again due to his bad health, so he stayed around five or six more years wrestling in the smaller arenas and then he retired to become a lucha trainer at the Gimnasio Romano, located at the Vizcaínas street in Mexico City. Some of the wrestlers he trained are the original Espectro Jr. (AAA promoter Antonio Peña), the modern Espectro Jr., his sons Picudo (aka Espectro 2000) and Hijo del Espectro, and non relatives like Clímax I, Clímax II, Voltio Negro and Fuerza Guerrera.

As a curiosity, he always kept in great shape even after retirement as he was an avid practiser of the art of yoga, a hobby he shared with his good friend Ray Mendoza.

He then became a figure of the past and his name was not heard a lot again until he passed away on October 13, 1993 at 7:00 a.m. Mexico City time.


== Gallery ==



[[Category:Deceased wrestlers]]
[[Category:Mexican wrestlers]]
[[Category:Trainers]]

Gori Guerrero

2006-06-13T01:14:53Z

Suplexmasta:

== Profile ==

{{bioFields|
|image=Goriguerrero.jpg
|name=Gori Guerrero
|realName=Salvador Guerrero Quesada
|nicknames=El Ave de las Tempestades (Storm Bird)
|nameHistory=Joe Morgan (debut - ??), Gori Guerrero (?? - death)
|family=[[Mando Guerrero|Mando]], [[Chavo Guerrero|Chavo]], [[Hector Guerrero|Hector]] and [[Eddy Guerrero]] (sons), [[Chavo Guerrero Jr.]] (grandson), "Vengador" [[Hector Mejía]] (nephew), [[Javier Llanes]] (nephew), [[Enrique Llanes]] (brother-in-law)
|maestro=[[Diablo Velasco]], [[Indio Mejía]], [[Gilberto Martínez Larrea]], [[Raúl Romero]]
|birthdate=[[January 11]], [[1921]] - [[Ray]], [[Arizona]], [[USA]]
|obituarydate=[[April 18]], [[1990]] - [[El Paso]], [[Texas]], [[USA]]
|debut=[[September 15]], [[1937]] - [[Arena Nilo]] - [[Guadalajara]], [[Jalisco]]
|lostmaskto=
|height=
|weight=
|signatureMoves=[[Gori Special]], [[Camel Clutch]]
|titles=[[NWA World Middleweight Title]], [[NWA World Welterweight Title]], [[NWA World Light Heavyweight Title]] (2), [[National Welterweight Title]], [[National Middleweight Title]], Los Angeles: [[NWA Americas Tag Team Titles]], [[NWA Texas Junior Heavyweight Title]], [[NWA Texas Tag Team Titles]] (w/ [[Cyclone Anaya]]), [[Southwest Junior Heavyweight Title]], [[Oklahoma Junior Heavyweight Title]]
}}{{WONHOF}}

== Biography ==


Born in Ray, Arizona (though registered in Phoenix, AZ) he was one of the first Hispanic Americans to enter lucha libre when it was initially brought to Mexico.

At age 4, Gori moved to California and attended school until he turned 13. A year later he and his family returned to Mexico and moved to Guadalajara, Jal., where he used his English language knowledge to work as an interpreter in a pottery shop at Tlaquepaque. There he studied bilingual commerce as well.

Gori's parents were both Mexican born, from Las Huertas de Nochistlán, Zacatecas, but as they were a big family (9 children) he couldn't continue studying, especially considering that their mother died at the very young age of 30. While in California, young Gori worked as a paperboy and he also sold Mexican bread, and while in Mexico he had a job in an hotel as a bell boy.

During his youth, Guerrero liked all sports, so when in Guadalajara he had the chance to train for free at a "Box y lucha" club, he didn't think about it twice - he wanted to be a boxer. However when he went there to sign for his boxing training, he saw some people training for lucha and he quickly changed his mind - now, he wanted to be a luchador.

The two men that trained him professionally were two local wrestlers called [[Diablo Velasco]] and [[El Indio Mejía]]. After two weeks of very basic training (even though Velasco would later on become one of the most prestigious lucha trainers ever, Gori said that back then they were basically clueless) he had his first match. He wrestled for a small, but highly respected promoter called Jim Hernandez on [[September 14]], [[1937]], at the Arena Nilo from Guadalajara. That night, the 16 year old Gori got defeated by [[Raf "El Rojo"]] and earned 15 centavos.

Gori impressed many people because he had a well worked body (he loved to spend hours in the gym) and was a fast learner. He continued wrestling in small arenas and had his first feuds against [[Zandokan]], [[Chimal Galón]] and [[Firpito Bustos]].

Soon, he became friends with a veteran wrestler called [[Gilberto Martínez Larrea]], who took him under his wing and taught him many secrets of lucha and several "shoot" techniques just in case a match would get out of hand and his opponent tried to hurt him. He also established a friendship with a wrestler called [[Raúl Romero]] who introduced him to amateur wrestling, which helped turn the the young untrained kid into the technician marvel.

Gori got signed by [[EMLL]] and made his [[Arena Mexico]] debut on [[January 3]], [[1943]]. A year later he was given the "rookie of the year" award by the media, quite an interesting fact considering his debut date, and that in Mexico usually only real rookies get those awards. Now he was in the spotlight and his popularity was rising fast, so he was given his first title. On [[April 20]], [[1945]] he defeated the legendary foreigner [[Jack O'Brien]] to get the [[National Welterweight Title]], which he vacated just five days later, probably due to weight reasons. It wasn't too late when he got another title though, as on [[September 25]], [[1945]] he defeated [[Bobby Bonales]] for the [[National Middleweight Title]]. Gori defended that title successfully until the 31st of May of the following year, when [[El Santo]] defeated him in a title match.

During the late 40s and the early 50s, his feud against [[Cavernario Galindo]] started some of the bloodiest battles of the history of pro wrestling. Even though blood had been already seen in the Mexican rings, they were the first ones to have a series of bloodbaths in lucha, and it is thought that their feud was the first bloody one in the whole world too. They would let lose the blood from each other's head in liberal amounts and the concept became so popular that promoters all over Mexico "stole" the idea. As if that wasn't enough, they decided to raise the bar even more as the singles feud became a tag team feud: [[La Pareja Atómica]] (The Atomic Pair) of Santo and Gori headlined dozens of cards against Cavernario and [[Black Shadow]], and you could be sure that after the matches all four wrestlers' face and chest would be covered by their own blood.

Gori got several more titles during his career, and later he would have a series of matches against one of his first wrestling idols, [[Carlos "Tarzan" López]], whom he'd defeat to gain the [[NWA Middleweight title]] in 1946 to get his first "world" title. Other of Gori's great rivalries was against the Jamaican high flyer [[Dory Dixon]]. The latter is considered by many the most important feud of [[1965]].

Guerrero's matches against [[Bobby Bonales]] are considered classics as well. The match in which Gori lost the [[NWA Welterweight title]] to Bonales lasted 1 hour and 50 minutes.

Gori also had a memorable [[Arena Coliseo]] match on [[November 16]], [[1954]] against the reigning NWA World Heavyweight Champion, the great [[Lou Thesz]]. Thesz lost but it was a great match. Both men really respected each other's abilities and whenever one of them talked about the other one, it was always to say good things.

Like Santo and many other wrestlers of his generation, Gori eventually left EMLL and became a free agent, as that way he could earn more money and he could choose working for whoever he wanted, whenever he wanted. On December of [[1966]] he was stripped of the [[NWA World Light Heavyweight title]], though Gori kept the actual belt until [[1972]] and defended it outside Mexico against legends of the caliber of [[Danny Hodge]] and [["Dangerous" Danny McShain]].

He and his family then moved to Cd. Juarez, and Gori reduced his schedule only picking dates in Los Angeles (where his son [[Chavo Guerrero|Chavo]] was the booker for a while), El Paso, Texas, Tijuana and Juarez itself. Gori's last title reign was when he and Chavo were 1-day [[NWA Americas Tag Team Champions]] in L.A. They defeated [[Senior X]] and [[Karl Von Brauner]] on [[February 27]], [[1976]], and lost the titles the next day against the Spaniard [[Crusher Verdu]] and [[Roddy Piper]]. In Mexico he'd mainly wrestle for the Tijuana-based Mora y Asociados, also known as the WWA or Promociones Mora, and he teamed more than once with his old friend [[El Santo]].

He kept wrestling less due to his age, but he never left the business. He became a wrestling trainer and a promoter in the El Paso, TX and Cd. Juarez areas. After [[Dory Funk Sr.]]'s death in [[1973]], the whole Texas wrestling scene changed and as those changes hurt Gori's promoting he stopped his Texan promotional affairs and only promoted in Mexico.

Starting from March [[1975]] he'd run shows every Sunday at the plaza Alberto Balderas from Ciudad Juarez and he used young wrestlers he trained (with help of his son Chavo) like [[Juan Limón]], [[Zombie Palacios]], [[Criminal]]; his sons [[Hector Guerrero|Hector]] and Chavo, his nephew [[Javier "Gusano" Llanes]], a few local wrestlers (both male and female) and when he had the chance he also used [[Golden Rogers]], [[Buddy Rogers Jr]]. and his old friends/enemies [[Dory Dixon]] and [[El Santo]].

He eventually quit promoting and just wrestled a few times a year until the early 80s when he retired from all wrestling activity. Gori died in his home of El Paso the 18th of April, [[1990]].

Gori is one of the pioneers and masters of lucha libre. His impact in lucha is really important as not only he created holds such as "la de a caballo" ([[camel clutch]]) or the [[Gori Special]] (hanging backbreaker submission hold), but also was a key player in making popular the agressive technician style that later other wrestlers like [[Rene Guajardo]] or [[El Signo]] would show. He was a legitimate tough man and his legacy is still highly respected by the young generations of lucha libre fans, as Gori was the patriarch of one of the best families of wrestling workers ever in the business, and several of those wrestlers are still active.


 

== Luchas de apuestas record ==
{{astart}}
{{aline|45/04/27|mask|[[Gori Guerrero]]|[[The Red Mistery]]|unknown}}
{{aend|}}

== Gallery ==

{{Gallery|name=Nwalh guerrero.jpg|caption=[[NWA LH|as NWA LH Champion]]}}

[[Category:Deceased wrestlers]]
[[Category:Foreign wrestlers]]
[[Category:United States wrestlers]]
[[Category:Trainers]]

Halcón Suriano

2006-06-13T01:14:14Z

Suplexmasta:

== Profile ==

{{bioFields|
|image=halconsuriano.jpg
|name=Halcón Suriano
|realName=Juan José Espinoza Meza
|nicknames=none
|nameHistory=Halcón Suriano (debut - death)
|family=[[Caballero Halcón]], [[Príncipe Halcón]], [[Pequeño Halcón]], [[Junior Halcón]] (sons)
|maestro=[[Raúl Romero]], [[Pedro Bolaños]], [[Alfonso Moreno|Alfonso "Acorazado" Moreno]]
|birthdate=[[June 26]], [[1936]] - [[Guerrero State]]
|obituarydate=
|debut=unknown
|lostmaskto=
|height=
|weight=
|signatureMoves=
|titles=[[Central America Lightweight Title]], [[Northern Lightweight Title]] (2)
}}



== Biography ==
The Laguna region of Mexico, comprised among other cities by Torreón in Coahuila, and Cd. Lerdo and Gómez Palacio in Durango, on the past was, along with Guadalajara and Monterrey, the Mexican hotbed of scientific wrestling marvels. And if Monterrey had a great maestro in Rolando Vera and Guadalajara had the legendary Diablo Velasco, the laguna region had Halcón Suriano. Suriano is the least popular of the three maestros as the Laguna circuit has never been, on a national level, as important as the Nuevo León or Jalisco regions, however, that does not make him a less good or skilled trainer.

But before talking about his career as a maestro, let's talk about the man himself, and his career as a pro wrestler.

Halcón Suriano was born Juan José Espinoza Meza, on June 26, 1936 in the state of Guerrero, however at a very young age he moved with his family to Mineral del Oro, Mexico State. Young Juan José fell in love at first sight with lucha libre, and idolized Tarzán López, Raúl Romero, "El Caballero Tigre" Pedro Bolaños and Alfonso "El Acorazado" Moreno (father of the Moreno sisters and Oriental). And when he decided to train to become a luchador, the latter three became his maestros.

He was a really great wrestler of his era, and he actually made it to Mexico City and competed at Arena Coliseo and Arena Mexico (before the independent revolution in the mid 70s, the old school mentality was that if you did not make it to the big D.F. arenas, you were a "nobody"). His problem was that he was a lightweight and could never get past of the low card slots because of that.

He mostly wrestled during the 60s at the arenas in the Mexico City outskirts, namely Arena Naucalpan, Escandón and Deportivo Calles, and he teamed with, and wrestled against, people like Estrella Blanca, Tony Grimaldo, El Gato, Pedro Nieves, Los Hermanos Montes (uncles of Super Calo and Alan and Chris Stone), Fernando Osés (famous because of his film career), El Chamaco Meza, El Duque, As Negro, César Sando (father of the So-Cal lucha wrestler and promoter) and El Caballero Tigre, from whom Halcón had a great respect and affection to the point that he called him "papá".

Halcón also traveled to Central America, where he wrestled masked for the first and only time in his career, during a three month tour of Guatemala and El Salvador, where he also won the Central American Lightweight Title from Guatemala native, the late Águila Roja.

Soon after such a successful tour, he had the chance to challenge for the National Lightweight Title. The first bout was in Puebla, Puebla, on May of 1962, against champion Juan Díaz, but Halcón lost in three falls. His second chance was against a different opponent, Raúl Guerrero, in October of 1964, and he lost again, but this time because of an ankle injury.

On June 30, 1961 he made his debut in the Plaza de Toros de Torreón, coming with a fellow wrestler touring the Northern region, Marco Polo. Both stayed in the locally popular Casa de la Señora Teresa, which was the place where all the famous wrestlers that came in tours stayed to sleep. In that debut match, he teamed with Al Hernández against Eddy "La Marrana" Martínez and Gran Gory, whom they defeated in straight falls.

Since Halcón Suriano was very well received by the Lagunero crowd, he decided to make the region his home. He eventually met a young lady, Rebeca Morales Rubio, who he married and had six children with: three girls and three boys, the boys being all wrestlers. But in one of those unfortunate twists of life, Doña Rebeca passed away six year after her marriage, so Halcón had to do double duty at home and be a father and a mother for the kids at the same time. Later in his life he had another relationship and had another son, who now wrestles as Junior Halcón.

However he was successful in raising his family and in his wrestling career as well. The total output of his Northern Lightweight title reigns amounts to fourteen years. He first captured the title defeating Pachuca native Rudy Valentino in the Plaza de Toros de Torreón, lost it to Vicente Nuño, and won it back again from El Moro (who would later become the incredibly gifted Espanto Jr. and original Pentagon). He never lost this title in a match, as he vacated it during the first months of 1986 handing it to the Sindicato Nacional de Luchadores.

Halcón had the chance to team with people such as untouchable legends like El Santo, Blue Demon and Black Shadow, and other really important gladiators of the era like Polo Torres and Joe Marín that have been forgotten with the past of time. Also, he went toe to toe with all of the lightweight superworkers of the Golden Era, such as Mishima Ota from Japan, Shadito Cruz (father of the Brazos), the original Estrella Blanca, Huroki Sito, Tony Sugar (brother of the original Rayo de Jalisco), Juan Díaz and Raul Guerrero among others.

He also was one of the founding members of the Sindicato Nacional de Luchadores (formed on May of 1959 in Mexico City) having the wrestler license number 463 in the capital and the license number 148 in Torreón.

However, the part of his career that over the years has been the foundation his legend was built on, was his awesome career as a lucha libre trainer. He was a maestro in several local gyms and arenas, as well as an official EMLL instructor for the Plaza de Toros de Torreón in 1969. His more than impressive listing of students, includes among others Blue Panther, Black Warrior, Gran Markus Sr., El Espanto Jr./Pentagon, Angel Azteca, Safari, Último Guerrero, Pimpinela Escarlata, Vicente Nuño (Black Danger), Chicano Montana, La Sombra, Black Charly (The King from the early 90s at El Toreo), Tony Rodriguez, Los Hermanos Star, Águila Roja, El Lobo, Ray Man, Ratón Miguelito, El Fraterno, El Infernal, and of course, his own sons.

After retirement, Suriano attended his business (a workshop where they fixed tires of buses, cars, trucks, etc.) in Torreón until passing away on March 4, 1993 after a cardiac arrest, leaving a long legacy behind.

As a curiosity, here's a history that many old time wrestlers remember. After an argument with Dr. Wagner at the gym of the Torreón Bullring, they decided to settle it in the gym mat wrestling clean, and lightweight Suriano ended up beating a much bigger light heavyweight in Wagner, who already had quite a reputation himself. This is another little thing that shows the enormous wrestling knowledge of Halcón Suriano, an undeniable legend of the Comarca Lagunera.

 
== Luchas de apuestas record ==
{{astart}}
{{aline|66/02/27|hair|[[Cavernario Galindo III]]|[[Halcón Suriano]]|Torreón, Coahuila}}
{{aend|}}

== Gallery ==


[[Category:Mexican wrestlers]]
[[Category:Trainers]]

El Latino (Lemus)

2006-06-13T01:13:44Z

Suplexmasta:

== Profile ==

{{bioFields||image=Ellatino.jpg
|name=El Latino
|realName=Carlos O. Musquiz
|nicknames=San Antonio's Original Vato Loco
|nameHistory=El Latino (debut - ), Lemús III (96 - 97)
|family=[[Lemús I]] (uncle), [[Lemús II]] (brother), [[Juan Reynosa]] (cousin)
|maestro=[[Lemús II]], Tito Sánchez, [[Juan Reynosa]], "Rudy Boy" González
|birthdate=March 3, 1972 - San Antonio, Texas, USA
|debut=July 12, 1992 - Valadez Arena - San Antonio, Texas
|height=6'1"/186 cms.
|weight=209 lbs./95 kg.
|signatureMoves=Latin Death Drop (Stone Cold Stunner), Latin Time Bomb (Top Rope Kangaroo Dropkick)
|titles=Texas Light Heavyweight Title (Houston version), UTW Heavyweight Title (2), TXW Tag Team Titles (w/ Tito Sánchez)
|}}

== Biography ==

El Latino, was born within a family with lucha tradition, as his uncle was already working as Lemus I, and his brother would eventually also become a pro under the Lemus II mask. He first started training during the summer of 1984, a training partner for his brother Lemus II who taught him the basics. His formal training was in the pure Mexican lucha style.

His debut match was on July 12, 1992. against his own brother, Lemús II, and he won. He was not wrestling full time then, and didn't do so until 1994, when he got out of the Navy. He got his in-ring polish working mostly for the different minor lucha promotions in San Antonio and South Texas. It was then when he also started training and working out with respected local workers Arandú, Rudy Boy Gonzalez, Juan Reynosa and Tito Sánchez. He learned bits and pieces from all of them, and still credits them as his maestros. He also had other mentors during his career, like Bobby Perez, Ken Johnson, Jose Lothario and Dusty Wolfe.

He got his first taste of wrestling gold in September of 1995, when he defeated El Vikingo to capture the Houston version of the Texas Light Heavyweight Title. Soon thereafter, to be exact on January of 1996, he adopted the family name and became Lemús III, paying homage to his uncle, his brother, and his childhood hero Sangre Chicana. He didn't use this name a lot, but when he did it was on the Nuevo Laredo circuit working against Mexican talent. The two most important matches he had with this name were the time the three Lemus masked men joined forces to face Mr. Nuclear, El Universitario and Estrella Universal, and when he had the honor of teaming with his uncle's old partner, Amenaza del Norte, against Tigre Universitario and El Marvik.

He enjoyed wrestling in Mexico very much, however he didn't want to have on his shoulders the pressure of upholding the tradition of the name and decided to become his one self again, going back to El Latino during the early months of 1997.

The character that he has always portrayed since his debut is the one of a homeboy born and raised in the mean streets of Southside San Antonio. He has got attitude but is not the one to disrespect anybody. However, if he is disrespected, he's sure going to take care of his business.

It was also around this time when El Latino's career took almost a U turn. Noticing the envy, egos and general bad attitudes displayed by some of the Texan lucha workers, he didn't feel comfortable in that environment and with help of mentor Tito Sanchez, started working more for non-lucha based independent promotions.

He also had to adapt his style to his new set of opponents and a different crowd, and ended up mixing the flash and flavor of the high flying Mexican moves while working a solid, traditional American style match. He likes to go technical, but if he has to, he can brawl as well. Due to his height and weight he is a natural cruiserweight, however he is not afraid to mix it up with any heavyweight and give him a tough match.

Latino finally got his big break in late 1998 by working for the San Antonio based Pro Wrestling International, ran by the legendary Jose Lothario. With this promotion he had the chance to be featured on the local news various times, and also had the opportunity to have a singles match with Sho Funaki, of the WWF, Michinoku Pro and BattlARTS fame. But once Shawn Michaels took over in early 1999, creative differences led to El Latino being let go.

In late 1999, El Latino went to work for Underground Texas Wrassling in San Antonio, and after a few months of hard work, in May of 2000 he won the UTW Heavyweight Title. He would go on to win the title one more time before the promotion folded in early 2001.

Since then, he's been working for several companies all over South Texas while mantaining a management position in South Texas Extreme Wrestling, where he is the assistant trainer of up and coming wrestlers within the promotion. In the training, he uses his knowledge to teach the fundamentals of the lucha moves and tumbling to the aspiring young wrestlers. Due to his experience, working for virtually anybody that has run down South Texas in the last 10 years, in his classes he also puts insight in working as a team, thus trying to create an ego-free environment with a locker room full of guys that will put anybody over with no complaints.

Even though now he rarely works for pure lucha promotions in Texas, El Latino still gives credit to Lucha Libre for the opportunity to get his start in the wrestling business.

[[Category:United States wrestlers]]
[[Category:Foreign wrestlers]]
[[Category:Trainers]]

Rolando Vera

2006-06-13T01:12:44Z

Suplexmasta:

== Profile ==
{{bioFields|
|image=Rolandovera.jpg
|name=Rolando Vera
|realName=Rolando Hernández Verástegui
|nicknames=El Profesor
|nameHistory=Rolando Vera (debut - death), El Spirit/The Spirit (during 3 months)
|family=[[Alex Romano]] (nephew)
|maestro=[[Joe Stanley]]
|birthdate=[[February 1]], [[1915]] - [[Monterrey]], [[Nuevo León]]
|obituarydate=[[March 29]], [[2001]] - [[Monterrey]], [[Nuevo León]]
|debut=unknown
|lostmaskto=
|height=
|weight=
|signatureMoves=[[La Reinera]]
|titles=[[NWA World Middleweight Title]]
}}

== Biography ==
Rolando Vera was born Rolando Hernández Verástegui on [[February 1]], [[1915]] in [[Monterrey]], [[Nuevo León]]. It has been often said that with his birth, wrestling was born in the Nuevo León state, as Rolando was the first local star of note.

He had his formal wrestling training in [[Tampico]], [[Tamaulipas]], while he worked in a petroleum plant. During his rookie year he was a reconigzable face among most other local luchadores because he had been a successful amateur wrestler before training to become a professional.

Rolando has got a legendary reputation as a shooter and a tough man, but he wasn't always an skilled submission wrestler. Once during a match in Monterrey, [[Raúl Romero]] took liberties with him in the ring and showed him up. That opened up Rolando's eyes and he traveled all the way to the US to learn submission wrestling from a Turkish man called [[Joe Stanley]]. Can you imagine somebody doing that nowadays?

So as the legend goes, Rolando came back and went directly to the gym where he knew that he could find Romero, who was the teacher of some young aspiring wrestlers. They had a hard fight that went around 15 minutes, but then out of nowhere, Rolando stopped and decided that it would be a draw. Later Romero asked him why didn't he make him tap out at as one point he had him right there perfect for the submission. Rolando said that he couldn't do that because all his students were there and they would lose the respect for their maestro. From then on, they became two friends that had respect for each other.

Rolando wasn't only a local star though, as he was immensely popular in both [[Arena Mexico]] and [[Arena Coliseo]], where he formed dream teams with people like [[El Santo|Santo]] and [[Blue Demon]]. It's also of note that Rolando had a nice four year long reign as [[NWA World Middleweight Championship|NWA World Middleweight champion]] when that title was the biggest prize in all of lucha libre (until the early 60s, when the [[NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship]] became more important, though in all reality, the biggest prize was the [[NWA World Heavyweight Championship]] even with the little game it ever had in Mexico). He defeated none other than Santo on [[October 19]], [[1956]] in Monterrey to win the belt, and he lost it on [[October 13]], [[1960]] to [[René Guajardo]] in the same city.

As a fun note, when the masked-wrestler-mania hit Mexico, Rolando, out of curiosity, wrestled during three months as "Spirit" under a hood but he finally gave up as everybody knew who he was and the fans would yell "ROLANDO!" during his matches!

But even with his incredible career in wrestling, also traveling to places like [[Germany]], [[France]], [[Cuba]], [[England]] and the [[United States]], what many consider the most important part in his career was the one of being a lucha libre trainer.

He was a fine technician, an innovative wrestler (he created such holds like [[La Reinera]], which is [[Shocker]]'s spinning back-to-back torture rack finisher) and an off-the-charts amateur that knew every secret in wrestling, so he quickly gained himself a reputation as a top trainer with such alumnii like Blue Demon, René Guajardo and [[Sugi Sito]] - three men, that not coincidentially, have a reputation as three of the most complete workers and toughest shooters of their era in Mexico.

Around the late 60s, Rolando moved on from the big time and mostly did work in the Northern Mexico area (which is quite a big one) until he retired in the mid 80s. Years later he came back for some matches, but it was short exhibition bouts and not "real matches".

He, however, kept training wrestlers, producing stars like [[Angel Mortal]] of Los Diabolicos, [[Blue Demon Jr.]], [[Los Monjes Negros]], and his last trainée, Monterrey local [[Halcón Maltés]]. Rolando was a man that changed with the times and always kept supporting lucha libre while other stars of the past refused to stop looking back and turned their backs on the sport.

But even retired he kept in really good shape not only because of his job as a maestro, but also as he was an avid fan of baseball (he was, in fact, a popular player of the Club Gatos Negros in MTY).

Rolando left this world on [[March 29]], [[2001]], around 22:30 in the night, after suffering a heart attack while sleeping in his home at Colonia Cumbres in Monterrey. This caused a big commotion in Monterrey where he was (and is) considered a legend on the level of Santo and Blue Demon, and there was several tribute cards for him shortly after his passing.

 
== Luchas de apuestas record ==
{{astart}}
{{aline|53/05/19|mask|[[Rolando Vera]]|[[Hiena Roja]]|Auditorio Monterrey - Monterrey, Nuevo León}}
{{aend|}}

== Gallery ==

[[Category:Deceased wrestlers]]
[[Category:Mexican wrestlers]]
[[Category:Trainers]]

Villano I

2006-06-13T01:12:08Z

Suplexmasta:

== Profile ==
{{bioFields|
|image=villano1.jpg
|name=Villano I (Villano Primero)
|realName=José de Jesús Díaz Mendoza
|nicknames=La Pantera Rosa (The Pink Panther)
|nameHistory=Bestia Negra I (debut - ??), Búfalo Salvaje I (1969), Toro Bill, El Villano, Villano I (late 70/early 71 - death)
|family=[[Ray Mendoza]] (father), [[Villano II]], [[Villano III|III]], [[Villano IV|IV]], [[Villano V|V]] (brothers), [[La Infernal]] (sister-in-law)
|maestro=[[Bobby Bonales]], [[Ray Mendoza]]
|birthdate=[[June 28]], [[1950]] - [[Mexico City]]
|obituarydate=
|debut=Early [[1969]] - [[Mexico City]]
|lostmaskto=
|height=
|weight=
|signatureMoves=
|titles=[[Distrito Federal Heavyweight Title]], [[Arena Coliseo Tag Team Titles]] (w/ [[Villano II]]), [[UWA World Light Heavyweight Title]], [[UWA World Trios Title]] (4, w/ [[Villano IV|Villanos IV]] & [[Villano V|V]])
}}

== Biography ==


Villano I (José de Jesús Díaz Mendoza, some sources mix up the order of the surnames and have Mendoza Díaz which is wrong, as [[Ray Mendoza]] actually got the "Mendoza" part from his wife's name as he thought that it had a better sound for wrestling) was 49 years old, which is younger that one may expect, as Arturo himself is just a year younger.

He died around 12:00 PM in his house, located at the Oriente St. 154, number 227, at the Delegación Venustiano Carranza of El Distrito Federal ([[Mexico City]]), while recovering from the brain surgery he had on [[December 13]], [[2000]] to fix a coagulum. He was doing fine and even though he had a relapse, he seemed to be alright now. He was happy, and was working hard to get into shape so he could have a retirement match at [[Arena Mexico]] teaming with his three brothers.

The official cause of the death is a heart attack caused by a cerebral haemorrhage. Doctora Guadalupe Ramírez from the ambulance UM 536 of the urgencies squad confirmed the news.

He's surivived by his widow, Delia Valero (who is the daughter of [[Héctor Valero Meré]], a legendary lucha magazine writer/owner of the past), his two daughters Alma Delia and Blanca Olivia, plus his brothers and father.

His corpse was at the funerary Gayosso Sullivan until today ([[January 5|5th of January]]) around 12:15 PM when they carried him to the Panteón Francés de San Joaquín. Dozens of wrestlers (including [[Los Brazos]], [[Perro Aguayo]], [[Cien Caras]], [[Universo 2000]], [[Mascara Magica]], [[Fantasma]], [[El Signo]], [[Felino]] and [[Ringo Mendoza]]) attended the funerary services and were there to say the last goodbye to their good friend. As requested by the family, he was buried with his mask on and wearing his Villano cape with the [[UWA]] logo.

This is quite ironic, but yesterday ([[January 4|4th of Jan.]], [[2001]]), Ray and the other three Villanos gave an speech at the Hospital Obregón (located at Colonia Roma) about the risks of the sport, after [[Villano V]] had had successful knee surgery there a day before. They also spoke about Villano I's brain surgery as a side-effect of the years of head bumps in the ring. When they arrived home, they were told the bad news. They apparently had plans to film a TV doccumentary about the risks of lucha (Ray and the Villano's have suffered TONS of career threatening injuries), but I don't know if those plans will still go on.

The Villanos I and [[Villano II|II]] started trained together in [[1961]] with [[Bobby Bonales]] at different venues in the districts of La Lagunilla and Tepito. During his youth, Villano I studied at the Escuela Superior de Educacion Fisica (Physical Education High School) and got a degree. He eventually became a P.E. teacher there too.

Villano wanted to be a part of the wrestling team for the Mexico '68 Olympics, but he couldn't get into the team so he and V-2 turned pro during sometime the first three months of [[1969]]. Apparently Ray didn't want them to become wrestlers unless they had a degree, so they wrestled as the masked Bestias Negras I/II (Black Beasts) without their father knowing. Now I don't know if I should believe this history of them being wrestlers and their father not knowing, however all the Villano wrestlers have degrees.

Anyway, he also wrestled as Toro Bill (Bill the Bull) and El Villano, until at some point during late-[[1970|70]] or early-[[1971|71]] when they finally switched to Los Villanos I and II. At the start they mainly wrestled out of [[Naucalpan]] until they signed with [[EMLL]] where they competed mostly at the [[Arena Coliseo]] and became [[Arena Coliseo Tag Team Championship|Arena Coliseo Tag Team champions]].

All the Mendoza's departed to the newly created [[UWA]] in [[1975]] where the Villanos, especially [[Villano III]], became big stars. During the "trios" boom in the early 80s there wasn't a regular Villano trio though, as Villano II "disappeared" and Villano III was a singles star. Villano I mostly teamed with his father in tag team competition until [[Villano IV]] started to wrestle with that name in early [[1983]]. They were [[El Toreo]] regulars, but mostly competed the undercard (with the huge amount of talent and foreign imports they had, it wasn't uncommon to see [[El Hijo del Santo]] or Los Villanos in the first or second match of the night).

The only major singles title he had during his career was the [[UWA World Light Heavyweight Championship|UWA World Light Heavyweight title]] he captured on [[August 10]], [[1986]] defeating [[Fishman]] at El Toreo. He lost the title on [[January 17]] of the following year in the same place to [[Loco Zandokan]] (the original one, not the current one who is his brother [[Huichol]]). During his career he also won several masks, the most important being the ones of [[El Cóndor]], [[Scorpio|Scorpio Sr.]], and [[Los Brazos]] ([[El Brazo]], [[Brazo de Oro]] and [[Brazo de Plata]]).

After the death of his brother in [[1989]], he lost his heart about lucha, though he still was an active wrestler because he was a company man and the UWA needed him. However, he didn't wrestle a full time schedule and spent a lot of time as a P.E. teacher, and as an amateur wrestling teacher in a lot of gyms, like the Arena Toluca gym, Deportivo Oceanía, Centro Social de Aragón, and especially the Baños Gloria gym at the Tepito district. Most of the new talent of the early 90s in the UWA, was indeed trained by the Villanos.

When the UWA fell apart, Villano I went into semi-retirement though from time to time he appeared at a few small shows here and there.
 

== Luchas de apuestas record ==
{{astart}}
{{aline|??/??/??|hair|[[Villano I]]|[[Toño De La Cruz]]|unknown}}
{{aline|??/??/??|hair|[[Villano I]]|[[Babe Sharon]]|unknown}}
{{aline|??/??/??|hair|[[Villano I]]|[[Javier Meza]]|unknown}}
{{aline|??/??/??|hair|[[Villano I]]|[[Pedro Nieves]]|unknown}}
{{aline|??/??/??|hair|[[Villano I]]|[[Luis Mariscal]]|unknown}}
{{aline|75/02/11|mask|[[Villano I]]|[[El Infernal I]]|El Toreo - Naucalpan, Mexico State}}
{{aline|75/12/03|masks (1)|Villanos I & [[Villano II|II]]|[[Scorpio]] & [[El Cóndor]]|Palacio de los Deportes - Mexico City}}
{{aline|76/02/18|hair|[[Villano I]]|[[Kato Kung Lee|Johnny Lezcano]]|Veracruz, Veracruz}}
{{aline|77/??/??|mask|[[Villano I]]|[[Zorro Plateado]]|Palacio de los Deportes - Mexico City}}
{{aline|77/07/11|mask|[[Villano I]]|[[El Cachorro]]|Arena Tropicana - Tehuacán, Puebla }}
{{aline|79/05/27|mask|[[Villano I]]|[[Martin Escobedo|Azteca de Oro]]|El Toreo - Naucalpan, Mexico State}}
{{aline|83/08/11|hair|[[Villano I]]|[[Gorila Infernal]]|Jalapa, Veracruz}}
{{aline|86/10/21|mask|[[Villano I]]|[[Chicano Power|El Broncas]]|El Toreo - Naucalpan, Mexico State}}
{{aline|88/10/21|masks|Villanos I, [[Villano IV|IV]] & [[Villano V|V]]|[[Los Brazos]] ([[Brazo de Oro|Oro]], [[Brazo de Plata|Plata]], [[El Brazo|Brazo]])|Plaza de Toros Monumental - Monterrey, N.L.}}
{{aline|90/11/16|hair|[[Villano I]]|[[El Brazo]]|El Toreo - Naucalpan, Mexico State}}
{{aline|91/07/19|masks|Villanos I, [[Villano IV|IV]] & [[Villano V|V]]|[[Mercenarios Americanos]] ([[Tim Patterson]], [[Bill Anderson]] & [[Louie Spicolli]])|Auditorio de Tijuana - Tijuana, Baja California}}
{{aend|(1) Finals of a ruleta rusa tag team tournament}}

== Gallery ==


{{Gallery|
|name=VillanoIyII.jpg
|caption=original Villanos look
}}

[[Category:Mexican wrestlers]]
[[Category:Trainers]]

Ray Mendoza

2006-06-13T01:09:33Z

Suplexmasta:

== Profile ==

{{bioFields||image=Raymendoza.jpg
|name=Ray Mendoza
|realName=José Díaz
|nicknames=Jefe Indio Dedos Chuecos (Indian Chief Twisted Fingers)
|nameHistory="Pelón" Chato Ortiz (debut - ??), Ray Mendoza (?? - )
|family=[[Villano I]], [[Villano II]], [[Villano III]], [[Villano IV]] and [[Villano V]] (sons), [[La Infernal]] (daughter-in-law)
|maestro=Ray Carrasco
|birthdate=July 6, 1929 - Mexico City
|obituarydate=April 16, 2003 - Naucalpan, Mexico State
|debut=October 8, 1954 - Monterrey, Nuevo León
|height=5'7"/170 cms
|weight=202 lbs/92 kg
|signatureMoves=[[Tapatía]]
|titles=[[NWA World Light Heavyweight Title]] (6), [[National Light Heavyweight Title]], [[NWA World Middleweight Title]], Los Angeles: NWA Americas Tag Team Titles (3, w/ [[Mil Mascaras]], w/ [[Raúl Mata]], w/ [[Raúl Reyes]]), [[UWA World Light Heavyweight Title]] (3)
|}}

== Biography ==

José Díaz Velázquez, better known in the lucha libre world as Ray Mendoza, is, along with [[Perro Aguayo]], the biggest and most important non-masked legend ever in the history of professional wrestling in Mexico. Actually, he was masked during a short run in his early career, but that information is not widely known and completely irrelevant to his success.

He was born on July 6, 1929 at the Colonia Morelos at the Tepito district in Mexico City and lived his childhood there. Life was tough because of his family's precarious economic situation, and it didn't help living in a district famed because of its street violence.

He quit school at an early age, without even having a proper basic education, and started working at a bakery so he could become economically independent to support himself and his wife Lupita Mendoza, who he had married at the young age of 15.

He was a good athlete, and street life had toughened him up, so after competing in several sports at an amateur level (including cycling, swimming, cliff-diving and baseball) he decided to join the Gimnasio Gloria (gym) at Colonia Guerrero to become a boxer. Even though at first he was only looking to learn a way to defend himself properly, he ended up joining the pro ranks in 1950 afer being trained by Juan "El Charrito" Espinoza. It wasn't an easy task, because he had to be up all night working at the bakery to get the bread ready for early in the morning, and then after work go to the gym to train.

His first real contact with lucha libre was almost by coincidence. He once overslept, and arrived late to the gym so he missed the transport to Queretaro, where he was scheduled to box against Pirrín Vega. Espinoza was mad, and didn't want to hear from Mendoza anymore, so Mendoza politely asked some pro wrestlers to spar with him. They accepted, largely to make fun out of a boxer, and one of them took Mendoza to the mat. He did not know how to defend himself there, and a knee to the back injured him, largely ending his boxing career. He had a mixed career, having several managers (the last one being Manuel Moreno), around 20 bouts before retiring and as his biggest career fight, a loss to "Pelón" Cabrera in the finals of the first ever Distrito Federal "Golden Gloves" tournament. His boxing name was Joe Díaz.

He kept lifting weights at the same place until the gym owner, Efrén "Ray" Carrasco, encouraged him to become a luchador. He was a fan of lucha, with his favourites being [[Black Shadow]] and [[Cavernario Galindo]], and at that point, probably not even in his wildest dreams he imagined he'd spend decades in the ring fighting them. So he left his work as a health inspector for the government, and trained with Carrasco. First he was taught amateur wrestling, and submission fighting that Carrasco had learned in Central America, and then the actual "pro" wrestling training was done by Rogelio de la Paz, Genaro Contreras (who is not [[Ringo Mendoza]] or a relative, even though they share the same real name), Raúl Rojas and Daniel García (who would later become famous as [[Huracán Ramírez]]).

Once in 1953 there was a no-show at Arena Roma Mérida, in Monterrey, Nuevo León, and while he was there just to train, they had him cover the match. He had not actually started the second part of his training with the actual professional wrestlers, so he basically defended himself as a boxer would.

He officially debuted some months later, also in Monterrey, and his first ring name was "El Pelón" (Baldy) Chato Díaz, but he was soon told to seriously consider changing it, because that was the name a lowcarder would have. He used several names, such as "Indio" Mendoza, El Rayo Rojo and El Hombre del Rayo Rojo, and also having a masked run as Gargantua from 1954 to 1955 until losing it to Al Velasco. But the name that finally stuck in was "Ray Mendoza", a tribute to both his maestro Ray Carrasco and his wife Lupita Mendoza. That name is often misspelled as Rey (King) Mendoza, but he never used that name, or even Rey as a nickname.

He had the build of a big rudo, a natural light heavyweight that could trim down to the middleweight division (back when weight divisions were actually respected), had polished skills, great ring presence and "angel" (term used in Mexico to refer to the special charisma that separates very charismatic wrestlers from idols), and in less than a year and a half of the name change, he made his Arena Coliseo debut. That 25th of February of 1956 he was put in a "campal" (battle royal) with [[Gori Guerrero]], [[El Santo]], Cavernario Galindo, [[Blue Demon]] and Black Shadow, the five most important men in lucha at the time, so that should speak volumes about the confidence that [[Salvador Lutteroth]] had in him.

During the second half of the 50s, and most of the 60s, Ray Mendoza formed a feared team with [[René Guajardo]] and [[Karloff Lagarde]], which was heavily featured in main events all over the country. All three were excellent workers and proven money draws, so they provided years of quality wrestling for the fans and years of good gates for the Lutteroth family. As a trio, they had battles with trios of tecnicos like Santo, [[Rayo de Jalisco]] or Blue Demon, or a rudo vs. rudo rivalry with the three [[:Category:Espantos|Espantos]], famous both because of the bloodbaths and the unusual sight of six rudos brawling all over. They were also real-life best friends and very well liked by their fellow luchadores because they were backstage leaders that would confront their bosses asking them to improve the work salaries and conditions of the EMLL employees.

Mendoza's first title was the NWA World Light Heavyweight Title he won on August 11, 1959, beating long-time opponent [[Dory Dixon]] in Guadalajara, Jalisco. By doing this he became the first Mexican to have this title, and even though the title already was in Mexican land (the Jamaican Dixon won it in Mexico, and he was wrestling in the country full-time), it wasn't until Mendoza won it than the fans didn't feel that the title really belonged to Mexico, even if it meant it was a rudo winning it. During the years, he'd capture the championship for a grand total of 6 times, and the last time (December of 1973 to July of 1974) he didn't lose it, but vacated it. And he vacated it for a reason, but we'll go into further detail later.

As a Light Heavyweight Champion (and let's remember that because the NWA World Heavyweight Champion would rarely tour Mexico, this was the grand prize in all of lucha libre) he had memorable rivalries with many legends of the era.

Gori Guerrero was one of his most outstanding opponents. Both were wrestlers cut out of the same cloth, though Guerrero was a finer technician and Mendoza had a rougher style, and the questions many fans and magazines of the era would ask themselves and debate for hours who was the better worker, similar to the Kobashi/Misawa/Kawada debates, Funk Jr./Brisco, Race/Flair or the Michaels/Hart debate.

In 1965, with his rising popularity, he turned tecnico and started feuding with his old partners Lagarde and Guajardo. It all started when on June 18, Cavernario Galindo and Ray Mendoza had to fight Benito Galan and Karloff Lagarde in the finals of a one-night tag team tournament. With four rudos going at it, in-ring friendships and comraderies were forgotten and Lagarde didn't get over losing, so he challenged Mendoza to a hair vs. hair match, hold on July 30 and won by Mendoza. Guajardo, who was caught in the middle of the rivalry, sided with Lagarde claiming Mendoza had just gotten greedy. On June 6, at the Arena Mexico main event Guajardo and Lagarde faced off Ray Mendoza and his new partner, of all people, Mil Mascaras. People could just not believe what they were seeing when the new tecnico dream team defeated cleanly the promotion's top rudo team. A week later, the match was repeated with El Santo as Mendoza's ally. Again, the result was the same and the arena went down big time, cheering for Mendoza. Lutteroth hit the jackpot with the turn, and when Guajardo defeated Mendoza in a hair match on August 30, they sold out the building with a gate of 150,000 pesos of the era, the best of that year and one of the best of the decade.

The rivalry didn't die off here, though, as Mendoza's revenge quest successfully headlined arenas all over the country during the following years. However, Mendoza actually never claimed revenge by beating Guajardo in a hair vs. hair match, but he usually got the upper hand in title matches.

In 1967 he had a series of matches for the NWA World Middleweight title with Guajardo, but Ray dropped the title since after winning the Light Heavyweight title since he also was well over the weight limit. Mendoza, storyline-wise, did this to prove to himself that he could become a double champion, and since there was no way that he could realistically make the weight anymore, problems with the commission were bound to happen sooner or later. Also in 1967, he held the National Light Heavyweight Title and the NWA Americas Tag Team titles - the latter three times in Los Angeles, where he toured with great success many times, as his style was very well accepted there. While in Los Angeles, he also captured the NWA United Heavyweight Title from the legendary "Golden Greek" John Tolos, on December 4, 1970 at the Olympic Auditorium. He defended the title during two months and it was ruled by the NWA that Tolos was victim of a fast count and the title was returned back to Tolos. The real reason for that is that they wanted Tolos to go to Japan to job the title to Antonio Inoki, then working for the JWA. After the promotion died, the title became property of All Japan Pro Wrestling of the great [[Giant Baba]], and in 1989 it became part of the famed Triple Crown, one of the most prestigious championships ever in wrestling.

[[El Solitario]] was another one of Mendoza's most famous opponents. El Solitario's debut at Arena Mexico was on September 6 of 1966, and he immediately got engaged in a rivalry with Mendoza, who surprised at the young man's in-ring performance, tried to cut off his success by unmasking him. On December 13 of 1968 in what at the time was considered one of the biggest upsets ever in the wrestling history of the country, Solitario defeated Mendoza clean in a hair vs. mask match. Two weeks later, on a Christmas card, Solitario repeated the feat with Guajardo being the victim. Solitario, who was a rudo, was seen by many insiders and regular fans as the best thing going on in lucha, but the relative unselfishness (relative because of the huge money purses involved in the matches) of the two main event veterans in putting over the young star, is what solidified Solitario' s status as a main event guy in the eyes of every fan of lucha libre.

Mendoza also was one of the key players in the 1974 "independent revolution" and the start of the UWA, and consequently, one of the hottest periods ever in the history of lucha libre. [[Salvador Lutteroth Jr.|Salvador "Chava" Lutteroth Jr.]] and [[Paco Alonso|Francisco "Paco" Alonso Lutteroth]] joined the promotion's office, and this made some people unhappy, since it meant that Salvador Lutteroth Sr. was soon to be gone and there would be a big power change. Lutteroth Sr. was not universally loved, but he was universally respected, which could not be said of his son.

This gets us to Ray Mendoza's position in the company at that moment. Even though he was the NWA World Light Heavyweight champion at the time, Ray Mendoza was very unhappy about life in the EMLL for him and, especially for his sons (Villanos I, II and III), who he thought the promoters weren't pushing enough. He felt that there was an uncertain future under the new powers-to-be, so he, his sons and his best friends Karloff Lagarde and René Guajardo gave notice. They got in touch with [[Francisco Flores]], a former EMLL minor arena promoter that severed his ties with La Empresa when they didn't send him whoever he wanted and didn't let him run things "his way". So on January 16, 1975, a clean break was made and with the money backing of Flores and [[Benjamín Mora Jr.]] (long time second generation Baja California promoter), a new federation was born. The new corporation was listed as "La Alianza de la Lucha Libre Internacional, S. C.", but the name was eventually changed to "Lucha Libre Internacional, S. C." when Mora's part of the company was bought out. The belts were called UWA (Universal Wrestling Association), which is the name mostly used to refer to the company outside Mexico. The promotion's first card was on January 29.

Mendoza and friends were in charge of the talent acquisitions and got a really important part of the big EMLL names to jump, plus acted as scouts in order to sign some of the hottest independent talent around. This had not been the first time that Lutteroth had had competition, but for the first time ever, this competition was seriously strong and threatening.

As one can guess, with the power Mendoza had within the promotion, he became the first UWA World Light Heavyweight Title holder (by winning a tournament). While the reasons for Mendoza's title win could be seen as ego-driven, this was the best business-wise move at the moment, as Mendoza's image was associated with the title so much that whoever beat him for it would get the rub from the legendary champion. Ray had UWA Light Heavy title switches with [[El Audaz]] and Solitario until he lost it for good to [[Gran Hamada]].

He kept wrestling regularly for LLI/UWA and by the late 70s he reformed his team with Guajardo (who was more active as a booker in Northern Mexico than as a wrestler by then) to feud with masked idols El Solitario and [[Fishman]] or with the Japanese aces Gran Hamada and Satoru Sayama (pre-[[Tiger Mask]]). Mendoza also was a feature in the Toreo cards in a team with son [[Villano I]], and sometimes [[Villano III]]. Since Mendoza's physical abilities were considerably diminished by this point, he was mostly put in tag team matches against a Perro Aguayo or an [[Abdullah the Butcher]] so he could have a bloody, slower paced and dramatic brawl.

One of Mendoza's last great singles matches was him challenging [[Tatsumi Fujinami]] for his WWWF Jr. heavyweight title in a 2/3 falls match at El Toreo in August of 1978. This was a really great mat based match, and while Fujinami was one of the best in the world at that point, Mendoza more than held his own and showed that his body was broken down, but he still had his wrestling mind and knew what to do and how to do it.

Another one of the memorable matches in the later days of his career was when on September 13 of 1981 he fought "The Ape Man" at the Palacio de los Deportes. Even though the name suggests something else, The Ape Man was a martial artist that fought Ray (legit toughman with a strong reputation) in a worked wrestler vs. martial artist match, which is a concept they borrowed from the New Japan Pro Wrestling and [[Antonio Inoki]], the promotion and wrestler that made it successful. Mendoza won this fight, which was considered to be very dramatic and heated, but the style didn't really stick in and it was never used in such a big fashion (headlining a big event) again.

Mendoza announced his retirement on October of 1982 and retired some months later, already in 1983, after doing an old-fashioned retirement tour whose final match was a singles bout with [[Solar I]] in Panama. Back then there was no television in most parts of the country, and most wrestlers would do that, both to say goodbye to the fans all over the country and to get a last string of nice payoffs. Perro Aguayo, being old-school as it gets, did this retirement tour deal a couple of years ago, but of course Aguayo eventually returned to places where he'd drawn great crowds and many tears from fans who thought that they would never see their childhood idol wrestle again.

Ray retired and never wrestled again, even though he became a referee for the LLI/UWA for special matches (like major title matches where his presence would mean a fair match with the rulebook being enforced strictly, or mask vs. mask challenges such as El Solitario vs. [[Dr. Wagner]] in 1986) and also he had a hand in training (along with Villano I, Lagarde and [[Felipe Ham Lee]]) a lot of the undercard youngsters of the UWA's last days.

From 1998 onwards he was best known as the lead commissioner of the Comisión de Box y Lucha del Distrito Federal, whose current president is [[El Fantasma]]. Ray was featured on TV almost weekly, and appeared in many angles as an spokesman when title, hair or mask challenges were thrown in after a match. Even younger generations of fans knew that Mendoza being there meant respect and justice.

He always was a respected personality who was considered to be twice as successful since all five of his wrestling sons are/were good workers and top stars. He was an avid book reader who, when fame and money came in, took care of his education. Education was so important to him that he did not let any of his five sons become a wrestler until he had an university degree, so they'd have a cushion to fall back on if they had to retire early.

Even at advanced age, he tried to keep in good shape by practising yoga. Once in the 80s while Mendoza was in a session, his leg got stuck on the back of his neck and he couldn't get it off there. He was starting to have problems to breathe, which was even worse because he panicked, and he probably would have died if it had not been for his wife coming in to see him, and luckily, helping him with the stuck leg. Even with the seriousness of this story, Mendoza would tell it with a smile to the magazines during later years and how he was so lucky to have such a lovely wife.

Mendoza was a family man, and Lupita's death in 1986 affected him very much. Unlike many wrestlers who had a girlfriend or two in every arena, he would try to see his family as much as he could. It was also because of his family that he was such a physical wreck in his late years. He had eight children (José de Jesús "Villano I" being the first one, then José Alfredo "[[Villano II]]", Arturo "Villano III", Rita Marina, Leonor, [[Villano V]], Lupita and the youngest being [[Villano IV]]) and with such a big family to support, even being one of the highest paid wrestlers in Mexico at the time he could never let his injuries heal properly because bills would start to pile up fast. Due to that, he eventually had his meniscus (knee cartilage) removed, and most of the fingers in his hand were twisted, which is why he was nicknamed (Jefe Indio Dedos Chuecos) "Chief Twisted Fingers". Due to that, he couldn't actually get the fist shape of a regular hand when closing it.

On Tuesday April 15, 2003, he was taken to the Hospital General de Naucalpan with a kidney failure made worse by an arrythmia that shut off his right lung. He had been carrying a degree of health problems from two years back, when the death of his son Villano I caused him to get depressed, because it reminded him very much of his other son, Villano II, tragically dying in 1989. Early on the year he had been ill with a pneumonia, but he recovered well of it, even though the problem came back and this time he could not recover. Conflicting reports say Mendoza died after suffering a heart attack either at 11:00 PM on Wenesday April 16, 2003 or at 2:00 AM a day later.

More than 100 persons went on April 18 to the "Panteón Francés", where Mendoza was buried in the family's crypt, to say goodbye to him for the last time. Among the attendants from the business were his three sons, daughter-in-law [[La Infernal]] (married to V3), [[Canek]], [[Super Astro]], [[José Luis Feliciano]] (Guerrero del Futuro), [[Mano Negra]], [[Fuerza Guerrera]], [[El Indómito]] (Coco Amarillo from the original AAA Payasos), [[Ultraman]], [[Pierroth Jr.]], [[Olímpico]], [[Shocker]], Karloff Lagarde Sr. and Jr., Rey Vikingo, and others, including [[Ringo Mendoza]].

Ringo Mendoza, who has no family ties to Ray or any of the Villanos, was helped by Ray to get in the business and because facially he looked like his son, he gave him the blessing to use the Mendoza last name. They even teamed together for a while and many fans at the funeral, who still remember the team, gave Ringo their condolences and told them they were so sad that "his father" had passed away.

Ray helping Ringo did not sit well with Ray's wife and sons, because Ray did not help or support his sons when they told him they wanted to become wrestlers, because he did not want them to be as hurt as he always was and wanted them to be a doctor, or a lawyer, or anything else except a wrestler. But when he realized that he could not change their minds, Ray supported them and helped them as much as they could and used his contacts to get them regular spots in arenas like Naucalpan when they were rookies getting seasoned.

With Mendoza passing away, one of the last survivors of Lucha Libre's golden era was gone. May he rest in peace.

 
== Luchas de apuestas record ==
{{astart}}
{{aline|??/??/??|mask|[[Ray Mendoza]]|[[Sunny War Cloud]]|unknown}}
{{aline|??/??/??|hair|[[Ray Mendoza]]|[[El Audaz]]|unknown}}
{{aline|65/??/??|hair|[[Ray Mendoza]]|[[Karloff Lagarde]]|Mexico City}}
{{aline|65/08/??|hair|[[René Guajardo]]|[[Ray Mendoza]]|Arena México - Mexico City}}
{{aline|66/02/04|hair|[[Ray Mendoza]]|[[El Nazi]]|Arena México - Mexico City}}
{{aline|68/12/13|hair|[[El Solitario]]|[[Ray Mendoza]]|Arena México - Mexico City}}
{{aline|68/69?|hairs|[[Black Shadow]] & Ray Mendoza|[[Los Hippies]] ([[Renato Torres]] & [[El Vikingo]])|Arena México - Mexico City}}
{{aline|72/11/10|hair|[[Ángel Blanco]]|[[Ray Mendoza]]|Arena México - Mexico City}}
{{aline|73/09/21|hairs|Ray Mendoza & [[Ringo Mendoza]]|[[Ángel Blanco]] & [[Kim Chul Won]]|Arena México - Mexico City}}
{{aline|75/07/06|hair|[[Ray Mendoza]]|[[Ángel Blanco]]|Plaza México - Mexico City}}
{{aline|77/06/26|hair|[[Ray Mendoza]]|[[César Valentino]]|Palacio de los Deportes - Mexico City}}
{{aend|}}

== Gallery ==
{{Gallery|name=Nwalh mendoza.jpg|caption=[[NWA LH|as NWA LH Champion]]}}

[[Category:Mexican wrestlers]]
[[Category:Deceased wrestlers]]
[[Category:Trainers]]

Shadito Cruz

2006-06-13T01:08:10Z

Suplexmasta:

{{bioFields|
|name=Shadito Cruz
|realName=
|nicknames=
|nameHistory=Shadito Cruz
|family=[[Brazo de Oro]], [[Brazo de Plata]], [[El Brazo]], [[Brazo Cibernetico]], [[Super Brazo]], [[Brazo de Platino]] (sons), [[La Mascara]], [[Maximo]], [[Kronos]] (grandsons), [[Lady Apache]] (ex daughter-in-law)
|maestro=
|birthdate=
|debut=
|lostmaskto=
|height=
|weight=
|obituarydate=
|signatureMoves=
|titles=
|}}
[[Category:Mexican wrestlers]]
[[Category:Brazo Family]]
[[Category:Trainers]]

Diablo Velazco

2006-06-13T01:07:02Z

Suplexmasta:

== Profile ==


{{bioFields|
|image=Diablovelazco.jpg
|name="Diablo" Velazco
|realName=Cuauhtémoc Velazco Vargas
|nicknames=Diablo (Devil)
|nameHistory=Telmo Velazco (debut - ??), Diablo Velazco (?? - death)
|family=none
|lostmaskto=na
|height=
|weight=
|maestro=Raúl Romero
|birthdate=1919 - Guadalajara, Jalisco
|obituarydate=June 13, 1999 - Guadalajara, Jalisco
|debut=1937
|titles=Occidente Lightweight Title, Occidente Welterweight Title, Occidente Middleweight Title
}}
{{WONHOF}}


== Biography ==


Velazco watched his first wrestling match in 1934 and he was so impressed by it that he decided to become a wrestler. Raúl Romero took him under his wing in 1935, and after two years of amateur wrestling training Velazco made his professional debut on 1937, as Telmo Velazco. His first payoff was a bottle of Coca Cola! He worked hard and got to wrestle in Mexico City for Salvador Lutteroth, but he was very small and he mostly worked as a preliminary wrestler.

In all reality, there's not much more to say about the career of Velazco as a professional wrestler. So what makes this man so special and why is he considered a legend?

In 1942, Velazco started a career as a wrestling trainer in Guadalajara, Jalisco in a local "Box y Lucha" gym, and a few years later, on June 20, 1959, he became the head trainer at the gym located at the newly created Arena Coliseo de Guadalajara. He also became a referee in the same arena.

Little did he know that after he retired, the list of the wrestlers he trained would be the longest and most illustrious of any trainer ever in the story of professional wrestling all over the world. And in all reality, this list most likely will never be topped.

Among those who were trained by Velazco were [[Atlantis]], [[Alfonso Dantés|Alfonso]], [[Apolo Dantés|Apolo]] and César Dantés, Emilio Charles Sr. and [[Emilio Charles Jr.|Jr.]], [[El Dandy]], Irma Aguilar and Irma González, [[Ringo Mendoza|Ringo]] and [[Cachorro Mendoza]], [[Satánico]], [[Perro Aguayo]], [[Cavernario Galindo]], [[Angel Blanco]] Sr. and Jr., Los Hermanos Dinamita ([[Cien Caras]], [[Máscara Año 2000]], [[Universo 2000]]), [[Tarzán López]], [[Javier Cruz|Javier "Monarca" Cruz]], [[Américo Rocca|Javier "Américo" Rocca]], [[Gran Markus Jr.]], [[Bestia Salvaje]], Corazón Salvaje, Mosco de la Merced, Zorro, [[Solar|Solar I]] & II, [[Rayo de Jalisco|Rayo de Jalisco Sr.]] & [[Rayo de Jalisco Jr.|Jr.]], Valentín Mayo, [[Arkangel|Arkángel de la Muerte]], [[Oro]], Plata, El Piloto Suicida, [[Rito Romero]], Hiro Matsuda, [[Mano Negra]], [[Black Man]], [[Black Terry|Black Terry (Guerrero Maya)]], [[El Texano]], [[El Gladiador]], El Hijo del Gladiador, Bobby Bonales, [[Rolando Vera]], [[Gori Guerrero|Gory Guerrero]], Alberto Muñoz (White Man), Pepe Vargas, Vic Amezcua, Tony Salazar (Ulises), [[Enrique Vera]], Franco Colombo, Sangre India, Águila India, [[Gran Cochisse|Gran Cochisse (Espectro de Ultratumba)]], Espectro Jr., [[El Supremo|El Supremo I]], César Curiel, [[El Solitario]], [[Mil Máscaras]], and his last major trainées, [[Shocker]] and [[Mr. Águila]].

Basically almost anybody that was born in Guadalajara, or started his lucha libre career there, was trained by Velazco. Diablo's school had such a reputation that guys from everywhere would move to Guadalajara just to get trained by the man himself.

Velazco was never much of a figure that would make a lot of special appearances but on October 19, 1983, he participated in an special "exhibition" match against his former student Gran Cochisse at the Arena Coliseo de Guadalajara in front of in excess of 6,000 fans. Velazco's last public appearance in the capital was at a ceremony honoring lucha legends held January 24, 1992, at Arena Coliseo.

He stopped training wrestlers in 1997 when a terminal heart disease began to debilitate him. Over the last year of his life he was in a wheelchair, this was also due to the fact that in 1986 he suffered a hip injury which required extensive surgery.

Cuauhtémoc Velazco passed away on Sunday, June 13, 1999 in his hometown of Guadalajara, Jalisco, after suffering a heart attack. The papers said that he was 75, but I have also seen him listed as being born in 1919.

Following Mexican tradition of burying people within 24 hours of their death, a funeral service was held the following day at the La Colonia funeral home in the Los Arcos section of the town.

A week later (June 20) it was the 40th anniversary of the Arena Coliseo (the Guadalajara one) and the card was a Velazco Memorial show.

To quote "Dr. Lucha" Steve Sims, Velazco is arguably one of the 10 most influential people in the entire history of lucha libre and un-arguably one of the top 20. He's the most famous trainer ever in lucha libre and a man that gave everything he had to lucha. He always had such a big reputation as a trainer but he never was in it for the money, as he'd firmly refuse to train any wrestlers without any knowledge of amateur wrestling because he wasn't there to make "stars", he was there to make "wrestlers". Though in the end, the quality of many of those Velazco-trained wrestlers made them stars.



[[Category:Deceased wrestlers]]
[[Category:Mexican wrestlers]]
[[Category:Trainers]]

Felipe Ham Lee

2006-06-13T01:05:48Z

Suplexmasta:

{{bioFields||
|image=felipehamlee.jpg
|name=Felipe Ham Lee
|realName=
|nicknames=
|nameHistory=Felipe Ham Lee
|family=
|maestro=
|birthdate=
|debut=
|lostmaskto=
|height=
|weight=
|obituarydate=
|signatureMoves=
|titles=
|}}

 
== Luchas de apuestas record ==
{{astart}}
{{aline|66/09/09|hair|[[René Guajardo]]|[[Felipe Ham Lee]]|Arena México - Mexico City}}
{{aline|77/03/06|mask|Felipe Ham Lee|[[Jack Dillon|The Monster]]|unknown}}
{{aend|}}

[[Category:Mexican wrestlers]]
[[Category:Officials]]
[[Category:Trainers]]

Talk:New Japan Dojo

2006-06-12T22:34:15Z

Suplexmasta:

Not sure what category fits this best. --[[User:Nkhan|thecubsfan]] 15:43, 12 June 2006 (CDT)

Maybe start a "Trainer" category, which could also be a secondary category for people like Diablo Velasco or Felipe Ham Lee. Hey, we've got a "Referee" category, so there's precedent. In any case, "Locations" really doesn't work in this context. --[[User:Suplexmasta|suplexmasta]] 17:34, 12 June 2006 (CDT)

New Japan Dojo

2006-06-12T22:30:07Z

Suplexmasta:

The New Japan Dojo is the training center for all aspiring New Japan wrestlers. As with similar places in Japan, trainees eat, sleep, train and live in the confines of the dojo. The training is reputed to be very tough and very demanding, which causes some hopefuls to give up training and leave.

Those with lucha libre connections trained, in some part, at the New Japan Dojo, include
* [[Último Dragón]]
* [[Jushin Liger]]
* [[El Samurai]]
* [[Gedo]]
* [[Koji Kanemoto]]
* [[Tanahashi]]
* [[Hirata]]
* [[Pegasus Kid|Chris Benoit/Pegasus Kid]]

[[Category:Locations]]

Talk:CMLL World Women's Championship

2006-06-12T02:21:05Z

Suplexmasta:

I've seen some title histories that have Chikako Shiratori winning this tilte on 10/17/99 (Osaka) and Lady Apache winning it back before she jumped to AAA. Can any joshi fan confirm? --[[User:Nkhan|thecubsfan]] 19:23, 11 June 2006 (CDT)

From what I understand, that's the [[CMLL Japan Women's Championship]] Chikako won on 10/17/99, not the CMLL World Women's Championship. As to Apache winning it back, I dunno. --[[User:Suplexmasta|suplexmasta]] 21:21, 11 June 2006 (CDT)

Chokeslam

2006-06-11T15:03:07Z

Suplexmasta:

#REDIRECT [[Choke Slam]]

Guatemala

2006-06-09T20:59:03Z

Suplexmasta:

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guatemala Wikipedia:Guatemala]

{{stub}}

[[Category:Locations]]

Estado de México

2006-06-06T22:25:55Z

Suplexmasta:

#REDIRECT [[Mexico State]]

Huracán Ramirez

2006-06-06T19:07:08Z

Suplexmasta:

#REDIRECT [[Huracán Ramírez]]

Spain

2006-06-06T19:06:17Z

Suplexmasta:

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spain Wikipedia:Spain]

{{stub}}

[[Category:Locations]]

León de los Aldama

2006-06-06T19:05:14Z

Suplexmasta:

#REDIRECT [[León]]

Houston

2006-06-06T19:03:20Z

Suplexmasta:

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houston,_Texas Wikipedia:Houston, Texas]

{{stub}}

[[Category:Locations]]

Houston

2006-06-06T19:03:03Z

Suplexmasta:

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houston,_Texas Wikipedia:Texas]

{{stub}}

[[Category:Locations]]

El Santo

2006-06-06T19:00:39Z

Suplexmasta: /* Biography */

== Profile ==

{{bioFields|
|image=elsanto.jpg
|name=El Santo
|realName=Rodolfo Guzmán Huerta
|nicknames=El Enmascarado de Plata (The man of the silver mask), El Profe (The Professor)
|nameHistory=Rudy/Ruddy Guzmán (debut - 36), Hombre Rojo (36 - 11/36), El Enmascarado, Murciélago Enmascarado II, El Demonio Negro, El Santo (06/42 - death)
|family=[[El Hijo del Santo]] (son), [[Black Guzmán]], [[Pantera Negra]] and [[Jimmy Guzmán]] (brothers), [[Los Rockets]], [[Axxel]] (grandsons)
|maestro=[[Black Guzmán]]
|birthdate=[[September 23]], [[1917]] - [[Tulancingo]], [[Hidalgo]]
|obituarydate=[[Feburary 5]], [[1984]] - [[Mexico City]]
|debut=[[June 28]], [[1934]] - [[Arena Peralvillo-Cozumel]] - [[Mexico City]]
|lostmaskto=you're kidding, right?
|height=
|weight=
|signatureMoves=[[La de a Caballo]] (camel clutch), [[Tope de Cristo]] (flying somersault headbutt), [[Plancha]], [[Running Tope Suicida]]
|titles=[[National Welterweight Title]], [[National Middleweight Title]] (4), [[NWA World Welterweight Title]] (2), [[NWA World Middleweight Title]], [[National Tag Team Titles]] (2, w/ [[Rayo de Jalisco]]), [[National Light Heavyweight Title]]
}}
{{WONHOF}}

== Biography ==


To say that El Santo is just a lucha legend would a huge understatement. He was more than a luchador with a parallel acting career. Santo is a cultural icon, a social phenomenon whose impact in the Mexican society is enormous in many different ways. Santo was a superhero like Superman, Batman or Spiderman - but with the difference that Santo was real and you could go to watch him wrestle every week, while the others were just comic characters. It's safe to say that Santo is the most popular wrestler ever in his home country, and he's much popular [[Antonio Inoki]], [[Riki Choshu]], [[Lou Thesz]], [[Hulk Hogan]], [[Steve Austin]] and many others were and are. The only one that comes close to Santo is Japanese cultural hero [[Rikidozan]], and anyway, he's actually Korean.

Rodolfo Guzmán Huerta was born [[September 28]], [[1917]] in [[Tulancingo]], [[Hidalgo]]. Son of Jesús Guzmán Campuzano and Josefina Huerta Márquez, he was the fifth of seven children. When he was still a little kid, his family moved to [[Mexico City]] and he kept studying at the Abraham Castellanos elementary school. During his youth, Rodolfo practised many sports, like baseball and (American) football.

Several of his brothers were wrestlers. [[Black Guzmán|(Miguel) "Black" Guzmán]] was the most popular one as he captured several National titles and a few NWA titles in both [[Mexico]] and [[Texas]]. Jesús wrestled as [[Pantera Negra]] but he died in the ring, while Javier wrestled as [[Jimmy Guzmán]] at some small arenas. When Rodolfo was working at a stockings factory he decided to become a luchador like his brothers so he learnt the martial art known as jujutsu (jiu-jitsu) and later he practised some Greco-Roman (amateur) wrestling.

After a few months of training with his brother Black, he made his professional debut teaming with him as Rudy Guzmán on [[June 28]], [[1934]] in the [[Arena Peralvillo Cozumel]] of the [[Peralvillo]] district in [[Mexico City]]. He was 17 years old. But it was in [[Arena Pachuca]], of [[Pachuca]], [[Hidalgo]], where [[EMLL]] superstar [[Jack O'Brien]] saw the talent that Rudy and Miguel had and recommended them to EMLL's main talent scout, the referee [[Jesús Lomelí]].

Jesús took both brothers to [[Mexico City]] and got them signed to EMLL contracts. Miguel kept wrestling under his old name and became fairly popular, in fact in [[1939]] he was voted "rookie" of the year. On the other hand, Rodolfo wasn't so successful and rather than being "somebody else's brother" he decided to become his own self.

He started wrestling unmasked as El Hombre Rojo (Red Man) but this one wasn't a really memorable stint even though during that year he wrestled three times in the Arena Modelo (now known as [[Arena Mexico]]). In the meanwhile he had to work in many different places as carpenter, painter and other jobs to earn enough money to make a decent living.

In November of [[1936]], he left EMLL as he didn't feel he was getting a good push. Jesús Lomelí also left La Empresa and started promoting on his own at the [[Fronton México]] and when looking for young talent for his shows he didn't think it twice and called Rodolfo, who started wrestling under the mask of El Murciélago Enmascarado II (The Masked Bat II) as Jesús didn't want him to be Hombre Rojo anymore. The original [[Murciélago Velázquez]] didn't like the fact that a rookie was using his name without his permission so he complained to the [[Box y Lucha Commission]] and Rodolfo had to drop the gimmick.

Things weren't really working the right way. As soon as he started to get some heel heat (up to this point he had always been wrestling as a rudo) he had to drop the name and the hood. Also, his father had just recently died. Things were getting worse by the moment. Now if he wanted to keep wrestling he'd have to get a new name, so he had a meeting with his Lomelí, a man he had already developed a good friendship with. Lomelí suggested several names, like El Angel, but the most interesting one, considering he was a merciless rudo, was El Santo (The Saint in Spanish). Rodolfo loved the name and decided he'd become Santo.

El Santo's debut was on [[July 26]], [[1942]] in the old [[Arena Mexico]]. Lomelí told him to buy a silver mask and tights so with help of maskmaker [[Antonio Martinez]] he got his first outfit. Rodolfo didn't have a lot of money so it was a cheap one, but at least it would be good enough to wrestle until he could afford getting a new one. But back to his first match under this new identity, it was an eight man Battle Royal with [[Bobby Bonales]], [[Lobo Negro]], [[Gorila Macías II]], [[Bobby Rood]], [[Murciélago Velázquez]], [[Pavilivsky]] and [[Ciclón Veloz]]. The last two men in the ring were Santo and Ciclón so they fought in a regular 2 out of 3 falls match. Santo defeated Veloz in the first fall. Veloz took the second one, and during the third fall, Santo was giving Veloz such a beating that the referee Jesús Lomelí tried to stop it, but then Santo attacked him too and got himself DQ'd.

Around a week later Veloz and Santo fought each other in a rematch in which Santo upset Veloz, as everybody thought that the tecnico would get his revenge. The following week he wrestled another wild rudo, El Lobo Negro, who couldn't stop the silver hooded rudo either. But Santo's first big match was on [[August 16]], [[1942]], when he faced Bobby Bonales in the main event of an [[Arena Mexico]] card. Bonales, already an stablished star, defeated Santo that night, however the young man was already making a big impact with his style.

On [[December 4]], Santo defeated Lobo Negro in a "superlibre" (no rules) fight but one of the most memorable moments of the early Santo career was during his match against [[Dientes Hernández]], as Santo gave his poor opponent EIGHT straight "fauls" (low blows). Dientes' wife sure wasn't happy about that one, but Santo's name was all over the lucha section of the papers now, and he soon became one of the most hated rudos of Mexico.

Santo got his first title ever on [[February 21]], [[1943]] when he defeated his old enemy Ciclón Veloz to win the [[Mexican National Welterweight Championship]]. Santo kept that title for almost a year as he lost it on [[Feburary 18]], [[1944]] against Jack O'Brien.

On [[March 19]], Santo got his revenge of Murciélago Velázquez, as he defeated him to get the [[Mexican National Middleweight Title]], thus become double National champion. Santo's first big mask defense also was against Velázquez, who got a free haircut courtesy of the silver masked one.

On [[April 2]], [[1943]], [[Salvador Lutteroth]] opened a new building called [[Arena Coliseo]], and for its first card ever, he booked a Santo vs. [[Tarzán López]] main event. López probably was the biggest star in Mexico back then, and as expected, he defeated Santo in that match. And as if that big loss wasn't enough, on [[June 11]], Bobby Bonales defeated him for the Middleweight title. But he found the right way again and on [[September 24]], at the EMLL Anniversary show at Arena Coliseo, Santo defeated Bonales in a mask vs. hair match.

During the first months of [[1944]], Santo didn't have a lot of luck as on May he had an auto accident that could have killed him. But soon after that accident he defeated Jack O'Brien in a mask vs. hair match and his career picked up again. A few months later, Santo broke up his relationship with his regular tag team partner, [[El Charro Aguayo]], so he decided to look for a new tag team partner. He studied the talent available and he chose to team with a promising youngster that was just starting to get noticed.

So on November 19, "[[La Pareja Atómica]]" (The Atomic Pair) of El Santo and [[Gory Guerrero|Salvador "Gory" Guerrero]] was born as that day they teamed for the first time ever to defeat Bobby Bonales and Jack O'Brien. La Pareja Atómica sure was a very explosive combo. Santo was a wild rudo brawler, but on the other hand Guerrero was a great technician.

Gory and Santo defeated everybody that crossed their path: O'Brien and Bonales, and O'Brien and López tried to stop them several times but they never could defeat them.

On [[May 15]], [[1946]], Santo won his first World title. After the American [[Jack Reynolds]] vacated the [[NWA Welterweight Title]], [[EMLL]] asked Col. Landry (from the NWA) to let them run a tournament for that title. They were given the nod, though the first two wrestlers in the official NWA welterweight rankings, the Bulgarian [[Pete Pancoff]] and the American [[Red Garner]], had to participate in that tournament as well. Santo reached the finals by defeating Murciélago Velázquez and Jack O'Brien. On the other side of the brackets, Pancoff defeated Dientes Hernandez and [[Emilio Charles Sr.]] to get to the final match. Santo defeated Pancoff after the Bulgarian submitted to a [[Boston crab]] in the legendary final match. When Pancoff submitted, the crowd exploded in a huge "SANTO! SANTO! SANTO!" chorus.

This was one of the turning points of the career of Santo because even though he was a natural heel, and wrestled and acted like a rudo, by defeating a foreign wrestler to get a world title he was defending the country's pride and that made him a national hero.

But after that big win, things didn't work as expected. On [[September 20]], [[Wolf Rubinskis]], who was making his [[Arena Mexico]] debut, crushed him the same way he crushed Ciclón Veloz when he made his debut. But the worst thing is that during this match Santo got injured and had to take a few weeks off.

His career wasn't going as expected after his return in [[1947]] either. On [[February 14]], Jack O'Brien defeated him for the NWA Welterweight title. Again, Santo was the chosen one to give the welcome to a new wrestler that was making debut: [[Black Shadow]], and yes, Santo lost to Shadow clean in the middle of the ring too.

Santo's next big profile match was on [[1949]], when he had to face his friend and partner Gory Guerrero. It was March when Lutteroth announced that there would be a tournament to decide the number one contender for the NWA Welterweight title that O'Brien still held. The storyline says that Santo encouraged Gory, a natural Middleweight, to lose weight and participate in the tournament. Both men reached the finals of the tournament, and the day of the friend vs. friend match, EMLL sold-out the building (Arena Coliseo). Gory won this memorable fight by making his partner Santo submit. Many thought that jealousy would break their friendship but this match did nothing but make it stronger. In fact Santo was the second of his compadre when on [[April 29]], Gory defeated O'Brien in the title match.

During 1949, Santo also wrestled a few matches in [[Houston]], [[Texas]]... but without his mask on! He eventually returned to Mexico but a few things changed.

While Santo was gone, the young undercard team of [[Blue Demon]] and Black Shadow, "Los Hermanos Shadow", was getting more popular by the day so the promoters obviously decided to face them to the reformed team of Gory and Santo. On [[April 9]], [[1950]], the atomic pair made quick work out of the masked "brothers" in a tag match.

Shadow claimed he'd avenge that loss and he started feuding extensively with Santo. The Shadow/Santo rivalry reached its higher point on [[November 7]], [[1952]] when both men faced each other in the mask vs. mask match that is considered the most important one in the history of lucha libre in Mexico. Arena Coliseo was the place in which Black Shadow was revealed to be Alejandro Cruz Ortíz, from [[León de los Aldama]].

Again somebody was anxious to get revenge on Santo, but this time it Blue Demon who wanted to avenge the mask loss of his wrestling brother, Black Shadow. After Demon humilliated Santo, winning him in two straight falls during a non-title match held on [[August 7]], [[1953]], Demon challenged Santo to a match with the NWA Welterweight title at stake. On [[September 27]], in what many consider the biggest loss in his career, Santo lost the title to Blue Demon.

But it was around this time when Santo was starting to become the myth he is now. Thanks to the TV coverage, lucha libre had its first ever "boom", and Santo's character was successfully marketed in comics and other merchandising. Also, at this time there was a huge nationalism among the Mexican population, and Santo always defented the colors of his country, like on the [[January 1|first day]] of the new year [[1954]], when he defeated Chinese wrestler [[Sugi Sito]] to capture the [[NWA World Middleweight Championship]].

It was in [[1962]] that Santo made the decision to become a técnico. After all, he was way too loved to be hated. During a match in which he teamed with [[Los Espantos]] (I & II) against [[Rayo de Jalisco]], [[Henry Pilusso]] and [[Rito Romero]], his partners turned on him and left him alone in the ring against the three tecnicos that obviously defeated him. On his first match as a good guy, held on [[July 5]], he teamed with Pilusso against the Espantos. That night Santo gave such an exhibition of high flying and ring knowledge that he was given an unanimous standing ovation by the crowd.

Another important fact in Santo's career is that on [[April 19]], [[1963]], he teamed with Blue Demon for the first time ever. From then on, the dream team wrestled together many other times all over Mexico, though they never were a regular tag team.

Around this time Santo also was a film star, as in [[1958]] he filmed his first movie. After that cinematic debut, he starred in other 50+ movies. Even though those films didn't exactly have great production values (even by the 60s standards) and the plots of them weren't mindbogglingly great either, the people flocked over to the cinema to watch them all. Those movies were quite a hit in other countries as well, as they were really popular all over Latin America, [[Spain]] and even Lebanon, where there's a cinema with a huge Santo statue in the entrance. Many cinema critics loved to hate Santo, but a proved fact is that the three most successful stars of the Mexican cinema history are Pedro Infante, Mario Moreno "Cantinflas" and El Santo. There's an anecdote that says that once, representants of a Chinese company came to Mexico looking for Mexican films. They were shown a few productions that were considered among the best in the history of Mexican cinema, but the Chinese said that they didn't want those films. They wanted Santo, because they claimed that "Santo represented the perfect hero fighting against the evil".

Santo was also getting older, so now he mainly wrestled in six-men tag matches rather than singles or tag team bouts. He formed a successful team with a young good worker called Rayo de Jalisco and they captured the [[Mexican National Tag Team Titles]] twice over the decade (of the 60s). In [[1975]], his "tercia" with [[El Solitario]] and [[Mil Mascaras]] was such a huge hit that it was voted team of the year even though they didn't team together extensively. Unlike other EMLL wrestlers, Santo had special privileges, for instance he was allowed to appear in cards of the rival promotion [[UWA]], but in [[1977]] there was a big EMLL break down and many wrestlers, including Santo, left "La Empresa".

In [[1980]], during a match vs. Los Misioneros ([[El Signo]], [[Negro Navarro]] and [[Texano]]), Santo fell unconscious, and he was later diagnosed with a coronary problem. A year later, in [[1981]], Santo suffered a heart attack when teaming with [[Huracán Ramirez]] and Black Shadow against Los Misioneros de la Muerte (Signo, Texano & Negro Navarro). Santo's wrestling license was revoked so he decided it was time to say goodbye. After this incident, Santo secretly had an operation.

Santo's last feud was against a young masked superstar called [[Bobby Lee]]. Lee said that Santo wouldn't leave the business masked and challenged him to a mask vs. mask match. The challenge was accepted and Santo took Lee's mask revealing him to be Carlos Alvarado. Lee had his feet on the ropes when Santo made him submit to the camel clutch, but the referee didn't see it. Santo failed to defeat Lee in a match for the [[UWA Welterweight Championship]] Bobby held, but later he took his hair in a hair vs. mask match.

In [[1982]], Santo had a three match retirement tour. In the first match he teamed with Solitario against [[Villano III]] and Rokambole ([[Villano V]]) at the [[Palacio de los Deportes]]. In the second match, held in Arena Mexico, he teamed with [[Gran Hamada]] to defeat [[Villano I]] and [[Scorpio]] in the first round of a losers advance tournament (where all the teams were comprised of a masked man and an unmasked wrestler) in which the final losers would get his hair shaved or his mask removed. And in the final match of his career, held on [[September 12]] at the [[Toreo de Cuatro Caminos]], he teamed with his old friend Gory Guerrero (who was already retired but returned for this one-time deal), Huracán Ramírez and El Solitario to defeat Los Misioneros, and his last major opponent, [[Perro Aguayo]], in two straight falls, both won via DQ.

Now that he was retired, Santo kept active doing other things. A month later one of his sons debuted under the [[Hijo del Santo]] mask, and Santo was at ringside during all the matches of his son's debut tour.

On [[January 26]], [[1984]] he appeared in the lucha special of the talk program "Contrapunto" (Counterpoint), and partially removed his mask in a totally unexpected way. Some say that he did this because he felt that he had little time to live.

On [[February 5]], two weeks after he took his mask off on a national TV program, Rodolfo Guzmán Huerta felt a tremendous pain in the chest after his debut as an escapist at the Teatro (teather) Blanquita. He was taken to the Mosel Hospital but nothing could be done. Santo was dead.

The following day this was the biggest piece of news all over the country. Each and every magazine and newspaper extensively covered the news in the first pages, and all the TV and radio stations had special Santo programs.

During his life, Rodolfo had the opportunity to be two different persons, but during death he chose to be Santo. The following day he was buried with his mask on in what is considered to be the biggest burial in the history of Mexico. Proof that the whole country mourned Santo's death was that an estimated crowd of 10,000 showed up and literally blocked the streets to the point that it took several hours until the coffin made it to the mausoleum. Several wrestlers like [[Mil Mascaras]] and [[Blue Demon]], [[Ray Mendoza]], [[Charles Bronson Mexicano]], [[Enrique Llanes]] and a teary [[Wolf Ruvinskis]] showed up to give Santo his last goodbye. [[Hijo del Santo]] and [[Huracán Ramírez]] among others, carried the coffin to the Mausoleo (mausoleum) María del Ángel where Santo rests in peace.

Up to this day, Santo is still an important piece of the history of the country and also a relevant part of the Mexican folklore. Even now, more than fifteen years after his death, everybody in Mexico knows about El Santo. His films are still shown on TV from time to time and after all those years they are still good ratings grabbers. Many magazines (not just lucha or movie magazines) still publish Santo articles or even special issues. In November of [[1999]], Somos ("We are") published a Santo special that included several pictures of Rodolfo Guzmán without his mask. El Hijo Del Santo threatened to sue [[Televisa]] (owners of the magazine) but since the source of the pictures was one of his brothers the lawsuit was dropped.

One could say that as long as there is lucha libre in Mexico, there will be Santo, but even if there wasn't lucha, Santo would still be alive in the heart of the Mexican citizens.

== Gallery ==

{{Gallery|
|name=elsanto01.jpg
|caption=
}}

{{Gallery|
|name=santo.jpg
|caption=
}}

{{Gallery|
|name=santo 02.jpg
|caption=
}}

 

== Luchas de apuestas record ==
{{astart}}
{{aline|??/??/??|hair|[[El Santo]]|[[Cavernario Galindo]]|[[Mexico City]]}}
{{aline|??/??/??|hair|[[El Santo]]|[[El Gladiador]]|unknown}}
{{aline|??/??/??|hair|[[El Santo]]|[[Bobby Bonales]]|unknown}}
{{aline|??/??/??|hair|[[El Santo]]|[[Raúl Torres]]|unknown}}
{{aline|??/??/??|hair|[[El Santo]]|[[Jorge Allende]]|unknown}}
{{aline|??/??/??|hair|[[El Santo]]|[[Gorilita Flores]]|unknown}}
{{aline|??/??/??|hair|[[El Santo]]|[[Judas Colombiano]]|unknown}}
{{aline|??/??/??|hair|[[El Santo]]|[[Gory Casanova]]|unknown}}
{{aline|??/??/??|hair|[[El Santo]]|[[Arturo Chávez]]|unknown}}
{{aline|??/??/??|mask|[[El Santo]]|[[Golden Terror]]|[[Guadalajara]], [[Jalisco]]}}
{{aline|??/??/??|mask|[[El Santo]]|[[La Cebra]]|Colombia}}
{{aline|??/??/??|mask|[[El Santo]]|[[La Araña]]|[[Torreón]], [[Coahuila]]}}
{{aline|??/??/??|mask|[[El Santo]]|[[La Momia]]|San Salvador}}
{{aline|??/??/??|mask|[[El Santo]]|[[Cara Cortada]]|unknown}}
{{aline|??/??/??|mask|[[El Santo]]|[[Dick Angelo]]|unknown}}
{{aline|??/??/??|mask|[[El Santo]]|[[Dragón Rojo]]|unknown}}
{{aline|??/??/??|hair|[[El Santo]]|[[Chico Casaola]]|unknown}}
{{aline|??/??/??|mask|[[El Santo]]|[[Dr. X (original)]]|unknown}}
{{aline|??/??/??|hair|[[El Santo]]|[[René Guajardo]]|unknown}}
{{aline|??/??/??|mask|El Santo & [[Dr. X (original)]]|[[Los Infernales]] [[Infernale I|I]] & [[Infernale II|II]]|unknown}}
{{aline|43/01/??|hair|[[El Santo]]|[[Murciélago Velázquez]]|unknown}}
{{aline|43/09/24|hair|[[El Santo]]|[[Bobby Bonales]]|unknown}}
{{aline|44/04/08|hair|[[El Santo]]|[[Jack O'Brien]]|Arena Coliseo - [[Mexico City]]}}
{{aline|49/07/03|hair|[[El Santo]]|[[Enrique Llanes]]|[[Arena México]] - [[Mexico City]]}}
{{aline|52/11/07|mask|[[El Santo]]|[[Black Shadow]]|Arena Coliseo - [[Mexico City]]}}
{{aline|55/05/15|mask|[[El Santo]]|[[Monje Loco]]|unknown}}
{{aline|55/12/03|mask|[[El Santo]]|[[Halcón Negro]]|Arena Coliseo - [[Mexico City]]}}
{{aline|56/09/21|mask|[[El Santo]]|[[El Gladiador]]|[[Arena México]] - [[Mexico City]]}}
{{aline|63/??/??|hair|[[El Santo]]|[[Rubén Juárez]]|[[Arena México]] - [[Mexico City]]}}
{{aline|63/??/??|hair|[[El Santo]]|[[Espanto II]]|[[Arena México]] - [[Mexico City]]}}
{{aline|63/04/26|hair|[[El Santo]]|[[Benny Galant]]|[[Arena México]] - [[Mexico City]]}}
{{aline|63/10/25|mask|[[El Santo]]|[[Espanto I]]|[[Arena México]] - [[Mexico City]]}}
{{aline|75/10/03|hair|[[El Santo]]|[[Perro Aguayo]]|unknown}}
{{aline|78/09/03|mask|[[El Santo]]|[[Bobby Lee]]|[[Palacio de los Deportes]] - [[Mexico City]]}}
{{aline|78/09/24|hair|[[El Santo]]|[[Bobby Lee]]|[[Palacio de los Deportes]] - [[Mexico City]]}}
{{aline|80/??/??|mask|[[El Santo]]|[[El Remolino]]|Gimnasio Municipal - Cd. Obregón, [[Sonora]]}}
{{aend|}}
[[Category:Mexican wrestlers]]
[[Category:Deceased wrestlers]]

Los Espantos

2006-06-06T18:59:50Z

Suplexmasta:

#REDIRECT [[Los Hermanos Espanto]]

Boston crab

2006-06-06T18:58:53Z

Suplexmasta:

#REDIRECT [[Boston Crab]]

NWA Welterweight Title

2006-06-06T18:57:57Z

Suplexmasta:

#REDIRECT [[NWA World Welterweight Championship]]

WAR

2006-06-06T02:25:00Z

Suplexmasta:

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WAR_%28wrestling_promotion%29 Wikipedia:WAR]

{{stub}}

[[Category:Promotions]]

Rey Misterio Jr.

2006-06-06T02:20:51Z

Suplexmasta: /* Biography */ maybe needs a small update by someone with more time than me?

== Profile ==
{{bioFields|
|image=Reymisteriojr.jpg
|name=Rey Misterio Jr. (Mystery King Jr.)
|realName=Óscar Gutiérrez Rubio
|nicknames=Super Niño (Super Kid), Flying Fury, Rey Rey
|nameHistory=Colibrí (debut - early 92), Rey Misterio II (92), Rey Misterio Jr. (92 - ), Rey Mysterio Jr. (06/96 - ), El Niño (WCW, 02/01), Rey Mysterio (WWE 07/02 - )
|family=[[Rey Misterio]] (uncle)
|maestro=
|birthdate=[[December 11]], [[1974]] - [[San Diego]], [[California]], [[USA]]
|obituarydate=
|debut=[[April 30]], [[1989]] - [[Tijuana]], [[Baja California]]
|lostmaskto=[[Kevin Nash]] & [[Scott Hall]] - [[February 21]], [[1999]]
|height=5'4"/162 cms
|weight=163 lbs/74 kg
|signatureMoves=[[Springboard Huracarrana]], [[Huracarrana]], Misteriorrana ([[Shoulder spin huracarrana]]), [[Springboard Moonsault Plancha]], [[619]], [[La Silla|Springboard Silla]]
|titles=[[WCW/WWF/WWE World Cruiserweight Title]] (8), [[WCW World Tag Team Titles]] (3, w/ [[Kidman]], w/ [[Konnan]], w/ [[Juventud Guerrera]]), [[National Welterweight Title]], [[National Trios Titles]] (w/ [[Octagon]] & [[Super Muñeco]]), [[WWA World Welterweight Title]] (3), [[WWA World Tag Team Titles]] (w/ [[Rey Misterio]]), [[WWA World Lightweight Title]] (3), [[IWAS World Tag Team Titles]] (w/ [[Konnan]]), California: [[HHW Light Heavyweight Title]], [[WCW World Cruiserweight Tag Team Titles]] (w/ [[Kidman]]), [[IWC Cruiserweight Title]], [[WWE SD! Tag Team Titles]] (4, w/ Edge, w/ Rob Van Dam, w/ [[Eddie Guerrero]], w/ Batista), [[World Heavyweight Championship (WWE)]]
}}

== Biography ==


Even though both his parents are Mexican natives, Oscar was born [[December 12]], [[1974]] in [[San Diego]]'s old Sharp Hospital. He grew up in between San Diego and [[Tijuana]], learning Spanish and English at the same time, and during his youth he studied at John L. Montgomery Middle School and later John L. Montgomery Senior High School.

As his uncle [[Rey Misterio]] was a huge regional star in the [[Baja California]] area, he had attended lucha cards as much as possible since he was a little kid. He was very good at gymnastics and a big fan of lucha, so his uncle took him under his wing a few months before Rey Jr. turned 13. Needless to say, everybody was impressed by his ability to fly and do crazy things.

On [[April 30]], [[1989]], at age 14, he made his professional debut at the [[Auditorio de Tijuana]] as the masked Colibrí (hummingbird). Colibri's first feud was against two brothers called Caballero de La Muerte (Death Knight) and El Salvaje. A few years later those two wrestlers would become [[Fobia]] and [[Psicosis]], respectively. The youngster's first big match was around early [[1991]] when he, along with a partner wrestled Caballero and Salvaje in a double hair/mask match. The rudos lost the match so Caballero was unmasked and Salvaje got his head shaved.

He got his first title on January of [[1990]] when he captured the Light Heavyweight Title of [[Dan Farren]]'s [[Hollywood Heavyweight Wrestling]]. The promotion closed in March with him still as champ but as a funny note, once in 1990, Colibri rejected a booking to wrestle for an independent show in California due to the fact that he had to study for a history exam!

A few months later, already in [[1992]], he was bigger (though still very small) and a better wrestler so he dropped out of high school, became Rey Misterio Jr. and started teaming with his uncle at Auditorio de Tijuana cards.

In May of 1992, [[Antonio Peña]] started [[AAA]]. He was looking for new, young talent to fill in the undercards so he asked [[Konnan]] to get him a few good young wrestlers from the Tijuana area. In June, Peña hired Psicosis, who had already dropped his Salvaje gimmick, and a month later he hired Rey Jr. Rey and Psic, best friends in real life (in fact Psicosis was the best man at Rey Jr.'s wedding), started living together in a [[Mexico City]] apartment that [[Octagon]] rented them.

Rey Jr. became really popular very quickly and he had a small undercard push from the start. His first big feud was against [[Mr. Cóndor]], the leader of "Los Diabólicos". Condor was the perfect opponent for Rey as he was a veteran wrestler who excelled at getting the best out of green flashy tecnicos, playing their strenghts and hiding their weaknesses. In August of 1992, Rey defeated Condor in his first singles mask vs. mask match ever.

On [[October 28]], in what was considered a huge upset, Rey defeated [[Fantasma de la Quebrada Jr]] in [[Aguascalientes]] to get the [[Mexican National Welterweight Title]]. That was Fantasma's first fight for AAA as he had just jumped ship from [[EMLL]]; in fact, he no-showed a EMLL card that same day. Rey lost that title to [[Heavy Metal]] on [[February 26]], [[1993]].

During 1993 he had an awesome rivalry with Los Destructores ([[Vulcano]], [[Tony Arce]] and [[Rocco Valente]]) who pretty much like Condor, were experienced brawlers that were great bumpers and carriers, however at this point of his career Rey already was a very good and complete worker. This feud also provided excellent six-man tag matches as longtime enemies of the original Destructores (Vulcano and Arce), [[Misterioso]] and [[Volador]], joined forces with Rey to form "La Tercia Del Aire" (Team Sky), and after Misterioso turned rudo, Heavy Metal and [[Latin Lover]] became Rey's regular partners. Misterio eventually took the hair of the three Destructores as well.

The first awesome TV match Rey Jr. ever had also was in 1993, during Febrary, when he teamed with [[Winners]] and [[Super Calo]] against [[Heavy Metal]], [[Picudo]] and [[Psicosis]]. During the same month they had a rematch with was a really good bout though not as good as the first one.

But his best work came when he started to feud extensively with two young and talented guys of his generation - Psicosis and [[Juventud Guerrera]]. Psicosis and Rey knew each other perfectly so they never had any problems, and Juventud was a really quick learner and he had awesome chemistry with Rey Jr. so those guys mixed in trios matches with good veterans like [[Blue Panther]], [[Fuerza Guerrera]] or [[Hijo del Santo]] provided for great weekly TV during more than two years.

Just in [[1995]], Rey and Psicosis had at least four singles match of the year candidates all over the world. Konnan stablished several contacts with foreign promotions and Rey and Psicosis made their debut at the Philadelphia-based [[Extreme Championship Wrestling]] on [[September 16]]. Rey and Psicosis took their feud to Japan as well as their non-tournament match stole the show at [[WAR]]'s (Wrestle And Romance or Wrestling Association R.) Super J Cup 2nd stage.

Juventud Guerrera and Rey also provided incredible action all over the world as they had excellent MOTYC level matches in both Mexico and Philadelphia, and they also had pretty good matches in Japan (WAR). During the early months of 1995 the "seniors" took part in the feud as well, and the Rey Misterio & Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Juventud & Fuerza Guerrera series provided some of the best lucha tag team action ever seen.

Already in [[1996]], [[Eric Bischoff]] and [[Kevin Sullivan]] from [[World Championship Wrestling]] quickly noticed Rey's potential to become popular in the US, so they signed him and he made his WCW debut on [[June 16]], losing to [[Dean Malenko]] at the Great American Bash PPV. Rey became a really popular performer very soon and broke a few myths that had been existing in the US for a long time: masked wrestlers are always boring untalented jobbers, foreign wrestlers can't get over and small wrestlers aren't as good as the heavyweights. His first title in WCW was the [[WCW Cruiserweight Championship]] he got on [[July 8]] after defeating Dean Malenko at a Monday Nitro taping held at the Orlando, Florida Disney Studios. This one would be the first out of his five cruiserweight title reigns as since his arrival to WCW he had always been either the champion or one of the top contenders for the cruiserweight strap.

In WCW, Rey resumed his feuds with Psicosis and Juventud Guerrera and had new and exciting matches with Dean Malenko and [[Ultimo Dragon]]. During the 1996 era, WCW had so many great junior workers that they were one of the best promotions in the world at that time as even their weekly shows were filled with quality matches.

While in Mexico, Rey still competed for AAA until October of 1996. Konnan's group (Rey, [[La Parka]], Juventud, Psicosis...) had a fallout with Antonio Peña and they all left AAA. The Azteca TV station bought the old [[PROMELL]] promotion and with the help of [[Jorge Rojas]], Konnan started a new promotion called [[Promo Azteca]] whose first TV taping was on [[November 22]] in [[Cuautitlán]]. A week later Rey Misterio Jr. made his Azteca debut teaming with [[Zorro]] and the original [[Mascara Sagrada]] to defeat [[Pirata Morgan]], [[Blue Panther]] and [[Juventud Guerrera]].

One of Rey's most memorable feuds during his WCW stay was the one against [[Eddy Guerrero]] and the lWo ([[Latino World Order]]). Eddy wanted Rey in the group but he turned them down. Rey was eventually forced to join when when he lost a match to Eddy. When the group disbanded, Rey kept wrestling the shirt which gained him trouble with nWo Wolfpack members [[Kevin Nash]] and [[Scott Hall]] who didn't want any other groups in WCW other than their own. Konnan, who also was a Wolfpack member, defended Rey Jr., and that got him kicked out of the group. Things got settled on the SuperBrawl XI event held on [[February 21]], [[1999]] in [[Oakland]], [[California|CA]], when Nash and Scott Hall defeated Konnan and Rey Misterio Jr. and as a result, Rey Jr. lost his mask.

Four days later Rey was supposed to lost his mask again in Tijuana against Psicosis, but the commission found out about this and threatened the promoter ([[Benjamín Mora]]) with a suspension, so the match ended up being a regular match in which Rey Jr. got the pinfall after a screwjob (Rey Sr. ran in and attacked both wrestlers); though in the end both men removed their mask (though Psicosis covered his face with a towel).

Losing the mask meant a new Rey Misterio Jr., as he started wearing FUBU shirts and combat clothing. And even though he kept using amazing moves and dives, he started taking less risks in the ring but made up by developing in other areas, as for instance, he added several new counter moves to his arsenal.

From then on, Rey kept having plenty of mid-card feuds in WCW. He started an alliance with (Billy) [[Kidman]] and they won the [[WCW Tag Team Titles]] from [[Chris Benoit]] and [[Dean Malenko]] on [[March 29]], [[1999]]. The feud eventually turned into a three way one and it finally was [[Perry Saturn]] and [[Raven]] who defeated Rey and Kidman in a title match. Later on the year Rey got the tag titles again, this time teaming with Konnan on [[October 18]]. They had the belts just for a week, and they lost them against the men they gained them from, [[Harlem Heat]].

In 2000, Oscar took several months off as he had been having severe knee trouble due to the high risks he has taken in the ring during all these years, but he's still one of the top workers of the world when his knee allows him.

Rey is still very young and far from being a simple "spot machine" as his mat skills, selling of injuries in the ring and knowledge of psychology are excellent, so unless injuries and stupid booking get on the way, he'll still keep delivering excellent matches like he has done since the early days of his career.

== Luchas de apuestas record ==
{{astart}}
{{aline|91/??/??|hair/mask|Colibri & ??|[[Psicosis|El Salvaje]] & [[Caballero de la Muerte]]|Auditorio de Tijuana - Tijuana, Baja California}}
{{aline|92/08/14|mask|[[Rey Misterio Jr.]]|[[Mr. Cóndor]]|Centro de Convenciones - Acapulco, Guerrero}}
{{aline|92/10/18|hair|[[Rey Misterio Jr.]]|[[Rocco Valente]]|Tampico, Tamaulipas}}
{{aline|92/11/06|hair|[[Rey Misterio Jr.]]|[[Tony Arce]]|Centro de Convenciones - Acapulco, Guerrero}}
{{aline|92?|mask|[[Rey Misterio Jr.]]|[[El Junior]]|Auditorio de Tijuana - Tijuana, Baja California}}
{{aline|93/05/28|mask (1)|[[Rey Misterio Jr.]]|[[El Bandido]]|Arena Querétaro - Querétaro, Querétaro}}
{{aline|94/09/11|hair|[[Rey Misterio Jr.]]|[[Vulcano]]|Arena Coliseo - Monterrey, Nuevo León}}
{{aline|97/12/19|mask|[[Rey Misterio Jr.]]|[[Misterioso]]|Auditorio de Tijuana - Tijuana, Baja California}}
{{aline|99/02/21|mask (2)|[[Kevin Nash]] & [[Scott Hall]]|[[Rey Misterio Jr.]]|Alameda County Coliseum - Oakland, CA, USA}}
{{aend|(1) Triangle match with Angel Mortal; (2) Teaming with Konnan, in a Rey's mask vs. Elizabeth's (Nash and Hall's valet) hair match}}

== Gallery ==

[[Image:Reyjrin1992.JPG|thumb|1992|100px|left]]
[[Image:Reyfnw.jpg|thumb|Oct. '95: ECW|100px|left]]
[[Image:ReySrJrHijo.jpg|thumb|w/ Rey Sr. & Rey Misterio II|100px|left]]
[[Image:Rey2001.jpg|thumb|2001|100px|left]]

[[Category:Foreign wrestlers]]
[[Category:United States wrestlers]]
[[Category:Current WWE wrestlers]]
[[Category:WCW Nitro wrestlers]]

El Paso

2006-06-05T22:26:16Z

Suplexmasta:

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Paso,_Texas Wikipedia:El Paso]

{{stub}}

[[Category:Locations]]

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling

2006-06-05T22:24:27Z

Suplexmasta:

#REDIRECT [[TNA]]

Asistencia Asesoria y Administracion

2006-06-05T22:22:12Z

Suplexmasta:

#REDIRECT [[AAA]]

Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre

2006-06-05T22:21:47Z

Suplexmasta:

#REDIRECT [[EMLL]]

World Wrestling Entertainment

2006-06-05T22:19:24Z

Suplexmasta:

#REDIRECT [[WWE]]

Eddy Guerrero

2006-06-05T22:17:20Z

Suplexmasta:

== Profile ==



{{bioFields|
|image=eddyguerrero.jpg
|name=Eddy Guerrero
|realName=Eduardo Gori Guerrero Llanes
|nicknames=El Gringo Loco, Latino Heat
|nameHistory=Eddy/Eddie Guerrero (debut - ), Máscara Mágica (EMLL/AAA, 06/92 - 11/92), Black Tiger (second version, NJPW, 09/93 - 10/98), El Caliente (WCW, 08/29/97)
|family=[[Gori Guerrero]] (father), [[Mando Guerrero]], [[Chavo Guerrero]] and [[Héctor Guerrero]] (brothers), [[Enrique Llanes]] (uncle), [[Javier Llanes]] (cousin), [[Chavo Guerrero Jr.]] (nephew), "Vengador" [[Héctor Mejía]] (nephew)
|maestro=[[Gori Guerrero]]
|birthdate=[[October 9]], [[1967]] - [[Ciudad Juárez]], [[Chihuahua]]
|obituarydate=[[November 13]], [[2005]] - Minneapolis, Minnesota
|debut=[[1987]] - [[Auditorio Municipal]] - Cd. Juárez, Chihuahua
|lostmaskto=(as Mascara Magica) voluntarily unmasked
|height=5'9"/174 cms
|weight=205 lbs/93 kg
|signatureMoves=[[Frog Splash]], [[Gori Special]], [[Tope Atómico]], [[Brainbuster]], [[Swinging DDT]]
|titles=Cd. Juárez: [[LAWA Heavyweight Title]], [[WWA World Trios Titles]] (w/ [[Chavo Guerrero]] & [[Mando Guerrero]]), [[WWA World Welterweight Title]], [[AAA/IWC World Tag Team Titles]] (w/ [[Love Machine]]), [[ECW TV Title]] (2), [[WCW United States Title]], [[WCW World Cruiserweight Title]] (2), North Carolina: [[PWF World Tag Team Titles]] (w/ [[Hector Guerrero]]), [[WWF European Title]] (2), [[WWF Intercontinental Title]], [[WWA World Cruiserweight Title]], [[IWA-Mid South Heavyweight Title]], [[WWE SD! Tag Team Titles]] (2, w/ [[Chavo Guerrero Jr.]], w/ [[Tajiri]], w/ [[Rey Mysterio]]), [[WWE United States Title]], [[WWE World Heavyweight Title]]
}}

== Biography ==


Eddie Guerrero, born Eduardo Gory Guerrero Llanes ([[October 9]], [[1967]] ? [[November 13]], [[2005]]) was an American professional wrestler of Hispanic extraction. Born into a legendary wrestling family, Guerrero managed to maintain the storied Guerrero family legacy. Through the 1990s, he had a distinguished career, working for every major professional wrestling promotion in the United States during that period: [[Extreme Championship Wrestling]], [[World Championship Wrestling]] and [[World Wrestling Entertainment]].

Guerrero's in-ring character was that of a crafty, resourceful wrestler who would do anything to win a match. His famous mantra became "Cheat to Win." Despite being a heel for much of his career, he became extremely popular because of his charisma and the fact that his character seemed to largely be a reflection of himself.

Throughout his career, Guerrero encountered various substance abuse problems outside of wrestling, including alcoholism and an addiction to pain killers. His problems outside of the ring were sometimes integrated into his professional wrestling storylines. Despite all these issues, Guerrero managed to be extremely popular, winning numerous titles during his career, including the [[WWE Championship]]. Guerrero became a born again Christian in [[2002]].

'''Early career'''

Guerrero came from a legendary wrestling family. His late father, [[Gory Guerrero]], is considered one of the greatest wrestlers in Mexican history. His three brothers [[Chavo Guerrero]], [[Hector Guerrero]] and [[Mando Guerrero]] all followed in their father's footsteps and became professional wrestlers. Guerrero's nephew, [[Chavo Guerrero, Jr.]] also became a wrestler. Guerrero's uncle [[Enrique Llanes]] and cousin [[Javier Llanes]] are popular wrestlers in Mexico.

Guerrero was raised in [[El Paso]], [[Texas]] and attended the University of New Mexico as well as New Mexico Highlands University on an athletic scholarship, where he wrestled collegiately, before returning to El Paso to train as a professional wrestler. He debuted in [[1987]] in the Mexican [[Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre]] promotion. He became a star in Mexico long before he main evented in the United States.

In [[1993]], Guerrero began wrestling in Japan for [[New Japan Pro Wrestling]], where he was known as Black Tiger II. In Mexico, he wrestled mainly for [[Asistencia Asesoria y Administracion]], teaming with [[El Hijo del Santo]] as the new version of La Pareja Atómica (The Atomic Pair), the legendary tag team of Gory Guerrero and [[El Santo]]. After Guerrero turned on Santo and allied with [[Art Barr]] as La Pareja del Terror (The Pair of Terror), the duo became arguably the most hated tag team in lucha libre history. Along with Barr, [[Konnan]] and [[Madonna's Boyfriend]], Guerrero formed Los Gringos Locos (The Crazy Americans), a heel stable.

Guerrero and Barr's first break would come when they were noticed in late [[1994]] by the owner of Extreme Championship Wrestling, [[Paul Heyman]], and were approached about wrestling for him in [[1995]]. However, Barr died before he could join ECW with Guerrero. As an homage to his fallen friend, Guerrero adopted his friend's finishing move, the [[Frog Splash]].

Guerrero won the [[ECW World Television Championship]] on his debut and went on to have a series of acclaimed matches with [[Dean Malenko]] before they both signed with World Championship Wrestling later that year. After their last match at the ECW arena, the locker room emptied and the two were carried around the ring by their fellow wrestlers while the crowd chanted "Please don't go."

'''World Championship Wrestling'''

In WCW, Guerrero found considerable singles success, winning the [[WCW United States Heavyweight Championship]] in late [[1996]] and the [[WCW World Cruiserweight Championship]] twice in [[1997]].

Guerrero was a member of the [[Latino World Order]]. Despite Guerrero's success and popularity, he was one of many wrestlers who were frustrated at never being given a chance to be main event stars in WCW. These frustrations came to a head when Guerrero got coffee thrown at him when he requested that WCW President [[Eric Bischoff]] push his character or he asked for a raise in his pay for family reasons. Guerrerro responded by asking for a release from his WCW contract on a live episode of WCW Monday Nitro. Guerrero then left the company for a period of months, angry at Bischoff for what he had done. However, Guerrero later returned to WCW, leading to the belief that maybe Guerrero's angry speeches against Bischoff were actually worked. Guerrero would later rebut this on WWE's DVD Monday Night War claiming that he tried to put personal differences aside for the good of the company, yet found himself angry and outraged once more because of Bischoff's continued refusal to elevate Guerrero and other similar wrestlers.

Guerrero responded to Bischoff's actions by forming the Latino World Order (or lWo), which was understood by the fans to be a mockery of Bischoff's New World Order. The group was an answer to Bischoff's refusal to push Latino wrestlers in ways they deserved. The group eventually grew to encompass almost all the Mexican wrestlers working for WCW at the time. However, Guerrero was involved in a serious car accident in [[1999]] that cut short the lWo storyline. Guerrero managed to survive the accident and in a matter of months he returned to wrestling.

After his return, he continued to be displeased with WCW management and signed with the WWF in [[2000]] along with top WCW stars [[Chris Benoit]], Dean Malenko, and [[Perry Saturn]].

'''World Wrestling Federation'''

Guerrero and the other WCW wrestlers debuted in the WWF on [[January 31]], [[2000]] as The Radicalz. In March 2000, Guerrero began pursuing the affections of [[Chyna]], who he referred to as his "Mamacita." Chyna initially rejected his advances, but allied with him following WrestleMania 2000, declaring that she "couldn't resist his "Latino Heat."

Guerrero won his first WWF title by defeating another former WCW wrestler, [[Chris Jericho]] for the [[WWF European Championship]]. He and Chyna began a feud with [[Essa Rios]] and [[Lita]], which culminated in a European title defence at the 2000 Backlash, which was also billed as the night of Guerrero's prom (he was said to have just earned a GED). Guerrero defeated Rios after arriving at ringside in a [[1957]] Chevrolet. Guerrero successfully retained the title in matches against Saturn and Malenko before finally losing the title to Saturn on [[July 23]].

Over the next few months, friction began to build between Guerrero and Chyna. Chyna was upset when Guerrero pinned her to advance in the King of the Ring tournament. On [[August 27]], Chyna won the [[WWF Intercontinental Championship]]. Guerrero claimed to not mind and then begged Commissioner [[Mick Foley]] to let him take part in a title defense between Chyna and [[Kurt Angle]], claiming he was afraid that Angle would injure Chyna. After Angle knocked Chyna down with the title belt, Guerrero "accidentally" pinned her while trying to revive her.

Chyna became visibly uncomfortable as Guerrero began to cheat in order to retain his title, while Guerrero was upset that Chyna was posing for Playboy magazine, even trying to invade the Playboy Mansion to stop the photoshoot. Just when it appeared that Chyna would leave Guerrero, he proposed to her and she accepted. The engagement was called off when Guerrero was caught showering with two of [[The Godfather]]'s hos claiming that "Two Mamacitas are better than one!" Guerrero turned heel once again as a result of the incident and was later defeated for the Intercontinental Championship by Chyna's friend [[Billy Gunn]].

The Radicalz reunited in late 2000, assisting [[Triple H]] in his match with [[Stone Cold Steve Austin]] at Survivor Series. In early [[2001]], Guerrero feuded with [[Andrew Martin|Test]], winning the European Championship for a second time at WrestleMania X-Seven with help from Saturn and Malenko. Guerrero eventually left the Radicalz, siding with [[The Hardy Boyz]] and Lita. At this point, Guerrero developed an addiction to pain medication stemming from his 1999 car accident and in May 2001 was sent to rehabilitation. On [[November 9]], [[2001]] he was arrested for drunk driving and was subsequently released by the WWF three days later.

Guerrero then appeared with numerous independent promotions, including [[World Wrestling All-Stars]] and [[IWA Mid-South]]. He was also one of the original wrestlers in the [[Ring of Honor]] promotion. Following a number of highly acclaimed matches, such as his bout with [[Doug Williams]] at [[FWA]] British Uprising, as well as his series of matches with [[CM Punk]], he was rehired by the renamed WWE in March [[2002]]. When he signed, he was committed to one more ROH and IWA Mid-South show. WWE permitted him to fulfill the obligations, and on [[April 19]], he wrestled CM Punk and [[Colt Cabana]] in Dayton, Ohio. A little over a week later on [[April 27]], he teamed with [[The Amazing Red]] to defeat [[The S.A.T.]] at A Night of Appreciation, an ROH show dedicated to him.

'''World Wrestling Entertainment'''

Guerrero returned to RAW on [[April 1]], [[2002]], attacking [[Rob Van Dam]] and reuniting with Chris Benoit. On [[April 21]] at Backlash 2002 he defeated Van Dam for the Intercontinental Championship. He lost the belt to RVD a month later in a ladder match. Guerrero then started a feud with Stone Cold Steve Austin, but Austin left WWE before a match could take place. Guerrero then went on to feud briefly with [[The Rock]].

'''Los Guerreros'''

On August 1, Guerrero and Benoit began to wrestle exclusively for WWE's SmackDown! brand. With Benoit starting to focus on Kurt Angle, Guerrero aligned himself with his nephew Chavo, forming the tag team Los Guerreros. In contrast to a previous WCW storyline with his nephew, Chavo fully adopted his uncle's policy of "Lie, Cheat and Steal" to win matches. The duo entered the eight-team tournament for the new [[WWE Tag Team Championship]] and began a feud with the newly formed tag team of Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit. In one of the team's definitive moments, Chavo told Benoit that his former friend Guerrero was assaulted by his tag team partner Kurt Angle. Benoit ran to make the save, only to have himself locked inside a room. Guerrero then materialised in the room and assaulted Benoit with a steel chair.

Benoit and Angle managed to overcome their differences and eventually defeated Los Guerreros in the tournament semi-finals. Later on, Benoit and Angle won the WWE Tag Team Championships. Benoit and Angle then fought for a trophy for being the first WWE Tag Team Champion. Much to Benoit's surprise, Los Guerreros helped him win the match.

Los Guerreros would then be given another shot at the WWE Tag Team titles and the new champions, [[Edge]] and [[Rey Mysterio Jr]]. At Survivor Series 2002, Guerrero made Mysterio submit to The Lasso From El Paso. With this victory, Los Guerreros began their reign as the WWE Tag Team Champions, a reign that lasted until they were defeated by Team Angle. Los Guerreros participated at WrestleMania XIX as contenders for the Tag Titles, along with the team of Chris Benoit and [[Rhyno]]. Prior to Judgment Day, Chavo tore his bicep. This forced Guerrero to look for another partner. He chose [[Tajiri]]. They won the Tag Titles at Judgment Day in a ladder match. The following week, Guerrero and Tajiri managed to retain their titles by cheating. In addition, they also defeated the legendary [[Roddy Piper]] and his protegè [[Sean O'Haire]]. After Guerrero and Tajiri lost the titles to Team Angle on July 1, Guerrero turned on Tajiri, slamming his partner through the windshield of his low-rider truck.

In mid-2003, Guerrero competed in a tournament for the [[WWE United States Championship]]. He managed to advance to the final round, defeating [[Ultimo Dragon]] in the process, where he would meet Chris Benoit. In this match, Guerrero turned to his cheating tactics, hitting Benoit with the belt at one point in the match. Guerrero tried to get Benoit in trouble by placing the title belt on top of the unconscious Benoit. It did not work, however, since he knocked out the ref earlier with a belt shot to the kidneys. The match ended with interference by and a Gore from Rhyno, Benoit's own partner, who was furious at the team's failure. Guerrero pinned Benoit and won the United States Championship.

At SummerSlam, Guerrero retained his title by defeating Rhyno, Benoit and Tajiri in a four way match. He turned face again by engaging in a rivalry with [[John Cena]]. Guerrero challenged Cena to a "Latino Heat" street fight for the United States Championship, which Guerrero won. Chavo made his return in this match, assisting Guerrero in executing his Frog Splash on Cena. On [[September 16]], [[2003]], Los Guerreros defeated The World's Greatest Tag Team to regain the WWE Tag Team Championships. Eddie Guerrero thus held the United States Championship and one-half of the Tag Team Championships concurrently.

Guerrero lost the United States Championship to [[The Big Show]] at No Mercy 2003 in October after a feud which involved Guerrero poisoning the Big Show with some laxative laced burritos and then later spraying the Big Show with a sewage truck. Four days later, Los Guerreros would lose the WWE Tag Team Championship to the Basham Brothers. As Los Guerreros attempted to regain the tag team titles, things began to go downhill between Chavo and Guerrero, and the two fought one another at the [[2004]] Royal Rumble in a match that was won by Guerrero.

'''WWE Champion'''

As Guerrero's popularity grew, he began seeking the WWE Championship. In a storyline, Guerrero's singles success made Chavo jealous and Chavo broke from the team.

During the summer of 2003, Guerrero had begun driving a customized lowrider to ringside as part of his ring entrance. Guerrero would also capitalize on his "Lie, Cheat, and Steal" anti-hero image by brazenly using illegal tactics behind the referee's back to win matches on occasion. He was well known for hitting someone with a steel chair (or handing the opponent the steel chair and then pretending to be knocked out himself, just as the referee turned around), or using illegal weapons during the match. Despite (or possibly because of) his immoral tactics, Guerrero continued to increase in popularity.

On [[February 15]], [[2004]] Guerrero won the [[WWE Championship]] at No Way Out 2004, defeating [[Brock Lesnar]] following interference from [[Bill Goldberg]]. He would enjoy many months of success as champion, which included a win against Kurt Angle at WrestleMania XX as well as victories over the Big Show and Rey Mysterio. He would later lose the title to [[Vampiro Americano|John "Bradshaw" Layfield]], due to Angle's interference. At SummerSlam, Angle made Guerrero submit to the Ankle Lock. Guerrero then allied himself with the Big Show, who also despised Kurt Angle for firing him while Angle was still SmackDown! general manager.

Each week Angle and his new allies [[Luther Reigns]] and [[Marcos Corleone|Mark Jindrak]] began targeting Guerrero and the Big Show. General Manager [[Theodore Long]] booked a Survivor Series Elimination Match between a team led by Guerrero and a team led by Kurt Angle. Guerrero's team consisted of himself, Big Show, Rey Mysterio and Rob Van Dam. The following week, Guerrero was forced to find another member for his team because Rey Mysterio had just been given an opportunity to regain the WWE Cruiserweight Championship. Guerrero selected John Cena, who was feuding with [[Carlito]], a member of Angle's Survivor Series team. At Survivor Series, Guerrero landed the Frog Splash on Kurt Angle for the victory.

Guerrero, along with [[Booker T]] and [[The Undertaker]], then challenged John "Bradshaw" Layfield for a WWE Championship rematch. Along the way, Guerrero found a partner in Booker T. Despite losing two matches in a row as a tag team, Guerrero and Booker managed to get along. At Armageddon, Guerrero and Booker worked as a unit, taking down both Bradshaw and Undertaker. However, during the match, the two broke away from the team and made it clear that it was every man for themselves. Guerrero would then be taken out by The Undertaker while Bradshaw pinned Booker following the Clothesline From Hell. Afterwards, Guerrero and Booker briefly and unsuccessfully attempted to win the WWE Tag Team Championships.

'''Feud with Rey Mysterio'''

On [[February 20]], [[2005]], Guerrero once again became a tag team champion, this time with long time friend and sometimes rival Rey Mysterio when they defeated [[Doug Basham|Doug]] and [[Danny Basham]] at No Way Out 2005.

Many expected the new champions to defend their titles at WrestleMania 21, but after encouragement from Chavo, instead Guerrero challenged Rey to a one-on-one match so they could "bring the house down." The two wrestled a match at WrestleMania with Mysterio getting the win. Although visibly frustrated, Guerrero congratulated his partner. After several mishaps in the weeks following WrestleMania, the growing tension between Guerrero and Mysterio finally erupted when they lost their tag titles to new team [[Melina Perez|M]][[John Hennigan|N]][[Joey Matthews|M]] on the [[April 21]] episode of SmackDown! Although they received a match to regain the titles, Guerrero turned heel once again by abandoning his partner, who he had dubbed "his family" earlier in the show.

'''Eddie Guerrero in 2005'''

Guerrero then adopted a new, somewhat sociopathic gimmick. During this time, he also stopped driving his low-riders down the ring and walked to the ring with a frown on his face, and reverted to using the Lasso from El Paso as his finishing move. At the end of one edition of SmackDown!, he viciously and emotionlessly beat up his former tag team partner, leaving him bruised and bloody after suplexing him onto a set of steel steps. At Judgment Day 2005 on [[May 22]], Guerrero lost to Mysterio by disqualification.

Several weeks after the match at Judgment Day, Guerrero threatened to reveal a secret about Rey and Rey's son Dominick. The storyline (which involved equal parts of work and truth, and had Rey's full approval) grew to involve the families of both men, with both sides pleading for Guerrero not to reveal the secret. Rey defeated Guerrero at the Great American Bash, a match with a stipulation that if Guerrero lost, he would not tell the secret. Yet Guerrero revealed the secret any way on the following episode of SmackDown! - telling Dominick and the audience that Guerrero was his real father. The following weeks had Guerrero revealing the details of the secret in a series of what he called "Eddie's Bedtime Stories". He claimed that he had a child out of wedlock (Dominick) while his marriage was going through hard times. He claimed he then allowed Mysterio and his wife, who were "having trouble conceiving", to adopt the child as their own.

At SummerSlam 2005, Guerrero lost a ladder match over Dominick's custody to Mysterio. Their emotional feud ended at the premiere of Friday Night SmackDown!, where Guerrero finally gained a victory over Mysterio in a steel cage match.

'''World Heavyweight Championship contender'''

Following his feud with Rey Mysterio, Guerrero was named number one contender to the World Heavyweight Championship and given a title match with [[Dave Batista|Batista]] at No Mercy 2005. Despite this, Guerrero quickly proclaimed himself to be Batista's friend. However, Batista was wary of Guerrero and a series of matches with MNM only supported his suspicions, as Guerrero appeared to have reverted to his cheating ways. In response to Batista's suspicions, Guerrero helped Batista win a match against his tag team partners, John "Bradshaw" Layfield and [[Jay Reso|Christian]].

Batista defeated Guerrero at No Mercy to retain his World title. During the match, Guerrero struggled with a decision about whether or not to use a steel chair to secure the victory, eventually opting not to use it and losing as a result. Though the two demonstrated mutual respect after the match, Guerrero seemed displeased by the loss. Eventually, Batista and Guerrero would become allies against [[Randy Orton]], [[Bob Orton]] and [[Ken Kennedy]]. Guerrero would tell Batista that he realized how low he had sunk since being WWE Champion in 2004, having attacked his best friend Rey Mysterio. Guerrero told him that Batista shaking his hand at No Mercy had returned his respect to him.

On the November 11 edition of Friday Night SmackDown!, Eddie Guerrero wrestled what turned out to be the final televised match of his career, a victory by disqualification using his trademark cheating tactics over Ken Kennedy.

'''Death'''

On [[November 13]], [[2005]], Guerrero was found dead in his hotel room in Minneapolis, Minnesota, at the Marriott City Center Hotel by his nephew, Chavo. Several hours later, WWE.com released the following announcement:

"WWE is deeply saddened by the news that Eddie Guerrero has passed away. He was found dead this morning in his hotel room in Minneapolis. Eddie is survived by his wife Vickie and daughters Shaul, 14, Sherilyn, 9, and Kaylie Marie, 3."

The same day, WWE held a press conference with a speech from his nephew Chavo, who spoke of Guerrero's four years of sobriety that would have come on November 15 of that year. Chavo adamantly defended his uncle, saying he had defeated his "personal demons." WWE Chairman [[Vince McMahon]] declined to speculate on the causes of Guerrero's death, and both men said that Guerrero would have "wanted the show to go on."

'''Cause'''

An autopsy revealed that Guerrero died as a result of acute heart failure, caused by undiagnosed arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease and enlargement of the heart as a result of prior anabolic steroid abuse. Although Guerrero had not taken alcohol or illicit drugs for over four years, his past excesses contributed to his heart failure. At the time of his death, he had recently used narcotics.

Guerrero's wife Vicky said that he had been lethargic and unwell in the week preceding his death, but that this had been attributed to the stress of continuously traveling and performing. She added that the doctors had told her that Guerrero's blood vessels had shriveled and weakened owing to undiagnosed heart disease, and that he had simply dropped into a deep sleep.

On the [[November 30]], [[2005]] edition of Byte This!, Chavo Guerrero, Jr. said that Guerrero had been working very hard and was at peak physical fitness as a result, doing cardiovascular and weight training exercises every day. There had been no symptoms or cause for concern. Guerrero, Jr. noted that, while many people abuse drugs for over ten years with no ill effects, Guerrero, despite having ceased to abuse drugs four years earlier, had suffered heart complications that were not detected in time to prevent his death.

'''Events following Guerrero's death'''

An emotional Chavo Guerrero performs at the SmackDown! tribute show to his late uncle. See also: Tributes to Eddie Guerrero. On the day of his death, Guerrero was set to face Batista and Randy Orton in a triple threat match for the World Heavyweight Championship on the [[November 13]] taping of Friday Night SmackDown! (which would have aired on [[November 18]]). [[Stephanie McMahon]] hinted that Guerrero had been scheduled to defeat Batista for the World Heavyweight Championship, which would have begun Guerrero's first reign as World Heavyweight Champion.

The episodes of RAW on [[November 14]], [[2005]], and Friday Night SmackDown! on November 18, 2005, each aired as a tribute to Eddie Guerrero. No WWE employees were compelled to perform, although several matches took place, including one featuring Chavo. These shows were similar in format to the RAW is Owen special edition of RAW, which paid tribute to the late [[Owen Hart]], and the SmackDown! special in [[Houston, Texas]] two days after the [[September 11]], [[2001]] attacks. In addition to the RAW and SmackDown! tribute shows, [[Total Nonstop Action Wrestling]] dedicated the pay-per-view TNA Genesis (which aired the evening of his passing) to Guerrero.

Eddie Guerrero's funeral took place on Thursday, [[November 17]] in [[Phoenix, Arizona]] at Green Acres Cemetery. The private service was performed by retired wrestler [["Superstar" Billy Graham]]. Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko, Chris Jericho, John "Bradshaw" Layfield, Vince McMahon, [[Tom Prichard]], all of Guerrero's brothers, one of his sisters, Chavo Guerrero and Valerie Coleman Graham all spoke at the funeral. Wrestlers and wrestling personalities from all around the world of wrestling were in attendance, including:

[[Billy Anderson]], Stone Cold Steve Austin, Doug Basham, Chris Benoit, Christian, CM Punk, [[Tommy Drake]], [[Kevin Dunn]], Edge, [[Jackie Gayda]], [[Charlie Haas]], [[Michael Hayes]], [[Gregory Helms]], Chris Jericho, Mark Jindrak, Konnan, [[Billy Kidman]], [[Gail Kim]], [[John Laurinaitis]], John "Bradshaw" Layfield, Lita, Dean Malenko, [[Linda McMahon]], [[Shane McMahon]], Stephanie McMahon, Vince McMahon, Rey Mysterio Jr, [[Jamie Noble]], [[Bruce Prichard]], Tom Prichard, [[Raven]], [[Sting]], [[Mike Tenay]] and [[Torrie Wilson]].



== Luchas de apuestas record ==
{{astart}}
{{aline|94/11/06|hairs|[[El Hijo del Santo]] & [[Octagon]]|[[Love Machine]] & Eddy Guerrero|Los Angeles Sports Arena - Los Angeles, CA, USA}}
{{aend|}}

[[Category:Mexican wrestlers]]
[[Category:Deceased wrestlers]]
[[Category:WCW Nitro wrestlers]]

NWA World Welterweight Title Tournament, 1946

2006-06-05T02:17:48Z

Suplexmasta:

Kane

2006-06-03T20:31:21Z

Suplexmasta: double, changed to redirect to more complete bio

#REDIRECT [[Diesel II]]

Diesel II

2006-06-03T20:28:47Z

Suplexmasta:

{{bioFields|

|name=Diesel (II)
|realName=Glen Jacobs
|nicknames=''The Big Red Machine''
|nameHistory=Angus King (Missouri, 1992), The Black Knight (WWF, 1993), The Christmas Creature (USWA), Unabomb (USWA, SMW, 1995), Isaac Yankem, DDS (WWF, 1995 - 1996), Diesel (II) (WWF, 1996 - 1997), Doomsday (USWA, 1997), Kane (WWF/E, 1997 - present)
|family=
|maestro=[[Dean Malenko]], [[Ray Candy]], [[Jeff Bradley]]
|birthdate=[[April 26]], [[1967]]
|debut=[[1992]]
|lostmaskto=(as Kane) [[Triple H]], [[June 23]], [[2003]]
|height=6'9" (2.06m)
|weight=326lbs (148kg)
|obituarydate=
|signatureMoves=[[Chokeslam]], [[Martinete|Tombstone Piledriver]], [[Flying Clothesline]]
|titles=[[Smoky Mountain Wrestling Tag Team Championship]] (w/ [[Al Snow]]), [[United States Wrestling Association Southern Championship]], [[WWF World Heavyweight Championship]], [[WWF World Tag Team Championship]] (8) (w/ [[Mankind]] (2), w/[[The Undertaker]] (2), w/ [[X-Pac]], w/ [[The Hurricane]], w/ [[Rob Van Dam]], w/ [[The Big Show]]), [[WWF Hardcore Championship]], [[WWF Intercontinental Championship]] (2), [[WCW Tag Team Championship]] (w/ [[The Undertaker]])
|}}

==Sources==

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glen_Jacobs Wikipedia]
[http://www.obsessedwithwrestling.com/profiles/k/kane.html Obsessed With Wrestling]

 
==Lucha de Apuestas Record==
{{Astart}}
{{aline|98/05/31|mask|[[Kane]]|[[Vader]]|Wisconsin Center Arena - Milwaukee, WI, USA}}
{{Aline|03/06/23|mask|[[Triple H]]|Kane|[[San Antonio]], [[Texas]], [[USA]]}}
{{Aend|}}

[[Category:Foreign wrestlers]]
[[Category:United States wrestlers]]
[[Category:Current WWE wrestlers]]

Tapatia

2006-06-03T20:21:17Z

Suplexmasta:

#REDIRECT [[La Tapatía]]

Talk:Saito

2006-06-03T18:26:34Z

Suplexmasta:

For anyone who finds their correct Japanese profiles - Honaga is Noria Honaga and Saito is Masa Saito.--[[User:Robert|Robert]] 22:41, 2 June 2006 (CDT)

Masa, not Hiro? --[[User:Bix|Bix]] 11:14, 3 June 2006 (CDT)

I filled it out with Masa's info. If you want Hiro's, let me know and I'll try and scrounge something up. --[[User:Suplexmasta|suplexmasta]] 13:26, 3 June 2006 (CDT)

Saito

2006-06-03T18:25:40Z

Suplexmasta:

{{bioFields|
|name=Saito
|realName=Masanori Saito
|nicknames=Mr. Saito
|nameHistory=Masa Saito (debut - retirement), Mr. Saito (US), Saito (Mexico)
|family=
|maestro=
|birthdate=
|debut=[[June 3]], [[1965]], versus [[Sarukichi Takasakiyama]]
|lostmaskto=
|height=5'11" (1.80m)
|weight=265lbs (120kg)
|obituarydate=
|signatureMoves=[[Saito Suplex]], [[German Suplex]]
|titles=[[WWF World Tag Team Championship]] (2) (w/ [[Mr. Fuji]]), [[AWA World Heavyweight Championship]], [[NWA Florida Championship]], [[IWGP Tag Team Championship]] (2) (w/ [[Riki Choshu]], w/ [[Shinya Hashimoto]]), [[NWA World Tag Team Championship (San Francisco version)]], [[NWA Americas Tag Team Championship]] (3), [[NWA Beat the Champ Television Championship]] (2), [[Vancouver Canadian Tag Team Championship]] (2), [[NWA Florida Tag Team Championship]] (5), [[New Japan NFW/NWA North American Tag Team Championship]], [[NWA Alabama Heavyweight Championship]]
|}}
 
==Sources==
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masanori_Saito Wikipedia]
 
== Luchas de apuestas record ==
{{astart}}
{{aline|81/09/25|hair|[[Kobayashi]] & [[Saito]]|[[Coloso Colosetti]] & [[César Valentino]]|El Toreo - Naucalpan, Mexico State}}
{{aline|82/06/13|hair|[[Signo]], [[Texano]] & [[Negro Navarro]]|[[Takano]], [[Saito]] & [[Kobayashi]]|Arena México - Mexico City}}
{{aline|83/03/27|hairs|Saito & [[Honaga]]|[[Dragón Negro]] & [[Braulio Flores]]|Arena Afición - Pachuca, Hidalgo}}
{{aend|}}
 
{{Stub}}
[[Category:Foreign wrestlers]]
[[Category:Japanese wrestlers]]

Doug Furnas

2006-06-03T17:04:26Z

Suplexmasta:

{{bioFields|
|name=Doug Furnas
|realName=Doug Furnas
|nicknames=
|nameHistory=Doug Furnas, Can-Am Express
|family=
|maestro=
|birthdate=1961 - Commerce, Oklahoma
|debut=1986
|lostmaskto=[[El Texano]] and [[Silver King]], [[August 12]], [[1992]] at [[El Toreo]], [[Naucalpan]], [[Mexico State]]
|height=5' 11" (180 cm)
|weight=243 lb (110 kg)
|obituarydate=
|signatureMoves=[[Belly to Belly Overhead Suplex]]
|titles=
|}}
 
==Sources==

[http://www.obsessedwithwrestling.com/profiles/d/doug-furnas.html Obsessed With Wrestling]

== Luchas de apuestas record ==
{{astart}}
{{aline|92/07/12|masks|[[Silver King]] & [[Texano]]|[[Can-Am Express]] ('''Furnas''' & [[Dan Kroffat|Kroffat]])|El Toreo - Naucalpan, Mexico State}}
{{aend|}}
 
{{stub}}

[[Category:Foreign wrestlers]]
[[Category:United States wrestlers]]

Can-Am Express

2006-06-03T17:00:13Z

Suplexmasta:

The Can-Am Express was a masked (at first) team of two wrestlers, hailing respectively from the United States and Canada.

*[[Doug Furnas]]
*[[Dan Kroffat]]

They lost their masks to [[El Texano]] and [[Silver King]] on [[August 12]], [[1992]] at [[El Toreo]], [[Naucalpan]], [[Mexico State]].

{{stub}}
[[Category:Groups]]

Dan Kroffat

2006-06-03T16:54:06Z

Suplexmasta:

{{bioFields|
|name=Dan Kroffat
|realName=Phil Lafleur
|nicknames=
|nameHistory=Dan Kroffat, Phil Lafon, Phil Lafleur, Can-Am Express, Blue Blazer II
|family=
|maestro=[[Stu Hart]], [[The Hart Dungeon]]
|birthdate=[[September 16]], [[1961]] - Montreal, Quebec, [[Canada]]
|debut=[[1983]]
|lostmaskto=[[Silver King]] & [[Texano]] - July 12, 1992 - [[El Toreo]], [[Naucalpan]], [[Mexico State]]
|height=5' 11" (180 cm)
|weight=235 lbs (107 kg)
|obituarydate=
|signatureMoves=[[Sitout Power Bomb]]
|titles=[[UWA World Tag Team Championship]] (w/[[Doug Furnas]]), various non-Mexican championships
|}}

==Sources==

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Lafleur Wikipedia]

 
== Luchas de apuestas record ==
{{astart}}
{{aline|88/09/10|hairs|[[Miguel Pérez Jr.]] & [[Huracán Castillo Jr.]]|Dan Kroffat & [[Bobby Jaggers]]|Juan Lobriel Stadium - Bayamón, Puerto Rico}}
{{aline|92/07/12|masks|[[Silver King]] & [[El Texano]]|[[Can-Am Express]] ([[Doug Furnas]] & Dan Kroffat)|El Toreo - Naucalpan, Mexico State}}
{{aend|}}
 
{{Stub}}
 
== Gallery ==


{{Gallery|
|name=BlueBlazerII.jpg
|caption=as Blue Blazer II in 1998
}}

[[Category:Canadian wrestlers]]
[[Category:Foreign wrestlers]]

Total Non-Stop Action

2006-06-03T01:51:18Z

Suplexmasta:

#REDIRECT [[TNA]]

Category:TNA wrestlers

2006-06-03T01:51:06Z

Suplexmasta:

This is a list of wrestlers who have worked for [[Total Non-Stop Action]].