Mid 20th Century
100-491: Genaro Vázquez Nevarez (born September 18, 1960) is a Mexican professional wrestler and trainer, best known under his ring name Blue Panther . He made his in-ring debut in 1978. Since then, he has worked for most major Mexican professional wrestling promotions , including the Universal Wrestling Association (UWA), Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) and Asistencia, Asesoría y Administración (AAA). He
200-462: A Native American character while wrestling called "Gran Cochisse" ("The Great Cochise") named after the Apache chief Cochise . Gran Cochisse wore the traditional feathered headdresses, facepaint and often carried a tomahawk with him to the ring to support the character. Gran Cochisse formed a regular tag team with Aguila India ("Indian Eagle"), to form a very popular and successful tag team . Together
300-435: A bona fide athletic contest or competition. Professional wrestling is not a combative sport. Wrestling constituting bona fide athletic contests and competitions, which may be professional or amateur combative sport, shall not be deemed professional wrestling under this Part. Professional wrestling as used in this Part shall not depend on whether the individual wrestlers are paid or have been paid for their performance in
400-415: A performing art evolved from the common practice of match-fixing among American wrestlers in the 19th century, who later sought to make matches shorter, more entertaining, and less physically taxing. As the public gradually realized and accepted that matches were predetermined, wrestlers responded by increasingly adding melodrama, gimmickry, and outlandish stunt work to their performances to further enhance
500-415: A professional wrestling exhibition. All engagements of professional wrestling shall be referred to as exhibitions, and not as matches. In the industry's slang, a fixed match is referred to as a worked match, derived from the slang word for manipulation, as in "working the crowd". A shoot match is a genuine contest where both wrestlers fight to win and are therefore "straight shooters", which comes from
600-533: A 2018 tournament for the vacant CMLL World Tag Team Championship, but lost in the first round to Diamante Azul and Stuka Jr. In mid-2018, Vázquez announced that a third son was training for an in-ring career, introducing him as "El Hijo de Blue Panther" ("The Son of Blue Panther"). In subsequent months, the Panther changed his name to be known as "Black Panther", taking the name his older brother used previously. In October 2018 CMLL celebrated Vázquez's career as they held
700-414: A Dos Leyendas , Panther and Negro Casas wrestled to a draw in a Lucha de Apuesta and were, as a result, both shaved bald. In March 2013, Blue Panther was forced to team up with the rudo Rey Escorpión to participate in the 2013 Torneo Nacional de Parejas Increibles ("National Incredible Pairs Tournament"), a tournament where a rudo and a tecnico teams up. The two defeated Delta and Tiger in
800-413: A background in authentic wrestling no longer mattered. After this time, matches became more outlandish and gimmicky and any semblance professional wrestling had to catch wrestling faded. The personas of the wrestlers likewise grew more outlandish. Gorgeous George , who performed throughout the 1940s and 1950s, was the first wrestler whose entrance into the arena was accompanied by a theme song played over
900-520: A carny term for a shooting gallery gun whose sights were not deliberately misaligned. Wrestling in the United States blossomed in popularity after the Civil War , with catch wrestling eventually becoming the most popular style. At first, professional wrestlers were genuine competitive fighters, but they struggled to draw audiences because Americans did not find real wrestling to be very entertaining, so
1000-513: A central authority. Nor could any of them stomach the idea of leaving the NWA themselves to compete directly with McMahon, for that would mean their territories would become fair game for the other NWA members. McMahon also had a creative flair for TV that his rivals lacked. For instance, the AWA's TV productions during the 1980s were amateurish, low-budget, and out-of-touch with contemporary culture, which lead to
1100-574: A champion that Curley put forth: Dick Shikat . The National Wrestling Association shut down in 1980. In 1948, a number of promoters from across the country came together to form the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). The NWA recognized one "world champion", voted on by its members, but allowed member promoters to crown their own local champions in their territories. If a member poached wrestlers from another member, or held matches in another member's territory, they risked being ejected from
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#17331047549021200-463: A degree. Vince Russo, the boss of WCW in 2000, completely disregarded kayfabe by routinely discussing business matters and office politics in public, which alienated fans. I watch championship wrestling from Florida with wrestling commentator Gordon Solie . Is this all "fake"? If so, they deserve an Oscar . Gran Cochisse Juan José Barrón Medina (born September 22, 1952) is a retired Mexican Luchador , or professional wrestler , under
1300-404: A distinct vernacular . It has achieved mainstream success and influence within popular culture , with many terms, tropes , and concepts being referenced in everyday language as well as in film , music , television , and video games . Likewise, numerous professional wrestlers have become national or international icons with recognition by the broader public. In the United States, wrestling
1400-410: A fee, a visitor could challenge the wrestler to a quick match. If the challenger defeated the champion in a short time frame, usually 15 minutes, he won a prize. To encourage challenges, the carnival operators staged rigged matches in which an accomplice posing as a visitor challenged the champion and won, giving the audience the impression that the champion was easy to beat. This practice taught wrestlers
1500-546: A feud with Los Guerreros del Infierno . In 2004, Atlantis and Blue Panther defeated Último Guerrero and Rey Bucanero to win the CMLL World Tag Team Championship. Three months after successfully defending the title against Olímpico and Rey Bucanero, Atlantis and Panther lost the championship to the team of Averno and Mephisto in April 2005. When Atlantis turned rudo, Panther feuded with him intermittently and
1600-405: A legitimate sport. Firstly, wrestling was more entertaining when it was faked, whereas fakery did not make boxing any more entertaining. Secondly, in a rigged boxing match, the designated loser must take a real beating for his "defeat" to be convincing, but wrestling holds can be faked convincingly without inflicting injury. This meant that boxers were less willing to "take dives"; they wanted to have
1700-507: A long running feud between the two. Cochisse regained the title from Satánico only a few weeks later on September 30, 1984, and held it until November 18, 1984, before losing it to Gran Hamada Gran Cochisse's third and final run with the NWA World Middleweight Championship began on May 18, 1986, when he defeated Chamaco Valaguez to win the title and lasted 152 days, longer than his previous two reigns combined, until he
1800-412: A long-running storyline with American wrestler Sam Adonis , who portrayed a pro- Donald Trump and anti-Mexican ring character. Panther stood up to Adonis and defended Mexico as the storyline escalated into the two facing off in a high-profile Lucha de Apuestas match on August 4, 2017. Adonis won the match, forcing Blue Panther to have his hair shaved off. Blue Panther and Blue Panther Jr. teamed up for
1900-425: A lot of the wrestlers CMLL currently employs as well as students who have gone on to work for other promotions around the world. The following is a list of some of the wrestlers Gran Cochisse has trained. Barrón is married to retired professional wrestler La Magnífica and together they have at least four children. One their daughter wrestles as the current version of La Magnífica while another daughter wrestles under
2000-754: A match against Gus Sonnenberg in January 1929. Bowser then broke away from the trust to form his own cartel, the American Wrestling Association (AWA), in September 1930, and he declared Sonnenberg to be the AWA champion. This AWA should not be confused with Wally Kadbo's AWA founded in 1960. Curley reacted to this move by convincing the National Boxing Association to form the National Wrestling Association , which in turn crowned
2100-424: A more literal meaning in those places. A notable example is India's Pro Wrestling League . In numerous American states, professional wrestling is legally defined as a non-sport. For instance, New York defines professional wrestling as: Professional wrestling means an activity in which participants struggle hand-in-hand primarily for the purpose of providing entertainment to spectators and which does not comprise
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#17331047549022200-452: A move called El Martinete' (a "piledriver"), which under Lucha Libre rules caused him to be disqualified and thus lose the match. The storyline was that Love Machine was not aware of the specific rule, unique to Mexico, and thus was "robbed" of the victory and his mask. After the loss, Love Machine reluctantly unmasked and revealed his real name, Art Barr. In mid-1992 then-CMLL- booker Antonio Peña left CMLL over creative differences with
2300-440: A new city, attendance was high because there was a waiting fanbase cultivated in advance by the cable TV shows. The NWA's traditional anti-competitive tricks were no match for this. The NWA attempted to centralize and create their own national cable television shows to counter McMahon's rogue promotion, but it failed in part because the members of the NWA, ever protective of their territories, could not stomach submitting themselves to
2400-431: A part in training hundreds of wrestlers for their in-ring career. Over the years Vázquez has become known for his "Ras de Lona" ("On the mat") wrestling style, focusing more on holds, takedowns and submission moves than high flying wrestling. The style is personified by his Nudo Lagunero ("The Lagunero Knot") submission move that he created. The "Nudo Lagunero" is a standing figure-four leglock , where Vázquez first wraps
2500-456: A prone opponent's legs across each other, then stretches the opponent's arms through the "knot" of the legs and pulls them up in the air so that all pressure is on the arms to force a submission. In addition to the more complicated Nudo he also uses the Fujiwara armbar submission hold, where Vázquez takes a face down opponent's arm and pulls it back while laying on their back to put the pressure on
2600-969: A result of losses to Averno and Sam Adonis . Vázquez opened his own gym in the early 1990s, where he was one of the first Mexican professional wrestling trainers to train both men and women. Blue Panther began wrestling in northern Mexico in the late 1970s before getting noticed by wrestler and promoter René Guajardo in Monterrey . During his initial years in Monterrey, Blue Panther was given several opportunities to show off his in-ring skills and work higher profile matches, in particular with Lucha de Apuestas ("Bet match") wins where he defeated and unmasked La Bestia, Simio Blanco and Oro. Guarjardo got Blue Panther booked in Universal Wrestling Association (UWA) and Panther made his debut in their main building, El Toreo de Cuatro Caminos in Naucalpan , in 1981. He wrestled on
2700-497: A typical American household only received four national channels by antenna, and ten to twelve local channels via UHF broadcasting . But cable television could carry a much larger selection of channels and therefore had room for niche interests. The WWF started with a show called All-American Wrestling airing on the USA Network in September 1983. McMahon's TV shows made his wrestlers national celebrities, so when he held matches in
2800-575: A victory for all the pain to which they subjected themselves. In the 1910s, promotional cartels for professional wrestling emerged in the East Coast (outside its traditional heartland in the Midwest ). These promoters sought to make long-term plans with their wrestlers, and to ensure their more charismatic and crowd-pleasing wrestlers received championships, further entrenching the desire for worked matches. The primary rationale for shoot matches at this point
2900-436: Is a form of athletic theater that combines mock combat with drama , with the premise that the performers are competitive wrestlers. Professional wrestling is distinguished by its scripted outcomes and emphasis on entertainment and showmanship . The staged nature of matches is an open secret , with both wrestlers and spectators nonetheless maintaining the pretense that performances are bona fide competitions, which
3000-410: Is a true sport. Wrestlers would at all times flatly deny allegations that they fixed their matches, and they often remained in-character in public even when not performing. When in public, wrestlers would sometimes say the word kayfabe to each other as a coded signal that there were fans present and they needed to be in character. Professional wrestlers in the past strongly believed that if they admitted
3100-427: Is generally practiced in an amateur context. No professional league for competitive wrestling exists due to a lack of popularity. For example, Real Pro Wrestling , an American professional freestyle wrestling league, dissolved in 2007 after just two seasons. In other countries, such as Iran and India , wrestling enjoys widespread popularity as a genuine sport, and the phrase "professional wrestling" therefore has
Blue Panther - Misplaced Pages Continue
3200-470: Is likened to the suspension of disbelief employed when engaging with fiction . Professional wrestlers perform as characters and usually maintain a " gimmick " consisting of a specific persona , stage name , entrance theme , and other distinguishing traits. Matches are the primary vehicle for advancing storylines, which typically center on interpersonal conflicts, or feuds , between heroic " faces " and villainous " heels ". A wrestling ring , akin to
3300-607: The Blue Panther 40th Anniversary Show , with Panther teaming up with fellow Lagunero wrestlers Euforia , Black Warrior and Panterita del Ring defeating Los Tapatía ( Máscara Año 2000 , El Cuatrero , Forastero and Sansón ). On January 31, 2019, Blue Panther and Black Panther participated in International Wrestling Revolution Group 's Guerra de Dinastías ("War of the Dynasties") show where they lost to
3400-495: The CMLL World Tag Team Championship with an unsuccessful title challenge in September of that year. In 2000 and 2001, Los Laguneros successfully defended their titles against Los Villanos ( Villano III , IV , and V ) and the team of Negro Casas, Emilio Charles Jr. , and Tarzan Boy while Blue Panther had a singles feud with Olímpico . In 2002, Black Warrior left Los Laguneros and the trios championship
3500-609: The New Jersey State Athletic Control Board that professional wrestling is not a real sport because its matches have predetermined outcomes. Shortly thereafter, New Jersey deregulated professional wrestling. The WWF then rebranded itself as a " sports entertainment " company. In the early years of the 20th century, the style of wrestling used in professional wrestling matches was catch wrestling . Promoters wanted their matches to look realistic and so preferred to recruit wrestlers with real grappling skills. In
3600-647: The downturn of the Mexican economy , Blue Panther and Fuerza Guerra started their own promotion called Promotora Mexicana de Lucha Libre (PROMELL; later known as Promo Azteca ). The Mexico City Boxing and Professional wrestling commission took control of the Mexican National Trios Championship away from AAA and awarded it to PROMELL instead. This led to the championship being vacated in 1996, before Panther, Fuerza Guerra and El Signo won it by defeating El Brazo , Super Brazo and Super Elektra to win
3700-543: The independent circuit , to internationally broadcast events at major arenas. The largest and most influential promotions are in the United States , Mexico , Japan , and northwest Europe (the United Kingdom , Germany/Austria and France ), which have each developed distinct styles, traditions, and subgenres within professional wrestling. Professional wrestling has developed its own culture and community , including
3800-431: The spectacle . By at least the early 20th century, professional wrestling had diverged from the competitive sport to become an artform and genre of sports entertainment . Professional wrestling is performed around the world through various " promotions ", which are roughly analogous to production companies or sports leagues . Promotions vary considerably in size, scope, and creative approach, ranging from local shows on
3900-577: The 1920s, a group of wrestlers and promoters known as the Gold Dust Trio introduced moves which have since become staples of the mock combat of professional wrestling, such as body slams, suplexes , punches, finishing moves, and out-of-ring count-outs. By the early 1930s, most wrestlers had adopted personas to generate public interest. These personas could broadly be characterized as either faces (likeable) or heels (villainous). Native Americans, cowboys, and English aristocrats were staple characters in
4000-400: The 1930s and 1940s. Before the age of television, some wrestlers played different personas depending on the region they were performing in. This eventually came to an end in the age of national television wrestling shows, which forced wrestlers to stick to one persona. Wrestlers also often used some sort of gimmick, such as a finishing move, eccentric mannerisms, or out-of-control behavior (in
4100-506: The 1990s, WCW became a credible rival to the WWF, but by end it suffered from a series of creative missteps that led to its failure and purchase by the WWF. One of its mistakes was that it diminished the glamor of its World Heavyweight Championship . Between January 2000 and March 2001, the title changed hands eighteen times, which sapped fan enthusiasm, particularly for the climactic pay-per-view matches. In professional wrestling, two factors decide
Blue Panther - Misplaced Pages Continue
4200-434: The 2014 Torneo Gran Alternativa ("Great Alternative") tournament, defeating Averno and EL Rebelde in the opening round, before losing to La Sombra and Oro Jr. in the second round. Los Divinos were unsuccessful in their first championship challenge as they lost to Mexican National Trios Champions Los Hijos del Infierno ( Ephesto , Luciferno and Mephisto on March 1, 2016. In mid-2017, Blue Panther became involved in
4300-641: The Atlantic Athletic Corporation (AAC). The AAC shut down in 1960. In 1958, Omaha promoter and NWA member Joe Dusek recognized Verne Gagne as the world champion without the approval of the NWA. Gagne asked for a match against the recognized NWA champion Pat O'Connor. The NWA refused to honor the request, so Gagne and Minneapolis promoter Wally Karbo established the American Wrestling Association in 1960. This AWA should not be confused with Paul Bowser's AWA, which ceased operations just two months prior. Gagne's AWA operated out of Minnesota . Unlike
4400-408: The NWA, at which point his territory became fair game for everyone. The NWA would blacklist wrestlers who worked for independent promoters or who publicly criticized an NWA promoter or who did not throw a match on command. If an independent promoter tried to establish himself in a certain area, the NWA would send their star performers to perform for the local NWA promoter to draw the customers away from
4500-477: The NWA, which only allowed faces to be champions, Gagne occasionally allowed heels to win the AWA championship so that they could serve as foils for him. In August 1983, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), a promotion in the north-east , withdrew from the NWA. Vince K. McMahon then took over as its boss. No longer bound by the territorial pact of the NWA, McMahon began expanding his promotion into
4600-401: The arena's loudspeakers, his being Pomp and Circumstance . He also wore a costume: a robe and hairnet, which he removed after getting in the ring. He also had a pre-match ritual where his "butler" would spray the ring with perfume. In the 1980s, Vince McMahon made entrance songs, costumes, and rituals standard for his star wrestlers. For instance, McMahon's top star Hulk Hogan would delight
4700-418: The art of staging rigged matches and fostered a mentality that spectators were marks to be duped. The term kayfabe comes from carny slang. By the turn of the 20th century, most professional wrestling matches were "worked" and some journalists exposed the practice: American wrestlers are notorious for the amount of faking they do. It is because of this fact that suspicion attaches to so many bouts that
4800-550: The audience by tearing his shirt off before each match. The first major promoter cartel emerged on the East Coast, although up to that point, wrestling's heartland had been in the Midwest. Notable members of this cartel included Jack Curley , Lou Daro, Paul Bowser and Tom and Tony Packs. The promoters colluded to solve a number of problems that hurt their profits. Firstly, they could force their wrestlers to perform for less money. As
4900-424: The cartel grew, there were fewer independent promoters where independent wrestlers could find work, and many were forced to sign a contract with the cartel to receive steady work. The contracts forbade them from performing at independent venues. A wrestler who refused to play by the cartel's rules was barred from performing at its venues. A second goal of the wrestling cartels was to establish an authority to decide who
5000-418: The case of heels). The matches could also be gimmicky sometimes, with wrestlers fighting in mud and piles of tomatoes and so forth. The most successful and enduring gimmick to emerge from the 1930s were tag-team matches. Promoters noticed that matches slowed down as the wrestlers in the ring tired, so they gave them partners to relieve them. It also gave heels another way to misbehave by double-teaming. Towards
5100-642: The championship from Blue Panther. In 1991, Panther began working full-time for Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre (EMLL), where he began a feud with Atlantis over the NWA World Middleweight Championship . Although Blue Panther was unsuccessful in his August title challenge, the feud established him as a top rudo in EMLL. Later that same year EMLL changed their name to Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL; "World Wrestling Council") and began holding tournaments for CMLL-branded championships. Blue Panther
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#17331047549025200-423: The character in shows must be considered fictional, wholly separate from the life of the performer. This is similar to other entertainers who perform with a persona that shares their own name. Some wrestlers also incorporate elements of their real-life personalities into their characters, even if they and their in-ring persona have different names. Kayfabe is the practice of pretending that professional wrestling
5300-508: The commission. The Commission did on very rare occasions hand out such authorizations, such as for a championship match between Jim Londos and Jim Browning in June 1934. This decree did not apply to amateur wrestling, which the commission had no authority over. Wrestling fans widely suspected that professional wrestling was fake, but they did not care as long as it entertained. In 1933, a wrestling promoter named Jack Pfefer started talking about
5400-540: The current fashion of wrestling is the universal discussion as to the honesty of the matches. And certainly the most interesting phrase of this discussion is the unanimous agreement: "Who cares if they're fixed or not—the show is good." Newspapers tended to shun professional wrestling, as journalists saw its theatrical pretense to being a legitimate sport as untruthful. Eventually promoters resorted to publishing their own magazines in order to get press coverage and communicate with fans. The first professional wrestling magazine
5500-537: The early part of the 1990s Barrón worked as an enmascarado , or masked, character called Espectro de Ultratumba ("The Ghost from beyond the grave") but by then it was obvious that his career as an active wrestler was winding down. In the late 1990s Gran Cochisse greatly reduced his schedule and began working full-time training wrestlers. Gran Cochisse is one of the trainers for CMLL's wrestling school in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico and thus has been involved in training
5600-405: The end of the 1930s, faced with declining revenues, promoters chose to focus on grooming charismatic wrestlers with no regard for their skill because it was charisma that drew the crowds, and wrestlers who were both skilled at grappling and charismatic were hard to come by. Since most of the public by this time knew and accepted that professional wrestling was fake, realism was no longer paramount and
5700-597: The facade of kayfabe as best as they could. In 1989, Vince McMahon testified before the New Jersey government that professional wrestling was not a true sport and therefore should be exempted from sports-related taxes. Many wrestlers and fans resented McMahon for this, but Lou Thesz accepted it as the smart move as it gave the industry more freedom to do as it pleased, and because by that point professional wrestling no longer attempted to appear real. The demise of WCW in 2001 provided some evidence that kayfabe still mattered to
5800-417: The father/son team of El Solar and El Hijo del Solar . In April 2020 Panther's third son was introduced to the wrestling world, known under the ring name "Chachorro Lagunero", Spanish for "The Lagunero Puppy". Vazquez opened his own gym in the early 1990s and began training prospective professional wrestlers, being one of the first maestros to train both men and women at his gym. Over the years he has played
5900-677: The feathered headdresses and facepaint. He was nicknamed El Indio Bravo ("The brave Indian") and is named after the Apache chief Cochise . Early in his career he often teamed with Águila India (Indian Eagle) to form a successful tag team. During his wrestling career Barrón held the UWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship one time and the NWA World Middleweight Championship three times. Juan Barrón made his professional wrestling debut on October 2, 1966, at only 14 years of age, after training under Mexico's most renowned wrestling trainer Diablo Velazco . Barrón adopted
6000-470: The first place. "Double-crosses", where a wrestler agreed to lose a match but nevertheless fought to win, remained a problem in the early cartel days. At times a promoter would even award a victorious double-crosser the title of champion to preserve the facade of sport. But promoters punished such wrestlers by blacklisting them, making it quite challenging to find work. Double-crossers could also be sued for breach of contract, such as Dick Shikat in 1936. In
6100-402: The first round, but lost to the team of Dragón Rojo Jr. and Niebla Roja in the quarter-finals. On September 13, at CMLL's 80th Anniversary Show , Blue Panther lost his hair to Averno in a submissions-only Lucha de Apuestas . In late 2013, Blue Panther's two oldest sons made their debut for CMLL using the ring names Black Panther and Cachorro (Spanish for "Cub"). Both wore a variation of
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#17331047549026200-610: The game is not popular here. Nine out of ten bouts, it has been said, are pre-arranged affairs, and it would be no surprise if the ratio of fixed matches to honest ones was really so high. The wrestler Lou Thesz recalled that between 1915 and 1920, a series of exposés in the newspapers about the integrity of professional wrestling alienated a lot of fans, sending the industry "into a tailspin". But rather than perform more shoot matches, professional wrestlers instead committed themselves wholesale to fakery. Several reasons explain why professional wrestling became fake whereas boxing endured as
6300-455: The government. They pledged to stop allocating exclusive territories to its promoters, to stop blacklisting wrestlers who worked for outsider promoters, and to admit any promoter into the Alliance. The NWA would flout many of these promises, but its power was nonetheless weakened by the lawsuit. Paul Bowser's AWA joined the NWA in 1949. The AWA withdrew from the Alliance in 1957 and renamed itself
6400-513: The independent. By 1956, the NWA controlled 38 promotions within the United States, with more in Canada, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand. The NWA's monopolistic practices became so stifling that the independents appealed to the government for help. In October 1956 the US Attorney General's office filed an antitrust lawsuit against the NWA in an Iowa federal district court. The NWA settled with
6500-471: The industry was anything but a competitive sport. The first wrestling promoter to publicly admit to routinely fixing matches was Jack Pfefer . In 1933, he started talking about the industry's inner workings to the New York Daily Mirror , resulting in a huge exposé. The exposé neither surprised nor alienated most wrestling fans, although some promoters like Jack Curley were furious and tried to restore
6600-487: The industry's inner workings to the New York Daily Mirror , maintaining no pretense that wrestling was real and passing on planned results just before the matches took place. While fans were neither surprised nor alienated, traditionalists like Jack Curley were furious, and most promoters tried to maintain the facade of kayfabe as best they could. Not the least interesting of all the minor phenomena produced by
6700-451: The mask that their father had worn until 2008. The sons would later be renamed "Blue Panther Jr." and "The Panther" respectively. Blue Panthers and his sons, collectively referred to as Los Divinos Laguneros ("The Divine Laguneros"), would become a regular trio in CMLL with the senior Panther leading the team, helping his sons improve their in-ring skills. Blue Panther and The Panther teamed up for
6800-558: The match, Panther was disqualified in a tag team match, after giving El Felino a pile driver. This led to the Distrito Federal Box y Lucha Commission announcing that Panther was suspended for two weeks, starting after December 16 event. At Sin Piedad , El Felino tried to exact revenge on Panther, but was disqualified after the referee caught him going for a pile driver. As a result, El Felino was shaved bald. On March 2, 2012, at Homenaje
6900-498: The members of wrestling cartels as the champion drew big crowds wherever he performed, and this would occasionally lead to schisms. By 1925, this cartel had divided the country up into territories which were the exclusive domains of specific promoters. This system of territories endured until Vince McMahon drove the fragmented cartels out of the market in the 1980s. This cartel fractured in 1929 after one of its members, Paul Bowser , bribed Ed "Strangler" Lewis to lose his championship in
7000-617: The owner and formed his own company, Asistencia, Asesoría y Administración (AAA). Panther left CMLL and followed Peña to AAA as he was close to Peña. As a result, CMLL declared the CMLL World Middleweight Championship vacant. When Love Machine joined AAA months later the Blue Panther/Love Machine feud resumed. The two met in a mask vs. hair match in July 1993, during which both wrestlers changed sides as Love Machine
7100-437: The platform used in boxing , serves as the main stage ; additional scenes may be recorded for television in backstage areas of the venue, in a format similar to reality television . Performers generally integrate authentic wrestling techniques and fighting styles with choreography , stunts , improvisation , and dramatic conventions designed to maximize entertainment value and audience engagement. Professional wrestling as
7200-714: The promotion's closing in 1991. In the spring of 1984, the WWF purchased Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW), which had been ailing for some time due to financial mismanagement and internal squabbles. In the deal, the WWF acquired the GCW's timeslot on TBS . McMahon agreed to keep showing Georgia wrestling matches in that timeslot, but he was unable to get his staff to Atlanta every Saturday to fulfill this obligation, so he sold GCW and its TBS timeslot to Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP). JCP started informally calling itself World Championship Wrestling (WCW). In 1988, Ted Turner bought JCP and formally renamed it World Championship Wrestling. During
7300-524: The ring name Gran Cochisse . Barrón is currently working as one of the head trainers at the Gimnasio del Diablo Velazco wrestling school in Guadalajara , Jalisco , Mexico. The school is one of the wrestling schools for Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL). While wrestling he used the ring character Gran Cochisse , a Native American character that incorporated traditional Native American imagery including
7400-643: The ring name "Black Panther", was born in either 1988 or 1989. A third son was introduced in mid-2018 under the ring name "El Hijo de Blue Panther". Vázquez is the uncle of Jesus Toral Lopez, better known as the professional wrestler Black Warrior, and the great uncle of Toral's son Warrior Jr. Vázquez owns and operates his own chiropractic clinic, where he has treated several of his fellow wrestlers as well as patients in general. Professional wrestler 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s Professional wrestling (often referred to as pro wrestling , or simply, wrestling )
7500-510: The shoulder and elbow joints. While he is mostly known for his mat style, he will on occasion execute a dive out of the ring, such as a Topé Suicida where he dives head first through the ropes to hit an opponent. Genaro Vázquez Nevarez was born on September 18, 1960, in the "Lagunero" town in Gómez Palacio, Durango, Mexico. His oldest son was born in the mid-to-late 1980s, known professionally as "Blue Panther Jr.". His second son, known under
7600-440: The stamina for an hours-long fight. Audiences also preferred short matches. Worked matches also carried less risk of injury, which meant shorter recovery. Altogether, worked matches proved more profitable than shoots. By the end of the 19th century, nearly all professional wrestling matches were worked. A major influence on professional wrestling was carnival culture. Wrestlers in the late 19th century worked in carnival shows. For
7700-457: The team held the Occidente (western) Tag Team Championship at least once. It was not until 1984, a full 18 years after his debut that Gran Cochisse won his first major singles title when he defeated El Satánico on AUgust 18, 1984 to win the NWA World Middleweight Championship . His first reign with the title only lasted 27 days, as he lost it to Satánico on September 14 that same year as part of
7800-804: The team to unmask. The team later broke up, leading to a prolonged storyline feud between the two, which included Black Man winning the UWA World Welterweight Championship from Blue Panther on February 9, 1986. The storyline built to a high-profile Lucha de Apuestas match between the two at UWA's main venue, the El Toreon Cuatro Caminos bullfighting arena. After three long falls Blue Panther defeated Black Man, forcing Black Man to unmask and state his real name per lucha libre traditions. He later defeated Gran Hamada to win his first UWA World Junior Light Heavyweight Championship on November 16, 1986. His first reign lasted 190 days and
7900-426: The territories of his former NWA peers, now his rivals. By the end of the 1980s, the WWF would become the sole national wrestling promotion in the U.S. This was in part made possible by the rapid spread of cable television in the 1980s. The national broadcast networks generally regarded professional wrestling as too niche an interest, and had not broadcast any national wrestling shows since the 1950s. Before cable TV,
8000-501: The title for 665 days until Octagón regained the championship April 30, 1994. His second reign lasted a total of 609 days, from May 27, 1994, to January 26, 1996, when El Hijo del Santo won the championship Mexican National Middleweight Championship. Panther teamed up with Fuerza Guerrera and Psicosis to defeat Octagón, Rey Misterio Jr. and Super Muñeco to win the Mexican National Trios Championship . After
8100-438: The top stars of Lucha Libre at the time. The storyline built to the main event of the 36. Aniversario de Arena México show on April 3, 1992. The feud between the two had been so popular that Arena México was sold out, with 18,000 spectators in attendance. To cope with the anticipated fan turn out, CMLL had set up closed-circuit screens to accommodate 8,000 additional spectators. In the third and deciding fall, Love Machine used
8200-505: The trial, witnesses testified that most of the "big matches" and all of the championship bouts were fixed. By the 1930s, with the exception of the occasional double-cross or business dispute, shoot matches were essentially nonexistent. In April 1930, the New York State Athletic Commission decreed that all professional wrestling matches held in the state had to be advertised as exhibitions unless certified as contests by
8300-471: The truth, their audiences would desert them. Today's performers don't "protect" the industry like we did, but that's primarily because they've already exposed it by relying on silly or downright ludicrous characters and gimmicks to gain popularity with the fans. It was different in my day, when our product was presented as an authentic, competitive sport. We protected it because we believed it would collapse if we ever so much as implied publicly that it
8400-435: The two often ripped at each other's masks , hinting at a possible mask vs. mask match. On September 19, 2008, he lost his mask to Villano V. He was unmasked as Genaro Vázquez Nevarez. In late 2011, Blue Panther began feuding with La Peste Negra ("The Black Plague"; Negro Casas and El Felino), which led to the main event of Sin Piedad on December 16, where Panther faced El Felino in a Hair vs. Hair match. A week prior to
8500-497: The undercard as a rudo (also referred to as a "heel", those that portray the "bad guys" in wrestling), before getting his first push in 1984 by winning the UWA World Welterweight Championship from veteran worker Matemático. Panther also began teaming with Black Man on a regular basis around that time, including a November 20, 1984 Lucha de Apuestas win over Los Sombras de Plata, forcing both members of
8600-412: The vacant championship. The original PROMELL struggled to be profitable, which led to Blue Panther briefly returning to AAA in 1997. In 1998, Panther teamed with Dr. Wagner Jr. and his real-life nephew Black Warrior to form "Los Laguneros" The team won a tournament to win the vacant CMLL World Trios Championship . In 1999, Panther and Wagner teamed to feud with Negro Casas and El Hijo del Santo over
8700-535: The way of proceedings: the "in-show" happenings, presented through the shows; and real-life happenings outside the work that have implications, such as performer contracts, legitimate injuries, etc. Because actual life events are often co-opted by writers for incorporation into storylines of performers, the lines between real life and fictional life are often blurred and become confused. Special discern must be taken with people who perform under their own name (such as Kurt Angle and his fictional persona ). The actions of
8800-420: The wrestlers quietly began faking their matches so that they could give their audiences a satisfying spectacle. Fixing matches was also convenient for scheduling. A real ("shoot") match could sometimes last hours, whereas a fixed ("worked") match can be made short, which was convenient for wrestlers on tour who needed to keep appointments or share venues. It also suited wrestlers who were aging and therefore lacked
8900-425: Was Wrestling As You Like It , which printed its first issue in 1946. These magazines were faithful to kayfabe . Before the advent of television, professional wrestling's fanbase largely consisted of children, the elderly, blue-collar workers and minorities. When television arose in the 1940s, professional wrestling got national exposure on prime-time television and gained widespread popularity. Professional wrestling
9000-488: Was challenges from independent wrestlers. But a cartelized wrestler, if challenged, could credibly use his contractual obligations to his promoter as an excuse to refuse the challenge. Promotions would sometimes respond to challenges with "policemen": powerful wrestlers who lacked the charisma to become stars, but could defeat and often seriously injure any challenger in a shoot match. As the industry trend continued, there were fewer independent wrestlers to make such challenges in
9100-589: Was ended by El Solar on May 25, 1987. He later regained the championship on February 8, 1988. In May 1988, Blue Panther won another significant match as he defeated Kendo on a UWA show in Tijuana, Baja California to unmask Kendo. On September 18, 1988, Blue Panther's second and final reign as the UWA World Junior Light Heavyweight Champion ended as the UWA bookers decided to have Gran Cochisse win
9200-548: Was helped by Eddy Guerrero turning rudo , while Blue Panther "valiantly" fought back, making Blue Panther a tecnico (a "Face", those that portray the "good guys" in wrestling), as he overcame the odds and defeated Love Machine. Following the turn Barr and Guerrero formed ' Los Gringos Locos ,' which soon became the main rudo group of AAA . On July 23, 1992, Blue Panther won the Mexican National Middleweight Championship from Octagón and held
9300-527: Was one of sixteen competitors entered in the tournament for the CMLL World Middleweight Championship . He defeated Ringo Mendoza in the opening round, El Dandy in the semi-finals and El Satánico in the finals to become the inaugural champion, a sign of CMLL's support of Blue Panther. Following his championship victory, Blue Panther was programmed in a feud with American Love Machine , a feud that would help establish Panther as one of
9400-410: Was one of the first wrestlers to leave CMLL for AAA when it was created in 1992, but returned to CMLL in 1997 where he has competed ever since. Vázquez's two oldest sons, known as Blue Panther Jr. and Black Panther , are also professional wrestlers, working for CMLL since 2013. A third son referred to as El Hijo de Blue Panther has been introduced to the audience but has not made his in-ring debut. He
9500-499: Was pinned by Kung Fu on October 17, 1986, and lost the belt. In the latter years of the 1980s Gran Cochisse began working for the Universal Wrestling Association (UWA) where he became the UWA World Junior Light Heavyweight Champion on September 16, 1988, by defeating Blue Panther . His run with the UWA title lasted for 225 days in total, until April 29, 1989, when he was beaten by Ringo Mendoza . In
9600-636: Was previously considered a niche interest, but the TV networks at the time were short on content and thus were willing to try some wrestling shows. In the 1960s, however, the networks moved on to more mainstream interests such as baseball, and professional wrestling was dropped. The core audience then shrunk back to a profile similar to that of the 1930s. In 1989, Vince McMahon was looking to exempt his promotion (the World Wrestling Federation ) from sports licensing fees. To achieve this, he testified before
9700-415: Was something other than what it appeared to be. I'm not sure now the fear was ever justified given the fact that the industry is still in existence today, but the point is no one questioned the need then. "Protecting the business" in the face of criticism and skepticism was the first and most important rule a pro wrestler learned. No matter how aggressive or informed the questioner, you never admitted
9800-417: Was the "world champion". Before the cartels, there were multiple wrestlers in the U.S. simultaneously calling themselves the "world champion", and this sapped public enthusiasm for professional wrestling. Likewise, the cartel could agree on a common set of match rules that the fans could keep track of. The issue over who got to be the champion and who controlled said champion was a major point of contention among
9900-573: Was the first CMLL World Middleweight Champion and has won the Mexican National Middleweight Championship twice, the CMLL World Trios Championship twice and the Mexican National Trios Championship . He also won the 1999 Torneo Gran Alternativa and the 2000 Leyenda de Plata tournaments. In his career, he has won the mask of such notable wrestlers as Black Man , Lizmark Jr. and Love Machine . In 2008, he lost his own mask to Villano V and has since had his hair shaved off as
10000-482: Was vacated. Fuerza Guerrera replaced Black Warrior on the team, and they won another tournament for the CMLL World Trios title but they reigned for only three months before dropping the titles to Black Warrior, Atlantis, and Mr. Niebla . Over time, Blue Panther was getting booked more as a técnico (face) and began to team with former rivals, Atlantis, Lizmark Jr. , and Mr. Niebla as La Ola Azul ("The Blue Wave") in
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