| Misioneros de la Muerte | |
|---|---|
| Tag team | |
| Members | Negro Navarro El Signo El Texano |
| Billed heights | Negro Navarro 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in) El Signo 1.72 m (5 ft7+1⁄2 in) El Texano 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in) |
| Former member(s) | Black Power (II) Rocky Santana Misionero El Texano, Jr. |
| Debut | 1977 |
| Disbanded | 2006 |
LosMisioneros de la Muerte (Spanish for theMissionaries of Death) was a MexicanLucha libre, orprofessional wrestlingTrio that has been credited with making thetwo out of three falls six-man tag team match the most common match form in Mexico instead of the traditionalone-on-one match that is the most common match everywhere else besides Japan. The originalLos Misioneros trio consisted ofNegro Navarro,El Signo andEl Texano and worked together as a unit from 1977 until 1987. Later versions ofLos Misioneros featured Navarro and Signo teaming with wrestlers such as Black Power, Rocky Santana orEl Texano, Jr. but their success never approached the success of the original team. The originalLos Misioneros would occasionally reunite in the years following their 1987 break-up, but with the 2006 death of El Texano theLos Misioneros de la Muerte was not used by Navarro and El Signo. El Signo retired in 2010, making Negro Navarro the only active competitor left of the trio.
In the late 1970s Mexicanprofessional wrestling promotionUniversal Wrestling Association (UWA) were inspired by the success of lightweight wrestlers in other promotions and wanted to create a number of Mexican lightweight stars to capitalize on the success of the division. PromoterFrancisco Flores decided to team up three young, smaller wrestlers including Antonio Sánchez Rendón, known under the ring nameEl Signo, Miguel Calderón Navarro, known asNegro Navarro and Juan Conrado Aguilar Jáuregui, known asEl Texano. The trio was dubbedLos Misioneros de la Muerte ("The Missionaries of Death") and played theheel role (wrestlers who portray the "bad guys"). The three were matched up a trio of brothers who likeLos Misioneros were young and lightweights, the team ofBrazo de Oro ("Golden Hand"),Brazo de Plata ("Silver Arm") andEl Brazo ("The Arm"), dubbedLos Mosqueteros de Diablo (The Devil's Musketeers). Early on in the storyline Brazo de Oro defeated El Texano in aLuchas de Apuestas, or bet match, which forced El Texano to unmask. The storyline expanded and saw the unmaskedMisionaros clash with the maskedMosqueteros on UWA promoted cards all over Mexico. The fan reception to those matches and the positive coverage in various Lucha Libre magazines was so big that other promoters around Mexico wanted to book them on their shows, not as individuals but as teams, which was the start of the trios match becoming more and more prominent in Lucha Libre. With the team being so in demand UWA started to feature Los Misioneros more often that by 1981Los Misioneros began working high on the card, often working the main event match starting a trend of having trios matches instead of singles matches as the regular main event match format, something that helped make that match format the most common match type in Lucha Libre since then.[1]
The UWA had a tradition of inviting Japanese wrestlers fromNew Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) to come to Mexico for shorter or longer tours, traditionally they used the Japanese Heavyweights, but with the emergence ofLos Misioneros they began using younger, lower card wrestlers for matches againstLos Misioneros. One such rivalry saw the team ofGran Hamada,Kobayashi andEnrique Vera defeatLos Misioneros in aLuchas de Apuestas match, forcing the three of them to have their hair shaved off as a result.[2] In 1981 theLos Misioneros de la Muerte name became a household name after a match inEl Toreo de Quatro Caminos ("The Bullring with four corners"), UWA's main venue. During the main eventLos Misioneros faced off against then 64-year-oldEl Santo, teaming withHuracán Ramírez andRayo de Jalisco. In that match El Santo collapsed in the middle of the ring, suffering a heart attack during the match. His life was only saved due to the quick witted actions of Ramírez.[3] After the match the Lucha Libre magazinez, prompted by Francisco Flores, played off the real life tragedy by promotingLos Misioneros as the team that nearly killed the biggest name in Lucha Libre ever.[3] The event made the team the most hated trio in Mexico for years to come and helped fillEl Torero arena to the brim whenLos Misioneros teamed up withPerro Aguayo to face El Santo,Gory Guerrero, Huracán Ramírez andEl Solitario in El Santo's retirement match.[3][4] Following Santo's retirementLos Misioneros feuded with the topfaces (wrestlers portraying "good guy" characters) such asLos Tres Caballero (Aníbal, El Solitario andVillano III both in trios and in individual competition. During the storyline El Solitario turned on his two partners, when he attacked El Signo with a bottle and costingLos Tres Caballeros an important match. The attack made the smallerLos Misioneros more sympathetic to the crowd, who began to support them more and more despiteLos Misioneros being booked on the shows asheel characters ("bad guys"). The trio also continued fighting various Japanese teams, including defeating the team of Kobayashi,Saito andTakano at theUWA 7th Anniversary Show on February 14, 1982, and again a few months later in aLuchas de Apuestas match that saw the Japanese trio leave Mexico with their hair shaved off.[2][5] Their popularity as a trio also led to them being invited to tourJapan, facing off againstNew Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) light weight wrestlers such asGran Hamada,Tiger Mask, Takano,Akira Maeda andOsamu Kido. In 1984Los Misioneros won theUWA World Trios Championship for the first time, although it is not documented for exactly how long.[6] In the mid-1980s the "War" between the UWA and EMLL had cooled off enough forLos Misionerios to actually work a series of EMLL shows leading up to theEMLL 53rd Anniversary Show. In the weeks before the showLos Misioneros defeated the trio ofEl Dandy,Talismán andJerry Estrada in aLuchas de Apuestas match during CMLL"s weeklySuper Viernes show.[7] This was part of the build to the main event of the 53rd Anniversary whereLos Misioneros lost aLuchas de Apuestas match to CMLL mainstaysRingo Mendoza,Américo Rocca andTony Salazar and thus were forced to get all their hair shaved off as a result of the loss.[8][9] Los Misionerios regained the UWA World Trios Championship in 1987 defeatingLos Villanos (Villano III,Villano IV andVillano V), after what was considered the "peak" ofLos Misionerios. With an influx of other popular trios both in the UWA and in Mexico in generalLos Misioneros days on the top of the Trios scene came to an end, which was followed by the end ofLos Missioneros de la Muerte in its original form. During a UWA World Trios Championship match againstLos Villanos El Texano threw in the towel to save his partner El Signo any more punishment. After the match and title loss his partners turned on El Texano and attacked him. The attack was done primarily to write El Texano out of the UWA storyline as he had given notice that he was leaving.
UWA Promoter Francisco Flores decided to try to keep theLos Misioneros de la Muerte team active even after the departure of El Texano and experimented with a number of different partners for Navarro and El Signo. The first replacement was a masked wrestler called "Black Power", who teamed up with the remainingLos Misioneros to defeatLos Villanos (Villano I, Villano IV and Villano V) to win the UWA Trios Championship. The trio held on to the Trios Championship for 454 days, until May 1, 1993, where they lost them to El Engendro, Shu El Guerrero andScorpio, Jr., they regained the championship later that year, on December 25 and held them into 1994 where they lost the belts back to Engendro, Shu el Guerrero and Scorpio, Jr.[6] During their run as a team El Texano returned to the UWA and on one occasion Texano defeated Black Power, now unmasked, in aLuchas de Apuestas match, forcing him to have all his hair shaved off.
Black Power was later replaced by Rocky Santana and that version ofLos Misioneros went on to win the UWA Trios Championship from El Engendro, Shu El Guerrero and Scorpio, Jr. on June 6, 1994. Four months later they lost the championship to VIllano V, Shu El Guerrero and Scorpio, Jr. but regained them only a week later.[6]Los Misioneros were the last team to hold the UWA World Trios Championship while the UWA was an active promotion, still the champions when the UWA closed in 1995.[6] After the UWA disbandedLos Misioneros worked a few shows forAAA, UWA's successor of sorts and one of the two biggest wrestling promotions along with CMLL. The appearances included a match atTriplemanía III-A where a version ofLos Misioneros (Navarro, Signo and a masked wrestler called "Misionero", possibly Rocky Santana under a mask) defeated the team ofEl Torero, El Mexicano andDragón de Oro.[10]
After a few matches for AAA Negro Navarro and El Signo split up, going their separate ways on the Independent circuit, only teaming together for special occasions. One such occasion was for theSalvador Lutteroth Memorial Tag Tournament held as part ofConsejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL; formerly known as EMLL)'s 1999Homenaje a Dos Leyendas: El Santo y Salvador Lutteroth show on March 19, 1999. Navarro and El Signo teamed up to represent the "old school" wrestlers of Lutteroth's era and defeatedOlímpico andTony Rivera in the first round of the tournament. In the semi-finals they lost to eventual tournament winnersMr. Niebla andShocker.[11] In the mid-1990s Navarro had a brief stint as the masked characterÚltimo Vampiro, although others used the name and character after him and are more identified with that name. In 2003 Navarro worked a number of matches for AAA, including a match where the originalLos Misioneros were reunited for AAA's 2003Guerra de Titanes show where they defeated El Brazo,Sangre Chicana andPirata Morgan.[12] Navarro and El Signo began teaming with Juan Aguilar Leos, son of El Texano who had adopted the ring name El Texano, Jr. as he began to team with Navarro and El Signo under theLos Misioneros name. With the 2006 death of El Texano theLos Misioneros de la Muerte was not used by Navarro and El Signo. El Signo retired in 2010, making Negro Navarro the only active competitor left of the trio.
| Winner (wager) | Loser (wager) | Location | Event | Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gran Hamada,Kobayashi andEnrique Vera (hair) | Los Misioneros de la Muerte (hair) (El Signo,El Texano andNegro Navarro) | Mexico City | Live event | June 7, 1981 | [2] |
| Los Misioneros de la Muerte (hair) (El Signo,El Texano andNegro Navarro) | Kobayashi,Saito andTakano (hair) | Mexico City | Live event | June 13, 1982 | [2] |
| Los Misioneros de la Muerte (hair) (El Signo,El Texano andNegro Navarro) | El Dandy,Talismán andJerry Estrada (hair) | Mexico City | Live event | September 5, 1986 | [7] |
| Ringo Mendoza,Américo Rocca andTony Salazar (hair) | Los Misioneros de la Muerte (hair) (El Signo,El Texano andNegro Navarro) | Mexico City | EMLL 53rd Anniversary Show | September 19, 1986 | [8][9] |
