 Fernandez,c. 1985 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | Emanuel Fernandez (1954-07-27)July 27, 1954 (age 71) El Paso, Texas, U.S.[1] |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Manny Fernandez[1] Manuel Fernandez[1] Taurus[1] |
| Billed height | 6 ft 0 in (183 cm)[1] |
| Billed weight | 275 lb (125 kg)[1] |
| Trained by | Terry Funk |
| Debut | 1977 |
Emanuel Fernandez (born July 27, 1954) is an Americanprofessional wrestler, better known by hisring name,"The Raging Bull" Manny Fernandez.
Fernandez playedAmerican football forWest Texas A&M University.[2]
Fernandez had success in 1979, becoming Florida Heavyweight Champion after a feud withTerry Funk. He also formed a tag team withDusty Rhodes, and they won theNWA World tag team title fromIvan Koloff andDon Kernodle. They feuded with them and Ivan's "nephew"Nikita Koloff until losing the title to the Koloffs in early 1985.
Fernandez soon became involved in a feud withArn Anderson after being attacked by Anderson and laid out. He teamed withThunderbolt Patterson to feud with Arn andOle Anderson.
In late 1985, he started helpingJimmy Valiant in his war againstPaul Jones and his "Army". He formed a team with Valiant called the "B and B Connection" ("Boogie Woogie" and "Bull"). He had some matches againstAbdullah the Butcher andThe Barbarian. He also formed a tag team withHector Guerrero in 1986 called The Latin Connection. In the summer of 1986, Fernandez accepted Jones' money and turned on Valiant starting a feud between the two. Later in the year, Jones also brought inRick Rude. Pairing Fernandez and Rude together, the duo defeatedThe Rock 'n' Roll Express for the NWA World tag team title. They feuded with the Express and kept the titles until June 1987 when Rude left the promotion, which was resolved with a "phantom title change". Fernandez & Chavo Guerrero came to CWA in Memphis in 1987.Fernandez teamed with Ivan Koloff for the rest of the summer and left for the Mid-Southern promotion in late 1987. Later on worked forNew Japan Pro-Wrestling from 1987 to 1989. He was soon in theAmerican Wrestling Association (AWA) feuding withWahoo McDaniel after he attacked Wahoo and destroyed his headdress. The two veterans, who had feuded briefly in the NWA, engaged in an "Indian Strap match" at the AWApay-per-view Super Clash III. After that feud ended in late 1988, Fernandez headed toPuerto Rico'sWorld Wrestling Council (WWC) where he stayed through 1991 and then he headed to the independent circuit. Fernandez sparked controversy in the WWC in 1989 when he wrestled Invader #3 (Johnny Rivera). During the match, Fernandez landed a knee drop off the top rope to Invader #3's midsection; the impact apparently ruptured Invader #3's stomach cavity, causing him to vomit blood all over the ring while Fernandez landed two more knee drops. There have been debates on whether Invader #3's injury was awork, with some theorizing that the incident came about due to real life bad blood between Fernandez andJose Gonzalez, the booker of WWC who was acquitted of murderingBruiser Brody earlier that year. Others say the blood was a combination of pig's blood and vodka.[3] In an interview withBill Apter, Fernandez claimed that it was not a work and deliberately injured Johnny Rivera as a way to avenge the death of Bruiser Brody, though his match with Rivera took place nearly 2 months prior to Brody's death in July of the same year.
From 1993 to 1994 he worked forInternational World Class Championship Wrestling. Manny won theAPW Universal Heavyweight Championship defeating Robert Thompson on March 8, 1997. He would vacate the title when he left APW on June 8. He would feud withRick Link in 1998. He defeated Link for NDW Heavyweight Championship on December 2, 1998, until dropping the title back to Link ten days later. He lost toJimmy Snuka at NDW in Charleston, West Virginia on August 14, 1999.
He defeatedNikolai Volkoff at NWA New Jersey on May 20, 2000.
On December 5, 2002, he lost to Mexican legendMil Mascaras at LWE Explosion in Fort Worth, Texas.
On February 25, 2011, he teamed up withGeorge South to compete in The Anderson Brothers Classic 5 Tournament where they George South Jr. and Louis Moore; Deon Johnson and Black Angel; and lost in the finals toThe Rock 'n' Roll Express.
Then he teamed withJimmy Valiant to defeat George South andThe Masked Superstar at WrestleCade 2012 on November 11, 2012. On November 30, 2013, he wrestled at WrestleCade 2013 teaming with George South in a Tag Team battle royal won byCaprice Coleman andCedric Alexander. Afterwards he retired from wrestling.
In 2017 he came out of retirement, where he continues to wrestle in the indies. Since 2018 he's been working withIWA Mid-South. He lost toMichael Elgin on February 15, 2018.
He defeatedPablo Marquez in a bull rope match at UXW on February 23, 2019, in Orlando, Florida. Then on May 30, 2019, he lost toKongo Kong at IWA Mid-South.
On March 12, 2021, Fernandez launched a self-biographical podcast entitled "No BS With the Bull".
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