 Santana in 2011 | |||||||
| Personal information | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | Merced Solís (1953-05-10)May 10, 1953 (age 72) | ||||||
Spouse | |||||||
| Children | 3 | ||||||
| Professional wrestling career | |||||||
| Ring names | |||||||
| Billed height | 6 ft 2 in (188 cm)[3] | ||||||
| Billed weight | 234 lb (106 kg)[3] | ||||||
| Billed from | "Tocula,Mexico"[2] | ||||||
| Trained by | |||||||
| Debut | 1977 | ||||||
| Retired | 2022 | ||||||
| Football career | |||||||
| No. 72 | |||||||
| Position | Tight end | ||||||
| Career information | |||||||
| College | West Texas A&M | ||||||
| Career history | |||||||
| 1975* | Kansas City Chiefs | ||||||
| 1976 | BC Lions | ||||||
| Career statistics | |||||||
| |||||||
Merced Solis (born May 10, 1953), better known by thering nameTito Santana, is an Americanprofessional wrestler,trainer, and retired school teacher.[2][4]
Solis has stayed ababyface character his entire career[5][6] and is best known for his appearances with theWorld Wrestling Federation between 1979 and 1993 (missing part of 1980 and returning in 1983)[7] where he was a two-timeWWF Intercontinental Heavyweight Champion and a two-timeWWF Tag Team Champion withIvan Putski in his first individual reign, and most notablywithRick Martel in his second individual reign. He also won the1989King of the Ring tournament and wrestled and won the firstWrestleMania match againstThe Executioner and competed in the first nine, as well as helping bridge the gap between the 1980s "Rock 'n Wrestling Connection" era to the 1990s "New Generation" era.
Solis was inducted into theWWE Hall of Fameclass of 2004 and the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame class of 2013. During his time in the WWF, Solis, despite being born and raised inMission,Texas, was billed from "Tocula, Mexico", which may be a misspelled reference to the city ofToluca. To this day, he still appears on theindependent circuit and also worked as a schoolteacher until June 2023, when he retired from teaching.[8][9]
Solis attendedWest Texas State University, where he was a member of theLambda Chi Alpha fraternity. Solis played tight end for theWest Texas State Buffaloes. The team was quarterbacked by future professional wrestlerTully Blanchard, who would introduce Solis to the world of professional wrestling. After graduating, Solis was signed by theKansas City Chiefs but cut during training camp, due to a poor performance in the 40-yard dash because of a twisted Achilles tendon two weeks before camp. He played a single season for theBC Lions of theCanadian Football League, appearing in 13 regular season games.[10]
After training underHiro Matsuda andBob Orton, Solis made his professional wrestling debut on February 23, 1977, forChampionship Wrestling from Florida, losing to Crusher Verdu. In April, he joinedGeorgia Championship Wrestling (GCW) where he adopted the name "Richard Blood". In January 1978, he moved ontoMid Atlantic Championship Wrestling where he wrestled for a calendar year, he also toured withAll Japan Pro Wrestling in October and early November. Reverting to his real name, Solis joinedWestern States Sports in 1979, winning theNWA Western States Tag Team Championship withTed DiBiase.
Santana joined theWorld Wrestling Federation defeating Mike Hall in his debut match on Championship Wrestling on April 17, 1979. He teamed withIvan Putski to defeatJohnny Valiant andJerry Valiant for theWWF World Tag Team Championships atMadison Square Garden in October 1979. The duo held the titles for close to six months before losing to theWild Samoans in April 1980. Santana left theWWF soon after, joiningNew Japan Pro-Wrestling for a two-month tour.
Santana wrestled in theAmerican Wrestling Association (AWA) from 1980 to 1982. Matches he had in the AWA include two matches he had againstNick Bockwinkel inSt Paul, Minnesota, on March 1, 1981, and inWinnipeg, Manitoba, on May 13, 1982 (Bockwinkel won both matches by cheating). Santana teamed with future tag team partner Rick Martel against the High Flyers on August 29, 1982, in St Paul. Santana and Martel lost the match.[11]
Santana returned to GCW in July 1982. He teamed withTerry Gordy to unsuccessfully challengeThe Samoans (Afa andSika) for theNWA National Tag Team Championship on two occasions. On April 2, 1983, Santana also foughtLarry Zbyszko for theNWA National Heavyweight Championship in a losing effort.
Santana returned to the WWF in 1983, making his televised return on the May 14 episode ofChampionship Wrestling by defeatingJosé Estrada. Being brought in for TV tapings only, Santana continued to wrestle for GCW until July when he signed for the WWF full time. In 1984, Santana foughtthe Iron Sheik to a double-disqualification for theWWF World Heavyweight Championship at thePhiladelphia Spectrum. He then engaged in a lengthyfeud withWWF Intercontinental champion,the Magnificent Muraco. Santana finally won the title on February 11, 1984, becoming the first Mexican-American wrestler to win the Intercontinental championship. After successfully defending the title against Muraco, Santana was targeted byGreg "The Hammer" Valentine, and in September 1984 inLondon, Ontario, Canada, Valentine defeated Santana to win the title. Soon after, Valentinekayfabe injured Santana's knee and put Santana out of action for several months. Santana returned in December 1984 and set his sights on getting the Intercontinental title back from Valentine. During this time, he started using Valentine's finishing hold, thefigure-four leglock and also wrestled in tag-team competition withBlackjack Mulligan. Santana wrestled at the firstWrestleMania, atMadison Square Garden, in March 1985, and in the opening match defeated a masked wrestler known asThe Executioner ("Playboy" Buddy Rose), making him submit to the figure four in 4:05. Santana made an appearance in the ring later in the card during the Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship match between Valentine and Santana's friend theJunkyard Dog. Wearing street clothes, Santana rushed to the ring to inform referee Dick Kroll that Valentine had used his feet on the ropes to help pin JYD. Despite having already called for the bell, Kroll restarted the match and an incensed Valentine was counted out as he did not get back into the ring to continue.
OnRight After Wrestling, hosted byArda Ocal andJimmy Korderas, Santana stated that he was somewhat disappointed with being in the first match at the originalWrestleMania in 1985.[12] He also said thatVince McMahon later told Santana that his reason for putting him in the opening match was to kick the show off with a quality match, something he knew Santana, as a solid fan-favorite and former Intercontinental champion, would produce. Santana and Valentine went on to wrestle a memorable series of singles and tag team matches with neither gaining the upper hand. They wrestled in a variety of different types of matches such as regular title matches,no disqualification matches, andlumberjack matches. The pair also faced off in tag team competition with Santana teaming with The Junkyard Dog and Valentine teaming withBrutus Beefcake in a team that would become known asthe Dream Team. Santana recaptured the Intercontinental championship from Valentine in a brutal steel cage match in Baltimore on July 6, 1985. After the match, Valentine, incensed over losing the belt, destroyed it by repeatedly bashing it against the steel cage, forcing the WWF to get a new Intercontinental title belt. In reality, however, the WWF had already made a new Intercontinental belt to go along with the new image they were trying to promote; smashing the old belt was seen as a way of moving forward with Santana having the honor of being the first to wear the new title belt. Santana would hold on to the title until February 8, 1986, when he lost it to"Macho Man" Randy Savage at theBoston Garden, after Savage knocked him out with aforeign object he had hidden in his tights that (supposedly) went unnoticed by refereeDanny Davis.
Although Santana lost the Intercontinental title before the WWF's storyline that Davis was a corrupt official who favored the heels, the WWF used Santana losing the belt because of Davis' bias to include him in a six-man tag team match atWrestleMania III on March 29, 1987. Santana teamed withThe British Bulldogs (Dynamite Kid andDavey Boy Smith) against theWWF tag team championsThe Hart Foundation (Bret "Hitman" Hart andJim "the Anvil" Neidhart) and their new partner, referee-turned-wrestler Davis, who was now known as "Dangerous" Danny Davis. Davis had also been the assigned referee when the Harts won the WWF Tag Team Championship from the Bulldogs in January 1987, allowing the Harts to double team Davey Boy throughout the entire match after their manager"the Mouth of the South" Jimmy Hart had knocked Dynamite out with his megaphone. The story for WrestleMania III was that the Bulldogs and Santana wanted revenge on Davis for him being responsible for them losing their respective titles. The Harts and Davis won the match when Davis used Jimmy Hart's megaphone to 'knock out' and pin Smith. Santana made a second appearance during Wrestlemania III when he came to the ring and attacked managerSlick after his man"the Natural" Butch Reed had defeatedKoko B. Ware. Santana, in response to previous attacks by Slick, tore the clothing from Slick who managed to scamper back to the locker room with his suit in tatters. Following this, Reed entered the ring to fight off Santana but was sent from the ring by adouble dropkick from Santana and Ware.
Tom Zenk abruptly left the company in July 1987, thus ending hisCan-Am Connection partnership withRick Martel. In response, Vince McMahon decided to pair Santana with Martel, forming the popular tag teamStrike Force in August 1987.[13] After feuding with theIslanders for a couple months, they defeated The Hart Foundation for the WWF Tag Team championship on October 27 when Martel madeJim Neidhart submit to aBoston crab. Strike Force held the titles for five months before losing toDemolition atWrestlemania IV. Due to a neck injury inflicted on Martel (kayfabe) shortly after the loss, the team was inactive for several months (in reality, Martel was granted leave to tend to his wife who was seriously ill).[14][15] Immediately after the injury, Santana introduced a new tag team to the WWF,The Powers of Pain (The Barbarian andThe Warlord), two big, muscular, face-painted wrestlers whom he briefly managed. The Powers of Pain were introduced as mercenaries to help Martel and Santana gain revenge on Demolition for both the title loss and the injury to Martel. The Powers of Pain would later find more permanent management withThe Baron before finally turning heel at the1988 Survivor Series by stealing away Demolition's managerMr. Fuji, leaving champion Demolition asbabyfaces.
Martel returned at theRoyal Rumble in1989 and reunited with Santana. However, in theirWrestleMania V match againstThe Brain Busters (Tully Blanchard andArn Anderson), Martelturned on Santana during the match after accidentally being hit by Santana'sFlying forearm smash. Martel refused to tag in and walked back to the dressing room, leaving Santana to face both opponents alone (the Busters then easily defeated Tito with aSpike piledriver). In an interview with"Mean" Gene Okerlund immediately following the match, Martel called Santana a loser and said he was sick and tired of carrying him. His feud with the newlyheel Martel would last throughout 1989, with both men on opposing teams at bothSummerSlam andSurvivor Series. Although Martel fared better during the feud, Santana did defeat Martel in the finals of the1989King of the Ring tournament. Santana even allied with his former archenemies Demolition against Martel, defeating him andThe Fabulous Rougeaus in a six-man tag match on June 22, 1989, inHartford,Connecticut.[16]
AfterThe Ultimate Warrior won theWWF World Heavyweight Championship fromHulk Hogan atWrestleMania VI and vacated the Intercontinental championship, Santana took part in an eight-man tournament to determine a new Intercontinental champion. Santana made it to the finals, where he lost toMr. Perfect. Following that loss, Santana occasionally teamed with Koko B. Ware. At the1990 Survivor Series, he teamed withNikolai Volkoff andThe Bushwhackers (Luke andButch). He was the winner and sole survivor in the elimination-style match againstSgt. Slaughter,Boris Zhukov, andThe Orient Express (Sato andTanaka). As a result, Santana advanced to the final elimination match, teaming with Hulk Hogan and The Ultimate Warrior against Martel,"The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase, The Warlord, andPower and Glory (Hercules andPaul Roma). Santana would eliminate The Warlord with his flying forearm before eventually being pinned by DiBiase. Santana would then wrestle atWrestleMania VII, losing toThe Mountie in a little over a minute after being hit in the stomach by The Mountie's electrifiedcattle prod.
After a brief hiatus, Santana returned in late 1991 with a new gimmick, a Spanishbullfightergimmick nicknamed "El Matador." He put together a string of victories, including a rare pinfall victory overThe Undertaker in Barcelona on October 5. His first WrestleMania match under this gimmick was a loss toShawn Michaels in the opening bout ofWrestleMania VIII at theHoosier Dome inIndianapolis. Santana wrestled under the "El Matador" gimmick through 1993, mainly defeatingjobbers, while losing the majority of his matches against higher-level talent. This included adark match loss toPapa Shango atSummerSlam which was held at theWembley Stadium inLondon,England. Santana defeated friend and frequent tag team partnerVirgil on a 1993 episode ofWrestling Challenge. As a sign of mutual respect between the two, both men embraced after the match. He stopped appearing on WWF programming in North America, but he continued working on the WWF Summer tour inEurope and the international house show circuit through the course of August–September. Santana, along with only Hulk Hogan, holds the unique distinction of appearing in the first nine WrestleManias, accumulating a 2–7 record during that time. Officially he is recognized only for the first eight WrestleMania matches. In his final in-ring WrestleMania appearance, he defeated Papa Shango atWrestleMania IX in the untelevised ("dark") opening match. Because of this he is officially recognized as having a 1–7 record. Santana continued to wrestle through the first half of 1993 followingWrestleMania IX, facingRazor Ramon,Adam Bomb, and Papa Shango. His final match with the company was on August 13, 1993, inWildwood, New Jersey, where he defeatedDamien Demento.[17]
During his hiatus from the WWF in 1991, Santana had a brief run inInternational World Class Championship Wrestling (IWCCW), where he feuded withTony Atlas. On an IWCCW card inBrooklyn, New York, Atlas defeatedDusty Wolfe. After the bout, he openly challenged any of his fellow wrestlers to try to beat him. Santana immediately responded, charging out and dropkicking Atlas out of the ring. Following the event, Santana and Atlas scheduled a match for June 15 inNassau inThe Bahamas for the IWCCW title, where Santana sought to avenge his former tag team partner"Polish Power" Ivan Putski, whom Atlas had hung over the ropes previously. Santana had the upper hand in the bout until Atlas' managerTony Rumble interfered by distracting and enraging Santana by repeatedly putting Atlas' foot on the rope. Santana then went after Rumble, pulled him onto the ring apron, and knocked him onto the floor. Atlas took the opportunity to blindside Santana with a pair of brass knuckles from behind. The referee saw this illegal attack, and disqualified Atlas.[18]
After leaving ECW in 1993, Santana returned to IWCCW in 1994 where he wrestled some of his old WWF rivals such asHercules Hernandez,Rick Martel, andGreg Valentine. During his second stint, he won the vacantIWCCW Heavyweight Championship with a tournament victory over Greg Valentine, who claimed the title less than a month later in a rematch. In IWCCW Santana resumed his feuds from the WWF with Rick Martel and Greg Valentine, and again wrestled Tony Atlas, who defeated him in a match inYardville, New Jersey.[19] Santana also feuded withManny Fernandez, after Fernandez attacked Santana following Santana's victory over L.A. Gore.[20]
Santana played a role in the formative years ofECW. Then known as Eastern Championship Wrestling, he won theECW Heavyweight Championship on August 8, 1993, by defeating former WWF rival Don Muraco, but forfeited the championship later that year toShane Douglas.
During 1994 and 1996 Santana wrestled in the short-livedAmerican Wrestling Federation (AWF). He was both the first and last AWF Heavyweight Champion, defeatingBob Orton, Jr. in a tournament final for the inaugural belt in November 1994, and losing and regaining the title from Orton on the same night in October 1996. Santana was generally considered the topbabyface of the company, with Orton as its topheel).
Santana returned to the WWF as a commentator for the Spanish announce table. He calledMonday Night Raw, as well as PPV events, with his final Spanish commentary role atWrestleMania XIV. In November 1997, he made on-air appearances as El Matador in the Karate Fighters Holiday Tournament, facingCarlos Cabrera andJerry Lawler.
On July 19, 1997, Santana lost by disqualification to "Playboy" Jonathon Luvstruk in the finals of the United States title tournament at RCW's Battleground event. On August 8, 2009, Santana defeated Jerome Hendrix at RCW's Rumblemania 6 event. On May 6, 2012, Santana defeated Tokyo Dragon in tournament final to become RCW champion at RCW's Rumblemania 8 event. On May 10, 2013, Santana and Tokyo Dragon defeated Mad Russian, Jack Molson, and Rich Rogers in a title vs. hair match. Santana cut Rogers's hair at RCW's Megabrawl 6 event.
On January 10, 2000, Santana made a one-time appearance in WCW. He defeatedJeff Jarrett in a Dungeon match onNitro.
Since 1996, Santana continues to make appearances on theindependent circuit. On December 7, 1996, he defeated former WWF rivalBob Orton Jr. to win the USA Pro Heavyweight title. He would hold the title until March 11, 1999, when he left the promotion. On March 13, 2004, he was inducted to theWWE Hall of Fameclass of 2004, with an induction speech by his WrestleMania VIII opponent Shawn Michaels. In September 2008, he was inducted into the Spanish Hall of Fame of Pro Wrestling (Salón del Catch). He defeated his former rivalGreg Valentine for the IWA Heavyweight Championship atWrestleReunion 2 on August 27, 2005. A few weeks later he dropped the title back to Valentine.
On the November 15, 2010 "Old School" episode ofRaw, he ring-announcedAlberto Del Rio. On April 14, 2012, he made an appearance wrestling a match for Pro Wrestling Superstars againstShawn Spears defeating him with an inside cradle. In July 2012, Santana wrestled in Winnipeg MB forCanadian Westling Elite againstMatt Fairlane, but was disqualified due to outside interference. He also embarked on a three-day tour of Saskatchewan, Canada withHigh Impact Wrestling Canada. He wrestled and defeated Jumpin' Joe by pinfall in Yorkton, SK on July 16, lost by disqualification to Rex Roberts at Pile O' Bones Rumble XVII on July 17, and then on July 18 defeated King Kash by pinfall.
On September 14, 2012, Santana made an unadvertised appearance forChikara, when he entered the2012 King of Trios tournament, teaming with Mihara andThe Mysterious and Handsome Stranger, with the three losing to the Spectral Envoy (Frightmare,Hallowicked andUltraMantis Black) in their first round match.[21][22] On December 4, 2012, theProfessional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum announced Santana would be inducted into their Modern Category. The PWHF Induction took place on May 18, 2013. On April 19, 2014, Santana competed in a match with "The German Menace" Kraig Stagg on ECPW's iPPV "Super Showcase Saturday". On November 25, 2022, Santana defeated This Guy (Johnny Della Rocka) for BCW 49 in East Burwood, Victoria, Australia.
Santana was an invited guest to the premiere of WWE's revival ofSaturday Night's Main Event on December 14, 2024, and was shown in the crowd.
While attendingWest Texas A&M University, Solis was a member ofLambda Chi Alpha fraternity.[23] He currently lives inNew Jersey with his wife Leah. They have three sons: Matthew, Michael and Mark. Leah operated a hair salon inSuccasunna-Kenvil, New Jersey until January 2022.[24] When not competing in a wrestling match, Solis works as a trainer at the New Jersey–based promotionIndependent Wrestling Federation (IWF).[25] He used to be aphysical education teacher at Smalley Elementary School inBound Brook, New Jersey,[26] and taughtSpanish at Eisenhower Middle School inRoxbury, New Jersey.[24][27] His autobiography,Tito Santana's Tales From the Ring, was released in 2008. His independently released biography,Don't Call Me Chico, was released in 2019.[28] Solis announced his retirement from teaching in June 2023, with his last day on June 15 that year.[29]
WWF @ Hartford, CT - Civic Center - June 22, 1989 WWF Tag Team Champions Demolition (sub. for Shawn Michaels & Marty Jannetty) & Tito Santana defeated Rick Martel, Jacques, & Raymond Rougeau
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