Dr. Wagner

Dr. Wagner after winning theMexican National Light Heavyweight Championship in 1973.
Personal information
Born	Manuel González Rivera (1936-04-13)April 13, 1936[2] Zacatecas, Zacatecas,Mexico[2]
Died	September 12, 2004(2004-09-12) (aged 68)[2] Torreón,Coahuila, Mexico[2]
Cause of death	Heart attack
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)	Centella Negra[1] Dr. Wagner[1]
Billed height	1.74 m (5 ft8+1⁄2 in)[1]
Billed weight	94 kg (207 lb)[1]
Trained by	Roy Velasco[2]
Debut	July 16, 1961[2]
Retired	April 27, 1986[2]

Manuel González Rivera (April 13, 1936 – September 12, 2004) was a Mexicanprofessional wrestler, orLuchador best known under thering nameDr. Wagner. González made his professional wrestling debut in 1961 and worked the majority of his career for the Mexicanprofessional wrestling promotionEmpresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre (EMLL). As Dr. Wagner, he worked most of his career as anenmascarado, or masked wrestler, losing his mask toEl Solitario in 1985. Along withÁngel Blanco, González formed one of the premiertag teams of the 1960s and 1970s calledLa Ola Blanca (Spanish for "the White Wave"). One of his sons works as a professional wrestler under the nameDr. Wagner Jr., and another son wrestled asSilver King until his death in 2019. One of his grandsons made his wrestling debut in 2009 under the nameEl Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. or Dr. Wagner III.

Manuel González was born on April 13, 1936, inZacatecas, Zacatecas,Mexico, although later on he would be billed as being born in 1941.^[1] The González family moved toTorreón,Coahuila before Manuel turned one, growing up and identifying with theLagunero area of Torreón. The colorfulluchadors who wrestled on Friday nights captured the young González's attention early on. Coming from a poor background, González only went to school for a few years before dropping out to work instead. When he was old enough he began training at Roy Velasco'sGimnasio Hércules in Torreón, all while working on the side to earn enough money for both his tuition and food for his family.^[2]

After training for several years Velasco finally felt that González was ready and arranged for him to make his wrestling debut on July 16, 1961. Initially he worked under a mask asCentella Negra (Spanish for "Black Lightning Spark") and would team withTorbellino Negro ("Black Tornado"). In their debut match they lost to the team of Pancho Ramírez and Monje Loco.^[2] After wrestling from under a year González came into contact with Elías Simón, who was one of the main wrestling promoters in the North of Mexico at the time. Simón suggested that González needed a new ring identity and suggested "El Hijo del Médico Asesino", a storyline son of recently deceasedMédico Asesino. González liked the idea of a "Doctor" character but wanted to build his own identity and not live off the name of someone else.^[1][2] After giving it some thought González came up with the name "Dr. Wagner", inspired by the German composerRichard Wagner, and his new ring identity was born. He adopted a white mask, white trunks and boots to go with the Doctor character and made his debut as aRudo (bad guy orHeel) defeating Rubén Juárez in the main event.^[2] Dr. Wagner quickly earned the nickname "El Galeno del Mal" ("The Doctor of Evil") for his brutal style of wrestling and his cheating ways.^[1] By 1965 Dr. Wagner was contracted by Mexico's largest promotionEmpresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre (EMLL) and worked regularly in Mexico City. Dr. Wagner's position as a main eventer was established when he defeated Raúl Reyes in aLuchas de Apuesta (bet match), mask vs. hair match on July 17, 1966, forcing Reyes to have his head shaved bald after the match.^[2]

In early 1966 Dr. Wagner would begin teaming withÁngel Blanco under the nameLa Ola Blanca ("The White Wave"), a name born from the fact that both wore white and overpowered their opponents like a tidal wave.^[3] The team quickly became one of the most well coordinated, talented teams as the two masked wrestlers' style complimented each other so well.^[2]La Ola Blanca began headlining cards all over Mexico, drawing full crowds whenever they faced the top local talent. In late 1969 the team won a several weeks long tag team tournament to earn a shot at theMexican National Tag Team Championship held byEl Santo andRayo de Jalisco, a team that was virtually unbeatable up until that point in time.La Ola Blanca defeated Santo and Rayo in three very closely contested falls to take the championship.^[4] Over the next couple of yearsLa Ola Blanca defended their titles against top teams such asMil Máscaras andBlack Shadow andLos Rebeldes (René Guajardo andKarloff Lagarde).^[5] The team were votedBoy y Lucha magazine's "Tag Team of the year" in 1966 and again in 1967.^[1] Early on in their careerLa Ola Blanca became a trio when they addedEl Enfermero ("The Nurse") but the trio did not last long as El Enfermero was too old to keep up with the intensity of Wagner and Ángel Blanco.^[3]La Ola Blanca would become a trio once more when rookieEl Solitario joined the group. El Solitario had both the talent and the charisma to keep up with Wagner and Ángel Blanco. By 1969 the group was the biggestRudó team in all of Mexico, but El Solitario started to gain quite a following among the fans. El Solidario's popularity only skyrocketed when Dr. Wagner and Ángel Blanco turned on him one night during a match and attacked him. The attack on El Solitario started one of the biggest and longest-running storylines in wrestling, spanning three decades.^[2] In 1972 El Solitario defeated Ángel Blanco in aLuchas de Apuesta match, unmasking him in the process.^[3] The feud betweenLa Ola Blanca did not slow down due to the unmasking and drew full houses all over Mexico asLa Ola faced El Solitario and various partners such as El Santo or Rayo de Jalisco. On March 16, 1973, Dr. Wagner defeated Enrique Vera to win theMexican National Light Heavyweight Championship.^[6] Dr. Wagner held the Mexican National title until September 22, 1974, where he won theNWA World Light Heavyweight Championship, forcing him to vacate the national title.^[6][7]La Ola Blanca travelled to the United States, working in theNWA Los Angeles where they held theNWA Americas Tag Team Championship for a day.^[8] Dr. Wagner would also tour Middle America, teaming with El Enfermero to win the Latin American Tag Team Championship while on tour.^[2] On May 1, 1975, Dr. Wagner teamed with El Halcón to defeat Los Gemelos Diablo in aLuchas de Apuesta match, unmasking the twins per Lucha Libre traditions.^[9] On February 27, 1976, Dr. wagner lost the NWA Light Heavyweight Championship toAdorable Rubí as he and Ángel Blanco were leaving EMLL to work for theUniversal Wrestling Association (UWA).^[7] Not long after Dr. wagner defeatedAlfonso Dantés for the Mexican National Light Heavyweight Championship, a title he took with him to the UWA where he defended it for two years. In 1977 Dr. wagner successfully defended the title against UWA's fastest rising star,El Canek but a year later, on January 15, 1978, El Canek finally won the title.^[5][6]

By the late 1970sLa Ola Blanca had split up and Dr. Wagner began feuding with the nowtecnico Ángel Blanco, even taking it so far as to defeating Ángel Blanco in anApuesta match on January 1, 1979, leaving his former team mate bald.^[9] Dr. Wagner would briefly hold the Mexican National Light Heavyweight title for a third time in 1973, holding it for 19 days, winning it fromAstro Rey and losing it to Enrique Vera.^[6] On March 16, 1980, Dr. Wagner teamed withEl Texano to face Robot C-3 and Astro Rey in the finals of a "Losers advance" tournament, forcing Robot C-3 to unmask and the already unmasked Astro Rey to have his hair shaved off.^[9] In the early 1980s Dr. Wagner was beginning to show his age, working as atecnico would still be able to produce good matches teaming with El Solitario orAníbal against Ángel Blanco. When he turned on El Solitario and Aníbal he got one last run as a main event wrestler as a reunitedOla Blanca faced Solitario and Aníbal. On December 1, 1985, Dr. Wagner and El Solitario finally met in a one on oneLuchas de Apuesta in the main event of a show that sold out the 15,000-seatPlaza de Toros Monumental inMonterrey, which was the largest and most profitable show in Monterrey up until that point. In the end El Solitario defeated Dr. Wagner, two falls to one and claimed the white mask as the biggestApuesta win of El Solitario's career.^[2][9] Following his unmasking Dr. Wagner focused on introducing his son, wrestling asDr. Wagner Jr., to the professional ranks.

On April 27, 1986, González was scheduled to team with his son for the first time, facing off against the team of Ángel Blanco and Ángel Blanco Jr. While driving to Monterrey fromNuevo Laredo the car, carrying González, Ángel Blanco,El Solar,Mano Negra and Jungla Negra crashed when one of the tires exploded. Ángel Blanco, the driver of the car, was killed on impact, while González suffered severe spinal damage and was rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery. The remaining three wrestlers, all passengers in the back seat, only suffered minor injuries from the crash. González had to have steel wires inserted into his spinal column in order to stabilize him, but the injury left him requiring the use of a wheelchair. The doctors told him he would never walk again, but he would later learn to walk with the use of a cane.^[2] Following his forced retirement González kept a keen interest in wrestling, overseeing the careers of his sons Dr. Wagner Jr. andCésar, who wrestled under the name Silver King. He would also work as a cab driver as well as owning a gym and several pieces of real estate. In early 2004 González had to undergo back surgery to have the wires in his spinal column replaced, improving the mobility in his legs. On September 12, 2004, González suffered aheart attack and died; his death was a surprise to friends and family, as he had generally been in good health.^[2]

Manuel González married Magdalena Barrón and together they had three sons, Oscar, César (Silver King) and Juan Manuel (Dr. Wagner Jr.) as well as a daughter Mayra.^[2] Two of González' many grandchildren have become professional wrestlers,El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr., the son of Dr. Wagner Jr. and the son of César González who will earn the nameSilver King Jr. once he completes his college degree.^[10]

• Box y Lucha Magazine
  • Tag Team of the year: 1966, 1967^[1]
• Empresa Mexicana de la Lucha Libre
  • EMLL Arena México Tag Team Championship (1 time) – withÁngel Blanco^[11]
  • Mexican National Light Heavyweight Championship (3 times)^[6]
  • Mexican National Tag Team Championship (1 time) – withÁngel Blanco^[4]
  • NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship (1 time)^[7]
  • Occidente Light Heavyweight Championship (1 time)^[12]
  • Occidente Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Angel Blanco
• NWA Los Angeles
  • NWA Americas Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Ángel Blanco^[8]
• Wrestling Observer Newsletter
  • Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 2013)^[13][14]
• Other titles
  • Latin American Tag Team Championship (1 time) – withEl Enfermero^[2]

• 1936 births
• 2004 deaths
• 20th-century male professional wrestlers
• 20th-century Mexican professional wrestlers
• González-Barrón family
• Mexican male professional wrestlers
• Professional wrestlers from Zacatecas
• People from Zacatecas City
• Mexican National Tag Team Champions
• NWA World Light Heavyweight Champions
• NWA Americas Tag Team Champions
• Mexican National Light Heavyweight Champions

• CS1 Spanish-language sources (es)
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata