| Angel Garza | |
|---|---|
 Angel in 2017 | |
| Birth name | Humberto Garza Solano |
| Born | (1992-09-23)September 23, 1992 (age 32) Monterrey,Nuevo León,Mexico[1] |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 |
| Relatives | Héctor Garza (uncle) Humberto Carrillo (cousin) |
| Family | Garza |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Angel Angel Garza[2] El Hijo del Ninja[1] Humberto Garza Garza Jr. |
| Billed height | 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)[2] |
| Billed weight | 205 lb (93 kg)[2][1] |
| Billed from | Monterrey, Mexico[2] |
| Trained by | Mario Segura[1] El Hijo del Gladiador[1] |
| Debut | November 4, 2008[1] |
Humberto Garza Solano (born September 23, 1992) is a Mexicanprofessional wrestler. He is signed toWWE, where he performs on theSmackDownbrand under thering nameAngel (shortened from his previous ring nameAngel Garza).[2] He is one-half of Los Garza with his cousinBerto and is a member ofLegado Del Fantasma.
He is a third-generation wrestler, the grandson ofluchador Mario Segura, known as El Ninja. From his debut in 2008 until 2015, Garza worked under the nameEl Hijo del Ninja ("The Son of the Ninja"). He is the nephew ofHéctor Garza and Humberto Garza Jr. and the grand-nephew of Humberto Segura Garza. He is the cousin of fellow WWE wrestler Humberto Carrillo, who was his tag team partner in Mexico and currently is in WWE. Garza originally worked as anenmascarado, ormasked wrestler, but voluntarily unmasked in 2012 in the series finale of a dating reality show and has worked unmasked ever since.
AsGarza Jr., he previously worked forImpact Wrestling in the United States, forLucha Libre AAA Worldwide, and on the Mexicanindependent circuit for a number of promotions includingThe Crash Lucha Libre. Garza Jr., along withPenta el 0M,Rey Fénix andDaga formedLa Rebelión on the independent circuit after leaving Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide. He signed with WWE in 2019 and was assigned to theNXT brand wrestling asAngel Garza where he was a one-timeNXT Cruiserweight Champion and a one-timeWWE 24/7 Champion.
Humberto Garza Solano was born on September 23, 1992, in Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico. He is the grandson of professional wrestler Mike Segura, also known as "El Ninja".[3] Garza was named after his great-uncle, professional wrestler Humberto Garza (real name Humberto Segura Garza). He is the nephew of professional wrestlers Humberto Garza Jr.,Héctor Garza,[4] and El Ninja Jr.[3][5] Two of his cousins are also professional wrestlers,Humberto Carrillo (son of Humberto Garza Jr.) and El Sultán (son of Héctor Garza).[1]
Garza was trained by his grandfather Mario Segura as well asEl Hijo del Gladiador prior to hislucha libre debut on November 8, 2008, using thering name El Hijo del Ninja ("The Son of the Ninja"), anenmascarado, ormasked wrestling character.[1] Initially he worked for Federacion Internacional de Lucha Libre (FILL) as they promoted shows in his native Monterrey, Nuevo León. On August 25, 2009, El Hijo del Ninja won the 2009Copa Arena Coliseo Monterrey defeating Pee-Wee, Kaientai, Angel Dorada Jr. and Hombre Sin Miedo in succession to win the cup.[6] He followed up his tournament victory by winning the FILL Light Heavyweight Championship that same year.[6] He would win his firstLucha de Apuestas, or "bet match", on September 30, 2009, when he defeated Black Morse, forcing him to unmask as a result of the stipulation.[6] ALucha de Apuestas win is generally considered a bigger achievement than a championship victory and is an indicator of a promotional "push".[7] He would close out the year in anotherLucha de Apuestas match, this time aRelevos Suicida where he teamed up with Silver Star to face the team of Memo Valles and Coco Viper. Since both El Hijo del Ninja and Memo Valles were pinned in the match the two were forced to wrestle each other risking El Hijo del Ninja's mask and Memo Valles hair. With the victory El Hijo del Ninja forced Memo Valles to have all his hair shaved off.[6] In 2010 he won anotherLucha de Apuestas, forcing Estrella Dorada Jr. to have all his hair shaved off.[8] In 2011 El Hijo del Ninja won the FILLRey del Aire ("King of the Air") tournament.[9]
By the late fall of 2011 a new promotion began holding shows in Monterrey,Llaves y Candados (LyC), taking over running shows in Arena Coliseo Monterrey.[9] On September 18 of that year El Hijo del Ninja won the LyC Championship.[9] He would later give up the championship as the promotion abandoned it.[10] In 2012 El Hijo del Ninja participated in a Mexican datingreality TV show calledMitad y Mitad: Lucha por el Amor ("Half and Half: Fight for Love"), where he voluntarily unmasked in the show finale, taking the El Hijo del Ninja mask off on national television to publicly show his face for the first time during his professional wrestling career.[5] From that point on he would wrestle without a mask. The TV show appearance led to a feud with local celebrity/wrestlerKonan Big, a storyline feud that led to aLucha de Apuestas match between the two. It was originally scheduled to be a one-on-one match where El Hijo del Ninja "bet" his hair while Konan Big "bet" his wife on the outcome of the match. During the lead up to the match itself both Silencio and Konan Big's show, El Hijo de Konan Big got involved, turning it into a four-waysteel cage match. Silencio was the first wrestler to leave the cage, followed by Konan Big. In the end El Hijo del Ninja managed to escape the cage, forcing El Hijo de Konan Big to have all his hair shaved off.[11]
In 2014 some Mexican wrestling media sources reported thatTotal Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) was interested in signing El Hijo del Ninja to a contract, but nothing substantial came of the rumors at the time.[12] In 2015 El Hijo del Ninja and his cousin Último Ninja won the LyC Tag Team championship, only to lose them to the team oflucha libre legendsDr. Wagner Jr. andSilver King, as part of an ongoing storyline feud between the Garza family andLa Dinastia Wagner. The storyline led to a six-man steel cage match where El Hijo del Ninja, El Ninja Jr. and Último Ninja took on Dr. Wagner Jr.El Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr. and Silver King Jr., with the last man in the cage being forced to unmask. In the end El Hijo del Ninja was the last man to escape the cage, while Silver King Jr. was left in the ring and thus had to unmask as a result.[13] During the spring of 2016 Garza Jr. was invited to theWWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida as part ofWWE's research for their upcomingCruiserweight Classic, but ended up not participating in the tournament.[14] On August 13, 2016, the Garza cousins defeated Tony Casanova and Zarco to win The Crash Tag Team Championship on a show inTijuana, Baja California.[15]
Garza began working forLucha Libre AAA Worldwide (AAA), one of Mexico's largest wrestling promotions, in 2015 where was introduced under the ring name "Garza Jr.", abandoning the "El Hijo del Ninja" moniker from that point on. His first AAA match was atHéroes Inmortales IX held on October 4, 2015. He was introduced as "Garza Jr." for the first time, adopting both the ring gear and mannerisms resembling his uncle Héctor. Garza Jr. teamed up withPsycho Clown andRey Mysterio Jr. to defeat the trio ofMyzteziz,El Texano Jr. andEl Hijo del Fantasma in the semi-main event of the show.[16] Garza Jr. teamed up withLa Parka andElectroshock to compete for the vacantAAA World Trios Championship at the 2016Guerra de Titanes show. The match also was a three-way match that included the trio ofEl Hijo de Pirata Morgan,Hijo del Fantasma andTaurus and the winning trio ofDark Cuervo,Dark Scoria andEl Zorro.[17] Garza Jr. failed to qualify for the finals of the 2016Rey de Reyes tournament as he was eliminated byBlue Demon Jr. In April 2016 Garza Jr. was defeated byEl Texano Jr. and thus was not able to qualify for the 2016Lucha Libre World Cup.[18] Garza Jr. was teamed up withEl Hijo del Fantasma for a four-wayAAA World Tag Team Championship match atTriplemanía XXIV against championsLos Güeros del Cielo (Angélico andJack Evans),Drago andAero Star,Paul London andMatt Cross. In the end Drago and Aero Star won the match and the championship.[19] After several mid-card matches Garza Jr. competed in the main event ofHéroes Inmortales X, just over a year after his AAA debut. Garza Jr. unsuccessfully challengedJohnny Mundo for theAAA Latin American Championship in a match that was originally scheduled to be lower on the card but was moved to the main event on the night of the show.[20] Three months later Garza Jr. was involved in another featured match, this time at the 2017Guerra de Titanes show, where he fought, and lost to El Hijo del Fantasma in a match where theAAA World Cruiserweight Championship was on the line.[21]
On January 21, 2017, the day afterGuerra de Titanes, Garza Jr. left AAA and made a surprise appearance at a "The Crash" show in Tijuana, Baja California alongsideDaga andPentagón Jr. who also left AAA. The trio was joined byRey Fénix, stating that they were now independent of AAA and were forming a group.[22] Later that night Garza Jr. teamed up with Daga to compete in a five-team match against Pentagón Jr./Rey Fénix,Matt Hardy/Jeff Hardy,Bestia 666/Nicho El Millonario andJuventud Guerrera/Super Crazy that was won by Pentagón Jr. and Rey Fénix. On the same night it was announced that The Crash Tag Team Championship was vacant, stripping Garza Jr. and Último Ninja of the championship to allow theBroken Hardys to win the championship in the main event of the show by defeating Juventud Guerrera and Super Crazy.[22][23] In subsequent interviews Garza stated that AAA prevented him from earning more money; when promoters across Mexico inquired if Garza Jr. would be available to wrestle on their shows AAA often told the promoters that Garza Jr. was already booked, only to not give him work on those dates themselves. The group of Penta, Rey Fénix, Daga and Garza Jr. later announced that they would not be using thePerros del Mal name for the group, like Pentagón Jr. and Daga had used in AAA but instead come up with a new name for the group.[24] The group was namedLa Rebelión and would later includeEl Zorro andRey Mysterio Jr..[25]
Garza Jr., alongside Mexican wrestlerLaredo Kid, made his surprise debut for the Orlando, Florida-basedImpact Wrestling at their TV show taping on March 2, 2017.[4] The two made their in-ring debut by defeatingEli Drake andTyrus.[26] Two days later Garza Jr. and Laredo Kid participated in a 4-team match for theImpact Wrestling World Tag Team Championship, againstThe Latin American Xchange,Decay andReno SCUM, which was won by LAX represented bySantana and Ortiz.[27] AtSlammiversary XV, Garza Jr. and Laredo Kid competed in a Four-way tag team match for the Impact Wrestling World and GFW Tag Team Championships which was won by The Latin American Xchange. atBound for Glory, Garza Jr. competed in a Six-way match for the Impact X Division Championship which was won byTrevor Lee.
On April 18, 2019, it was announced that he signed a contract withWWE and begun working at theirPerformance Center, and his ring name was changed toAngel Garza.[28] In June, it was announced that Garza will compete in a tournament namedNXT Breakout Tournament,[29] where he made his debut on the June 26 episode ofNXT as aheel, defeatingJoaquin Wilde in the first round of the tournament,[30] but losing toA. C. H. in the semifinals on July 24 episode ofNXT.[31] On the August 20 episode of205 Live, Garza debuted onthe brand while cementing his heel turn, competing onDrew Gulak's team in a ten–man tag team match againstOney Lorcan's team, where Lorcan's team was victorious.[32]
On the November 6 episode ofNXT, Garza defeatedTony Nese to become the number one contender for theNXT Cruiserweight Championship againstLio Rush,[33] but Garza failed to defeat Rush the following week onNXT.[34] On the December 11 episode of NXT, Garza defeated Rush to win the NXT Cruiserweight Championship, his first title in the WWE.[35] On January 25, 2020, atWorlds Collide, Garza lost the title toJordan Devlin in a fatal four-way match, also involvingTravis Banks andIsaiah "Swerve" Scott, who Devlin pinned.[36] On the February 5 episode ofNXT, after defeating Isaiah "Swerve" Scott, he called out Jordan Devlin, wanting a rematch as Devlin did not pin Garza to win the title.[37] The following week onNXT, Garza was defeated by Lio Rush in a number one contender's match for the NXT Cruiserweight Championship.[38]
On the February 3 episode ofRaw, Garza made his debut on theRawbrand as aheel associate ofZelina Vega and opposed his cousinHumberto Carrillo, viciously assaulting Carrillo until the latter was rescued byRey Mysterio.[39] Garza subsequently faced Mysterio, where Garza lost via disqualification, after performing a DDT to Mysterio on the concrete floor.[40] Garza was scheduled to team with Vega's other associate,Andrade to faceThe Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford) for theRaw Tag Team Championship atWrestleMania 36, but Andrade was removed from that match due to an injury and was replaced byAustin Theory, who is another associate of Vega.[41] At WrestleMania, Garza and Theory were unsuccessful at capturing the titles.[42][43] On the April 13 episode ofRaw, Garza, Andrade and Theory attackedAkira Tozawa as all three posed together, confirming their status as a faction.[44] However, on the May 18 episode of Raw they kicked Theory out of their faction for accidentally costing them a match againstKevin Owens andApollo Crews. The following week on Raw, Garza defeated Kevin Owens in an upset victory. On the June 8 episode of Raw, Garza competed in a Triple Threat match against Andrade and Owens for an opportunity at the United States Championship atBacklash but was pinned by Andrade. During the match, Andrade and Garza accidentally knocked out Vega after getting in to an argument.[45] At Backlash, Garza attempted to help Andrade defeat Crews but was stunned by Owens at ringside which led to Crews retaining the title. The following night on Raw, Garza lost to Owens after Andrade's interference on Garza's behalf backfired.[46]
On the June 22 episode ofRaw, Garza and Andrade attacked the Street Profits after their match withThe Viking Raiders making their intentions known for the Raw Tag Team Titles.[47] Over the next few weeks, Garza and Andrade would feud with The Viking Raiders defeating them in a Tag Team Elimination match but struggled to get on the same page as a tag team.[48] Andrade and Garza would start to coexist as a tag team as they defeated The Viking Raiders andCedric Alexander andRicochet to earn a Raw Tag Team Title shot against Street Profits atSummerSlam.[49] At the event they were defeated by the Street Profits after a miscommunication between Garza and Andrade. On the September 14 episode of Raw, Vega ended her association with Garza and Andrade having had enough of them constantly arguing and fighting with each other. The following week on Raw, Garza and Andrade (without Vega) defeatedSeth Rollins andMurphy andDominik Mysterio andHumberto Carrillo to once again become #1 Contenders for the Raw Tag Team Titles against the Street Profits atClash of Champions. At the event they were once again unsuccessful at capturing the titles as Garza suffered a legitimate knee injury during the match thus causing an unexpected quick finish to the match, the following dayDave Meltzer reported that despite the botched ending The Street Profits were originally scheduled to Win the match and that plans did not change because of the legitimate injury.
Garza returned on the October 12 episode ofRaw, defeating Andrade, thus officially splitting up the team. On December 31, 2020, Garza won his firstWWE 24/7 Championship fromR-Truth during a New Year's Eve party that was streamed live onTikTok. However, on the January 4, 2021 episode ofRaw,The Boogeyman appeared and scared him, thus pinned by R-Truth to retain the 24/7 Championship title. On the May 3 edition ofRaw, Gulak confronted Garza which lead to a match, which Garza won. After the match Garza shoved a rose down Gulak's pants and then kicked it.
In the following months, Garza would occasionally be seen backstage pursuing the 24/7 Championship. On the September 20 episode ofRaw, Garza formed a tag team with his cousinHumberto Carrillo, defeatingMansoor andMustafa Ali.[50] As part of the2021 Draft, both Garza and Carrillo were drafted to theSmackDown brand.[51][52] On the November 5 episode ofSmackDown, the team was named Los Lotharios, with both Garza and Carrillo shortening their ring names, being billed as Angel and Humberto.
As part of the2023 WWE Draft, Angel and Humberto was drafted to the Raw brand.[53][54] Angel and Humberto returned on the June 13, 2023 episode ofNXT, laying outAxiom andScrypts. Later in the show, they were interviewed and said that they wanted to join the competition in the NXT tag division as Malik Blade and Edris Enofe,Josh Briggs andBrooks Jensen, and Hank Walker and Tank Ledger brawled in the ring.[55] On July 11, his ring name was reverted back to Angel Garza.[56] AtNXT No Mercy, Los Lotharios failed to win theNXT Tag Team Championship in a fatal four-way tag team match. Los Lotharios returned to the main roster on the December 22 episode ofSmackDown as masked men to assistSantos Escobar defeatBobby Lashley in theUnited States Championship #1 Contender Tournament semifinals, aligning with Escobar in the process.[57] On the January 19, 2024 episode ofSmackDown, the newly revivedLegado Del Fantasma defeatedLatino World Order'sCarlito,Joaquin Wilde andCruz Del Toro in a six-man tag team match.[58]
| Year | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | WWE SuperCard[59] | Video game debut |
| 2022 | WWE 2K22[60] | |
| 2023 | WWE 2K23[61] | |
| 2024 | WWE 2K24[62] |
On December 11, 2019, immediately after winning the NXT Cruiserweight Championship, Garza proposed to sports journalist Zaide Lozano in the middle of the ring.[63] They got married on July 23, 2020.[64] They have a daughter named Dara (born July 2022).[65][66] and another daughter named Alia (born February 2025).[67]
† = deceased
| Humberto Garza † | Unidentified Garza | Mario Segura | Unidentified Garza | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Héctor Garza † | Humberto Garza Jr. | Unidentified | Ninja Jr. | Máscara Púrpura | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| El Sultán | Humberto Carrillo | Angel Garza | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Winner (wager) | Loser (wager) | Location | Event | Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| El Hijo del Ninja (mask) | Black Morse (mask) | Monterrey, Nuevo León | FILL Show | September 13, 2009 | [6] |
| El Hijo del Ninja (mask) | Memo Valles (hair) | Monterrey, Nuevo León | FILL Show | November 3, 2009 | [Note 1][6] |
| El Hijo del Ninja (mask) | Estrella Dorada Jr. (hair) | Monterrey, Nuevo León | FILL Show | September 26, 2010 | [8] |
| El Hijo del Ninja (hair) | El Hijo de Konan Big (hair) | Monterrey, Nuevo León | LyC Show | December 16, 2012 | [Note 2][11] |
| Draw | El Hijo del Ninja/Cipriano (hair) | Monterrey, Nuevo León | LyC Show | April 29, 2013 | [Note 3] |
| Garza Jr. (hair) | Silver King Jr. (mask) | Monterrey, Nuevo León | Coliseomanía III | October 11, 2015 | [Note 4][13] |
| Garza Jr. (hair) | Samurai VIP (hair) | Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua | Live event | July 16, 2017 | |
| Bestia 666 (hair) | Garza Jr. (hair) | Tijuana, Baja California | The Crash VII Aniversario | November 3, 2018 | [79] |
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