 Mante in July 2024 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1992-02-14)February 14, 1992 (age 33)[2] |
| Family | Negro Casas (father-in-law) |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Charly Meza Aereo Boy As Charro As de Diamantes As Charro jr. Chamaco Meza Diamante El Diamante Luís Mante Príncipe Diamante |
| Billed height | 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)[1] |
| Billed weight | 96 kg (212 lb)[1] |
| Billed from | Monclova, Mexico |
| Trained by | Rubén el Águila sureña[1] El Astuto[1] El Satánico[1] Franco Colombo[1] Último Dragón |
| Debut | April 17, 2005[2] |
Luis Meza (born February 14, 1992), better known by hisring nameDiamante (Spanish: "Diamond"), is a Mexicanluchador (orprofessional wrestler). He predominantly works forDragongate under the ring nameLuis Mante. He is best known for his work withConsejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), where he portrayed atecnico ("good guy") wrestling character.[2]
On July 2, 2023, at Dragongate'sKobe Pro-Wrestling Festival, Diamante wasunmasked, following the event'sLuchas de Apuestas five-way main event. Prior to the match, he had been teased to lose his mask by former Z-Brats partner and stable leaderShun Skywalker, and this transpired when Skywalker escaped the cage in the final fall of the match.[3]
Luis Meza made his debut at a very early age, initially working as Chamaco Meza ("Kid" Meza) and also worked as Aero Boy early on, working primarily inNuevo León. Later on, he adopted a newring name and image as Príncipe Diamante ("Prince Diamond"). He worked forLucha Libre AAA Worldwide at the age of just 16, wrestling at the 2008Rey de Reyes show teaming with Street Boy andTigre Cota to defeat Black Mamba, Rio Bravo andTito Santana.[4]
Príncipe Diamante signed a contract withConsejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) in the summer of 2009 and initially worked under the name "As Jr." (Ace Junior), although it was never clear which "Ace" he was supposed to be the son of.[5]
After working as As Jr. for a few months he had his ring name changed to "Diamante", not revealing that he worked as As Jr. until years later. As Diamante he made his in-ring debut for CMLL on August 17, 2009.[2] The first sign of Diamante's potential in CMLL came on June 16, 2010, when he entered in the 2010torneo Gran Alternativa, where a rookie and a "veteran" wrestler teamed up for atag team tournament. Diamante teamed withLa Sombra for the tournament; together they defeatedCancerbero andMephisto in the first round,Inquisidor andAtlantis in the second round, but lost to the team ofHector Garza andPólvora in the semi-final round.[6] The following month Diamante was one of 12 wrestlers to risk their match in CMLL'sInfierno en el Ring main event, asteel cage match where the last man would be forced to unmask. Diamante was the 8th man to leave the ring and watched asÁngel de Oro defeatedFabián el Gitano, forcing him to unmask.[7] Diamante teamed up withÁngel de Oro andRush to defeatMetal Blanco,Palacio Negro andSagrado in the finals of a two-week-long tournament to become the number one contenders to theMexican National Trios Championship.[8] On January 9, the trio defeatedDelta,Metro andStuka Jr. to become the new champions.[9] Weeks after winning the Trios championship Diamante entered the annualTorneo Nacional de Parejas Increibles, a tournament that featured teams of wrestlers who do not usually team up, in fact most of the teams are on opposite sides of theTecnico/Rudo (Fan favorite/villain) divide.[10] Diamante teamed with therudoVolador Jr. and made it into the semi-finals of the tournament by defeating Stuka Jr. andEphesto as well as La Sombra andMisterioso Jr., but were defeated by eventual tournament winnersMáscara Dorada and Atlantis in the semi-finals.[11] At the 2011Homenaje a Dos Leyendas ("Homage to Two Legends") show Diamante teamed up with two-thirds of the team he won the Trios title from as he, Metro and Stuka Jr. defeatedLos Cancerberos del Infierno (Raziel andEuforia) andOkumura in one of the mid card matches on the show.[12]
CMLL held aForjando un Ídolo (Spanish for "Forgin an idol") tournament in April and May 2011, with the purpose of identifying which of the 16 "Rookies" in the tournament would move up the ranks of the promotion. The tournament consisted of two rounds, first around-robin group round, with the top 2 in each of the four groups competing in an elimination tournament. Diamante won his block by defeating all three opponents (Hijo del Signo,Hombre Bala Jr.,Puma King), advancing to the second round.[13] Diamante lost in the first match of the second round to Fuego and was eliminated from the tournament.[14] Afterwards CMLL kept theForjando un Ídolo concept going with a four team Trios tournament calledForjando un Ídolo: La Guerra Continúa (Forging an Idol: The War Continues"), which saw the coach of each group team up with the two finalist for the groups. Diamante and Hijo del Signo teamed up withNegro Casas (calledGrupo Bravo) and made it all the way to the finals, only to lose toGrupo Charly (Atlantis,Guerrero Maya Jr. and Delta).[15] Being a reigning CMLL Champion, Diamante was one of 16 champions who competed for the 2011CMLL Universal Championship in September 2011. Diamante defeated Pólvora in the first round, but lost to La Sombra in the second.[16] Diamante, Ángel de Oro and Rush's Mexican National Trios reign came to an end after 254 days, whenLos Invasores (Olímpico,Psicosis and Volador Jr.) defeated them for the championship.[17] Diamante entered the 2011Torneo Gran Alternativa, teaming up with La Sombra again, the first team to enter two years in a row.[18] In the first round they defeated Atlantis and Fuego, in the second round they defeated Hijo del Signo andMr. Niebla, before losing to eventual tournament winnersEscorpión andÚltimo Guerrero in the semi-final match.[19] He also appeared on theCMLL 78th Anniversary Show, CMLL's biggest show of the year, in an unsuccessful bid to win the 2011Leyenda de Plata ("Silver Legend") tournament.[20] Diamante made his first trip toJapan in January, 2012 appearing on two jointly promoted shows between CMLL and Japanese basedNew Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) calledFantastica Mania. On the first night Diamante teamed up with Japanese nativesJushin Thunder Liger andTetsuya Naito defeated Mephisto,Shinsuke Nakamura,Yujiro Takahashi.[21][22] On the second night Diamante,Hiroshi Tanahashi and Naito lost to Mephisto, Takahashi andKazuchika Okada.[23][24] In March 2012, CMLL repackaged Metro, giving him a new blue and white mask and outfit, and changing his name to "Diamante Azul", which led to some confusion since CMLL already had a wrestler using the ring name "Diamante" on their roster.[25][26] After being unsuccessful in theForjando un Ídolo tournament in 2011, Diamante entered CMLL'sEn Busca de un Ídolo ("In search of an Idol") in early 2012, a tournament with a similar concept, this time with eight wrestlers contending for the trophy. Diamante qualified for the second round of the tournament with three wins and one loss. The second round was less successful for Diamante as he ended last, with two losses, but the major development took place in his last tournament match where he debut a new mask and trunk design, a silver and black scheme very reminiscent of Lucha libre legendsEl Santo andEl Hijo del Santo andAxxel, one of El Santo's grandsons.[27][28][29] Diamante participated in the 2012Leyenda de Azul tournament, but was outlasted by tournament winner Diamante Azul.[30] On July 12, 2012, Diamante and Misterioso Jr. were the last two survivors in atorneo cibernetico, qualifying for a match for the vacant Occidente Heavyweight Championship.[31] The following week Diamante defeated Misterioso Jr. to win his first singles championship.[32] Diamante held the title for just under two months, losing it toOlímpico on September 18, 2012.[33] In January 2013, Diamante returned to Japan to take part in the three-dayFantastica Mania 2013 event. During the first night on January 18, he teamed withBushi andRyusuke Taguchi in a six-man tag team match, where they were defeated byRey Escorpión,Tomohiro Ishii andYujiro Takahashi.[34] The following night, Diamante and Máscara Dorada were defeated in a tag team match by Mephisto and Okumura.[35] During the third and final night, Diamante took part in a twelve-mantorneo cibernetico, from which he was the sixth man eliminated by Okumura and which was eventually won by Tomohiro Ishii.[36] Diamante was one of 16 wrestlers to compete for a spot in the finale of the 2013Reyes del Aire tournament in atorneo cibernetico elimination match. He was the seventh math eliminated as he was pinned byNiebla Roja.[37][38] By the end of 2013, Diamante stopped working for CMLL, either in general or under that name. He made a brief return in 2017 and 2018, with each time wrestling three matches for the promotion, either under the Diamante or Príncipe Diamante ring name.[39][40]
After either not wrestling at all from the winter of 2013 and all of 2014, or working under a different masked identity that has not been revealed, Diamante resurfaced on the Mexicanindependent circuit in 2015, working a couple of matches under the "Diamante" name before taking the name "As Charro" ("Ace Horseman"), not to be mistaken for the original As Charro who was active from 1963 to 1994.[41] On May 15, 2016, he won his first title under the "As Charro" name, teaming with El Hijo de Máscara Sagrada to defeatLos Nuevos Asesinos del Ring (El Canek Jr. and El Hijo de Fishman) for the CWF Tag Team Championship.[42] On July 3, he and El Hijo de Máscara Sagrada made their first defence of the title, in a three-way match, defeating the pairings ofHisteria and Infector andPsicosis and Psicosis Jr.[43] Their second defence of the title was on September 3 againstBandido and Emperador Azteca, but As Charro was absent, and was replaced byGolden Magic.[44] The title has not been defended since, but As Charro and El Hijo de Máscara Sagrada remain the tag team champions.
Diamante began touring withAll Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) in August 2017. On August 27, at the AJPW 45th Anniversary show, he was defeated in a showcase match againstCarístico.[45] He returned in November 2018, working tag team matches alongsideSam Adonis andDylan James, and of the four matches he wrestled, he was on the winning side twice.[46]
In August 2019, Diamante began touring withDragongate. He was announced as being the newest member of theheel stableR.E.D. He made his debut on August 7, during The Gate Of Adventure tour, alongsideKazma Sakamoto andTakashi Yoshida, defeating MaxiMuM (Dragon Kid,Jason Lee andKaito Ishida).[47] On December 15, at Final Gate, Diamante, Yoshida and H.Y.O defeated Strong Machine Gundan (Strong Machine J,Strong Machine F andStrong Machine G) and Natural Vibes (Kzy,Genki Horiguchi andSusumu Yokosuka) in a three-way match to win theOpen the Triangle Gate Championship.[48] Shortly afterwards, Diamante was involved in a "Generation War" storyline, when following on fromÚltimo Dragón's ongoing feud with R.E.D, the wrestlers who were trained by Dragón joined him to fight against the stable. This led to wrestlers who were trained in the Dragon Gate dojo to band together and suspend the stables they were in as well, in order to establish the superior generation. On February 7, during the Truth Gate tour, Diamante, Yoshida and H.Y.O were defeated by Team Toryumon (Dragon Kid,Kenichiro Arai andRyo Saito) in a three-way match, also involving Team Dragon Gate (Keisuke Okuda, Strong Machine J andYosuke♥Santa Maria), ending their reign at 55 days.[49] AtKing of Gate, he defeated Dragon Kid in the first round,[50] Yosuke♥Santa Maria in the second round,[51] before being defeated byYamato in the quarter-finals.[52]
| Winner (wager) | Loser (wager) | Location | Event | Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Diamante (mask) | Bokutimo Dragon (mask) | Tokyo,Japan | The Gate of Passion 2021 | April 9, 2021 | |
| Diamante (mask) | Dragon Dia (mask) | Tokyo, Japan | Fantastic Gate 2021 | December 1, 2021 | [note 1] |
| Shun Skywalker (mask) | Diamante (mask) | Kobe, Japan | Kobe Pro-Wrestling Festival 2023 | July 2, 2023 | [note 2] |
