 Máscaras in 1983 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | Aarón Rodríguez Arellano (1942-07-15)July 15, 1942 (age 83) San Luis Potosí, San Luis Potosí, Mexico |
| Family | Dos Caras (brother) Sicodélico (brother) Alberto Del Rio (nephew) El Hijo de Dos Caras (nephew) Sicodelico Jr. (nephew) Hijo de Sicodelico (nephew) |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name | Mil Máscaras |
| Billed height | 5 ft 11 in (180 cm)[1] |
| Billed weight | 245 lb (111 kg)[1] |
| Trained by | Diablo Velasco[2] José Hérmes |
| Debut | July 20, 1963 (1963-07-20)[3] |
| Retired | March 9, 2019 |
Mil Máscaras (bornAarón Rodríguez Arellano, July 15, 1942) is a Mexicanluchador (professional wrestler) and actor. He is regarded as one of the greatest wrestlers of thelucha libre tradition in Mexico – along withEl Santo andBlue Demon – and has been described as the first international superstar of lucha libre.[1] Mil Máscaras is considered one of the most influential wrestlers of all time for enhancing and popularizing the lucha libre style around the world, both in the ring and as the star of 20 films. He is also an accomplished artist and cultural ambassador for his native country and has appeared on three of its postage stamps.[4] Although he has never beenunmasked and his true identity is generally kept a secret out of respect for lucha libre traditions, his real name is known due to appearing in the credits of the films he has starred in. His ring name is Spanish for "Thousand Masks".
Mil Máscaras was inducted into theProfessional Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2010, and theWWE Hall of Fame in 2012. He is a member of one of Mexico's most prominent wrestling families; his brothers José and Pablo respectively wrestle asDos Caras and Sicodélico. José's oldest sonAlberto is a formerWWE Champion and currently wrestles as Alberto El Patron. José's younger son Guillermo wrestles asEl Hijo de Dos Caras. Pablo's son Aaron is better known asSicodelico Jr.
Mil Máscaras made his professional wrestling debut on July 20, 1963, inPachuca. He became popular in Mexico for being one of the best conditioned luchadores in the heavyweight division, which was dominated by foreigners at the time.[5] It was also his size which permitted him to wrestle in the US and Japan under the heavyweight division. Mil Máscaras was one of the first masked luchadores outside of Mexico to play a non-heel role. He rarely resorted to rule breaking, instead relying on his repertoire of moves and counter-moves.[6] Mil Máscaras was also one of the first wrestlers to introduce thehigh-flying moves of lucha libre, such as theplancha andtope suicida, to Japanese fans.[7] This brought him international fame as one of the first high-flyers, something he was not considered in Mexico where he fell under the mat-power category.
Mil Máscaras made his international wrestling debut in 1968 at theOlympic Auditorium inLos Angeles, getting involved inrivalries against the likes ofErnie Ladd,John Tolos,Black Gordman andGoliath. InMexico City, he unmaskedEl Halcon in a triangular tournament that includedAlfonso Dantés in the 1970s. Owing to the limited spread of news at the time, he repeated the feat in a Japanese ring, winning by submission.
Mil Máscaras performed forAll Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) during the '70s. In his Japanese debut on February 19, 1971, he defeatedKantaro Hoshino inTokyo. It was during this time that he had his best-known international feud with American masked wrestlerThe Destroyer. During the '70s, Mil Máscaras also had feuds with Mexican wrestlers such as TNT,Canek, El Halcon, andAngel Blanco. These feuds took place mostly in Mexico and the US and were broadcast onSpanish language stations in the US, Mil Máscaras was also the heavyweight champion of the IWA wrestling promotion, which was founded byEddie Einhorn, and still holds the title to this day.
In 1974, Mil Máscaras was the World Champion of the short-livedInternational Wrestling Association promotion based in New York City. He had major title defenses against competitors such as Ivan Koloff and Ernie Ladd.
Mil Máscaras appeared inWorld Wrestling Federation (WWF, now called WWE). He performed atMadison Square Garden several times after a ban on masked wrestlers was lifted for him, making him the first masked wrestler in the Garden, he defeatedThe Spoiler (who was not permitted to wear his mask). During this time, he feuded withSuperstar Billy Graham over theWWF World Heavyweight Championship.
Mil Máscaras made many appearances during the 80s and the 90s at theWorld Wrestling Council in Puerto Rico. He also wrestled inWorld Championship Wrestling (WCW), where his most notable match was a match withCactus Jack atClash of the Champions X: Texas Shootout on February 6, 1990, in theMemorial Coliseum inCorpus Christi, Texas.[8]
On September 10, 1991, at the age of 49, Mil Máscaras won his final title, the WWA (Mexico) World Heavyweight Championship. He held the title until 1994 and assumed a state of semi-retirement after his final reign.[9]
Mil Máscaras' first Americanpay-per-view appearance was competing inWWF's1997Royal Rumble match. He eliminated himself, diving off the top rope out of the ring ontoPierroth Jr., whom he himself had just eliminated. Such a move is common in lucha libre, but it is technically a mistake in the Royal Rumble as it leads to elimination.
On December 5, 2002, Mil Máscaras defeatedManny Fernandez at the inaugural show for Legacy Wrestling Enterprises in Fort Worth, Texas. On July 25, 2013 he celebrated his 50th in-ring anniversary to the day by teaming with his brother Sicodelico and his nephew El Hijo De Dos Caras to face one of his greatest rivals, Canek, along with Negro Navarro and Rey Bucanero in a special six-man tag.
His last match was on March 9, 2019 at 76 years old, when he teamed withDragon Lee and Captain Atomo defeatingRey Bucanero, La Bestia Del Ring and Valiente in Acapulco, Mexico.
Mil Máscaras also starred in a series of 20luchador action films beginning with his self-titled debut in 1966 at age 24. In 1966, Mexican movie producerLuis Enrique Vergara was looking for a new "enmascarado" to star in his wrestling/horror movies which were then the rage of Mexican cinema. Mil Máscaras was the first Lucha Libre personality that was created specifically to be a movie star, since his whole persona and flashy look was designed initially for the movies. (His real-life wrestling career followed and grew out of the excitement generated by his film appearances.)
Vergara's two regular movie stars had suddenly become unavailable.El Santo had walked out on him over a contract dispute, andBlue Demon was injured unexpectedly and would require a prolonged time-out. Not wanting to stop making his successful cinematic quickies, Vergara decided to transform Lucha Libre newcomer Mil Máscaras as the star of his next two movies. Mil began a movie career that has continued to this day, appearing in a total of 20 Mexican horror/wrestling/action films.
The first film, simply entitledMil Máscaras (1966) was shot in black & white and made Mil out to be a sort of super-hero. The film gave Mil Máscaras a comic book-style origin story, which seems to have been somewhat swiped from the then-popularDoc Savage pulp novels that were selling very well in science-fiction bookstores in the mid-60's. According to the script, Mil was an infant who was found clutched in his dead mother's arms in a war-torn area of Europe during World War 2 and was sent to an orphanage. A group of scientists (not affiliated with any particular country) adopts the boy, secretly using him as a guinea pig, subjecting the child to an intensive regimen of physical exercise and mental training as he matures.
When he reaches adulthood, Mil Máscaras is something of a superman (although without actual superpowers); both his mind and his body have been developed to perfection. The scientists then send him out into the world to help downtrodden people everywhere, to fight criminals and to right wrongs, and just basically help make the world a better place.
The plots of the first two films were rather lackluster. In bothMil Máscaras (1966) and its sequelLos Canallas (also 1966), Mil gets to fight a rather ordinary gang of thugs and a crooked fight promoter who are bullying the locals in some backwater burg in Mexico. Mil's second filmLos Canallas and all of them thereafter were shot in Color.
Federico Curiel directed Mil Máscaras' next two films in 1968, both of which feature American horror starJohn Carradine as a bad guy. Mil's missions were becoming a bit more meaningful by this time. InEnigma of Death, Mil faces off against Carradine who plays the leader of an underground Nazi organization (who disguises himself as a circus clown!), while inLas Vampiras, Mil goes up against a secret cult of female vampires led by a very manic Carradine.
In 1970, Curiel directed Mil Máscaras in two of his team-up movies.The Mummies of Guanajuato teamed Mil up with both Blue Demon and El Santo in what became the highest-grossing Mexican wrestler film of all time, pitting the three enmascarados against a group of re-animated mummies.
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The Champions of Justice (also 1970) saw Mil Máscaras in action with fellow wrestlers Blue Demon,Tinieblas, El Medico Asesino and La Sombra Vengadora (who all joined as sort of a super-team to fight monsters, mad scientists, criminals, evil dwarves or whatever else crossed their paths.) The producers employed a gaggle of masked midget wrestlers in a number of their luchador films in the 70s.
Over the next few years, a number of other team-up movies were made, most co-starring Mil Máscaras, who by this time was becoming the "King of the Team-up Movies".Champions of Justice Return (1972) was very similar to the first Champions film, only with El Fantasma Blanco sitting in for El Medico Asesino, El Rayo de Jalisco replacing Tinieblas, and El Avispon Escarlata replacing La Sombra Vengadora. (Mil didn't appear in the third and final "Champions" film because it would've involved traveling to a foreign country where it was filmed.)
However, in 1973, he teamed up again with Tinieblas and El Fantasma Blanco in two more films,Macabre Legends of the Colony andThe Mummies of San Angel (which both resemble "Champions Of Justice" films, in spite of the Blue Demon's conspicuous absence from the casts).Theft of the Mummies of Guanajuato (1972) teamed up Mil with the Blue Angel and El Rayo De Jalisco.
Mil Máscaras then co-starred with super-star strongmanSergio Oliva inBlack Power (1973). He fought alongside the then-famousSuperzan inVampires of Coyoacan (1973) and later joined forces once again with El Santo and Blue Demon in 1977'sMystery in Bermuda, which most Mexi-cinema fans consider to be the last real entry in the then fading Mexican wrestling/horror genre.
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He also appeared in a solo movie of his own,A Rose in the Ring (1972) and years later, he even teamed up with Santo's sonEl Hijo del Santo inThe Lawless Frontier (1983), making Mil Máscaras the only Mexican superhero to ever co-star with both Santos, father and son. In the late 80's, Mil appeared in two more wrestling films,La Verdad de la Lucha andLa Llave Mortal.
In 2024 a Salvadoran bodybuilder Edgar Alexis Pineda played Mil Máscaras in the Salvadoran movie "3 Grandes Personajes" also known in the United States as "Samurai Jack and Mil Máscaras vs. Yumi".
Mil's film career lay dormant after 1990 for 17 years, but he more recently resumed appearing in movies. In 2007, Mil Máscaras starred inMil Mascaras vs. the Aztec Mummy (also known asMil Mascaras: Resurrection),[10] the first lucha film featuring any of the so-called "Big Three" stars of the genre (Máscaras, Blue Demon, Santo) to be produced inEnglish. The film screened at festivals around the world garnering awards and award nominations along with positive critical reviews.[11][12] The film enjoyed almost continuous popularity and publicity for several years after its debut, including two magazine cover articles as late as 2012.[13] He also appeared in a 2008 film entitledAcademy of Doom, and a 2015 film calledAztec Revenge.
Mil Máscaras has drawn criticism from fellow wrestlers such asMick Foley[14] andChris Jericho[15] for his unwillingness tosell moves andput opponents over. In a 2007 shoot interview,Superstar Billy Graham said that, during their series of matches, Mil Máscaras was unwilling to sell properly.[citation needed]
Mil Máscaras has attributed these claims to cultural differences in the sport, saying:
One problem is that in the U.S. some wrestlers focus more on their image than their skills. I understand because I understand the business. I don't criticize them for that, but they should understand that for me wrestling means something more. If a guy doesn't execute a move, I don't pretend that he did. If I miss a move, then I don't ask anyone to make me look good.
— Mil Máscaras,Filmfax, pp.51–52, issue 1, 2012
In 1975, Mil Máscaras was voted as "The Most Popular Wrestler of the Year" by the company that now publishes the US magazinePro Wrestling Illustrated.[16]Satoru Sayama, the originalTiger Mask, has described Mil Máscaras' impact on Japanese professional wrestling, "If it weren't for Mil Máscaras, there would be noJushin Liger, noÚltimo Dragón or theGreat Sasuke today,".[17] Mil Máscaras' success in the US also paved the way for other luchadors such asRey Mysterio Jr., who has become one of the most popular luchadors in US wrestling. Even after reaching the age of 70, Mil Máscaras continues to perform sporadically. In 2001, he was inducted into the Southern California Pro-Wrestling Hall of Fame.
In 2006, Mil Máscaras was honored by theCauliflower Alley Club, a fraternal organization of both retired and active wrestlers.The Destroyer, one of Mil Máscaras' legendary rivals, presented him with an award at the event. The Destroyer also commented on Mil Máscaras' wrestling style, "He was the best competitor that I ever wrestled. He never gave you anything – it's true – but I didn't give him anything either. You talk about ashoot or a half-shoot, and that's the kind of match that it was."[18]
On October 7, 2011, Mil Máscaras returned to Japan to celebrate the 40th anniversary of his debut in the country. He teamed withDos Caras andOriginal Tiger Mask to defeatCIMA,Último Guerrero andTiger Mask IV in a six-man tag team match.[19]
In April 2012, Mil Máscaras was inducted into theWWE Hall of Fame by his nephew Alberto Del Rio.[20]
Mil Máscaras has never been unmasked in the ring, and like most masked luchadores, he goes to great lengths to conceal his true appearance and personal life. He has two brothers who wrestled,Dos Caras andSicodélico. He has two sons and two daughters with his first wife, who died in 1975, and two daughters with his second wife, whom he married in 1995. His nephews areAlberto Del Rio (also known as Dos Caras Jr., El Hijo de Dos Caras, and Alberto El Patrón); the currentEl Hijo de Dos Caras;Sicodélico Jr.; andHijo Del Sicodelico.
Mil Máscaras is an avid golfer and plays in many charity golf tournaments around the world, including the annual Los Angeles Police Memorial Foundation Celebrity Golf Tournament.[21]
Along with pro wrestling, Mil Máscaras is a fan ofJapanese martial arts, and has practisedjudo,aikido,jujutsu,karate andkendo, among others. He trained jujutsu under aMitsuyo Maeda student, and also trained underProfessor Tanaka.[22] Mil Máscaras started learning martial arts as a counter toshoot attempts, and recalls several wrestlers who tried to shoot on him and whom he had to legitimately submit.[22]
1Ernie Ladd claims to have defeated Mil Máscaras for the title on April 1, 1977,[33] but as of October 2012, Mil Máscaras continues to defend the title inMexico.[34]
| Winner (wager) | Loser (wager) | Location | Event | Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mil Máscaras (mask) | Benny Galant (hair) | Mexico City | Live event | April 22, 1966 | [35] |
| Mil Máscaras (mask) | Black Gordman (hair) | Los Ángeles, California | Live event | September 19, 1969 | [35] |
| Mil Máscaras (mask) | Bull Ramos (hair) | Los Ángeles, California | Live event | October 10, 1969 | [35] |
| Mil Máscaras (mask) | Barón Escarlata (mask) | N/A | Live event | January 2, 1971 | [35] |
| Mil Máscaras (mask) | Frankenstein (mask) | Tijuana, Baja California | Live event | 1974 | [Note 1][35] |
| Mil Máscaras (mask) | Alfonso Dantés (hair) | Mexico City | Live event | February 22, 1977 | [Note 2][35] |
| Mil Máscaras (mask) | El Halcón (mask) | Mexico City | Live event | July 29, 1977 | [35][36] |
| Mil Máscaras (mask) | El Halcón (mask) | Japan | Live event | September 13, 1978 | [35][36] |
| Mil Máscaras (mask) | Popitekus (hair) | Tijuana, Baja California | Live event | August 1988 | |
| Mil Máscaras (mask) | Principe Battu (hair) | Dallas, Texas | Live event | November 20, 1994 | |
| Mil Máscaras (mask) | Gran Markus Jr. (mask) | Naucalpan, State of Mexico | Live event | June 29, 1997 | [Note 3][35] |
| Mil Máscaras (mask) | Venom (mask) | Reynosa | Live event | March 17, 2007 | |
| Mil Máscaras (mask) | El Yuma (mask) | Reynosa | Live event | March 20, 2007 |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1966 | Mil Máscaras ("Thousand Masks") | First appearance and origin of Mil Máscaras; the only B&W film in the series. | |
| 1966 | Los Canallas ("The Scoundrels") | AKAThe Swine,Hell's Angels, orAngeles Infernales; made in color | |
| 1968 | Las Vampiras ("The Vampire Girls") | Co-starringJohn Carradine | |
| 1968 | Enigma de Muerte ("Enigma of Death") | Co-starring John Carradine | |
| 1970 | Los Campeones Justicieros ("The Champions of Justice") | Co-starringBlue Demon,Tinieblas, El Médico Asesino, and La Sombra Vengadora | |
| 1970 | Las Momias de Guanajuato ("The Mummies of Guanajuato") | Co-starringSanto and Blue Demon | |
| 1972 | El Robo de las Momias de Guanajuato ("The Theft of the Mummies of Guanajuato") | Co-starring The Blue Angel and El Rayo De Jalisco | |
| 1972 | Vuelven los Campeones Justicieros ("The Champions of Justice Return") | Co-starring Blue Demon, El Fantasma Blanco, El Rayo de Jalisco, and El Avispón Escarlata | |
| 1972 | Una Rosa Sobre el Ring ("A Rose in the Ring") | Co-starringCrox Alvarado as "The Black Mask" | |
| 1973 | Leyendas Macabras de la Colonia ("Macabre Legends of the Colony") | Co-starring Tinieblas and El Fantasma Blanco | |
| 1973 | Las Momias de San Ángel ("The Mummies of San Ángel") | Co-starring Tinieblas and El Fantasma Blanco | |
| 1973 | Los Vampiros de Coyoacán ("The Vampires of Coyoacán") | Co-starring Superzan | |
| 1973 | El Poder Negro ("The Black Power") | Co-starringSergio Oliva | |
| 1977 | Misterio en las Bermudas ("Mystery in Bermuda") | Co-starring Santo and Blue Demon | |
| 1983 | El Hijo del Santo en la Frontera Sin Ley ("Son of Santo in the Lawless Frontier") | ||
| 1988 | La Verdad de la Lucha ("The Truth About Wrestling") | ||
| 1990 | La Llave Mortal ("The Deadly Key") | ||
| 2007 | Mil Mascaras vs. the Aztec Mummy | Himself | AKAMil Mascaras: Resurrection |
| 2008 | Academy of Doom | Himself | |
| 2015 | Aztec Revenge | Himself |
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