El Hijo del Santo

El Hijo del Santo
Born	August 2, 1963 Mexico City
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)	El Korak, El Hijo del Santo
Billed height	5 ft 7 in (170 cm)
Billed weight	185 lb (85 kg)
Trained by	Rafael Salamanca, El Enfermero
Debut	February 6, 1982

El Hijo del Santo ("The Son of the Saint") is a Mexican professional wrestler and one of the most successful stars in Lucha Libre. He is the son of legendary wrestler/actor, El Santo.

Career

"Santito," as he is sometimes referred, was the only one out of El Santo's eleven children to become a professional wrestler. He began wrestling without his father's consent in February, 1982 as "El Korak" but he made his official debut as "El Hijo del Santo" in October of that year after he earned his college degree in Communication Science as per his father's request. He shared his father's look, the silver mask, tights and cape, and moveset but he was shorter and, although he would never become the same cultural icon, he would become a better in-ring performer than his father.

Early in his career, he was wrestled mainly for WWA (The Tijuana circuit) and UWA (a promotion that worked in the Mexico City area) but he did make his debut for EMLL (the promotion that later became Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre) in Arena Mexico in the summer of 1983. He also was voted 'Rookie of the Year."

He won his first title, the UWA World Lightweight title, on October 1985 and traded the title with Aristóteles. He next feuded with Espanto, Jr. (whose father feuded with the original El Santo) and Santo took his mask. Espanto took Santo's title but Santo regained it in 1988 and took Espanto's hair as well. During this time, he also feuded with Negro Casas, who would become his most important opponent, and took his hair in a 1987 match in the Los Angeles Olympic Auditorium.

In 1990, he debuted in Japan for Gran Hamada's Universal Lucha Libre promotion and moved up a weight class by winning the UWA Welterweight title as well as the WWA Welterweight title. In late 1991, he left WWA and vacated the Welterweight title but continued to wrestle for UWA until the formation of Asistencia Asesoría y Administración. Santo regained the WWA Welterweight title and brought it with him to AAA. One of the first feuds he was put in was again Negro Casas' youngest brother, Heavy Metal. Heavy took Santo's WWA Welterweight title and won the National Welterweight title but Santo would come out on top of the feud and took both titles from Heavy before he lost them again to another young star, Psicosis.

File:Hijodelsanto and Bucanero.jpg

Santito locks in his finishing hold La de a caballo on Rey Bucanero

His most memorable feud during his time with AAA was against the obnoxious American team, Los Gringos Locos. Eddie Guerrero's stiffer Japanese style offense, combined with Art Barr's cocky mannerisms made Los Gringos Locos a very exciting tag team. During the feud, the played up the old Pareja Atómica tag team which consisted of the original El Santo and Eddie's father, Gory Guerrero. Eddie turned on Santito, leading to a hair vs. hair challenge for the When Worlds Collide Pay-Per-View. The match was changed at the last minute when Art Barr pleaded with AAA officials to be included on the show which would be broadcasted in the United States. The new match was a double hair vs. double mask match with Santo teaming with Octagón against Los Gringos. Santo and Octagón were victorious in the critically acclaimed match but it was the last stand for Los Gringos Locos. Art Barr died shortly afterwards and the group broke up abruptly. AAA owner Antonio Peña tried to run an angle with an evil version of El Santo called "El Santo Negro" who supposedly came from South America. When the other members of Santo's family objected, the feud was scrapped and El Hijo del Santo jumped to CMLL in 1995.

The object of the jump was to revitalize his feud with Negro Casas. Santo lost a match to Casas at the CMLL 63rd Anniversary show in September, 1996 via disqualification and took a brief hiatus. While gone, Negro Casas turned técnico (face) and his former allies, Scorpio, Jr. and Bestia Salvaje said they had a surprise for Casas. In a shocking angle, the long time babyface Santo turned rudo (heel). The set-up was a trios match with Negro Casas, El Dandy and Héctor Garza on the face side against Felino, Scorpio, Jr. and Bestia Salvaje on the heel side. Felino was Casas' brother and when he came to the ring, he halted before entering and watched as his brother was attacked by Scorpio and Salvaje. The fans were expecting Felino to help his brother but Felino took off his cape and mask, revealing himself to be El Hijo del Santo in disguise.

The fans were irate and fist fights broke out in the crowd as Santo attacked Casas. The feud helped ease sagging business caused by the split with AAA and the downturn of the Mexican economy. The following week, the two trios had a rematch and both Dandy and Casas challenged Santo to a hair vs. mask match. The match was made a triangle match on December 6, 1996. Santo took El Dandy's hair in a bloody match in front of sold out crowd in Arena Mexico. The feud would continue until the 64th anniversary show in September 1997 where Casas and Santo faced off in a dramatic hair vs. mask match. Santo won the match and Santo began a slow face turn.

Although the angle was very successful and drew a lot of money for CMLL, Santo continued to wrestle as a babyface throughout the country, even teaming with Rey Mysterio in Tijuana. Santo began to be at odds with his heel allies, namely Scorpio, Jr. and Bestia Salvaje. Finally, in September 1998, the face turn was made official when Santo's partners, Villano III and Fuerza Guerrera turned on Santo. Scorpio, Jr. and Bestia Salvaje joined in on the beat down, leading Santo's next big feud.

Casas and Santo began teaming together and chased Scorpio and Salvaje's recently won CMLL Tag Team titles. Santo and Casas defeated Scorpio and Salvaje for the titles on February 5, 1999 by disqualification but Santo and Casas refused to accept the titles. The big match in the feud was a mask/hair vs. mask/hair tag match between the two teams. Santo and Casas were victorious and eventually took the tag titles as well. Santo would have a brief falling out with management and the tag titles were vacated. He returned and won the tag titles with Casas from Los Guerreros del Infierno (Último Guerrero and Rey Bucanero) but later lost them back to Los Guerreros in 2002. Santo took another sabbatical from CMLL with Perro Aguayo, Jr. filling in his spot on the roster. He returned to CMLL in the summer of 2004, initially to the rub to Místico and to feud with Perro Aguayo, Jr. and his La Furia del Norte group. After the feud ended, he had a program with young Guerreros recruit Averno and they had a WWA Welterweight title match on October 22 where Santo retained and ended his tour with the company. Other than teaming with Místico and Último Dragón for a few matches at the end of the year, Santo has continued wrestling as an independent.

Other than his work as a wrestler, he is the subject of a comic book, starred in three films, the most recent being Infraterrestere in 2003, and appeared on the Mexican reality show Día de Perros.

Finishing and signature moves

• La de a caballo (Camel clutch)
• Headscissors takedown
• Topé Suicida (Suicide dive)
• Topé de Cristo (Diving headbutt)

Championships and accomplishments

• 7-time WWA World Welterweight Champion
• 2-time UWA Welterweight Champion
• 3-time UWA World Lightweight Champion
• 1-time Mexican National Middleweight Champion
• 1-time Mexican National Middleweight Champion
• 1-time AAA/IWC/PNW World Tag Team Champion (with Octagón)
• 1-time Mexican National Trios Champion (with Super Muñeco & Ángel Azteca)
• 2-time CMLL World Tag Team Champion (with Negro Casas)
• 1-time WWA World Tag Team Champion (with Perro Aguayo, Jr.)

• Wrestling Observer Newsletter

• 1994 Feud of the Year (with Octagón vs Eddie Guerrero and Art Barr)

Lucha de Apuestas record

Luchas de Apuestas

Wager lost/won	Winner	Loser	Where	Date	Note
Mask	El Hijo del Santo	El Pierroth	Veracruz, Veracruz	10/31/82	-
Mask	El Hijo del Santo	El Buitre	Pachuca, Hidalgo	7/28/83	-
Hair	El Hijo del Santo	Lobo Rubio	Veracruz, Veracruz	10/28/83	-
Mask	El Hijo del Santo	El Galáctico	Pachuca, Hidalgo	2/26/84	-
Hair	El Hijo del Santo	Chamaco Castro	Panama City, Panama	9/4/84	-
Hair	El Hijo del Santo	El Guerrero	Acapulco, Guerrero	1/27/85	-
Hair	El Hijo del Santo	El Porro	Tijuana, Baja California	2/26/85	-
Hair	El Hijo del Santo	Ray Richard	Naucalpan, Mexico State	3/17/85	-
Mask	El Hijo del Santo	El Diluvio	Texcoco, Mexico State	3/23/85	-
Mask	El Hijo del Santo	Cosmonauta	Apatlaco, Mexico State	3/30/85	-
Mask	El Hijo del Santo	Aristóteles I	Naucalpan, Mexico State	7/28/85	-
Hair	El Hijo del Santo	Tornado Negro	Tijuana, Baja California	8/9/85	-
Mask	El Hijo del Santo	Aristóteles II	Acapulco, Guerrero	11/27/85	-
Mask	El Hijo del Santo	El Ninja	Tijuana, Baja California	12/13/85	-
Hair	El Hijo del Santo	Ray Tony	Veracruz, Veracruz	12/18/85	-
Mask	El Hijo del Santo	Skeletor	Monterrey, Nuevo León	12/22/85	-
Hair	El Hijo del Santo	Aristóteles I	Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua	3/9/86	-
Mask	El Hijo del Santo	Espanto Jr.	Monterrey, Nuevo León	8/31/86	-
Mask	El Hijo del Santo	Kato Kung Lee	Tijuana, Baja California	8/31/86	-
Hair	El Hijo del Santo	Flama Azul	Nezahualcoyotl, Mexico State	1/30/87	-
Hair	El Hijo del Santo	Black Terry	Iraputo, Guanajuato	3/9/87	-
Hair	El Hijo del Santo	Ray Richard	Morelia, Michoacán	4/??/87	-
Hair	El Hijo del Santo	Lobo Rubio	Naucalpan, Mexico State	6/7/87	-
Hair	El Hijo del Santo	Negro Casas	Los Angeles, California	7/18/87	-
Hair	El Hijo del Santo	Espanto Jr.	Torreón, Coahuila	8/2/87	-
Mask	El Hijo del Santo	Silver King	Tijuana, Baja California	11/13/87	-
Mask	El Hijo del Santo	Principe Island (La Parka)	Apatlaco, Mexico State	11/21/87	-
Hair	El Hijo del Santo	El Estudiante	Mexicali, Baja California	3/28/88	-
Hair	El Hijo del Santo	El Tarahumara	Saltillo, Coahuila	4/9/88	-
Hair	El Hijo del Santo	Espanto Jr.	Monterrey, Nuevo León	5/8/88	-
Mask	El Hijo del Santo	León Chino	Tijuana, Baja California	8/19/88	-
Mask	El Hijo del Santo	El Brujo	San Lorenzo, Mexico State	10/22/88	-
Mask	El Hijo del Santo	Cuchillo	Naucalpan, Mexico State	10/30/88	-
Hair	El Hijo del Santo	El Brujo	San Lorenzo, Mexico State	11/26/88	-
Mask	El Hijo del Santo	Starman	Cancún, Quintana Roo	12/2/88	-
Mask	El Hijo del Santo	La Momia	Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca	3/26/89	-
Mask	El Hijo del Santo	Masdek	Tijuana, Baja California	5/19/89	1
Hair	El Hijo del Santo	Espanto Jr.	Naucalpan, Mexico State	9/17/89	-
Mask	El Hijo del Santo	All Star	Mexico City	12/8/89	2
Hair	El Hijo del Santo	Tornado Negro	Tijuana, Baja California	2/9/90	-
Hair	El Hijo del Santo	Brazo de Oro	Naucalpan, Mexico State	1/13/91	-
Hair	El Hijo del Santo	Black Shadow Jr.	Monterrey, Nuevo León	12/15/91	3
Hairs	El Hijo del Santo & Octagón	Art Barr & Eddie Guerrero	Monterrey, Nuevo León	11/6/94	-
Hair	El Hijo del Santo	El Dandy	Mexico City	12/6/96	4
Hair	El Hijo del Santo	Negro Casas	Mexico City	9/19/97	-
Mask	El Hijo del Santo	Guerrero del Futuro	Mexico City	7/17/98	-
Mask	El Hijo del Santo	Gacela del Ring	Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua	9/28/98	-
Hair	El Hijo del Santo	Gacela del Ring	Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua	12/6/98	-
Hair	El Hijo del Santo	Asterisco	Reynosa, Tamaulipas	12/20/98	5
Mask & Hair	El Hijo del Santo & Negro Casas	Scorpio, Jr. & Bestia Salvaje	Mexico City	3/19/99	-
Hair	El Hijo del Santo	Misterioso	Anaheim, California	9/5/99	-
Mask	El Hijo del Santo	El Nuevo Huracán Ramírez Jr.	Celaya, Guanajuato	2/2/00	6
Mask	El Hijo del Santo	Dr. Cerebro	Naucalpan, Mexico State	3/1/01	-
Hair	El Hijo del Santo	Nicho el Millionario	Tijuana, Baja California	4/6/01	-
Hair	El Hijo del Santo	Scorpio, Jr.	Naucalpan, Mexico State	12/19/02	-
Mask	El Hijo del Santo	Super Parka	Tijuana, Baja California	10/9/03	-
Mask	El Hijo del Santo	El Hijo del Cobarde	Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua	2/29/04	-
Hair	El Hijo del Santo	El Dandy	Tijuana, Baja California	10/29/04	-
Hair	El Hijo del Santo	Scorpio, Jr.	Los Angeles, California	7/16/05	-
mask	El Hijo del Santo	Vikingo del Futuro	Monterrey, Nuevo León	8/21/05	7

1. Three way match with León Chino
2. Three way match with Fuerza Guerrera
3. Relevos Suicidas match with Black Shadow and Santo vs. Octagón & Fuerza Guerrera
4. Three way match with Negro Casas
5. Three Way match with Felino
6. Relevos Suicidas match with Santo & Huracán vs. Blue Panther & Fuerza Guerrera
7. Six way cage match featuring Centurion Negro, Diluvio Negro I, Gato Volador and Silver Star

References

• 1 - La Arena bio

External links

• Official website (in English and Spanish)