El Brazo

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Alvarado and the second or maternal family name is Nieves.
El Brazo
Alvarado wearing his "El Brazo" wrestling gear
Birth nameJuan Alvarado Nieves
Born(1961-07-30)July 30, 1961
Mexico City, Mexico
DiedOctober 15, 2013(2013-10-15) (aged 52)[1][2]
Mexico City, Mexico
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)El Brazo
Brazo Negro
Brazo Hermoso
Tio Lucas
Latin Boiler
Ingordable
La Puerca
La Braza
Billed height1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Billed weight115 kg (254 lb)
Trained byShadito Cruz
DebutAugust 1980

Juan Alvarado Nieves (July 30, 1961 – October 15, 2013)[1][2] was a Mexican luchador (professional wrestler). He was best known under the ring name El Brazo (Spanish for "the Arm"), which he used since his debut in 1980. Alvarado was part of the Alvarado wrestling family, which includes his father Shadito Cruz, five brothers who used the "Brazo" name at some point and several third-generation wrestlers.

Professional wrestling career

Alvarado made his debut as "El Brazo", an Enmascarado (masked wrestler) who worked mainly in Tag team action with his brothers who worked as Brazo de Oro ("Gold arm") and Brazo de Plata ("Silver Arm").[3] Los Brazos, as they were billed, wrestled all over Mexico and made appearances for the Los Angeles based "NWA Hollywood Wrestling". Over the years Brazo de Plata and his brothers competed in a large number of Luchas de Apuestas ("Bet fights") where they put their masks or hair on the line against their opponents. Los Brazos' most famous Luchas de Apuestas occurred on October 21, 1988, when Brazo de Plata, Brazo de Oro and El Brazo all placed their masks on the line in a match against another well known Lucha libre family, Los Villanos, in this case Villano I, Villano IV and Villano V. The match was the culmination of a long feud (Storyline) between the two families and saw all six wrestlers bleed profusely during the bout. In the end Los Villanos won the match forcing all three Brazos to unmask and reveal their real names as its tradition in these types of matches.[3] Despite losing their masks Los Brazos remained successful in the ring winning various tag team and trios titles such as the UWA World Tag Team Championship,[4] UWA World Trios Championship,[5] WWA World Tag Team Championship[6] and the WWA World Trios Championship[7][8] By the 1990s Los Brazos worked mainly for Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) where Brazo de Plata, Brazo de Oro and El Brazo won the CMLL World Trios Championship from Los Infernales (Pirata Morgan, Satánico and MS-1) on April 6, 1993. Los Brazos lost the titles to Dr. Wagner, Jr., Gran Markus, Jr. and El Hijo del Gladiador.[9]

Los Brazos began teaming less and less with Brazo de Oro working more backstage in CMLL. El Brazo began working under various ring names such as Tio Lucas, Latin Boiler, Ingordable and La Puerca, but his expanding waist line made it hard to hide who was actually behind the various gimmicks. In 2008 El Brazo signed with Asistencia, Asesoría y Administración (AAA) and quickly inserted himself in his brother Brazo de Plata's storyline with a group known as Los Guapos VIP. Initially it looked like El Brazo was siding with his brother, only to turn on him and join Los Guapos VIP, taking the (storyline) control of the Los Guapos VIP group. The storyline fight of the two brothers came to a crescendo at Guerrera de Titanes 2008, where they faced off in a steel cage match where the loser would have his hair shaved off. El Brazo lost and had his hair shaved to put at least a temporary end to the storyline.[10] On November 5, 2011, El Brazo debuted a new exótico persona, La Braza, and aligned himself with Cassandro and Pimpinela Escarlata in their battle with fellow exóticos Nygma, Pasión Cristal, Polvo de Estrellas and Yuriko.[11]

Other media

El Brazo has appeared in the video game Lucha Libre AAA: Héroes del Ring.

Death

Alvarado died on October 15, 2013, due to complications from diabetes.[1][2] Alvarado was inducted into the AAA Hall of Fame on August 17, 2014, at Triplemanía XXII.[12]

The Alvarado family

Main article: Alvarado wrestling family

The Alvarado wrestling family spans three generations starting with Shadito Cruz followed by his 6 sons and a third-generation who have begun wrestling in recent years, which includes Juan Alvarado's son that works as "El Brazo, Jr.". All second-generation Alvarados use wrestling names with the term "Brazo" in it, El Brazo (Juan Alvarado Nieves), Brazo de Oro (Jesús Alvarado Nieves), Brazo de Plata (José Alvarado Nieves), Brazo de Platino ("Platinum Arm"; Daniel Alvarado Nieves), Super Brazo (Martin Alvarado Nieves) and Brazo Cibernetico (Cybernetic Arm; José Aarón Alvarado Nieves).[3][13]

† = deceased

Shadito Cruz †Ana Nieves †
Lady ApacheBrazo de Oro †El Brazo †Brazo de PlataBrazo Cibernético †Brazo de PlatinoSuper BrazoLa Alimaña
AramísLa MáscaraEl Brazo Jr.MáximoRobinSuper Brazo Jr.
Psycho ClownIndia SiouxBrazo Cibernético II
Carta Brava Jr.Goya Kong
Danah

Championships and accomplishments

Luchas de Apuestas record

See also: Luchas de Apuestas
Winner (wager) Loser (wager) Location Event Date Notes
Chessman (hair) El Brazo Live event Unknown Unknown  
Negro Navarro (hair) El Brazo (hair) Neza, Mexico State Live event Unknown  
Ringo Mendoza (hair) El Brazo (hair) Unknown Live event Unknown  
El Brazo (mask) Frankenstein I (mask) Mexico City, Mexico Live event October 26, 1980  
El Brazo (mask) Antares (mask) Mexico City, Mexico Live event December 6, 1981  
El Brazo (mask) Coloso (mask) Ixtlahuaca, Mexico State Live event September 5, 1983  
Los Brazos (masks)
(Brazo de Plata and El Brazo)		 Los Corsarios (masks)
(Corsario I and Corsario II)		 UWA Live event Mexico City, Mexico August 3, 1986 [17]
Los Villanos (mask)
(Villano I, Villano IV and Villano V)		 Los Brazos (mask)
(Brazo de Oro, Brazo de Plata and El Brazo)		 Monterrey, Nuevo León Live event August 6, 1986  
Los Brazos (hair)
(Brazo de Plata and El Brazo)		 El Verdugo and Hombre Bala (hair) Mexico City, Mexico Live event October 21, 1988  
El Brazo (hair) Black Man (hair) Naucalpan, Mexico State Live event February 7, 1990  
Villano I (hair) El Brazo (hair) Naucalpan, Mexico State Live event November 16, 1990  
Fabuloso Blondy (hair) El Brazo (hair) Mexico City, Mexico Live event March 12, 1993 [18]
El Brazo (hair) Brazo de Oro (hair) Mexico City, Mexico Live event March 31, 1995 [a]
Héctor Garza (hair) El Brazo (hair) Mexico City, Mexico Live event August 4, 1995  
Rambo (hair) El Brazo (hair) Mexico City, Mexico 1996 Homenaje a Salvador Lutteroth March 22, 1996  
El Brazo (hair) Enrique Vera (hair) Mexico City, Mexico Live event December 13, 1996  
Brazo de Oro, Brazo Cibernético and El Brazo (hair) Bestia Negra I, Bestia Negra II and Bestia Negra III (hair) Celaya, Guanajuato Live event April 21, 1999  
Mohicano I (hair) El Brazo (hair) Iztapalapa, Mexico City Live event June 2001  
El Zorro (hair) El Brazo (hair) Morelos Live event November 25, 2002  
Heavy Metal (hair) El Brazo (hair) Monterrey, Nuevo León Verano de Escándalo (2003) August 31, 2003 [b]
Angel Mensajero (mask) El Brazo (hair) Mexicali, Baja California Live event May 6, 2006 [c]
El Elegido (mask) El Brazo (hair) Veracruz Guerra de Tianes (2008) December 6, 2008 [d]
Hijo del Tirantes (hair) La Braza (hair) Victoria, Tamaulipas Live event September 7, 2013 [e]
El Chapulin Colorado(Hair) El Brazo (hair) Ciudad de Mexico Triplemania celestial 8

See also

Footnotes

  1. ^ The match also included Brazo de Plata
  2. ^ This was a steel cage match that also included El Zorro, Sangre Chicana, El Texano and Oscar Sevilla.
  3. ^ Captain's Fall Match; Captain Pirata Morgan was already bald so El Brazo was shaved instead.
  4. ^ The match also included Brazo de Plata and Electroshock.
  5. ^ This was a steel cage match that also included Black Mamba, Pimpinela Escarlata, Pasion Crystal, Polvo de Estrellas and Nygma.

References

  1. ^ a b c Meltzer, Dave (October 16, 2013). "El Brazo passes away". Wrestling Observer Newsletter/Figure Four Online. Retrieved October 16, 2013.
  2. ^ a b c Zellner, Kris (October 16, 2013). "Lucha Star El Brazo Passes Away". PWInsider. Retrieved October 16, 2013.
  3. ^ a b c "Los Brazos Familia Ejemplar / the Brazos a model Family". Lucha Libre> Masked Superstars of Mexican Wrestling. Distributed Art Publishers, Inc. 2005. pp. 184–190. ISBN 968-6842-48-9.
  4. ^ a b Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2000). "MEXICO/JAPAN: UWA World Tag Team Title". Wrestling Title Histories. Archeus Communications. p. 399. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
  5. ^ Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2000). "MEXICO: UWA Trios Title". Wrestling Title Histories. Archeus Communications. p. 399. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
  6. ^ Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2000). "MEXICO: WWA Tag Team Title". Wrestling Title Histories. Archeus Communications. p. 401. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
  7. ^ a b c d "La Braza". LuchalibreAAA.com. Archived from the original on October 23, 2012. Retrieved October 12, 2012.
  8. ^ a b Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2000). "MEXICO: WWA Trios Title". Wrestling Title Histories. Archeus Communications. p. 401. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
  9. ^ a b Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2000). "MEXICO: EMLL CMLL Trios title". Wrestling Title Histories. Archeus Communications. p. 396. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
  10. ^ "Asistencia Asesoria y Administracion Guerra de Titanes". wrestlingtitles.com. Retrieved February 19, 2009.
  11. ^ "En Ecatepec, se consuma la venganza de Octagón". Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (in Spanish). November 6, 2011. Archived from the original on November 17, 2011. Retrieved November 6, 2011.
  12. ^ a b "Noche de Leyenda en Triplemanía XXII". Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (in Spanish). August 18, 2014. Archived from the original on March 16, 2016. Retrieved August 18, 2014.
  13. ^ Madigan, Dan (2007). "A family Affair". Mondo Lucha Libre: the bizarre& honorable world of wild Mexican wrestling. HarperCollins Publishers. pp. 224–228. ISBN 978-0-06-085583-3.
  14. ^ Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2000). "MEXICO: National Trios title". Wrestling Title Histories. Archeus Communications. p. 394. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
  15. ^ Reyes, Eduardo (June 3, 2011). "Multifacético Campeón Welter WWS". MedioTiempo (in Spanish). MSN. Retrieved April 15, 2013.
  16. ^ "Se revelan los nuevos miembros del Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame 2021". January 14, 2022.
  17. ^ Centinela, Teddy (August 3, 2015). "En un día como hoy… 1986: En el Palacio de los Deportes, El Fantasma destapa a El Dorado… En El Toreo, pierde la máscara el futuro Savio Vega". Súper Luchas (in Spanish). Retrieved July 29, 2015.
  18. ^ Centinela, Teddy (February 12, 2015). "En un día como hoy… 1993: Fabuloso Blondie rapa a El Brazo… 1942: Los enormes Hipopótamo Wiggins y Globo Humano en una campal". Súper Luchas (in Spanish). Retrieved July 1, 2015.