El Solar

“Solar”
El Solar making his entrance on November 30, 2018
Birth nameAnonymus
Born (1956-05-25) May 25, 1956 (age 68)
Zacoalco de Torres, Jalisco, Mexico
FamilyEl Solar II
El Hijo del Solar (Son)
WebsiteOfficial Facebook Page
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)Solar
Solar I
El Mariachi[1]
Billed height173 cm (5 ft 8 in)[1]
Billed weight89 kg (196 lb)[1]
Trained byToño Cruz
Los Calaveras (I and II)[1]
DebutMay, 1975[1]

El Solar (born May 26, 1956 in Zacoalco de Torres, Jalisco, Mexico) is the ring name of a Mexican Luchador enmascarado, or masked professional wrestler who has been working in Mexico since 1975. El Solar's real name is not a matter of public record, as is often the case with masked wrestlers in Mexico where their private lives are kept a secret from the wrestling fans.[2] His brother works as El Solar II and his son has been wrestling as El Hijo del Solar since 2008.

Professional wrestling career

El Solar trained under Toño Cruz and the brother team known as Los Calaveras prior to his in-ring debut in 1975.[1] The masked Solar quickly gained a reputation for being a very talented mat wrestler and was noted for his innovative and complex submission holds that he would employ during matches.[3] Early in his career he worked for Universal Wrestling Association (UWA), one of the two main wrestling companies in Mexico at the time. On May 29, 1977 El Solar defeated Villano III to win the UWA World Welterweight Championship, his first professional wrestling championship.[4] During that period of time the UWA teamed El Solar up with Súper Astro and Ultramán to form a very popular high flying trio known as Los Cadetes del Espacio ("The Space Cadets").[1] On July 16, 1978, 413 days after he won the UWA World Welterweight Championship, El Solar lost the title to Bobby Lee.[4] In 1978 or 1979 El Solar's younger brother made his wrestling debut as "Solar II", wearing almost identical ring gear and mask of his brother, with the debut El Solar often became known as "Solar I" to reduce confusion, even when he did not work in the same wrestling promotion as his brother.[5] On May 29, 1981 El Solar won a tournament for the vacant Mexican National Middleweight Championship, holding the title for 147 days before losing it to El Satánico.[6] On November 2, 1985 he defeated Cachorro Mendoza to win the UWA World Middleweight Championship, a title he would vacate in 1986 due to an injury.[7] He would later also hold the UWA World Junior Light Heavyweight Championship in the UWA, his last championship with the promotion before it closed.[8] In 1992 he became the first ever UWF Super Middleweight Champion, but only held the title for four days before losing it to Robin Hood.

Mano Negra (front) and El Solar on November 30, 2018

In 1994 El Solar began working for Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA), which had taken over the UWA's position as one of the two largest promotions in Mexico. In AAA he was given a new ring character, outfit and mask, becoming "El Mariachi" complete with a traditional sombrero and playing the trumpet as part of his entrance. He was teamed up with El Charro and El Mexicano to form the trio Los Folkloricos in AAA. The trio worked together in AAA before all three left AAA.[3] Following his stint at El Mariachi he resumed working as El Solar, working regularly for Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), Mexico's other major promotion. In CMLL he formed a team known as Los Soles de la Maldad ("The Evil Suns") teaming with El Hijo del Solitario.[5] In the early 2000s El Solar worked primarily on the Mexican Independent circuit, especially wrestling against another seasoned pro, Negro Navarro, wrestling in a "Maestro Series" all over Mexico, drawing crowds with their "old school" matches.[1][5] As part of their "Maestro Series" Solar introduced the South America Championship, a championship not backed by a promotion as such, but used to give an added air of prestige to matches between himself and El Solar. In 2008 El Solar was instrumental in the debut of his son, working as El Hijo del Solar (The Son of Solar). In 2011 Negro Navarro and El Solar began fighting over the FLMM Masters Championship, trading it back and forth on several occasions. El Solar was also one of the featured wrestlers in the short lived Lucha Libre USA show that ran for two seasons on MTV2, including winning the Lucha Libre USA Heavyweight Championship.[9] On January 18, 2013 El Solar worked for International Wrestling Revolution Group (IWRG) and participated in their annual El Protector tournament, a tag team tournament where an experienced veteran is teamed up with a rookie wrestler for the night. El Solar teamed up with Saruman, losing to Pantera and his son El Hijo del Pantera in the first round.[10][11] On May 3, 2015 he was part of IWRG's 2015 Festival de las Mascaras show, a show honoring legends of Lucha Libre, where he teamed up with Pantera I and Pantera II to defeat Canis Lupus, Eterno and Negro Navarro.[12] In early May it was announced that El Solar would be the third member of "Team MexLeyendas" in AAA's Lucha Libre World Cup tournament, teaming up with Blue Demon Jr. and Dr. Wagner Jr.[13]

Championships and accomplishments

  • Americas Middleweight Championship (1 time)
  • FLLM Masters Championship (3 times, current)[15]
  • UWF Super Middleweight Championship (1 time)

Luchas de Apuestas record

See also: Luchas de Apuestas
Winner (wager) Loser (wager) Location Event Date Notes
El Solar (mask) El Texano (hair) N/A Live event N/A [5]
Solar I (mask) El Hombre Lobo (mask) N/A Live event N/A [5]
El Solar (mask) Amenaza Blanca (mask) N/A Live event February 1, 1977 [5]
El Solar (mask) Dr. O'Borman (mask) Mexico City Live event December 9, 1979 [5]
El Solar and Halcón 78 (masks) Los Comandos (masks)
(Comando I and Comando II)		 Mexico City Live event August 3, 1980 [5]
El Solar (mask) Senior Lee (mask) Puebla, Puebla Live event May 6, 1983 [5]
Los Cadetes del Espacio (masks)
(El Solar, Super Astro and Ultraman)		 Los Temerarios (hair)
(Black Terry, Jose Luis Feliciano and Lobo Rubio)		 Naucalpan, State of Mexico Live event July 8, 1984 [5]
El Solar (mask) Hombre Verde (mask) Monterrey, Nuevo Leon Live event 1987 [5]
El Solar (mask) Destroyer (mask) Mexico City Live event March 5, 1988 [5]
El Solar (mask) Kraken (mask) Puebla, Puebla Live event July 2, 2001 [5]
El Solar (mask) Kiss (hair) Tijuana, Baja California Live event August 3, 2001 [5]
El Solar (mask) El Signo (hair) Pachuca, Hidalgo Live event December 17, 2002 [5]
El Solar (mask) Mano Negra (hair) Tulancingo, Hidalgo Live event September 19, 2010  

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h "Grandes Figuras de la Lucha Libre". El Solar (in Spanish). Portales, Mexico. November 2008. p. 55. 17.
  2. ^ Madigan, Dan (2007). "Okay... what is Lucha Libre?". Mondo Lucha A Go-Go: the bizarre & honorable world of wild Mexican wrestling. HarperCollins Publishers. pp. 29–40. ISBN 978-0-06-085583-3.
  3. ^ a b Various (2005). "Solar el Enmascarado Desulmrante / Solar the dazzling masked one". Lucha Libre: Masked Superstars of Mexican Wrestling. Distributed Art Publishers, Inc. pp. 52–57. ISBN 968-6842-48-9.
  4. ^ a b c Royal Duncan and Gary Will (2000). "Mexico: UWA Welterweight Title". Wrestling Title Histories. Archeus Communications. p. 398. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Enciclopedia staff (December 1, 2007). "Enciclopedia de las Mascaras". El Solar (in Spanish). Mexico. p. 19. Tomo V.
  6. ^ a b Royal Duncan and Gary Will (2000). "Mexico: National Middleweight Championship". Wrestling Title Histories. Archeus Communications. p. 392. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
  7. ^ a b Royal Duncan and Gary Will (2000). "Mexico: UWA Middleweight Title". Wrestling Title Histories. Archeus Communications. p. 399. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
  8. ^ a b Royal Duncan and Gary Will (2000). "Mexico: Universal Wrestling Association Junior Light Heavyweight Title". Wrestling Title Histories. Archeus Communications. p. 397. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
  9. ^ a b Dark Angelita (October 21, 2013). "Solar campeón en Estados Unidos". Súper Luchas (in Spanish). Retrieved October 21, 2013.
  10. ^ Mejia Eguiluz, Diego (January 18, 2013). "Carta Brava júnior y X-Fly, ganadores del Protector 2013". The Gladiatores (in Spanish). Retrieved January 24, 2013.
  11. ^ Reyes Ruiz, Eduardo (January 17, 2013). "Para el Mosco X-Fly y Carta Brava Jr el Protector 2013". Estrellas del Ring (in Spanish). Retrieved January 24, 2013.
  12. ^ Mejía Eguiluz, Diego (May 3, 2015). "Hijo de Dos Caras se echa a los hermanos Wagner encima" (in Spanish). The Gladiatores Magazine. Retrieved May 7, 2015.
  13. ^ Lizárraga, Alfonso (May 7, 2015). "Se calientan motores para el mundial de lucha libre" (in Spanish). The Gladiatores Magazine. Retrieved May 7, 2015.
  14. ^ "September 1998 Copa Higher Power Tournament".
  15. ^ "FLLM Masters Championship « Titles Database « CAGEMATCH - The Internet Wrestling Database".
  16. ^ "2001: Los Campeones". Box y Lucha Magazine (in Spanish). January 13, 2002. pp. 15–17. issue 2540.