Mije (born June 27, 1969) is a Mexican luchador, or professional wrestler working for the Mexican Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) promotion where he portrays a heel (known as a rudo in lucha libre, the antagonists of professional wrestling). He is one of the competitors in CMLL's Micro-Estrella ("Micro-Star") division where he competes with and against other wrestlers with dwarfism.
He started his career working as a Mascota, a smaller version of a regular-sized wrestler, paired with El Alebrije, working under the name Cuije in AAA. Cuije and El Alebrije would on occasion team up and have collectively won the AAA Mascot Tag Team Championship and holds the record for the longest reign with that championship. The duo also competed in Chikara's King of Trios tournament. He began working for CMLL in 2010 as part of the Los Invasores group. His name was changed to Mije in 2012 following a lawsuit against AAA over the copyright of the characters Cuije and El Alebrije.
In 1998, the Mexican professional wrestling promotionAAA introduced the wrestling character El Alebrije, a bright, colorful comedic character based on the Alebrije figures. AAA paired up El Alebrije with a mascota, a smaller version of the character portrayed by a little person, called Cuije.[2] The duo was often paired up against Monsther and his diminutive sidekick Chucky for a long-running storyline feud between the two teams.[2] During this period of time, Cuije rarely wrestled, with his first recorded match taking place in April 2002 in Monterrey, where he lost to Chucky.[3] The colorful duo teamed up with Máscara Sagrada and Mascarita Sagrada as part of the 2003 Verano de Escándalo ("Summer of Scandal") show, where they lost to Los Headhunters (I and II) and Los Mini Head Hunters (I and II).[4]
On August 20, 2004 Cuije and El Alebrije won the AAA Mascot Tag Team Championship by defeating champions Máscara Sagrada/Mascarita Sagrada as well as Monsther/Chucky and Psicosis/Mini Psicosis to win the title.[5][6] They would defend the championship in subsequent years, primarily against Chucky and Monsther.[6] Their final official AAA Mascota Tag Team Championship match took place on December 2, 2007, where they defeated Chucky and Monsther and the team of Guapito and Scorpio Jr.[6]
While Cuije and El Alebrije continued to use the names they were given by AAA, the company claimed that they owned the characters. To try and address this issue the team began working as "Pequeño Cuije" "Little Cuije") and "Gran Alebrije" ("Big Alebrije") when appearing for Extreme Air Wrestling.[10][11] El Alebrije and Cuije made their first appearance for the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based Chikara as part of the 2010 King of Trios tournament that ran from April 23 to 25 at The Arena in Philadelphia. For the tournament Cuije wrestled alongside Alebrije El Oriental as Team Perros del Mal. After defeating "Team Delicioso" (Curry Man, El Hijo del Ice Cream and Ice Cream Jr.) in their opening round match, Team Perros del Mal was eliminated from the tournament in the quarterfinals by Der Bruderschaft des Kreuzes (Ares, Claudio Castagnoli and Tursas).[12][13] Cuije and El Alebrije were never officially stripped of the AAA Mascot Tag Team Championship and on November 23, 2011, the team lost a match to El Pulpito and El Pulpo in Rio Bravo, Tamaulipa where Los Pulpos were given the championship belts, even though the match was not officially recognized by AAA.[14]
Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (2010–present)
On April 12, 2010 a contingent of former AAA wrestlers including Cuije, El Alebrije, Histeria, Psicosis II and Maniaco appeared on a Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) show in Puebla, Puebla. The group drove into the arena in a black SUV and attacked La Sombra, El Hijo del Fantasma, and La Máscara after they just finished wrestling. Brazo de Plata, Místico and Jon Strongman tried to help out but were kept away by CMLL rudosAverno, El Texano Jr., and El Terrible. Following the attack, the former AAA wrestlers returned to the SUV and left the arena.[15] After weeks of run-ins the group, dubbed Los Independientes or "The Independents" after the Independent circuit, wrestled their first match for CMLL. In their debut for CMLL on April 26, 2010, El Alebrije, Histeria, and Psicosis defeated El Hijo del Fantasma, La Máscara, and La Sombra as Cuije helped them cheat throughout the match.[16]
While Los Invasores disbanded the following year Alebrije and Cuije became a regular fixture on CMLL shows, often with Cuije clashing with fellow mascotasKeMonito and Zacarías el Perico, and brawls between any of the Mascotas usually drew a loud reaction from the crowd.[17][18][19] In January 2012, CMLL repackaged Cuije, Alebrije, and Histeria with new ring characters. Alebrije returned to performing under the Kraneo gimmick, while Cuije was renamed Mije, which was done because AAA claimed the copyright ownership of the names and characters.[20][21][22]
In early 2017 CMLL recruited Mije and fellow mascota Zacarías to help establish a Micro-Estrellas ("Micro-Stars") division, featuring only wrestlers with dwarfism. The first match of the Micro-Estrellas division took place on April 30, 2017, which saw Microman and El Gallito defeat Mije and Zacarías in a special featured match.[23][24] Mije and the Micro-Estrellas would appear on various CMLL shows, as well as making special appearances on the Mexican independent circuit, such as The Crash Lucha Libre,[25] Promociones El Cholo,[26] or Desastre Total Ultraviolento.[27]
For the first anniversary of the Micro-Estrellas division, CMLL held an eight-micros torneo cibernético elimination match, featuring the entire active Micro-Estrella division at the time.[28] Mije, Angelito, Chamuel, and El Gallito take on Microman, Átomo, Guapito, and Zacarías. In the end, Microman pinned Chamuel to win the tournament while Mije was the third man eliminated from the match.[29] For the 2018 Día de Muertos ("Day of the Dead") supercard show Mije, Chamuel, and Zacarías lost to Microman, Átomo, and El Gallito, two falls to one.[30][31][32] Four weeks later the Micro-Estrellas also appeared at CMLL's Leyendas Mexicanas ("Mexican Legends") show where Mije, Chamuel, and Zacarías lost to Microman, El Gallito, and Guapito in the second match of the night.[33][34] At the 2019 Homenaje a Dos Leyendas ("Homage to two legends") show Mije, Chamuel, Zacarías el Perico once again lost.[35]
Reception
Súper Luchas magazine described the Micro-Estrellas division debut match between Microman and El Gallito vs. Mije and Zacarías, as "an encounter with a fall that literally stole the night."[36]
^Traditionally Mexican sources will not report on the birth name of a masked wrestler who has never been unmasked in the ring.[1]
References
^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. ISBN978-0-06-085583-3.
^ ab"Enciclopedia de las Mascaras" [Mask Encyclopedia]. Alebrije y Cuije (in Spanish). Mexico City: Editorial Mina. July 2007. p. 17. Tomo I.
^"AAA Sin Limite". CageMatch. April 7, 2002. Retrieved December 13, 2019.
^ ab"Número Especial – Lo mejor de la lucha libre mexicana durante el 2004" [Special edition – the best of Mexican professional wrestling during 2004]. Súper Luchas (in Spanish). January 24, 2005. p. 22. issue 91.
^Arturo Rosas Plata (April 7, 2009). "Alebrije fuera de Triple A" [Alebrije out of Triple A]. Ovaciones (in Spanish). Mexico, D.F.: Editorial Ovaciones, S. A. de C.V. p. 18. Número 21550 Año LXII.
^Rodríguez, Arturo Wenceslao (April 13, 2010). "Ex AAA invade el CMLL" [Ex AAA invades CMLL] (in Spanish). Fuego en el Ring. Archived from the original on March 25, 2012. Retrieved April 13, 2010.
^Wenceslao Rodríguez, Arturo (April 27, 2010). "Alebrije y Los Vipers imponen su ley (1–0)" [Alebrije and the Vipers lay down the law (1–0)] (in Spanish). Fuego en el Ring. Archived from the original on July 2, 2015. Retrieved December 14, 2019.
^Rosas Plata, Arturo (November 3, 2018). "Sansón, bicampeón del inframundo" [Sansón, double champion of the underworld]. Ovaciones (in Spanish). Retrieved November 4, 2018.
^Lizarraga, Alfonso (November 3, 2018). "Sansón continúa como campeón del Inframundo" [Sansón continues as champion of the underworld]. The Gladiatores (in Spanish). Retrieved November 4, 2018.
^Rosas Platas, Arturo (December 1, 2018). "Es lucha libre Patrimonio Cultural Intangible CDMX" [Professional wrestling is an Intangible Cultural Heritage CDMX]. Ovaciones (in Spanish). Retrieved February 3, 2019.
