Oziel Toscano Jasso (born December 20, 1973) is a Mexican professional wrestler, or Luchador as they are known in Spanish. He has achieved most success under the ring namesTarzan Boy and Toscano. After making his professional wrestling debut in 1993 he has worked for a number of notable professional wrestling promotions in and outside of Mexico such as Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre, AAA, the World Wrestling Federation, International Wrestling Revolution Group, and Promo Azteca. Toscano's ring character is that of a Latin hearth-throb. He has also competed under the ring names Armando Fernandez, Baby Toscano/Babe Toscano, Tarzan Toscano, and Zorro during his career.
Toscano made his in-ring debut on November 27, 1993, after being trained by local Monterrey trainer Blue Fish.[3] He initially adopted the ring name Babe Toscano (sometimes "Baby Toscano"), working for the local Federacion International de Lucha Libre (FILL) promotion.[3] By 1995 Toscano, Humberto Garza Jr., and El Region defeated Los Ku Klux Klan in a Lucha de Apuestas to unmask them, and then followed up with another victory a week later that forced Los Ku Klux Klan to be shaved bald as a result of losing a second Lucha de Apuestas match.[1]
Promo Azteca (1996–1997)
By late 1996, Toscano began working for Promo Azteca. Initially, he wrestled as "El Zorro", based on the fictional Zorro vigilante. The character was shortlived and soon after Jesús Martínez took over the role of El Zorro.[4] Once he gave up the El Zorro character, he began working as "Tarzan Boy", a mid-card tecnico character.[5]
World Wrestling Federation (1998–1999)
Toscano was one of several Mexican wrestlers who worked for the World Wrestling Federation's (WWF) Super Astros television program.[6] He was billed as "Armando Fernandez", portraying a variation of his Latin heart-throb character. His first match took place on August 24, 1998, as he defeated Sho Funaki, in a dark match before Shotgun Saturday Night.[7] His last match for the WWF was on March 15, 1999, as he defeated El Bandido on a Super Astros match.[8]
Tarzan was programmed with Satánico, while Bucanero and Último were programmed with Averno and Mephisto. The rudo turn proved to be a great move because Tarzan Boy was finally accepted as a headliner and the fans took to his heel turn since they had been booing him as a face. Tarzan later joined a couple of other stables. He joined La Furia del Norte with Héctor Garza, Perro Aguayo Jr., and El Terrible; and later joined Los Perros del Mal with Perro Aguayo Jr., Héctor Garza and others. During his career, Tarzan has won the hair of Satánico twice, Negro Casas, Pirata Morgan, Pierroth Jr., and Brazo de Plata, among others.[10][11][12][13][14] He has lost his hair twice, once to Shocker on September 19, 2003, at the Arena México, and more recently to Naito in the main event of the 2009 Infierno en el Ring event.[15][16]
On December 8, 2011, Toscano appeared at a press conference, where it was announced that he was joining CMLL's rival promotion AAA, becoming the third CMLL worker, after Héctor Garza and El Texano Jr., to leave the promotion for AAA within a 30-day period.[18] Toscano made his AAA debut on December 16 at Guerra de Titanes, forming a group known as El Consejo ("The Council") with former CMLL wrestler Texano Jr. and Máscara Año 2000 Jr.[19] On January 21, 2012, Mortiz and Semental joined El Consejo, pushing the storyline that the group was against both the tecnicos and rudos of AAA.[20][21]El Consejo's first big match in AAA took place on March 18 at Rey de Reyes, where Toscano, El Texano Jr., and Máscara Año 2000 Jr. defeated AAA representatives Dr. Wagner Jr., Electroshock and Heavy Metal, following interference from the stable's newest member, El Hombre de Negro.[22] On May 19, Toscano, El Texano Jr., and Máscara Año 2000 Jr. defeated Los Psycho Circus (Monster Clown, Murder Clown, and Psycho Clown), again after interference from El Hombre de Negro, to win the AAA World Trios Championship.[23] On June 16, El Hombre de Negro unmasked and revealed himself as Máscara Año 2000.[24] On December 21, Toscano seemingly quit El Consejo, after inadvertently costing the stable a non-title match against Los Psycho Circus, after which he came to blows with El Texano Jr.[25] However, he later claimed to still be a part of El Consejo, claiming that his problems were with the group's new leader, Silver King, while also trying to convince El Texano Jr. and Máscara Año 2000 Jr. to take his side in the matter.[26] On February 18, 2013, El Consejo lost the AAA World Trios Championship back to Los Psycho Circus, when Toscano turned on El Texano Jr.[27]
Toscano then formed a partnership with Alan Stone and El Elegido, named Los Mirreyes (loosely translated to "The Rich Kids").[28] On March 17, Toscano was eliminated from the 2013 Rey del Ring tournament, pinned by El Canek.[29] Toscano worked his last AAA match on December 20, 2013, teaming with El Hijo del Fantasma and Steve Pain in a loss to Fénix, Angélico, and Jack Evans.[30]
International Wrestling Revolution Group (2000–2019)
Starting in 2000, Toscano has worked for International Wrestling Revolution Group (IWRG) off-and-on since then.[31] His contracts with CMLL and AAA granted him the ability to work for independent circuit promotions for nights when CMLL or AAA did not have him scheduled for a show. On October 9, 2008, Toscano was one of ten wrestlers vying for a match for the IWRG Rey del Ring Championship in an elimination match, where each eliminated wrestler would remain around the ring with a leather strap to use. The match was won by Máscara Año 2000 Jr., with Toscano being the last man eliminated.[31]
In 2012, Toscano worked IWRG's annual Guerra de Sexos show, teaming with Texano Jr. to defeat Los Junior Dinamitas (Cien Caras Jr. and Máscara Año 2000 Jr.) on the undercard of the show.[32] The following year Toscano was one of 16 wrestlers risking their mask or hair at IWRG's Guerra del Golfo event. Toscano escaped the steel cage match without losing his hair, as Chico Che lost to Apolo Estrada Jr. at the end of the show.[33] He returned to IWRG in 2014, starting with that year's Guerra del Golfo event.[34] In late 2015 he returned to IWRG once more, this time for a month-long run of regular appearances and storyline feuds.[31] He was forced to team up with Diva Salvaje for a Ruleta de la Muerte (Roulette of death) tournament, where the loser in the final would be forced to be shaved bald. Toscano and Diva Salvaje defeated Danny Casas and X-Fly in the semi-final to keep their hair safe.[35] Following the tournament, Toscano became involved in a feud with Veneno, which led to Toscano defeating Veneno in a Lucha de Apuestas match in the main event of the 53rd Anniversary of Lucha Libre in Estado de México show.[36] In the following weeks, Toscano turned on Danny Casas, in a feud that led to Casas defeating Toscano in a Lucha de Apuestas match on January 3, 2016, at the IWRG 20th Anniversary Show. After keeping his hair safe twice at the end of 2015, he lost the match to Casas and was forced to have his hair shaved off.[37] Toscano would gain a measure of revenge several months later, at the 2016 Festival de las Máscaras, Toscano defeated Danny Casas, forcing Casas to have his hair shaved off.[38]
^ abc"Statistics for Professional wrestlers". PWI Presents: 2008 Wrestling Almanak and book of facts. Kappa Publications. p. 74. 2008 Edition.
^ abc"Pro Wrestling Illustrated 500 – 2006 65) Tarzan Boy". Pro Wrestling Illustrated. Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, United States: Sports and Entertainment publications LLC. August 2006. p. 31. October 2006.
^"Pro Wrestling Illustrated 500 - 2008: 71 Zorro". Pro Wrestling Illustrated. Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, USA: Sports and Entertainment publications LLC. August 2008. p. 69. October 2008.
^ ab"Número Especial – Lo mejor de la lucha libre mexicana durante el 2003" [Special Edition - the best of Mexican professional wrestling in 2003]. Súper Luchas (in Spanish). January 5, 2003. issue 40.
^"Número Especial – Lo mejor de la lucha libre mexicana durante el 2004" [Special Edition - the best of Mexican professional wrestling in 2004]. Súper Luchass (in Spanish). January 24, 2005. 91.
^Royal Duncan and Gary Will (2006). "Mexico: EMLL NWA World Light Heavyweight Title". Wrestling Title Histories (4th ed.). Archeus Communications. p. 389. ISBN0-9698161-5-4.
^"Leyenda de Azul 2003". ProWrestlingHistory.com. August 8, 2003. Retrieved January 19, 2020.
^Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2006). "Mexico: WWO Tag Team Title". Wrestling Title Histories (4th ed.). Archeus Communications. p. 401. ISBN0-9698161-5-4.
^"1997 Especial!" [1997 Special]. Box y Lucha (in Spanish). January 7, 1998. pp. 2–28. issue 2332.
^ abcd"1999 Especial!" [1999 Special]. Box y Lucha (in Spanish). January 10, 2000. pp. 2–28. issue 2436.
^Ocampo, Jorge (October 5, 2003). "Aniversario 70 de CMLL". Súper Luchas (in Spanish). issue 21.
^Lucha 2000 Staff (April 2006). "Arena México: 50 anos de Lucha Libre" [Arena Mexico: 50 years of professional wrestling]. Lucha 2000 (in Spanish). Especial 28.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)