Virus (wrestler)

Virus
Birth name Ricardo Amezquita Cardeño
Born (1968-12-09) December 9, 1968[1]
Mexico City, Mexico[1]
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s) Bird Boy
Piratita Morgan
Damiancito El Guerrero
Damiancito
Virus
Billed height 1.65 m (5 ft 5 in)[1]
Billed weight 79 kg (174 lb)[1]
Trained by El Fuerza Aérea[1]
Debut April 20, 1986[1]

Ricardo Amezquita Carreño (born December 9, 1968) is a Mexican Luchador, or professional wrestler best known under the ring name, Virus. Amezquita originally worked in Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre's (CMLL) Minis division as Piratita Morgan, and held the CMLL World Mini-Estrella Championship under the name Damiancito El Guerrero, but was later moved into the regular division and given the name "Virus". He has served as one of the main trainers for CMLL's wrestling school, having had a hand in training hundreds of students over the years.

As Virus, Amezquita has held the CMLL Japan Super Lightweight Championship, CMLL World Super Lightweight Championship and the Mexican National Lightweight Championship as well as winning CMLL's annual Reyes del Aire tournament in 2007. In the Mini-Estrellas division he won the CMLL World Mini-Estrella Championship. He is currently the leader of Los Cancerberos del Infierno, a group consisting of himself, Raziel and Cancerbero and previously also included Euforia and Pólvora.

Professional wrestling career

Ricardo Amezquita made his professional wrestling debut on April 20, 1986, under the ring name "Bird Boy", an enmascarado, or masked wrestler, with a bird inspired ring persona.[2] Because of his small size he mainly worked on the low end of the card in the Universal Wrestling Association promotion. On July 27, 1991 Bird Boy defeated Super Archie to win the UWA World Featherweight Championship.[3] He would hold the Featherweight title for over a year, losing it on August 25, 1992 to El Coralillo.[3]

Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre

Amezquita had already begun working with Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) before he lost the UWA World Featherweight Championship, and became CMLL Exclusive after dropping the title.[2] in 1992 then-CMLL booker Antonio Peña left CMLL to form his own promotion, Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA); Peña had been the mastermind behind the CMLL Minis division and most of the Minis in CMLL decided to leave with Peña. Amezquita and a number of other wrestlers were brought in to replenish the division.[4] Working in the Mini division does not mean that Amezquita has dwarfism, it is not uncommon for very short wrestlers to work in the "Mini" division in Mexico.[5] Ricardo Amezquita was one of the wrestlers brought into CMLL to replenish the division after losing most of their workers and was given the ring persona of Piratita Morgan, a mini version of Pirata Morgan who worked in CMLL at the time and replaced the original Piratita Morgan that had left CMLL to join AAA.[4] In 1994 Pirata Morgan left CMLL to join AAA as well, negating the need to have the smaller version working in CMLL. Instead he was given the name "Damiancito El Guerrero" after CMLL wrestler "Damian El Guerrero". When he became Damiancito Amezquita began working unmasked.[6] In 1995 he toured Japan and worked for the W*ING promotion where he was billed simply as "Damiancito", the mini version of Damián 666 who worked for W*ING as well, subsequently he has mistakenly been described as working as "Damiancito" in CMLL as well, but it was only in Japan that he worked as a mini of Damián 666.[7] After returning from Japan he defeated Máscarita Mágica to win the CMLL World Mini-Estrella Championship on February 27, 1996.[4] The storyline between the two Mini-Estrellas later led to Damiancito defeating Mascarita Mágica in a Lucha de Apuestas, or "bet match", where Mascarita Mágica was forced to have all his hair shaved off as a result of losing the match.[6] In late 1997 CMLL booked an eight-man elimination match where the winner would earn the right to tag team with "regular sized" wrestlers. Damiancito El Guerrero defeated Cicloncito Ramírez, Tritoncito, Pequeño Cochisse, Platita, Guerrerito del Future, Pequeño Sayama an Fierito to earn the right to work with "regular sized" wrestlers.[8]

Virus

In early 1998 he made his debut as part of the regular sized division under the name "Virus", no mention was made that Virus used to work as Damiancito El Guerrero or the fact that he still held the CMLL World Mini-Estrella Championship. On May 7, 1998 Virus defeated El Oriental to win the vacant Mexican National Lightweight Championship, a title CMLL had brought back to help showcase smaller workers such as Virus.[9] After winning the title Virus worked a storyline feud against El Oriental, centering on Virus' Mexican Lightweight title and Orientál's Districto Federatl Lightweight title. Despite several title matches neither belt changed hands during the course of the storyline.[10] By 1999 CMLL decided that it was time to crown a new CMLL World Mini-Estrella Champion as Virus was still technically the champion despite not having worked as a mini for over a year. Instead of making Virus return to the Minis division to lose the title CMLL decided to give the championship to Ultimo Dragoncito and then subsequently announce that Ultimo Dragoncito had "won" the title on an undisclosed day in October, 1999.[4] In 1999 to 2000 CMLL made several tours of Japan to establish a "CMLL Japan" branch, Virus was one of the workers who regularly toured Japan and would capture the CMLL Japan Super Lightweight Championship on November 25, 1999.[11][12] On August 6, 2000 Virus lost the CMLL Japan Super Lightweight title to Ricky Marvin and then on November 29, 2000 also lost the Mexican National Lightweight title to Ricky Marvin.[9][12] Virus continued to show that while he may not have the size to be a headliner he had a knack for helping young wrestlers improve by working with them in the ring.[11]

On August 21, 2001 Virus participated in his first major CMLL tournament, the Torneo Gran Alternativa ("Great Alternative Tournament") where he was teamed up with Blue Panther. In the first round they defeated the team of Alan Stone and Mr. Niebla but lost to Olímpico and Sicodelico Jr., who would go on to win the entire tournament.[13] After having been a Rudo (a Heel, or bad guy) his entire career Virus was turned Tecnico (Face or good guy) in 2002. In 2003 he took part in a series of matches between CMLL tecnicos, himself, Ricky Marvin and Volador, Jr., and a group called "the Havana Brothers" based out of southern California that consisted of Rocky Romero, Ricky Reyes and T.J. Perkins). The well received series of matches between the six led CMLL to create the CMLL World Super Lightweight Championship. Rocky Romero became the first champion but lost the title to Virus on November 14, 2003.[14] Virus held the title for 392 days before losing it back to Rocky Romero.[15] In 2005 Virus was turned Rudo once more and generally used to help young, high-flying tecnicos get more experience. Over the summer of 2006 Virus represented CMLL in All Japan Pro Wrestling's Junior Heavyweight League tournament. He ended up winning only one match, defeating MAZADA but lost to Katsuhiko Nakajima and Katsushi Takemura, failing to advance in the tournament.[16] On October 2, 2007 Virus won CMLL's recurring Reyes del Aire ("Kings of the Air") tournament outlasting 11 other competitors in a torneo cibernetico, lastly eliminating Valiente to win the match.[17]

When El Satánico started working a reduced schedule in late 2008 Virus became the unofficial leader of Los Infernales, teaming with Euforia and Nosferatu.[18] WIth Satánico reduced schedule Virus also took over a large portion of the training that El Satánico had been responsible for earlier. In a later interview he commented that he always wanted to become a trainer, he was just surprised at how quickly it happened.[11]

Los Cancerberos del Infierno

At a CMLL press conference on November 19, 2009 it was officially announced that Virus was the leader of a new CMLL group called Los Cancerberos del Infierno (Spanish for "the Infernal Cerberos") a group that beyond Virus, consisted of Euforia and Pólvora as well as two new characters Cancerbero and Raziel. Cancerbero and Raziel previously worked under the ring names Messala and Caligula, otherwise known as Los Romanos, a low card Rudo tag team.[19]

In late 2010 Mini-Estrella Demus 3:16 won a tournament to earn the right to work in the regular male division instead.[20] Once promoted Demus 3:16 joined Los Cancereros and almost immediately started to develop friction with Virus, as Demus 3:16 tried to take over as the leader of the group. The storyline came to a conclusion on March 11, 2011, when Virus defeated Demus 3:16 in a Luchas de Apuestas match, which let Virus keep his position as the leader of Los Cancerberos del Infierno and send Demus back into the Mini-Estrellas division.[21]

On June 7, 2011, Virus defeated Guerrero Maya, Jr. in a tournament final to regain the World Super Lightweight Championship.[22] As a result of his title win Virus participated in the 2011 Universal Championship tournament, where he lost to Averno in the first round.[23] In early 2012 Virus began working an extended storyline against fellow rudo Loco Max, as part of an ongoing rivalry between Los Cancerberos and Los Guerreros Tuareg. On March 12 Virus defeated Loco Max in a Lucha de Apuestas match, forcing Loco Max to have his hair shaved off.[24]

Over the summer of 2012 Euforia left Los Cancerberos to join the Los Guerreros del Infierno group, and late 2012 Pólvora also left the group, teaming up with Rey Escorpión and Dragón Rojo, Jr. to form a new trio known as Los Revolucionarios del Terror.[25]After a four-year reign, including eight successful championship defenses, Virus lost the title to Dragon Lee on April 5, 2015.[26] In January 2016, Virus made his debut for New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) by taking part in the CMLL and NJPW co-produced Fantastica Mania 2016 tour.[27] On the fifth show, he unsuccessfully challenged Dragon Lee for the CMLL World Lightweight Championship.[28]

Working as a trainer

Over the years Amezquita has worked as one of the main trainers for CMLL's wrestling school in Mexico City and thus has hand a hand in training a number of men, women and Mini-Estrellas that work for CMLL or for other Mexican wrestling promotions. Beyond running the school during the day his training continues on CMLL's shows where he uses his rudo role to help younger, inexperienced or lower ranked wrestlers gain more in ring experience and further their training.[1] Some of the wrestlers he has a significant hand in training includes Mini-Estrellas Acero, Aéreo, Mercurio and Pentagoncito, female wrestlers Goya Kong, Lady Afrodita and Skadi.[29] He also helped train several of the male wrestlers currently working for CMLL include Akuma, Blue Panther Jr., El Cuatrero, Disturbio, Flyer, Gran Guerrero, The Panther, Pólvora, Puma, Sanson, Soberano Jr., Star Jr. and Tiger.[29]

Through his behind-the-scene role as trainer Amequita he also got the opportunity to act as the on-sceen coach a team of participants for CMLL's En Busca de un Ídolo tournament in 2013, 2014 and 2015, helping them not only improve their wrestling skills but also their stamina, wrestling characters and interactions with the crowd.[30][31][32] In 2013 Virus team member Vangelis won the tournament,[33] and in 2015 "Team Virus" member Boby Zavala won the tournament.[34]

Championships and accomplishments

Luchas de Apuestas record

Winner (wager) Loser (wager) Location Event Date Notes
Super Archie (mask)Bird Boy I (mask)Apatlaco, Mexico StateLive eventUnknown[2]
Damiancito El Guerrero (hair)Mascarita Mágica (hair)Mexico City, MexicoLive event1996[6]
Virus (hair)El Mariachi (hair)UnknownLive event2000[35]
Virus (hair)Kato Kung Lee (hair)Oaxaca, Oaxaca, MexicoLive eventSeptember 2, 2001[36]
Virus (hair)Tony Rivera (hair)Mexico City, MexicoLive eventAugust 5, 2007[37]
Virus (hair, leadership[Note 1])Demus 3:16 (hair, division[Note 2])Mexico City, MexicoLive eventMarch 11, 2011[21]
Virus (hair)Loco Max (hair)Puebla, Puebla, MexicoLive eventMarch 12, 2012[24]

Notes

  1. ↑ If he lost Demus 3:16 would become leader of Los Cancerberos.
  2. ↑ If Demus lost he would return to the Mini-Estrellas division.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Pro Wrestling Illustrated 500 – 2012: 242 Virus". Pro Wrestling Illustrated. Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, United States: Sports and Entertainment publications LLC. September 26, 2012. p. 41. October 2012.
  2. 1 2 3 Enciclopedia staff (July 2007). "Enciclopedia de las Mascaras". Bird Boy (in Spanish). Mexico. p. 29. Tomo I.
  3. 1 2 3 Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2000). "Mexico: UWA Featherweight Title". Wrestling Title Histories. Archeus Communications. p. 398. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2000). "Mexico: EMLL CMLL Midget (miniestrella) Title". Wrestling Title Histories. Archeus Communications. p. 396. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
  5. ↑ Madigan, Dan (2007). "You ain't seen nothing yet: the minis". Mondo Lucha Libre: the bizarre & honorable world of wild Mexican wrestling. HarperCollins Publisher. pp. 209–212. ISBN 978-0-06-085583-3.
  6. 1 2 3 "Enciclopedia de las Mascaras". Mascarita Magica (in Spanish). Mexico City, Mexico. October 2007. p. 25. Tomo III.
  7. ↑ "1995 Especial!". Box y Lucha Magazine (in Spanish). January 9, 1996. pp. 2–28. issue 2228.
  8. ↑ Manuel Rivera (January 12, 2007). "Entrevista por Virus". SuperLuchas (in Spanish). p. 25. 301.
  9. 1 2 3 Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2000). "Mexico: National Lightweight Title". Wrestling Title Histories. Archeus Communications. p. 393. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
  10. ↑ "1998 Especial!". Box y Lucha Magazine (in Spanish). January 9, 1999. pp. 2–28. issue 2348.
  11. 1 2 3 "Entravista con Virus: El El Pequeño Gran Maestro". Lucha 2000 (in Spanish). June 2007. pp. 18–20. 361.
  12. 1 2 3 Box y Lucha staff (January 9, 2001). "2000 Especial!". Box y Lucha Magazine (in Spanish). pp. 2–20. 2488.
  13. ↑ "CMLL Gran Alternativa #8". Pro Wrestling History. August 14, 2002. Retrieved September 3, 2009.
  14. 1 2 SuperLuchas staff (January 5, 2003). "Número Especial - Lo mejor de la lucha libre mexicana durante el 2003". Super Luchas (in Spanish). 40.
  15. ↑ SuperLuchas staff (January 24, 2005). "Número Especial - Lo mejor de la lucha libre mexicana durante el 2004". Super Luchas (in Spanish). 91.
  16. ↑ "Junior Champion Carnival 2006". pro wrestling history. Retrieved December 11, 2016.
  17. 1 2 "Reyes del Aire 2007". Pro Wrestling History. October 2, 2007. Retrieved November 19, 2012.
  18. ↑ "Lo Mejor de la Lucha Libre Mexicana 2008". SuperLuchas (in Spanish). January 6, 2009. 296. Retrieved July 11, 2009.
  19. ↑ Maquina, Alva (November 19, 2009). "CMLL- Los Hijos del Averno y No Limit firmaron los contratos para Sin Salida – Se presentan los Cancerberos – Flash ahora será Fuego" (in Spanish). SuperLuchas Magazine. Retrieved November 20, 2009.
  20. ↑ Ruiz Glez, Alex (August 25, 2010). "Arena México (Resultados martes 24 de agosto) – Demus 3:16 gana el torneo bicentenario de minis y se une con los "grandes"" (in Spanish). SuperLuchas Magazine. Retrieved March 12, 2011.
  21. 1 2 Ruiz Glez, Alex (March 12, 2011). "Arena México (resultados 11 de Marzo) Virus gana la cabellera de Demus 3:16 y lo regresa a la categoría mini" (in Spanish). SuperLuchas Magazine. Retrieved March 12, 2011.
  22. ↑ "Virus nuevo Campeón Ligero del CMLL". MedioTiempo (in Spanish). MSN. June 8, 2011. Retrieved January 26, 2016.
  23. ↑ "Averno es el otro finalista". Récord (in Spanish). September 10, 2011. Archived from the original on July 27, 2012. Retrieved September 10, 2011.
  24. 1 2 Acosta, Carlos R. (March 13, 2012). "Virus rapa a Loco Max en Puebla" (in Spanish). SuperLuchas Magazine. Retrieved March 13, 2012.
  25. ↑ Boutwell, Josh (July 14, 2012). "Viva La Raza! Lucha Weekly". WrestleView. Archived from the original on July 23, 2012. Retrieved July 15, 2012.
  26. ↑ Salazar López, Alexis (April 6, 2015). "Resultados Arena México Domingo 5 de Abril '15". Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (in Spanish). Archived from the original on April 6, 2015. Retrieved April 6, 2015.
  27. ↑ ミスティコ、アトランティス、ドラゴン・リーも上陸！『Fantastica Mania 2016』参加メンバー決定！ 6選手がイッキに初参戦！. New Japan Pro Wrestling (in Japanese). November 17, 2015. Archived from the original on November 18, 2015. Retrieved January 23, 2016.
  28. ↑ "NJPW Presents CMLL Fantastica Mania 2016". New Japan Pro Wrestling (in Japanese). Retrieved January 23, 2016.
  29. 1 2 "Virus > Wrestlers Trained". Cagematch. Retrieved December 11, 2016.
  30. ↑ Valdés, Apolo (May 9, 2013). "En Busca de un Ídolo, segunda temporada". MedioTiempo (in Spanish). MSN. Retrieved May 10, 2013.
  31. ↑ Valdés, Apolo (March 26, 2014). "Lista la tercera edición de 'En Busca de un Ídolo'". MedioTiempo (in Spanish). Retrieved August 3, 2014.
  32. ↑ Valdés, Apolo (May 27, 2015). "Listos los participantes de En Busca de un Ídolo". MedioTiempo (in Spanish). MSN. Retrieved May 27, 2015.
  33. ↑ "Resultados Arena México Viernes 12 de Julio '13". Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (in Spanish). July 13, 2013. Archived from the original on July 14, 2013. Retrieved July 14, 2013.
  34. ↑ "Rumbo al Aniversario, La Sombra y Atlantis calientan duelo". MedioTiempo (in Spanish). MSN. August 22, 2015. Retrieved December 11, 2016.
  35. ↑ "2000 Especial!". Box y Lucha Magazine (in Spanish). January 9, 2001. pp. 2–28. issue 2488.
  36. ↑ "2001 Especial!". Box y Lucha Magazine (in Spanish). January 13, 2002. pp. 2–28. Issue 2540.
  37. ↑ "2007 Lo Mejor de la Lucha Mexicana". SuperLuchas (in Spanish). December 26, 2007. issue 244. Retrieved July 11, 2009.
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