Antonio Peña
Encyclopedia
Antonio Hipolito Peña Herrada (June 13, 1951 – October 5, 2006) was the founder of the Mexican
professional wrestling promotion
Asistencia Asesoría y Administración
(AAA) in 1992, which today is the largest wrestling promotion in Mexico. Peña's promotion reached its height of popularity in the early 1990s before the downturn of the Mexican economy
. Peña's AAA is the promotion largely responsible for bringing the "Lucha" style to the United States, with such wrestlers as Rey Misterio Jr, Psicosis, La Parka, Konnan
and others. Peña was the former head booker of Empressa Mexicana de Lucha Libre
(EMLL) before forming AAA. Peña began his professional wrestling career as a wrestler or Luchador
, as they're called in Spanish
, working under various masks
as El Genio, Espectro, Jr., Kahoz, Espectro de Ultratumba and Dalia Negra before retirning in 1986 to work with the promotional side of wrestling.
(masked) character El Genio (Spanish
for "The Genius") on April 8, 1974. After wrestling as El Genio for a couple of months Peña got his uncle's blessing to adopt the Espectro name and began wrestling as Espectro, Jr.. Peña wore the "venom green" mask and trunks like Espectro, but unlike the original he wrestled barefoot most of the time. As Espectro, Jr. Peña blended a good solid wrestling foundation with various psychological antics to create a character, while being a hated rudo (Heel
or "bad guy") character drew the crowd’s attention and soon he found himself challenging the top wrestlers of the 1970s for both the Mexican National Welterweight Championship
and the Mexican National Middleweight Championship
, two of the top championships in Mexico at the time. While a gifted performer in the ring backstage he was described as more of a quiet, thoughtful person who would often talk about how he would change Lucha Libre and add more character and showmanship to it. In 1980 Peña decided to change wrestling personas, giving the Espectro, Jr. outfit and name to his cousin Jose Elías Pinceno, who has wrestled as Espectro, Jr. since then. Instead of working as Espectro, Jr. Peña came up with a totally original character of his own called Kahoz (sometimes spelled Kahos or Khaoz), a sinister masked rudo character who invoked various dark spirits as part of his pre-match ritual. Many have likened the Kahoz character to one of Lucha Libre original showmen, Murciélago Velázquez. Kahoz would often carry a bag of live pidgeons to the ring with him, releasing them at his opponent and then making it seem like he ripped the head of one of the pidgeons and smeared the fake blood all over himself or his opponent. To Peña the Kahoz character was not about winning championships, but about the psychology of the character and actually scaring the audience, so while he did not win any titles as Kahoz it was considered a huge success and he main evented shows all over Mexico. While Peña had the mind for wrestling his body could not handle the heavy main event schedule that he wrestled as Kahoz and by 1985 he gave up the gimmick to work as Espectro de Ultratumba ("The Ghost from Beyond the grave"), giving the Kahoz gimmick to Astro Rey instead. Astro Rey's Kahoz was nowhere nearly as important nor as successful as Peña as Astro Rey lacked the charisma and theatrics of the original. Peña only worked as Espectro de Ultratumba for a short period of time, giving the gimmick to his cousin in 1986. Peña tried working as "Dalia Negra" but his body could not take the strain, forcing Peña to retire in 1986. Peña would briefly wrestle as "the Rose" in 1994 but only worked a handful of matches. Peña's final match at the 2001 Guerra de Titans
where he wrestled, and lost to Cibernético
.
(EMLL), Mexico's oldest professional wrestling promotion, to work in their public relations department. Over the next couple of years Peña began booking shows for EMLL and started writing storylines for the company. Peña and head booker Juan Herrera worked together to capitalize on the 1980s television boom, making EMLL the top promotion in its time. Peña and Herrera were also the masterminds of EMLL's "Rebranding" as Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre
(CMLL) when EMLL withdrew from the National Wrestling Alliance
in 1989. Peña was the creative force behind CMLL's Mini-Estrella
division and wanted to feature more non-heavyweight wrestlers in the main events. Herrera wanted to maintain the old style of booking with heavyweights such as Atlantis, El Dandy
and El Satánico
, while Peña wanted to feature younger, faster moving wrestlers such as Konnan
, Octagón
or Máscara Sagráda
. In the end CMLL owner Paco Alonso
decided to go with Herrera's booking style.
(AAA) promotion. While Peña technically owned the promotion Televisa owns the rights to the AAA name. In 1995 during a financial crisis Televisa sold all rights to AAA to Peña who formed Promociones Antonio Peña. S.A. (PAPSA). Peña's promotion featured many of the young wrestlers that Peña wanted CMLL to push as they chose to leave CMLL to join AAA. AAA's pinnacle came in 1993 when they drew the largest wrestling crowd in Mexico ever as they staged TripleMania I
in front of 48.000 paying fans. Over the years Peña managed to establish AAA as a viable alternative to CMLL, making CMLL and AAA "the Big Two" in Lucha Libre.
were both forced to change their ring names when Peña took legal action to bar both of them from using those names in Mexico and gave the gimmicks to two AAA wrestlers. Psicosis now wrestles as "Nicho el Millonario" in Mexico, while the man that took over the gimmick, Psicosis II
now works on the independent circuit
. The original La Parka now wrestles as L.A. Park while AAA has their own La Parka
working for them. Peña also tried to prevent the original Máscara Sagráda
from using the name and outfit, but in the end Sagrága won the court case and the rights to the name. Peña often "recycled" the ring personas, giving the mask and outfit to a new wrestler if the previous one left AAA, for instance when Super Crazy
left AAA Peña gave the Histeria
outfit to another wrestler.
. In the days following Peña's death several wrestling promotions in Japan that AAA had worked with over the years paid tribute to the promoter. Peña's death left a void in AAA, he had always been the man in charge and always had the final word. In the years up to his death, Peña had brought in his brother-in-law Joaquin Roldan and Roldan's son Dorian Roldan and taught them the business of running a wrestling promotion.
AAA holds a tribute show to Antonio Peña each year around the anniversary of his death, as part of the Antonio Peña Memorial Shows AAA holds the Copa Antonio Peña
, a tournament in honor of Peña. From 2009 onwards the annual event has been known as Héroes Inmortales ("Immortal Heroes").
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
professional wrestling promotion
Professional wrestling promotion
A professional wrestling promotion is a company or business that regularly performs shows involving professional wrestling. Promotion also describes a role which entails management, advertising and logistics of running a wrestling event...
Asistencia Asesoría y Administración
Asistencia Asesoría y Administración
Asistencia Asesoría y Administración is a lucha libre professional wrestling promotion based in Mexico...
(AAA) in 1992, which today is the largest wrestling promotion in Mexico. Peña's promotion reached its height of popularity in the early 1990s before the downturn of the Mexican economy
1994 economic crisis in Mexico
The 1994 Economic Crisis in Mexico, widely known as the Mexican peso crisis, was caused by the sudden devaluation of the Mexican peso in December 1994....
. Peña's AAA is the promotion largely responsible for bringing the "Lucha" style to the United States, with such wrestlers as Rey Misterio Jr, Psicosis, La Parka, Konnan
Konnan
Carlos Santiago Espada Moises , also known as Charles Ashenoff and better known by his ring name, Konnan, is a Cuban professional wrestler and rapper of Puerto Rican descent...
and others. Peña was the former head booker of Empressa Mexicana de Lucha Libre
Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre
Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre is a Lucha Libre-style professional wrestling promotion based in Mexico City while running cards in Guadalajara, Puebla and elsewhere in central and southern Mexico...
(EMLL) before forming AAA. Peña began his professional wrestling career as a wrestler or Luchador
Lucha libre
Lucha libre is a term used in Mexico, and other Spanish-speaking countries, for a form of professional wrestling that has developed within those countries...
, as they're called in Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
, working under various masks
Wrestling mask
A Wrestling mask is a fabric based mask that some professional wrestlers wear as part of their in-ring persona or gimmick. Professional wrestlers have been using masks as far back as 1915 and they are still widely used today, especially in Lucha Libre in Mexico.-History:In 1915 a North American...
as El Genio, Espectro, Jr., Kahoz, Espectro de Ultratumba and Dalia Negra before retirning in 1986 to work with the promotional side of wrestling.
Biography
Antonio Peña grew up in a wrestling family in Mexico City, Mexico. His father wrestled as the Luchador Ponzoña and his uncle was the famous original Espectro, a big star in the 1950s and 1960s. Peña was trained by Rojas, Isias Rodríguez, Toño Hernández and his uncle before making his professional wrestling debut in 1974 at the age of 18.Professional wrestling career
Peña began his wrestling career as the enmascaradoWrestling mask
A Wrestling mask is a fabric based mask that some professional wrestlers wear as part of their in-ring persona or gimmick. Professional wrestlers have been using masks as far back as 1915 and they are still widely used today, especially in Lucha Libre in Mexico.-History:In 1915 a North American...
(masked) character El Genio (Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
for "The Genius") on April 8, 1974. After wrestling as El Genio for a couple of months Peña got his uncle's blessing to adopt the Espectro name and began wrestling as Espectro, Jr.. Peña wore the "venom green" mask and trunks like Espectro, but unlike the original he wrestled barefoot most of the time. As Espectro, Jr. Peña blended a good solid wrestling foundation with various psychological antics to create a character, while being a hated rudo (Heel
Heel (professional wrestling)
In professional wrestling, a heel is a villain character. In non-wrestling jargon, heels are the "bad guys" in professional wrestling; the term heel coming from the term take to you heels, which means to run away which heel champions tend to do to avoid losing their titles.storylines...
or "bad guy") character drew the crowd’s attention and soon he found himself challenging the top wrestlers of the 1970s for both the Mexican National Welterweight Championship
Mexican National Welterweight Championship
The Mexican National Welterweight Championship is a Mexican professional wrestling championship created and sanctioned by Comisión de Box y Lucha Libre Mexico D.F. . While the commission sanctions the title, it does not promote the events at which the title is defended...
and the Mexican National Middleweight Championship
Mexican National Middleweight Championship
The Mexican National Middleweight Championship is a national Mexican professional wrestling championship controlled by a "National title" controlled by the "Comisión de Box y Lucha Libre Mexico D.F." , which regulates all matches where the title is defended...
, two of the top championships in Mexico at the time. While a gifted performer in the ring backstage he was described as more of a quiet, thoughtful person who would often talk about how he would change Lucha Libre and add more character and showmanship to it. In 1980 Peña decided to change wrestling personas, giving the Espectro, Jr. outfit and name to his cousin Jose Elías Pinceno, who has wrestled as Espectro, Jr. since then. Instead of working as Espectro, Jr. Peña came up with a totally original character of his own called Kahoz (sometimes spelled Kahos or Khaoz), a sinister masked rudo character who invoked various dark spirits as part of his pre-match ritual. Many have likened the Kahoz character to one of Lucha Libre original showmen, Murciélago Velázquez. Kahoz would often carry a bag of live pidgeons to the ring with him, releasing them at his opponent and then making it seem like he ripped the head of one of the pidgeons and smeared the fake blood all over himself or his opponent. To Peña the Kahoz character was not about winning championships, but about the psychology of the character and actually scaring the audience, so while he did not win any titles as Kahoz it was considered a huge success and he main evented shows all over Mexico. While Peña had the mind for wrestling his body could not handle the heavy main event schedule that he wrestled as Kahoz and by 1985 he gave up the gimmick to work as Espectro de Ultratumba ("The Ghost from Beyond the grave"), giving the Kahoz gimmick to Astro Rey instead. Astro Rey's Kahoz was nowhere nearly as important nor as successful as Peña as Astro Rey lacked the charisma and theatrics of the original. Peña only worked as Espectro de Ultratumba for a short period of time, giving the gimmick to his cousin in 1986. Peña tried working as "Dalia Negra" but his body could not take the strain, forcing Peña to retire in 1986. Peña would briefly wrestle as "the Rose" in 1994 but only worked a handful of matches. Peña's final match at the 2001 Guerra de Titans
Guerra de Titanes (2001)
The 2001 Guerra de Titanes was the fifth Guerra de Titanes professional wrestling show promoted by Asistencia Asesoría y Administración . The show took place on November 23, 2001 in Mexico City, Mexico. The Main event featured a "Four Way" Elimination Luchas de Apuestas which meant that the loser...
where he wrestled, and lost to Cibernético
Cibernético
Octavio López Arreola is a Mexican professional wrestler who is best known under the ring name Cibernético, currently working for the Asistencia Asesoría y Administración promotion in Mexico...
.
Wrestling promoter
Peña had been active backstage for years before his retirement, always offering suggestions of wrestling gimmicks, storylines and booking, so when he retired Peña was hired by Empressa Mexicana de Lucha LibreConsejo Mundial de Lucha Libre
Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre is a Lucha Libre-style professional wrestling promotion based in Mexico City while running cards in Guadalajara, Puebla and elsewhere in central and southern Mexico...
(EMLL), Mexico's oldest professional wrestling promotion, to work in their public relations department. Over the next couple of years Peña began booking shows for EMLL and started writing storylines for the company. Peña and head booker Juan Herrera worked together to capitalize on the 1980s television boom, making EMLL the top promotion in its time. Peña and Herrera were also the masterminds of EMLL's "Rebranding" as Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre
Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre
Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre is a Lucha Libre-style professional wrestling promotion based in Mexico City while running cards in Guadalajara, Puebla and elsewhere in central and southern Mexico...
(CMLL) when EMLL withdrew from the National Wrestling Alliance
National Wrestling Alliance
The National Wrestling Alliance is a wrestling promotion company and sanctions various NWA championships in the United States. The NWA has been in operation since 1948...
in 1989. Peña was the creative force behind CMLL's Mini-Estrella
Mini-Estrella
The term Mini-Estrella is used in lucha libre to describe a division of short professional wrestlers or luchadors, some of whom have dwarfism. The Mexican Mini-Estrellas is comparable to Midget professional wrestling practiced around the world, but with the notable exception that some of the...
division and wanted to feature more non-heavyweight wrestlers in the main events. Herrera wanted to maintain the old style of booking with heavyweights such as Atlantis, El Dandy
El Dandy
Roberto Gutiérrez Frías is a Mexican professional wrestler who has had most of his success in Lucha libre as El Dandy throughout the 1990s.-Professional wrestling career:...
and El Satánico
El Satánico
Daniel López López is a Mexican Luchador, or professional wrestler best known under the ring name Satánico . López is currently working as a wrestling trainer for Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre , the company he's worked for most of his career...
, while Peña wanted to feature younger, faster moving wrestlers such as Konnan
Konnan
Carlos Santiago Espada Moises , also known as Charles Ashenoff and better known by his ring name, Konnan, is a Cuban professional wrestler and rapper of Puerto Rican descent...
, Octagón
Octagón
Juan Escalera is a Mexican luchador enmascarado better known as Octagón. He is currently with Asistencia Asesoría y Administración , having worked for the company since it was founded in 1992. In 2011 he was inducted into the promotion's Hall of Fame...
or Máscara Sagráda
Máscara Sagrada
Máscara Sagrada is a Mexican Luchador enMáscarado who has worked for every major Mexican wrestling promotion over the last 20 years. His ring name is Spanish for "Sacred Mask" and is inspired by the "sanctity" of masks in lucha libre...
. In the end CMLL owner Paco Alonso
Paco Alonso
Francisco Alonso Lutteroth , commonly referred to as Paco Alonso is the owner of the professional wrestling promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre , the world's oldest wrestling promotion...
decided to go with Herrera's booking style.
Asistencia Asesoría y Administración
After Paco Alonso chose to ignore Peña's booking ideas Peña began negotiations with Televisa television channel to fund a new wrestling promotion that would provide Televisa with weekly wrestling shows. In 1992 Peña started a booking agency, providing wrestlers and matches for the Televisa owned Asistencia Asesoría y AdministraciónAsistencia Asesoría y Administración
Asistencia Asesoría y Administración is a lucha libre professional wrestling promotion based in Mexico...
(AAA) promotion. While Peña technically owned the promotion Televisa owns the rights to the AAA name. In 1995 during a financial crisis Televisa sold all rights to AAA to Peña who formed Promociones Antonio Peña. S.A. (PAPSA). Peña's promotion featured many of the young wrestlers that Peña wanted CMLL to push as they chose to leave CMLL to join AAA. AAA's pinnacle came in 1993 when they drew the largest wrestling crowd in Mexico ever as they staged TripleMania I
TripleMania I
TripleManía I was the first ever TripleManía wrestling show promoted by Asistencia Asesoría y Administración . The show took place on April 30, 1993 in Mexico City, Mexico. The Main event featured a "Retirement" match where the storyline was that the person that lost would have to retire from...
in front of 48.000 paying fans. Over the years Peña managed to establish AAA as a viable alternative to CMLL, making CMLL and AAA "the Big Two" in Lucha Libre.
Trademark controversies
Peña has occasionally been criticized with trademarking gimmicks and not allowing the original performers of the gimmicks to use the name elsewhere. Wrestlers such as Psicosis and La ParkaAdolfo Tapia
Adolfo Margarito Tapia Ibarra is a Mexican Luchador enmascarado, or masked professional wrestler. For years he has worked under the ring name L.A. Park, but is best known throughout the world as La Parka, especially from his many years in World Championship Wrestling . He was forced to change his...
were both forced to change their ring names when Peña took legal action to bar both of them from using those names in Mexico and gave the gimmicks to two AAA wrestlers. Psicosis now wrestles as "Nicho el Millonario" in Mexico, while the man that took over the gimmick, Psicosis II
Psicosis II
Juan Gonzalez is a Mexican Luchador enmascarado better known under the ring name Psicosis. Gonzalez was the second wrestler to work as Psicosis, given the ring character by Asistencia Asesoría y Administración to replace the Original Psicosis, and is often denoted Psicosis II...
now works on the independent circuit
Independent circuit
In professional wrestling, the independent circuit or indy circuit refers to the many independent promotions which are much smaller than major televised promotions. They are roughly analagous to a minor league for pro wrestling, or community or regional theatre.Specific promotions on the...
. The original La Parka now wrestles as L.A. Park while AAA has their own La Parka
La Parka (AAA)
Jesus Escobedo is a Mexican luchador enmascarado, or masked professional wrestler, better known as La Parka, who has worked for the Mexican professional wrestling promotion Asistencia Asesoría y Administración since the mid-1990s.Escobedo is not the first wrestler to use the ring name "La Parka",...
working for them. Peña also tried to prevent the original Máscara Sagráda
Máscara Sagrada
Máscara Sagrada is a Mexican Luchador enMáscarado who has worked for every major Mexican wrestling promotion over the last 20 years. His ring name is Spanish for "Sacred Mask" and is inspired by the "sanctity" of masks in lucha libre...
from using the name and outfit, but in the end Sagrága won the court case and the rights to the name. Peña often "recycled" the ring personas, giving the mask and outfit to a new wrestler if the previous one left AAA, for instance when Super Crazy
Super Crazy
Francisco Islas Rueda is a Mexican professional wrestler, or Luchador, best known by his ring name Super Crazy. Islas is most known for his three year run in the original ECW...
left AAA Peña gave the Histeria
Histeria (wrestler)
Histeria is a Mexican luchador enmascarado, or masked professional wrestler currently working for Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre as part of the Los Invasores group. Histeria is best known for the 14 years he worked for Asistencia Asesoría y Administración , until leaving in 2009...
outfit to another wrestler.
Death and legacy
Peña died on October 5, 2006 due to a massive heart attackMyocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
. In the days following Peña's death several wrestling promotions in Japan that AAA had worked with over the years paid tribute to the promoter. Peña's death left a void in AAA, he had always been the man in charge and always had the final word. In the years up to his death, Peña had brought in his brother-in-law Joaquin Roldan and Roldan's son Dorian Roldan and taught them the business of running a wrestling promotion.
AAA holds a tribute show to Antonio Peña each year around the anniversary of his death, as part of the Antonio Peña Memorial Shows AAA holds the Copa Antonio Peña
Copa Antonio Peña
The Copa Antonio Peña is an annual professional wrestling tournament held by Asistencia Asesoría y Administración once a year. The tournament is named in memory of Antonio Peña, the founder of AAA that died on October 5, 2006. The tournament is part of the annual Antonio Peña Memorial show held...
, a tournament in honor of Peña. From 2009 onwards the annual event has been known as Héroes Inmortales ("Immortal Heroes").
Championships and accomplishments
- Asistencia Asesoría y AdministraciónAsistencia Asesoría y AdministraciónAsistencia Asesoría y Administración is a lucha libre professional wrestling promotion based in Mexico...
- AAA Hall of Fame (Class of 2007)