Adolfo Tapia - Professional Wrestling Career

Professional Wrestling Career

Adolfo Tapia made his professional wrestling debut in 1982 at the age of 16, using his real name. Later on he would wrestle as the masked El Gringo in the Monclova, Coahuila region and as El Minero in Mexico City. Tapia lost his first Lucha de Apuesta, or bet match, to Climax II and was forced to take off the El Minero mask and reveal his real name pr. Lucha libre traditions. In 1988 he changed his ring character to El Asesino de Tepito ("The Assassin from Tepito"), a rudo (villain) character he used in 1988. He lost the Asesino de Tepito mask in an Apuesta match against Astro de Oro at some point in 1988. Following the mask loss Tapia adopted a character called Principe Island ("Island Prince"), a character he would use until 1992. As Principe Island he won the masks of wrestlers Gran Cóndor, Principe Judas, Guerrero Negra and Bestia Negra I. On November 21, 1987 he lost the Principe Island mask to El Hijo del Santo. Following his mask loss he started working as the masked Invasor del Norte I as well as still taking bookings as Principe Island. The double bookings came to an end on June 26, 1991 when Stuka unmasked the Invasor del Norte character, revealing that Tapia played both characters.