Atlantis (wrestler) - Professional Wrestling Career

Professional Wrestling Career

Atlantis made his professional wrestling debut on June 12, 1983 after training under world renowned Mexican wrestling trainer Diablo Velazco for just under a year. He adopted the masked ring persona of "Atlantis", a supposed warrior from the lost city of Atlantis, complete with a mask that had the image of two fish on it. After working for various Mexican promotions for the first year of his career Atlantis became a regular for Empressa Mexicana de Lucha Libre (EMLL), Mexico's oldest professional wrestling promotion. On November 30, 1984 Atlantis defeated Jerry Estrada to win the Mexican National Middleweight Championship, the first wrestling title of his career. Atlantis held the Middleweight title for 457 days, with several high profile title defenses that helped establish the young wrestler's reputation for good matches. On March 2, 1986 Atlantis lost the Middleweight title to Talismán. By 1988 Atlantis had formed a regular tag team with Ángel Azteca and on March 6, 1988 the duo defeated Los Infernales (Masakre and MS-1 to win the Mexican National Tag Team Championship. Three months later Atlantis became a double champion when he defeated Kung Fu to win the NWA World Middleweight Championship, the highest championship in the middleweight division. Atlantis only held the title for 37 days before losing the title to Emilio Charles, Jr. in his first title defense. He quickly regained the title, defeating Charles, Jr. on July 20, 1988 and held it for 2 weeks before losing the title back to Emilio Charles, Jr. On May 25, 1990, after a 811 day title reign, Atlantis and Ángel Azteca lost the Mexican Nation Tag Team Title to Pierroth Jr. and Bestia Salvaje. The loss of the Tag Team titles was used as a storyline motivation for Ángel Azteca turning Rudo (villain or Heel by attacking Atlantis. The feud between the two continued off and on over the years until Ángel Azteca's death in 2007. The two fought in several intense and bloody battles, but two remained close friends backstage.

The feud with Ángel Azteca, coupled with a third run with the NWA World Middleweight title made Atlantis one of the rising stars in EMLL, and he was one of the key figures in the "rebranding" of the company to Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) in 1990. In 1991 Atlantis starred in a movie called La Fuerza Bruta ("The Brute Power") and soon after began filming another movie where he teamed up with Octagón called Octagón y Atlantis, la revancha ("Octagón and Atlantis, the revenge") that opened in 1992. On April 4, 1991 Atlantis, Octagón and Máscara Sagrada, a team nicknamed "Los Movie Stars" defeated Los Thundercats (Leono, Panthro and Tigro, a team of masked wrestlers patterned on the Thundercats cartoon) to win the Mexican National Trios Championship. The trio held the title for 94 days before losing it to Los Hermanos Dinamita (Cien Caras, Máscara Año 2000 and Universo 2000) on August 11, 1991. Not long after the title loss Octagón and Máscara Sagrada left CMLL for the recently formed Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA) promotion, jumping ship before the "Atlantis y Octagón" movie opened in the theaters. Atlantis was also offered a contract by AAA but decided to stay with the company he had worked for almost his entire career. On March 3, 1993 Atlantis lost the NWA World Middleweight title to Mano Negra, as part of a long-running storyline between the two. While Mano Negra won the championship, Atlantis gained the ultimate measure of revenge as he unmasked Mano Negro after defeating him in a Luchas de Apuesta (bet match) as the main event of CMLL's 60th Anniversary Show. On March 2, 1994 Atlantis defeated Dr. Wagner, Jr. to win the CMLL World Light Heavyweight Championship, officially moving from the Middleweight to the Light Heavyweight division, a title he would hold for 655 days. In 1995 Atlantis brother made his wrestling debut as Atlantico and the two teamed up on a regular basis, including second annual Gran Alternativa tournament, losing to Dr. Wagner, Jr. and Astro Rey, Jr. in the second round. On November 3, 1995 Atlantis teamed with Rayo de Jalisco, Jr. to win the CMLL World Tag Team Championship from The Headhunters. The team lost the tag team title in August, 1996 but Atlantis and new partner Lizmark won the titles back from La Ola Blanca (Spanish for "the White Wave"; Gran Markus, Jr. and El Hijo del Gladiador). Atlantis and Lizmark only held the title for 12 days before the titles were vacated following an inconslusive match with the Headhunters. Despite only holding the tag team title for 12 days Atlantis and Lizmark continued to team up, joined by Mr. Niebla in 1997 to form La Ola Azur ("The Blue Wave" a reference to the fact that all three wrestlers mainly wore blue). La Ola Azur won the CMLL World Trios Championship from Rey Bucanero, Emilio Charles, Jr. and El Satánico. La Ola Azur defended the title for over 500 days until October, 1998 where an injury to Mr. Niebla forced the team to give up the title. On May 10, 1990 Atlantis defeated Dr. Wagner, Jr. to become only the second man to ever hold the CMLL World Light Heavyweight Championship two times. Over the next 196 days Atlantis' CMLL World Light Heavyweight title defenses headlined several shows in Mexico City before he lost the title to Villaño III on November 22, 1999. The title change was just one of the highlights of a long-running feud between Atlantis and Villaño III, a feud that also included III's younger brothers Villaño IV and Villaño V. On March 17, 2000, at CMLL's Juicio Final event, Atlantis won his biggest Apuesta victory to date as he defeated and then unmasked Villaño III in a match that was voted the Wrestling Observer 2000 Match of the Year. On June 16, 2002 Atlantis, Mr. Niebla and Black Warrior defeated Blue Panther, Fuerza Guerrera and Dr. Wagner, Jr. to win the CMLL World Trios title, a title the team would hold for 278 days straight. In 2003 Atlantis travelled to Japan, working for Michinoku Pro where he won the Tohoku Junior Heavyweight Championship from Dick Togo on August 26, 2003. Atlantis' tour of Michinoku Pro was so well received that he was allowed to retain the title when travelling back to Mexico and has been invited on annual tours with the promotion every year since the. On March 28, 2004 Atlantis lost the Michinoku Pro title to The Great Sasuke, returning the belt to Japan. On June 25, 2004 Atlantis teamed up with Blue Panther to defeat Los Guerreros del Infierno ("The Infernal Warriors"; Último Guerrero and Rey Bucanero) to win the CMLL World Tag Team Title. Their title reign lasted 280 days, until Atlantis turned on his partner during a match and cost them the titles. The fact that the career tecnico (face or "good guy" character) turned rudo for the first time helped revitalize a career that was stagnating.