| Orlando Colón | |
|---|---|
Epico (right) with Rosa Mendes (center) and and Primo (left) in December 2011 |
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| Ring name(s) | Epico Tito Colon Dos Equis Dynamico Fireblaze Orlando Colón Tito Nieves |
| Billed height | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)[1] |
| Billed weight | 217 lb (98 kg)[1] |
| Born | March 24, 1982 San Juan, Puerto Rico |
| Billed from | San Juan, Puerto Rico[1] |
| Trained by | Carlos Colón, Sr. Dan Severn |
| Debut | 2005 |
Orlando Colón (born March 24, 1982) is a Puerto Rican professional wrestler. He began working in Hybrid Pro Wrestling, an independent circuit in Schoolcraft, Michigan. In 2006, Colón debuted in the World Wrestling Council, a promotion owned by his uncle, Carlos Colón. His cousins are Primo and former WWE wrestler, Carlito. While working with WWC, he had a brief participation in Pro Wrestling Zero1. In January 2010, Colón left the WWC after signing a development contract with WWE where he appears as Epico on their Raw brand.
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Colón began wrestling in the independent circuit of the United States, performing in Hybrid Pro Wrestling, a promotion based in Schoolcraft, Michigan. He was given a villainous persona, which noted his lineage as a member of the Colón family, as well as a gimmick of "winning by any means necessary", emphasizing his heel character. It was in this promotion that he first used his finisher move, a swinging half nelson with leg capture dubbed "Orlando's Magic". Concurrently, he worked three dates for Price Of Glory Wrestling and eight for Independent Wrestling Association Mid-South. Colón participated in the tournament to crown the first Hybrid Pro Wrestling Champion. In the first round, he was booked against CJ Otis, being eliminated after losing the contest by pinfall due to interference.[2] Subsequently, Colón created a tag team with independent wrestler Jack Thriller, from Honolulu, Hawaii. The team began a feud with Jayson Quick and Josh Abercrombie, which was scheduled to conclude at a special event titled Phase: One.[3] However, Colón was included in an angle where he provoked Quick, engaging in a public fight. As part of the storyline, Colón and Quick were banned from participating at Phase: One by the HPW Championship Committee.[3] He was said to be cleared to return, but as part of the angle Colón refused to wrestle in the promotion until the company compensated him.[3] This storyline was used to explain Colón's departure from the company due to moving back to Puerto Rico.
Colón debuted as the mystery opponent in a stipulation match that promoted the debut of “another member of the Colón family”. Shortly afterwards, he made his return to the company under a masked gimmick named “Fireblaze”. Under this ring name he won his first title in the promotion, the WWC Puerto Rico Heavyweight Championship, being booked to defeat Bronco. During the following six months, Colón dropped and recovered the title twice, before dropping it a final time on March 24, 2007. He continued using the pseudonism and was included in a feud with Bronco. The storyline concluded at Aniversario 2007, where he dropped a retirement & mask vs. retirement match between them, revealing his identity. During the first half of 2008, WWC organized a tournament for the vacant WWC Universal Heavyweight Championship. The event presented a purported points system, in which Colón gained an early and decisive lead. Concurrent to this tournament, he entered in a feud with El Condor, a masked character played by Ray Gonzalez. After defeating El Condor one week before Honor vs. Traicion, a stipulation match was scheduled for that event, in which El Condor would receive the same amount of points held by Colón. At the event, Colón was booked to lose the match. The angle between both wrestlers continued, before serving as a transition to a feud between an unmasked Gonzalez and the other members of the Colón family. Subsequently, Colón continued his involvement in the tournament, entering a feud with the second seed, Noriega. The finals were held at Aniversario 2008, with Noriega defeating Colón to win the Universal Heavyweight Championship. He continued performing in contests against both Gonzalez and Noriega, who assaulted him in a backstage segment.[4][5] After Noriega abandoned the company, Colón moved on to feud with Gonzalez, exchanging victories with him. On September 6, 2008, Colón defeated Steve Corino.[6] Following this, Colón suffered an injury that kept him out of being booked in matches, while participating in backstage segments.[7]
In December 2009, Colón appeared in a spot where he signed a “afi dabit” that allowed El Bronco to return to the promotion, in order to fight against Gonzalez, who had now received a face persona. At Euphoria 2009, Colón returned as a masked heel wrestler, subsequently introduced as La Pesadilla, attacking Gonzalez.[8] Meanwhile, he also continued performing backstage as a face under his former character. The angle continued, with La Pesadilla performing multiple attacks and interventions against Gonzalez, who offered a ransom of $5,000 for the wrestler’s identity and contracted a private investigator.[9][10] As a result of this, two more masked wrestlers began serving as bodyguards.[11] La Pesadilla’s in-ring debut took place at Camino a la Gloria 2009, where he defeated Shane Sewell. On that same night, Colón wrestled under his face character, performing against Bronco. The match was won by Bronco, after Gonzalez entered dressed as La Pesadilla and interrupted the action. After the contest, Gonzalez gave Colón the mask, revealing him as the wrestler responsible for the attacks against him. The feud peaked a the promotion’s top annual event, Aniversario 2009. Here Colón was booked to lose against Gonzalez in a contest that featured Félix Trinidad as the guest referee, dropping the mask and adopting the pseudonym Orlando "La Pesadilla" Colón. After this event, Colón formed a heel stable with Hiram Tua, subsequently including Eric Escobar. As the leader, he continued feuds with Gonzalez and the company’s face faction. While leading the group, Colón won his fifth Puerto Rico Heavyweight Championship, being placed over Shane Sewell on September 26, 2009. After WWC closed its 2009 season, he participated in a tryout for World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) held in December, signing a developmental contract immediately after concluding his performance. In the first event of 2010, Euphoria, Colón was placed over his cousin and WWE wrestler, Eddie Colón. During the following months, the stable was systematically dismantled, Mulero received a gimmick change and returned as an unrelated masked wrestler, while Perez left WWC to work for Combat Championship Wrestling and American Combat Wrestling. Ultimately, Colón dropped the Puerto Rico Heavyweight Championship and left the promotion to join Florida Championship Wrestling. At Aniversario 2010, he was booked to win his sixth WWC Puerto Rico Heavyweight Championship, which he went on to lose to Carlitos on September 25, 2010. At Septiembre Negro 2011, he won won his first WWC Caribbean Heavyweight Championship over Chavo Guerrero.
On March 4, 2009, Pro Wrestling Zero1 based in Japan, announced that Colón would be debuting in the company.[12] His inclusion was as part of a heel faction named "Premium Wrestling Federation" or P.W.F., led by Steve Corino, which was "invading" the company. In his debut, he was teamed with Sonjay Dutt to perform against Shinjiro Otani and Ikuto Hidaka. The P.W.F. won this match-up at the 15:09 mark, when Colón utilized his finisher move, Orlando's Magic, on Hidaka to score a pinfall.[13] Subsequently, all members of the P.W.F. participated in a sketch that involved invading the residence of several young Pro Wrestling Zero1 performers.[13] In only his second appearance within the promotion, Colón was booked in a championship contest against Shinjiro Otani, for the Zero1 World Heavyweight Championship. The match-up was won by Otani, who utilized his finisher, the Spiral Bomb, to score a pinfall.[13] Meanwhile, the WWC promoted his participation in Japan as a "test tryout". The company avoided mentioning Colón's heel character in Pro Wrestling Zero1, and continued booking him as a face until Camino a la Gloria 2009.
Colón debuted on March 11, 2010, teaming with Johnny Prime and Incognito and being booked to defeat Tyler Reks, Derrick Bateman and Vance Archer.[14] The promotion's creative team gave him a new ring name "Tito Nieves", which was quickly changed to "Tito Colon". Subsequently, his character was revamped as a masked wrestler called "Dos Equis" (After the Dos Equis beer), while Incognito was renamed Hunico and their team was named Los Aviadores (Spanish for "The Aviators") On June 3, 2010 Los Aviadores defeated the Uso Brothers to win the Florida Tag Team Championship.[15] Shortly after, his character was renamed again, now being known as "Dynamico" and then "Epico". On July 15 Los Aviadores lost the tag team titles to Kaval and Michael McGillicutty,[16] but regained the titles the following day in a rematch.[17] On August 12, 2010, Epico and Hunico lost the tag team championship to Johnny Curtis and Derrick Bateman in a three-way match, also involving the team of Donny Marlow and Brodus Clay.[18] Following this, his gimmick was changed back to Tito Colon. In mid 2011, he joined an stable known as The Ascension or La Ascención led by Ricardo Rodriguez, which also consists of Conor O'Brian, Kenneth Cameron, and Raquel Diaz.
On the November 4 edition of SmackDown, Colón made his debut on the main roster as a heel, under the Epico name but without the mask, losing to Sin Cara by disqualification after interference by his Los Aviadores tag team partner Hunico, who Sin Cara had recently unmasked.[19] The following week, Epico and Hunico teamed up in a winning effort against the Usos, with Epico's cousin Primo in Los Aviadores' corner. Epico and Primo then teamed up to beat the Usos on the November 17 edition of WWE Superstars, before later being moved to the Raw brand and joined by Rosa Mendes as their manager. On the December 8 edition of WWE Superstars, Epico defeated Evan Bourne. On the December 16 edition of Smackdown, Epico and Primo once again defeated the Usos. On the December 18th TLC pay-per-view, Epico and Primo were defeated by Air Boom in a tag team match for the tag team championship titles.[20]