Espanto Jr.

This article is about The first wrestler to use this name. For The current wrestler using this name, see Espanto Jr. (CMLL).
Espanto Jr.
Birth name Jesús Andrade Salas[1]
Born May 11, 1956
Gomez Palacio, Durango, Mexico
Resides Gomez Palacio, Durango, Mexico
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s) Chuy Andrade
Negro Andrade
El Moro II
Espanto Jr.[1]
El Santo Negro[2]
Pentagón[1]
Billed height 1.71 m (5 ft 7 1⁄2 in)
Billed weight 80 kg (180 lb)
Trained by El Moro
El Noble
Halcón Suriano
Debut 1971
Retired January 1996

Espanto Jr., is the most recognizable ring name of Jesús Andrade Salas (born May 11, 1956 in Gomez Palacio, Durango, Mexico), a retired Mexican luchador, or professional wrestler. Over his 25-year-long career, Andrade worked under a number of aliases, most importantly as Espanto Jr., El Santo Negro and the first person to work as Pentagón. Andrade is part of an extensive wrestling family started by his father who worked as "El Moro" and is referred to as the "Moro Family". His son currently works for Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), using Andrade's most famous moniker, working as Espanto Jr.

Personal life

Jesús Andrade Salas is the son of professional wrestler El Moro (Spanish for "The Moor") who trained Andrade and at least five of his brothers for their professional wrestling career. He is the brother of Jose Andrade Salasa, best known under the ring name "Brilliante", Moro III (real name not revealed), a brother who worked both as Zafiro and Pentagoncito, Juan Andrade Salasa, better known as Kevin and Juan Andrade Salsa who also played the part of Zafiro at one point.[3] Andrades' son is also a professional wrestler, working as the enmascarado (masked) character Espanto Jr..[4] His nephew is Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) headliner La Sombra.[3]

Professional wrestling career

Andrade made his professional wrestling debut in 1971 using the ring name "El Moro II", and at times even worked as "El Moro" like his father. He would later use names such as Chuy Andrade and Negro Andrade as he worked on the Mexican Independent circuit.[2]

Espanto Jr. (1984–1995)

In 1984 Andrade adopted the ring character that would turn out to be his most successful, the masked "Espanto Jr." (Spanish for "Horror Jr.") a storyline son of Espanto I. Wearing the distinctive black and white mask of the Los Espantos team (including II, III, IV and V) as he began working for the Universal Wrestling Association (UWA). After working under the moniker for a few years he became embroiled in a feud with El Hijo del Santo, mirroring the feud of Hijo del Santo's father El Santo and Espanto Jr.'s storyline father Espanto I. The storyline feud between the two reached one of its highlights as the two wrestlers faced off in a Lucha de Apuestas, or bet match, where both wrestlers put their mask on the line. El Hijo del Santo won, mirroring the victory of El Santo and just like Espanto I, Espanto Jr. was forced to unmask and never wear the Espanto mask again for the rest of his wrestling career.[5] As part of the escalating storyline between the two Espanto Jr. defeated El Hijo del Santo to win the UWA World Lightweight Championship on July 26, 1987, a title he would hold until May 1, 1988 when El Hijo del Santo regained the championship.[6] The storyline between the two stretched over several years, with El Hijo del Santo winning Lucha de Apuestas matches over Espanto on three occasions, each time Espanto Jr. was forced to have his hair shared off.[5] Espanto Jr. would later lose a similar Luchas de Apuestas match to Super Muñeco on June 2, 1991.[7] On April 14, 1992 Espanto Jr. defeated El Hijo del Santo to win the UWA World Welterweight Championship, but only held it for 41 days before losing it to Celestial.[8] He would subsequently work for World Wrestling Association (WWA) as the UWA was slowly dying. In WWA he won the WWA World Welterweight Championship when he defeated Piloto Suicida and held it for 193 days until losing it to eternal rival El Hijo del Santo.[9] He also won the WWA World Lightweight Championship by defeating El Hijo del Black Shadow.[10] In 1994 Espanto Jr. began working for Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA), which had been founded only a year before. As Espanto Jr. he worked AAA's Triplemanía II-C show on May 27, 1994 where he teamed up with Rambo and Magnate to defeat the team of Winners, Super Caló and El Solar when Espanto Jr. pinned El Solar.[11]

Santo Negro (1995)

In 1995 AAA owner Antonio Peña came up with the idea to create an Evil twin to one of the most popular wrestlers of the time, El Hijo del Santo. Peña picked Andrade to play the part of El Santo Negro (literally "the Black Saint"), giving him a mask and outfit design that mirrored El Hijo del Santo, only it was primarily black with silver accents while El Hijo del Santo's was primarily silver with black accents. The concept only lasted a few months as El Santo's family objected to the trademarked look of El Santo and Hijo del Santo.[2]

Pentagón (1995–1996)

See also: Pentagón

Trying to build on the popularity of AAA wrestler Octagón Antonio Peña decided to use the "evil counterpart" concept and turned Andrade into Pentagón, a natural rival of Octagón.[1] Initially the two faced off in six man or eight man tag team matches as a way to build tension for singles matches further along the storyline. Their first encounter came at Triplemania III-A the first of AAA's major shows of 1995 when Octagón teamed with Konnan, Perro Aguayo and La Parka to defeat the team of Pentagón, Cien Caras, Máscara Año 2000 and Jerry Estrada although without Pentagón and Octagón being involved in the finish of the match.[12] One week late at Triplemania III-A Octagón teamed up with El Hijo del Santo, Rey Misterio Jr. and La Parka to defeat Pentagón, Blue Panther, Psicosis and Fuerza Guerrera. Again Octagón and Pentagón were not involved in the finish of the match but faced off several times in the ring to further the storyline.[13] In early 1996, Andrade suffered an injury, during a match with La Parka where he was clinically dead for a moment in the middle of the ring but brought back to life. The injury, coupled with his age, forced Andrade to retire from wrestling.[1] Since the Pentagón character wore a mask to cover his entire face it was decided to give the character to another wrestler who then became Pentagón.

Retirement

Following his retirement Andrade began focusing on the El Moro wrestling school along with several of his brothers.[2]

In wrestling

Championships and accomplishments

Lucha de Apuesta record

Wager Winner Loser Location Date Notes
Mask Espanto Jr. Dr. Hoo Monterrey, Nuevo León February 3, 1985  
Mask El Hijo del Santo Espanto Jr. Monterrey, Nuevo León August 31, 1986 [5]
Hair El Hijo del Santo Espanto Jr. Torreón, Coahuila August 2, 1987 [5]
Hair El Hijo del Santo Espanto Jr. Monterrey, Nuevo León May 8, 1988 [5]
Hair El Hijo del Santo Espanto Jr. Naucalpan, Mexico State September 17, 1989 [5]
Hair Super Muñeco Espanto Jr. Torreón, Coahuila June 2, 1991 [7]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 "Pentagón: Informacion classificaca AAA". LuchaLibreAAA (in Spanish). Asistencia Asesoría y Administración. Retrieved March 26, 2013.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Reyes Ruiz, Eduardo (April 2010). "Entrevista a Jesús Andrade Salas, Espanto Jr y Pentagón.". Estrellas del Ring (in Spanish). Retrieved March 26, 2012.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Madigan, Dan (2007). "A family Affair". Mondo Lucha Libre: the bizarre & honorable world of wild Mexican wrestling. HarperColins Publisher. pp. 224–228. ISBN 978-0-06-085583-3.
  4. ↑ "Espanto Jr. se presenta este 18/Sep/12 en la Arena México" (in Spanish). SuperLuchas Magazine. September 15, 2012. Retrieved March 26, 2013.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 Madigan, Dan (2007). Mondo LUcha a Go-Go: the bizzare and honorable world of wild Mexican wrestling. HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. pp. 71–78 and 125–130. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2000). "Mexico: UWA Lightweight Title". Wrestling Title Histories. Archeus Communications. p. 400. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Luchas 2000 staff (May 2008). "Luchas 2000". Super Muñeco y sus Victimas (in Spanish) (Juárez, Mexico: Publicaciones citem, S.A. de C.V.). pp. 16–17. Especial 30.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2000). "Mexico: Universal Wrestling Federation Welterweight Heavyweight Title". Wrestling Title Histories. Archeus Communications. p. 397. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2000). "Mexico: WWA Welterweight Title". Wrestling Title Histories. Archeus Communications. p. 400. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2000). "Mexico: WWA Lightweight Title". Wrestling Title Histories. Archeus Communications. p. 400. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
  11. ↑ "Asistencia Asesoría y Administración TripleManía". ProWrestlingHistory.com. Retrieved 2009-02-19.
  12. ↑ "Asistencia Asesoria y Administracion TripleMania". prowrestlinghistory.com. Retrieved 2009-02-19.
  13. ↑ "Asistencia Asesoria y Administracion TripleMania". prowrestlinghistory.com. Retrieved 2009-02-19.