Averno (wrestler)

Averno
Averno after he was unmasked
Birth name	Renato Ruíz Cortes[1]
Born	(1977-05-09) May 9, 1977[2] Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico[2]
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)	Averno Renato Ruíz Rencor Latino
Billed height	1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)[3]
Billed weight	79 kg (174 lb)[3]
Billed from	Mexico City, Mexico[3]
Trained by	Rodolfo Ruíz[2] Shadito Cruz[2] Felipe Ham Lee[2] El Satánico[2]
Debut	000000001995-10-18-0000October 18, 1995[2]

Renato Ruíz Cortes (born May 9, 1977) is a Mexican professional wrestler better known by the ring name Averno (Hell).

Ruíz originally debuted for Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) as Rencor Latino in 1995, but did not achieve any significant success until he adopted the ring name Averno in June 2001. Under his new ring name, Ruíz went on to become a one–time CMLL World Middleweight and CMLL World Trios Champion and a three–time CMLL World Tag Team Champion. His ring name was the Spanish rendering of Avernus, the crater where Aeneas descended into the underworld in Virgil's Aeneid and is most commonly translated as "Hell" in English.

For many years Averno's real name was not a matter of public record, as is often the case with masked wrestlers in Mexico where their private lives are kept a secret from the wrestling fans.^[4] However, in May 2011, Averno was booked in a Lucha de Apuesta, where he lost his mask and was forced to reveal his true identity.^[5][6] Ruíz left CMLL in April 2014 and joined rival promotion Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA) the following month.

Professional wrestling career

Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre

Rencor Latino (1995–2001)

He began wrestling in 1995 under the name Rencor Latino (Latin Hostility) after being trained by his father, a former wrestler and referee named Rodolfo Ruiz. He soon started working as an undercarder for Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL). He won his first mask in 1998 when he defeated Apolo Chino in Arena Coliseo after a midcard feud. He continued wrestling in the midcard until he was recruited by El Satánico in the summer of 2001 to be part of his new Infernales group.

Averno (2001–2014)

Averno during a match

During a televised segment Satánico used his supposed "satanic powers" to turn técnico (good guy) Rencor Latino into one of his "minions", the rudo (bad guy) known as "Averno". The fact that his previous identity as Rencor Latino was openly acknowledged, has led Averno to sometimes wear a mask where one side is the “Averno side” and the other side is the "Rencor Latino side" as a reference to his previous identity. Satanico and Averno were joined by Mephisto who had previously wrestled as Astro Rey, Jr. The trio feuded with Último Guerrero, Rey Bucanero, and Tarzan Boy over the year with Averno and Satánico unsuccessfully challenging Guerrero and Bucanero for their World Tag Team championship in August 2001 when Satánico was disqualified for using a low blow. A month later, Los Infernales defeated Guerrero's group (who were forced to change their name to Los Guerreros del Infierno as a result of this match) in a steel cage match when Máscara Mágica, the fourth member of Los Guerreros, was the last man in the cage, ending the feud for the most part.

In 2002, the trio won the Mexican National Trios Championship in Guadalajara, Jalisco and began feuding with La Familia de Tijuana (Nicho el Millonario, Halloween, and Damián 666). The trio lost the title to La Familia in September 2002 but continued feuding into 2003 when Los Infernales and La Familia wrestled a no contest in June. After Nicho stopped appearing for CMLL, Los Infernales won a tournament to become the number one contenders for the CMLL World Trios Championship but lost to the championship team of Black Tiger III, Dr. Wagner, Jr., and Universo 2000 on August 1. At the end of the year, Averno and Mephisto turned on Satánico but there was no major feud afterwards and the pair spent much of the year teaming with Olímpico in midcard matches. In September 2004, Averno defeated Zumbido in a decision match for the vacant NWA World Middleweight Championship. Shortly afterward, he was starting to get pushed as a foil to the up-and-coming Místico and he and Mephisto became de facto members of Los Guerreros del Infierno. Averno appeared in several matches on the top of the card, including his main event match against El Hijo del Santo for Santo's WWA Welterweight Championship where he lost clean.

In February 2005, he lost the NWA Middleweight title to Místico but he and Mephisto defeated Atlantis and Blue Panther for the CMLL World Tag Team Championship in April. When Shinsuke Nakamura and Hiroshi Tanahashi from New Japan Pro Wrestling came to CMLL, Averno teamed with them at first but the two turned on him, leading to a trios match with Averno teaming with Último Guerrero and Rey Bucanero against Nakamura, Tanashi, and Shigeo Okumura on the CMLL 72nd Anniversary Show. Averno and Mephisto finished the year defending their tag team title seven times, with the most prominent being on the last Arena México show of 2005 when they defeated El Hijo del Santo and Negro Casas in the main event. In early 2006, they defended their titles against Místico and Black Warrior twice. In the first match, they won by disqualification when Black Warrior interfered in the match after being pinned and in the second match two weeks later, Black Warrior turned on Místico. In April, they lost the tag team title to Místico and Negro Casas, ending their year-long reign. In 2008 Averno formed the group Los Hijos del Averno ("The Sons of Hell") with Mephisto and Ephesto. On September 17 Averno defeated Negro Casas to win the CMLL World Middleweight Championship. On January 16, 2009, he and his long tag team partner lost the CMLL World Tag Teams Championship to La Sombra and Volador Jr. On July 22, Averno lost one of his Middleweight titles, the CMLL World Middleweight Championship, to Hijo del Fantasma. After the match, despite being a rudo Averno showed respect and celebrated with Fantasma after the match.^[7] On July 12, 2010, at the Promociones Gutiérrez 1st Anniversary Show Averno participated in a match where 10 men put their mask on the line in a match that featured five pareja incredibles teams, with the losing team being forced to wrestle each other with their mask on the line. His partner in the match was Último Guerrero, facing off against the teams of Atlantis and Olímpico, Místico and El Oriental, Histeria and La Sombra, Volador, Jr. and El Alebrije.^[8] Averno and Último Guerrero was the third team to escape the match.^[9] On August 16, it was announced that Averno was one of 14 men putting their masks on the line in a Lucha de Apuesta steel cage match, the main event of the CMLL 77th Anniversary Show.^[10] Averno was the first man to leave the steel cage as all three members of Los Hijos del Averno quickly left the cage, keeping their masks safe.^[11]

Averno before he was unmasked

In April 2011, Averno began feuding with La Máscara, which led to CMLL booking the two to face each other in a Mask vs. Mask Lucha de Apuesta on June 17.^[12] This was on the heels of a report that Averno had signed a contract with WWE.^[5] On June 17 at Juicio Final, Averno was defeated by La Máscara two falls to one, forcing him to unmask himself. Upon unmasking, Averno revealed that his real name was Renato Ruíz Cortes and that he was 34 years old originally from Mexico City and had been wrestling for 16 years.^[1][6] Afterward, Ruíz and La Máscara continued their rivalry, building up to another singles match on July 4, where Ruíz successfully defended the NWA World Historic Middleweight Championship.^[13][14] On July 15, Los Hijos del Averno defeated La Generación Dorada (La Máscara, Máscara Dorada and La Sombra) to win the CMLL World Trios Championship.^[15] After La Máscara pinned Averno in a six man tag team match on July 22, the two agreed to another match for the NWA World Historic Middleweight Championship on July 29, where Averno was again able to retain the title, before challenging La Máscara to a Hair vs. Mask match.^[16][17] On September 9, Averno entered CMLL's annual tournament of champions, the Universal Championship tournament. After defeating CMLL World Super Lightweight Champion Virus and old rival, Mexican National Light Heavyweight Champion La Máscara, in his first two matches, Averno defeated CMLL World Tag Team Champion Último Guerrero in his block's finals to advance to the tournament finals.^[18] On September 16, Averno was defeated in the Universal Championship finals by La Sombra.^[19] On November 22, Averno lost the NWA World Historic Middleweight Championship to La Máscara.^[20] On February 19, 2012, Los Hijos del Averno lost the CMLL World Trios Championship to El Bufete del Amor (Marco Corleone, Máximo, and Rush).^[21] Averno was once again forced to team up with La Mascara, for the 2013 Torneo Nacional de Parejas Increibles, just like he was for the 2012 tournament. The team worked together without too many problems in the first round as they defeated the team of El Hijo de Fantasma and El Felino, but stumbled in the second round as they lost to eventual tournament winners La Sombra and Volador, Jr.^[22][23] On April 26, 2013, at the Arena Mexico 57th Anniversary Show Averno defeated Místico La Nueva Era to win the vacant Mexican National Welterweight Championship.^[24] On September 13 at CMLL's 80th Anniversary Show, Averno defeated Blue Panther in a submission only Lucha de Apuestas to take his hair.^[25][26] On December 1, Averno lost the Mexican National Welterweight Championship to Titán.^[27] On April 28, 2014, CMLL announced that Averno had parted ways with the company.^[28]

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2008)

In 2008, Averno participated in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling's World X Cup as a part of Team Mexico, who ended up winning the whole tournament. He wrestled his only match of the tournament, a twelve man three tag team elimination match, at the Victory Road pay-per-view, becoming the fourth man eliminated from the match at the hands of Team Japan's Masato Yoshino.^[29]

Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (2014–present)

On May 17, 2014, Averno made his debut for Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA), joining the rudo stable La Sociedad. In a main event six-man tag team match, Averno teamed with Chessman and Pentagón Jr. to defeat Cibernético, Fénix and Psycho Clown, pinning Fénix for the win. After the match, Averno was attacked by an unnamed "mysterious wrestler", portrayed by his old rival Místico.^[30][31] On September 26, Averno and Chessman came together with Cibernético to reform the Los Hell Brothers stable.^[32] In February 2015, Los Hell Brothers officially joined La Sociedad.^[33] On June 14, 2015, at Verano de Escándalo, Averno won his first title in AAA, when Los Hell Brothers captured the AAA World Trios Championship.^[34] After Cibernético left AAA, Los Hell Brothers were stripped of the Trios Championship on January 6, 2016.^[35] On January 22 at Guerra de Titanes, Averno and Chessman won the vacant AAA World Tag Team Championship. However, immediately afterwards, La Sociedad turned on the two.^[36]

Personal life

Ruíz wearing a half Averno/half Rencor Latino mask in 2005

Ruíz's father is CMLL referee Rodolfo Ruíz.^[37]

In wrestling

• Finishing moves
  • Devil's Wings (Spinning lifting sitout double underhook facebuster), sometimes from the top rope^[6][38]

Championships and accomplishments

• Asistencia Asesoría y Administración
  • AAA World Tag Team Championship (1 time, current) – with Chessman^[36]
  • AAA World Trios Championship (1 time) – with Cibernético and Chessman^[34]

• Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre
  • CMLL World Middleweight Championship (1 time)^[39]
  • CMLL World Tag Team Championship (3 times) – with Mephisto^[40][41][42]
  • CMLL World Trios Championship (1 time) – with Ephesto and Mephisto^[15]
  • Mexican National Trios Championship (1 time) – with Satánico and Mephisto^[43]
  • Mexican National Welterweight Championship (1 time)^[24]
  • NWA World Middleweight Championship (1 time)^{[Note 1][44][45]}
  • NWA World Historic Middleweight Championship (1 time)^[45]

• Pro Wrestling Illustrated
  • PWI ranked him 48 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the PWI 500 in 2006

• Total Nonstop Action Wrestling
  • TNA World X Cup (2008) – with Rey Bucanero, Último Guerrero and Volador Jr.^[46]

• World Wrestling Association
  • WWA Middleweight Championship (1 time, current)

Luchas de Apuestas record

Footnotes

References