Antonio Pena

At 55 years old, Antonio Pena has this physical status:

Antonio Hipolito Pea Herrada (June 13, 1951 – October 5, 2006) was the initiator of Asistencia Asesor y Administración (AAA) in Mexico.

Before the Mexican economy's downturn, Pea's promotion hit its peak of popularity in the early 1990s.

Pea's AAA is a wrestling organization that has a large presence in the United States, including wrestlers such as Rey Mysterio Jr., Psicosis, La Parka, Konnan, and others.

Pepa was the former head booker of Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre (EMLL) before he established AAA.

Pea began his professional wrestling career as a wrestler or Luchador, and they're called in Spanish as El Genio, Espectro Jr., Kahoz, Espectro de Ultratumba, and Dalia Negra. He retired in 1986 to work with wrestling's promotional department.

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Professional wrestling career

On April 8, 1974, Pea began wrestling as the enmascarado (masked) character El Genio (Spanish for "The Genius"), beginning with the enmascarado (masked) character El Genio (Spanish for "The Genius." Pea, who had been wrestling as El Genio for a few months, received his uncle's permission to use the Espectro name and began wrestling as Espectro Jr. Peco, but unlike the original, he went barefoot most of the time. Pea, a good solid wrestling foundation and some psychological antics, drew the crowd's interest, and soon he found himself fighting the top wrestlers of Mexico at the time. Although a talented performer on the ring backstage, he was described as more of a quiet, thoughtful individual who would often talk about how he would alter Lucha Libre and give it more depth and showmanship. Pepea Pea changed wrestling appearances in 1980, giving the Espectro Jr. outfit and name to his cousin Jose Elas Pinceno, who has competed as Espectro Jr. since then. Pea created Kahoz, a sinister masked rudo character who invoked various dark spirits as part of his pre-match ritual rather than working as Espectro Jr. Many have likened the Kahoz role to Murciélago Velázquez, one of Lucha Libre's original showmen. Kahoz would often carry a bag of live pigeons with him, releasing them at his opponent and then presenting them as if he ripped the head of one of the pigeons's and smearing the fake blood all over himself or his opponent. To Pea, the Kahoz story was not about winning championships but about the character and even scaring the viewers, so although he did not win any titles as Kahoz, it was still a huge success, and he main evented shows all over Mexico. Although Pegua was planning to wrestle, his body was unable to cope with the crowded main event schedule as Kahoz, and by 1985, he gave up the gimmick to work as Espectro de Ultratumba ("The Ghost from Beyond the grave"), giving the Kahoz gimmick to Astro Rey instead. Astro Rey's Kahoz was neither as important nor as profitable as Pea because the original's charisma and theatrics were lacking. Pea was only Espectro de Ultratumba for a short time, giving the gimmick to his cousin in 1986. Pea tried to work as "Dalia Negra," but his body could not withstand the strain, causing Pea to resign in 1986. In 1994, Pepa would briefly compete as "the Rose," but it was limited to a handful of matches. Pea's last match at the 2001 Guerra de Titans, where he competed and lost to Cibernético.

Pee had been active backstage for years before his retirement, continually offering tips on wrestling gimmicks, storylines, and booking, so when Pea resigned, Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre (EMLL), Mexico's oldest professional wrestling promotion, he was hired by Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre (EMLL), Mexico's oldest professional wrestling promotion, he was hired by Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre (EMLL), Pea began booking shows for EMLL and began writing storylines for the firm over the next two years. Pea and head booker Juan Herrera worked together to profit from the 1980s television boom, making EMLL the highest ranked position in the country at the time. When EMLL first emerged from the National Wrestling Alliance in 1989, Pea and Herrera were also the masterminds of "Rebranding" as Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL). Peca was the driving force behind CMLL's Mini-Estrella division, and she wanted to see more non-heavyweight wrestlers in the main events. Herrera wanted to keep the old style of booking with heavyweights such as Atlantis, El Dandy, and El Satánico, while Pequene wanted to see younger, faster moving wrestlers such as Konnan, Octagón, or Máscara Sagráda. Paco Alonso, the CMLL's owner, decided to go with Herrera's booking style.

Pea started discussions with Televisa television station after Paco Alonso decided not to fund a new wrestling show that would feature weekly wrestling shows on Televisa. Pea founded Pea in 1992, a wrestling company that provided wrestlers and matches for the Televisa-owned Asistencia Asesor (AAA) promotion. Although Pea technically owned the promotion, Televisa owns the right to use the AAA symbol. Televisa's founder, Promociones Antonio Pea, sold all rights to AAA to Pea in 1995 during a financial crisis. PAPSA, a state of South America. Pea's promotion included several of the young wrestlers Pegor wanted to push CMLL to submit AAA after they left CMLL to join AAA. AAA's pinnacle came in 1993, when they hosted Tripleman's I in front of 48.000 paying fans. Pea was able to establish AAA as a viable alternative to CMLL over the years, making CMLL and AAA "the Big Two" in Lucha Libre.

Pea has been chastised for using trademarking gimmicks and not encouraging the original artists of the gimmicks to use the word elsewhere. When Pea took legal action to prohibit both of them from using those words in Mexico, wrestlers such as Psicosis and La Parka were both compelled to change their ring names, and the gimmicks were given to two AAA wrestlers. Psicosis now wrestles in Mexico as "Nicho el Millonario," while Psicosis II, the man who invented the gimmick, now works on the independent circuit. The original La Parka died in the following year after AAA had their own La Parka for years, but AAA's own La Parka was in danger before an in-ring crash at an independent show in 2019 led to his death. Pea also tried to discourage the original Mágráda from using the name and outfit, but Sagráda prevailed in the court case and the right to use the name. For example, when Peeb left AAA Pea and gave the mask and outfit to a new wrestler if the previous one left AAA, the ring personas were often "recycled" the ring personas, for instance when Super Crazy left AAA Pea's for another wrestler.

Pea died on October 5, 2006, as a result of a massive heart attack. Several wrestling promotions in Japan that AAA had participated with over the years paid tribute to the promoter in the days following Pea's death. Pea's death left a hole in AAA, but he had always been the man in charge and had always been the final word. Pe'a had taken in his brother-in-law Joaquin Roldan and Roldan's son Dorian Roldan's son Dorian Roldan and showed them the art of running a wrestling tournament in the years leading up to his death.

Every year, AAA holds the Copa Antonio Pea, a tournament in honor of Pea. The annual festival has been called "Immortal Heroes" from 2009 to 2010.

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