Mil Mascaras

At 82 years old, Mil Mascaras has this physical status:

Mil Máscaras (born Aarón Rodrón Rodro, 1942) is a Mexican luchador (professional wrestler).

He is regarded as one of Mexico's top wrestlers, as well as El Santo and Blue Demon, and has been dubbed the first international superstar of Lucha Libre.

Máscaras is considered one of the world's most influential wrestlers for creating and popularizing the lucha libre style, both in the ring and as the star of 20 films.

He is also an excellent artist and cultural ambassador for his home country, and has appeared on three of its postage stamps.

Despite the fact that he has never been identified and his true name is generally kept private due to his appearance in the credits of the films in which he has appeared.

His ring name is "Thousand Masks," which means Spanish for "Thousand Masks." Máscaras was inducted into the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2010 and the WWE Hall of Fame in 2012.

He is a member of one of Mexico's most prominent wrestling families; his brothers José and Pablo alternate as Dos Caras and Sicodélico.

Alberto El Patron, José's oldest son, is a former WWE champion and now wrestles as Alberto El Patron.

Guillermo, José's younger brother, competes as El Hijo de Dos Caras in El Hijo de Dos Caras.

Aaron Sicodelico Jr., Pablo's son, is better known as Sicodelico Jr.

Personal life

Mil Máscaras has never been unveiled in the ring, and like many masked luchadores, he goes to great lengths to mask his true identity and personal life. Dos Caras and Sicodélico are two brothers who competed. He had two sons and two daughters with his first wife, who died in 1975, and two daughters with his second wife, whom he married in 1995. Alberto Del Rio (also known as Dos Caras Jr., El Hijo de Dos Caras, and Alberto El Patrón); the current El Hijo de Dos Caras; Sicodélico Jr.; and Hijo Del Sicodelico are among his nephews.

Mil Máscaras is a prolific golfer and competes in many charity golf tournaments around the world, including the annual Los Angeles Police Memorial Foundation Celebrity Golf Tournament.

Mil Máscaras, as well as pro wrestling, is a fan of Japanese martial arts and has studied judo, aikido, jujutsu, and kendo, among other things. He learned Jujutsu under Mitsu Maeda's tutee and later trained under Professor Tanaka. Mil Máscaras began learning martial arts as a counter to shooting attempts, and he recalls numerous wrestlers who attempted to shoot on someone and who had to legally submit.

Source

Professional wrestling career

Mil Máscaras made his professional wrestling debut in Pachuca on July 20, 1963. He became well-known in Mexico for being one of the country's best-conditioned luchadores in the heavyweight division, which was dominated by foreigners at the time. It was also his size that allowed him to compete in the United States and Japan under the heavyweight division. Mil Máscaras was one of the first masked luchadores outside of Mexico to play a non-heel role. He seldom resort to rule breaking, rather relying on his repertoire of moves and counter-moves. Mil Máscaras was also one of the first wrestlers to perform lucha libre moves, including the plancha and tope suicida, to Japanese fans. This made him international recognition as one of the first high-flyers, something he wasn't considered in Mexico, where he came under the mat-power category.

Mil Máscaras made his international wrestling debut at the Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles in 1968, becoming involved in rivalries against Ernie Ladd, John Tolos, Black Gordman, and Goliath. He unveiled El Halcon in Mexico City in 1970s triangular tournament that featured Alfonso Dantés. He repeated the feat in a Japanese ring, winning by submission owing to the poor coverage at the time.

Mil Máscaras appeared for All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) during the 1970s. He defeated Kantaro Hoshino in Tokyo on February 19, 1971, his first appearance in Japan. He had his best known international rivalry with American masked wrestler The Destroyer, who died during this period. Mil Máscaras had rivalry with Mexican wrestlers such as TNT, Canek, El Halcon, and Angel Blanco in the 1970s. Mil Máscaras, the IWA wrestling championship, which was established by Eddie Einhorn and the United States, was largely fought in Mexico and the United States, and was also broadcast on Spanish language stations in the United States, and he retains the title to this day.

Mil Máscaras, a 1974 Olympic champion, was the World Champion of the short-lived International Wrestling Association promotion, headquartered in New York City. He had a big title defense against opponents like Ivan Koloff and Ernie Laddd.

Mil Máscaras debuted in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now called WWE). He appeared at Madison Square Garden several times after a ban on masked wrestlers was lifted for him, making him the first masked wrestler in the Garden, defeating The Spoiler (who was not allowed to wear his mask). During this period, he argued with Superstar Billy Graham over the WWF World Heavyweight Championship.

Mil Máscaras appeared at the World Wrestling Council in Puerto Rico in the 1980s and 1990s. He also competed in World Championship Wrestling (WCW), where his most notable match was a match against Cactus Jack at Clash of the Champions X: Texas Shootout, which took place in Corpus Christi, Texas, on February 6, 1990.

Mil Máscaras claimed his last title, the WWA (Mexico) World Heavyweight Championship, on September 10, 1991, at the age of 49. Since being in possession of semi-retirement during his reign, he held the office until 1994 and resigned in a state of semi-retirement.

Mil Máscaras' first American pay-per-view appearance was in the 1997 Royal Rumble match, which was in WWF's 1997 Royal Rumble competition. Pierroth Jr., who had just been eliminated, was able to pull himself off the top rope out of the ring. Although such a step is normal in laucha libre, it is actually a mistake in the Royal Rumble because it leads to death.

Mil Máscaras defeated Manny Fernandez at the inaugural show for Legacy Wrestling Enterprises in Fort Worth, Texas, on December 5, 2002. He commemorated his 50th in-ring anniversary to the day by partnering with his brother Sicodelico and his nephew El Hijo De Dos Caras to face Canek, one of his greatest rivals, alongside Negro Navarro and Rey Bucanero in a special six man tag on July 25.

Film career

Mil Máscaras has appeared in a number of 20 luchador action films, beginning with his self-titled debut in 1966 at the age 24. Luis Enrique Vergara, a Mexican film director, was looking for a new "enmascarado" to appear in his wrestling/horror films, which were then the rage of Mexican cinema in 1966. Mil Máscaras was the first Lucha Libre celebrity to be a movie star, since his whole personality and flashy look were intended for the films right away. (His real life wrestling career followed and grew out of the excitement he grew out of from.)

Vergara's two regular movie stars had been unable for two weeks. El Santo had walked out of a labor dispute, and Blue Demon was hospitalized unexpectedly and would require a lengthy time out. Vergara decided to make his next two films a success cinematic quickies rather than halting making his own. Mil Máscaras, a Lucha Libre newcomer, is the protagonist of Lucha Libre's next two films. Mil began a film career that has lasted to this day, appearing in a total of 20 Mexican horror/wrestling/action films.

Mil Máscaras (1966), the first film to be shot in black & white, made Mil out to be a sort of super hero. Mil Máscaras' origin story appeared in the film as a result of the then-popular Doc Savage pulp books, which appear to have been somewhat swiped from the then-popular Doc Savage pulp novels, which were selling well in science fiction bookstores in the mid-60's. Mil was found clutched in his dead mother's arms in a war-torn area of Europe during World War II and was sent to an orphanage, according to the story. As he matures, a group of scientists (not affiliated with any particular country) adopts the boy, covertly using him as a guinea pig, subjecting the child to a rigorous diet of physical fitness and mental preparation.

Mil Máscaras, who hasn't achieved much as adulthood, is something of a genius (although not with actual superpowers); both his mind and body have been developed to perfection. The scientists then sent him out into the world to help downtrodden people around the world, to combat violent prisoners, and to right wrongdoing, and to generally make the world a better place.

The first two films' plots were rather lackluster. Mil Máscar (1966) and its sequel Los Canallas (also 1966), Mil Máscar is fighting a very common group of thugs and a crooked fight promoter who are bullying the locals in a backwater burg in Mexico's backwater burg. Mil's second film Los Canallas and all of them after were shot in Color.

Federico Curiel produced Mil Máscaras' next two films in 1968, both of which feature American horror star John Carradine as a villain. Mil's missions were getting a bit more meaningful by this point. Mil Milison faces Carradine, the head of an underground Nazi group (who disguises himself as a clown) in Enigma of Death. (In Las Vain, Milicent is battling a little-known cult of female vampires led by a very male Carradine.

Curiel produced Mil Máscaras in two of his team-up films in 1970. The Mummies of Guanajuato teamed up with Miliband and El Santo in what became the highest-grossing Mexican wrestler film of all time, pitting the three enmascarados against a group of reanimated mummies.

Mil Máscaras was among the Champions of Justice (also 1970) as part of a team of monsters, mad scientists, murderers, El Medico Asesino, and La Sombra Vengadora (who all joined together to combat monsters, mad scientists, villains, sarcastics, petty dwarves, or whoever else crossed their paths). In a number of their luchador films in the 1970s, the producers employed a gaggle of masked midget wrestlers.

Several other team-up films were produced over the next two years, most co-starring Mil Máscaras, who by this point had become the "King of the Team-up Movies." Champions of Justice Return (1972) was very similar to the first Champions film, except with El Fanta Blanco replacing Tinieblas and El Avispon Escarlata replacing La Sombra Vengadora. (Mil did not appear in the third and final "Champions" film because it would have involved traveling to a foreign country where it was shot.)

However, he appeared in two other films, Macabre Legends of the Colony and The Mummies of San Angel, which both look like "Champions Of Justice" films, despite the Blue Demon's frequent absence from the casts. The Mummies of Guanajuato (1972) ft. Miliband and El Rayo De Jalisco teamed up with Mil, Guanajuato (1972).

Mil Máscaras co-starred with super-star Sergio Oliva in Black Power (1973). In 1977's Mystery in Bermuda, he worked alongside the then-famous Superzan (1973) and later joined forces with El Santo and Blue Demon, which many Mexi-cinema fans regard as the last true entry in the then-fading Mexican wrestling/horror genre.

He appeared in A Rose in the Ring (1972), and years later, he joined Santo's son El Hijo del Santo in The Lawless Frontier (1983), making Mil Máscaras the only Mexican superhero to ever co-star with both Santos, father, and son. Mili Militar appeared in two more wrestling films, La Verdad de la Lucha and La Llave Mortal, in the late 1980s.

Mil's film career began in 1990, but he has since returned to film. Mil Máscaras appeared in Mil Mascaras: Resurrection), the first lucha film starring any of the so-called "Big Three" stars of the genre (Máscaras, Blue Demon, Santo) to be released in English in 2007. The film was shown at festivals around the world, winning accolades and accolade nominations as well as positive critical reviews. The film gained brisk exposure and media for several years after its debut, with two magazine cover articles appearing as late as 2012. He appeared in a 2008 film called Academy of Doom, as well as a 2015 film called Aztec Revenge.

Source