Héctor Garza

After his local success in Monterrey, Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) hired him to work nationally instead, joining the world's oldest professional wrestling promotion as part of CMLL's rebuilding after a split that led to the creation of Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA). He was put over veteran rudos like Bestia Salvaje and Satánico in hair matches and Garza quickly became one of the top técnicos in the company. In the following year, he teamed with Dos Caras and La Fiera to win the CMLL World Trios Championship,[7] and lost to Emilio Charles Jr. in the final of the La Copa Junior, a tournament for second-generation wrestlers.[8]

When Garza joined AAA, he was also able to work for the US-based World Wrestling Federation (WWF) through AAA's working agreement.[9] His first televised WWF appearance saw him defeat T.L. Hopper on an episode of Superstars.[10] At the 1997 Royal Rumble pay-per-view show Garza teamed up with El Canek and Perro Aguayo to defeat Fuerza Guerrera, Heavy Metal and Jerry Estrada.[9] He worked several more matches for the WWF, with his last appearance for the company taking place on March 10, 1997 where he, Latin Lover and Octagón lost to Pentagón, Heavy Metal and Pierroth on the 200th episode of Monday Night Raw.[11]

In AAA he often worked as part of a trio known as La Maquina del Amor ("The Love Machine") alongside Heavy Metal and Latin Lover, a group of young, good looking, fan favorites that were very popular with the female fans.[2] All three members of La Maquina del Amor qualified for the 1997 Rey de Reyes tournament along with Octagón, which Latin Lover won.[12][13] Later that year Garza teamed up with Super Nova for the "Young Stars" tag team tournament. In the first round the duo defeated May Flowers and Pentagón, but lost to Fuerza Guerra and Mosco de la Merced in the semi-finals.[14]

The AAA/WWF collaboration ended in mid-1997, which led to many AAA workers wrestling for WWF's rival, World Championship Wrestling (WCW), later in the year.[15] In WCW the young Garza became known for his twirling turnbuckle to floor plancha called the "corkscrew plancha".[1] On June 30, 1997 Garza was given his first WCW championship opportunity, as he challenged Steven Regal for the WCW World Television Championship on Monday Nitro, but was booked to lose in less than four minutes.[16] He made his WCW PPV debut at the 1997 Bash at the Beach, where he, Juventud Guerrera and Lizmark Jr. defeated La Parka, Psicosis and Villano IV.[17]

In the fall of 1997 Garza scored a victory over Scott Hall, one of WCW's most prominent heels. The victory was played off as a "fluke" and Hall defeated Garza two weeks later in just over a minute as a follow up to the storyline.[15] When the Latino World Order (lWo) was formed in late 1998 by Eddie Guerrero, Garza joined along with most of the Mexican wrestlers on the WCW, starting a storyline feud with Rey Misterio Jr. as he refused to join the lWo.[15] His last match for WCW took place on October 1, 1999 as Garza and Silver King defeated Los Villanos (Villano IV and Villano V).[18]

In late 1999, Garza returned to AAA where he became involved in a long-running storyline feud with Heavy Metal, Latin Lover and Perro Aguayo Jr. that would span several years. On December 26, 1999 Héctor Garza defeated Pirata Morgan to win the IWC World Heavyweight Championship, his first championship reign in AAA. 98 days later, Garza lost the championship back to Pirata Morgan.[19] Two months later Garza defeated Sangre Chicana to win the Mexican National Light Heavyweight Championship on a show in his home town of Monterrey.[20]

As part of their ongoing storyline, Garza and Aguayo Jr. teamed up to defeat Los Vipers (Abismo Negro and Electroshock) to win the Mexican National Tag Team Championship, starting a 61-day reign.[20] Their reign was ended by El Texano and Pirata Morgan on September 8, 2000.[20] The four-way feud led to a Lucha de Apuetas match between Garza and Heavy Metal as part of AAA's 2001 Guerra de Titanes PPV. The match saw Garza pin Heavy Metal in the third and deciding fall, forcing Heavy Metal to have all of his hair shaved off.[2][21]

After the 2001 Guerra de Titanes the feud shifted to focusing on Garza and Latin Lover instead. On May 5, 2002, Garza defeated Latin Lover to win the Mexican National Heavyweight Championship as part of the escalating tension between the two.[22] On November 15, 2002, at that year's Guerra de Titanes show, Garza, Latin Lover, Perro Aguayo Jr. and Mr. Águila faced off in a steel cage match. Latin Lover defeated Garza, causing him to have his hair shaved off for the first time in his career.[23] On May 5, 2003, he lost the Mexican National Heavyweight Championship to E; Zorro, exactly one year after winning it.[22] On October 26, 2003 Garza lost another Lucha de Apuestas match to Latin Lover, which turned out to be his last major storyline in AAA.[23]

In 2004, he returned to the United States for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling during AAA's working agreement with the company. Along with Abismo Negro, Juventud Guerrera, Mr. Águila and later Heavy Metal, "Team Mexico" was successful in winning the America's X-Cup.[24] After Team Canada was repackaged, Team Mexico became faces.[25] In June, he returned to CMLL.[26]

While the AAA-TNA deal was still in effect, Garza wrestled exclusively in Mexico. In CMLL, he helped Perro Aguayo Jr. adopt a "heel" character, becoming one of the "bad guys" in wrestling, and became involved in Aguayo's storyline feud with El Hijo del Santo. Eventually, he would help found La Furia del Norte with El Terrible and Tarzan Boy. Teaming with Tarzan and Terrible, La Furia chased after and defeated the CMLL Tríos champions Black Warrior, El Canek and Rayo de Jalisco Jr.[27] Meanwhile, in the United States, the AAA-TNA deal was terminated, which led to TNA to bringing Garza back. He returned for TNA Victory Road 2004, TNA's first three-hour pay-per-view when he won a Twenty Man X-Division Gauntlet.[28] The push continued with a match against NWA World Heavyweight Champion Jeff Jarrett on TNA's weekly TV show.

Garza, in a Perros del Mal shirt, lifting Místico in the air during a CMLL match

After being deported for drug possession, he returned to working full-time in Mexico for CMLL. He teamed with Perro Aguayo Jr. against Los Capos and became a major part of the new group, Los Perros del Mal along with members of La Furia del Norte, Los Pierroths and La Familia de Tijuana. In August, Pierroth Jr. was ejected from the group and Garza volunteered to face him in a hair vs. hair match, which Garza won.[29] After the Dr. Wagner Jr. vs. Atlantis mask vs. mask match fell through, CMLL decided to go with Héctor Garza and Perro Aguayo Jr. vs. Universo 2000 and Máscara Año 2000 double hair vs. hair match as the main event of the CMLL 72nd Anniversary Show. Three weeks before the show, Garza hit Máscara Año 2000 with a "Martinete" (tombstone piledriver). The match for the anniversary show was changed to a triangle match with Universo 2000 vs. Perro Aguayo Jr. vs. Héctor Garza where the last man to get pinned gets his hair shaved. In the end, Universo pinned Garza with help of a low blow from his brother, Cien Caras, and Pierroth's valet, La Nazi.[30]

In 2008 Garza began teaming with El Hijo del Fantasma and La Máscara and the trio quickly won the vacant CMLL World Trios Championship when they defeated Blue Panther, Dos Caras Jr. and Místico in the finals of a tournament for the title.[31] The team lost, then regained the trios title to the team of Atlantis, Último Guerrero and Negro Casas.[32][33] In March 2010 signs of dissention amongst the team began showing as Garza left the ring during a trios match mistakenly thinking that one of his teammates had attacked him.[34] Following this Garza kept insincerely insisting that he was still a tecnico and that his team was getting along great. Further doubts about Garza's allegiance arose when he teamed up with the Rúdo Pólvora for the 2010 Gran Alternativa tournament. The team defeated Sensei and La Máscara in the first round with Garza showing no problems in going after his teammate. They also defeated Rey Cometa and Blue Panther as well as Diamante and La Sombra to qualify for the finals. On the April 30, 2010 Super Viernes Garza and Pólvora won the 2010 Gran Alternativa when they defeated Delta and Volador Jr.[35] When Garza, La Máscara and Hijo del Fantasma were booked for a CMLL World Trios defense the following week, Garza complained that his partners had agreed to the match without asking him, but swore that he would still be professional about it.[36] During the title defense on the May 7, 2010 Super Viernes Garza attacked both Hijo del Fantasma and La Máscara, allowing La Ola Amarillo (Hiroshi Tanahashi, Okumura and Taichi) to win the CMLL World Trios Championship, turning full blown Rudo in the process.[37]

During a trios match with the Los Invasores team of El Alebrije, Histeria and Maniaco going against Garza, Brazo de Plata and Toscano, Garza turned on his teammates and joined Los Invasores. CMLL held a press conference on May 20, 2010, announcing that they would hold a special Sin Salida event on June 6, 2010, that would center around the Los Invasores vs. CMLL storyline. During the press conference Olímpico was part of the Invasores group. It was also announced that Garza and Mr. Águila were the co-leaders of Los Invasores.[38] At the July 16, 2010 Super Viernes Héctor Garza and Mr. Águila defeated the team of La Sombra and Volador Jr. to win the CMLL World Tag Team Championship, Garza's third reign and Mr. Águila's first reign.[39] On November 2, 2010, Garza and Águila lost the CMLL World Tag Team Championship to Dragón Rojo Jr. and Último Guerrero.[40]

On January 4, 2011, Garza made his debut for New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) at Wrestle Kingdom V in Tokyo Dome, where he and Jushin Thunder Liger were defeated by Máscara Dorada and La Sombra in a tag team match.[41][42] Garza returned for a tour of New Japan on July 8, 2011.[43] His tour of the promotion concluded on July 18, when he was defeated by CMLL World Middleweight Champion, Jushin Thunder Liger in a non-title match.[44] Upon Garza's return to CMLL, he turned technico and left Los Invasores.[45] On August 12, Garza defeated Último Guerrero to win the CMLL World Heavyweight Championship for the first time.[46]

On November 11, 2011, Garza held a press conference, announcing that he had left CMLL and joined Perro Aguyao Jr.'s Perros del Mal Producciones as a member of the Perros del Mal stable. Before leaving CMLL, Garza handed the World Heavyweight Championship belt back to the promotion.[47] Behind the scenes, Garza had offered to lose the title to El Terrible prior to leaving the promotion, but CMLL refused to allow him to wrestle another match.[48] Garza made his debut for the promotion on November 13, when he ran in to save Perro Aguayo Jr., Damián 666, Halloween and X-Fly from Los Psycho Circus, Nosawa and Zumbi.[49] The following day, Garza returned to AAA, when he, along with members of Los Perros del Mal, attacked El Mesías and Jack Evans, after they had defeated Aguayo and Chessman in a match.[50] On December 16 at Guerra de Titanes, Garza, Aguayo and Halloween defeated Evans, Fénix and Drago in a six-man tag team match.[51] On February 14, 2012, Garza defeated champion X-Fly, El Hijo del Perro Aguayo, El Mesías, El Texano Jr. and Toscano in a six-way elimination match at a Perros del Mal Producciones event to win the Mexican National Heavyweight Championship for the second time.[52] On August 5 at Triplemanía XX, Garza's accidental chair shot to El Hijo del Perro Aguayo cost the Perros del Mal leader his match for the AAA Mega Championship.[53] On August 10, Los Perros del Mal turned on Garza and kicked him out of the stable.[54]

On October 15, 2012, a press release revealed that Solano had been diagnosed with lung cancer.[62] He retired from active competition to undergo chemotherapy and additional treatment.[3][63] He died on May 26, 2013 from the cancer at the age of 43.[64] He was the reigning Mexican National Heavyweight Champion at the time of his death.[65] As a result of his death, the "Comisión de Box y Lucha Libre Mexico D.F." (the Mexico City Boxing and Wrestling Commission) deemed the Mexican National Heavyweight Championship inactive.[2][66]

† = deceased