Héctor Garza

AAA / World Wrestling Federation (1996–1997) When Garza joined AAA, he was also able to work for the US-based World Wrestling Federation (WWF) through AAA's working agreement. 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. 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.

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. 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.

World Championship Wrestling (1997–1999)

Cruiserweight division (1997–1998) 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. The following month, he made his first pay-per-view appearance in WCW at Bash at the Beach, where he teamed with Juventud Guerrera and Lizmark Jr. to defeat La Parka, Psychosis and Villano IV.

On the September 22 episode of Nitro, Garza enjoyed the biggest moment of his WCW career by scoring an upset victory over Scott Hall. The victory was played off as a "fluke" and Hall defeated Garza two weeks later on Nitro in just over a minute as a follow-up to the storyline. Garza competed in the World War 3 battle royal at the namesake event for a future WCW World Heavyweight Championship opportunity but failed to win the match. Garza continued to team with and compete against various luchadors in tag team matches and singles competition while alternating between WCW and Mexico. He took a hiatus from WCW in early 1998 and competed in his native Mexico throughout the year. He returned to WCW on the September 7 episode of Nitro by unsuccessfully challenging Juventud Guerrera for the Cruiserweight Championship.

Latino World Order (1998–1999) On the October 5 episode of Nitro, Eddie Guerrero interrupted a match between Garza and Damien and prevented luchadors from fighting each other and instead urging them to unite which resulted in the formation of Guerrero's new faction Latino World Order (lWo), consisting of the underutilized Mexican wrestlers on the WCW, with Garza joining in as one of the pioneer members of the group. The group began feuding with Rey Misterio Jr. as he refused to join the lWo. Garza was released from his WCW contract in November 1999 as part of mass releases including twenty-one other wrestlers due to budget cuts.

AAA (1999–2004) 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.

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. On May 5, 2003, he lost the Mexican National Heavyweight Championship to E; Zorro, exactly one year after winning it.

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. The push continued with a match against NWA World Heavyweight Champion Jeff Jarrett on TNA's weekly TV show.

Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (2005–2011)

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. 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.

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. The team lost, then regained the trios title to the team of Atlantis, Último Guerrero and Negro Casas. 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. 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. 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.

Los Invasores (2010)

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. 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.

World Heavyweight Champion (2011) 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. Garza returned for a tour of New Japan on July 8, 2011. 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. Upon Garza's return to CMLL, he turned technico and left Los Invasores. On August 12, Garza defeated Último Guerrero to win the CMLL World Heavyweight Championship for the first time.

Perros del Mal Producciones (2011–2012)

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. 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. 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. 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. On December 16 at Guerra de Titanes, Garza, Aguayo and Halloween defeated Evans, Fénix and Drago in a six-man tag team match. 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. 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. On August 10, Los Perros del Mal turned on Garza and kicked him out of the stable.

Personal life Solano's nephew who worked under the name Garza Jr. in tribute to his uncle Héctor Solano Segura was born on June 12, 1969, in Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico, son of professional wrestler Humberto Garza. His brother works as a professional wrestler and promoter under the ring name "Humberto Garza Jr." and his son, originally known as "Último Ninja" in Mexico and "Humberto Carrillo" in NXT, is a professional wrestler, using the name El Sultán. His uncle is Mike Segura, better known under the ring name "El Ninja". Solano's cousin is known as "El Ninja Jr.", and his nephew, Humberto Garza Solano, works under the ring name Angel Garza.

In 2005, Solano was set to wrestle Scott Hall at TNA's Final Resolution 2005 but was arrested in Houston, Texas, for possession of steroids. The police found Deca-Durabolin and Primobolan, both of which are legal to have and use in Mexico, but not in the United States, and Solano claimed that he had legal prescriptions for them but could not produce them at the time of his arrest. Solano was deported back to Mexico and barred from entry for a number of years, effectively ending his career in the United States. Garza claimed that he did not know the steroids were illegal in the United States and that he was humiliated by the guards.

Illness and death On October 15, 2012, a press release revealed that Solano had been diagnosed with lung cancer. He retired from active competition to undergo chemotherapy and additional treatment. He died on May 26, 2013, from the cancer at the age of 43. He was the reigning Mexican National Heavyweight Champion at the time of his death. 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.

Legacy On August 9, 2015, at Triplemanía XXIII, Garza was inducted into the AAA Hall of Fame. When his nephew Humberto Garza Solano began working for Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide, he changed his ring name from "El Hijo del Ninja" to "Garza Jr." in honor of his uncle, adopting both the look and some of the mannerisms and wrestling moves that his uncle had become known for.

Solano/Segura family tree † = deceased

Championships and accomplishments AAA / Asistencia Asesoría y Administración IWC World Heavyweight Championship (2 times) Mexican National Heavyweight Championship (2 times) Mexican National Light Heavyweight Championship (1 time) Mexican National Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Perro Aguayo Jr. and Mr. Águila (1) CMLL World Trios Championship (5 times) – with La Fiera and Dos Caras (1), Tarzan Boy and El Terrible (1), Mr. Águila and Perro Aguayo Jr. (1), and El Hijo del Fantasma and La Mascara (2) CMLL Trio of the year: 2009 (with La Máscara and Hijo del Fantasma) La Copa Junior: 1996 with Pólvora (2010) Lucha Libre Azteca Azteca Championship (1 time) Perros del Mal Producciones Mexican National Heavyweight Championship (1 time) Ranked No. 19 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the PWI 500 in 2004 Total Nonstop Action Wrestling America's X Cup (2004) – with Mr. Águila, Juventud Guerrera, Abismo Negro and Heavy Metal TNA Year End Award (1 time) Who to Watch in 2005 (2004) Universal Wrestling Association UWA World Middleweight Championship (1 time) World Wrestling Association WWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – Perro Aguayo Jr.

Luchas de Apuestas record

Winner (wager)Loser (wager)LocationEventDateNotesHéctor Garza (hair) Sanguinario (hair) Monterrey, Nuevo León FULL show Héctor Garza (hair) El Satánico (hair) Mexico City 39. Aniversario de Arena México Héctor Garza (hair) El Brazo (hair) Mexico City CMLL show Héctor Garza (hair) Bestia Salvaje (hair) Mexico City Super Viernes Héctor Garza (hair) Toro Irisson (hair) Xalapa, Veracruz AAA show Héctor Garza (hair) Heavy Metal (hair) Mexico City Guerra de Titanes Héctor Garza (hair) Super Parka (hair) Monterrey, Nuevo León FULL show Perro Aguayo Jr. (hair) Héctor Garza (hair) Mexico City Homenaje a Dos Leyendas