Panzagón

Professional wrestling career Growing up, Octagón was mainly interested in Martial Arts and earned a black belt in Shotokan Karate. He was not very successful as La Amenaza Elegante, although he did manage to obtain a contract with Mexico's largest, and the world's oldest, wrestling promotion, Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL).

Creating Octagón In late 1988 to early 1989, Octagón, along with CMLL booker Antonio Peña (the man in charge of writing the storylines that CMLL used), decided to create a new character that played off Octagón's martial arts background. The name was inspired by the movie The Octagon starring Chuck Norris. Together they created the concept of "Octagón", a Mexican Ninja complete with black clothes and a black and white mask that incorporated a red headband. The Octagón gimmick also played off previous Karate gimmicks in Lucha Libre such as Kung Fu and Kato Kung Lee. The Octagón persona was a hit with the fans, especially the younger fans earning Octagón the nickname "El ídolo de Los niños" (Spanish for the idol of the kids). His popularity was reflected in CMLL's decision to give him a run with the Mexican National Middleweight Championship, defeating Emilio Charles, Jr. for the title on November 20, 1991.

Octagón began teaming with Atlantis, forming a duo so popular that they would go on to star in the movie La Fuerza bruta in 1991 and Octagón Y Atlantis; La Revancha (Octagón and Atlantis: The Revenge) in 1992. He also starred in another movie with Máscara Sagrada called Octagón y Mascara Sagrada, lucha a muerte ("Octagon and Mascara Sagrada in Fight to the Death" in the US). The team of Octagón, Atlantis and Mascara Sagrada was dubbed "Los Movie Stars" and were booked to win the Mexican National Trios Championship from a team called "Los Thundercats" (patterned after the ThunderCats animated series) in 1991. The team was allowed to remain champions only until August 11, 1991, where Los Capos (the team of Cien Caras, Mascara Año 2000 and Universo 2000) took over from them. Octagón's success both in the ring and on the movie screen was met with criticism from several established wrestlers such as Mil Mascaras and El Canek who referred to Octagón as "Muchachito" (the Spanish equivalence of "Little boy") in a derogatory tone. The top face team of the company soon began to work a storyline with the top "bad guy" (called Heels, Rudos in Mexico).

Working with Los Gringos Locos The team of Octagón and Hijo del Santo was matched against the group known as Los Gringos Locos, especially Eddy Guerrero and Love Machine who were the two main protagonists of the group. The storyline began in late 1993 and quickly had the two teams face off in a match designed to crown the first AAA / IWC Tag Team Champions. Octagón and El Hijo del Santo were chosen to be the first champions and on November 5, 1993, they defeated Guerrero and Love Machine. The storyline was soon expanded to see Octagón and El Hijo del Santo working with other Gringos Locos members such as Black Cat. On April 26, 1994, Octagón and Hijo del Santo teamed with Perro Aguayo to defeat Guerrero, Love Machine and Black Cat at Triplemania II-A. Four days after Triplemanía Octagón became a double champion as he regained the Mexican National Middleweight Championship from Blue Panther; Panther had brought the title with him when he jumped to AAA.

At the end of May 1994 Octagón lost the Mexican National Middleweight title, but not in the traditional way. Instead of losing the title in the ring, the storyline was that Octagón was too injured to compete in the third Triplemania of 1994 and thus the title was given to Blue Panther by default. It is not clear if AAA chose to handle the title change in this way because Octagón was legitimately injured, or if it was indeed part of the storyline. What is known is that Octagón was healthy enough to step into the ring on July 23, 1994, and lose the Tag Team titles to Guerrero and Love Machine. The match was mapped out so that the title change was not clean, Los Gringos Locos cheated to win the belts adding to the "heat" (the intensity of which the fans watched the storyline). The match was not designed to be a title defense; instead the company put the biggest prize that a Mexican Wrestler can win on the line. They made it a "Luchas de Apuestas" match, a match where each participants bet either his hair or his mask. Originally it was planned to be the mask of El Hijo del Santo and the hair of Eddy Guerreo on the line in a singles match, with Octagón and Love Machine acting as seconds outside the ring. Some time before the show however, it became a tag team match in which Octagón and Santo bet their masks, and Guerrero and Love Machine bet their hair. The two teams produced a well received, highly regarded match that ended when El Hijo del Santo pinned Eddy Guerrero for the final fall. After the match, the crowd watched and applauded all four men as Guerrero and Love Machine had their hair shaved off. The match was given a five-star rating by Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Shortly after the show, Love Machine, (real name Art Barr) died from unknown causes which ended the storyline. One week later at Triplemania III-B Octagón reunited with El Hijo del Santo, who along with Rey Misterio, Jr. and La Parka defeated Pentagón, Blue Panther, Psicosis, and Fuerza Guerrera. Again Octagón and Pentagón were not involved in the finish of the match but faced off several times in the ring to further the storyline.

In early 1996, the man behind the Pentagón mask was forced to retire from wrestling due to his age and injuries; since he always wore a mask, AAA were able to replace the man with a new Pentagón, generally referred to as Pentagón II. Octagón and Pentagón continued to build their storyline, stretching out the conflict between them over years, even at times seeing the storyline turn so that Octagón and Pentagón would team up. In early 1997, Octagón began his third reign as Mexican National Middleweight champion, given to him so that Pentagón II could be seen a few months later cheating his way to winning the title from him, increasing the storyline tension between the two. It is unclear if the Mexican National titles will be quietly forgotten or if Octagón will, at some later time, be stripped of the titles and then put to work in a different Mexican promotion.

Rudo turn On June 7, 2011, AAA announced that Octagón would be inducted to the AAA Hall of Fame at Triplemanía XIX. After working as a technico continuously for his entire career, Octagón made his first rudo turn on October 9, 2011, at Héroes Inmortales by attacking Dr. Wagner, Jr. and aligning himself with La Sociedad, along with fellow longtime AAA defender, La Parka. On November 5, Octagón was named the new leader of La Sociedad subgroup La Milicia. On March 18, 2012, at Rey de Reyes, Octagón and La Milicia turned on La Parka and kicked him out of La Sociedad. On August 5 at Triplemanía XX, Octagón teamed with El Consejo in an eight-man tag team match, where they were defeated by La Parka and Los Psycho Circus, with Parka pinning Octagón for the win. Afterward, Octagón was attacked by El Consejo, which led to Parka saving his former partner. On October 7, at Héroes Inmortales, Octagón made peace with La Parka, officially ending his rudo turn. On December 2 at Guerra de Titanes, La Sociedad responded to the debut of Octagón Jr. by debuting Pentagón Jr. In the resulting match, Octagón, Octagón Jr. and La Parka defeated Pentagón Jr., the also debuting La Parka Negra and Silver King. After months of complaining about his status in AAA, Octagón announced he had parted ways with the promotion on March 2, 2014. According to Octagón, he had reached an agreement with AAA that allowed him to keep his ring name on the independent circuit.

Post-AAA In December 2014, Octagón announced he was suing AAA for money he claimed the promotion owed him. When AAA introduced a second Octagón Jr. in March 2016, Octagón again threatened the promotion with a lawsuit. On April 10, 2016, Octagón appeared during an Octagón Jr. autograph signing and unmasked him. Three days later, Octagón introduced his own Octagón Jr. or Hijo de Octagón, who he claimed was his son. This claim was later disputed with sources stating that the new Hijo de Octagón was actually a Mexico City independent wrestler and not Octagón's biological son.

Return to CMLL On September 4, 2017, during an Arena Puebla show, Octagon teamed with Volador Jr. and Mistico to defeat Último Guerrero, Satoshi Kojima and Gran Guerrero.

Filmography In the early 1990s the Lucha Libre film genre saw a revival with several new films being produced, starring the new generation of Luchadors. Octagón played or starred in three movies in 1991 and 1992:

La Fuerza bruta (1991) (The Brutal Force); Also starred wrestlers Atlantis and Emilio Charles, Jr.) Lucha a muerte aka. Octagon y mascara sagrada, lucha a muerte (Octagon and Mascara Sagrada in Fight to the Death, 1992) (Also starring wrestler Mascara Sagrada) Octagon y Atlantis, la revancha (Octagón and Atlantis: the Revenge, 1992) (Also starring wrestler Atlantis)

Personal life Octagón has claimed to have fathered several children, though the exact number of them is unknown. In April 2016, he claimed he had fathered three sons with an unnamed luchadora, though only two of them, a set of twins, were believed to actually be his biological children. He was previously known to have only fathered daughters. Mexican National Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with La Parka Mexican National Trios Championship (1 time) – with Rey Misterio, Jr. and Super Muñeco (1) Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre Mexican National Trios Championship (1 time) – with Atlantis and Máscara Ságrada

Footnotes