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28-594: Alejandro Muñoz Moreno (April 24, 1922 – December 16, 2000), better known by the ring name Blue Demon ( Demonio Azul in Spanish ), was a Mexican film actor and luchador enmascarado (Spanish for masked professional wrestler ). Blue Demon is considered a legend of lucha libre , partially from starring in a series of Lucha films between 1961 and 1979, often alongside in-ring rival El Santo . His in-ring career began in 1948 and stretched for 41 years until his retirement in 1989. Throughout his career Muñoz never lost

56-717: A Lucha de Apuestas match and retired without exposing his face to the public; he would later be buried in his signature blue and silver mask. In his 41-year career he won the NWA World Welterweight Championship twice, the Mexican National Welterweight Championship three times and the Mexican National Tag Team Championship with long time tag team partner Black Shadow . He also won the hair of Cavernario Galindo and

84-575: A Blue Demon mask on it. The tournament has been held on a semi-regular basis ever since, The tournament was first endorsed by Blue Demon Jr., and later endorsed by Muñoz' son. Alfredo Muñoz, after Blue Demon Jr. stopped working for CMLL. In 2002, Blue Demon was ranked at 28 of the greatest professional wrestler of all time in the book The Top 100 Wrestlers of All Time by John Molinaro, edited by Dave Meltzer and Jeff Marek . Starting in November 2015 Televisa and Sony Pictures Television began airing

112-598: A career. He began wrestling without a mask in Laredo, Texas . His first match was against Chema Lopez on March 12, 1948. Adopting the mask and persona of The Blue Demon, he headed back to Mexico to start a full-time in-ring career. His first appearance as The Blue Demon was in Mexico City in September 1948, where he fought Benny Arcilla. Blue Demon began his career in the ring as a rudo (a bad guy). From there, he formed

140-465: A few others, their real name. One notable exception was made for David Otunga because of his real marriage to singer Jennifer Hudson at the time, which gave WWE some mainstream exposure. Low Ki used the alias "Senshi" during his second TNA stint to reserve his primary ring name for other use. A similar example is the team known as The Dudley Boyz in ECW and WWE and Team 3D elsewhere. WWE trademarked

168-399: A tag team with another masked luchador named The Black Shadow, and the two became known as Los Hermanos Shadow (The Shadow Brothers). In 1952, the famous wrestler El Santo beat and unmasked Black Shadow in the ring, which triggered Blue's decision to become a técnico (a good guy) in the ring, and a legendary feud between Blue Demon and El Santo was started. The storyline feud between

196-754: A variation of it, sometimes modifying the spelling to better fit their gimmick , such as Dave Bautista becoming Batista (later reverting to his real name for his Hollywood acting career), Patricia Stratigeas becoming Trish Stratus , Jonathan Good becoming Jon Moxley , Bryan Danielson becoming Daniel Bryan (when he wrestled in WWE), Richard Fliehr becoming Ric Flair and Randall Poffo becoming Randy Savage . Others simply use part of their name, such as Bill Goldberg using Goldberg , Nicole Garcia-Colace using Nikki Bella , Mike Mizanin using The Miz , Cody Runnels using Cody Rhodes , and Michael Wardlow using Wardlow . Many female wrestlers go solely by their first name such as. It

224-646: Is a highly respected tradition in Mexican lucha libre for performers to hide their true identities, usually wrestling under masks, and revealing a luchador's identity without their permission is considered a serious offence with real-life consequences. Professional wrestlers are often referred to by their contemporaries by their ring name. In interviews, Bret Hart regularly referred to Mark Calaway, Curt Hennig, and Kevin Nash by their ring names ( The Undertaker , Mr. Perfect , and Diesel ). Ring names are often trademarked by

252-448: Is also common for wrestlers of all genders to use a nickname in addition to their real name for marketability and other reasons. Ricky Steamboat is an atypical instance of a wrestler adopting a ring name to sound less intimidating, as his legal name of Richard Blood was considered unfitting for his babyface persona. Some (mostly independent ) wrestlers still go to great lengths to ensure that their real names are not publicly known. It

280-406: Is known worldwide and is an instantly recognizable symbol of Lucha Libre. On Misplaced Pages, The mask icon is used as part of some professional wrestling related tags and notices. On October 27, 2000, CMLL held their first ever Leyenda de Azul ("The Blue Legend") tournament in honor of Blue Demon. The winner of the tournament receives a championship belt that features Blue Demon as well as a plaque with

308-485: The promotion that creates a character or gimmick for a performer. It is common to see one performer use a variety of ring names throughout their career, even if their overall persona remains similar. This is especially true in WWE , which has largely forced most wrestlers that have debuted since 2006 to use a WWE-owned ring name instead of a ring name that they used on the independent circuit or, such as with Daniel Bryan and

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336-737: The "Dudley Boyz" name, leading them to have to change their name when they went to TNA. The members' individual names were also trademarked by WWE, forcing them to have to change their names. WWE partially repealed the policy in 2015, allowing wrestlers who were well known in other promotions such as Samoa Joe , A.J. Styles , Shinsuke Nakamura , Austin Aries , Bobby Roode , and Eric Young to use their long-standing ring names (or, in Nakamura's and Roode's cases, their real names) as well as wrestlers who sign "Tier 2" NXT brand contracts such as Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa , who wrestle both on NXT and

364-522: The Ring", in which he was one of several wrestlers more or less in the background. But in 1964, Enrique Vergara, the producer of the then-successful Santo movies, decided to diversify by allowing the 42-year-old Blue Demon to star in a series of luchador films of his own. The plots of the Blue Demon films are thought to be extremely similar to those of Santo's films. Santo was asking for a salary increase at

392-554: The first season of the Blue Demon television series featuring a fictionalized version of the early days of his career in the ring and personal life. The third season of the series debuted on April 14, 2017, bringing the episode count to 65. The show debuted in the US in 2017 on UniMás . In 2018, Blue Demon Jr. announced that his son was training for a wrestling career and would be known as "Blue Demon III", hoping to have his son continue

420-482: The independent circuit to keep their ring names (or, in Gargano's case, his real name). Gargano and Ciampa have since signed exclusive WWE contracts. "In-house" WWE wrestlers still use WWE-owned ring names. In rare cases, the rights to a wrestler's ring name may be owned by a company with little or no connection to professional wrestling, such as Marvel Comics ' ownership of the name Hulk Hogan until early 2003, which

448-463: The legacy started by Blue Demon. Ring name Ring names are much more common in professional wrestling than any other sport; famous examples include Terry Bollea becoming Hulk Hogan , Michael Shawn Hickenbottom becoming Shawn Michaels , Roderick Toombs becoming Roddy Piper , Dwayne Johnson becoming The Rock , Christopher Irvine becoming Chris Jericho , and Phillip Jack Brooks becoming CM Punk . A number of wrestlers adopted their real name or

476-416: The masks of Espectro II, Matemático, and most notably, the mask of Rayo de Jalisco . Near the end of his career Muñoz introduced Blue Demon Jr. to the wrestling world, who despite being promoted as the son of Blue Demon, did not actually share a blood connection to Muñoz; he was later claimed to be the "adopted son". Muñoz's actual son owns the trademarks to the name "Blue Demon", while Blue Demon Jr. owns

504-595: The prefix "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. Numerous boxers have used ring names or nicknames as their mode of identification during their professional boxing careers, particularly during the late 19th century and the early 20th century. The ring name "Kid" was particularly popular, indicating the boxer's comparative youth. Since the mid 20th century, ring names for boxers have typically been less common, although nicknames have become more popular in recent years. Famous examples of boxers who used ring names include: Monterrey Arena Too Many Requests If you report this error to

532-666: The time and Vergara wanted to cultivate a second movie star. From 1964 to 1979, Blue Demon starred in a total of 25 action/horror/science fiction films. Of those 25 films, Santo co-starred with him in nine of them. In three of his films, Blue Demon starred as the leader of a squadron of masked superheroes known as Los Campeones Justicieros (The Champions of Justice). Membership in the Champions included such legendary Mexican wrestling figures as Blue Demon, Mil Máscaras , Tinieblas , Rayo de Jalisco , El Médico Asesino , El Fantasma Blanco, El Avispon Escarlata and Superzan. In 1989, Blue Demon

560-603: The trademark to the "Blue Demon Jr." name. Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) honors the legacy of Blue Demon by holding the Leyenda de Azul ("The Blue Legend") tournament at irregular intervals. He was voted into the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame in 1996 as part of the inaugural HOF selection. Alejandro Muñoz Moreno was born October 12, 1922, in García, Nuevo León , Mexico. He

588-433: The two culminated with Blue Demon defeating El Santo in a well-publicized series of matches in 1952 and 1953. In 1953, Blue won the NWA World Welterweight Championship from Santo, and held it until 1958. Their rivalry never entirely abated in later years (although they co-starred in a number of Mexican horror films) since Santo always remembered his defeat at the Blue Demon's hands. During the 1960s, one of Blue Demon's rivals

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616-458: The wrestler's gimmick changes, either subtly or dramatically. After debuting in WWE as the " Connecticut Blueblood " Hunter Hearst Helmsley, Paul Levesque's character later morphed into Triple H . A more drastic change sometimes occurs when a wrestler turns heroic or villainous , such as when Hulk Hogan joined the villainous nWo (New World Order) and became "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan. His new attitude

644-596: Was due to Hogan being advertised as " The Incredible Hulk Hogan" early in his career, while Marvel owned the trademark for their comic book character. Sometimes, a wrestler will buy the rights to their own ring name; for example, Steve Borden owns the rights to the name Sting and licenses it to the musician of the same name . The wrestler formerly known as Test took this one step further and legally changed his name to "Andrew Test Martin". Jim Hellwig, known as The Ultimate Warrior , had his name legally changed to simply "Warrior". In many cases, ring names evolve over time as

672-530: Was el Rayo de Jalisco. In 1988, the year he retired, Blue Demon defeated Jalisco in a mask vs. mask match , taking the mask of another of Mexico's wrestling legends. Blue Demon retired from the ring in 1989, aged 67, at the Monterrey Arena , where he appeared in a final match, teaming up with his adoptive son, Blue Demon Jr. Blue Demon first appeared in cameos in a couple of luchador films released in 1961–1962, "The Killers of Lucha Libre" and "Fury in

700-604: Was enhanced by changing his costume color scheme from his famous red and yellow to nWo's black and white. Steve Williams adopted the ring name Steve Austin to avoid confusion with the then-more established performer "Dr. Death" Steve Williams . Austin would wrestle under that name for several years before signing with the WWF and being given the name "the Ringmaster". This gimmick failed to catch on, and Austin reverted to his established name, reaching his greatest level of success with

728-452: Was made to get him to a hospital, he was unable to be revived. He was 78 years old. Blue Demon was buried wearing his trademark blue mask, which was never removed in public as he always kept his true identity a secret. Blue Demon is considered one of the biggest legends of lucha libre second only to El Santo in terms of popularity and influence both in and outside of Mexico. The distinctive blue and silver mask of Blue Demon and Blue Demon Jr.

756-573: Was the child of farmers and was the fifth of twelve children. At a young age, Alejandro dropped out of school and moved to Monterrey , where his uncle gave him a job working on the National Railroad . His co-workers gave him the nickname 'Manotas', referring to his large, powerful hands. A chance meeting with the famous Mexican wrestler Rolando Vera piqued his interest in Lucha Libre , Vera even offering to tutor him and help him start

784-462: Was the subject of a feature-length Mexican documentary entitled Blue Demon, the Champion (1989). Muñoz died just before noon on Saturday, December 16, 2000. He suffered a fatal heart attack on a park bench near a subway kiosk while on his way home from his regular morning training session at The Blue Demon Instituto Atletico , where he was teaching others his fighting skills. Although an attempt

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