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24-542: Pedro Aguayo Damián (18 January 1946 — 3 July 2019) better known as "(El) Perro Aguayo" (Aguayo the dog) and El Can de Nochistlan (The Nochistlan Dog) was a Mexican wrestler through the 1970s to the 1990s. Aguayo was the first person crowned the WWF Light Heavyweight Champion , though pre-1997 title reigns are not included in WWE's official history for that title. In 2012, Aguayo was inducted into

48-565: A legend in lucha libre. The UWA also helped popularize the match format that is now the most common in Mexico, the Best two out of three falls six-man tag team match , or trios match when they put together the rudo (bad guy) trio Los Misioneros de la Muerte ( Negro Navarro , El Signo and El Texano ) and matched them up against trios of popular tecnicos (good guys) and drew so many sell-crowds that other promotions began to heavily promote

72-485: The AAA Hall of Fame . Aguayo was notably the last major rival of El Santo . Often prone to blading , Aguayo has been described by American pundits as a cross between Terry Funk and Bruno Sammartino (for his willingness to brawl and overpower opponents). One of the biggest box office attractions in lucha libre history, prominent professional wrestling journalist and historian Dave Meltzer described Aguayo as "one of

96-644: The World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) promotion. The title was challenged by light heavyweights at a maximum weight of 215 lbs (before deactivation, the weight limit was changed to 220 Ibs). It was created on March 26, 1981, for the Universal Wrestling Association (UWA) in a partnership between the WWF and UWA. On June 16, 1995, the title moved to Michinoku Pro Wrestling , but due to WWF's ownership of

120-461: The trios format as well. Los Misionares de la Muerte were originally workhorse midcarders in the UWA, but their stock rose immediately in a UWA match on November 2, 1980 in a match where the three faced Huracan Ramirez , Black Shadow , and the legendary El Santo . Santo, 63 years old at the time, suffered a legitimate heart attack during the match, which ended in a no contest while he was rushed to

144-724: The Michinoku Pro Wrestling promotion. The title would later become popularized and widely defended within the confines of the World Wrestling Federation in 1997, when a tournament was held in the United States to crown a champion. Before the tournament, the title was previously considered a part of the much venerated J-Crown . Universal Wrestling Association In 1974, Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre (EMLL, later CMLL) founder and owner Salvador Lutteroth González brought his son into

168-416: The UWA had 18 years earlier, and formed a new company called Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA) further affecting the UWA's finances. As the peso devaluated sharply in the mid-1990s, the UWA was forced to close its doors in 1995. The UWA is remembered as the place where a lot of the main event wrestlers of the 1980s and 1990s for both CMLL and AAA got their starts, including El Canek, now considered

192-518: The Universal Wrestling Association (UWA), the name of its fictional governing body which was adopted from the short-lived American-based UWA promotion ran by Lou Thesz , and held their first show on January 29, 1975, creating the first true rival for EMLL in decades. To some the promotion was known as "Lucha Libre from El Toreo de Naucalpan" (simply "El Toreo"), after the promotion's home base, El Toreo de Naucalpan, which

216-569: The company's name change in May 2002, and it would be defended until September 2007. The WWF Light Heavyweight Championship was first introduced in Japan in a tournament which ended with Perro Aguayo defeating Gran Hamada to become the first recognized champion. It then migrated to the US West Coast before transitioning to Mexico and then later being defended once again in Japan by way of

240-451: The early 1980s, even if the promotion does not acknowledge this lineage in their official title history today. The UWA even began working with EMLL in the 1980s, co-promoting shows and allowing EMLL to book UWA wrestlers on their shows. By the early 1990s UWA began to struggle financially as several of their top wrestlers left the company to work for EMLL who could offer them more money. In 1992 Antonio Peña broke away from EMLL, much like

264-658: The globe and forged working relationships with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in the United States and New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) and Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling in Japan. This working relationship resulted in a larger influx of foreign wrestlers than EMLL was ever able to produce and also led to the UWA actually gaining exclusive rights to promote a WWF branded championship, the WWF World Light Heavyweight Championship in

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288-489: The hardest working and most charismatic wrestlers ever". Aguayo's son also wrestled as Perro Aguayo Jr. or El Hijo del Perro Aguayo ("The Son of Perro Aguayo"). Aguayo was synonymous with the Universal Wrestling Association (UWA) as one of its top heels and one of the top heels in lucha libre overall. In the 1990s, Aguayo helped found Asistencia Asesoría y Administración , later known simply as AAA, and his three-way feud with Konnan and Cien Caras proved to be one of

312-598: The hospital. The three were then re-cast as fallen angels sent to Earth to take out Santo, and were programmed against trios of other tecnicos. The Universal Wrestling Association promoted a large number of wrestling championships, spread out over several weight classes like in professional boxing and even co-promoted championships with the WWF in the United States and with the UWF and JWP in Japan. Some UWA titles are still being used today, some in Japanese promotions who bought

336-492: The impending change of management in EMLL many wrestlers who had previously been loyal to Lutteroth decided to leave with Flores, Mendoza and Mora including Mendoza's close friends Rene Guajardo and Karloff Lagarde and a number of young wrestles, frustrated with the lack of opportunities in EMLL. They formed the company Promociones Mora y Asociados (later Lucha Libre Internacional (LLI)), which would later become widely known as

360-401: The most successful programs in terms of box office receipts. He stayed with AAA until 2000, even making an appearance on WWF's Royal Rumble in 1997 in a match that featured lucha libre legends like El Canek , Mil Máscaras and up and comers who would later make names for themselves like Héctor Garza and Heavy Metal . He came to Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre to feud with Los Capos . He

384-649: The promotion a quick success as they drew repeated sell-out crowds at El Toreo de Naucalpan. The promotion was the first to elevate wrestlers such as El Canek , Dos Caras , Fishman , Villano III to main event status. El Canek became the "face of the UWA", holding the UWA World Heavyweight Championship no less than 13 times during the promotion's life span, drawing full houses when he "defended Mexico's honor" against foreign wrestlers such as Hulk Hogan , Tatsumi Fujinami and Big Van Vader . The UWA also reached out to promotions around

408-526: The promotion, grooming him to take over when the aging Lutteroth, Sr. eventually had to retire. This action combined with a very rigid and conservative promotional philosophy led EMLL's promoter in Naucalpan , Mexico State , Francisco Flores , EMLL wrestler and trainer Ray Mendoza and investor Benjamin Mora, Jr. to break away from EMLL to form their own company and challenge EMLL's dominance in Mexico. With

432-551: The ring, leaving Taylor unable to compete. Per brackets displayed early in the tournament, Jerry Lynn was originally slated to face Eric Shelley. He was replaced by Scott Taylor. In March 2001, the World Wrestling Federation purchased World Championship Wrestling. Following the conclusion of the Invasion angle at the 2001 Survivor Series pay-per-view, the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship

456-598: The title, it was returned to the WWF in 1997, the year which WWE recognizes as the beginning of the championship's lineage . The inaugural champion in UWA was Perro Aguayo , however, the WWE considers the inaugural champion to be Taka Michinoku , with his reign beginning on December 7, 1997 . It was retired on March 8, 2002, with X-Pac as the final champion. Notes: This match aired on November 17. These matches aired on December 1. Christopher won by forfeit after Kane chokeslammed Taylor before Christopher made his way to

480-467: Was a building Flores had promoted wrestling in for years before the split. El Toreo de Naucalpan (a former bullring turned into an arena in 1968, now demolished and formerly located near Metro Cuatro Caminos station) became UWA's main venue, used for major title matches, their anniversary shows and significant Lucha de Apuesta (bet matches) events. UWA's more relaxed approach to wrestling, combined with their willingness to promote younger wrestlers made

504-788: Was abandoned in favor of the WCW Cruiserweight Championship (a unification match at Survivor Series was cancelled due to X-Pac's injury). The Light Heavyweight Championship was defended by X-Pac at house shows until March 8, 2002, when WWF finally deactivated the title. Simultaneously, the WCW Cruiserweight Championship was rebranded as the WWF Cruiserweight Championship. It would become the WWE Cruiserweight Championship in accordance with

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528-565: Was held on 4 July in Guadalajara at a Funeraria Gayosso. On 5 July, a mass was held for Aguayo at the Parque Funeral Colonias de Guadalajara, the same place where in 2015 he farewell his son Perro Aguayo Jr., with the attendance of family, friends and fans before ultimately being cremated . WWF Light Heavyweight Championship The WWF Light Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling championship in

552-463: Was inducted into the AAA Hall of Fame . He was the father of the Los Perros del Mal stable founder Perro Aguayo Jr. , who died on 21 March 2015, during a wrestling match at the age of 35. On 3 July 2019, Aguayo died at the age of 73, his death was announced through a social media post by the "Los Perros del Mal" account. According to them, his death was caused by a heart attack. His funeral

576-578: Was successful in taking the hair of Cien Caras and Máscara Año 2000 but he lost his slated retirement match against Universo 2000 . He remained in retirement until his son began feuding with Los Capos as well. Cien Caras claimed he could not retire until his business with Aguayo was finished so a double hair vs. hair match was set with Perro Aguayo and Perro Aguayo Jr. taking on Cien Caras and Máscara Año 2000. The Aguayos were successful and Perro Aguayo returned to retirement and Cien Caras went into semi-retirement. On 5 August 2012, at Triplemanía XX , Aguayo

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