Antonio Peña facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Antonio Peña |
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| Birth name | Antonio Hipolito Peña Herrada |
| Born | June 13, 1951 Mexico City, Mexico |
| Died | October 5, 2006 (aged 55) Mexico City, Mexico |
| Family | Ponzoña (father) Espectro (uncle) Picudo (cousin) Silver Cat (cousin) |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Dalia Negra Espectro de Ultratumba (II) Espectro Jr. (I) El Genio Kahoz (I) The Rose |
| Billed height | 5 ft 11 in (179 cm) |
| Billed weight | 227 lb (103 kg) |
| Billed from | Mexico City, Distrito Federal |
| Trained by | Rojas Isaías Rodríguez Toño Hernández Espectro |
| Debut | April 8, 1974 |
| Retired | 1986 |
Antonio Hipolito Peña Herrada (born June 13, 1951 – died October 5, 2006) was a very important person in Mexican professional wrestling. He was a promoter who started the famous Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA) wrestling company in 1992.
Peña's company became super popular in the early 1990s. Even after some economic challenges in Mexico in 1994, AAA kept going strong. Antonio Peña's AAA is known for helping bring the exciting lucha libre style of wrestling to the United States. Many AAA wrestlers, like Rey Misterio Jr., Psicosis, La Parka, and Konnan, later became big stars in American wrestling companies.
Before becoming a promoter, Peña was a wrestler himself, called a luchador. He wrestled using different masks and names, such as El Genio, Espectro Jr., Kahoz, Espectro de Ultratumba, and Dalia Negra. He stopped wrestling in 1986 to work behind the scenes. Before starting AAA, Peña was the main person who planned matches and storylines (called a booker) for Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre, which is the oldest wrestling company in the world.
Contents
Antonio Peña's Story
Growing Up
Antonio Peña grew up in Mexico City, Mexico, in a family that loved wrestling. His father was a luchador named Ponzoña. His uncle was the famous original Espectro, who was a big wrestling star in the 1950s and 1960s.
Antonio learned to wrestle from Rojas, Isias Rodríguez, Toño Hernández, and his uncle. He had his first professional wrestling match in 1974 when he was 18 years old.
Wrestling Career
In the Ring
Peña started his wrestling journey as a masked character called El Genio (which means "The Genius" in Spanish) on April 8, 1974. After a few months, his uncle gave him permission to use the "Espectro" name. So, Peña started wrestling as Espectro Jr. He wore a "venom green" mask and trunks, just like the original Espectro.
As Espectro Jr., Peña was a skilled wrestler. He also used special tricks to get the crowd's attention. He played a "bad guy" or rudo character, which made people really notice him. Soon, he was challenging top wrestlers for important championships in Mexico. Even though he was a great performer in the ring, backstage he was a quiet and thoughtful person. He often talked about how he wanted to change Lucha Libre to add more characters and showmanship.
In 1980, Peña decided to change his wrestling character. He gave the Espectro Jr. name and outfit to his cousin, Jose Elías Pinceno. Peña then created a completely new character called Kahoz (sometimes spelled Kahos or Khaoz). Kahoz was a mysterious masked rudo who used dark rituals before his matches. Many people compared Kahoz to famous wrestling showmen from the past. Kahoz would sometimes bring live pigeons to the ring to make his character more dramatic and mysterious. For Peña, the Kahoz character was not about winning titles. It was about creating a strong character and making the audience feel excited. Even though he didn't win many titles as Kahoz, the character was a huge success, and he was the main star of shows all over Mexico.
Peña's body couldn't keep up with the tough schedule of being a main event wrestler. So, in 1985, he stopped playing Kahoz. He then wrestled as Espectro de Ultratumba ("The Ghost from Beyond the Grave") for a short time before giving that character to his cousin in 1986. Peña tried one more character, "Dalia Negra," but his body was too tired. This forced him to stop wrestling in 1986. He did wrestle a few matches as "the Rose" in 1994. His very last match was in 2001 at an event called Guerra de Titans, where he lost to Cibernético.
Wrestling Promoter
Working for CMLL
Even before he stopped wrestling, Peña was very active behind the scenes. He always suggested new wrestling characters, storylines, and match plans. So, when he retired, he was hired by Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre (EMLL), Mexico's oldest wrestling company. He worked in their public relations department.
Over the next few years, Peña started planning shows and writing storylines for EMLL. Peña and the head booker, Juan Herrera, worked together to make EMLL the top wrestling company during the 1980s TV boom. Peña was also a key person when EMLL changed its name to Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL).
Peña had many creative ideas for CMLL. He wanted to create a "Mini-Estrella" division for smaller wrestlers and feature more non-heavyweight wrestlers in the main events. However, the owner of CMLL, Paco Alonso, decided to stick with the older style of booking, focusing on heavyweight wrestlers.
Starting AAA
Because Paco Alonso didn't use Peña's new ideas, Peña started talking with the Televisa television channel. He wanted to start a new wrestling company that would provide Televisa with weekly wrestling shows.
In 1992, Peña created a company that provided wrestlers and matches for the Televisa-owned Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA) promotion. While Peña technically owned the promotion, Televisa owned the rights to the AAA name at first. In 1995, during a financial difficult time, Televisa sold all the rights to AAA to Peña. He then formed his own company called Promociones Antonio Peña. S.A. (PAPSA).
Many of the young wrestlers Peña wanted CMLL to promote left CMLL to join AAA. AAA's biggest moment came in 1993 when they had the largest wrestling crowd in Mexico ever. They held an event called Triplemanía I with 48,000 fans! Over the years, Peña successfully made AAA a strong competitor to CMLL, making them "the Big Two" in Lucha Libre.
Death and Legacy
Antonio Peña passed away on October 5, 2006, because of a serious heart attack. After his death, several wrestling companies in Japan that AAA had worked with honored him.
Peña's death left a big empty space in AAA. He had always been the leader and had the final say. In the years before he died, Peña had brought in his brother-in-law Joaquin Roldan and Roldan's son Dorian Roldan. He taught them how to run a wrestling company.
AAA holds a special show every year to honor Antonio Peña around the anniversary of his death. These are called the Antonio Peña Memorial Shows. During these events, AAA holds the Copa Antonio Peña, which is a tournament in his honor. Since 2009, this yearly event has been known as Héroes Inmortales ("Immortal Heroes").
Championships and Accomplishments
- AAA
- AAA Hall of Fame (Class of 2007)
- Mexican independent circuit
- Texcoco Middleweight Championship (1 time)
- Wrestling Observer Newsletter
- Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 1996)
Images for kids
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Antonio Peña, the founder of AAA.
