Latin Lover (wrestler)

Professional wrestling career

Victor Manuel Resendiz Ruiz made his professional wrestling debut in 1992 at Arena Solidaridad in his home town of Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico, facing the team of Comando Ruso, Hijo del Solitario and Canadian Butcher. Resendiz debuted under the ring name "Latin Lover", a name he has used ever since. Originally Latin Lover was an enmascarado, or masked character, but he lost the match in a Luchas de Apuesta (bet match) against the team of Sangre Chicana and El Sanguinario on August 1, 1992. Lover and Espacial were close to win against the rudos as they made Chicana submit, but El Sanguinario was able to defeat both of them to score an upset win. After the loss of the mask Latin Lover worked briefly for Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) and on various shows on the Mexican independent circuit. In 1994 he signed a contract to join Asistencia Asesoría y Administración, later simply AAA and soon became a featured wrestler on the mid-card. Latin Lover was quickly teamed up with another charismatic young wrestler by the name of Heavy Metal and together they won the Mexican National Tag Team Championship from Los Destructores (Tony Arce and Volcano) on September 9, 1994. The match came about as a result of a working relationship between AAA and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) and Latin Lover was chosen to represent AAA on the card.

Non-wrestling career and retirement

In 2005 Resendiz, officially billed as Latin Lover on the show, competed in and won the inaugural Bailando por un Sueño dance tournament with his partner Mariana Vallejo Isrrade. The win led to Latin Lover becoming a household name in Mexico, leading to more acting parts both on television and on stage. Resendiz appeared in the telenovela Velo de Novia ("The Bridal Veil") and on stage and TV as part of the Sólo para Mujeres ("For Women Only") dance/stripping group. During a stage performance Resendiz performed a dive off the stage and injured his knee, tearing the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his knee. On January 26, 2006 Resendiz announced that he had to retire from wrestling due to this injury and that he was scheduled for what would be the eighth knee surgery since his debut in 1992. In 2010 Latin Lover was selected to represent Mexico as one of the Juries on Second Dance World Championship. Resendiz appeared in the telenovela Qué bonito amor and La tempestad.

Return to professional wrestling

In late 2008, Latin Lover returned to wrestling, initially teasing that he would join the CMLL based group Los Perros del Mal, but in the end returned to AAA. At the Rey de Reyes (2009) tournament on March 15, 2009, he defeated Abismo Negro, Black Abyss and Dark Ozz to qualify for the final. In the final he was the last wrestler eliminated by the 2009 Rey de Reyes Electroshock. Following the Rey de Reyes tournament Latin Lover began teaming with Marco Corleone, a wrestler with a similar "ladies man" character. The team challenged AAA World Tag Team Champions La Hermandad Extrema (Spanish for "The Extreme Brotherhood"; Nicho el Milinario and Joe Líder) in one of the featured events at Triplemania XVII, only to lose due to miscommunication between Latin Lover and Corleone. On March 18, 2010, AAA announced in a press conference that they would no longer be booking Latin Lover, due to monetary issues and him no-showing the 2010 Rey de Reyes event where he was scheduled to be part of the main event. On April 11 Perros del Mal announced that Latin Lover would be joining the promotion and debuting the following month. On June 4, 2010, Latin Lover returned to Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre, brawling with Héctor Garza. After not appearing again for CMLL for months, Latin Lover returned to the promotion on November 26, 2010, confronting Los Invasores, a rudo group led by Garza. He was then attacked by the group, before being saved by Shocker. Upon returning to the promotion, Resendiz adopted the new ring name of Latino.

Legal actions against AAA

In early April, 2010 ex-AAA wrestlers Histeria and El Alebrije sought legal action against AAA over the issues of name and ring character ownership as well as unfair termination by AAA. The two claim that they have wrestled for 13 years to create the characters and thus own them. The parties met in Mexico City's Board of Conciliation and Arbitration to see if a settlement can be reached or if the matter will be taken to court. The parties met for a second arbitration meeting in late April, 2010. This time the plaintiff group was joined by Latin Lover who, like Alebrije, Histeria and the others, claimed that he should be allowed to use the ring name on the independent circuit since he's worked as Latin Lover for 18 years and thus should be allowed to continue using it. After the meeting it was stated that all parties involved were cooperating over the matter.

Filmography

Championships and accomplishments

• AAA
  • AAA Campeón de Campeones Championship (1 time)
  • Mexican National Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
  • Mexican National Light Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
  • Mexican National Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Heavy Metal (1) and Panterita del Ring (1)
  • Rey de Reyes: 1997
• Federación Internacional de Lucha Libre
  • FILL Light Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
• Pro Wrestling Illustrated
  • Ranked No. 46 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2004

''Luchas de Apuestas'' record

Note

References

References

1. Bailando por una Sueño staff. "Soñadores: Latin Lover". Televisa.
2. Mike Spillane. (March 2006). "The International Report". Sports and Entertainment publications LLC.
3. "Records of N.W.A. World Heavyweight Championship matches: 2004". wrestling-titles.com.
4. (2009-03-15). "Resultados de Rey de Reyes-AAA (16 marzo 2008) Elecktroshock nuevo Rey de Reyes. Juventud Guerrera y Marco Corleone las sorpresas. Wagner se presenta en AAA para retar al Mesías.". [[Súper Luchas]].
5. Arturo Rosas Plata. (2009-06-14). "Triplemanía, la locura!". Editorial Ovaciones, S. A. de C.V..
6. (2010-03-19). "Puntos clave en la conferencia de prensa de AAA". [[Súper Luchas]].
7. (2010-04-11). "Latin Lover será un Perro del Mal". Record.com.mx.
8. Ocampo, Ernesto. (June 4, 2010). "Resultados Arena México (4 junio 2010): ¡Latin Lover en el CMLL! ¿Se integrará al elenco?". [[Súper Luchas]].
9. Rivera, Manuel. (November 27, 2010). "Resultados Arena México (26 de noviembre 2010): ¡Latin Lover, contratado por el CMLL!". [[Súper Luchas]].
10. (November 30, 2010). "Latin Lover nuevo fichaje del CMLL". Revista Luchas 2000.
11. Notimex. (April 7, 2010). "Pelean Histeria y Alebrije por derchos de nombre y caracterizacion". MedioTiempo.com.
12. Mendoza, Gabriela. (April 21, 2010). "Latin Lover pelea por su nombre". Record.com.mx.
13. Royal Duncan & Gary Will. (2000). "Wrestling Title Histories". Archeus Communications.
14. Royal Duncan & Gary Will. (2000). "Wrestling Title Histories". Archeus Communications.
15. (December 20, 2004). "Los Reyes de Mexico: La Historia de Los Campeonatos Nacionales". Lucha 2000.
16. Royal Duncan and Gary Will. (2000). "Wrestling Title Histories". Archeus Communications.
17. "Asistencia Asesoria y Administracion TripleMania". Pro Wrestling History.
18. (August 2004). "Pro Wrestling Illustrated 500 – 2004 :046 Latin Lover". Sports and Entertainment publications LLC.