Ricky Santana

Professional wrestling career

Santana debuted as a wrestler in 1980 after being trained at The Great Malenko wrestling school in south Florida. In 1985, Santana worked for NWA Texas Allstar Wrestling in San Antonio in June 1985 won the Texas Allstar Tag Team Championship as the Hoods with Tony Torres defeating Shawn Michaels and Paul Diamond, known as the American Force. In March 1986, he began wrestling in NWA Championship Wrestling from Florida, where he first met Fidel Sierra, who would later become his Tag Team partner for many years. A short time later, he went on to Portland for Pacific Northwest Wrestling. On October 4, 1986, he won the NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team titles with Brady Boone from Mike Miller and Abdudah Dein. He lost the titles back to them on November 10, 1986. He then won the titles with Cocoa Samoa, on January 7, 1987 but lost them to Miller and Rip Oliver in May 1987.{{cite web | access-date = 2009-04-09

After he moved to the World Wrestling Council, he won the Puerto Rican Heavyweight title from Super Black Ninja in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on August 6, 1988.{{cite web | access-date = 2009-04-10

In August 1991, Santana went to Japan for WING under the masked persona, the Iceman. After WING folded in 1994, he would use the Iceman gimmick in various Japanese promotions, including IWA Japan and Big Japan Pro Wrestling.

Back in the WWC, he won the World Junior Heavyweight title from Mr. Pogo, on April 20, of either 1990 or 1991. He claimed the championship again from Brad Anderson in May 1991, in Caguas, Puerto Rico. Santana won the WWC Caribbean Tag Team Championships twice, both times with Ray Gonzalez as the Latin Connection. He then won the World Tag Team titles twice with Rex King, on December 25, 1991 and February 29, 1992. He reunited with Gonzalez to win the world titles twice, in February and April 1993. Ortiz won the WWC Television title from Sean Morley, in either 1994 or 1995.{{cite web | access-date = 2009-04-10 |access-date=2009-04-10 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090608080114/http://www.100megsfree4.com/wiawrestling/pages/old/wwctag.htm |archive-date=June 8, 2009

In the Catch Wrestling Association, he won the World Tag Team Championship with Black Navy Seal from Michael Kovac and Dirk Rotzek, on November 27, 1999. Santana won the IWA World Tag Team Championship twice, in January and March 2000. Between 2001 and 2003, Ortiz won the WWC World Tag Team titles three times, the Caribbean Heavyweight Championship twice, and the Television and Puerto Rican Heavyweight titles once each.

Santana has also worked with the creative side as Head of creative for WWC Puerto Rico and IWA Puerto Rico on different occasions throughout the 1990s. Santana joined World Championship Wrestling in October 1999 as a road agent, leaving in June 2000 to take the same position in the World Wrestling Federation. As a road agent, Santana made an on-screen appearance on the 13 September 2001 episode of Smackdown!, the first mass gathering in the United States of America following the September 11 attacks. In a prerecorded talking head segment, Santana spoke about how the attacks had affected him. He would leave the WWF in December 2001.

Championships and accomplishments

• Catch Wrestling Association
  • CWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Black Navy Seal
• Cauliflower Alley Club
  • Men's Wrestling Award (2020)
• International Wrestling Association
  • IWA World Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Sean Morley (1) and Sean Hill (1)¨
  • IWA North American Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
• NWA Hollywood
  • NWA Americas Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with The Spoiler
  • NWA Los Angeles Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Ron Starr
• Pacific Northwest Wrestling
  • NWA Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
  • NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team Championship (6 times) - with Coco Samoa (1), Brady Boone (1), Al Madril (1), Brad Anderson (2) and Curtis Thompson (1)
  • NWA Pacific Northwest Television Championship (1 time)
• Ring Around The Northwest Newsletter
  • Tag Team of the Year (1990) with Curtis Thompson
• World Wrestling Council
  • WWC Caribbean Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
  • WWC Caribbean Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Ray Gonzalez{{cite web | access-date = 2009-04-10
  • WWC Puerto Rico Heavyweight Championship (5 times)
  • WWC Television Championship (3 times)
  • WWC World Junior Heavyweight Championship (3 times){{cite web |access-date = 2009-04-10 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20010821055527/http://www.100megsfree4.com/wiawrestling/pages/old/wwcjr.htm |archive-date = 2001-08-21
  • WWC World Tag Team Championship (10 times) - with Ray González (3), Rex King (2), Fidel Sierra (2), Brent Dail (1), Glamour Boy Shane (1) and Rico Suave (1)

''Luchas de Apuestas'' record

References

References

1. "Ricky Santana". link. Online World of Wrestling
2. "Ricky Santana".
3. "1984".
4. "1985".
5. "Ricky Santana - Director Of Training - Maus Family Automotive Group - LinkedIn".
6. (15 September 2015). "On This Day: September 13, 2001 – Smackdown: Two Days After – KB's Wrestling Reviews".
7. (December 17, 2019). "We are excited to announce that Ricky Santana will be the 2020 CAC Men's Wrestling Award winner! A student of the Malenko camp, Ricky's career would take him all over the world, winning titles and hair matches over the decades. We look forward to honoring Ricky next April!pic.twitter.com/oskPBIsqD8".
8. "IWA Puerto Rico North American Championship « Titles Database « CAGEMATCH - The Internet Wrestling Database".
9. Rodgers, Mike. (2004). "Regional Territories: PNW #16 Page #2".
10. Ruiz Glez, Alex. (September 7, 2010). "CMLL: 79 historias, 79 Aniversario, las 79 luchas estelares". [[Súper Luchas]].
11. (September 21, 1998). "65th Anniversary Show". Pro Wrestling History.
12. Perez, Jose. (November 19, 2013). "WWC Crossfire 2013: T.N.T. returns!, Carlito VS Rey Fenix, tag team title changes hands and more from Puerto Rico - PWInsider.com".