Jesús Alvarado Nieves was born on October 7, 1959, in Mexico City, Mexico, the oldest son of Juan Alvarado Ibarra, better known as professional wrestlerShadito Cruz. Growing up Jesús Alvarado often had to look after his younger brothers, especially when his father was touring Mexico, wrestling several days a week. In a 1991 interview, he recalled how he did not have time to play with other boys, as he was watching over all the Alvarado kids while both his father and mother had to work to make ends meet. At one point he began taking his younger brothers Juan and Pepe to the local wrestling arenas where they sold old wrestling magazines and worked as ushers for tips.[2] Jesús Alvarado began training for a professional wrestling career while still a teenager, despite the misgivings of his father. Local promoter and trainer Felipe Ham Lee began training Alavardo and helped convince his father to let his oldest son train for a wrestling career.[2] When his son was ready to make his in-ring debut Shadito Cruz allowed him to use one of Cruz' old ring names "El Hombre de Brazo de Oro" ("The man with the golden arm"), based on a movie starring Frank Sinatra, but the younger Alvarado soon shortened to simply "Brazo de Oro".[2]
Pro wrestling career
Alvarado made his debut as "Brazo de Oro" an enmascarado (masked wrestler) who worked mainly in tag team action with his brother who worked as Brazo de Plata ("Silver Arm") and in trios action with another brother known simply as El Brazo ("the arm"). Los Brazos, as they were billed, wrestled all over Mexico and made appearances for the Los Angeles-based "NWA Hollywood Wrestling". While working for NWA Hollywood Oro and Plata won the NWA Americas Tag Team Championship from Chino Chou and the Kiss on November 7, 1981.[5] The brothers were also last holders of the Los Angeles version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship in 1982.[6]
Losing the masks
Over the years Brazo de Oro and his brothers competed in a large number of Luchas de Apuestas ("Bet fights") where they put their masks or hair on the line against their opponents. Los Brazo's most famous Luchas de Apuestas occurred on October 21, 1988, when Plata, Oro and El Brazo all placed their masks on the line in a match against another well known Lucha libre family, Los Villanos, in this case Villano I, Villano IV and Villano V. The match was the culmination of a long feud (Storyline) between the two families and saw all six wrestlers bleed profusely during the bout. In the end Los Villanos won the match forcing all three Brazos to unmask and reveal their real names as is tradition in these types of matches. Despite losing their masks Los Brazos remained successful in the ring winning various tag team and trios titles such as the UWA World Tag Team Championship,[7]UWA World Trios Championship,[8]WWA World Tag Team Championship[9] and the WWA World Trios Championship[10]
The Alvarado wrestling family spans three generations starting with Shadito Cruz followed by his 6 sons who all took up wrestling,[13] as well as a third-generation of Alvarados who followed in their father or grandfather's footsteps. Jesús Alvarado's younger brothers all adopted a variation of the "Brazo" name that he had made popular, as he began wrestling as El Brazo ("The Arm"), Brazo de Plata ("Silver Arm"), Brazo Cibernético ("Cyborg Arm"), Brazo de Platino ("Platinum Arm") and Super Brazo (Super Arm).[14] At least one of Jesús Alvarado's children followed in his footsteps as his son, Felipe de Jesús Alvarado Mendoza, began his wrestling career under the name "Brazo de Oro Jr." He later changed his name and became better known as La Máscara when all of the then-active third-generation Alvarados stopped using the "Brazo" name and created their own independent characters.[14] In 2013 his daughter made her in-ring debut under the name "Aramís", wearing a modified version of the Brazos mask.[15]
Death
Alvarado was rushed to a Mexico City hospital in the early hours of April 28, 2017, due to respiratory problems.[4] A few hours later he died of a heart attack.[2]
^ abRoyal Duncan and Gary Will (2000). "CALIFORNIA: NWA Americas Tag Team Title". Wrestling Title Histories. Archeus Communications. pp. 296–297. ISBN0-9698161-5-4.
^ abRoyal Duncan and Gary Will (2000). "Los Angeles: World Tag Team title". Wrestling Title Histories. Archeus Communications. p. 299. ISBN0-9698161-5-4.
^ abRoyal Duncan & Gary Will (2006). "Mexico: UWA World Tag Team Title". Wrestling Title Histories (4th ed.). Archeus Communications. p. 396. ISBN0-9698161-5-4.
^ abRoyal Duncan & Gary Will (2000). "Mexico: Universal Wrestling Federation Welterweight Title". Wrestling Title Histories. Archeus Communications. p. 398. ISBN0-9698161-5-4.
^ abRoyal Duncan and Gary Will (2000). "Mexico: WWA Tag Team Title". Wrestling Title Histories. Archeus Communications. p. 401. ISBN0-9698161-5-4.
^ abRoyal Duncan and Gary Will (2000). "Mexico: WWA Trios Title". Wrestling Title Histories. Archeus Communications. p. 401. ISBN0-9698161-5-4.
^ abRoyal Duncan and Gary Will (2000). "MEXICO: National Trios Title". Wrestling Title Histories. Pennsylvania, USA: Archeus Communications. p. 393. ISBN0-9698161-5-4.
^ abVarious (2005). "Los Brazo Familia Ejemplar / The Brazo a Model Family". Lucha Libre: Masked Superstars of Mexican Wrestling. Distributed Art Publishers, Inc. pp. 187–190. ISBN968-6842-48-9.
^ abMadigan, Dan (2007). "A family Affair". Mondo Lucha a Go Go: the bizarre& honorable world of wild Mexican wrestling. HarperCollins Publishers. pp. 224–228. ISBN978-0-06-085583-3.
^"Aramis". Wrestling Data. Retrieved April 28, 2017.
^Royal Duncan and Gary Will (2000). "Mexico: National Tag Team Titles". Wrestling Title Histories. Archeus Communications. pp. 396–397. ISBN0-9698161-5-4.
^ ab"Los Reyes de Mexico: La Historia de Los Campeonatos Nacionales". Lucha 2000 (in Spanish). December 20, 2004. Especial 21.
^Royal Duncan and Gary Will (2000). "MEXICO: National Trios Title". Wrestling Title Histories. Archeus Communications. p. 393. ISBN0-9698161-5-4.
^ abcdEnciclopedia staff (July 2007). "Enciclopedia de las Mascaras". Brazo de Oro (in Spanish). Mexico. p. 40. Tomo I.
^Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2000). "MEXICO: Districto Federal Trios Title". Wrestling Title Histories. Archeus Communications. p. 401. ISBN0-9698161-5-4.
^Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2000). "MEXICO: Districto Federal Welterweight Title". Wrestling Title Histories. Archeus Communications. p. 402. ISBN0-9698161-5-4.
^Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2000). "MEXICO: Districto Federal Heavyweight Title". Wrestling Title Histories. Archeus Communications. p. 401. ISBN0-9698161-5-4.
^ abcdefghijklmnopqrEnciclopedia staff (July 2007). "Enciclopedia de las Mascaras". Brazo, Brazo de Oro, Brazo de Plata (in Spanish). Mexico. pp. 39–41. Tomo I.
^"Lucha Libre: Conoce la historia de las leyendas de cuadrilátero". Dr. Wagner Jr. (1965) (in Spanish). Mexico. 2008. pp. 20–22. Grandes Figuras de la Lucha Libre.
^"1990 Especial!". Box y Lucha Magazine (in Spanish). Mexico City, Mexico: Impresora y Encuaderanadora Glem S.A. de C.V. January 8, 1991. pp. 2–28. ISSN2007-0896. 1968.
^"1991 Especial!". Box y Lucha Magazine (in Spanish). Mexico City, Mexico: Impresora y Encuaderanadora Glem S.A. de C.V. January 9, 1992. pp. 2–28. ISSN2007-0896. 2020.
^ ab"1992 Especial!". Box y Lucha Magazine (in Spanish). Mexico City, Mexico: Impresora y Encuaderanadora Glem S.A. de C.V. January 10, 1993. pp. 2–28. ISSN2007-0896. 2072.
^"1993 Especial!". Box y Lucha Magazine (in Spanish). Mexico City, Mexico: Impresora y Encuaderanadora Glem S.A. de C.V. January 7, 1994. pp. 2–28. ISSN2007-0896. 2214.
^"1996 Especial!". Box y Lucha Magazine (in Spanish). Mexico City, Mexico: Impresora y Encuaderanadora Glem S.A. de C.V. January 10, 1997. pp. 2–28. ISSN2007-0896. 2280.
^Lucha 2000 Staff (April 2006). "Arena México: 50 anos de Lucha Libre". Lucha 2000 (in Spanish). Especial 28.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
^"1998 Especial!". Box y Lucha Magazine (in Spanish). Mexico City, Mexico: Impresora y Encuaderanadora Glem S.A. de C.V. January 9, 1999. pp. 2–28. ISSN2007-0896. 2348.
^ ab"1999 Especial!". Box y Lucha Magazine (in Spanish). Mexico City, Mexico: Impresora y Encuaderanadora Glem S.A. de C.V. January 10, 2000. pp. 2–28. ISSN2007-0896. 2436.
^ abc"2001 Especial!". Box y Lucha Magazine (in Spanish). Mexico City, Mexico: Impresora y Encuaderanadora Glem S.A. de C.V. January 13, 2002. pp. 2–28. ISSN2007-0896. 2540.
^ abcLuchas 2000 staff. "Luchas 2000". Villaño III y sus Victimas (in Spanish). Juárez, Mexico: Publicaciones citem, S.A. de C.V. pp. 24–27. Especial 30.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
^Ocampo, Ernesto, ed. (January 5, 2003). "Número Especial – Lo mejor de la lucha libre mexicana durante el 2003". SúperLuchas (in Spanish). Mexico City, Mexico: Impresos Camsam, SA de CV. ISSN1665-8876. 40.
^ abcOcampo, Ernesto, ed. (January 24, 2005). "Número Especial – Lo mejor de la lucha libre mexicana durante el 2004". SúperLuchas (in Spanish). Mexico City, Mexico: Impresos Camsam, SA de CV. ISSN1665-8876. 91.