José Aarón Alvarado Nieves (May 9, 1966 – October 27, 1999) was a Mexican luchador or masked professional wrestler, best known under the ring namesRobin Hood, El Arquero and Brazo Cibernético. José Aarón was a member of the extensive Alvarado wrestling family founded by his father, Shadito Cruz, which includes José Aarón's five brothers and a large number of third-generation wrestlers. Most of the Alvarado family wrestlers are using or have used a ring name including the word "Brazo" ("Arm") at some point in their careers. He died from an infection.
Professional wrestling career
José Aarón Alvarado was the fourth out of six sons of Shadito Cruz to become professional wrestlers, trained by his oldest brother Jesús Alvarado Nieves (better known under the ring name "Brazo de Oro"; Golden Arm) and made his debut on December 15, 1979 under the ring name Sputnik.[2][3]
Robin Hood / Arquero (1980s–1990s)
In the early 1980s José Aarón Alvarado decided to adopt a new ring identity but decided to not use the "Brazo" name invoked by his older brothers that worked as Brazo de Oro, Brazo de Plata and El Brazo instead creating the masked character "Robin Hood" after the fictional folk hero. In the early 1980s, Robin Hood teamed up with Pequeño Solín to win the Mexico City-based Distrito Federal Tag Team Championship[4] On March 29, 1984, Robin Hood defeated Frayle Pop in a Luchas de Apuestas, or bet match, forcing Frayle Pop to unmask. At the time it was not revealed that Frayle Pop was in fact José Alvarado's younger brother Martín Alvarado.[5][6] Over the years Robin Hood began teaming with two other lightweight wrestlers known as Danny Boy and Lasser. The three formed a trio known as Los Arqueros del Espacio ("The Space Archers") and worked as a regular trio in and around Mexico City. The three won the Distrito Federal Trios Championship at one point in time.[7] Lost Arqueros became regular workers for Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) in the late 1980s. By 1990 Los Arqueros became involved in a long-running storyline feud against another trio called Los Temerarios ("The Terrors"), Black Terry, Jose Luis Feliciano and Shu el Guerrero. Los Arqueros won the Mexican National Trios Championship from Los Temerarios on January 21, 1990 as another chapter of their feud unfolded.[8][9] The following month Shu El Guerrero defeated Robin Hood in a Luchas de Apuestas match, forcing him to unmask.[5] Following the mask loss Alvarado would at times wrestle as "El Arquero" ("The Archer") when teaming with Danny Boy and Lasser. As part of their feud with Los Temerarios the teams met in a three-on-three Luchas de Apuestas match that left Arquero, Danny Boy and Lasser shaved bald as a result of losing the match.[10]Los Arqueros lost the Mexican National Trios Championship on August 17, 1990 when they were defeated by Los Thundercats (Leono, Panthro and Tigro).[8][9]
Other ring characters (1990s)
Following the hair loss and the loss of the Trios title Los Arqueros Alvarado began working under different names and for different promotions. In 1991 he started to work for the Universal Wrestling Association (UWA) as Tortuguillo Kareteka II (Karate Turtle II; characters inspired by the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtlecomic book and cartoon), Alvarado teamed up with three other Tortuguillo Karetekas and wrestled on a series of UWA shows in 1991 and 1992. Due to him being mask he was able to still make occasional appearances as Robin Hood at the time. Later one he started working for CMLL as Átomo or sometimes Super Átomo while still working as a masked turtle in the UWA.[1] Once the Tortuguillo Karetekas were abandoned by the UWA he adopted the ring name "Brazo de Bronce" (Bronce Arm), to team up with his two younger brothers who began working as Súper Brazo and Brazo de Platino ("Platinum Arm") as they wrestle as Los Nuevo Brazos.[6] He also briefly worked as "Brazo de Futuro" ("The Arm of the Future") in CMLL during 1992. In 1992 CMLL booker Antonio Peña left EMLL to form Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA) with Alvarado being one of the wrestlers that joined him, primarily as a trainer in Gimnasio Felipe Ham Lee where AAA rookies trained. In 1994 he travelled to Japan to work a series using the "Robin Hood" ring name, often wrestling with or against his brothers Brazo de Platino and Súper Brazo. While in Japan he briefly held the Universal Wrestling Federation's Super Middleweight Championship.[5]
Brazo Cibernético (1996–1999)
In 1996 Alvarado adopted another ring character, this time as the masked Brazo Cibernético ("Cybernetic Arm") as he started working for Promo Azteca, an affiliate of AAA. In Promo Azteca he would often team with his brothers, working trios matches on the mid-card. On August 3, 1997, Alvarado lost a Luchas de Apuestas match to Taurus and was forced to unmask.[1] In 1998 he began working for International Wrestling Revolution Group (IWRG) as well as a number of other Mexican Independent promotions. On April 21, 1999, Brazo Cibernético, El Brazo and Brazo de Oro defeated Los Bestias Negras (I, II and III) in a trios Luchas de Apuestas match and thus forced all three Bestia Negras to have their hair shaved off after the match.
Death
José Aarón Alvarado Nieves died from what was described as an "acute infection" on October 27, 1999, with no prior indicators of any health issues.[1][2][3]
The Alvarado wrestling family spans three generations starting with Shadito Cruz followed by his 6 sons and a third generation of wrestlers that started working in the late 1990s.[3] One of José Aarón Alvarado's sons is currently working for CMLL as Robin (originally "Robin Hood Jr."). There is currently someone wrestling as "Brazo Cibernético Jr." and sometimes only "Brazo Cibernético" on the independent circuit, but it remains unconfirmed how that person is related to the Alvarado family, only that he indeed is a member of the family.[11]
^ abcdefghijklmn"Enciclopedia de las Mascaras". Brazo Cibernetico (in Spanish). Mexico. July 2007. p. 38. Tomo I.
^ ab"Los Brazos Familia Ejemplar / the Brazos a model Family". Lucha Libre: Masked Superstars of Mexican Wrestling. Distributed Art Publishers, Inc. 2005. pp. 184–190. ISBN968-6842-48-9.
^ abcMadigan, Dan (2007). "A family Affair". Mondo Lucha Libre: the bizarre & honorable world of wild Mexican wrestling. HarperCollins Publishers. pp. 224–228. ISBN978-0-06-085583-3.
^ abRoyal Duncan & Gary Will (2000). "MEXICO: Districto Federal Tag Team Title". Wrestling Title Histories. Archeus Communications. p. 401. ISBN0-9698161-5-4.
^ abcdef"Enciclopedia de las Mascaras". Robin Hood (in Spanish). Mexico. December 2007. p. 38. Tomo V.
^ abc"Enciclopedia de las Mascaras". Super Brazo (in Spanish). Mexico. December 2007. p. 25. Tomo V.
^ abRoyal Duncan & Gary Will (2000). "MEXICO: Districto Federal Trios Title". Wrestling Title Histories. Archeus Communications. p. 401. ISBN0-9698161-5-4.
^ abcRoyal Duncan and Gary Will (2000). "Mexico: National Trios Title". Wrestling Title Histories. Archeus Communications. p. 393. ISBN0-9698161-5-4.
^ abc"Los Reyes de Mexico: La Historia de Los Campeonatos Nacionales". Lucha 2000 (in Spanish). December 20, 2004. Especial 21.
^ ab"Enciclopedia de las Mascaras". El Arquero (in Spanish). Mexico. July 2007. p. 24. Tomo I.
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