Manuel Leal (born June 8, 1939), better known as Tinieblas ("Darkness"), is a Mexican luchador.^[1]

Professional wrestling career[link]

Tinieblas began as a body builder and stunt man who was spotted by luchadores Black Shadow and Dory Dixon. Impressed by Leal's physique they convinced him to begin a career as a "luchador". In 1968, "Lucha Libre" magazine editor Valente Pérez, came up with the idea of a character that would act as a rival for luchador Mil Mascaras. He created a character with a faceless hood and named him "Tinieblas" (Darkness). Perez selected the former body builder turned luchador to wrestle as that character. Tinieblas debuted as a face on August 20, 1971. He would became a large draw in Mexico and toured internationally. Tinieblas was also one of the first luchadores to tour Japan in 1974.^[2]

Comic series[link]

Tinieblas was the second luchador (after El Santo) to have a comic book series based on his character. His first comic book was printed between 1976 to 1979. In 1991, a second series titled, "Tinieblas, El Hijo de la Noche" ("Tinieblas, Son of the night") was created. It was printed until 1995. The Tinieblas comic series was relaunched in the year 2000.^[3]

Film career[link]

Tinieblas also made appearances in luchador films. In 1971, he starred as a member of a squadron of masked superheroes in the film '"Los Campeones Justicieros"' (The Champions of Justice). Membership in the Champions of Justice included such legendary Mexican wrestling figures as Mil Mascaras, Blue Demon, El Rayo de Jalisco, Sr., El Medico Asesino, El Fantasma Blanco and Superzan. He guest-starred in many low-budget foreign series, such as Vendetta and Rederiet.

Legacy[link]

Tinieblas debuted at a relatively old age of 32, so he never reached the same physical peak as many other popular luchadores of his generation. However, his character remains popular with young lucha libre fans, primarily due to his appearance in comic books and films. Tinieblas still wrestles occasionally and has appeared alongside his son Tinieblas, Jr.

Videogames[link]

The 2D wrestling arcade game Saturday Night Slam Masters released by Japanese game company Capcom in 1993 featured a final boss character called "El Escorpión" (The Scorpion), whose appearance was inspired by Tinieblas. The character's name in the original Japanese edition of the game was "The Astro" (アストロ, Asutoro).

Films (listed in reverse chronological order)[link]

• Furia de los karatecas, La (1982), aka Fury of the Karate Killers, starring Santo
• Puño de la muerte, El (1982) starring Santo
• Investigador Capulina, El (1975)
• Momias de San Ángel, Las (1975)
• Leyendas macabras de la colonia (1974) (as Tinieblas el Gigante)
• Castillo de las momias de Guanajuato, El (1973) aka The Castle of the Mummies of Guanajuato (International: English title)
• Rosa sobre el ring, Una (1973) (uncredited)
• Superzan el invencible (1971)
• Campeones justicieros, Los (1971) (as Tinieblas el Gigante)... aka The Champions of Justice (International: English title)
• Las Momias de Guanajuato (1970), his character was "Satanas", the leader of the Killer Mummies

In wrestling[link]

• Signature moves

• El Abrazo del Oso (Bear hug)
• Plancha

Championships and accomplishments[link]

• World Wrestling Association

• WWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

Lucha de Apuesta record[link]

References[link]

Professional wrestling portal

Dos Caras
Dos Caras (left) facing off against Dr. Wagner, Jr. (right) as Mil Mascaras and El Canek look on.
Ring name(s)	Dos Caras
Billed height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)[1]
Billed weight	96 kg (210 lb)[1]
Born	(1951-02-21) February 21, 1951 (age 61)[1] San Luis Potosí, San Luis Potosi, Mexico[1]
Billed from	San Luis Potosí, San Luis Potosi, Mexico[1]
Trained by	Rafael Salamanca Gory Medina
Debut	01970-01-06January 6, 1970[1]

José Luis Rodríguez (born February 21, 1951) is a Mexican Luchador Enmascarado (masked professional wrestler) who wrestles under the ring name Dos Caras (Spanish for Two faces). Dos Caras' most active years were in the 1970s and 80s, and achieved his greatest success in Mexico's Universal Wrestling Alliance (UWA) winning the UWA World Heavyweight Championship three times. He has been called "the greatest heavyweight ever to come out of Mexico".^[2]

Professional wrestling career[link]

Rodríguez made his debut on January 6, 1970 at the age of 18 after training under Rafael Salamanca and Gory Medina.^[1] He adopted the ring name Dos Caras upon his debut, wearing a colorful mask with a figure of a two headed eagle on it to reflect his name.^[1] Rodríguez later stated that the name and mask was not inspired by the Two-Face comic book character but as a "two faced cheater" character (called a Rudo or Heel in pro wrestling).^[1] Through connections with his older brother who had been wrestling as Mil Mascaras for some years when Dos Caras made his debut he quickly landed a regular job with the professional wrestling promotion Empresa Mexicana de la Lucha Libre (EMLL), the world's oldest and Mexico's largest promotion. In the early years he often teamed with another brother who wrestles under the name Sicodélico in low card matches while gaining experience.

In 1975 wrestling promoters Francisco Flores and Benjamín Mora and wrestler/trainer Ray Mendoza decided to break away from EMLL's very rigid structure where young wrestlers "paid their dues" for many years before being given an opportunity and founded their own wrestling promotion, the Universal Wrestling Association (UWA), as a direct competition to EMLL.^[3] Dos Caras was one of the young EMLL wrestlers who decided to follow Flores to the UWA, gaining the opportunity to work high up on the card. Dos Caras worked his way up the ranks and on June 20, 1978 he defeated El Canek to win the Mexican National Light Heavyweight Championship, his first championship ever. Over the following 292 days Dos Caras defended the title several times, using it as a springboard up the rankings of the UWA. On April 8, 1979 Caras lost the belt to Astro Rey.^[4]

Over the following years Dos Caras developed both physically and style wise into a heavyweight wrestler, blending the Lucha libre style of wrestling with a more mat-based, United States style wrestling style. Years later author James Molinaro cites Caras' blend of several wrestling styles as one of the reasons he called him "the greatest heavyweight ever to come out of Mexico"^[2] On February 2, 1984 Dos Caras won the highest title in the UWA as he won the UWA World Heavyweight Championship by defeating Enrique Vera in a tournament for the vacant title.^[5] Dos Caras' first run as the headliner of the UWA lasted for 119 days, until June 24, 1984 when he lost the belt to Canek.^[5] In the mid -1980s tension between EMLL and the UWA subsided and the two groups cooperated on a series of shows. This cooperation meant that Dos Caras worked EMLL shows for the first time in 10 years, teaming with Villaño III and Villaño V to win the Mexican National Trios Championship from Los Brazos (El Brazo, Brazo de Oro and Brazo de Plata).^[6] The title run only lasted 26 days as EMLL decided to take the belts off the UWA trio and have Los Brazos win them back on March 23, 1986.^[6] the EMLL/UWA cooperation ended not long after and Dos Caras once again focused on the UWA, defeating El Canek to win his second UWA World title, a title he would hold until some time in 1987 where El Canek won the title back.^[5]

In the late 1980s Dos Caras began wrestling for the Mexico based World Wrestling Association (WWA) where he won the WWA World Heavyweight Championship in 1989. He would hold the title for approximately a year until losing the belt to Scorpio, Jr. on September 19, 1990.^[5] in 1992 Dos Caras became a three time UWA World Champion when he defeated El Canek. Caras' third and final UWA title reign came to an end after 154 days when El Canek regained the title in Naucalpan, Mexico.^[5] In 1994 the UWA closed, leaving Dos Caras free to work for other promotions, allowing him to work for EMLL (now renamed "Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre"; CMLL) as well as various independent promotions. On MArch 22, 1996 Dos Caras teamed with Héctor Garza and La Fiera to win the CMLL World Trios Championship from Bestia Salvaje, Emilio Charles, Jr. and Sangre Chicana.^[7] The team held the title until early 1997 when Garza left CMLL and the title was vacated.^[7]

In the subsequent years Dos Caras worked regularly for Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA), being instrumental in the professional wrestling debut of his son Dos Caras, Jr. in AAA.^[8] He would also work for International Wrestling Revolution Group (IWRG) although he never won any championships in either promotion. Currently Dos Caras still wrestles, although on a reduced schedule, he mainly works for independent promotions, especially the UWE Legends shows. He has been vocal about not wanting to work for one of the "big two" promotions in Mexico (CMLL and AAA) as he did not feel either promotion treated a wrestler with his history and status with enough respect.^[9]

On October 7, 2010, Dos Caras made a special appearance at a WWE SmackDown live event in Mexico, where he was in his son—Alberto Del Rio's corner in his match against Kofi Kingston.

Personal life[link]

Rodríguez is the father of Luchador Dos Caras, Jr. (currently known as Alberto Del Rio in the WWE), and the brother of luchadors Mil Mascaras and Sicodélico. He has two nephews who wrestle as well, using the names Sicodelico, Jr. and El Hijo del Sicodelico.

In films[link]

In 2007 he appeared alongside his brother in the film Mil Mascaras vs. the Aztec Mummy (also known as Mil Mascaras: Resurrection).^[10][11][12]

In wrestling[link]

• Finishing moves

• Dos Caras Clutch (Hammerlock head scissors pinning combination) – innovated
• Sitout powerbomb

• Signature moves

• Flying cross chop
• Diving crossbody
• La Escalera (Grounded octopus hold)
• Pescado
• Quebradora con giro (Tilt-a-whirl backbreaker)
• Topé suicida
• Wrist lock Stump puller

Championships and accomplishments[link]

• Empressa Mexicana de Lucha Libre / Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre

• CMLL World Trios Championship (1 time) - with Héctor Garza and La Fiera^[7]
• Mexican National Trios Championship (1 time) - with Villaño III and Villaño V^{[Note 1][6]}

• Pro Wrestling Illustrated
  • PWI ranked him #102 of the top 500 singles wrestlers of the "PWI Years" in 2003^[13]

• Universal Wrestling Association

• Mexican National Light Heavyweight Championship (1 time)^{[Note 1][4]}
• UWA World Heavyweight Championship (3 times)^[5]

• World Wrestling Association

• WWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)^[14]

• Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards

• Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 1998)

Lucha de Apuesta record[link]

Footnotes[link]

References[link]

Paco Ignácio Taibo II (right) reading in Havana (Cuba), at feria del libro (14.02.2009)

Paco Ignacio Taibo II (born Francisco Ignacio Taibo Mahojo on 11 January 1949 in Gijón, Asturias, Spain), is a Mexican writer and novelist.

Taibo has lived in Mexico City since 1958 when his family fled from Spain to escape the fascist dictatorship of Francisco Franco. Taibo II (or PIT, as he likes to be called) is a Mexican intellectual, historian, professor, journalist, social activist, union organizer, and world-renowned writer. Widely known for his policial novels, he is considered the founder of the neopolicial genre in Latin America and is the president of the International Association of Policial Writers.^[1][2] One of the most prolific writers in Mexico today, over 500 editions of his 51 books have been published in 29 countries and over a dozen languages, and include novels, narrative, historical essays, chronicles, and poetry.^[3]

Some of PIT's novels have been mentioned among the "Books of the Year" by The New York Times, Le Monde, and the Los Angeles Times. He has received numerous awards including the Grijalbo, the Planeta/Joaquin Mortiz in 1992, the Dashiell Hammett three times for his policial novels, and the 813 for the best police novel published in France. His biography of Ernesto "Che" Guevara (Ernesto Guevara, tambien conocido como el Che, 1996) has sold over half a million copies around the world and won the 1998 Bancarella Book of the Year award in Italy.^[2]

PIT's readership has developed into a cult following. Once when he gave a talk about Mexican Independence hero Miguel Hidalgo in Mexico City, his presentation turned into a rally. His readers consider him their friend and when his presentations are over, people approach him to give him gifts such as cigarettes, apples, and sodas.^[3]

A socially- and politically-conscious writer, PIT's writings respond to and speak of the social pressures he experienced as a young man and allow him to tell what's behind every criminal story: corruption and repression of the political system in Mexico. A militant and veteran of the 1968 student movement in Mexico, his book 68 (2004), inspired by the events of that year and direct personal experience, tells the story of the movement including the Tlatelolco massacre of student protesters in Mexico City by government troops: At the La Plaza de las Tres Culturas, thousands of people were arrested, hundreds killed, and hundreds are still missing. To date nobody has been held accountable for these crimes.^[4]

Some of PIT's most popular works include the series of around Mexican independent detective called Héctor Belascoarán Shayne introduced in the novel Días de combate. PIT wrote eight more novels with this character. Other novels include: Muertos incómodos (The Inconvenient Dead) (with Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos), Cuatro manos (Four Hands), Sombra de la sombra (Shadow of the Shadow), Amorosos fantasmas, and Temporada de Zopilotes: Una historia narrativa sobre la Decena Trágica (Buzzards´ season: A narrative history about the Ten Tragic Days).

PIT organizes the 'Semana Negra' ("The Noir Week"), a crime fiction festival held every year in Gijón, Spain.

Family[link]

He is the son of Paco Ignacio Taibo I (†, 6/19/1924-11/13/2008) and the brother of movie producer Carlos Taibo and poet Benito Taibo.

References[link]

External links[link]

• (es) Biography
• (tetun) Translation into tetun (Timor-Leste)