Bandido

Bandido (born April 17, 1995) is a Mexican luchador enmascarado (masked professional wrestler), who is currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW).

He is widely known for his work in Ring of Honor, where he is a former one-time ROH World Champion as well as his work in a range of promotions, such as promotions Lucha Libre Elite (LLE), The Crash Lucha Libre and Dragon Gate (DG).

Bandido is a fourth-generation wrestler, a relative of Apóstol Jr., Myzteziz Jr.., and cousin of Magia Blanca.

Bandido's real name is not publicly known, which is often the case with masked wrestlers in Mexico.

Bandido was born on April 17, 1995, in Torreón, Coahuila, Mexico.

He is the grandson of Julián Arellano Orihuela—who is known as "Tony Arellano"—and the great-grandson of Julián Arellano Varela, who was known under the ring name "El Húngaro" ("The Hungarian").

Bandido's cousin Magia Blanca is also a professional wrestler in the Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre promotion.

He is also related to Myzteziz Jr.. who wrestles in Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide.

The wrestler later known as Bandido began training in the wrestling school Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre in Mexico City, where he was primarily trained by Franco Columbo, Hijo del Gladiador and Último Guerrero for his in-ring debut.

Because Bandido has never been unmasked in the ring, his birth name is not a matter of public knowledge, a tradition in Mexico for masked wrestlers.

For his debut, Bandido adopted the ring name "Magnífico II" and formed a tag team known as Los Magníficos ("The Magnificent Ones") with his cousin, who worked as Magnífico I. The duo worked for various promotions on the Mexican Independent circuit including Wrestling Martin Calderon (WMC), Cara Lucha and Lucha Memes.

In 2015, Magnífico II traveled to England, where he worked a show that was promoted by El Hijo del Santo.

In mid-2015 Magnífico II began working for El Hijo del Santo's Todo x el Todo promotion, wrestling under the name "Cielito", named after the song Cielito Lindo.

On October 5, 2015, Cielito unsuccessfully challenged Ángel Blanco Jr. for the WWA World Welterweight Championship.

Bandido previously worked under the ring names "Magnífico II" and "Cielito" but since 2016, he has used the ring character Bandido, who wears a mask that incorporates a bandana covering the lower part of his face in the style of Wild West outlaw.

Bandido regularly teamed with Flamita, forming a duo known as "Mexa Blood".

Bandido is a one-time PWG World Champion, and with Flamita and Rey Horus he has held the ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship.

In mid-2016 Los Magníficos split up and Magnífico I started working for CMLL under the name "Magia Blanca" and Magnífico II began working for Lucha Libre Elite (LLE), adopting a new in-ring character called "El Bandido".

His character, ring gear and mask were inspired by the Wild West bandit stereotype.

His new mask incorporated a bandana that covered his nose and mouth, a stylized "Lone Ranger"-style markings around the eyes and a horseshoe on his forehead.

On November 18, 2016, El Bandido outlasted Golden Magic, Argos, Emperador Azteca, Ciclón Ramírez Jr., Imposible, Eterno, Flamita, Diamante and Zumbido in a torneo cibernético elimination match to become the first Lucha Libre Elite Welterweight Champion.

LLE closed 2017, but Bandido defended the LLE Welterweight Championship at least once after the promotion closed.

On September 28, 2017, Bandido defeated Ángel Blanco Jr. to win the WWA World Welterweight Championship in a show in Aguascalientes.

In December, 2017 Bandido and Laredo Kid outlasted Perro Callejero Jr., Apando Negro Jr., Bestia 666, Crazy Latino, Dr. Polux, Emperador Azteca, Extreme Tiger, Murciélago Plateado Jr. and Rey Horus to win the G21 Torneo Gran Alternativa tournament.

His debut with the promotion was on November 29, 2017, where Bandido, Damián 666 and M-ximo lost to the team of Bestia 666, Garza Jr. and Mr. 450.

Starting in 2018, Bandido started to work more for promotions outside Mexico, primarily in the United States, where he often teamed with Flamita under the team name "MexaBlood".

Through Flamita's contacts in Japan, Bandido worked his first two tours with Dragon Gate in January and June 2018.

During the British promotion Progress Wrestling's tour of the United States, Bandido and Flamita defeated A. R. Fox and Chris Brookes to win the Progress Tag Team Championship.

Bandido teamed up with Rey Mysterio and Rey Fénix in the main event of the Indy wrestling super show All In, losing to The Golden Elite team of Kota Ibushi and The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson).

MexaBlood traveled to England at the end of September 2018 to work once more for Progress Wrestling.

On September 30, the duo lost the Progress Tag Team Championship to Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher and Mark Davis).

On March 17, 2018, Bandido and Flamita defeated the teams Aeroboy and Séptimo Dragón, and The Rascalz (Dezmond Xavier and Zachary Wentz) to win the vacant The Crash Tag Team Championship.

Bandido has also achieved much success as a singles competitor, his feats including winning PWG's 2019 Battle of Los Angeles, and ROH's 2021 Survival of the Fittest tournaments.

Bandido is a former world champion in the latter promotions, winning the PWG World Championship and Ring of Honor World Championship.

In March 2020, Bandido participated in the 2020 16 Carat Gold, held by Westside Xtreme Wrestling (wXw).

On night one, he defeated Julian Pace in the first round.

On night two, Mike Bailey defeated him in the quarter-final.

The match was well received by the crowd in attendance, who pelted the two men with coins and notes in appreciation.

On night three, Bandido teamed with Pace and Jeff Cobb, defeated the team of Black Taurus, Hektor Invictus and Puma King.

Bandido came to Mexican national attention through his work for The Crash Lucha Libre as the promotion began expanding to touring nationally.