Eric Pérez

Eric Alexander Pérez (born December 18, 1979) is a Puerto Rican professional wrestler who currently performs under the ring name Escobar.

In 2005, Pérez signed a developmental contract with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), where he worked for developmental territories Deep South Wrestling and Florida Championship Wrestling, winning the tag team championship in both and the FCW Florida Heavyweight Championship.

During September 2005, Pérez was contacted by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) for a development contract.

He was assigned to their developmental territory, Deep South Wrestling and began working under the pseudonym "The Puerto Rican Nightmare" Eric Pérez.

During his time there, he wrestled in singles matches, in addition to teaming with Montel Vontavious Porter and later, Sonny Siaki with whom he formed the tag team, Urban Assault.

The team won the Deep South Tag Team Championship once before the company finished its business relationship with WWE.

On May 1, 2006, Pérez competed in a tag team match at his first WWE house show.

He would then appear at ECW house shows in late July and again on September 30.

Alongside Siaki, he started wrestling on Raw house shows in February 2007.

After Deep South Wrestling ended their working relationship with WWE, he was transferred to Florida Championship Wrestling, where he continued performing as a developmental talent.

Pérez was subjected to surgery in October 2007, after sustaining an injury on his back, prompting several months of inactivity while in recovery.

Pérez returned to action in January 2008, and continued his participation in the promotion.

On January 26, 2008, he participated in a battle royal to determine the number one contender for the FCW Southern Heavyweight Championship.

Pérez won the tournament after eliminating the final contender with the help of Eddie Colón.

On February 23, 2008, Pérez and Colón, collectively known as The Puerto Rican Nightmares, defeated Steven Lewington and Heath Miller in a tournament final to become the first-ever FCW Florida Tag Team Champions.

The team lost the titles to Brad Allen and Nick Nemeth on March 23, 2008, before winning them back via disqualification on April 15, 2008.

They lost the titles to Drew McIntyre and Stu Sanders on May 6, 2008.

On July 17, Pérez and Colón reclaimed their titles by defeating McIntyre and Sanders.

They later lost the titles to Nic Nemeth and Gavin Spears on August 16, 2008, when Colón was promoted to the main brands.

Less than a month later, on September 15, Pérez performed in a dark match prior to Raw, defeating Gene Snitsky by pinfall.

The following week, on September 22, he performed against Tommy Dreamer prior to the WWE SmackDown tapings.

On December 11, Pérez won the FCW Florida Heavyweight Championship, defeating Sheamus O'Shaunessy, Joe Hennig and Drew McIntyre in a fatal four-way match.

The following month, FCW's creative team changed his ring name to "Eric Escobar".

During the following months, while still holding the title, Pérez performed on several dark matches prior to the tapings of WWE's main brands, working under his developmental ring name.

In the fall of 2009, he was promoted to WWE's main roster as Eric Escobar, appearing on the SmackDown brand.

On February 17, 2009, he wrestled against Jimmy Wang Yang before SmackDown.

A couple of weeks later, Pérez performed a sketch in Spanish, deeming himself the future talent of WWE, subsequently defeating Kizarny.

On January 17, 2010, he was released from his WWE contract.

Pérez subsequently returned to Puerto Rico, performing in the IWA and Puerto Rico Wrestling Association, winning the heavyweight titles of both promotions.

Pérez began his career in the International Wrestling Association in Puerto Rico, after receiving training with personnel from the company.

Prior to debuting in professional wrestling Pérez had always had an interest in wrestling fueled by World Wrestling Entertainment and Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling.

Pérez also stated that during his career he was inspired by the microphone skills of Chicky Starr and The Rock and by the in-ring ability of Kurt Angle.

While visiting an event presented by the IWA in Carolina, Puerto Rico, Pérez was approached by Víctor Quiñones then president of the company, who asked to him if he was interested in receiving training to become a professional wrestler.

His first angle with the company was as the leader of a group of young wrestlers titled Lucha Libre 101, originally composed of Bryan Madness (Roberto Rubio), Chicano (Carlos Cotto) and Abbad (Enrique Sinigaglia).

Several of the members of Lucha Libre 101 were either injured or abandoned the company while it was in progress which led to it being cancelled.

After the company terminated this angle he acted as host of a talk show segment, but he was not interested in the section and asked the company to give the role to Daniel Garcia Soto while he traveled to Mexico.

While working in the IWA, Pérez acquired a job to work with the Federal Government of the United States, this limited the number of days he could perform with the company, after seven months in this office he notified that he was not going to be able to continue working a four-day schedule, and attempted to dialogue the situation with the company's personnel.

He was not able to contact staff of the company which led to him asking for a release, several months later a fellow wrestler called him and asked if he was available to work with the World Wrestling Council which led to a reunion between him and the company's vice president Carlos Colón, Sr. He noted in interviews that his experience with the company was good, although it was a long and tedious one based on the company's quality standards.

While in IWA, Pérez wrestled in the United States with !Bang! a promotion owned by Dory Funk Jr.., against wrestlers including Brent Dail and several of !Bang!'s champions.

He subsequently worked with the World Wrestling Council, winning various titles there.