Lince Dorado

José Rafael Cordero (born May 11, 1987) is an American professional wrestler of Puerto Rican descent currently signed to Major League Wrestling, where he competes under the ring name Lince Dorado (Spanish for Golden Lynx), and he was also MLW Middleweight Champion.

He is best known for his time in WWE, where he was a member of Lucha House Party.

Cordero began his career in 2007, working for several independent promotions in Puerto Rico and United States, most notably the Philadelphia-based Chikara, where he won the 2008 edition of the King of Trios, a tournament between trios along with El Pantera and Incognito.

Dorado began his training in Mexico under El Pantera until he made his way back to the United States in early 2007.

On February 17, Dorado, Pantera and Sicodelico, Jr. made their Chikara debuts as a part of Chikara's first-ever King of Trios tournament.

The team made an impressive impact, as they advanced to the semi-finals before falling to the team of Mike Quackenbush and ShaneSaw (Shane Storm and Jigsaw).

Shortly after the tournament, he moved to the U.S. and began residing in New Jersey in order to compete for Chikara in addition to various promotions in the area.

Dorado quickly garnered fan support due to his high-flying wrestling style and he was soon entered into the first-ever Rey de Voladores tournament, which brought together some of the most talented high-flying wrestlers on the independent circuit.

Despite advancing to the finals, including an upset win over established Chikara wrestler Jigsaw, Dorado lost the tournament Chuck Taylor.

At the Anniversario weekend, Dorado began his first feud in Chikara against the returning "Marvelous" Mitch Ryder, which stemmed from Ryder's "patriotic" dislike of "the illegal immigrant Mexicans", which he claimed Dorado to be a part of.

During the course of the feud, Dorado scored a major upset victory over Chris Hero via submission with the Chikara Special.

The feud culminated when Dorado defeated Ryder in November in a hair vs. mask match.

However, their match gained some notoriety after Dorado suffered a seizure and severe concussion after he over-rotated a shooting star senton in the finish of the match that resulted in his head hitting the mat.

Post-match, Dorado began suffering a seizure and was tended to by Chikara's founder Mike Quackenbush and Daizee Haze before he was unmasked (though a towel was placed over the top half of his face in order to conceal his identity) and subsequently taken away from the arena in an ambulance.

In December, Dorado was released from the hospital and returned to Chikara that same month, where he distracted Ryder during his match with Tim Donst, allowing Donst to score an upset victory.

Dorado would return to the ring in January, teaming with Claudio Castagnoli and Ophidian to defeat Mike Quackenbush, Tim Donst and Amasis in a Trios Increibles match.

During the match, Dorado utilized a more grounded style of wrestling instead of his usual high flying style.

Dorado then entered the King of Trios tournament, where he rejoined El Pantera and aligned with luchador Incognito to form Los Luchadores de Mexico.

The team would go on to win the tournament, lastly defeating The BLKOUT (Eddie Kingston, Ruckus and Joker) after Dorado made Kingston submit with the Chikara Special.

Following the tournament, Kingston was not seen for a couple of months afterwards.

When Kingston returned, he immediately targeted Dorado and defeated him several times but was repeatedly unsuccessful in keeping him down, driving Kingston to the point of total insanity.

Aside from his feud with Kingston, Dorado joined former enemy Jimmy Olsen (who, at the time, began competing as both himself and as the second Equinox) and Helios to form The Future is Now in order to feud with The UnStable (Vin Gerard (the first Equinox), STIGMA and Colin Delaney).

In late 2008, Olsen (as Equinox) and Dorado won the first-ever La Lotería Letal and were thus granted the three points required to compete for the Campeonatos de Parejas.

Olsen (as Equinox) and Dorado, challenged the champions The Osirian Portal at Chikara's "Armdrags to Riches" event on November 16, 2008, in a two out of three falls match.

Although Dorado gained the first pinfall, the Portal ultimately retained the title after pinning Dorado and then Equinox.

On November 22, 2009, at the season eight finale Three-Fisted Tales Dorado challenged Player Dos for the Young Lions Cup, but was defeated after Dos German suplexed him on the ring steps.

After the match Dorado was carried backstage by Equinox and Helios in a scene reminiscent of the events of two years prior.

On January 31, 2010, at the season nine premiere Dorado and Equinox were scheduled to be a part of Mike Quackenbush's team that was to battle the rudo stable Bruderschaft des Kreuzes (BDK).

However, during the eight man tag team match Dorado turned on Equinox and joined BDK, who won the match, when Claudio Castagnoli pinned Dorado's replacement in Quackenbush's team, Eddie Kingston.

Afterwards Dorado explained his turn by claiming that the Chikara audience never accepted him, despite his superior athleticism and his two serious injuries suffered inside the Chikara ring.

On March 20 at Wit, Verve, and a Bit o' Nerve, Dorado, now sporting a new white and BDK-themed attire, defeated his former tag team partner Equinox in a singles match.

On August 28, 2010, Dorado first defeated Gregory Iron in a singles match and then Adam Cole, Cameron Skyy, Keita Yano, Obariyon and Ophidian in a six-way elimination match to make it to the finals of the eighth annual Young Lions Cup tournament.

The following day Dorado was defeated in the finals by Frightmare.

In October 2010 Dorado made his first tour of Japan with Osaka Pro Wrestling.

Dorado was advertised to take part in Chikara's shows on March 12 and 13, 2011, but ended up not appearing at the shows.

Following the weekend, Dorado's profile was quietly removed from Chikara's website, confirming his departure from the promotion.

He was contacted by WWE in 2016 to be part of the Cruiserweight Classic, a tournament between several cruiserweight wrestlers.

He was eliminated in the second round, but WWE offered him a contract.

He was paired with masked wrestlers Kalisto and Gran Metalik to form a stable called Lucha House Party.

In 2023, Cordero rejoined WWE as a trainer in the WWE Performance Center.