Dr. Wagner

Manuel González Rivera (April 13, 1936 – September 12, 2004) was a Mexican professional wrestler, or Luchador best known under the ring name Dr. Wagner.

Manuel González was born on April 13, 1936, in Zacatecas, Zacatecas, Mexico, although later on he would be billed as being born in 1941.

The González family moved to Torreón, Coahuila before Manuel turned one, growing up and identifying with the Lagunero area of Torreón.

The colorful luchadors who wrestled on Friday nights captured the young González's attention early on.

Coming from a poor background, González only went to school for a few years before dropping out to work instead.

When he was old enough he began training at Roy Velasco's Gimnasio Hércules in Torreón, all while working on the side to earn enough money for both his tuition and food for his family.

Along with Ángel Blanco, González formed one of the premier tag teams of the 1960s and 1970s called La Ola Blanca (Spanish for "the White Wave").

González made his professional wrestling debut in 1961 and worked the majority of his career for the Mexican professional wrestling promotion Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre (EMLL).

After training for several years Velasco finally felt that González was ready and arranged for him to make his wrestling debut on July 16, 1961.

Initially he worked under a mask as Centella Negra (Spanish for "Black Lightning Spark") and would team with Torbellino Negro ("Black Tornado").

In their debut match they lost to the team of Pancho Ramírez and Monje Loco.

After wrestling from under a year González came into contact with Elías Simón, who was one of the main wrestling promoters in the North of Mexico at the time.

Simón suggested that González needed a new ring identity and suggested "El Hijo del Médico Asesino", a storyline son of recently deceased Médico Asesino.

González liked the idea of a "Doctor" character but wanted to build his own identity and not live off the name of someone else.

After giving it some thought González came up with the name "Dr. Wagner", inspired by the German composer Richard Wagner, and his new ring identity was born.

He adopted a white mask, white trunks and boots to go with the Doctor character and made his debut as a Rudo (bad guy or Heel) defeating Rubén Juárez in the main event.

Dr. Wagner quickly earned the nickname "El Galeno del Mal" ("The Doctor of Evil") for his brutal style of wrestling and his cheating ways.

By 1965 Dr. Wagner was contracted by Mexico's largest promotion Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre (EMLL) and worked regularly in Mexico City.

Dr. Wagner's position as a main eventer was established when he defeated Raúl Reyes in a Luchas de Apuesta (bet match), mask vs. hair match on July 17, 1966, forcing Reyes to have his head shaved bald after the match.

In early 1966 Dr. Wagner would begin teaming with Ángel Blanco under the name La Ola Blanca ("The White Wave"), a name born from the fact that both wore white and overpowered their opponents like a tidal wave.

The team quickly became one of the most well coordinated, talented teams as the two masked wrestlers' style complimented each other so well.

La Ola Blanca began headlining cards all over Mexico, drawing full crowds whenever they faced the top local talent.

The team were voted Boy y Lucha magazine's "Tag Team of the year" in 1966 and again in 1967.

Early on in their career La Ola Blanca became a trio when they added El Enfermero ("The Nurse") but the trio did not last long as El Enfermero was too old to keep up with the intensity of Wagner and Ángel Blanco.

La Ola Blanca would become a trio once more when rookie El Solitario joined the group.

El Solitario had both the talent and the charisma to keep up with Wagner and Ángel Blanco.

In late 1969 the team won a several weeks long tag team tournament to earn a shot at the Mexican National Tag Team Championship held by El Santo and Rayo de Jalisco, a team that was virtually unbeatable up until that point in time.

La Ola Blanca defeated Santo and Rayo in three very closely contested falls to take the championship.

Over the next couple of years La Ola Blanca defended their titles against top teams such as Mil Máscaras and Black Shadow and Los Rebeldes (René Guajardo and Karloff Lagarde).

By 1969 the group was the biggest Rudó team in all of Mexico, but El Solitario started to gain quite a following among the fans.

El Solidario's popularity only skyrocketed when Dr. Wagner and Ángel Blanco turned on him one night during a match and attacked him.

The attack on El Solitario started one of the biggest and longest-running storylines in wrestling, spanning three decades.

In 1972 El Solitario defeated Ángel Blanco in a Luchas de Apuesta match, unmasking him in the process.

The feud between La Ola Blanca did not slow down due to the unmasking and drew full houses all over Mexico as La Ola faced El Solitario and various partners such as El Santo or Rayo de Jalisco.

On March 16, 1973, Dr. Wagner defeated Enrique Vera to win the Mexican National Light Heavyweight Championship.

Dr. Wagner held the Mexican National title until September 22, 1974, where he won the NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship, forcing him to vacate the national title.

La Ola Blanca travelled to the United States, working in the NWA Los Angeles where they held the NWA Americas Tag Team Championship for a day.

As Dr. Wagner, he worked most of his career as an enmascarado, or masked wrestler, losing his mask to El Solitario in 1985.

One of his grandsons made his wrestling debut in 2009 under the name El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. or Dr. Wagner III.

One of his sons works as a professional wrestler under the name Dr. Wagner Jr., and another son wrestled as Silver King until his death in 2019.