El Santo

Rodolfo Guzmán Huerta (23 September 1917 – 5 February 1984), best known by his ring name El Santo (English: "The Saint"), was a Mexican luchador enmascarado (or masked professional wrestler), actor and folk hero.

He is one of the most famous and iconic Mexican luchadores, and has been referred to as one of "the greatest legends in Mexican sports".

His wrestling career spanned nearly five decades, during which he became a folk hero and a symbol of justice for the common man through his appearances in luchador films and comic books telling fictionalized stories of El Santo fighting for justice.

Rodolfo Guzmán Huerta was born on 23 September 1917, in Tulancingo, Hidalgo, son of Jesús Guzmán Campuzano and Josefina Huerta (Márquez) de Guzmán as the fifth of seven children, Rodolfo came to Mexico City in the 1920s, where his family settled in the Tepito neighborhood.

He practiced baseball and American football, and then became interested in wrestling.

He first studied Ju-Jitsu and then later competed in amateur wrestling.

Rodolfo has a brother who entered the wrestling business as well, Miguel, who is known as Black Guzmán (due to his dark skin).

Accounts vary as to exactly when and where he first wrestled competitively, either in Arena Peralvillo Cozumel on 28 June 1934, Deportivo Islas in the Guerrero colony of Mexico City in 1935, or 26 July 1942, but by the second half of the 1930s, he was established as a wrestler, using the names "Rudy Guzmán", "El Hombre Rojo" ("the Red Man"), "El Demonio Negro" ("The Black Demon") and "Murciélago Enmascarado II" ("The Masked Bat II").

The last name was the same as that of El Murciélago Enmascarado ("The Masked Bat"), and after an appeal by Murciélago to the Mexican boxing and wrestling commission, the regulatory body ruled that Guzmán could not use the name.

In the early 1940s, Guzmán married María de los Ángeles Rodríguez Montaño (Maruca), a union that would produce eleven children; including his youngest child Jorge, who also became a famous wrestler in his own right, El Hijo del Santo ("The Son of Santo").

Early in his career, he worked under a variety of ring names both masked and unmasked, before becoming El Enmascarado de Plata ("The Man in the Silver Mask") in 1942.

Santo's brothers were also luchadores, with Black Guzmán being the first to make his debut and later Pantera Negra and Jimmy Guzmán joining as well.

In 1942, Guzmán's manager, Don Jesús Lomelí, was putting together a new team of wrestlers, all dressed in silver, and wanted him to be a part of it.

Lomelí suggested three names, "El Santo" ("The Saint"), "El Diablo" ("The Devil") or "El Angel" ("The Angel"), and Guzmán chose the first one.

On 26 July, aged 24, he wrestled at the Arena México for the first time as El Santo, although he later was known simply as "Santo".

Under this new name he quickly found his style.

One of Santo's greatest matches was in 1952, when he fought a tag-team known as Los Hermanos Shadow (which consisted of famed luchadors Blue Demon and the Black Shadow. Santo beat and unmasked Black Shadow in the ring, which triggered Blue Demon's decision to become a técnico, as well as a legendary feud between Santo and Blue Demon that culminated in his defeat in a well-publicized series of matches in 1952 and again in 1953. Although they appeared together in a number of action/adventure films, their rivalry never really ended in later years since Santo always remembered his defeat at Blue Demon's hands.

El Santo was known to never remove his mask, even in private company.

When traveling on flights, he made sure to take a different flight than his crew to avoid having them see his face when he was required to remove his mask to get through customs.

In 1952, a superhero motion picture serial was made entitled The Man in the Silver Mask, which was supposed to star Santo, but he declined to appear in it, because he thought it would fail commercially.

He starred or co-starred in at least 54 movies between 1958 and 1982.

During his career, he mainly wrestled for Mexican promotion Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre, where he won the Mexican National Light Heavyweight Championship, Mexican National Middleweight Championship, Mexican National Tag Team Championship with Rayo de Jalisco, Mexican National Welterweight Championship, NWA World Middleweight Championship and the NWA World Welterweight Championship.

By the early 1980s, El Santo slowed down his in-ring activities leading up to his inevitable retirement.

Only one of his eleven children followed him into professional wrestling, El Hijo del Santo ("The Son of the Saint") making his debut in 1982.

His farewell tour was announced for August and September 1982.

The first of three events took place on 22 August 1982 at the Palacio de los Deportes in Mexico City.

On that night, Santo teamed up with El Solitario to take on Villano III and Rokambole, in a match that naturally saw the legends win.

After the match, Villano and Rokambole lifted Santo up on their shoulders as he received the adulation of the sold-out arena.

The following Sunday, Santo appeared at Arena México, where he teamed up with Gran Hamada to defeat Villano I and Scorpio Jr.. Santo's last match took place on 12 September 1982, a week before his 65th birthday.

In his last ever match, Santo teamed up with Gory Guerrero who came out of retirement to reform "La Pareja Atómica" as they teamed up with Huracán Ramírez and El Solitario.

Their opponents included one of Santo's biggest rivals in Perro Aguayo, as well as El Signo, Negro Navarro and El Texano.

True to the legend of Santo, he won his last match and retired as the hero he always portrayed in the ring and on the screen.

His retirement tour was also used to introduce Santo's son Jorge as the next generation El Santo, as he was ringside at each show wearing the silver mask and being introduced as El Hijo del Santo.

in 2016.

Another grandson (not a son of El Hijo del Santo) originally wrestled as "El Nieto del Santo" ("The Grandson of Santo"), but now works under the name Axxel.

Santo is said to have popularized professional wrestling in Mexico just as Rikidōzan did in Japan.

He was buried in his silver mask, in one of the biggest funerals in Mexico.

Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre honors Santo with the Leyenda de Plata ("The Silver Legend") tournament.

In 2018, WWE inducted him into their Hall of Fame in the Legacy category.

El Hijo del Santo's son made his debut as "Santo Jr."