Ray González

Ramón González Rivera (born May 4, 1972), better known by his ring name Ray González, is a Puerto Rican professional wrestler and businessman.

He has performed in the World Wrestling Council (WWC) and International Wrestling Association (IWA) in Puerto Rico, Wrestling International New Generation (W*ING) in Japan, Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) in Mexico, and the X Wrestling Federation (XWF) in the United States.

González has won the WWC Universal Heavyweight Championship and the IWA World Heavyweight Championship on numerous occasions.

He also held the NWA World Heavyweight Championship once, with his reign being the third for a Latin American-born wrestler by chronological order, but the first among those formally acknowledged by the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA).

González debuted in Capitol Sports Promotions (CSP) in 1990 as a masked cruiserweight named "El Cóndor", facing Joseph D'Acquisto, who performed locally as The Rochester Roadblock.

He continued performing in the lowcard under this heel character for half a year, when he was unmasked and reintroduced as "Ray González".

Under this new persona, González defeated Alex Porteau to win the CSP World Junior Heavyweight Championship on September 21, 1991.

He vacated this title and began performing in the Americas Wrestling Federation, winning the light heavyweight title and the tag team championship along Tom Brandi.

Parallel to this, Capitol reorganized into the World Wrestling Council after going bankrupt.

On January 3, 1993, González defeated Takashi Okano in a Wrestling International New Generation tour.

Two months later, Mastoshi Yosegi defeated him to retain the WWC Junior Heavyweight Championship.

Back in WWC, González entered a feud against Louis Fabbiano, who was wrestling under the stereotypical villainous Arabic character, Mohammed Hussein, defeating his tag team partner.

He teamed with Ricky Santana and unsuccessfully challenged for the WWC World Tag Team Championship after defeating a team known as "Solid Gold" twice.

González also entered a battle royal but was eliminated.

Two more attempts to win the championship along Santana and Ricky Steamboat ended in no contests.

After losing to a team known as "The Dream Warriors", González began being pushed as a singles wrestler.

He defeated Fabbiano three times, a jobber known as "Slammer" once and wrestling Mike Lozansky to a no contest.

On July 8, 1993, González teamed with Carlos Colón to defeat Fabbiano and Dusty Wolfe.

He went on to team with Lozansky in an unsuccessful attempt to win the tag team championship from Fabbiano and Wolfe.

González lost his following singles contests against Sione Havea Vailahi, Greg Valentine and a masked Steve Keirn, who was wrestling as "Doink the Clown".

He formed a tag team with Ramón Álvarez, defeating Fabbiano and Santana, who had turned heel.

On March 19, 1993, González defeated Valentine.

He and Álvarez went on to defeat "The Bruise Brothers", Ron and Don Harris.

Two days later, he won a disqualification over Dutch Mantell in a title match.

On April 24, 1994, González defeated Valentine to win his first Universal Heavyweight Championship.

He came in as replacement for an injured José Huertas González, who in reality was promoting a push for him backstage and convinced Colón to grant him the opportunity.

Despite this, González's first reign was portrayed as a "underdog run", which saw him win mostly by being opportunist.

This creative direction brought forward a lukewarm reception from the crowd, which motivated the creative team to give it back to Mantell.

He then entered a feud with Eddie Gilbert winning twice by disqualification and losing once in the same manner.

González interrupted this feud by defeating Glen Jacobs in a singles match.

He teamed on with Álvarez to feud with Gilbert and Mantell, exchanging victories but failing to win the tag team championship.

A fourth match between González and Gilbert ended in a double disqualification.

On August 5, 1994, he teamed with Jesús Castillo Jr. against Gilbert and Mantell in a losing effort.

Following this, González and Álvarez teamed again, wrestling The Moondogs, composed by Randy Colley and Larry Booker, to two double countouts.

On August 11, 1995, he began a Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre tour in Mexico by teaming with Juan Manuel Rodríguez and José Luis Casas to defeat Roberto Guttíerez Frias, José "Negro" Casas and Ultimo Dragon.

He once again teamed with Casas Ruiz and Dr. Wagner win a match over Gutierrez Frias, Hector Garza and Ultimo Dragon.

On August 25, 1995, González unsuccessfully challenged Gutierrez Frias for the NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship in a two out of three falls match.

González remained working in the midcard, improving his skills and gathering support from the fanbase.

This earned him more backstage supporters and a push was planned following Colón's purported retirement.

A tournament for the vacant title was announced, supposedly with rounds taking place in several countries.