Roberto González Cruz (May 22, 1946 – April 6, 1986) was a Mexican

professional wrestler Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

who wrestled under the name El Solitario. During his career he held both the

NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship The NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling championship sanctioned by the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). For the majority of its existence the title was promoted by Mexican promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libr ...

and the

NWA World Middleweight Championship The NWA World Middleweight Championship was a professional wrestling championship in the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) between 1939 and 2010. For most of its existence, it was defended in the Mexican '' lucha libre'' promotion Consejo Mundial ...

. After achieving stardom in Mexico's oldest promotion,

Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre Co., Ltd. (CMLL; , "World Wrestling Council") is a ''lucha libre'' professional wrestling promotion based in Mexico City. The promotion was previously known as ''Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre'' (''EMLL'') (''Mexi ...

, Gonzalez Cruz joined the breakaway promotion, the

Universal Wrestling Association The Universal Wrestling Association (UWA) was a Mexican ''Lucha Libre'' or professional wrestling promotion based in Naucalpan, Mexico State that operated from 1975 until 1995. The name of the actual promotion was Lucha Libre Internacional (LLI) ...

, where he held four more world championships in the early 1980s.

Early life

Roberto Gonzalez Cruz came from a working-class family and was the youngest of seven children. At the age of twelve, his older brother Jesús, who was also a professional wrestler, began teaching him basic wrestling moves. In 1959, Gonzalez Cruz's brother was killed in the ring while wrestling as Othon Banzica, but rather than becoming deterred, Gonzalez Cruz drew inspiration from his death and dedicated himself to lucha libre. He began training under the tutelage of Joe el Hermoso and made his wrestling debut in 1960 at the age of fourteen.

Professional wrestling career

Roberto Gonzalez Cruz was initially billed his first name was El Zica II in honoring of his brother El Zica I he later changed his name to El Hijo Del Santo he is not the son of the legendary

El Santo Rodolfo Guzmán Huerta (23 September 1917 – 5 February 1984), known professionally as El Santo or in English The Saint, was a Mexican luchador enmascarado (Spanish for "masked professional wrestler"), actor and folk hero. He is one of the mo ...

. Roberto Gonzalez Cruz moved to Tijuana to pursue his career as a luchador but had a difficult time finding regular work as he was young and still small at the time. He continued working local arenas until he began making a name for himself as he grew physically and refined his wrestling skills. Cruz realized that in order to take his career to the next level, he would have to select a more crowd pleasing name and character. He chose the name ''El Solitario'', derived from the popular comic book character ''El Llanero Solitario'' ("

The Lone Ranger The Lone Ranger is a fictional masked former Texas Ranger who fought outlaws in the American Old West with his Native American friend Tonto. The character has been called an enduring icon of American culture. He first appeared in 1933 in ...

"'). He also adopted his now trademark gold and black colored costume and golden mask with a fringe around the eyes representing the Lone Ranger's mask. After the change, promoters and fans took notice of the new dynamic wrestler. On November 16, 1965, El Solitario faced Panchito Ramirez in Arena Coliseo located in Guadalajara. He would make his debut in

Arena Coliseo Arena Coliseo is an indoor arena in Mexico City, Mexico located at República del Perú 77 in the Cuauhtémoc, D.F., Cuauhtémoc Boroughs of the Mexican Federal District, borough. The arena is primarily used for professional wrestling, or ''lucha ...

Mexico City on September 6, 1966, when he defeated Tony Reyna. In 1966, El Solitario defeated and unmasked Águila Tapatía, that was followed by a win over Mano Blanca. He won his first world title when he defeated Occident Welterweight champion Luís González. El Solitario was now working for

EMLL Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre Co., Ltd. (CMLL; , "World Wrestling Council") is a ''lucha libre'' professional wrestling promotion based in Mexico City. The promotion was previously known as ''Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre'' (''EMLL'') (''Mexi ...

, Mexico's largest promotion company. He was catapulted into stardom within the lucha libre world when he defeated veteran Rey Mendoza in a mask vs hair match on December 13, 1968. A few weeks later, he defeated another legend, Rene Guajardo, and also took his hair in another wager match. El Solitario formed a wrestling trio alongside

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. González made his professional wrestling debut in 1961 and worked the majority of ...

and Angel Blanco; the group was known as "La Ola Blanca" (''The White Wave''). He was wrestling as a rudo at this time but when his partners Dr. Wagner and Angel Blanco turned on him, he became one of the most popular tecnicos of his era. It also started a legendary rivalry between himself, Wagner and Blanco. He continued wrestling as an individual during this time, and in 1969, won the NWA Middleweight world title by defeating El Rayo de Jalisco. In 1970, El Solitario won the NWA Light Heavyweight title by defeating Ray Mendoza. In 1972, he unmasked his rival, Angel Blanco, in the ring. El Solitario was one of the first stars to leave EMLL to join the Universal Wrestling Association (UWA) promotion, which was run by Francisco Flores and Ray Mendoza. He won the UWA's first Junior Heavyweight title in 1982. He also toured Japan in 1972, 1979, and 1981, where he would face and team up with premiere stars such as

Tiger Mask is a Japanese manga series written by Ikki Kajiwara and illustrated by Naoki Tsuji. The series was first published in Kodansha's ''Bokura Magazine'' from 1968 to 1970 and was later published in ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'' from 1970 to ...

and

Tatsumi Fujinami (born December 28, 1953) is a Japanese professional wrestler currently signed to WWE on a legend's contract. Fujinami is most well known for his long tenure with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he was a six-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion. H ...

, along with other Mexican wrestlers such as

Chavo Guerrero Salvador Guerrero IV (born October 20, 1970) better known by his ring names Chavo Guerrero and Chavo Guerrero Jr., is an American professional wrestler. He has previously worked for World Championship Wrestling (WCW), World Wrestling Federati ...

and

El Canek Felipe Estrada (born June 19, 1952), known as El Canek or simply Canek, is a Mexican '' luchador enmascarado'' or masked professional wrestler best known for the 20 years he worked for the Universal Wrestling Association where he held the UWA Wo ...

. He was unable to fully exhibit his wrestling skills during his tours, as the junior's division formula in Japan consisted of popular Japanese wrestlers facing off against foreign heels. However, he gained a following outside of Mexico as a result of those tours. While in Mexico, he remained one of the most popular headlining stars throughout the country. In the early 1980s, he formed a short lived trios team with

Aníbal Aníbal is the Spanish and Portuguese masculine given name equivalent of Hannibal (q.v.), itself a latinization of the Greek name Hanníbas (Ἀννίβας), derived from “ḥnbʿl” in the Carthaginian language (Carthaginian Punic script, 𐤇 ...

and

Villano III Arturo Díaz Mendoza (March 23, 1952 – August 21, 2018) was a Mexican professional wrestler who performed under the ring name Villano III (in Spanish Villano Tercero). Díaz was a second-generation wrestler, son of ''luchador'' Ray Mendoza an ...

, the group was known as ''Los Tres Caballeros'' that ended when Aníbal turned on El Solitario. He won the UWA Junior Light Heavyweight title in 1980 and 1981. In 1982, he won the NWA Light Heavyweight title. That same year, he participated in

's final career match when he teamed up with legends El Santo,

Gory Guerrero Salvador Guerrero Quesada (January 11, 1921 – April 18, 1990), better known as Gory Guerrero, was one of the premier Mexican American professional wrestlers in the early days of Lucha Libre when most wrestlers were imported from outside Mexico ...

, and

Huracan Ramirez Huracan (; es, Huracán; myn, Hunraqan, "one legged"), often referred to as ''U Kʼux Kaj'', the "Heart of Sky", is a Kʼicheʼ Maya god of wind, storm, fire and one of the creator deities who participated in all three attempts at creating hu ...

to defeat

El Signo Antonio Sánchez Rendón (born September 4, 1954), is a retired Mexican ''Lucha libre, luchador'', or professional wrestling, professional wrestler best known under the ring name ''El Signo'' (Spanish language, Spanish for "The Symbol"). Rendón w ...

Negro Navarro Negro Navarro (born June 12, 1957) is the ring name of Miguel Calderón Navarro, a Mexican ''luchador'', or professional wrestler. Navarro works as a Freelancer on the Mexican independent circuit as well as making regular appearances for Inter ...

El Texano Juan Conrado Aguilar Jáuregui (November 26, 1958 – January 15, 2006), better known by his ring name El Texano, was a Mexican ''Lucha libre, Luchador'', or Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. From the early 1970s to the early 2000s, ...

, and

Perro Aguayo Pedro Aguayo Damián (18 January 1946 — 3 July 2019) better known as "(El) Perro Aguayo" (Aguayo the dog) and El Can de Nochistlan (The Nochistlan Dog) was a Mexican wrestler through the 1970s to the 1990s. Aguayo was the first person ever ...

. Perhaps his biggest match took place on December 1, 1985, when he defeated and unmasked Dr. Wagner in a mask vs mask match.

Death

El Solitario had suffered injuries during the latter part of his career, resulting in several infections and illnesses. During a match with Fishman, he re-injured himself and was taken to the hospital while complaining of abdominal pain. His doctors initially misdiagnosed his condition, and it was later discovered that he was suffering from internal bleeding that required immediate surgery. On April 6, 1986, at the age of 39, El Solitario died while on the operating table as a result of a

cardiac arrest Cardiac arrest is when the heart suddenly and unexpectedly stops beating. It is a medical emergency that, without immediate medical intervention, will result in sudden cardiac death within minutes. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and possib ...

. Although El Solitario's life was fairly short, his professional career spanned over twenty-five years and he is regarded as one of the greatest Mexican professional wrestlers of all time. He was inducted into the

Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame The Wrestling Observer Newsletter (WON) Hall of Fame is a professional wrestling and mixed martial arts hall of fame that recognizes people who make significant contributions to their professions. It was founded in 1996 by Dave Meltzer, editor of t ...

in 1996. His son,

El Hijo del Solitario EL, El or el may refer to: Religion * El (deity), a Semitic word for "God" People * EL (rapper) (born 1983), stage name of Elorm Adablah, a Ghanaian rapper and sound engineer * El DeBarge, music artist * El Franco Lee (1949–2016), American p ...

, made his wrestling debut in 1990.

Championships and accomplishments

( 1 time) **

( 1 time) *

UWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship The is a title that was originally promoted by the Mexican lucha libre promotion Universal Wrestling Association. After the UWA closed in 1995 the title was defended on the Mexican independent circuit and in the Puerto Rican promotion Wor ...

( 1 time) **

UWA World Junior Light Heavyweight Championship The UWA World Junior Light Heavyweight Championship (''Campeonato Mundia de Peso Semicompleto Junior UWA'' in Spanish) is a professional wrestling championship that was originally promoted by the Mexican lucha libre professional wrestling) promot ...

(

2 times "2 Times" is a song co-written and recorded by British Italian-based singer Ann Lee. It was released in 1999 as the lead single from her debut album, ''Dreams'' (1999). The single entered and peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart. Outside ...

) **

UWA World Light Heavyweight Championship The UWA World Light Heavyweight Championship (''Campeonato Mundial Semi Completo de UWA'' in Spanish) is a singles professional wrestling championship initially promoted by the Mexican Lucha Libre wrestling based promotion Universal Wrestling Ass ...

( 1 time) *Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards **

( Class of 1996)

''Lucha de Apuesta'' record

Notes

References

;General sources – Championship Information * ;General sources – Career * * * * ;Specific {{DEFAULTSORT:Solitario, El 1946 births 1986 deaths Mexican male professional wrestlers Professional wrestling deaths Professional wrestlers from Jalisco 20th-century professional wrestlers NWA World Light Heavyweight Champions NWA World Middleweight Champions UWA World Junior Light Heavyweight Champions UWA World Junior Heavyweight Champions UWA World Light Heavyweight Champions