Jesús Reza Rosales (born January 15, 1951) is a Mexican '' Luchador'', or

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 o ...

, best known under the

ring name A ring name is a type of stage name used by an athlete such as a professional wrestler, mixed martial artist, or boxer whose real name is considered unattractive, dull, difficult to pronounce or spell, amusing for the wrong reasons, or project ...

Mano Negra. Mano Negra is Spanish for "The Black Hand" and is taken from the Spanish

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not necessar ...

organisation '' La Mano Negra''. Rosales is a former two time holder of the NWA World Welterweight Championship, two time holder of the NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship, and the Mexican National Light Heavyweight Championship while working for Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre (EMLL). He also worked for 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) ...

(UWA) where he held the UWA World Junior Light Heavyweight Championship and for the World Wrestling Association (WWA) where he held the

WWA Lightweight Championship The WWA World Lightweight Championship (''Campeonato Mundial de peso Ligero WWA'' in Spanish) is an inactive professional wrestling championship promoted by the Mexican wrestling promotion World Wrestling Association (WWA) from 1987 until 1995. Th ...

. Mano Negra was originally an '' Enmascarado'', or masked wrestler, but lost a '' Lucha de Apuesta'', bet match, to

Atlantis Atlantis ( grc, Ἀτλαντὶς νῆσος, , island of Atlas) is a fictional island mentioned in an allegory on the hubris of nations in Plato's works '' Timaeus'' and '' Critias'', wherein it represents the antagonist naval power that b ...

in the main event of CMLL's 60th Anniversary Show and was forced to unmask.

Professional wrestling career

Jesús Rosales trained under world-renowned ''Lucha libre'' trainer

Diablo Velazco Cuahutémoc Velasco Vargas (April 28, 1919 – June 13, 1999) was a Mexican professional wrestler and trainer under the name Diablo Velasco. Velasco trained many famous Mexican wrestlers, including Gory Guerrero, Raul Armas, Los Hermanos Crucero, ...

as well as his father, ''Luchador'' El Rebelde as well as Rafael Salamanca and Rolando Vera before making his professional wrestling debut in 1971. Upon his debut he adopted the

''Mano Negra'' ("The Black Hand") and was inspired by the Spanish

organization '' La Mano Negra''. Rosales adopted a black mask with blue trim, a black and blue outfit and a black glove for his "black hand". On December 14, 1973, just three years after his debut he won the NWA World Welterweight Championship by defeating Karloff Lagarde in the finals of an Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre (EMLL) held tournament for the vacant title. Mano Negra held the title for 562 days, regularly defending it on EMLL's main shows in '' Arena México'', before losing the championship to

Blue Demon Alejandro Muñoz Moreno (April 24, 1922 – December 16, 2000), better known by the ring name Blue Demon (''Demonio Azul'' in Spanish), was a Mexican film actor and ''luchador enmascarado'' (Spanish for masked professional wrestler). Blue Demo ...

on June 29, 1975. It would take over a year before Mano Negra was able to regain the championship, pinning Fishman for the championship on November 19, 1976. His second reign with the welterweight title lasted for 892 days in total, one of the longest reigns in the history of the title, ending on April 30, 1979, when he lost to Américo Rocca. In the early 1980s Mano Negra moved from the Welterweight division (with an upper limit of ) to the Light Heavyweight division (with an upper limit of ) when he defeated Babe Face to win the Mexican National Light Heavyweight Championship on July 30, 1983. The reign lasted exactly 400 days before Valente Férnandez won the title from him on September 2, 1984. The following year Mano Negra won the

's UWA World Junior Light Heavyweight Championship, defeating Negro Navarro for the championship. The following year Mano Negra began a long-term storyline feud with El Cobarde II, a feud that saw Cobarde II win the UWA World Junior Light Heavyweight Championship from Mano Negra in late 1985, but saw Mano Negra gain the ultimate measure of revenge when he defeated El Cobarde II in a '' Lucha de Apuesta'', mask vs. mask match on August 10, 1986 and forced Cobarde II to unmask after the match. CMLL Nov 30 Mano Negra and Solar

In the early 1990s, Mano Negra's career saw a resurgence as he began a feud with the very popular

. The storyline started out with Mano Negra defeating Atlantis for 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 d ...

on March 3, 1993. Mano Negra was in turn defeated by Oro only two months later, but regained the middleweight title on July 3, 1993. In September 1993, at CMLL's 60th Anniversary Show, Atlantis and Mano Negra faced off in the main event of the evening with both wrestlers putting their mask on the line in a ''Lucha de Apuesta'' match. After three highly competitive falls, Atlantis defeated Mano Negra. After the match Mano Negra was unmasked for the first time and had to reveal that his real name was Jesús Reza Rosales, which is traditional after a ''Lucha de Apuesta'' loss. On December 7, 1993 Mano Negra's last title run came to an end when he lost to Corazón de León. Mano Negra worked for CMLLuntil around 1996 when he began working on the Mexican independent circuit. In 2009 he made a series of appearances for

International Wrestling Revolution Group International Wrestling Revolution Group (Grupo Internacional Revolución in Spanish; the Spanish name is used for the promotion while the English initials are used for the title governing body) is a Lucha Libre promotion based in Naucalpan, S ...

(IWRG).

Personal life

Jesús Rosales is the son of ''Luchador'' El Rebelde and two of his sons and a daughter are in turn also ''Luchadors''. His oldest son competed using the ring name "Mano Negra Jr.", wearing a mask that is very similar to the mask his father used to wear. His youngest son works under the name "El Hijo de Mano Negra" ("The Son of Mano Negra"), while his daughter competes under the name

Sanely Sanely, sometimes spelled Zanelly or Zanelli (born in 1991) is a ''Luchadora enmascarada'' ( masked female professional wrestler) currently working for Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) as a ''tecnica'' (those that portray the "good guys" in p ...

. One of Rosales' daughters is married to Black Warrior and the mother of Warrior Jr.

Championships and accomplishments

* Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre ** Mexican National Light Heavyweight Championship ( 1 time) **

(

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 ...

) ** NWA World Welterweight Championship (

) *

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) * World Wrestling Association **

( 1 time)

''Luchas de Apuestas'' record

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mano Negra 1951 births Living people Mexican male professional wrestlers Sportspeople from Torreón Professional wrestlers from Coahuila NWA World Middleweight Champions 20th-century professional wrestlers 21st-century professional wrestlers NWA World Welterweight Champions UWA World Junior Light Heavyweight Champions Mexican National Light Heavyweight Champions