Ramon Eduardo Rodriguez (April 7, 1932 – February 20, 2013), better known by the

ring name A ring name is a type of stage name or nickname 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 ...

Ciclón Negro (Black Cyclone), was a

professional wrestler Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to real-life wrest ...

who was originally from

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

. He toured Australia, Canada, Japan, Puerto Rico and the United States. He achieved a good amount of popularity and recognition during the 1970s.

Background

Rodriguez was born in San Felipe, Venezuela on April 7, 1932. In his early days he was a welder, an occupation he would return to in later years.Slam.canoe.com
Singing a song of Ciclon Negro By Greg Oliver
/ref> At the height of his popularity he was recognized as being one of the best wrestlers of the day. He was also something of a showman and broke boards and objects over his head to show how hard it was. He was successful in the 1970s with his matches against Dory Funk Sr. and

Terry Funk Terrance Dee Funk (June 30, 1944 – August 23, 2023) was an American professional wrestler and actor. Widely considered one of the most influential and greatest professional wrestlers of all time, Funk was known for the longevity of his car ...

Professional wrestling career

1950s to 1960s

Negro had a 28-year career that lasted until his retirement in the 1980s.''Legends of Pro Wrestling: 150 Years of Headlocks, Body Slams, and Piledrivers'', By Tim Hornbaker
Cyclone Negro
/ref> He was also responsible for helping the careers of two wrestlers, Omar Atlas and

Mario Milano Mario Bulfone (15 May 1935 – 9 December 2016), better known by his ring name Mario Milano, was a professional wrestler. Milano got his start in wrestling in Venezuela and later competed in Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, South Africa, Mexico a ...

, the latter who he helped bring to the United States. He trained as a boxer in his early days. In 1951, he fought

Floyd Patterson Floyd Patterson (January 4, 1935 – May 11, 2006) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1952 to 1972, and twice reigned as the world heavyweight champion between 1956 and 1962. At the age of 21, he became the youngest boxer in his ...

in the Pan-American Games. Due to his physique and increase in size, he switched to wrestling, becoming a pro wrestler in 1956. He went under the name of Ciclon Venezolano which in English meant the Venezuelan Cyclone. He had met Omar Atlas in a gym and they became friends. It was Negro who introduced Atlas to wrestling and thus kick started his career. Negro went to Europe in 1958 and over the next six years at various stages, he wrestled in Spain, France, Belgium, England, Germany and Italy. In 1964 and 1968 he showed up in the

Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance The , also known as the Japan Pro Wrestling Association and the Japanese Wrestling Association (JWA), was the first professional wrestling promotion to be based in Japan. It operated from 1953 to 1973. History JWA under Rikidōzan (1953–1963 ...

as Calypso Hurricane.

1970s to 1980s

In 1974, Negro defeated Brute Bernard in New York for the World Brass Knuckles Championship. In 1978, he defeated

Dusty Rhodes Virgil Riley Runnels Jr. (October 11, 1945 – June 11, 2015), better known as "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes, was an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler, booker, and trainer who worked for the National Wrestling Alliance ...

and took the NWA Florida Heavyweight title. In 1982, he defeated El Monarca and took the NWA Americas Heavyweight title.Online World of Wrestling
Cyclone Negro
/ref> In 1984, he retired from wrestling after a tour with the Japanese UWF.

Death

Rodriguez died February 20, 2013, at age 80.

Championships and accomplishments

All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW/AJP) or simply All Japan is a Puroresu, Japanese professional wrestling Professional wrestling promotion, promotion founded on October 21, 1972, by Giant Baba after he left the Japanese Wrestling Association to create his own promotion. Ma ...

NWA International Tag Team Championship ''This was a regional NWA championship based in Japan. For the version of this title that was promoted in NWA All Star Wrestling in Canada, see NWA International Tag Team Championship (Vancouver version).'' The NWA International Tag Team Champio ...

( 1 time) – with Killer Karl Kox *American Wrestling Alliance **AWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with The Masked Terror * Big Time Wrestling ''(San Francisco)'' **NWA California State Heavyweight Championship (1 time) **

NWA World Tag Team Championship (San Francisco version) The National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) member NWA San Francisco promoted a professional wrestling tag team championship under the name NWA World Tag Team Championship from 1950 until 1961 in and around their local territory until it closed. When ...

( 1 time) – with

The Mongolian Stomper Archibald Edward Gouldie (November 22, 1936 – January 23, 2016) was a Canadian professional wrestler. He wrestled for Stampede Wrestling for decades as Archie "The Stomper" Gouldie, with the nickname coming from the wrestler's reputation o ...

* Capitol Sports Promotions ** WWC Caribbean Heavyweight Championship ( 2 times) ** WWC North American Tag Team Championship ( 1 time) – with Huracán Castillo *

Championship Wrestling from Florida Championship Wrestling from Florida (CWF) was the corporate and brand name of the Tampa, Florida professional wrestling promotion, wrestling office existing from 1961, when Eddie Graham first bought into the promotion, until 1987, when it close ...

NWA Florida Heavyweight Championship The NWA Florida Heavyweight Championship was a major title in Championship Wrestling from Florida and is now the major title in NWA Florida Wrestling Alliance. It started in 1937 and was abandoned in 1949. It was picked back up in 1966 by CWF an ...

( 2 times) **

NWA Brass Knuckles Championship (Florida version) The Florida version of the NWA Brass Knuckles Championship was a secondary professional wrestling championship defended sporadically in the National Wrestling Alliance's Florida territory, Championship Wrestling from Florida. As its name suggests, ...

( 2 times) **NWA Fort Myers Heavyweight Championship (1 time) **

NWA World Tag Team Championship (Florida version) The Florida version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship was the primary professional wrestling championship for tag teams in Championship Wrestling from Florida (CWF) that was used between 1961 and 1969. When the National Wrestling Alliance (NW ...

( 6 times) – with

Jack Brisco Freddie Joe "Jack" Brisco (September 21, 1941 – February 1, 2010) was an American amateur wrestler and professional wrestler. As an amateur for Oklahoma State, Brisco was two-time All-American and won the NCAA Division I national championship ...

(2),

Sam Steamboat Samuel K. Mokuahi (May 4, 1934 – May 2, 2006) was an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Sammy Steamboat. Early life Mokuahi grew up in Honolulu, attending President Theodore Roosevelt High School, where he pl ...

, Omar Negro (2) and Pak Song * International Wrestling Alliance **

IWA World Tag Team Championship The IWA World Tag Team Championship is a Tag Team Championship defended in Puerto Rico.The titles were first introduced in the first incarnation of the International Wrestling Association, where they are defended. They also made a brief appearan ...

( 3 times) – with Baron Mikel Scicluna * Japan Wrestling Association **

All Asia Tag Team Championship The is a professional wrestling tag team title in Japanese promotion All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW). Originally, it was the top tag team title in the JWA, but its status became secondary once the NWA International Tag Team Championship was brou ...

( 1 time) – with

Gene Kiniski Eugene Nicholas Kiniski (November 23, 1928 – April 14, 2010) was a Canadian athlete who played football for the Edmonton Eskimos and then became a three-time professional wrestling world heavyweight champion. "Canada's Greatest Athlete", as he ...

Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling Jim Crockett Promotions, at times branded as Eastern States Championship Wrestling and Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling, is a family-owned professional wrestling promotion headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States. Founded in ...

NWA Brass Knuckles Championship (Mid-Atlantic version) The Mid-Atlantic version of the NWA Brass Knuckles Championship was a short-lived Championship (professional wrestling), championship that was defended sporadically and periodically in Jim Crockett, Jr.'s Jim Crockett Promotions, Mid-Atlantic Cham ...

( 1 time) *

NWA Hollywood Wrestling NWA Hollywood Wrestling (sometimes referred to as NWA Los Angeles) was a professional wrestling promotion headquartered in Los Angeles, California in the United States that promoted professional wrestling matches throughout Southern California. It ...

** NWA Americas Heavyweight Championship ( 1 time) **NWA Brass Knuckles Championship (Los Angeles version) (2 times) *

NWA Southwest Sports Western States Sports (also known as the Amarillo Territory) was a professional wrestling professional wrestling promotion, promotion headquartered in Amarillo, Texas in the United States. Founded by Dory Detton in 1946, the promotion enjoyed its ...

** NWA Texas Heavyweight Championship ( 1 time)* **

NWA World Tag Team Championship The NWA World Tag Team Championship is a professional wrestling World Tag Team Championship, world tag team championship created by the National Wrestling Alliance. From 1948 to 1982, the NWA allowed List of National Wrestling Alliance territories ...

( 3 times) – with

Dory Dixon Dorrel "Dory" Dixon (born February 1, 1934) is a Jamaican retired professional wrestler who worked for the majority of his career in Mexico, where he eventually became a Mexican citizen. He is currently a pastor for the Seventh-day Adventist Churc ...

, Oscar Salazar and Ricki Starr ** NWA Texas Tag Team Championship ( 4 times) – with Torbellino Blanco (3) and Dory Dixon *

NWA Tri-State The Universal Wrestling Federation was a 1986 re-branding of wrestler-turned-owner Bill Watts' Mid-South Wrestling promotion. Watts' goal was to elevate his promotion from a relatively smaller, regional-level business, to a national-level riv ...

NWA United States Tag Team Championship (Tri-State version) The NWA Tri-State Tag Team Championship was a tag team Championship (professional wrestling), title created in 1962, and contested in the National Wrestling Alliance's Universal Wrestling Federation (Bill Watts), Tri-State territory, which was pr ...

( 1 time) – Dr. X * NWA Western States Sports ** NWA Western States Heavyweight Championship ( 6 times) ** NWA Brass Knuckles Championship (Amarillo version) ( 3 times) **NWA International Heavyweight Championship (Amarillo version) (4 times) **NWA Rocky Mountain Heavyweight Championship (2 times) ** NWA Western States Heavyweight Championship ( 1 time) – with Karl Von Steiger *

World Championship Wrestling World Championship Wrestling (WCW) was an American professional wrestling promotion founded by Ted Turner in 1988, after Turner Broadcasting System, through a subsidiary named Universal Wrestling Corporation, purchased the assets of National W ...

** NWA Austra-Asian Heavyweight Championship ( 1 time) ** World Brass Knuckles Championship ( 1 time)

References

External links

Slam Sports: Singing a song of Ciclon NegroCiclón Negro at Cagematch.netCyclone Negro at Wrestlingdata.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Negro, Ciclón 1932 births 2013 deaths Venezuelan male professional wrestlers Masked wrestlers Venezuelan male boxers People from Yaracuy Stampede Wrestling alumni 20th-century male professional wrestlers All Asia Tag Team Champions NWA Florida Heavyweight Champions NWA Florida Tag Team Champions NWA Brass Knuckles Champions (Florida version) NWA Americas Heavyweight Champions NWA Austra-Asian Heavyweight Champions IWA World Tag Team Champions (Australia) World Brass Knuckles Champions NWA International Tag Team Champions 20th-century Venezuelan sportsmen WWC Caribbean Heavyweight Champions NWA Texas Heavyweight Champions