Juan Baños (December 18, 1950 – December 16, 2015) was a Mexican '' luchador enmascarado'', or masked

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 ...

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 ...

Lizmark. The name was taken from the German battleship Bismarck. He was a multiple-time champion, having held singles and

tag team Tag team wrestling is a type of professional wrestling in which matches are contested between teams of multiple wrestlers. Tag teams may be made up of wrestlers who normally wrestle in singles competition, but more commonly are made of establis ...

championships in both Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre / Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (EMLL/CMLL) and

Asistencia Asesoría y Administración Promociones Antonio Peña, S.A. de C.V. doing business as, d/b/a Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (commonly referred to as simply AAA, pronounced "Triple A" – an abbreviation of its original name Asistencia, Asesoría y Administración de Espectáculos ...

(AAA). In 2001, Lizmark 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 (MMA) hall of fame that recognizes people who make significant contributions to their professions. It was founded in 1996 by Dave Mel ...

. His nickname was ''El Geniecillo Azul'', which is Spanish for "The Little Blue Genius". He has two sons who are also professional wrestlers, Lizmark, Jr. and El Hijo de Lizmark.

Professional wrestling career

Baños grew up in Acapulco, and started a career in hotel management. He was also into bodybuilding, winning the 1971 Mr. Acapulco and 1972 Mr. Guerrero competitions. He was trained to be a boxer by his uncle, and made his professional wrestling debut on March 14, 1976. He chose to wear a mask to hide his wrestling identity from his clients and co-workers at the Hilton Hotel. His ring name of "Lizmark" was inspired by the

German battleship Bismarck ''Bismarck'' was the first of two s built for Nazi Germany's . Named after Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, the ship was Keel laying, laid down at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg in July 1936 and ceremonial ship launching, launched in Februar ...

he had been fascinated with since childhood. Lizmark quickly became one of the innovators in ''lucha libre'', incorporating flashy, high flying moves into the matches, a style that is common today but in the 1970s was new and exciting.

Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre (1978–1992)

After working mainly around Acapulco for a couple of years he was signed to a full-time contract by Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre (EMLL) in 1978. On April 18, 1978 Lizmark defeated Américo Rocca to win the Mexican National Welterweight Championship. Over the following year Lizmark defended the title on several occasions, often in the most well received match of the night. His first title reign lasted 346 days, ending on March 29, 1980 when Rocca regained the title, but it was an indicator of things to come for Lizmark. In June 1980 Lizmark won the highest ranking Welterweight title in Mexico, the

NWA World Welterweight Championship The NWA World Welterweight Championship () is an inactive professional wrestling championship governed by the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) and most recently promoted by NWA Mexico. The championship was originally created in 1946 by the Mexica ...

when he defeated El Supremo for the title. His run with the title lasted 506 days until he was defeated by

La Fiera Arturo Casco Hernández (March 17, 1961 – September 12, 2010) was a Mexican '' luchador'', or professional wrestler, best known under the ring name La Fiera, which is Spanish for "The Wild Beast". Hernández was a second-generation wrestler, ...

. Lizmark's next title win came at the expense of a wrestler who would become one of Lizmark's most frequent opponents and a man with whom he's had a series of great matches,

El Satánico Daniel López López (born October 26, 1949) is a Mexican '' luchador'' ( professional wrestler) and trainer, best known under the ring name El Satánico ( Spanish for "The Satanic One"). He was originally an ''enmascarado'' ( masked wrestler), b ...

. Lizmark defeated Satánico to win the Mexican National Middleweight Championship on February 10, 1982. In 1983 he lost the title to, and then regained the title from Espectro, Jr. Over the next couple of years Lizmark would win the

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

and the NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship to become only the second man in history to win the NWA title in all three weight divisions promoted by EMLL, the first being

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 Mexi ...

. Lizmark ended up holding the World Light Heavyweight title four times in total, losing it for the fourth and final time to Satánico on April 5, 1992. Lizmark defeated El Cobarde II to win the WWA World Light Heavyweight Championship in 1988 and held it for an undetermined amount of time. On July 1, 1991 Lizmark's son made his professional wrestling debut under the name Lizmark, Jr. wearing a modified version of his father's mask and outfit.

Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (1992–1995)

When EMLL booker

Antonio Peña Antonio Hipolito Peña Herrada (June 13, 1951 – October 5, 2006) was a Mexican professional wrestling promoter who founded the Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA) promotion in 1992. Peña's promotion reached its height of popularit ...

left EMLL to create his own promotion,

(AAA), in mid-1992 Lizmark was one of the many wrestlers that were loyal to Peña and left to join AAA. In AAA he defeated Universo 2000 to become the first AAA based Mexican National Light Heavyweight Champion after Universo 2000 had brought the title with him when he jumped to AAA. In 1993 Lizmark began a long running feud with one of Antonio Peña's latest creations, La Parka, a ''

Rudo Rudo ( sr-cyrl, Рудо) is a town and municipality in Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina. As of 2013, it has a population of 7,963 inhabitants, while the town of Rudo has a population of 1,949 inhabitants. It is famous throughout form ...

'' character (villain) who wore a full-body suit that looks like a skeleton. The feud with Lizmark helped elevate La Parka up the ranks and through their matches and La Parka's charisma helped establish him as one of the first stars created in AAA. Their feud was one of the featured matches at the very first ''

Triplemanía Triplemanía is an annual Lucha Libre (professional wrestling) event promoted by the Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (AAA) promotion that is traditionally held in August each year. The name is a combination of how "AAA" is pronounced in Spanish, ''"Tri ...

'' where Lizmark defended the Mexican title against La Parka in a match that originally saw La Parka cheat to win the third fall, only to have it overturned by the wrestling commission. The fourth fall between the two went to a draw that allowed Lizmark to retain his championship. Further fuel was added to the storyline between the two when Lizmark defeated La Parka to win the WWA World Light Heavyweight Championship on October 23, 1993. At Triplemanía II-A Lizmark teamed with his son, Lizmark, Jr. and Tinieblas Jr., losing to his old EMLL rival Satánico who teamed up with Espectro and

Psicosis Dionicio Castellanos Torres (born May 19, 1971) is a Mexican Professional wrestling, professional wrestler, better known by the ring names Psicosis (sometimes Anglicisation, Anglicised as Psychosis) and Nicho el Millonario. He is best known for ...

for the night. The Lizmark / La Parka feud was one of the driving forces behind an Eight-man "Atómicos" tag team match that saw Lizmark, Perro Aguayo, El Hijo del Santo, and Máscara Sagráda defeat La Parka, Psicosis,

Black Cat A black cat is a Cat, domestic cat with black fur. They may be a specific Purebred, breed, or a common domestic cat of no particular or mixed breed. Most black cats have golden iris (anatomy), irises due to their high melanin pigment content. Bl ...

and Satánico. On June 20, 1994 La Parka regained the WWA Light Heavyweight title from Lizmark when he pinned him on a show in

Monterrey Monterrey (, , abbreviated as MtY) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern Mexican state of Nuevo León. It is the ninth-largest city and the second largest metropolitan area, after Greater Mexico City. Located at the foothills of th ...

Nuevo León Nuevo León, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Nuevo León, is a Administrative divisions of Mexico, state in northeastern Mexico. The state borders the Mexican states of Tamaulipas, Coahuila, Zacatecas, and San Luis Potosí, San Luis ...

. Three months later La Parka won the Mexican National Light Heavyweight title from Lizmark on September 9, 1994 which marked the end of the storyline between the two.

Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (1995–2007)

In 1995 Lizmark left AAA and returned to EMLL, which by now was best known as

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 (EMLL) (''Mexican Wrestling Enterprise''). Founded in 1933, it is the oldest profe ...

(CMLL), starting off with a series of matches against Satánico, the natural foil to Lizmark. On September 18, 1996 Lizmark teamed up with

Atlantis Atlantis () is a fictional island mentioned in Plato's works '' Timaeus'' and ''Critias'' as part of an allegory on the hubris of nations. In the story, Atlantis is described as a naval empire that ruled all Western parts of the known world ...

to form a team called ''La Ola Azul'' ("The Blue Wave") to defeat Gran Markus, Jr. and El Hijo del Gladiador, known as ''La Ola Blanca'' ("The White Wave") to win the

CMLL World Tag Team Championship The CMLL World Tag Team Championship (''CMLL Campeonato Mundial de Parejas'' in Spanish language, Spanish) is a professional wrestling World Tag Team Championship promoted by Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL; Spanish for "World Wrestling Cou ...

. The team only held the title for 12 days before the title was vacated following an inconclusive match against The Headhunters. On April 29, 1997 Lizmark, Atlantis and Mr. Niebla defeated Rey Bucanero, Emilio Charles, Jr. and Satánico to win the CMLL World Trios Championship. The trio held the championship for 519 days until they were forced to vacate the belts due to Mr. Niebla suffering a serious injury. In January 1999 Lizmark had chest pains that lead to heart problems, although he denied the heart attack rumors, which kept him out of the ring for a while. He was even told that he'd never wrestle again, but he returned to the ring after six months. It was clear though that he was not able to perform at the same level as previously. Following his heart problems Lizmark maintained a much lighter schedule, wrestling only select dates. In 2001, Lizmark was inducted into the

. In 2003 Lizmark returned to AAA to participate in

Triplemanía XI Triplemanía XI was the eleventh Triplemanía professional wrestling show promoted by AAA. The show took place on June 15, 2003, in Naucalpan, Mexico. The Main event featured an Eight-man "Atómicos" tag team match where the team of Lizmark, L ...

where he teamed with the new version of his longtime rival La Parka as well as Octagón and Super Caló to defeat

Abismo Negro Andrés Alejandro Palomeque González (July 1, 1971 – March 22, 2009) was a Mexican luchador ( Spanish for "masked professional wrestler"). He is best known for appearing under the stage name Abismo Negro, which is Spanish for "Black Abyss" ...

Cibernético Octavio López Arreola (born April 12, 1975), better known by the ring name Cibernético, is a Mexican professional wrestler, currently working for Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (AAA). During AAA's short partnership with the World Wrestling Federat ...

and the Headhunters. He subsequently worked for CMLL between 2004 and 2008.

Independent circuit

In 2008 Lizmark left CMLL and began working select dates on the Mexican Independent circuit. During this time he introduced a second son, ''El Hijo de Lizmark'' to the wrestling world and announced that he was planning on retiring soon.

Death

Baños died due to

respiratory failure Respiratory failure results from inadequate gas exchange by the respiratory system, meaning that the arterial oxygen, carbon dioxide, or both cannot be kept at normal levels. A drop in the oxygen carried in the blood is known as hypoxemia; a r ...

on December 16, 2015, at the age of 64 just two days before his 65th birthday.

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 ...

**January 3 Korakuen Hall Junior Heavyweight Battle Royal (1984) *

Mexican National Light Heavyweight Championship The Mexican National Light Heavyweight Championship (''Campeonato Nacional Semicompleto'' in Spanish) is a national Mexican singles professional wrestling championship sanctioned by the ''Comisión de Box y Lucha Libre Mexico D.F.'' (''Mexico Ci ...

( 1 time) * Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre / Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre **

( 1 time) – with

** CMLL World Trios Championship ( 1 time) – with Atlantis and Mr. Niebla ** Mexican National Middleweight Championship ( 2 times) ** Mexican National Welterweight Championship ( 1 time) ** NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship ( 4 times) **

( 1 time) **

( 1 time) *''

Pro Wrestling Illustrated ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' (''PWI'') is an American professional wrestling magazine that was founded in 1979 by publisher Stanley Weston. ''PWI'' is headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, and published by Kappa Publishing Group. The maga ...

'' **PWI ranked him #183 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the

PWI 500 ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' (''PWI'') is an American professional wrestling magazine that was founded in 1979 by publisher Stanley Weston. ''PWI'' is headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, and published by Kappa Publishing Group. The maga ...

in 1995 **PWI ranked him #175 of the 500 best singles wrestlers during the PWI Years in 2003 *

World Wrestling Association The World Wrestling Association (WWA) (Asociación Mundial de Lucha Libre in Spanish language, Spanish) is a lucha libre promotion based in the Tijuana-area of Mexico. It was founded in 1986 by Benjamin Mora Jr.. It featured some of Mexico's best ...

** WWA World Light Heavyweight Championship ( 3 times) *''

Wrestling Observer Newsletter The ''Wrestling Observer Newsletter'' (''WON'') is a newsletter that covers professional wrestling and mixed martial arts. Founded in print in 1982 by Dave Meltzer, the ''Wrestling Observer'' website merged with Bryan Alvarez's ''Figure Four Wee ...

'' **

( Class of 2001)

''Luchas de Apuestas'' record

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lizmark 1950 births 2015 deaths Masked wrestlers Mexican male professional wrestlers Sportspeople from Acapulco Professional wrestlers from Guerrero Professional wrestlers from Oaxaca 20th-century male professional wrestlers 20th-century Mexican professional wrestlers 21st-century male professional wrestlers 21st-century Mexican professional wrestlers Mexican National Middleweight Champions CMLL World Tag Team Champions CMLL World Trios Champions Mexican National Welterweight Champions NWA World Middleweight Champions NWA World Welterweight Champions Mexican National Light Heavyweight Champions