Genaro Jacobo Contreras (born September 19, 1949), better known by his

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 ...

Ringo Mendoza, is a Mexican professional wrestling trainer and retired '' luchador'' (or

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 ...

) for

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). Mendoza wrestled his last match in 2011, transitioning to being a full-time trainer instead. Over the course of his career, Ringo Mendoza held several Middleweight championships, including 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 ...

five times, Mexican National Middleweight Championship twice, the

CMLL World Middleweight Championship The CMLL World Middleweight Championship (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Campeonato Mundial de Peso Medio del CMLL'') is a professional wrestling World Heavyweight Championship (professional wrestling)#Nomenclature, world championship promoted by t ...

, the Occidente Middleweight Championship and the

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) prom ...

. He also held the Mexican National Tag Team Championship with his brother Chachorro, and the

Mexican National Trios Championship The Mexican National Trios Championship (''Campeonato Nacional de Tríos'' in Spanish) is a three-man tag team professional wrestling championship, sanctioned by the "Comisión de Box y Lucha Libre Mexico D.F." (''Mexico City Boxing and Wrestl ...

with Kiss and Rayo de Jalisco Jr. He also won the Salvador Lutteroth Tag Tournament in 1999 with Super Astro. Mendoza has three brothers who were also professional wrestlers, Cachorro Mendoza ("Cub Mendoza"), Indio Mendoza and Freddy Mendoza.

Professional wrestling career

Genaro Contreras made his professional wrestling debut in 1968, after training under renowned Mexican wrestling trainer Diablo Velazco, under the

"Ringo Mendoza", adopting a Native American persona complete with feathered headdress. Contreras would later be joined by his brothers who wrestled as Cachorro Mendoza and Indio Mendoza. Mendoza won his first wrestling championship on November 29, 1974, when he defeated Aníbal to win the Mexican National Middleweight Championship. Mendoza went on to hold the title for 822 days, over two years, before losing the title to Perro Aguayo on February 28, 1977. During the 822-day reign Ringo Mendoza defended the title against opponents such as Tony Salazar and Perro Aguayo. On July 3, 1977, Mendoza got a measure of revenge for his title loss as he defeated Perro Aguayo to win the

, capturing the top title in this middleweight division. Mendoza would become synonymous with the NWA Middleweight Title as he captured it five times between 1977 and 1981 defeating such wrestlers as El Faraón, Perro Aguayo, Tony Salazar, and Sangre Chicana. On June 6, 1980, Mendoza defeated Satánico to win his second Mexican National Middleweight Championship, holding it for 182 days before dropping it to El Faraón. In the 1980s Mendoza began teaming more regularly with his brother Cachorro Mendoza, defeating Satánico and Espectro Jr. in a tournament final to win the vacant Mexican National Tag Team Championship. On January 15, 1983, Mendoza became a double champion as he defeated El Faraón to win the NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship. On July 28, 1983, Mendoza lost the championship to Satánico, but quickly regained it. The Mendozas held the tag team title for a full 1,029 days before losing to Sangre Chicana and

Cien Caras J. Carmelo Reyes González (born May 11, 1949) is a Mexican retired professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Cien Caras ("Hundred Faces"). He is best known for his appearances with the Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre. Personal life ...

on April 12, 1985. A month later Mendoza lost the NWA World Light Heavyweight title to MS-1 on February 13, 1985. On November 28, 1986, Mendoza teamed up with Rayo de Jalisco Jr. and Kiss to defeat ''Los Brazos'' ( El Brazo, Brazo de Oro, and

Brazo de Plata José Luis Alvarado Nieves (March 19, 1963 – July 26, 2021) was a Mexican '' luchador'' best known under the ring name Brazo de Plata, a name he had used since his debut in 1977. He is also well known for his appearances in WWE as Super Por ...

) to win the

. The team held the title for 275 days before being defeated by Hombre Bala, Jerry Estrada, and Pirata Morgan on August 30, 1987. In the late 1980s Ringo Mendoza began working 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 Promociones Mora y Asociados and ...

(UWA) where he defeated Gran Cochisse to win the

on April 29, 1989. Over a year later, on June 29, 1990, he lost the UWA title to long-time rival Perro Aguayo. From the early 1990s on Ringo Mendoza began focusing part of his time on training wrestlers, mainly working with young wrestlers on

(CMLL)'s roster. Mendoza's last wrestling related highlight came on March 7, 1999 when he defeated Emilio Charles Jr. to win the

, making him one of a very few wrestlers to have won the Mexican, NWA World and CMLL World Middleweight championships to date. Mendoza defended the championship on at least 10 occasions over the 742 days his reign lasted, defeating wrestlers such as Blue Panther, Scorpio Jr., Rey Bucanero, Zumbido,

Apolo Dantés José Luis Amezcua Muñoz (born September 28, 1968) is a Mexican professional wrestling, professional wrestler, trainer and professional wrestling promotion, promoter, best known by his ring name Apolo Dantés. He is the son of Alfonso Dantés, ...

, Black Warrior, Villano III and Mano Negra before losing the title back to Emilio Charles on March 18, 2001. Since losing the title Mendoza has focused on training wrestlers at CMLL's

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

and

Guadalajara Guadalajara ( ; ) is the capital and the most populous city in the western Mexican List of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco, as well as the most densely populated municipality in Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population ...

Jalisco Jalisco, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Jalisco, is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. It is located in western Mexico and is bordered by s ...

based wrestling schools. In 2011 Mendoza wrestled his last match.

Championships and accomplishments

* Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre / Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre **

( 1 time) ** Mexican National Middleweight Championship ( 1 time) ** Mexican National Tag Team Championship ( 1 time) – with Cachorro Mendoza **

( 1 time) – with Kiss and Rayo de Jalisco Jr. ** NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship ( 2 times) **

( 5 times) ** Salvador Lutteroth Tag Tournament – with Super Astro *

( 1 time)

''Luchas de Apuestas'' record

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mendoza, Ringo 1949 births Living people Mexican male professional wrestlers Professional wrestling trainers Professional wrestlers from Jalisco Mexican National Middleweight Champions Mexican National Tag Team Champions 20th-century male professional wrestlers 21st-century male professional wrestlers Mexican National Trios Champions CMLL World Middleweight Champions NWA World Light Heavyweight Champions NWA World Middleweight Champions UWA World Junior Light Heavyweight Champions