Canek is one of Mexico's most international legends and a reconigzable face for the Japanese fans of 80s wrestling.
A former bodybuilder, debuted in 1973 (with the Principe Azul name) and had a short career as he had to retire due to personal problems.
He came back in 1975, then he became Canek, El Principe Maya (The Mayan Prince), a character based on the Aztecan culture.
In that year, 1975, promoters Carlos Maynes and Francisco Flores, and wrestlers Mil Mascaras, Ray Mendoza and Rene Guajardo were tired of EMLL's complete monopoly of the lucha libre in Mexico and created UWA/LLI (Universal Wrestling Association, Lucha Libre Internacional). Several big name wrestlers like Solitario, Fishman and Los Villanos also backed up the group and it became an instant hit.
They were called "the independents" (and the EMLL guys were called "the Coloseinos" in a reference to Arena Coliseo, EMLL's most popular building back then) and they had their home base in El Toreo (Naucalpan).
As Mil Mascaras spent most of his time wrestling for the Japanese and American promoters, Canek and Dos Caras (Mil's brother) became the new mega-idols of the Mexican fans.
Canek was a very unlikely brother. He was able to hit incredible power moves like press-slams but he was able to hit perfect planchas and topes as well. He was never a super worker like Mil Mascaras or Dos Caras, but he really clicked with Dos and during the 80s they had some of the best matches ever in lucha libre, and pro-wrestling.
Canek's first UWA title reign was in 78. The 27 of September he defeated Lou Thesz in Mexico City to become the 2nd UWA Heavyweight champ. During the late-70s/early-80s, the UWA had a very strong relationship with New Japan Pro Wrestling (Canek regularly toured Japan for Inoki's group) and some NJ superstars like Tiger Jeet Singh, Tatsumi Fujinami, Riki Chosyu and even Antonio Inoki were UWA Heavyweight chanmpions. Canek has title trades with Singh, Fujinami and Chosyu. He even *bodyslammed* and pinned Andre the Giant the 12th of Feb., 1984, in a classic 2/3 falls in Naucalpan that drew 25,000 fans. Another of Canek's biggest matches ever was the 9/2/84, when he wrestled Hulk Hogan to a draw in Mexico City.
In the 80s, UWA had a lot more talent than EMLL, and Canek fought most of the big names of the time, like Killer, Scorpio Sr., Perro Aguayo...
At that time Canek was pretty popular in Japan (mainly for his gimmick) and he had some small tours in Southern California (where he was billed as the World champ) and Southern Texas.
UWA was very popular for their foreign imports, also known as "El Rudo Extranjero del Mes". Even though Canek was a rudo, he was the most cheered wrestler in UWA, so they matched him in big singles matches against foreign wrestlers like Big Van Vader (aka Vader), Kokina (aka Yokozuna), Vampiro, Fatu, Samu, Giant Warrior, Blue Blazer (Owen Hart) or Bam Bam Bigelow.
But despite the fact that they had way better talent than EMLL (they had Silver King, Hijo del Santo, Negro Casas, Gran Hamada, Dr. Wagner...) people got tired of the Canek vs. Foreign Rudo thing and it slowly faded, until 1995 when it "officially" died.
Canek is still wrestling in AAA. He's still the UWA Heavyweight champion (the belt is his property) and he isn't the one he used to some years ago, but you can guarantee than any card with Canek in it, will draw a huge crowd.
