Rafael Núñez Juan (born October 11, 1966) is a Mexican luchador, or professional wrestler, who is best known under his Ring name Scorpio Jr. Núñez is the son of professional wrestler "Scorpio", and was trained by his father and Rafael Salamanca before making his debut on August 30, 1985. Núñez was originally an Enmascarado, masked wrestler, but lost his mask as a result of a loss to the team of Negro Casas and El Hijo del Santo on March 19, 1999, after which his real identity was revealed.
Rafael Núñez Juan was born on October 11, 1966, in Mexico City, Mexico. He was the son of Rafael Núñez Contreras, who wrestled under the ring name Scorpio from the 1960s until the 1990.[3] Originally Núñez father did not want his son to become a professional wrestler, instead encouraging him to participate in other sports instead. At the age of 14, Núñez joined the National Institute of Sport (Instituto Nacional del Deporte) where he took up Olympic wrestling, a sport he participated in for two years.[2]
Professional wrestling career
At the age of 16 Núñez attended a professional wrestling school in Mexico City, Mexico under the tutelage of Rafale Salamanca. During his first lesson, Núñez was put through such a rigorous regime that it made him vomit. When Núñez returned for lessons the following day Salamanca agreed to train him full-time as well as getting his father to take part in his training.[2] On August 30, 1984, Núñez made his professional wrestling debut, teaming with Pioloto Suicida against Los Bándalos (Memo Arenas and Ray Torres).[2] Núñez initially worked as an enmascarado called Imágen but later changed his name to Scorpio Jr. - a name his godfather had used when teaming with Núñez father and a name he now used to openly acknowledge his family connections.
Scorpio Jr. and Bestia Salvaje became involved in a controversial storyline as they teamed with El Felino against Felino's brother Negro Casas, El Dandy, and Héctor Garza. During the match it looked like El Felino turned on his brother, allowing Bestia Salvaje and Scorpio Jr. to beat up Negro Casas. During the final moments of the match, El Felino pulled his mask off, revealing that it was actually El Hijo del Santo in disguise, making his surprise CMLL return after losing to Casas at the CMLL 63rd Anniversary Show. The surprise appearance of El Hijo del Santo and the attack on Negro Casas resulted in a minor riot in Arena Mexico.
[4] This led to Scorpio Jr. and Bestia teaming with El Hijo del Santo on a regular basis over the following two years, often opposite Negro Casas and various partners. In late 1998 Bestia Salvaje and Scorpio Jr. turned on El Hijo del Santo during a match, leading to Negro Casas saving his former rival.[5] Bestia and Scorpio Jr. won the vacant CMLL World Tag Team Championship after defeating the Headhunters, Atlantis and Lizmark and El Satánico and Dr. Wagner Jr. on November 13, 1998 in a tournament.[6] The tag team championship became a focus of the storyline with El Hijo del Santo and Negro Casas, which lead to a match on February 5, 1999. Casas and Hijo del Santo won the match by disqualification and thus the championship as well, but refused to accept the belts due to how the match ended.[6] The two teams had a rematch the following week, where Bestia Salvaje and Scorpio Jr. regained the championship.[6] The storyline reached its highlight at the 1999 Homenaje a Dos Leyendas show on March 19. The show was El Hijo del Santo risk his mask and Negro Casas risk his hair as they defeated Bestia Salvaje and Scorpio Jr. in the main event. As a result of the loss, Bestia Salvaje was shaved bald, while the masked Scorpio Jr. was forced to remove his mask and reveal his name, Rafael Núñez Juan.[7]
Los Guapos (1999–2002)
After Shocker lost his mask at the CMLL 66th Anniversary ShowShocker he stated that he was okay with being unmasked since his face was "1000% Guapo" ("1000% Handsome"). He developed a narcissistic, self-obsessed rudo character, who exhibited various metrosexual traits and looked down on anyone who was not as handsome as he was. In the following months, Shocker would often team up with Scorpio Jr. and Bestia Salvaje. Following a series of vignettes, Shocker convinced both of his partners to have their hair bleached blond and that they were also Guapo like him forming a group known as Los Guapos. Scorpiro, Jr. and Bestia Negra were both older, seasoned veteran wrestlers and neither were actually considered good looking, in fact Scorpio, Jr.'s nickname up until that point had been El Rey Feo ("The Ugly King").[3] 2000 Shocker was invited to work for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) on several occasions and due to his NJPW tours of Japan Scorpio Jr. and Bestia Negra often found themselves without a partner for Trios matches, their solution was to bring in Emilio Charles Jr. to become the fourth Guapo team member, Charles Jr. like his partners used the Guapo name more ironically than factual. After returning from NJPW Shocker objected to someone joining "his" group without his approval, but at first went along with it. Over the following months, Shocker's displeasure with the rest of the team grew and eventually, he split from the team, turning tecnico in the process. Shocker began a long-running storyline feud with Los Guapos.[8] The storyline built to its peak at the 2001 Sin Piedad show on December 14. In the main event, Shocker defeated Emilio Charles Jr. in a Lucha de Apuestas match, forcing Charles to have all his hair shaved off as a result of his loss. As a result of the victory, Shocker regained the rights to the "Los Guapos" name.[9][10]
Los Talibanes (2002–2004)
While Shocker reformed Los Guapos, initially with Máscara Mágica and later El Terrible, Bestia Salvaje, Scorpio Jr. and Emilio Charles Jr. became known as Los Talibanes (The Taleban).[11] As part of their image change, all three wrestlers began wearing Bedouin robes and headdresses to the ring, pretending to be part of the terrorist group.[12] The feud with Shocker and his group continued over the following years, including several multi-man Lucha de Apuestas matches. On August 1, 2003 El Terrible defeated Bestia Salvaje in a domo de la muerte steel cage match that also included the other members of Los Talibanes and Los Guapos.[13] The feud culminated in another six-way Lucha de Apuestas match on September 24, 2004, ending with Shocker pinning Bestia Salvaje, forcing him to have his hair shaved off afterwards.[9][14]
Núñez is the father of two teenage boys, both of whom are Olympic style wrestlers. Núñez does not want his boys to follow in his footsteps and become professional wrestlers, just like his father did not initially want him to become a professional wrestler.[2]
^ abMadigan, Dan (2007). "A family affair". Mondo Lucha Libre: the bizarre & honorable world of wild Mexican wrestling. HarperCollins Publishers. pp. 128–132. ISBN978-0-06-085583-3.
^"1996 Especial!" [1996 Special]. Box y Lucha Magazine (in Spanish). Mexico City, Mexico: Impresora y Encuaderanadora Glem S.A. de C.V. January 10, 1997. pp. 8–9. ISSN2007-0896. 2280.
^"1998 Especial!" [1998 Special]. Box y Lucha Magazine (in Spanish). Mexico City, Mexico: Impresora y Encuaderanadora Glem S.A. de C.V. January 9, 1999. pp. 2–28. ISSN2007-0896. 2348.
^ abcdRoyal Duncan and Gary Will (2000). "Mexico: EMLL CMLL Tag Team Title". Wrestling Title Histories. Archeus Communications. p. 396. ISBN0-9698161-5-4.
^Enciclopedia staff (October 2007). "Enciclopedia de las Mascaras" [Mask encyclopedia]. Santo, Hijo (in Spanish). Mexico. pp. 31–32. Tomo IV.
^ abEncyclopedia staff (November 1, 2007). "Enciclopedia de las Mascaras". Scorpio, Jr. (in Spanish). Mexico City, Mexico. p. 42. Tomo IV.
^Madigan, Dan (2007). "what's in a name". Mondo Lucha Libre: the bizarre & honorable world of wild Mexican wrestling. HarperCollins Publisher. pp. 209–211. ISBN978-0-06-085583-3.
^Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2000). "MEXICO: IWRG Intercontinental Heavyweight Title". Wrestling Title Histories. Archeus Communications. p. 401. ISBN0-9698161-5-4.
^Box y Lucha staff (January 19, 2003). "2002: considerar detrás". Box y Lucha Magazine (in Spanish). 2593.
^Súper Luchas staff (January 24, 2005). "Número Especial - Lo mejor de la lucha libre mexicana durante el 2004". Súper Luchas (in Spanish). 91.
^Luchas 2000 staff. "Luchas 2000". Villano III y sus Victimas (in Spanish). Juárez, Mexico: Publicaciones citem, S.A. de C.V. pp. 24–27. Especial 30.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)