Raymundo Díaz Mendoza (March 22, 1962 – August 29, 2024), best known by his ring nameVillano V (Spanish: "Villano Quinto"; English: "Villain the fifth"), was a Mexican luchador (or professional wrestler). Following his unmasking in 2009, he worked under the ring name Ray Mendoza Jr., as a tribute to his father Ray Mendoza.
Raymundo Díaz Mendoza was the son of Ray Mendoza, a well known Mexican wrestler and wrestling trainer and the brother of Villano I (José de Jesús Díaz Mendoza), Villano II (José Alfredo Díaz Mendoza), Villano III (Arturo Díaz Mendoza), and Villano IV (Tomás Díaz Mendoza). Trained by his father and oldest brother, he was not allowed to use the Villano name until he finished his education. Because Díaz's younger brother finished his degree faster than him, he was known as "V" (or 5), even though he is the fourth son of Ray Mendoza.[4] In May 1976, Díaz made his professional wrestling debut using the name "Rokambole" (originally used by his older brother Arturo before he became Villano III). Mendoza worked for several years under this name, gaining experience without the pressure of the Villano name.[5]
Villano IV and V began working for World Championship Wrestling (WCW) as part of the influx of luchadores in 1996. Villano V made his debut at the 1996 World War 3 event as part of the Three Ring, 60 man battle royal.[7] Subsequently, Los Villanos worked mainly the weekend shows such as WCW World Wide and WCW Saturday Night.[8] The brothers played the role of a heel and would occasionally cheat by switching places while the referee was distracted (all Villanos wore identical attire, aside from their Roman numeral distinctions). Los Villanos made a couple of appearances on WCW's main shows and PPVs such as Villano IV teaming with Konnan and La Parka to defeat Juventud Guerrera, Ciclope and Super Calo at SuperBrawl VII.[9] They also worked an eight-man tag match at Clash of the Champions XXXV, alongside Psychosis and Silver King against Guerrera, Super Calo, Héctor Garza and Lizmark Jr.[10] While working in WCW, Villano IV suffered a neck injury as a result of a failed move by Kanyon and Raven. The injury threatened to force Villano IV into retirement, but he was able to recover and was back teaming with Villano V in WCW in 2000.[11]
Mexican promotions (2000–2017)
At the CMLL 75th Anniversary Show on September 19, 2008, Villano V defeated longtime rival Blue Panther in a mask vs. mask match to unmask Panther after 30 years of wearing the mask. The ending was very popular with the vocal crowd at Arena Mexico prompting them to throw money into the ring (a tradition in Mexico after a great match).[12] On March 20, 2009, Villano V lost a mask vs. mask match against Último Guerrero on the Homenaje a Dos Leyendas show and was forced to unmask and reveal his real name as per Lucha Libre traditions.[13] Since losing his mask Villano V regularly wrestles under the ring name "Ray Mendoza Jr." in honor of his father.[14][15] His brother Villano IV had also wrestled under the name Ray Mendoza Jr. briefly in WCW many years before.[16] He, along with his brothers Villano III and Villano IV were on hand for the 2010 Homenaje a Dos Leyendas show where CMLL honored their father Ray Mendoza with an in-ring ceremony.[17] On September 20, 2012, Mendoza Jr. made his debut for the Japanese Wrestling New Classic (WNC) promotion, when he was defeated by Dave Finlay in the main event at Tokyo's Korakuen Hall.[18] Two days later in Osaka, Mendoza Jr. defeated Tajiri in another main event.[19]
Mendoza announced that he would be retiring in early 2013, with a show on March 16, 2013, as his last wrestling appearance. The main event of the show was a Ruleta de la Muertatag team tournament, where the losing teams advance instead of the winners and the team that loses in the main event would have to wrestle against each other to determine who would unmask. The teams for the Ruleta de la Muerta were announced as Ray Mendoza Jr. and Villano IV, El Mesias and Mil Máscaras, Máscara Año 2000 and Rayo de Jalisco Jr., Casandro and Hijo de Pirata Morgan, Cien Caras and Dr. Wagner Jr., L. A. Park and Universo 2000, and El Solar and Toscano. The Villano duo lost to Máscaras and El Mesias in the first round and lost to El Texano Jr. and Súper Nova in the second round qualifying them for the finals where the losing team would be forced to either unmask (Villano IV) or have their hair shaved off (Mendoza Jr.). The team faced, and defeated the team of El Hijo de Pirata Morgan and Cassandro which meant El Hijo de Pirata Morgan had to unmask and reveal his birthname, Antheus Ortiz Chávez, while Cassandro had all his hair shaved off as is traditional with Luchas de Apuestas losses.[20] The undercard featured a match with Ray Mendoza Jr.'s sons Kaving and Kortiz, teaming with Dr. Cerebro and Cerebro Negro losing to the team of Eita, Fénix, Freelance, and Mike Segura.[21] On March 21, 2013, only 4 days after his official retirement show Ray Mendoza Jr. was announced as working on CMLL's Arena Coliseo 70th Anniversary Show on April 7, claiming that due to poor attendance for his retirement show he personally lost $38,000 promoting the show and thus was forced to return to wrestling to make that money back.[22] On June 16, Mendoza returned to AAA at Triplemanía XXI, challenging El Texano Jr. to a future match for the AAA Mega Championship.[23]
Personal life
Raymundo Díaz Mendoza was the fourth son and seventh child overall of José Díaz Velazquez and Guadalupe "Lupita" Mendoza. His brothers, like himself all became wrestlers: José de Jesús (Villano I), Alfredo (Villano II), Arturo (Villano III) and Tomás (Villano IV).[5] His mother Lupita died in 1986, his second oldest brother Alfredo died in 1989, his oldest brother José de Jesús died in 2001 and his father José Diaz died on April 16, 2003.[5] Díaz was adamant that his sons get a good education instead of becoming wrestlers, wishing that they become lawyers or doctors as he wanted to spare them the physical suffering he experienced himself. Once he realized that his two oldest sons had begun wrestling under masks he agreed to train them and help their wrestling careers. He was also instrumental in training his youngest two sons, although he insisted they both get college degrees before they were allowed to begin wrestling. Since his youngest son Tomás finished his education first he became known as "Villano IV" while Raymundo, the second youngest son, became "Villano V".[5] Mendoza has two sons, who are also professional wrestlers, the two began their careers as the masked characters Kortiz, and Kaving. Mendoza's nephews (sons of Arturo Mendoza) wrestle as Villano III Jr. and El Hijo del Villano III.[24] On June 6, 2017, Mendoza introduced Villano V Jr., his oldest son who had worked as "Kaving" up until that point, to the public after the young luchador was officially licensed under the name and presented him with the distinctive Villano mask.[25]
Díaz died on August 29, 2024, at the age of 62.[26]
^ abKristian Pope & Ray Whebbe (2003). The Encyclopedia of Professional Wrestling: 100 Years of History, Headlines and Hitmakers (2nd ed.). Krause Publications. ISBN978-0-87349-625-4.
^ abcLourdes Grobet; Alfonso Morales; Gustavo Fuentes & Jose Manuel Aurrecoechea (2005). Lucha Libre: Masked Superstars of Mexican Wrestling. Trilce. ISBN978-1-933045-05-4.
^ abcdMadigan, Dan (2007). "Dorada de lucha libre: Las Leyendas, las peleas, los fósforos del resentimiento (the golden age of lucha libre: the legends, the feuds, the grudge matches): Ray Mendoza and Los Villanos". Mondo Lucha a Go-Go: the bizarre and honorable world of wild Mexican wrestling. HarperCollins Publishers. pp. 193–197. ISBN978-0-06-085583-3.
^Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2000). Wrestling Title Histories. Archeus Communications. ISBN0-9698161-5-4.
^Cawthon, Graham. "Ring Results: WCW 1997". thehistoryofwwe.com. Retrieved April 12, 2009. Rey Mysterio Jr. would face Villano IV the following weekend on WCW Saturday Night
^Cawthon, Graham. "Ring Results: WCW 2000–2001". thehistoryofwwe.com. Retrieved April 12, 2009. WCW Saturday Night taping: 2/12/00: Ron and Don Harris defeated Villano IV and V
^Cawthon, Graham (2015). the History of Professional Wrestling Vol 5: World Championship Wrestling 1995-2001. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. ISBN978-1499656343.
