Héctor Garza

Professional wrestling career

Solano began wrestling as Héctor Garza in 1992 after being trained by his two uncles for the Federacion Internacional de Lucha Libre (FILL) promotion in Monterrey. In 1995, he brought to Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) on the técnico (face) side as part of CMLL's rebuilding after the split with Asistencia Asesoría y Administración. He was put over veteran rudos (heels) like Bestia Salvaje and Satánico in hair matches and Garza quickly became one of the top técnicos in the company. In the following year, he teamed with Dos Caras and La Fiera to win the CMLL World Tríos Title and lost to Emilio Charles Jr. in the final of the La Copa Junior, a tournament for the sons of wrestlers. However, after being a part of the surprising El Hijo del Santo heel turn, he jumped to rival promotion Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA).

His stay in AAA was short, but did work two matches in the WWF including defeating TL Hopper on Superstars and a six-man tag team match on the 1997 World Wrestling Federation Royal Rumble pay-per-view. This during the time the WWF and AAA had a working agreement. He went to World Championship Wrestling (WCW) later in the year as part of the large contingent of Luchadors that began working for the company. He was best known in WCW for his twirling turnbuckle to floor plancha called the corkscrew plancha. Other than a victory over Scott Hall, he did not receive any push, mostly wrestling on WCW's minor shows, even when he became part of the Latino World Order. Later in 1999, he returned to AAA and became part of a multi-man feud with other younger wrestlers like Heavy Metal, Latin Lover and Perro Aguayo, Jr.. Different combinations of the four battled in various gimmick matches with Garza winning Metal's hair in 2001. In 2002, the focus of the feud became Latin Lover and Héctor Garza. In 2003, the two faced each other in a hair vs. hair match and, for the first time in Garza's career, he lost.

In 2004, he returned to the United States for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling during AAA's working agreement with the company. Along with Abismo Negro, Juventud Guerrera, Mr. Águila and later Heavy Metal, "Team Mexico" was successful in winning the America's X-Cup. After Team Canada was repackaged, Team Mexico became faces, with Garza getting particularly good reactions from the crowd. In June, he jumped back to CMLL, claiming that AAA owner Antonio Peña owed him money for Garza's dates in TNA.

While the AAA-TNA deal was still in effect, Garza wrestled exclusively in Mexico. In CMLL, he helped Perro Aguayo, Jr. turn heel and became involved in Aguayo's feud with El Hijo del Santo. Eventually, he would help found La Furia del Norte with El Terrible and Tarzan Boy. Teaming with Tarzan and Terrible, La Furia chased after and defeated the CMLL Tríos champions Black Warrior, Canek and Rayo de Jalisco, Jr. Meanwhile, in the United States, the AAA-TNA deal was dead so TNA decided to bring Garza back. He returned for TNA Victory Road 2004, TNA's first three-hour pay-per-view when he won a Twenty Man X-Division Gauntlet. The push continued with a match against NWA World Heavyweight Champion Jeff Jarrett on TNA's weekly TV show. In 2005, he was set to wrestle Scott Hall at TNA Final Resolution 2005 but was arrested in Houston, Texas with steroids that were legal in Mexico but illegal in the United States; he was replaced by Jeff Hardy in the match. Garza was deported, effectively ending his career in the United States. Garza claimed that he did not know the steroids were illegal in the United States and that he was humiliated by the guards. Garza would later sell T-shirts that read "If Pepe el Toro is innocent, so is Héctor Garza", alluding to the story of an old movie where a carpenter is incriminated on a murder and goes to jail where he finds the true assassins and fights with them and pops out the eye of the mastermind to make him confess "Pepe el Toro es inocente".

Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (2005–2011)

After being deported, he returned to working full-time in Mexico for CMLL. He teamed with Perro Aguayo, Jr. against Los Capos and became a major part of the new group, Los Perros del Mal along with members of La Furia del Norte, Los Pierroths and La Familia de Tijuana. In August, Pierroth, Jr. was kicked out of the group and Garza volunteered to face him in a hair vs. hair match, which Garza won. After the Dr. Wagner, Jr. vs. Atlantis mask vs. mask match fell through, CMLL decided to go with Héctor Garza and Perro Aguayo, Jr. vs. Universo 2000 and Máscara Año 2000 double hair vs. hair matchas the main event of the CMLL 72nd Anniversary Show. Three weeks before the show, Garza hit Máscara Año 2000 with a "Martinete" (tombstone piledriver). The match for the anniversary show was changed to a triangle match with Universo 2000 vs. Perro Aguayo, Jr. vs. Héctor Garza where the last man to get pinned gets his hair shaved. In the end, Universo pinned Garza with help of a low blow from his brother, Cien Caras, and Pierroth's valet, La Nazi.

In 2008 Garza began teaming with El Hijo del Fantasma and La Máscara and the trio quickly won the vacant CMLL World Trios Championship when they defeated Blue Panther, Dos Caras, Jr. and Místico in the finals of a tournament. The team lost, then regained the trios title to the team of Atlantis, Último Guerrero and Negro Casas. In March, 2010 signs of dissention amongst the team began showing as Garza walked out on the team during a trios match mistakenly thinking that one of his team mates had attacked him. Following the walk out Garza kept insincerely insisting that he was still a tecnico and that his team was getting along great. Further doubts about Garza's allegiance arose when he teamed up with the Rúdo Pólvora for the 2010 Gran Alternativa tournament. The team defeated Sensei and La Máscara in the first round with Garza showing no problems in going after his team mate. They also defeated Rey Cometa and Blue Panther as well as Diamante and La Sombra to qualify for the finals. On the April 30, 2010 Super Viernes Garza and Pólvora won the 2010 Gran Alternativa when they defeated Delta and Volador, Jr. When Garza, La Máscara and Hijo del Fantasma were booked for a CMLL World Trios defense the following week, Garza complained that his partners had agreed to the match without asking him, but swore that he would still be professional about it. During the title defense on the May 7, 2010 Super Viernes Garza attacked both Hijo del Fantasma and La Máscara, allowing La Ola Amarillo (Hiroshi Tanahashi, Okumura and Taichi) to win the CMLL World Trios Championship, turning full blown Rudo in the process.

Los Invasores

During a trios match with the Los Invasores team of El Alebrije, Histeria and Maniaco going against Garza, Brazo de Plata and Toscano, Garza turned on his teammates and joined Los Invasores. CMLL held a press conference on May 20, 2010 announcing that they would hold a special Sin Salida event on June 6, 2010 that would center around the Los Invasores vs. CMLL storyline. During the press conference Olímpico was part of the Invasores group. It was also announced that Garza and Mr. Águila were the co-leaders of Los Invasores. At the July 16, 2010 Super Viernes Héctor Garza and Mr. Águila defeated the team of La Sombra and Volador, Jr. to win the CMLL World Tag Team Championship, Garza's third reign and Mr. Águila's first reign with the title. On November 2, 2010, Garza and Águila lost the CMLL World Tag Team Championship to Dragón Rojo, Jr. and Último Guerrero.

World Heavyweight Champion

On January 4, 2011, Garza made his debut for New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) at Wrestle Kingdom V in Tokyo Dome, where he and Jushin Thunder Liger were defeated by Máscara Dorada and La Sombra in a tag team match. Garza returned for a tour of New Japan on July 8, 2011. His tour of the promotion concluded on July 18, when he was defeated by CMLL World Middleweight Champion, Jushin Thunder Liger, in a non-title match. Upon Garza's return to CMLL, he turned technico and left Los Invasores. On August 12, Garza defeated Último Guerrero to win the CMLL World Heavyweight Championship for the first time.

Perros del Mal Producciones (2011–2012)

On November 11, 2011, Garza held a press conference, announcing that he had left CMLL and joined Perro Aguyao Jr.'s Perros del Mal Producciones as a member of the Perros del Mal stable. Before leaving CMLL, Garza handed the World Heavyweight Championship belt back to the promotion. Behind the scenes, Garza had offered to lose the title to El Terrible prior to leaving the promotion, but CMLL refused to allow him to wrestle another match. Garza made his debut for the promotion on November 13, when he ran in to save Perro Aguayo, Jr., Damián 666, Halloween and X-Fly from Los Psycho Circus, Nosawa and Zumbi. The following day, Garza returned to AAA, when he, along with members of Los Perros del Mal, attacked El Mesías and Jack Evans, after they had defeated Aguayo and Chessman in a match. On December 16 at Guerra de Titanes, Garza, Aguayo and Halloween defeated Evans, Fénix and Drago in a six-man tag team match. On February 14, 2012, Garza defeated champion X-Fly, El Hijo del Perro Aguayo, El Mesías, El Texano, Jr. and Toscano in a six-way elimination match at a Perros del Mal Producciones event to win the Mexican National Heavyweight Championship for the second time. On August 5 at Triplemanía XX, Garza's accidental chair shot to El Hijo del Perro Aguayo cost the Perros del Mal leader his match for the AAA Mega Championship. On August 10, Los Perros del Mal turned on Garza and kicked him out of the stable.

Death

On October 15, 2012, a press release revealed that Garza had been diagnosed with lung cancer. He retired from active competition to undergo chemotherapy and additional treatment. Garza died on May 26, 2013. He was the reigning Mexican National Heavyweight Champion when he died. As a result of his death, the "Comisión de Box y Lucha Libre Mexico D.F." (the Mexico City Boxing and Wrestling Commission) deemed the Mexican National Heavyweight Championship inactive, which has since remained inactive. On August 9, 2015, at Triplemanía XXIII, Garza was inducted into the AAA Hall of Fame.

In wrestling

Championships and accomplishments