Last night, Hector Garza wrestled on a CMLL show in Arena Aficion. It will be his last show with the company for the time being. Dr. Landru of the Gladiatores, Enrique Yniesta of Box Y Lucha and Tercera Caida are all reporting Garza has left CMLL effective immediately. Hector will rejoin the Perros del Mal faction he helped start, both in AAA and the Perros promotion itself. Perros del Mal tapes their TVC Deportes show Sunday, and AAA’s next taping is Monday. Either (or both) of those might be debut days in his new role.
Garza started his major league career in CMLL, but previously spent 1999 to 2004 as a part of AAA and grew as a personality here. Garza rejoined CMLL just as suddenly as he’s leaving, showing up a surprise wrestler in his 2004 return. Perro Jr. was an opponent in that match, but soon after turned rudo to start the Perros del Mal faction, still going to this day. Garza surprisingly didn’t join his friend in leaving CMLL to form the Perros promotion in 2008. It was said then that Perro and Garza were no longer the friends they had been. Perhaps that has changed again, though CMLL’s poor attendance (and resulting poor paydays) probably also have an effect.
Hector Garza is the current CMLL World Heavyweight Champion, having won the title three months ago from Ultimo Guerrero. Despite the title win and a related change to the tecnico side, Garza had no particular momentum or feuds. He was another man in the Anniversario cage match, seemingly just thrown in because he had no mask and was of high enough stature. Garza’s been a constant in the main events, often facing TRT, but with no real focus.
CMLL’s practice of having two dozen championships all valued at about the same level means losing their reigning heavyweight champion does not nearly hurt nearly as much as it would for any other major promotion. It is still vastly embarrassing and as strong a sign you can get about the internal troubles in the company.
Garza’s next scheduled CMLL match was to be Saturday in Oaxaca. Mascarita Dorada, also gone, is still listed on that card. Garza is also on Sunday’s Arena Mexico card; his replacement on the show will probably be CMLL’s first indication that Hector has left the company.
Champion vs champion is a natural storyline to tell, but AAA doesn’t seem greatly set up for it at the moment. Jeff Jarrett and Hector Garza appear to be part of the great La Sociedad alliance, unless Garza’s going to be working the Perros shows as opposition to the main group (which they actually could use.) Garza vs Dr. Wagner might be a better fit for Guerra de Titanes.
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Saddened to hear about Garza leaving, but it is probably best for him, and CMLL honestly. Garza is probably one of their better paid guys, and him exiting the company opens up a roster spot on top they can actually elevate someone to.
I personally like Garza a lot. I think his mannerisms and ability to work the crowd are highly underrated, probably because he doesn’t do a ton of flips (anymore) and is a pretty boy. He wasn’t churning out great matches, and will probably walk right into a top spot in AAA. I said it awhile back, but I would really enjoy seeing a Perro/Garza duo team.
I have to agree with Nikita, I am a little disappointed in Hector Garza leaving CMLL. I wonder if this will open the door for Hector to return to TNA down the line?
@Chk: i think Garza ‘t can’t come back to the US for a few more years.
Does this mean Rush will turn rudo? It will not matter anyways because Televisa and the CMLL bookers are killing CMLL. Maybe CMLL should copy what the WWE did in the Attitude Era just to stay afloat? Maybe not.
CMLL should hire Humberto Garza from ACM and have him be fake Hector Garza. All he needs is a tan and longer hair.
feel bad for cmll losing one of their top guys.no doubt garza will show up in AAA soon.but i feel garza shouldn’t be with los perros.i feel like he should be a babyface for both Perros & AAA
@Nikita: Problem is, AAA does not want pretty boys anymore. They lost Lover, Intocable, turned Alan Stone into a blood thirsty chair-swinging heel, and when el Elegido was on fire, they tossed a bucket of water on him to make sure that anyone who does hip gyrations is nothing more than an occasional mid-carder for television.
AAA may hotshot Garza because that’s how petty business is done, but unless he’s willing to do lots of bleeding and brawling, I can’t see him being in a top spot in AAA.
I’m still surprised Garza managed to get so over in TNA back in 04.
I think Garza’s ban was like for 10 years or something. I can’t even remember. I know he talked about it on one of the Lucha Libre Azteca TV shows.
This would be a bad loss for CMLL if they were hot, but attendance is way down and I’d imagine had he stuck around it could have led to some problems as far as paydays and picked the right time given he still held the CMLL World Title. Probably best he left now that CMLL is down and gets to be as LLL mentioned hotshot for AAA and Perros.
Besides, him vacating that title actually helps the current CMLL booking team because they get to do another tournament to end the year.
Hector was on a Lucha Va Voom show this year, I think, so something got worked out (or he worked out a way to sneak thru.)
off the top of my head, the last time a CMLL champion jumped to AAA was when Shocker was NWA LH champion. They were were supposed to have a title match they day he left or just a couple, and it ended up being a #1 contenders match for the title. Precedent means little.
CMLL doing a Forjando un Idolo (or G1) like tournament for the vacant heavyweight title would actually be very compelling. Doubt that’s what we’re getting here.
Also, I think Garza was pretty played out in CMLL – no one’s cared about this turn – but I wanted to let Cesar have first dibs on the “Hector Garza never was any good!!!!!!!” post.
Parka and Octagon turn was well timed; otherwise, this would be another guy they’d be staler than and seem stuck behind. Wonder what Cibernetico is going to do.
@thecubsfan: Interview was like in 2004-05, so its been a long time since I heard how long he wasn’t allowed to be back. I’m sure they worked something out.
Forjando Un Idolo for the vacant heavyweight title would be a great idea.
I bet Mr. Aguila’s probably going to leave CMLL too.
Garza’s ban has definitely been over for a few years, he’s been working shows (legally) for a while now.
Yup, Garza has Worked Plenty of Shows in El Paso the last few years, Maybe He can go back, and Work For TNA Aswell.
The interesting thing from this story is that Garza was one of the few CMLL wrestlers with a guarantee. The only way he makes this kind of move is if CMLL told him he was being taken off the guarantee and was going to be paid per show like the majority of the roster. In that case his decision to leave is a no-brainer b/c if you are getting paid per show in CMLL these days you are making no money at all. Garza will easily be able to make more money doing PdM shows and various indy shows where he can charge his fee and not have to rely on the gate. So from Garza’s POV this makes perfect sense. I’m not so sure how CMLL justifies this though. Why take your champ off his guarantee before at least getting the belt off him? Why take him off his guarantee in the first place? Garza is by no means the cornerstone of the promotion but he’s more than a valuable asset and during times like this when CMLL is sorely lacking in established main event stars a guy like Garza is invaluable.
This may also tie into the rumors of CMLL selling Arena Coliseo GDL. If you’re Hector Garza and find out you are now being paid per show and the usual Sunday/Tuesday GDL shows won’t exist it leaves two fewer paydays for you and the cause & effect symptom is CMLL will have to spread out the bookings even more on their other shows which decreases your appearences.
Spoiler alert: This is a cyclical deal. Garza working PdM shows & maybe appearing in AAA will be big news for a few weeks (maybe months) but then he’ll just be another guy in a PdM t-shirt doing terrible PdM style brawling main events. He will wear out his welcome on the indy scene, perhaps find a mark promoter who will invest huge in the obvious Latin Lover/Hector Garza hair match and in a year or two will be back in CMLL who will need a guy like him and offer him a nice guarantee to return. (I’m not being negative, I’m just pointing out Garza is a smart guy who understands the business.)
This move definitely makes CMLL look bad to the public (losing a top guy, losing a champ, losing a guy with name value to non-hardcore Lucha Libre fans) but you know CMLL… they’ll have Bobby Zavala start doing Garza spots and think they’ve found a suitable replacement. Plus Magnus is coming back soon so things are getting ready to turn around! Or so I’m learning by watching El Luchador on A&E.
I think Garza in AAA would be great, but a question regarding his ban hasn’t he done some indies in Texas and Cali this year.
Wasn’t Garza’s ban for five years?
I think although CMLL has a bit of egg on their face since he holds a belt, but they are probably happy to be off the hook paying him, just as he is better off getting overpaid in AAA just to jump from CMLL.
I think Garza’s would actually fit very well into the mix with Park/Wagner/Mesias.
@Nikita: the story at the time – http://www.thecubsfan.com/cmll/?p=395 – was he was banned from the US for 10 years, until 2015. Obviously not the case.
why was he baned?
@lucas: Bringing steroids into the country. The ones he brought are legal in Mexico and he said he had a prescription, but did not have it on him.
My best guess is he did have that prescription and was able to later negotiate the punishment down.
I thought I read somewhere that he did in fact negotiate it down after providing the prescription info…. But maybe that was just us goofs commenting on the story.
Is Héctor Garza taking Tirantes with him? — please say yes :P
I say that Hector Garza moving is a good thing for him. He was over-shadowed by Atlantis’ turn, he was the champion sure but he wasn’t a focal point in storylines which is why he was thrown into the cage match for the September show. He had a high position but he wasn’t treated like he was at all. I hope he is able to make an impact in AAA. I don’t see much from him just being in PDM.