Kung Fu (wrestler)

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Kung Fu
Birth nameRaymundo Cuesta Veloz
Born(1951-01-20)January 20, 1951[1]
DiedJanuary 3, 2001(2001-01-03) (aged 49)[1]
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)Ray Acosta[1]
El Estudiante[1]
Kung Fu
Billed height1.68 m (5 ft 6 in)[1]
Billed weight77 kg (170 lb)[1]
Trained byEl Duque
Rafael Salamanca[1]
Debut1968[1]

Raymundo Acosta Veloz (January 20, 1951 – January 3, 2001) was a Mexican luchador or professional wrestler best known under the ring name Kung Fu. As Kung Fu he made a name for himself as part of Trio Fantásticos along with Kato Kung Lee and Black Man, a very popular tecnico (Face or "good guys") trio in the early 1980s.

Professional wrestling career

Raymundo Cuesta made his professional wrestling debut in 1968, using the ring name Ray Acosta, and generally working low card matches while gaining experience. On August 4, 1974 Cuesta lost a Luchas de Apuesta, or bet match, to Villano III and had his hair shaved off after the match per. Lucha libre traditions.[2] In the early 1970s Cuesta adopted a new ring persona, an enmascarado (masked wrestler) character called El Estudiante (Spanish for "the Student").[3] In 1975 Cuesta changed ring characters once again, although he would reprise his role as "El Estudiente" from time to time.

Cuesta drew on his interest in martial arts and came up with the ring character "Kung Fu", an enmascarado inspired by the martial art and its practitioners. Cuesta had a black and orange mask created that would become his trademark for many years, he wore martial artist pants and jackets and started to incorporate various kicks and chops into his wrestling style.[1] Kung Fu's debut match was a tag team match where he would team with El Santo against Ángel Blanco and Ray Mendoza, an indicator that the promoters were pushing the new character to the top of the card. His wrestling style of wrestling, martial arts and various comedic elements quickly earned Kung Fu a lot of fans. On September 26, 1977 Kung Fu defeated Fishman to win the Mexican National Welterweight Championship, holding the belt until November 23, 1977 when Fishman regained the title.[4] Kung Fu regained the title from Fishman on April 2, 1978 and went on to hold it for six months before losing the title to Américo Rocca on December 10, 1978.[4] Around the time of his title victory Kung Fu was teamed up with Kato Kung Lee, a Panamanian wrestler who used the same combination of wrestling and martial arts as Kung Fu did. Together the team won the Arena Coliseo Tag Team Championship at least two times.[5] The team also won the masks of Los Jaliscos (Jalisco I and Jalisco II) in a Luchas de Apuestas, mask vs. mask match.[3] In 1979 the team was joined by Satoru Sayama (the future "Tiger Mask"), forming a trio known as El Triangulo Oriental ("The Oriental Trio), despite only Sayama actually being from the orient.

In mid 1981 Kung Fu and Kato Kung Lee left

nunchuks to attack other wrestlers. After an initial push as a rudo Kung Fu started to sink in the ranks, being used more and more to help young wrestlers gain experience and make them look good. Kung Fu remained with EMLL (by then renamed Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL)) until 1994, where he began working on the independent circuit. Around the same time Cuesta introduced "Kung Fu, Jr." to the wrestling world, unlike some family relationships in Lucha libre that are fictional Kung Fu, Jr. is actually the son of Raymundo Cuesta.[9][10]
After touring with Kung Fu, Jr. for a while Cuesta went into semi-retirement and began working for the Mexican Government instead. He made occasional appearances for years, never fully retiring from wrestling.

Death

On January 3, 2001 Raymundo Cuesta Veloz died from arterial hyper tension, no one had reported that Cuesta had felt ill up to the day he died and he is believed to have died in his sleep. Cuesta was not found until January 5 when his son went to his father's house to check on him.[1]

Championships and accomplishments

See also

Luchas de Apuestas record

Winner (wager) Loser (wager) Location Event Date Notes
Erick Romano (hair) Ray Acosta (hair) N/A Live event N/A  
Villano III (mask) Ray Acosta (hair) Naucalpan, Mexico State Live event August 4, 1974 [2]
Kato Kung Lee (hair) Kung Fu (hair) N/A Live event N/A  
Kung Fu (mask) Orange Rain (mask) N/A Live event N/A [3]
Kung Fu (mask) La Muerte de la Barranca (mask) Mexico City Live event N/A [3]
Kung Fu (mask) El Indio (mask) Mexico City Live event N/A [3]
Kung Fu (mask) La Momia II (mask) Monterrey, Nuevo León Live event March 14, 1976 [3]
Kung Fu and Kato Kung Lee (masks) El Jalisco I and II (masks) Mexico City Live event October 27, 1978 [3]
Kung Fu (mask) El Ídolo (mask) Mexico City Live event December 8, 1978 [3]
Villano III and ?? (masks) El Estudiante I and El Estudiante II (masks) Mexico City Live event January 20, 1983 [2]
Kung Fu (mask) Kato Kung Lee (hair) N/A Live event 1988 [3]
Kung Fu (mask) Kato Kung Lee (hair) N/A Live event April 1988 [3]
Atlantis (mask) Kung Fu (mask) Mexico City Live event October 26, 1990 [3]
Kato Kung Lee (hair) Kung Fu (hair) Mexico City Live event March 1, 1991 [3]
César Dantés (hair) Kung Fu (hair) Mexico City Live event November 22, 1992  
Américo Rocca (hair) Kung Fu (hair) Mexico City Live event May 8, 1994  
Atlantis (hair) Kung Fu (hair) Mexico City Live event September 1, 1996  

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Grandes Figuras de la Lucha Libre". Kung Fu (in Spanish). Portales, Mexico. November 2008. p. 34. 17.
  2. ^ a b c "Luchas 2000". Villaño III y sus Victimas (in Spanish). Juárez, Mexico: Publicaciones citem, S.A. de C.V. pp. 24–27. Especial 30.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n "Enciclopedia de las Mascaras". Kung Fu (in Spanish). Mexico City, Mexico. October 2007. pp. 10 and 12. Tomo III.
  4. ^ .
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  10. ^ "Enciclopedia de las Mascaras". Kung Fu, Jr. (in Spanish). Mexico City, Mexico. October 2007. p. 12. Tomo III.
  11. ^ "Los Reyes de Mexico: La Historia de Los Campeonatos Nacionales". Lucha 2000 (in Spanish). December 20, 2004. Especial 21.