Manny Fernandez (wrestler)
| Manny Fernandez | |
|---|---|
 Fernandez in September 2013 | |
| Birth name | Emanuel Fernandez |
| Born | July 27, 1954 El Paso, Texas, U.S.[1] |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Manny Fernandez[1] Manuel Fernandez[1] Taurus[1] |
| Billed height | 6 ft 0 in (183 cm)[1] |
| Billed weight | 275 lb (125 kg)[1] |
| Trained by | Terry Funk |
| Debut | 1977 |
Emanuel Fernandez (born July 27, 1954) is an American
Early life
Fernandez played American football for West Texas A&M University.[2]
Professional wrestling career
Fernandez had success in 1979, becoming Florida Heavyweight Champion after a feud with Terry Funk. He also formed a tag team with Dusty Rhodes, and they won the NWA World tag team title from Ivan Koloff and Don Kernodle. They feuded with them and Ivan's "nephew" Nikita Koloff until losing the title to the Koloffs in early 1985.
Fernandez soon became involved in a feud with
In late 1985, he started helping
Fernandez teamed with Ivan Koloff for the rest of the summer and left for the Mid-Southern promotion in late 1987. Later on worked for New Japan Pro-Wrestling from 1987 to 1989. He was soon in the American Wrestling Association (AWA) feuding with Wahoo McDaniel after he attacked Wahoo and destroyed his headdress. The two veterans, who had feuded briefly in the NWA, engaged in an "Indian Strap match" at the AWA pay-per-view Super Clash III. After that feud ended in late 1988, Fernandez headed to Puerto Rico's World Wrestling Council (WWC) where he stayed through 1991 and then he headed to the independent circuit. Fernandez sparked controversy in the WWC in 1989 when he wrestled Invader #3 (Johnny Rivera). During the match, Fernandez landed a knee drop off the top rope to Invader #3's midsection; the impact apparently ruptured Invader #3's stomach cavity, causing him to vomit blood all over the ring while Fernandez landed two more knee drops. There have been debates on whether Invader #3's injury was a work, with some theorizing that the incident came about due to real life bad blood between Fernandez and Jose Gonzalez, the booker of WWC who was acquitted of murdering Bruiser Brody earlier that year. Others say the blood was a combination of pig's blood and vodka.[3] In an interview with Bill Apter, Fernandez claimed that it was not a work and deliberately injured Johnny Rivera as a way to avenge the death of Bruiser Brody, though his match with Rivera took place nearly 2 months prior to Brody's death in July of the same year.
From 1993 to 1994 he worked for International World Class Championship Wrestling. Manny won the APW Universal Heavyweight Championship defeating Robert Thompson on March 8, 1997. He would vacate the title when he left APW on June 8. He would feud with Rick Link in 1998. He defeated Link for NDW Heavyweight Championship on December 2, 1998, until dropping the title back to Link ten days later. He lost to Jimmy Snuka at NDW in Charleston, West Virginia on August 14, 1999.
He defeated Nikolai Volkoff at NWA New Jersey on May 20, 2000.
On December 5, 2002, he lost to Mexican legend
On February 25, 2011, he teamed up with
Then he teamed with Jimmy Valiant to defeat George South and The Masked Superstar at WrestleCade 2012 on November 11, 2012. On November 30, 2013, he wrestled at WrestleCade 2013 teaming with George South in a Tag Team battle royal won by Caprice Coleman and Cedric Alexander. Afterwards he retired from wrestling.
In 2017 he came out of retirement, where he continues to wrestle in the indies. Since 2018 he's been working with IWA Mid-South. He lost to Michael Elgin on February 15, 2018.
He defeated Pablo Marquez in a bull rope match at UXW on February 23, 2019, in Orlando, Florida. Then on May 30, 2019, he lost to Kongo Kong at IWA Mid-South.
On March 12, 2021, Fernandez launched a self-biographical podcast entitled "No BS With the Bull".
Championships and accomplishments
- All Pro Wrestling
- Lucha Xtreme
- LX United States Champion (1 time)
- Central States Wrestling
- Championship Wrestling from Florida
- Continental Wrestling Association
- Eastern States Wrestling / Eastern Shores Wrestling
- ESW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)[4]
- International Wrestling Association
- IWA Heavyweight Championship (1 time)[4]
- Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling
- Pro Wrestling Illustrated
- PWI ranked him # 188 of the 500 best singles wrestlers during the "PWI Years" in 2003.
- PWI ranked him # 88 of the 100 best tag teams during the "PWI Years" with Dusty Rhodes.
- Southwest Championship Wrestling
- World Wrestling Council
References
- ^ a b c d e f Kreikenbohm, Philip. "Manny Fernandez". Cagematch.net. Retrieved December 20, 2021.
- ^ Oliver, Greg (July 14, 2003). "Manny Fernandez still a raging bull". SlamWrestling.net. Retrieved December 20, 2021.
- ^ "That Crazy Wrestling Match: Invader #3 vs. Manny Fernandez - SWEETPHYLLIS.com". Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved March 26, 2015.
- ^ ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
- ^ Hoops, Brian (January 13, 2019). "Pro wrestling history (01/13): TNA Genesis 2013". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved January 18, 2019.
External links
- Manny Fernandez's profile at Cagematch.net , Wrestlingdata.com , Internet Wrestling Database
- SLAM! Sports Wrestling - Manny Fernandez still a raging bull[usurped]
