Black Terry

Black Terry
Birth name	Esteban Mares Castañeda
Born	(1952-09-03) September 3, 1952 (age 72) Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico[1]
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)	Black Terry La Gacela El Hijo del Diablo Guerrero Maya[1]
Billed height	1.67 m (5 ft 5+1⁄2 in)[1]
Billed weight	80 kg (176 lb)
Trained by	Luis Canales[1] Babe Face[1] Chato Quesada[1]
Debut	February 1973

Esteban Mares Castañeda (born September 3, 1952) is a Mexican luchador, or professional wrestler, better known by the ring name Black Terry. Wrestling since 1973, he was once part of a group called Los Temerarios alongside Jose Luis Feliciano and Shu El Guerrero. He has previously worked as the masked character Guerrero Maya ("Mayan Warrior") where he formed the group called Los Guerreros Del Futuro ("The Warriors of the Future") with Guerrero del Futuro (a masked Feliciano) and Damian El Guerrero. He is the father of wrestler Guerrero Maya Jr. although the relationship is not officially recognized due to Guerrero Maya, Jr. being a masked wrestler.^[2]

Mares made his professional wrestling debut in February 1973, using the ring name Black Terry but later adopt a masked ring character called "La Gacela", Spanish for "The Gazelle". On November 20, 1977, Mares was forced to remove the La Gacela mask after losing a Lucha de Apuesta ("Bet match") to El Signo.^[3] Following the mask loss he reverted to working as Black Terry.

As Black Terry he became a main stay of the Universal Wrestling Association's lighter divisions, especially the Lightweight division where he won the UWA World Lightweight Championship from Black Man on September 30, 1981.^[4] While he was known mainly for being a technical wrestler during his early years Black Terry displayed a much rougher, violent style once he joined together with Shu El Guerrero and Jose Luis Feliciano to form Los Temerarios ("The Fearless") in the early 1980s. After 823 days as champion Black Terry lost the UWA World Lightweight Championship to Negro Casas on January 1, 1984.^[4] One of Los Temerarios initial opponents was a popular team called Los Cadetos del Espacio ("The Space Cadets") consisting of El Solar, Super Astro, and Ultraman, with whom Los Temerarios had a series of matches, including a Luchas de Apuestas match between the two teams that left all three Temerarios without their hair.^[5] The early 1980s was the boom for trios wrestling matches in Mexico, especially with the success of Los Misioneros de la Muerte (El Signo, El Texano, and Negro Navarro), and Los Temerarios built on that success with a number very well received trios matches. The three were so successful they became the first holders of the Distrito Federal Trios Championship, a title that was sanctioned not by a wrestling promotion but by the Mexico City wrestling and Boxing commission and was not technically owned by one single promotion.^[6] Los Temerarios would later lose the Distrito Federal Trios Championship to a trio of young Japanese wrestlers, Yoshihiro Asai, Hata Hirokazu, and Naoki Sano, at a show in Naucalpan, State of Mexico.^[6] On November 20, 1989, Los Temerarios won the Mexican National Trios Championship, which at the time was the most respected Trios championship in Mexico, when they defeated Los Destructores (Tony Arce, Emilio Charles, Jr., and Vulcano).^[7][8] Their run with the title lasted until January 1, 1991, when they lost the championship to Los Arqueros del Espacio ("The Space Archers"; El Arquero, Danny Boy, and Lasser).^[7][8] The title loss was part of a long running storyline between the two teams, a storyline that later saw Los Temerarios defeat Los Arqueros del Espacio, in this case Robin Hood, Danny Boy, and Lasser, in a Luchas de Apuetas match. By the end of 1991 Black Terry and Jose Luis Feliciano both began working for Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), ending Los Temerarios.

In CMLL Mares and Feliciano were both given new ring identities, including new masks to give them a fresh image. Terry became known as "Guerrero Maya" ("The Mayan Warrior") and Feliciano became known as "Guerrero del Futuro" ("The Warrior from the Future"). The two, together with Damian El Guerrero became known as Los Guerreros del Futuro and started a storyline with CMLL's top fan favorite trio at the time, Los Metálicos (Oro, Plata, and Bronce). Los Guerreros del Futuro won the Distrito Federal Trios Championship, but since CMLL did not publicly acknowledge that Guerrero Maya was previously Black Terry they were never presented as two-time champions.^[6] It is not clear exactly when or how Los Guerreros del Futuro lost the Distrito Federal titles, mainly due to lack of record keeping, but by 1995 the team of Ciclón Ramírez, El Nuevo Huracán Ramírez, Jr. and El Hijo de Huracán Ramírez were the Distrito Federal Trios Champions.^[6] As Guerrero Maya he also competed in a number of singles matches, including a tournament for the newly created CMLL World Middleweight Championship, a tournament won by Blue Panther.^[9] Los Guerreros del Futuro participated in CMLL's Salvador Lutteroth Trios Tournament in honor of CMLL founder Salvador Lutteroth. The tournament took place on March 24, 1995, and the trio lost in the first round to Los Brazos (Brazo de Oro, Brazo de Platba, and El Brazo)^[10] By late 1996 Los Guerreros del Futuro had disbanded and Mares left CMLL. For a while he worked as under the ring name El Hijo del Diablo ("The Son of the Devil"), a character that was later given to someone else.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s Black Terry became associated with International Wrestling Revolution Group (IWRG), a regional promotion in Naucalpan, Mexico State. He became the head trainer at IWRG's training school and as such had a hand in training many of IWRG's and wrestlings future main eventers. One of the wrestlers trained by Black Terry became known as Multifacético ("Multi-faceted") and was later revealed to be Black Terry's son (currently known as Guerrero Maya Jr. in CMLL). As Multifacético Terry's son worked as a tecnico (the Spanish term for a wrestler who portrays a "good guy" character) and had a lot of promotional support behind him. The heavy focus on the inexperienced, and at times accident prone Multifacético saw the fans react in the opposite way, booing him instead of supporting him.^[11] With time his in-ring skills improved and his long-running feud with Black Terry eventually showed that he had wrestling skills and the two put on some of the best IWRG matches in 2008 according to SuperLuchas Magazine.^[12] During the storyline between the two Multifacético defeated Black Terry to win the IWRG Intercontinental Welterweight Championship.^[11] As part of his promotional push as a top star, Multifacético defeated Black Terry in a Lucha de Apuesta on April 7, 2008, leaving his father bald as a result.^[12] Black Terry later won the IWRG Welterweight Championship from Fuerza Guerrera.^[13] In early 2009 Multifacético left IWRG and became Guerrero Maya, Jr. in CMLL, finally confirming that he was indeed Black Terry's son.^[14]

IWRG held their first Torneo Relampago de Proyeccion a Nuevas Promesas de la Lucha Libre ("Projecting a new promise lightning tournament") on January 1, 2010. The tournament saw a wrestling veteran team up with a rookie for a tag team competition designed to give more exposure to the rookies. Black Terry teamed up with his trainee Alan Extreme, but lost in the first round to Dinamic Black (rookie) and Chico Che.^[15] Later that year Black Terry joined forces with Cerebro Negro and Dr. Cerebro to form Los Terribles Cerebros, a trio that defeated Los Oficiales (Oficial 911, Oficial AK-47, and Oficial Fierro) to win the Distrito Federal Trios Championship on December 7, 2010.^[16] Four months later the Mexico City wrestling Commission stripped Los Terrible Cerebros of the championship when Cerebro Negro temporarily stopped working for IWRG.^[16] They held a tournament to crown new champions which included the team of Black Terry, Dr. Cerebro, and El Hijo del Signo, which was eliminated in the second round.^[16] IWRG held another Proyeccion a Nuevas Promesas in 2011, which saw Black Terry team up with Kershin Black, defeating Muerte Infernal and El Hijo del Diablo but lost to the new Multifacético and Trauma I in the second round.^[17] In 2011 Black Terry unveiled Los Nuevo Temerarios consisting of himself, Durok and Machin, a group that did not last long before being replaced by Bombero Infernal and Alan Extreme. In 2012 IWRG renamed their "Rookie and Veteran" tournament to El Protector, where Black Terry once again teamed up with Alan Extreme, losing in the first round to Saurman and Veneno.^[18][19]

On December 25, 2016, Negro Navarro and Black Terry, two independent wrestlers who do not work for CMLL, defeated the team of Guerrero Maya Jr. and The Panther for the CMLL Arena Coliseo Tag Team Championship. The match took place at the Lucha Memes show "Chairo 7: Hell In a Christmas Cell", a non-CMLL show.^[20] On February 19, 2017, Navarro and Black Terry made their first successful defense against CMLL wrestlers Sanson and Cuatrero at a Lucha Memes show. On March 26, 2017, Navarro and Black Terry made their second successful defense against CMLL wrestlers Hechicero and Virus at a Lucha Memes show. On April 12, 2017, Navarro and Black Terry made their third successful defense against CMLL wrestlers Blue Panther and The Panther at a CMLL show.

• Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre
  • CMLL Arena Coliseo Tag Team Championship (1 time, current) – with Negro Navarro^[20]
  • Distrito Federal Trios Championship (1 time) – with Guerrero del Futuro and Damian El Guerrero^[a][6]
• International Wrestling Revolution Group
  • IWRG Intercontinental Welterweight Championship (3 times)^[11][13]
  • IWRG Intercontinental Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with El Diablo Jr. I^[21]
  • Distrito Federal Trios Championship (2 times) – with Dr. Cerebro and Cerebro Negro^[a][16][22]
• Mexican local promotions
  • Jalisco Welterweight Championship (1 time)
  • Naucalpan Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Blue Panther
  • Naucalpan Trios Championship (1 time) – Shu el Guerrero and José Luis Feliciano
  • Naucalpan Welterweight Championship (1 time)
• Universal Wrestling Association
  • UWA World Lightweight Championship (1 time)^[4]
  • Mexican National Trios Championship (1 time) – with Guerrero del Futuro and Shu El Guerrero^[b][7][8]
  • Distrito Federal Trios Championship (1 time) – with Jose Luis Feliciano and Shu El Guerrero^[b][6]