In recent days, there has been a lot of announcements regarding big indie wrestling events like All In, Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG)‘s Battle of Los Angeles tournament, Revolution Pro UK (RevPro)‘s British J Cup. In those announcement a common name that’s been popping up is Mexican indie wrestler and new PROGRESS Tag Team Champion Bandido.
Some of the common questions regarding Bandidos are: Who is he? In what Mexican promotion does he works? Why he hasn’t he signed with Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) or AAA? Where did he came from? Those questions are very frequent, even people well in touch with wrestling in general have a hard time knowing who is this wrestler with the coolest mask around.
First Steps in Wrestling
Bandido is from La Laguna, Mexico. He started training at the young age of 15, with legendary lucha veterans Stuka and Indio Chirikawa. Bandido blew everybody’s mind with his good grasp of the basics of wrestling and wrestled in various indie groups in small towns before leaving for Mexico City.
CMLL Didn’t Work, Lucha Libre ELITE did
Bandido, while using various gimmicks with his brother as Los Magníficos, debuted with Mexico’s largest promotion (and oldest) CMLL. While there, Bandido wrestled for two Sunday shows, but later joined newly founded Lucha Libre ELITE.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYEQshsL36M
In ELITE, Bandido was given his Bandido gimmick and became one of the most promising stars in the company. While shinning on a national platform – ELITE had a big TV deal – Bandido won the ELITE Welterweight Championship. Bandido’s look and great ability won him the applause of many fans and made him a popular indie attraction in Mexico, alongside names like Extreme Tiger and Flamita.
Bandido enters The Crash and Everywhere
Probably the place that made Bandido such a hot name was in Tijuana’s The Crash Lucha Libre. With Crash, Bandido gave it his all in the opening matches. It was his hard work that made Mexican indie wrestler Flamita pick Bandido to wrestle in the Japanese promotion Dragon Gate.
In Dragon Gate, Bandido & Flamita blew everybody’s mind. The match that made them huge favorites was their match against The Rascalz (Dezmond Xavier & Zachary Wentz). The match was so good that it was their introduction in PWG and awarded them the Crash Tag Team Championships. In that span, Bandido wrestled in China, became a regular in Japan for Dragon Gate, also became a regular for PWG and even won the Crash Cruiserweight Championship.
A Hot Attraction
Now, Bandido is part of one of the best tag team in indie wrestling and has become a popular attraction for many wrestling promotions in Mexico, the United States and presumably now in the United Kingdom with him being a PROGRESS Tag Team Champion and wrestling for Rev Pro.
BANDIDO is the next entrant in the 2018 #BritishJCup
GET YOUR TICKETS NOW: https://t.co/LhHedYxXS8 pic.twitter.com/g8Q6uhGI6H
— Revolution Pro (@RevProUK) August 6, 2018
This month of September is the biggest for the masked luchador. Bandido will be tagging with Latin idol Rey Mysterio Jr. and indie favorite Rey Fenix to go against The Golden Elite (The Young Bucks and Kota Ibushi). In England, he’s wrestling in the Rev Pro’s British J Cup against other 15 wrestlers. He is presumably – if he doesn’t lose the titles – working PROGRESS’s Hello Wembley show alongside Flamita. Plus, he will be part of PWG’s BOLA Tournament.
