{"id":8617,"date":"2017-10-14T13:19:28","date_gmt":"2017-10-14T17:19:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lwosonprowrestling.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/?p=8617"},"modified":"2017-10-14T13:19:28","modified_gmt":"2017-10-14T17:19:28","slug":"mike-mendoza-wwe-tryout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2017\/10\/14\/mike-mendoza-wwe-tryout\/","title":{"rendered":"Puerto Rico Star \u201cScorpion\u201d Mike Mendoza at WWE Tryout"},"content":{"rendered":"

The name Mike Mendoza<\/strong> doesn\u2019t ring bells to many wrestling fans who follow the growing international wrestling scene, but just this week, the so-call \u201cEscorpi\u00f3n<\/i>\u201d was one of the recent trainees present in the WWE Performance Center<\/b> in Orlando for a series of try-outs<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Who is Mike Mendoza?<\/b><\/h2>\n
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Photo: WWC<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mike Mendoza is a third-generation superstar from Puerto Rico. He is the grandson of Salvadorian and Puerto Rican legend El Vikingo<\/b> (The Viking) \u2013 he wrestled all over Latin America before settling down in Puerto Rico. In fact, Mendoza was trained by his grandfather and now is a trainer in his wrestling school Vikingo\u2019s Power Gym<\/b> \u2013 the most famous wrestling school in the island.<\/p>\n

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Photo: WWC<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mendoza started his career in the late days of the International Wrestling Association<\/b> Puerto Rico, where he captured the IWA Cruiserweight Championship<\/b>. When the company went defunct, he transitioned to the World Wrestling Council<\/b>. It was here that Mendoza began his first steps to greatness, as he quickly rose from the Jr. Heavyweight Division \u2013 he captured once the WWC Jr. Heavyweight Championship<\/b> \u2013 to the mid-card of the WWC. In that process, Mendoza would end up winning the WWC World Tag Team Championships<\/b> \u2013 one with Ray Jr. and three times with Cuervo<\/b> \u2013 and the WWC Puerto Rican Championship.<\/b><\/p>\n

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Photo: WWL<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was at the start of this year that Mendoza started to break out. His heel-turn on his longtime tag partner Cuervo was huge, getting reactions and becoming the number 2 heel in WWC, behind Ray Gonzalez<\/b>. In January, he beat Ray Gonzalez Jr.<\/b> in the finals of a battle royal to win the Puerto Rican Championship. For then on, Mendoza was cutting the best promos of his life, while leaving his babyface \u201cenigma\u201d gimmick and morphing into the \u201cScorpion\u201d Mike Mendoza. He would join to the Syndicate<\/b> \u2013 WWC\u2019s main heel stable \u2013 and win also (under Freebirds Rules) the WWC World Tag Team Championship alongside La Revoluci\u00f3n.<\/p>\n

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Photo: WWL<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After a great run, but never answered by WWC\u2019s illogical booking and lack of willingness to push young guys, Mendoza would jump ships to Savio Vega\u2019s<\/b> World Wrestling League<\/b> in May \u2013 alongside other WWC wrestlers. He has had great matches in WWL<\/b> as the front runner babyface, having a classic beat-out with JC Navarro<\/b> and a big victory over Global Force Wrestling\u2019s<\/b> LAX<\/b>.<\/p>\n

The WWE Tryout<\/b><\/h2>\n

Mike Mendoza\u2019s tryout with WWE came from nowhere. Nobody in the island was expecting him to go so soon to Orlando in this stage of his career. Some speculated that Mendoza\u2019s trainee and Olympic Silver Medalist Jaime Espinal<\/b> had something to do with the situation \u2013 as Espinal early this year had a tryout with WWE and even participated on their house show in San Juan \u2013, but come to find out, it was way simpler than that. Sources close to Mendoza claimed that, \u201cIt was just a resume that Mike sent to the WWE, specifically to the WWE Performance Center, and luckily last week, it was answered\u201d.<\/i><\/p>\n