Ari Romero
| Birth name | Jose Luis Arias Romero |
|---|---|
| Born |
December 20, 1951 Querétaro, Mexico |
| Died | December 29, 2013 (aged 62) |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | El Gato Arias Romero Ari Romero Hussein El Gran Sheik/Gran Sheik Shadow V Karma |
| Billed height | 1.71 m (5 ft 7 in) |
| Billed weight | 99 kg (218 lb; 15.6 st) |
| Billed from | Iraq(As El Gran Sheik) |
| Trained by | Lou Thesz |
| Debut | October 1967 – Querétaro, Mexico |
Ari Romero (birth name Jose Luis Arias Romero; December 20, 1951 – December 29, 2013), was the ring name of a Mexican professional wrestler who wrestled in Mexico, the United States and Japan,. Romero earned the nickname "El Rey del Tenedor" ("The King of the Fork") by using a fork to make his adversaries bleed in his matches. He was also nicknamed "El Rey de las Cadenas" (Spanish for "King of the chains").
Romero began his career in his native city of Querétaro as an enmascarado or masked wrestler known as "El Gato" (Spanish for "the cat") at the age of 15. His father was the local Empresa Mundial de Lucha Libre (EMLL, now known as Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL)) promoter but when it came to his son's debut he put Romero in the opening bout and ordered the guys to be a little extra rough with him. After a few years of in ring experience Romero, would get called up to EMLL full-time and would debut at Arena Coliseo in Mexico City. After working in Mexico City for several years, the EMLL offices send him to Ciudad Juárez with their local affiliate to further develop his wrestling skills. Ciudad Juarez would become Romero's home as he became a fixture in the area and would later play a big role in the beginning of Eddie Guerrero and Konnan's wrestling careers. An injury while in Juarez forced Ari to return to Mexico City and soon after he lost his "El Gato" mask in a match against Halcón Dorado as part of EMLL's "Martes Populares" show. After losing his "El Gato" mask Romero returned to Juarez but this time with a rival promoter of the area, Gory Guerrero, who ran his shows at Plaza de Torros Balderas only two blocks away from EMLL's Juarez location. While working for Gory Guerrero Romero began his long lasting storyline feud) with the Guerrero family. Romero began working under his real name, Jose Luis Arias Romero, later shortened to simply Arias Romero by Gory Guerrero. Guerrero decided to have Romero debut as a face (wrestling term for those that play the good guys), going against Romero's natural heel (bad guy, "Rudó" In Mexico) tendencies. During his debut against a hated local, Romero managed to rile up the crowd so much that he turned the heel face in the crowds eye and had them booing Romero instead. Romero quickly moved into a storyline with the local top wrestler, Hector Guerrero, Gory's son. The highlight of the storyline with the Guerrero family was defeating all four Guerreros in an elimination 4 vs. 4 match. Romero singlehandedly eliminated Chavo, Mando and Gory and in a heated match finally also overcame Hector Guerrero. Not long after defeating the four Guerreros Ari Romero left to join the "la Division del Norte" wrestling circuit in Monterrey, led by lucha legend Rene Guajardo and composed of mostly ex EMLL guys.
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