El Faraón
| El Faraón | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | José Luis Barajas Fernández |
| Born |
October 5, 1947 Mexico City, Mexico |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | El Faraón |
| Billed height | 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) |
| Billed weight | 89 kg (196 lb) |
| Trained by |
Diablo Velazco Antonio Cruz |
| Debut | June 19, 1973 |
José Luis Barajas Fernández is a retired Mexican professional wrestler, or Luchador as they are called in Spanish. Barajas is best known under the ring name, El Faraón (Spanish for "the Pharaoh"), a ring name and persona he used throughout his career from his debut in 1973 until retiring around the turn of the millennium. El Fareón was originally an enmascarado but lost a Luchas de Apuestas, or "bet match" to Fishman on April 23, 1973 and was forced to unmask. Barajas' career peak came in the 1980s where he won the NWA World Middleweight Championship, NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship and the Mexican National Middleweight Championship, in addition to a long-running, intense storyline feud against Sangre Chicana that saw the two face off in a series of very bloody matches.
José Luis Barajas Fernández made his professional wrestling debut in 1973, adopting the ring name El Faraón, an Egyptian inspired ring character complete with a mask, cape and wrestling trunks that reflected the imagery of Egyptian Pharaohs. Barajas only worked as an enmascarado (masked wrestler) for just under three years as he was unmasked after losing a Luchas de Apuestas ("Bet match") against Fishman on April 23, 1976. The unmasking did not hurt El Faraón's career, on the contrary he achieved more success after he was unmasked due to his good looks and charisma, he also earned the nickname "El Rudo de los Ojos Esmeralda", Spanish for "The Bad Guy with the Emerald Eyes". On October 22, 1976 El Faraón defeated Perro Aguayo to win the NWA World Middleweight Championship. Faraón's first title defense lasted for 140 days before Perro Aguayo regained the title on March 11, 1977. In November, 1977 Faraón regained the NWA Middleweight title, defeating Joe Plardy. Faraón's second title reign lasted only 84 days before he lost the belt to Ringo Mendoza on February 17, 1978. By June 1978 El Faraón had moved up from the middleweight division (a division with a weightlimit of 87 kg (192 lb)) to the light heavyweight division (which has a 97 kg (214 lb) maximum limit) as he defeated Alfonso Dantés for the NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship. El Faraón held the title for 198 days before losing it to Pak Choo. On December 5, 1980 El Faraón defeated Ringo Mendoza to win the Mexican National Middleweight Championship, holding it for over 100 days before vacating it in April, 1981. The reason why El Faraón vacated the title is not known, the most likely reason is that he was injured. On November 29, 1981 El Faraón defeated Ringo Mendoza to become a three time NWA World Middleweight Champion, a title he would hold for 124 days before being defeated by César Curiel on April 2, 1982. On November 16, 1982 El Faraón defeated Máscara Año 2000 for his second NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship, a title that would be his last major wrestling title. Faraón held the title for 60 days before losing the belt to Ringo Mendoza on January 15, 1983. After 1983 El Faraón's career did not focus on winning championships, instead it centered around a long-running, intense storyline feud against Sangre Chicana that saw the two face off in a series of very bloody matches. The brutal brawls between the two wrestlers drew high attendance figures all over Mexico and continued on and off for several years. By the mid-1990s Barajas retired from wrestling, both due to his age and the toll wrestling had taken on his body. In 2007 Barajas as El Faraón made an appearance for Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) to present the mask to a wrestler billed as El Hijo del Faraón (the Son of the Pharaoh); the relationship was a storyline relationship as the two are not related. El Hijo del Faraón would later change his name to Horus and reveal that he was the godson of Barajas', not his son and was given the name with the blessing of Barajas himself.
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