Jesús Murcielago Velázquez
Velázquez wearing the Mexican National Middleweight Championship
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| Birth name | Jesús Velázquez Quintero |
|---|---|
| Born |
February 22, 1910 Dolores Hidalgo, Guanajuato, Mexico |
| Died | May 26, 1972 (aged 62) Mexico City, Mexico |
| Cause of death | Cirrhosis |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | El Murciélago Enmascarado Murciélago Velázquez |
| Billed height | 170 cm (5 ft 7 in) |
| Billed weight | 75 kg (165 lb) |
| Trained by | Casino de la Policía |
| Debut | April 18, 1938 |
| Retired | 1956 |
Jesús Velázquez Quintero (February 22, 1910 – May 26, 1972), better known under the ring names El Murciélago Enmascarado ("The Masked Bat" in Spanish) and Murciélago Velázquez ("Bat Velázquez"), was a Mexican luchador or professional wrestler who was active from 1938 until 1956. Velázquez was the fourth wrestler in Mexico to wear a wrestling mask and the second Mexican to work as an enmascarado ("masked wrestler") in the history of lucha libre. He became the first wrestler in Mexico to be forced to unmask, losing a Lucha de Apuestas, or "Bet match" to Octavio Gaona, creating the most prestigious match type in lucha libre. He once held the Mexican National Middleweight Championship and after his retirement was the head of the Mexico City boxing and wrestling commission for a while.
Near the end of his in ring career Velázquez began acting in various Mexican films, including several Luchador films, working both with El Santo and Blue Demon. He also became involved in the creative aspects of movie making, writing several screenplays and stories over the years. The last movie he wrote the story for, La mujer del diablo, opened two years after his death.
Jesús Velázquez made his professional wrestling debut on April 3, 1938 in the original Arena México, working for Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre (EMLL). He started out his career wrestling as the enmascarado (Masked) character "El Murciélago Enmascarado", or "The Masked Bat". Velázquez was the fourth wrestler in Mexico to wrestle in a mask, and the second Mexican wrestler to do so, second only to "El Enmascarado" (The Masked Wrestler). Velázquez was one of the first native Mexicans to really play up the show aspects of lucha libre, wearing a black leather vest with a hood as he would stalk towards the ring and wrestle in black trunks and mask. His entrance theatrics would at times include him hiding a couple of live bats under his vest, releasing them in the arena during his in ring introduction, letting them fly free among the audience. His rough, brutal in-ring wrestling style added to the aura of El Murciélago Enmascarado, quickly pushing him up the rankings as he was wrestler that drew fans by the fact that they wanted to see him lose. Within a few months of his debut he was wrestling against some of the top names in EMLL such as Bobby Bonales and Dientes Hernández. One of the defining moments of Velázquez' early career was his storyline feud with Merced Gómez that began only a few weeks after his debut. During a match against Gómez a kick from Velázquez hit Gómez in the face, knocking him down. Moments later the crowd was shocked to discover that Gómez' eye was missing, supposedly from the brutal kick from Velázquez. Gómez had actually lost the eye due to boxing several years prior and had a glass eye that he popped out after the kick to give the impression that Velázquez caused him to lose an eye. Some lucha magazines tried to claim that it was Gómez "good eye" that had been injured in the match, trying to keep the illusion that it was a legitimate injury, but the fact that Gómez would continue to wrestle for years underscored the fact that this was indeed a storyline. The storyline had its desired effect, portraying El Murciélago Enmascarado as a heartless villain or rudo. In 1939 Velázquez participated in a tournament for the vacant Mexican National Middleweight Championship where he defeated the likes of Jack O'Brien and Ciclón Veloz but lost to eventual tournament winner Dientes Hernández. During the early parts of his career Velázquez also worked as a policeman, both to make money but also to gain access to the Casino de la Policia training facilities to further his physical abilities in the ring.
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