Rito Romero
| Rito Romero | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Birth name | Rito Romero Loza |
| Born |
May 19, 1927 Acatic, Jalisco, Mexico |
| Died | January 17, 2001 (aged 73) Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Rito Romero Rayo Mexicano |
| Trained by | Diablo Velasco |
| Debut | 1942 |
| Retired | 1960 |
Rito Romero Loza (May 19, 1927 - January 18, 2001) was a successful luchador who wrestled in Mexico and in the NWA territories of Texas and Los Angeles. He appeared in several films in his native country along with a number of other luchadors. He is remembered for his innovation of the Romero Special/La Tapatia submission manoeuver, commonly known as the Surfboard.
Romero was trained as a luchador by Diablo Velasco, a man also responsible for the training of Mil Máscaras and Gory Guerrero. His early career was spent in Mexico, making his debut in Guadalajara at aged just 15, having been in training for the previous 3 years.
He began finding title success upon becoming a regular in NWA Texas (which would become World Class Championship Wrestling. With tag-team partner Black Guzmán (brother of El Santo) he would win the NWA Texas Tag Team titles 3 times, winning the same belts a further 5 times with different partners including Pepper Gomez. He would also co-hold the NWA World Tag Team Championship (Texas version) twice (the belts being recognised as World Championships by WCCW and Dory Funk's Amarillo territory). As a singles competitor he had the distinction of being the inaugural NWA Pacific Coast Heavyweight Champion of the Los Angeles territory in 1953 as well as being a two-time NWA Texas Jr. Heavyweight Title back in the region in which he remained a perennial star. He became NWA Texas Heavyweight Champion twice, on the second occasion winning the title from Verne Gagne on 27 October 1950. In between his first title reign in 1949 and his retirement there was only one year (1960) during which Rito Romero did not enjoy at least some time with a championship.
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