Veneno (wrestler)
| Birth name | Rafael Ernesto Medina Baeza |
|---|---|
| Born |
December 7, 1970 Panama City, Panama |
| Residence | Mexico |
| Family | Casas |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) |
Veneno El Guapo Siniestro |
| Billed height | 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) |
| Billed weight | 88 kg (194 lb) |
| Trained by |
Negro Casas El Satánico Kendo Rambo Blue Panther Memo Díaz |
| Debut | April 30, 1993 |
Rafael Ernesto Medina Baeza (born December 7, 1970), better known under the ring name Veneno ("Venom"), is a Panamanian luchador, or professional wrestler, living in Mexico and currently working for the Mexican professional wrestling promotion International Wrestling Revolution Group (IWRG) portraying a tecnico ("Good guy") wrestling character. He is related through marriage to the extended Casas wrestling family as his sister, also a wrestler under the ring name Dalys La Caribeña, is married to Negro Casas.
Rafael Medina is the son of a Panama-based professional wrestling promoter and began his professional wrestling career on April 30, 1993 in his native Panama, working under the ring name "El Guapo Siniestro" ("The Sinister Hansome One"). At some point in the 1990s Mexican wrestler Negro Casas came to Panama to work for Medina's father and provided additional training for Medina. During this timeframe Casas met and married Rafael Medina's sister and when she moved to Mexico Medina followed her, settling down in Mexico.
In Mexico he became the enmascarado character "Veneno" (Spanish for "Venom") and began working for Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), one of Mexico's largest, and the world's oldest, wrestling promotion. Veneno worked his first major CMLL show on March 30, 2001 when he teamed up with Rencor Latino, Arkangel de la Muerte only to lose to the team of Astro Rey, Jr., Pantera and El Felino on the under card of CMLL's Juicio Final show. On May 2, 2001 Veneno teamed up with Olímpico to compete in the 2001 Copa Ovaciones, sponsored by the Mexican newspaper Ovaciones. The team lost to Super Parka and Máscara Año 2000 in the first round. He later became a part of Pierroth, Jr.'s Los Boricuas (slang for "The Puerto Ricans") rudo (wrestlers who portray the "bad guys", also known as "heels") group and thus played the part of a Puerto Rican sympathizer, claiming that Puerto Rico was superior to Mexico in terms of the storyline. The group was led by Pierroth and also included Gran Markus, Jr., The Killer, Bestia Salvaje, Poder Boricua, Violencia, Nitro, Hijo del Pierroth, Pierrothito, Pequeño Violencia and La Nazi. Veneno, Hijo de Pirroth and Doctor X defeated Tony Rivera, Tigre Blanco and Volador, Jr. on CMLL's annual Sin Piedad show. As a member of Los Boricuas he teamed up with Nitro and Violencia on a regular basis, a trio that competed for a match at the then reigning CMLL World Trios Champions, but were defeated by Los Hermanos Dinamita (Cien Caras, Máscara Año 2000 and Universo 2000) in the first round. In early 2002 Gran Markus, Jr. turned on the rest of Los Borucuas, unhappy with Pierroth's leadership, as part of the storyline junior member Veneno stepped up and wanted to punish the "traitor", which led to a match where both wrestlers put their mask on the line (called a Luchas de Apuestas, or "Bet match"). The match was the main event of CMLL's 2002 Homenaje a Dos Leyendas ("Homage to Two Legends") show on March 17, 2002. The match saw Veneno lose and thus was forced to unmask, reveal his birth name and age in front of everyone in Arena Mexico as per lucha libre traditions. The storyline between Los Boricuas and Gran Markus, Jr. lead to Gran Markus, Jr. defeating Veneno in another Lucha de Apuestas match on November 20, 2002, thus forcing Veneno to be shaved bald after the match. The Los Boricuas storyline was partially abandoned in mid-2003 leaving Veneno and other low ranking Boricuas with no specific storyline to work. On June 20, 2004 Veneno was once again shaved bald, after losing a Luchas de Apuestas match to Tony Rivera
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