Posted February 20, 201411 yr comment_5589312 According to Meltzer... --Hall of Famer El Hijo del Santo announced earlier today he was retiring from pro wrestling. He said that tests that he took in Houston last month were very discouraging, including finding a spinal lesion. His wife Gabriela Obregon said that he may be able to do one or two retirement matches but indicated he may not be able to do any. He will still use the name in outside ventures. Not sure yet what that means for his Todos x Todos promotion.
February 21, 201411 yr comment_5589382 A 30+ year career. Remarkable. The saddest thing is to see the greats not be able to end it on their terms.
February 21, 201411 yr comment_5589388 Santo started wrestling 32 years ago this month. Athlete's bodies tell them when to retire and he clearly didn't listen soon enough. Hopefully he won't live out the rest of his days in chronic pain. An extraordinary career in which he took the masks of about 30 other Luchadors without losing his own. The legendary Santo mask will probably now be passed on to one of his sons. Not only was El Hijo Del Santo incredibly successful, he's also one of the finest workers in Mexican wrestling history. My all time favourite tecnico.
February 21, 201411 yr comment_5589400 http://wrestlingclassics.com/.ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=138034 It sucks. I actually wrote a little piece about on wrestlingclassics message board. Not sure how to post pics here or a link.
February 21, 201411 yr comment_5589431 Managed to catch him wrestling at a show, was cool to see that famous Santo mask in person. As already stated, he covered a lot of ground in big boots to fill, more importantly.
February 21, 201411 yr comment_5589441 I saw Hijo Del Santo wrestle at a little latin night club in Passaic, NJ a few years ago. He could have totally taken a night off. He could have just rested on his charisma and reputation. Instead he carried two workers I don't like (Blue Demon Jr. and Oliver John) to an entertaining match that saw him do all of his trademark flying spots, which are even more breathtaking in person than a video could ever suggest. In fact, he never had to work as hard as he did. The children of lesser wrestling stars have been able to get away with barely putting in any effort. His dad is one of the biggest stars in wrestling history but he still made his own reputation with a catalog of great matches and great rivalries. Like Tim said, it's sad he isn't ending his career on his own terms but how many wrestlers have had a career as impressive as the last 30 years of his career?
February 21, 201411 yr comment_5589567 In my home area, the local Spanish-language newspaper had a story about Santo's retirement. Sad news. I've seen Santo work about five or six times over the past decade. One of my favorite live memories was the first time I saw Santo, in a Tejano nightclub in my hometown. It was a tag match, and it was so much fun being up close, watching Santo and Pirata Morgan slap the hell out of each other. I agree with what Graham Crackers above me said, his trademark spots looked incredible in person. Beautiful, graceful stuff. He always gave the fans a great show. The last time I saw him was on June 2013, at a small norteño nightclub. It was a family atmosphere that day, with young kids all the way up to old grandparents. Everyone was having a blast seeing Santo do his thing. All his spots still looked great. Has anyone on this board done a podcast show dedicated to Santo's career? It would be nice to hear different people, share their thoughts on Santo.
February 22, 201411 yr Author comment_5589582 I am sure I can get Phil and Kris together at some point.
February 22, 201411 yr comment_5589587 El Hijo del Santo at PWO: http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/tags/forums/El%2BHijo%2Bdel%2BSanto/
February 22, 201411 yr comment_5589592 Thanks for the newspaper pic Raging Noodles. From the article: It seems that El Hijo del Santo will remain in charge of his promotion Todos x Todos and it is expected that it will start it's season in either April or May of 2014. He'll also supervise the development and training of his son Santo Jr. It's expected he will make his professional debut sometime in the near future. He plans to open up a wrestling school to share the knowledge of his more than 30 years of experience. Any retirement/farewell shows will be planned for sometime between August to November of this year. They're hoping that the rest from now until then may allow him to do one or two farewell matches. After that, he'll have surgery for the injury and retire.
February 23, 201411 yr comment_5589832 It would be cool, but extremely unlikely for him to do a farewell match at Arena Mexico and Arena Coliseo, two buidlings his father helped open and help become famouse. I hope they announce the dates far in advance, I'd like to go to it.
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