El Brazo


Juan Alvarado Nieves was a Mexican Luchador. He was best known under the ring name El Brazo, which he used since his debut in 1980. Alvarado was part of the Alvarado wrestling family, which includes his father Shadito Cruz, five brothers who used the "Brazo" name at some point and several third-generation wrestlers.

Professional wrestling career

Alvarado made his debut as "El Brazo", an Enmascarado who worked mainly in Tag team action with his brothers who worked as Brazo de Oro and Brazo de Plata. Los Brazos, as they were billed, wrestled all over Mexico and made appearances for the Los Angeles based "NWA Hollywood Wrestling". Over the years Brazo de Plata and his brothers competed in a large number of Luchas de Apuestas where they put their masks or hair on the line against their opponents. Los Brazos' most famous Luchas de Apuestas occurred on October 21, 1988, when Brazo de Plata, Brazo de Oro and El Brazo all placed their masks on the line in a match against another well known Lucha libre family, Los Villanos, in this case Villano I, Villano IV and Villano V. The match was the culmination of a long feud between the two families and saw all six wrestlers bleed profusely during the bout. In the end Los Villanos won the match forcing all three Brazos to unmask and reveal their real names as its tradition in these types of matches. Despite losing their masks Los Brazos remained successful in the ring winning various tag team and trios titles such as the UWA World Tag Team Championship, UWA World Trios Championship, WWA World Tag Team Championship and the WWA World Trios Championship By the 1990s Los Brazos worked mainly for Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre where Brazo de Plata, Brazo de Oro and El Brazo won the CMLL World Trios Championship from Los Infernales on April 6, 1993. Los Brazos lost the titles to Dr. Wagner, Jr., Gran Markus, Jr. and El Hijo del Gladiador.
Los Brazos began teaming less and less with Brazo de Oro working more backstage in CMLL. El Brazo began working under various ring names such as Tio Lucas, Latin Boiler, Ingordable and La Puerca, but his expanding waist line made it hard to hide who was actually behind the various gimmicks. In 2008 El Brazo signed with Asistencia, Asesoría y Administración and quickly inserted himself in his brother Brazo de Plata's storyline with a group known as Los Guapos VIP. Initially it looked like El Brazo was siding with his brother, only to turn on him and join Los Guapos VIP, taking the control of the Los Guapos VIP group. The storyline fight of the two brothers came to a crescendo at Guerrera de Titanes 2008, where they faced off in a steel cage match where the loser would have his hair shaved off. El Brazo lost and had his hair shaved to put at least a temporary end to the storyline. On November 5, 2011, El Brazo debuted a new exótico persona, La Braza, and aligned himself with Cassandro and Pimpinela Escarlata in their battle with fellow exóticos Nygma, Pasión Cristal, Polvo de Estrellas and Yuriko.

Other media

El Brazo has appeared in the video game

Death

Alvarado died on October 15, 2013, due to complications from diabetes. Alvarado was inducted into the AAA Hall of Fame on August 17, 2014, at Triplemanía XXII.

The Alvarado Family

The Alvarado wrestling family spans three generations starting with Shadito Cruz followed by his 6 sons and a third-generation who have begun wrestling in recent years, which includes Juan Alvarado's son that works as "El Brazo, Jr.". All second-generation Alvarados use wrestling names with the term "Brazo" in it, El Brazo, Brazo de Oro, Brazo de Plata, Brazo de Platino, Super Brazo and Brazo Cibernetico.
† = deceased

Championships and accomplishments

Winner Loser LocationEventDateNotes
Chessman El BrazoLive eventUnknownUnknown
Negro Navarro El Brazo Neza, Mexico StateLive eventUnknown
Ringo Mendoza El Brazo UnknownLive eventUnknown
El Brazo Frankenstein I Mexico City, MexicoLive event
El Brazo Antares Mexico City, MexicoLive event
El Brazo Coloso Ixtlahuaca, Mexico StateLive event
Los Brazos
Los Corsarios
UWA Live eventMexico City, Mexico
Los Villanos
Los Brazos
Monterrey, Nuevo LeónLive event
Los Brazos
El Verdugo and Hombre Bala Mexico City, MexicoLive event
El Brazo Black Man Naucalpan, Mexico StateLive event
Villano I El Brazo Naucalpan, Mexico StateLive event
Fabuloso Blondy El Brazo Mexico City, MexicoLive event
El Brazo Brazo de Oro Mexico City, MexicoLive event
Héctor Garza El Brazo Mexico City, MexicoLive event
Rambo El Brazo Mexico City, Mexico1996 Homenaje a Salvador Lutteroth
El Brazo Enrique Vera Mexico City, MexicoLive event
Brazo de Oro, Brazo Cibernético and El Brazo Bestia Negra I, Bestia Negra II and Bestia Negra III Celaya, GuanajuatoLive event
Mohicano I El Brazo Iztapalapa, Mexico CityLive event
El Zorro El Brazo MorelosLive event
Heavy Metal El Brazo Monterrey, Nuevo LeónVerano de Escándalo
Angel Mensajero El Brazo Mexicali, Baja CaliforniaLive event
El Elegido El Brazo VeracruzGuerra de Tianes
Hijo del Tirantes La Braza Victoria, TamaulipasLive event

Footnotes