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Puerto Rican professional wrestler (born 1944) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Víctor Rivera (born May 25, 1944) is a Puerto Rican retired professional wrestler. Between 1967 and 1981, he held the NWA Americas Tag Team Championship thirteen times, the NWA Americas Heavyweight Championship five times, the WWWF International Tag Team Championship, and numerous others.
| Víctor Rivera | |
|---|---|
Rivera, c. 1979 | |
| Born | May 25, 1944 San Lorenzo, Puerto Rico[1] |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Rico Pantera[2] Vic Rivera[2] Víctor Rivera[2] |
| Billed height | 6 ft 0 in (183 cm)[2] |
| Billed weight | 224 lb (102 kg)[2] |
| Billed from | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania San Lorenzo, Puerto Rico |
| Debut | 1964[2] |
| Retired | 1984[2] |
Rivera debuted in 1964.[2]
In the late 1960s, Rivera wrestled in Los Angeles' Worldwide Wrestling Associates (which later became NWA Hollywood Wrestling in 1968), where he won the WWA World Tag Team Championship with Pedro Morales.
In December 1969, Rivera teamed with Tony Marino at Madison Square Garden to win the WWWF International Tag Team Championship in two straight falls from Professor Toru Tanaka and Mitsu Arakawa. Rivera and Marino defended the belts successfully against teams like Killer Kowalski and Waldo Von Erich, as well as Kowalski and Krippler Karl Kovacs. They lost the championship to another undefeated team, The Mongols (Bepo and Geto Mongol) on June 15, 1970, two falls to one at Madison Square Garden. On May 13, 1975, Rivera and Dominic DeNucci won the WWWF World Tag Team Championship from The Valiant Brothers.[3] That year, he also teamed with a rookie Dino Bravo to challenge The Mongols (Geto and Bolo Mongol) for the IWA World Tag Team Championship.
After leaving the WWWF, Rivera feuded with Pedro Morales in Hawaii and California.[4] In 1978, he returned as a heel under manager "Classy" Freddie Blassie and challenged Bob Backlund for the WWWF Championship in several arenas, including the Philadelphia Spectrum. He left again in 1979 and returned for a final match in 1989. In 1980, Rivera was once again wrestling in the Los Angeles territory of the National Wrestling Alliance, when he won its NWA World Tag Team Championship with Enforcer Luciano.
Rivera retired in 1984.[2]
Rivera wrestled in a "technical" style.[2] His signature moves were the abdominal stretch,[1] the cannonball,[2] and the dropkick.[2]
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