Ángel De Oro

Miguel Ángel Chávez Velasco (born August 18, 1988), better known by his ring name Ángel de Oro (Spanish for "Angel of Gold" or "Golden Angel"), is a Mexican professional wrestler who works for the Mexican wrestling promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL). He is currently a double champion in CMLL, as he is the Mexican National Light Heavyweight Champion and the World Tag Team Champion, both in his first reign.

In 2018, he was defeated in a ''Luchas de Apuestas'' (''mascara contra mascara''; "mask vs. mask") match by El Cuatrero, and was forced to unmask and be identified. He is a second-generation ''luchador'', the son of Apolo Chávez and the brother of the ''luchador'' Niebla Roja, who also works for CMLL. From 2008 to 2011, Ángel de Oro was part of a group called ''Los Ángeles Celestiales'' ("The Celestial Angels") alongside his brother (then billed as Ángel de Plata) and Ángel Azteca Jr., but after his brother changed his ring persona, that group has been phased out. After many years of portraying a ''tecnico'' ("Good guy") wrestling character, Ángel de Oro and his brother turned ''rudo'' and aligned themselves with El Terrible, eventually forming ''Los Nuevos Ingobernables''.

His accolades in CMLL include being a former CMLL World Middleweight Champion, CMLL World Light Heavyweight Champion, Mexican National Trios Champion, as well as the winner of the 2011 ''Forjando un Ídolo'' tournament, the 2020 ''Leyenda de Azul'' tournament and the 2021 ''La Copa Junior VIP'' tournament. He is also a three time winner of the CMLL ''Reyes del Aire'' tournament.

Professional wrestling career

Chávez and his older brother, Niebla Roja, are the sons of professional wrestler Apolo Chávez and grew up idolizing their father. Ángel de Oro was trained for his professional wrestling debut by Dibólico and Corsario Rojo and would receive further training from Gran Cochisse, El Satánico and Franco Columbo later in his career. Early on Ángel de Plata worked mainly for independent promotions around the Gómez Palacio, Durango area, often while feuding with his brother who at the time wrestled as Guerrero Inca ("Incan Warrior"). It was the feud between the two brothers that got Ángel de Oro noticed by Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) talent scouts and landed him a contract with CMLL. His brother changed his ring character to ''Ángel de Plata'' (Silver Angel) to complement his younger brother's ring character and together they began training at CMLL's wrestling school in Guadalajara, Jalisco.

Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (2008present)

The duo made their CMLL debut on July 4, 2008, wrestling, as a team dubbed ''Los Angeles Celestiales'' ("The Celestial Angels") The duo was made into a trio when they were joined by Ángel Azteca Jr. who used a similar "Angel inspired" ring character. ''Los Angeles Celestiales'' worked low card matches throughout 2008 and into 2009, gaining valuable ring experience along the way. On April 7, 2009, Ángel de Oro participated in a 10-man ''Torneo cibernetico'' elimination match for the vacant CMLL World Super Lightweight Championship. The other participants included Ángel Azteca Jr., Rey Cometa, Pegasso, Tiger Kid, Pólvora, Inquisidor, Súper Comando, Angel de Plata and eventual winner Máscara Dorada. In late 2009 Ángel de Oro participated in the 2009 '' Gran Alternativa'' tournament, a tournament where an experienced wrestler teams up with a newcomer. Ángel de Oro teamed up with Místico, CMLL's most popular wrestler at the time, to form a team that was considered the favorite for the tournament. They defeated Atlantis and Camorra and Mr. Niebla and Tiger Kid en route to the final, where they were defeated by the Japanese duo of Naito and Okumura in an upset. On October 18, 2009, Angel de Oro was one of 12 wrestlers who put his mask on the line in a 12-man ''Luchas de Apuestas'' cage match. He was the tenth and last person to escape the cage keeping his mask safe while Tigre Blanco was forced to unmask after the loss to Pólvora.

''Los Ángeles Celestiales'' participated in a 2009 tournament to crown new Mexican National Trios Champion. The team lost in the first round to '' Los Cancerberos del Infierno'' (Virus, Pólvora and Euforia). Following the tournament loss ''Los Ángeles Celestiales'' and ''Los Cancerberos del Infierno'' developed a rivalry between the two groups, facing off on various CMLL shows, including CMLL's main weekly show on Friday nights '' Super Viernes''. In early 2010 Ángel de Oro was voted "Newcomer of the year", both for CMLL and by Súper Luchas Magazine. As a sign of his success so far Ángel de Oro participated in his first ever major CMLL event as he teamed up with Fuego and Stuka Jr., wrestling and losing to ''Poder Mexica'' (Sangre Azteca, Dragón Rojo Jr. and Misterioso II) in the opening match of the 2010 ''Homenaje a Dos Leyendas'' on March 19, 2010. Ángel de Oro was one of 12 men who put their mask on the line as part of a 12-man steel cage match in the main event of the 2010 ''Infierno en el Ring''. During the match, his brother Ángel de Plata tricked him in order to escape the cage. Later on rival Puma King feigned an alliance with Ángel de Oro only to jump him from behind and then escape the cage as well. The match came down to Ángel de Oro, Doctor X, and Fabián el Gitano, only to see Ángel de Oro accidentally hit Fabián el Gitano so that Doctor X could escape the cage, leaving Ángel de Oro and Fabián to fight for their masks. Ángel de Oro won his first ''Lucha de Apueta'' (bet match) by pinning Fabián, forcing him to unmask and reveal his name as per lucha libre traditions. On August 15, 2010, Ángel de Oro participated in a "Mexico City vs. Guadalajara" ''torneo cibernetico'', an elimination match between young wrestlers trained at CMLL's wrestling school in Mexico and young wrestlers trained at CMLL's facility in Guadalajara where he represented the Mexico City city. The match, that also included his brother Ángel de Plata, as well as Ángel Azteca Jr., Delta and Fuego on the Mexico City team and Ángel del Mal, Metal Blanco, El Gallo, Leo and Palacio Negro on the Guadalajara team. It came down to Ángel de Oro and Metal Blanco as the last two wrestlers, with Ángel de Oro taking the victory for Mexico City after Guadalajara trained Ángel del Mal (not related to Ángel de Oro and Ángel de Plata) betrayed his "home town" by costing Metal Blanco the match. On September 3, 2010 Ángel de Oro teamed up with Delta and Stuka Jr. to defeat ''Los Guerreros Tuareg'' (Arkangel de la Muerte and Skándalo) and Pólvora on the undercard of the CMLL 77th Anniversary Show. Up until the end of 2010 CMLL had not really promoted the fact that Ángel de Oro and Ángel de Plata were second-generation wrestlers, but they acknowledge this when both competed in the 2010 ''La Copa Junior'' tournament on December 25. In the tournament, Ángel de Oro lost to Negro Casas in the first round. On January 1, 2011, Ángel de Oro defeated fourteen other men in a ''torneo cibernetico'' to win the 2011 '' Reyes del Aire''. On January 9 Ángel de Oro, Diamante, and Rush defeated Delta, Metro, and Stuka Jr. to win the Mexican National Trios Championship.

In early 2011 Ángel de Oro was teamed up with the ''rudo'' wrestler Último Guerrero for the 2011 version of the '' Torneo Nacional de Parejas Increibles'' ("National Incredible Pairs Tournament"), a ''lucha libre'' concept where a ''rudo'' and a ''tecnico'' wrestler are forced to team up and try to get along for a tournament. Often time the pairs are created to further ongoing storylines but there had been very little direct interaction between Ángel de Oro and Último Guerrero prior to the tournament. In the first round the duo defeated Toscano and El Terrible, but lost in the second round to Guerrero's rival Blue Panther and Guerrero's regular teammate Dragón Rojo Jr. On February 28, 2011 Ángel de Oro, Diamante, and Rush successfully defended the Mexican National Trios Championship against ''Los Cancerberos del Infierno'' (Euforia, Pólvora and Virus) Over the spring of 2011 Ángel de Oro was one of 16 competitor's in CMLL's first ever ''Forjando un Ídolo'' ("Forging an Idol") tournament, designed to showcase some of CMLL's younger, lower ranked wrestlers in order to elevate one or more of them up the ranks. In the first round of the tournament Ángel de Oro defeated Escorpión, Palacio Negro, Rey Cometa to earn 9 points and win his group to qualify for the second round. In the second round he defeated Guerrero Maya Jr. and Fuego to qualify for the finals, where he defeated Pólvora to win the entire tournament. The original plan for the tournament was to have Ángel de Oro take over the mask and ring character of Místico, who had left CMLL to work for WWE instead. For undisclosed reasons Ángel de Oro decided not to become the next Místico, instead that role was given to Dragon Lee months later. He competed in the 2011 ''Leyenda de Azul'' ("Blue Legend") tournament but was eliminated third, out of ten, by Rey Bucanero. By virtue of holding the Mexican National Trios Championship Ángel de Oro was one of 16 champions that competed in the 2011 CMLL Universal Championship tournament, but lost to La Sombra in the opening round of the tournament. On September 20, Ángel de Oro, Diamante, and Rush lost the Mexican National Trios Championship to ''Los Invasores'' (Olímpico, Psicosis II, and Volador Jr.).

On January 3, 2012 Ángel de Oro challenged Dragón Rojo Jr. for the CMLL World Middleweight Championship, his first singles championship challenge in CMLL, but was pinned by Rojo Jr. two falls to one. On February 4, 2012, he won the annual '' Reyes del Aire'' tournament after Mr. Águila and Máscara Dorada eliminated each other through a double pinfall. This made Ángel de Oro the person to ever win back-to-back ''Reyes del Aire'' tournaments.Súper Luchas