Juan Alvarado Nieves (July 30, 1961 – October 15, 2013) was a Mexican

Luchador Lucha libre (, meaning "freestyle wrestling" or literally translated as "free fight") is the term used in Latin America for professional wrestling. Since its introduction to Mexico in the early 20th century, it has developed into a unique form ...

(

professional wrestler Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

). He was best known under the

ring name A ring name is a type of stage name used by an athlete such as a professional wrestler, mixed martial artist, or boxer whose real name is considered unattractive, dull, difficult to pronounce or spell, amusing for the wrong reasons, or projecting ...

El Brazo (

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

for "the Arm"), which he used since his debut in 1980. Alvarado was part of the Alvarado wrestling family, which includes his father

Shadito Cruz Juan Alvarado Ibarra (January 7, 1915 - February 3, 2003) was a Mexican ''luchador'', or professional wrestler, better known under the ring name Shadito Cruz. Best known as the patriarch of the Alvarado wrestling family that includes six of Alva ...

, 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 (masked wrestler) who worked mainly in

Tag team Tag team wrestling is a type of professional wrestling in which matches are contested between teams of multiple wrestlers. Tag teams may be made up of wrestlers who normally wrestle in singles competition, but more commonly are made of establish ...

action with his brothers who worked as Brazo de Oro ("Gold arm") and

Brazo de Plata José Luis Alvarado Nieves (March 19, 1963 – July 26, 2021) was a Mexican luchador best known under the ring name Brazo de Plata, a name he had used since his debut in 1977. He is also well known for his appearances in WWE as Super Porky. Al ...

("Silver Arm"). Los Brazos, as they were billed, wrestled all over Mexico and made appearances for the

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

based "NWA Hollywood Wrestling". Over the years Brazo de Plata and his brothers competed in a large number of

Luchas de Apuestas Lucha libre (, meaning "freestyle wrestling" or literally translated as "free fight") is the term used in Latin America for professional wrestling. Since its introduction to Mexico in the early 20th century, it has developed into a unique form ...

("Bet fights") 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 José de Jesús Díaz Mendoza (June 28, 1950 – January 4, 2001), known by the ring name of Villano I (Villano Primero), was a Mexican ''luchador'' '' enmascarado'', or masked professional wrestler. He was the son of ''luchador'' Ray Mendoza ...

Villano IV Tomás Díaz Mendoza (born April 9, 1965) is a Mexican professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Villano IV (''Villano Cuarto''). Within the stable Los Villanos, he has wrestled for Universal Wrestling Association (UWA), AAA, and W ...

and

Villano V Raymundo Díaz Mendoza Jr. (born March 22, 1960) is a Mexican professional wrestler, who has performed under the name Villano V (Villano Quinto, which means "Fifth Villain") until he was unmasked on March 20, 2009, after which he became known a ...

. The match was the culmination of a long feud (Storyline) 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 The UWA World Tag Team Championship is a tag team professional wrestling championship created by the Mexican Universal Wrestling Association (UWA) and defended there until the UWA closed in 1995. After the UWA's closing, the title was inactive unt ...

UWA World Trios Championship The UWA World Trios Championship is a tag team professional wrestling championship created by the Mexican Universal Wrestling Association and defended there until the UWA closed in 1995. Since then, the championship has been defended in various pr ...

WWA World Tag Team Championship The WWA World Tag Team Championship was the primary tag team title in the Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. A ...

and the

WWA World Trios Championship The WWA World Trios Championship (''Campeonato Mundial de Trios WWA'' in Spanish) is a six-man (or ''trios'') Tag Team Championship in the Mexican lucha libre (Professional wrestling) promotion World Wrestling Association (WWA) in Mexico. It was ...

By the 1990s Los Brazos worked mainly for

Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre Co., Ltd. (CMLL; , "World Wrestling Council") is a ''lucha libre'' professional wrestling promotion based in Mexico City. The promotion was previously known as ''Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre'' (''EMLL'') (''Mexi ...

(CMLL) where Brazo de Plata, Brazo de Oro and El Brazo won the

CMLL World Trios Championship The CMLL World Trios Championship (Spanish: "''Campeonato Mundial de Trios''") is a professional wrestling championship promoted by Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) in Mexico. The title has existed since 1991 and is contested for by teams ...

from

Los Infernales ''Los Infernales'' (Spanish for "the Infernals") is a Mexican professional wrestling group, called a stable. The stable was created in 1984 and consisted of El Satánico, MS-1 and Espectro Jr. A later version where Pirata Morgan replaced Espec ...

(

Pirata Morgan Pedro Ortiz Villanueva (born July 29, 1962) is a Mexican professional wrestler, or luchador, and wrestling trainer who is best known under the ring name Pirata Morgan. Ortiz made his professional wrestling debut in 1979 and has in the last 20 ye ...

, Satánico and MS-1) 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 Antonio Peña Promotions, S.A. de C.V. d/b/a Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide is a Mexican Lucha Libre (professional wrestling) promotion based in Mexico City, Mexico. Commonly referred to as simply AAA (pronounced "triple A"; an abbreviation of its o ...

(AAA) 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 (storyline) 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 Saúl Armendáriz (born May 20, 1970) is an American-born Mexican ''luchador'', or professional wrestler, who works as an ''exótico'' for several independent promotions all over the world under the ring name Cassandro. He is a former NWA World ...

and

Pimpinela Escarlata Mario González Lozano (born April 18, 1969) is a Mexican ''luchador'', or professional wrestler, who works as an ''exótico'' for the Mexican Lucha Libre AAA World Wide promotion and Lucha Underground under the ring name Pimpinela Escarlata. As ...

in their battle with fellow ''exóticos''

Nygma A nygma (plural nygmata) is a spot on the wings of certain insects which have a peculiar dense cuticular structure. They are found only in the wings of endopterygotes but found only in some insect groups. Nygmata are found in caddisflies, scorpi ...

, Pasión Cristal,

Polvo de Estrellas Polvo is an American indie rock band from Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The band formed in 1990 and is fronted by guitarists/vocalists Ash Bowie and Dave Brylawski, with Steve Popson playing bass guitar and Brian Quast playing drums. Eddie Watk ...

and Yuriko.

Other media

El Brazo has appeared in the video game Lucha Libre AAA: Héroes del Ring

Death

Alvarado died on October 15, 2013, due to complications from

diabetes Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level ( hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ap ...

. Alvarado was inducted into the

AAA Hall of Fame The AAA Hall of Fame is a hall of fame which honors professional wrestlers and wrestling personalities, established and maintained by the Mexico based national wrestling promotion Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (AAA). Inductees Individuals See als ...

on August 17, 2014, at

Triplemanía XXII Triplemanía XXII was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) produced by the AAA promotion. It took place on August 17, 2014, at Arena Ciudad de México in Mexico City, Mexico. The event was the twenty-second annual Triplemanía, which is ...

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 (Juan Alvarado Nieves), Brazo de Oro (Jesús Alvarado Nieves), Brazo de Plata (José Alvarado Nieves), Brazo de Platino ("Platinum Arm"; Daniel Alvarado Nieves), Super Brazo (Martin Alvarado Nieves) and Brazo Cibernetico (Cybernetic Arm; José Aarón Alvarado Nieves). † = deceased

Championships and accomplishments

(Class of 2014) *

( 1 time) – with Brazo de Oro and

Mexican National Trios Championship The Mexican National Trios Championship (''Campeonato National Trios'' in Spanish) is a three-man tag team professional wrestling championship, sanctioned by the "Comisión de Box y Lucha Libre Mexico D.F." (''Mexico City Boxing and Wrestling ...

( 3 times) – with Brazo de Oro and Brazo de Plata (2), Brazo de Plata & Super Elektra (1) *Comision de Box y Lucha Distrito Federal **

Distrito Federal Trios Championship The Distrito Federal Trios Championship is a ''Trios'' (six-man) tag team Championship primarily promoted by the Mexican Lucha libre professional wrestling promotion International Wrestling Revolution Group (IWRG). The title was created in 1986 ...

( 1 time) – with Brazo de Oro and Brazo de Plata **Distrito Federal Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Brazo de Plata *Federacion Internacional de Lucha Libre **FILL Trios Championship (1 time) – with Brazo de Oro and Brazo de Plata *

International Wrestling Revolution Group International Wrestling Revolution Group (Grupo Internacional Revolución in Spanish; the Spanish name is used for the promotion while the English initials are used for the title governing body) is a Lucha Libre promotion based in Naucalpan, Sta ...

**'' Legado Final'' (2011) – with El Hijo del Brazo *

Universal Wrestling Association The Universal Wrestling Association (UWA) was a Mexican ''Lucha Libre'' or professional wrestling promotion based in Naucalpan, Mexico State that operated from 1975 until 1995. The name of the actual promotion was Lucha Libre Internacional (LLI) ...

( 3 times) – with Brazo de Oro and Brazo de Plata *

World Wrestling Association The World Wrestling Association (WWA) (Asociación Mundial de Lucha Libre in Spanish) is a lucha libre promotion based in the Tijuana-area of Mexico. It was founded in 1986 by Benjamin Mora Jr.. It featured some of Mexico's best ''luchadores'' a ...

( 1 time) – with Brazo de Oro and Brazo de Plata *''

Wrestling Observer Newsletter The ''Wrestling Observer Newsletter'' (''WON'') is a newsletter that covers professional wrestling and mixed martial arts. Founded in print in 1982 by Dave Meltzer, the ''Wrestling Observer'' website merged with Bryan Alvarez's ''Figure Four We ...

'' **

Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame The Wrestling Observer Newsletter (WON) Hall of Fame is a professional wrestling and mixed martial arts hall of fame that recognizes people who make significant contributions to their professions. It was founded in 1996 by Dave Meltzer, editor of t ...

(Class of 2021) as part of ''

Los Brazos The Alvarado wrestling family, also referred to as ''La Dinastia Alvarado'' ("The Alvarado Dynasty") in Spanish, is a Mexico City based family of professional wrestling, professional wrestlers. The family works primarily in Mexico but have made app ...

''Luchas de Apuestas'' record

Footnotes

References

External links

AAA profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brazo, El 1961 births 2013 deaths Alvarado wrestling family Deaths from diabetes Mexican male professional wrestlers Professional wrestlers from Mexico City Exóticos Mexican National Trios Champions 20th-century professional wrestlers CMLL World Trios Champions UWA World Trios Champions 21st-century professional wrestlers