Alejandro Pérez Jiménez (May 15, 1975 – June 29, 2009) was a Mexican ''

Mini-Estrella The term ''Mini-Estrella'' (Spanish for "Mini-Star") is used in lucha libre to describe a division of short professional wrestlers or ''luchadors'', some of whom have dwarfism. The Mexican ''Mini-Estrellas'' is comparable to Midget wrestling pra ...

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 ...

'', or

midget professional wrestler Midget wrestling is professional wrestling involving people of exceptionally short stature. Its heyday was in the 1950s and 1960s, when wrestlers such as Little Beaver, Lord Littlebrook, toured North America, and Sky Low Low was the first holder ...

who worked mainly under the name Espectro II. Alejandro's twin brother, Alberto, was also a midget professional wrestler who worked under the name "

La Parkita Alberto Pérez Jiménez (May 15, 1975 – June 29, 2009) was a Mexican ''Luchador'' '' enmascarado'' who worked in the ''Mini-Estrella'' division from 1990 until his death in 2009. He was best known under the ring name La Parkita, having used t ...

", Alejandro had another brother, Mario Pérez Jiménez who worked as

Espectrito Mario Pérez Jiménez (December 18, 1966 – January 23, 2016) was a Mexican Mini-Estrella luchador, or Mini professional wrestler, best known under the ring name Espectrito. Jiménez worked for the World Wrestling Federation as "Mini Vader ...

. Alejandro was most known for working for Mexican professional wrestling promotions

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 ...

(AAA),

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, S ...

(IWRG), the Mexican independent circuit as well as working for the

World Wrestling Federation World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and var ...

(WWF) where he was billed as "Mini Mankind", a miniature version of

Mankind Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, culture, ...

. Alejandro and his twin brother were both killed on June 29, 2009, in a double murder.

Professional wrestling career

After being trained by his older brother Mario, who wrestles as

, and twin brother Alberto, who wrestled as

, Alejandro made his professional wrestling debut in 1994. Due to his family connection Alejandro made his debut for

(AAA) and was given the ring name "Espectrito II" (

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 "Little Specter II") and teamed up with his older brother. On June 10, 1995, Espectrito II was one of the 13 Minis who participated in the main event of

Triplemanía III-A Triplemanía III-A was the first of three parts of the third Triplemanía professional wrestling show series promoted by Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA). 1995 was second year to feature the "Triplemanía Series" of shows with 3, refe ...

, a multi-man ''

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 ...

'', or bet match, where each participant put their mask on the line. Espectrito II managed to save his mask while Payasito Rojo was unmasked after the match. Eight days later Espectrito I was on the losing side of an eight-mini match at Triplemanía III-B; the match saw the team of Torerito,

Super Muñequito ''Super Muñequito'' (born October 26, 1966 in San Luis Potosí, San Luis Potosí, Mexico) is the most well known ring name of a retired Mexican '' Luchador enmacarado'' or masked professional wrestler. He started his career under the name ''Ag ...

Octagoncito Octagoncito (born April 24, 1974) is a Mexican '' Luchador'' '' enmascarado'', or masked professional wrestler, who works in the ''Mini-Estrellas'' ("Mini-Stars") division on the Mexican Independent circuit. He is the first wrestler to work as Oc ...

and

Mascarita Sagrada :''At least three wrestlers have wrestled under the name "Mascarita Sagrada". This article is about the original.'' Mascarita Sagrada (Spanish for Little Sacred Mask, real name not known, born January 11, 1965) is a Mexican Mini Luchador enmasca ...

defeat Espectrito I, II, Fuercita Guerrera and

. A year later the Pérez Jiménez brothers lost to Máscarita Sagráda, Jr., Super Muñequito and Mini Frisbee at

Triplemanía IV-C Triplemanía IV-C was a major ''lucha libre'', or professional wrestling, show promoted by the Mexican-based AAA and was the third and final of three Triplemanía IV shows held in 1996. The event took place on July 15, 1996 at the Madero Conventi ...

. In 1997 AAA started a talent exchange program with the

(WWF) and as a part of that arrangement AAA sent a number of their Minis to work for the WWF. Since the WWF audience did not know any of the minis it was decided to repackage almost all AAA minis, Alejandro Pérez Jiménez was no exception as he was repackaged as "Mini Mankind", a miniature version of

who worked for the WWF as a heel (bad guy) at the time. Alejandro would often team with his older brother who worked as "Mini Vader", a mini version of Vader who teamed with Mankind at the time. Alejandro made his debut as Mini Mankind on January 18, 1997, teaming with Histeria to defeat Mascarita Sagrada, Jr. and

Venum Venum is a French manufacturer of apparel and equipment for various martial arts, combat sports, and fitness including mixed martial arts, boxing, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, Muay Thai and karate. Venum operates in several areas around the world includi ...

on an episode of WWF Shotgun Saturday Night. The repackaged minis also made an appearance on AAA's annual ''

Rey de Reyes The Rey de Reyes (English: "King of Kings") is an annual tournament held by Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (AAA) comparable to WWE’s King of the Ring tournament. For the first six tournaments the format consisted of four-way elimination matches with ...

'' show where Mini Mankind, Mini Vader and Mini Goldust defeated

Mini Nova :''At least three wrestlers have wrestled under the name "Mascarita Sagrada". This article is about the original.'' Mascarita Sagrada (Spanish for Little Sacred Mask, real name not known, born January 11, 1965) is a Mexican Mini Luchador enmascar ...

, Super Muñequito and La Parkita (a new wrestler had taken over the gimmick by then). Four months later, at Triplemanía V-A, Mini Mankind, Mini Goldust and Pentagoncito lost to La Parkita (II) and

. By the fall of 1997 all of the AAA minis had been repackaged once more, replacing the miniature versions of regular-sized wrestlers with unique characters. Alejandro Pérez Jiménez was repackaged as "Tarantula". Alejandro, as Tarantula, made a Pay-Per-View appearance for the WWF, teaming with

Battalion A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of 300 to 1,200 soldiers commanded by a lieutenant colonel, and subdivided into a number of companies (usually each commanded by a major or a captain). In some countries, battalions a ...

and El Torrito (his brother Mario under a new name) losing their match against the team of Mini Nova, Max Mini and

Mosaic A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...

at the 1998

Royal Rumble The Royal Rumble is a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming List of WWE pay-per-view and WWE Network events, event, produced annually since 1988 by WWE, the world's largest professional wrestling promotion. It is named afte ...

. By March 1998 the working agreement between AAA and the WWF ended with all the minis returning to Mexico. Not long after the agreement ended Alejandro Pérez Jiménez and Mario Mejía Jiménez left AAA, opting to work on the Mexican independent circuit under their "Espectrito" personas. While Alejandro Pérez Jiménez worked as "Mini Mankind" in 1997 and 1998, he did not play the role when the ring persona was brought back during a 2008

World Wrestling Entertainment World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and va ...

show. The role was played by an unidentified American midget wrestler.

Death

Alejandro Pérez Jiménez, along with his twin brother Alberto, were found murdered on June 29, 2009. It was reported that the two brothers checked into a hotel after a Sunday night show. Allegedly two female prostitutes approached the wrestlers, and were invited back to their hotel room. There the two women spiked the men's drinks with what was believed to be eye drops mixed in with alcohol. When the two brothers passed out, the two women, allegedly part of a group named ''La Filtracion'', robbed them of their wallets and cell phones. The Jiménez twins died from the drugs added to their drinks. Usually this procedure does not kill the victims of the ''La Filtracion'' women, but the size of the victims played a part in their death. On July 22, 2009, it was reported that the Mexican police arrested one of the two women suspected in the death of the Jiménez twins. Police traced the whereabouts of the woman by tracking one of the Jiménez' twins cell phone which she used. The woman admitted to going to the hotel room with the Pérez Jiménez twins but denied being involved in their death. On August 12, 2009, Mexican police arrested the second suspect, tracking her down in

Hidalgo Hidalgo may refer to: People * Hidalgo (nobility), members of the Spanish nobility * Hidalgo (surname) Places Mexico * Hidalgo (state), in central Mexico * Hidalgo, Coahuila, a town in the north Mexican state of Coahuila * Hidalgo, Nuevo Le� ...

and arrested her. The second suspect admitted to being at the crime scene but maintained that it was her accomplice that administered the drugs that killed Alejandro and Alberto Pérez Jiménez. The two women were later found guilty and, on July 12, 2010, sentenced to 47 years in prison. The story of the Jiménez twins' murder was the subject of an episode of ''Tabloid with

Jerry Springer Gerald Norman Springer (born February 13, 1944) is a British-American broadcaster, journalist, actor, producer, former lawyer, and politician. He hosted the tabloid talk show '' Jerry Springer'' between September 30, 1991 and July 26, 2018, an ...

'' that shows a dramatized version of the events including an interview with their mother Maria Elena Jiménez and brother Juan Jiménez. The episode revealed that Alberto was starting to become involved with local politics, but did not reveal any actual links between their death and Alberto's political aspirations.

''Luchas de Apuestas'' record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Espectrito Ii 1975 births 2009 deaths 20th-century professional wrestlers Alcohol-related deaths in Mexico Deaths by poisoning Male murder victims Mexican expatriate sportspeople in the United States Mexican male professional wrestlers Mexican murder victims Midget professional wrestlers Mini-Estrella wrestlers Professional wrestlers from Tlaxcala Mexican twins Twin sportspeople Drug-related deaths in Mexico

Professional wrestling career

Death

''Luchas de Apuestas'' record

See also

References