Marcelo Andreani (February 18, 1910 – September 24, 1982) was a Mexican

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 ...

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 ...

"Roughouse" Jack O'Brien and worked mainly in Mexico for

Empresa Mexicana 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 ...

(EMLL) where he held the

Mexican National Lightweight Championship The Mexican National Lightweight Championship (''Campeonato Nacional de Peso Ligero'' in Spanish) is a Mexican professional wrestling singles championship created and sanctioned by ''Comisión de Box y Lucha Libre Mexico D.F.'' ("the Mexico City B ...

Mexican National Welterweight Championship The Mexican National Welterweight Championship (''Campeonato Nacional Peso Welter'' in Spanish language, Spanish) is a Lucha libre, Mexican professional wrestling championship (professional wrestling), championship created and sanctioned by Comisi ...

and

NWA World Welterweight Championship The NWA World Welterweight Championship ( es, Campeonato Mundial Welter de NWA) is an inactive professional wrestling championship governed by the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) and most recently promoted by NWA Mexico. The championship was ori ...

twice during his career that spanned from 1934 until 1956. O'Brien is credited with inventing the Abdominal Stretch, or ''Tirabuzón'' (

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, Cana ...

for "Corkscrew").

Early life

Marcelo Andreani was born on February 18, 1910, in Fossola,

Carrara Carrara ( , ; , ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, in central Italy, of the province of Massa and Carrara, and notable for the white or blue-grey marble quarried there. It is on the Carrione River, some Boxing the compass, west-northwest o ...

, Italy. Andreani moved to Mexico with his family to study dental surgery and played baseball in his free time. Andreani was also a talented

pole vault Pole vaulting, also known as pole jumping, is a track and field event in which an athlete uses a long and flexible pole, usually made from fiberglass or carbon fiber, as an aid to jump over a bar. Pole jumping competitions were known to the Myc ...

er and swimmer. In college, Andreani played

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

for

Pumas CU Pumas CU UNAM, also known as "Pumas Dorados", "Pumas", or "Universidad" is the varsity American football team representing the National Autonomous University of Mexico (Spanish: ''Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico'', or ''UNAM''). It is on ...

. A

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

and

safety Safety is the state of being "safe", the condition of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to risk management, the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings There are ...

, he was inducted into the Mexican Hall of Fame of American Football.

Professional wrestling career

By 1934 Andreani had obtained Mexican citizenship and made his professional wrestling debut in 1934, taking the ring name "Jack O'Brien". O'Brien's athletic background and charisma quickly made him a very popular and successful wrestler, so successful that he became the first ever Mexican National Lightweight Champion by defeating Dientes Hernández in the final of a tournament. O'Brien used a move called ''Tirabuzón'', the Mexican version of the "Abdominal Stretch" which O'Brien is credited with introducing to ''

Lucha libre 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 ...

''. O'Brien held the Lightweight title from 1934 until June 28, 1937, when Dientes Hernández defeated him to win the championship. The following May O'Brian regained the Lightweight title and held it for two years before Bobby Bonales defeated him for the championship on May 5, 1940. After losing the lightweight championship O'Brien moved into the Welterweight division, probably the most prestigious weight class in Mexico at the time. On November 23, 1941, Jack O'Brien defeated Lobo Negro to win the

. O'Brien held the title for just over four months before losing it to Ciclón Veloz. After the loss of the Welterweight title O'Brien began a long running, very successful storyline feud with

El Santo Rodolfo Guzmán Huerta (23 September 1917 – 5 February 1984), known professionally as El Santo or in English The Saint, was a Mexican luchador enmascarado (Spanish for "masked professional wrestler"), actor and folk hero. He is one of the mo ...

and

Gory Guerrero Salvador Guerrero Quesada (January 11, 1921 – April 18, 1990), better known as Gory Guerrero, was one of the premier Mexican American professional wrestlers in the early days of Lucha Libre when most wrestlers were imported from outside Mexico ...

, the team known as ''La Pareja Atómica'' ("The Atomic Pair"). On February 18, 1944, O'Brien defeated El Santo to win the

, a rare loss for El Santo at the time. El Santo gained a measure of revenge that same year when he defeated O'Brien in a '' Luchas de Apuesta'', hair vs. mask match on April 8, forcing O'Brien to have his head shaved bald per Lucha Libre traditions. On April 20, 1945, Santo's partner Guerrero defeated O'Brien to win the Mexican Welterweight Championship. O'Brien participated in the tournament to crown the first ever

World Welterweight Championship In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

(a title that was later renamed the "NWA World Welterweight Championship" when EMLL joined the

National Wrestling Alliance The National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) is an American professional wrestling professional wrestling promotion, promotion and former professional wrestling governing body operated by its parent company Lightning One, Inc. Founded in 1948, the NWA ...

). O'Brien lost to El Santo in the final, but managed to win the title from El Santo on February 14, 1947. O'Brien held the World Welterweight title for over two years until losing it to Gory Guerrero on April 29, 1949. After losing the Welterweight title O'Brien began teaming with

Rito Romero Rito Romero Loza (May 19, 1927 - January 18, 2001) was a successful luchador who wrestled in Mexico and in the NWA territories of Texas and Los Angeles. He appeared in several films in his native country along with a number of other luchadors. H ...

, forming a team called ''La Pareja Perfecta'' ("The perfect team") by the fans and promoters alike for their smooth teamwork and timing. O'Brien also began wrestling in Texas around the same time, working for various Texas promotions under the name "Roughhouse" Jack O'Brien. In 1952 O'Brien appeared in his first

Lucha film Luchador films (or ''Lucha Libre films'') are Mexican professional wrestling/action/science-fiction/ horror films starring some of the most popular masked luchadores in Lucha Libre. The luchadores are portrayed as superheroes engaging in battle ...

as he both acted and wrestled in the movie ''Huracán Ramírez'', he was also one of the men that found Daniel Garzia to fill the role of the title star. He also appeared in two more movies ''El Enmascarado de Plata'' and ''La Bestia Maginfica''. Along with acting O'Brian also tried his hand at promoting wrestling events in 1952, funded by the Televicentro network O'Brien and promoters Jesús Garza and Elías Krui were the first promoters to oppose

Salvador Lutteroth Salvador Lutteroth González (21 March 1897 – 5 September 1987) was a Mexican professional wrestling promoter of the mid-twentieth century. Lutteroth's organization, Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre (EMLL), was the dominant Mexican wrestling pr ...

's EMLL wrestling empire in Mexico. When funding for the promotion ran out O'Brien made peace with the Lutteroth family, retired from active wrestling and started working as a local promoter for EMLL in

Acapulco Acapulco de Juárez (), commonly called Acapulco ( , also , nah, Acapolco), is a city and major seaport in the state of Guerrero on the Pacific Coast of Mexico, south of Mexico City. Acapulco is located on a deep, semicircular bay and has bee ...

Guerrero Guerrero is one of the 32 states that comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 81 municipalities and its capital city is Chilpancingo and its largest city is Acapulcocopied from article, GuerreroAs of 2020, Guerrero the pop ...

and Mexico City. He later retired from promotion when he was offered a government job in

Cuernavaca Cuernavaca (; nci-IPA, Cuauhnāhuac, kʷawˈnaːwak "near the woods", ) is the capital and largest city of the state of Morelos in Mexico. The city is located around a 90-minute drive south of Mexico City using the Federal Highway 95D. The na ...

Morelos Morelos (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Morelos ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Morelos), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 36 municipalities and its capital city is Cuer ...

by the newly elected governor, who was a college friend. O'Brien briefly returned to wrestling in the mid-1960s working as the '' enmascarado'' (masked) character "Doctor O'Brian", teaming with Doctor O'Borman. After his brief foray into wrestling he became the official doctor of the

Ciudad Juarez Ciudad () is the Spanish word for City Ciudad may also refer to: * La Ciudad (archaeological site), Hohokam ruins in Phoenix, Arizona *La Ciudad, district of Durango City, Mexico *''La ciudad'', novel by Mario Levrero 1970 *La Ciudad ''The City ...

, Chihuahua wrestling commission. O'Brien died on September 14, 1982.

Championships and accomplishments

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2 times "2 Times" is a song co-written and recorded by British Italian-based singer Ann Lee. It was released in 1999 as the lead single from her debut album, ''Dreams'' (1999). The single entered and peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart. Outside ...

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NWA World Tag Team Championship The NWA World Tag Team Championship is a professional wrestling world tag team championship created by the National Wrestling Alliance. From 1948 to 1982, the NWA allowed member promotions to create their own territorial version of the "NWA World ...

''( Georgia version)'' (1 time) – with Pierre LaSalle

''Luchas de Apuestas'' record

References

External links

Jack O'Brien
at wrestlingdata.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Obrien, Jack 1910 births 1982 deaths American emigrants to Mexico American people of Italian descent American male professional wrestlers Mexican male professional wrestlers Mexican people of Italian descent Naturalized citizens of Mexico Sportspeople from Houston 20th-century American male actors 20th-century professional wrestlers Mexican National Welterweight Champions NWA World Welterweight Champions Pumas CU players