Juan Baños (December 18, 1950 – December 16, 2015) 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 ...

enmascarado'', or masked

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 o ...

better known by 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 project ...

Lizmark. The name was taken from the German battleship Bismarck. He was a multiple-time champion, having held singles and

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 ...

championships in both Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre / Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (EMLL/CMLL) and

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). In 2001, Lizmark was inducted into the

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 ...

. His nickname was ''El Geniecillo Azul'', which is Spanish for "The Little Blue Genius". He has two sons who are also professional wrestlers,

Lizmark, Jr. Juan Carlos Baños (born October 16, 1972) is a Mexican professional wrestler or "Luchador" known as Lizmark Jr. or El Hijo de Lizmark (The Son of Lizmark). Baños previously worked for Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre and AAA. Lizmark Jr. works as ...

and El Hijo de Lizmark.

Professional wrestling career

Baños grew up in Acapulco, and started a career in hotel management. He was also into bodybuilding, winning the 1971 Mr. Acapulco and 1972 Mr. Guerrero competitions. He was trained to be a boxer by his uncle, and made his professional wrestling debut on March 14, 1976. He chose to wear a mask to hide his wrestling identity from his clients and co-workers at the Hilton Hotel. His ring name of "Lizmark" was inspired by the

German battleship Bismarck ''Bismarck'' was the first of two s built for Nazi Germany's . Named after Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, the ship was laid down at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in Hamburg in July 1936 and launched in February 1939. Work was completed in August 19 ...

he had been fascinated with since childhood. Lizmark quickly became one of the innovators in ''lucha libre'', incorporating flashy, high flying moves into the matches, a style that is common today but in the 1970s was new and exciting.

Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre (1978–1992)

After working mainly around Acapulco for a couple of years he was signed to a full-time contract by Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre (EMLL) in 1978. On April 18, 1978 Lizmark defeated Américo Rocca to win the

Mexican National Welterweight Championship The Mexican National Welterweight Championship (''Campeonato Nacional Peso Welter'' in Spanish) is a Mexican professional wrestling championship created and sanctioned by Comisión de Box y Lucha Libre Mexico D.F. (the Mexico City Boxing and Wrest ...

. Over the following year Lizmark defended the title on several occasions, often in the most well received match of the night. His first title reign lasted 346 days, ending on March 29, 1980 when Rocca regained the title, but it was an indicator of things to come for Lizmark. In June 1980 Lizmark won the highest ranking Welterweight title in Mexico, the NWA World Welterweight Championship when he defeated El Supremo for the title. His run with the title lasted 506 days until he was defeated by La Fiera. Lizmark's next title win came at the expense of a wrestler who would become one of Lizmark's most frequent opponents and a man with whom he's had a series of great matches,

El Satánico Daniel López López (born October 26, 1949) is a Mexican '' luchador'' (professional wrestler) and trainer, best known under the ring name El Satánico (Spanish for "The Satanic One"). He was originally an ''enmascarado'' (masked wrestler), but ...

. Lizmark defeated Satánico to win the

Mexican National Middleweight Championship The Mexican National Middleweight Championship ''()'' is a professional wrestling championship controlled by the ' (Mexico City Boxing and Wrestling Commission). The official weight definition of the middleweight division in Mexico is from . The ...

on February 10, 1982. In 1983 he lost the title to, and then regained the title from Espectro, Jr. Over the next couple of years Lizmark would win the

NWA World Middleweight Championship The NWA World Middleweight Championship was a professional wrestling championship in the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) between 1939 and 2010. For most of its existence, it was defended in the Mexican ''lucha libre'' promotion Consejo Mundial d ...

and the NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship to become only the second man in history to win the NWA title in all three weight divisions promoted by EMLL, the first being

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 ...

. Lizmark ended up holding the World Light Heavyweight title four times in total, losing it for the fourth and final time to Satánico on April 5, 1992. Lizmark defeated El Cobarde II to win the

WWA World Light Heavyweight Championship The WWA Light Heavyweight Championship (''Campeonato Mundial peso Semi Completo de WWA'' in Spanish) is a singles professional wrestling championship promoted by World Wrestling Association (WWA) in Mexico since 1987. The official definition of th ...

in 1988 and held it for an undetermined amount of time. On July 1, 1991 Lizmark's son made his professional wrestling debut under the name

wearing a modified version of his father's mask and outfit.

Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (1992–1995)

When EMLL booker

Antonio Peña Antonio Hipolito Peña Herrada (June 13, 1951 – October 5, 2006) was the founder of the Mexican professional wrestling promotion Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA) in 1992. Peña's promotion reached its height of popularity in the ea ...

left EMLL to create his own promotion,

(AAA), in mid-1992 Lizmark was one of the many wrestlers that were loyal to Peña and left to join AAA. In AAA he defeated Universo 2000 to become the first AAA based Mexican National Light Heavyweight Champion after Universo 2000 had brought the title with him when he jumped to AAA. In 1993 Lizmark began a long running feud with one of Antonio Peña's latest creations,

La Parka Adolfo Margarito Tapia Ibarra (November 14, 1965) is a Mexican '' luchador enmascarado'' ( masked professional wrestler), who currently performs as L. A. Park for Major League Wrestling in the United States, where he is a former MLW World Tag ...

, a ''

Rudo Rudo ( sr-cyrl, Рудо) is a town and municipality located in Republika Srpska, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. As of 2013, it has a population of 7,963 inhabitants, while the town of Rudo has a population of 1,949 inhabitants. It is f ...

'' character (villain) who wore a full-body suit that looks like a skeleton. The feud with Lizmark helped elevate La Parka up the ranks and through their matches and La Parka's charisma helped establish him as one of the first stars created in AAA. Their feud was one of the featured matches at the very first '' Triplemanía'' where Lizmark defended the Mexican title against La Parka in a match that originally saw La Parka cheat to win the third fall, only to have it overturned by the wrestling commission. The fourth fall between the two went to a draw that allowed Lizmark to retain his championship. Further fuel was added to the storyline between the two when Lizmark defeated La Parka to win the WWA World Light Heavyweight Championship on October 23, 1993. At

Triplemanía II-A Triplemanía II-A was a major ''lucha libre'', or professional wrestling event Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA) that took place at the Aguascalientes baseball stadium on April 26, 1994. The show was the first of three Triplemanía II ...

Lizmark teamed with his son, Lizmark, Jr. and Tinieblas Jr., losing to his old EMLL rival Satánico who teamed up with Espectro and

Psicosis Dionicio Castellanos Torres (born May 19, 1971) is a Mexican professional wrestler, better known by the ring names Psicosis (sometimes Anglicised as Psychosis) and Nicho el Millonario. He is best known for his appearances with the promotions Luc ...

for the night. The Lizmark / La Parka feud was one of the driving forces behind an Eight-man "Atómicos" tag team match that saw Lizmark, Perro Aguayo,

El Hijo del Santo Jorge Ernesto Guzmán Rodríguez (born August 2, 1963) is a Mexican '' luchador enmascarado'', or masked professional wrestler and political activist, best known under the ring name, El Hijo del Santo ("The Son of the Saint"). Guzmán is the you ...

, and Máscara Sagráda defeat La Parka, Psicosis,

Black Cat A black cat is a domestic cat with black fur that may be a mixed or specific breed, or a common domestic cat of no particular breed. The Cat Fanciers' Association (CFA) recognizes 22 cat breeds that can come with solid black coats. The Bombay b ...

and Satánico. On June 20, 1994 La Parka regained the WWA Light Heavyweight title from Lizmark when he pinned him on a show in

Monterrey Monterrey ( , ) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern state of Nuevo León, Mexico, and the third largest city in Mexico behind Guadalajara and Mexico City. Located at the foothills of the Sierra Madre Oriental, the city is ancho ...

Nuevo León Nuevo León () is a state in the northeast region of Mexico. The state was named after the New Kingdom of León, an administrative territory from the Viceroyalty of New Spain, itself was named after the historic Spanish Kingdom of León. Wit ...

. Three months later La Parka won the Mexican National Light Heavyweight title from Lizmark on September 9, 1994 which marked the end of the storyline between the two.

Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (1995–2007)

In 1995 Lizmark left AAA and returned to EMLL, which by now was best known as

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), starting off with a series of matches against Satánico, the natural foil to Lizmark. On September 18, 1996 Lizmark teamed up with

Atlantis Atlantis ( grc, Ἀτλαντὶς νῆσος, , island of Atlas) is a fictional island mentioned in an allegory on the hubris of nations in Plato's works '' Timaeus'' and '' Critias'', wherein it represents the antagonist naval power that b ...

to form a team called ''La Ola Azul'' ("The Blue Wave") to defeat Gran Markus, Jr. and

El Hijo del Gladiador Arturo Beristain (born September 5, 1949) is a retired Mexican professional wrestler, or ''Luchador'' in Spanish, who works as a wrestling trainer at the Mexican professional wrestling promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre's (CMLL) gym in Mex ...

, known as ''La Ola Blanca'' ("The White Wave") to win the

CMLL World Tag Team Championship The CMLL World Tag Team Championship (''CMLL Campeonato Mundial de Parejas'' in Spanish) is a professional wrestling World Tag Team Championship promoted by Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL; Spanish for "World Wrestling Council") in Mexico ...

. The team only held the title for 12 days before the title was vacated following an inconclusive match against The Headhunters. On April 29, 1997 Lizmark, Atlantis and Mr. Niebla defeated

Rey Bucanero Arturo García Ortiz (born July 19, 1974) is a Mexican '' luchador'' or professional wrestler best known under the ring name Rey Bucanero. Ortiz, as Rey Bucanero, has worked for Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) since 1996. His ring name is ...

, Emilio Charles, Jr. and Satánico to win 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 ...

. The trio held the championship for 519 days until they were forced to vacate the belts due to Mr. Niebla suffering a serious injury. In January 1999 Lizmark had chest pains that lead to heart problems, although he denied the heart attack rumors, which kept him out of the ring for a while. He was even told that he'd never wrestle again, but he returned to the ring after six months. It was clear though that he was not able to perform at the same level as previously. Following his heart problems Lizmark maintained a much lighter schedule, wrestling only select dates. In 2001, Lizmark was inducted into the

. In 2003 Lizmark returned to AAA to participate in Triplemanía XI where he teamed with the new version of his longtime rival

as well as

Octagón Juan Escalera (born March 27, 1961) is a Mexican luchador enmascarado (masked professional wrestler) better known as Octagón. He is best known for working for Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA), having worked for the company since it ...

and

Super Caló Rafael García (born February 22, 1971) is a Mexican professional wrestler, better known under his ring name Super Caló. García is a long-time mainstay of AAA, but is perhaps best known outside Mexico for his stint in World Championship Wrest ...

to defeat

Abismo Negro Andrés Alejandro Palomeque González (July 1, 1971 – March 22, 2009) was a Mexican luchador (Spanish for "masked professional wrestler"). He is best known for appearing under the stage name Abismo Negro, which is Spanish for "Black Abyss", ...

, Cibernético and the Headhunters. He subsequently worked for CMLL between 2004 and 2008.

Independent circuit

In 2008 Lizmark left CMLL and began working select dates on the Mexican Independent circuit. During this time he introduced a second son, ''El Hijo de Lizmark'' to the wrestling world and announced that he was planning on retiring soon.

Death

Baños died due to

respiratory failure Respiratory failure results from inadequate gas exchange by the respiratory system, meaning that the arterial oxygen, carbon dioxide, or both cannot be kept at normal levels. A drop in the oxygen carried in the blood is known as hypoxemia; a rise ...

on December 16, 2015, at the age of 64 just two days before his 65th birthday.

Championships and accomplishments

All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW/AJP) or simply All Japan is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion established on October 21, 1972 when Giant Baba split away from the Japanese Wrestling Association and created his own promotion. Many wrestlers had left with Baba ...

**January 3 Korakuen Hall Junior Heavyweight Battle Royal (1984) *

Mexican National Light Heavyweight Championship The Mexican National Light Heavyweight Championship (''Campeonato Nacional Semicompleto'' in Spanish) is a national Mexican singles professional wrestling championship sanctioned by the ''Comisión de Box y Lucha Libre Mexico D.F.'' (''Mexico Cit ...

( 1 time) * Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre / Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre **

( 1 time) – with

( 1 time) – with Atlantis and Mr. Niebla **

( 2 times) **

( 1 time) ** NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship (

4 times "4 Times" (stylized as "4 TIMES") is the 50th single by pop/ R&B singer Koda Kumi. It was released on August 17, 2011 and debuted at No. 6, remaining on the Oricon charts for nine consecutive weeks. In commemoration of it being the fiftieth singl ...

) **

( 1 time) ** NWA World Welterweight Championship ( 1 time) *''

Pro Wrestling Illustrated ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' (''PWI'') is an American internationally sold professional wrestling magazine that was founded in 1979 by publisher Stanley Weston. ''PWI'' is headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, and published by Kappa Publi ...

'' **PWI ranked him #183 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the

PWI 500 ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' (''PWI'') is an American internationally sold professional wrestling magazine that was founded in 1979 by publisher Stanley Weston. ''PWI'' is headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, and published by Kappa Publi ...

in 1995 **PWI ranked him #175 of the 500 best singles wrestlers during the PWI Years in 2003 *

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 ...

( 3 times) *''

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 W ...

'' **

( Class of 2001)

''Luchas de Apuestas'' record

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lizmark 1950 births 2015 deaths Masked wrestlers Mexican male professional wrestlers People from Acapulco Professional wrestlers from Guerrero Professional wrestlers from Oaxaca 20th-century professional wrestlers 21st-century professional wrestlers Mexican National Middleweight Champions CMLL World Tag Team Champions CMLL World Trios Champions Mexican National Welterweight Champions NWA World Middleweight Champions NWA World Welterweight Champions Mexican National Light Heavyweight Champions