Tzuki (sometimes spelled Tsuki or Tzuky) is 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 or ...

, who works as a ''

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 prac ...

'' or "Mini" division in Mexico. Throughout his career Tzuki has worked under various

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 ...

s, most notably Máscarita Sagrada Jr., Mini Rey Misterio Jr. and Max Mini. Tzuki has worked for (AAA), 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 vario ...

(WWF) and a variety of special appearances for

independent promotions In professional wrestling, the independent circuit or indie circuit is the collective name of independent professional wrestling promotions which are smaller than major televised promotions. It is roughly analogous to a minor league for pro wres ...

all over Mexico, the United States, Europe and Japan and currently works 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). Tsuky's real name is not a matter of public record, as is often the case with masked wrestlers in Mexico where their private lives are kept a secret from the wrestling fans. While not all ''Mini-Estrellas'' in Mexico have

dwarfism Dwarfism is a condition wherein an organism is exceptionally small, and mostly occurs in the animal kingdom. In humans, it is sometimes defined as an adult height of less than , regardless of sex; the average adult height among people with dw ...

, Tzuki is one of the ''Mini-Estrellas'' that actually is a dwarf.

Professional wrestling career

The wrestler who would later be known as Tzuki trained under Furia Guerrera and El Gallo, both average sized wrestlers, preparing him for a professional wrestling career. He made his professional wrestling debut in 1995, working initially under the

"Baby Rabbit", wearing a full body rabbit suit while wrestling.

Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (1996–1997)

In 1995 he began working for

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), initially as Baby Rabit but in 1996 he was given the name ''Máscarita Sagrada Jr.'', a ''mascota'' version of the ''Luchador'' Máscara Sagrada Jr. The name caused some tension with both

Máscara Sagrada Máscara Sagrada (born November 6, 1959) is a Mexican ''Luchador enmascarado'' (or masked professional wrestler) who has worked for every major Mexican wrestling promotion over the last 20 years. His ring name is Spanish for "Sacred Mask" and is ...

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-Estrella, Mini Luc ...

as they felt the "Junior" was exploiting a character they made popular. On July 15, 1996, Mascarita Sagrada Jr. teamed with Mini Frisbee and Super Munequito to defeat

Espectrito I 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" ...

Espectrito II Alejandro Pérez Jiménez (May 15, 1975 – June 29, 2009) was a Mexican ''Mini-Estrella Luchador'', or midget professional wrestler who worked mainly under the name Espectro II. Alejandro's twin brother, Alberto, was also a midget professional wre ...

and

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 ...

(II) 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 ...

. On September 15, 1996, Máscarita Sagrada Jr. defeated Espectrito I to win the

Mexican National Mini-Estrella Championship The Mexican National Mini-Estrella Championship (''Campeonato Nacional Mini-Estrella'' in Spanish), also referred to as the Mexican National Minis Championship, is an inactive professional wrestling championship sanctioned by ''Comisión de Box y ...

, winning AAA's top Minis title at the time.

Max Mini (1997–1999)

In 1997, Mascarita Sagrada Jr. signed with the

(WWF) as part of their working relationship that saw several AAA wrestlers work for them. Sagrada was repackaged as "Max Mini" since Mascara Sagrada did not appear on WWF shows. The same was true for Mascarita Sagrada, who was repackaged as "Mini Nova" and Octagóncito that was repackaged as "Mosaic". Sagrada wrestled on ''RAW'', March 17, 1997, in a minis tag team, teaming with mini Goldust versus Mini Mankind and Mini Vader. Max Mini made his in-ring debut at Ground Zero: In Your House where he faced

El Torito El Torito (Spanish for "the little bull") is an American chain that serves Mexican food. El Torito operates 69 restaurants primarily in California.Badd Blood: In Your House where he and Mini Nova faced Tarantula and Mosaic. The match was not originally scheduled for the pay-per-view, but the originally scheduled match was cancelled as

Brian Pillman Brian William Pillman (May 22, 1962 – October 5, 1997) was an American professional wrestler and professional football player best known for his appearances in Stampede Wrestling in the 1980s and World Championship Wrestling (WCW), Extreme Ch ...

was found dead earlier that day. Nova and Mini won. On November 11, 1997 the minis made an appearance on ''

WWF Raw WWF may refer to: Non-profit organizations *World Wide Fund for Nature or World Wildlife Fund, a nature conservation group *World Water Forum, an international forum for water issues *Working Women's Forum, a training, trade and credit union in In ...

'' where Max Mini, Nova and Taurus fought Battalion, Tarantula and El Torito. The match was interrupted when Kane came to the ring and scared off the minis. Max Mini made one further PPV appearance at the 1998

Royal Rumble The Royal Rumble is a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event, produced annually since 1988 by WWE, the world's largest professional wrestling promotion. It is named after the Royal Rumble match, a modified battle roya ...

where Max Mini, Nova and Mosaic defeated El Torito, Tarantula and Battalion. The Minis did not appear on WWF television until the federation created their ''

WWF Super Astros The following is a list of all WWE television programs. It also includes programming produced under the Capitol Wrestling Corporation (CWC), World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF), World Wrestling Federation (WWF), and World Wrestling Entertainmen ...

'' show, targeting the Latin American demographics. At first the storyline between Nova & Max Mini and El Torito & Battalion, but then the story turned towards tension building between Nova and Max Mini. They faced off in a singles match to settle their differences in the ring, but Mini Nova cheated to win the match. Subsequently Mini Nova teamed with Battalion to face Max Mini and El Torrito. Then finally on May 30, 1999 Nova faced Max Mini in a

Lucha 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 fight") where both men put their masks on the line. Max Mini won and unmasked Mini Nova. Max Mini only made a few other appearances before leaving the WWF.

Leaving AAA

In 1997 then-reigning champion Mascarita Sagrada Jr. left AAA to work for ''

Promo Azteca ''Promo Azteca'' (AZTECA, originally known as ''Promotora Mexicana de Lucha Libre'', PROMELL) was a professional wrestling promotion that was founded in Tijuana, Mexico, by Fuerza Guerrera in 1995. It was taken over by Konnan and Jorge Rojas the ...

'' full-time as the two promotions stopped working together. As a result of this he was forced the vacate the Mexican National Mini-Estrella Championship and drop the Máscarita Sagrada Jr. gimmick. Instead, he began working as Mini Rey Misterio Jr., a ''mascota'' version of

Rey Misterio Jr. Óscar Gutiérrez (born December 11, 1974), better known by his ring name Rey Mysterio, is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand. Widely regarded as one of the greatest profe ...

who was also working for ''Promo Azteca'' at the time. Since he had signed a contract directly with the WWF, he was able to continue working as Max Mini and facing AAA Minis despite having left AAA. He wrestled as Mini Rey until early 1999, where he changed his ring character Venezia, wrestling in a furry full-body suit for Torymon. The Venezia gimmick did not last long, although he did return to the Venezia gimmick on May 13, 2006, for

Último Dragón (born December 12, 1966) is a Japanese professional wrestler and actor, better known as . In addition to having trained in Japan, Asai learned to wrestle in the lucha libre style while working in Mexico. He is credited with popularizing the "Asa ...

's first DragonMania show at ''Arena Mexico''.

Tzuki (1999–present)

In March 1999, he changed gimmicks to ''Tzuki'', an ''enmascarado'' character with lightning bolts on his mask and suit. As Tzuki he worked for various Mexican

as well as several United States based wrestling promotions, including regular appearances for the California-based '' Lucha VaVOOM''. In 2005 Tzuki began working for

(CMLL), bolstering their ''Mini-Estrellas'' division. He also began working for

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 vario ...

(WWE; Formerly the WWF) in their Junior division. The Junior division was created in October 2005 and was exclusive to the WWE's

SmackDown ''WWE SmackDown'', also known as ''Friday Night SmackDown'' or simply ''SmackDown'', is an American professional wrestling television program produced by WWE that as of currently airs live every Friday at 8 p.m. ET on Fox. Fox Deportes simulc ...

brand. Tzuki only made one wrestling appearance on the actual ''SmackDown'' show, a tag team match where he teamed with Mascarita Sagrada to take on

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 Oct ...

and

Pequeño Violencia Pequeño Violencia (real name unrevealed; born July 18, 1968) is a Mexican ''Luchador'' who has worked in the Mexican '' Mini-Estrella'' division since his debut in 1990. As Pequeño Violencia he wrestles as a smaller version of professional wrest ...

. The match ended in a no contest after interference from

Finlay Finlay is a masculine given name, and also a surname. The given name is represented in Scottish Gaelic as Fionnlagh. Given name Finlay *Finlay Mickel, Scottish skier *Finlay Currie (1878–1968), Scottish actor *Finlay Calder, Scottish rugby play ...

using the mini stars to make a point. On February 21, 2006, Tzuki lost to Mascarita Sagrada in a singles match taped for ''

WWE Velocity ''WWE Velocity'' was an American professional wrestling television program that was produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and ran from May 25, 2002 to June 11, 2006. It replaced two syndicated WWE shows, ''Jakked'' and ''Metal''. Once ...

''. By March 2006 the WWE gave up on the Juniors division and released all the mini wrestlers including Tzuki. Following his release by WWE he worked primarily for CMLL, although he did briefly work for Nu-Wrestling Evolution, participating in a tour from June 12 to 15, 2008, where he worked as "Mini Dragon". The NWE has featured the character Mini Dragon since then but it was a different wrestler under the mask. Tzuki was one of 13 Minis that risked their mask in a

Steel Cage Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...

''Luchas de Apuestas'' match in the main event of CMLL's

La Hora Cero ''La Hora Cero'' (Spanish for "Zero Hour") was a professional wrestling major show event produced by Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), which took place on January 11, 2009 in Arena Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico. Six matches took place at La Ho ...

pay-per-view Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast service that enables a viewer to pay to watch individual events via private telecast. Events can be purchased through a multichannel television platform using their electronic program guid ...

on January 11, 2009. He escaped the cage, thus keeping his mask safe.

Toryumon and offshoots (2001–2006)

In 2000, Tzuki joined Japanese lucha libre promotion Toryumon. He debuted in its brand Toryumon 2000 Project under the

gimmick A gimmick is a novel device or idea designed primarily to attract attention or increase appeal, often with little intrinsic value. When applied to retail marketing, it is a unique or quirky feature designed to make a product or service "stand ou ...

of "Venezia", the pet

chimpanzee The chimpanzee (''Pan troglodytes''), also known as simply the chimp, is a species of great ape native to the forest and savannah of tropical Africa. It has four confirmed subspecies and a fifth proposed subspecies. When its close relative th ...

Masato Yoshino is a retired Japanese professional wrestler, best known for working in Dragon Gate, where he was known as ''Speed Star''. Dragon Gate's second Grand Slam champion, having been a record six-time Open the Brave Gate Champion, four-time Open the ...

, who sported a wild child gimmick himself. Under this character, Tzuki wore a full body monkey costume and accompanied Yoshino to the ring, occasionally helping him to win matches. He also competed in sporadic wrestling matches against

Stalker Ichikawa , better known by his stage name , is a Japanese professional wrestler who currently wrestles for Dragon Gate. Professional wrestling career A member of Último Dragón's Toryumon Dojo second class gifted with an extensive amateur wrestling b ...

. After Yoshino joined

Milano Collection AT , is a Japanese color commentator and retired professional wrestler, better known by his ring name . As Milano, Sawafuji adopted the gimmick of an Italian fashion aficionado/supermodel, reflected in his ring attire. Milano is also known for walkin ...

's Italian Connection, Venezia followed him as a non-official member. In December 2002, after Venezia defeated Ichikawa, a large man wearing a

gorilla Gorillas are herbivorous, predominantly ground-dwelling great apes that inhabit the tropical forests of equatorial Africa. The genus ''Gorilla'' is divided into two species: the eastern gorilla and the western gorilla, and either four or fi ...

costume came to the ring and brought a

mirror A mirror or looking glass is an object that Reflection (physics), reflects an image. Light that bounces off a mirror will show an image of whatever is in front of it, when focused through the lens of the eye or a camera. Mirrors reverse the ...

for Venezia to look at his own reflection. This enlightened Venezia of his animal nature and made him understand he belonged to the African jungle instead of Toryumon, so he allowed the gorilla to consolate him and accompany him out of the arena. It was thought to be his last appearance in the promotion, but the same night the gorilla was revealed to be a disguised

Don Fujii (born July 6, 1970), better known by his ring name Don Fujii, is a Japanese wrestler who currently works for Dragon Gate. He was one-half of the inaugural Open the Owarai Twin Gate Champions and is also a former two-time Open the Twin Gate Champ ...

, who had kidnapped Venezia in order to impede him from helping Italian Connection to win against Fujii's faction Crazy Max. After the incident, Venezia returned to Yoshino's side, being stated he had been found in the

Ueno Zoo The is a zoo, managed by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, and located in Taitō, Tokyo, Japan. It is Japan's oldest zoo, opened on March 20, 1882. It is served by Ueno Station, Keisei Ueno Station and Nezu Station, with convenient access fr ...

. In 2003, Italian Connection split up when its member Yassini attacked Venezia for failing to help in a match, as well as Yoshino, who had tried to help his pet. Venezia followed Yoshino as a single wrestler, but this ended when K-ness won Venezia's property in a match against Yoshino and Don Fujii. K-ness humorously mistreated Venezia and forced him to dance on the entrance of K-ness's superior Magnum Tokyo, among other humiliating acts. The same year, Tzuki was released from his contract by Toryumon. Tzuki returned as Venezia for Dragondoor, a promotion formed in 2005 by former Toryumon system wrestlers who had not joined Dragon Gate. He was now the mascot of

Taiji Ishimori is a Japanese professional wrestler currently signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he wrestles as part of the Bullet Club. He is the current IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion in his third reign, and is also a one-time NEVER Openweight 6 ...

's faction, which included Milanito Collection at,

Little Dragon Little Dragon are a Swedish electronic music band from Gothenburg, Sweden, formed in 1996. The band consists of Yukimi Nagano (vocals, percussion), Erik Bodin (drums), Fredrik Wallin (bass) and Håkan Wirenstrand (keyboards). Little Dragon's ...

and

Kota Ibushi is a Japanese professional wrestler and martial artist signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), but is currently inactive due to suffering a shoulder injury. In March 2021, he became the company's inaugural IWGP World Heavyweight Champion by ...

. He also relived his feud with Yassini, now named Yasshi, who introduced another monkey midget wrestler named Genova in order to oppose Venezia. Dragondoor lasted until 2006 before folding.

Championships and accomplishments

( 1 time)

''Lucha de Apuesta'' record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tzuki 1974 births 20th-century professional wrestlers 21st-century professional wrestlers Living people Masked wrestlers Mexican male professional wrestlers Midget professional wrestlers Mini-Estrella wrestlers People from Veracruz (city) Professional wrestlers from Veracruz Unidentified wrestlers Mexican National Mini-Estrella Champions