Ángel Acevedo (born January 27, 1941) is a Puerto Rican retired

professional wrestler Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to real-life wrest ...

known by his

ring name A ring name is a type of stage name or nickname 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 ...

The Cuban Assassin and for his appearances with

Atlantic Grand Prix Wrestling Grand Prix Wrestling (GPW) was a professional wrestling Promotion (marketing), promotion run and owned by Emile Duprée. It toured parts of New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia. It has no connection with Paul Vachon's Grand Prix Wr ...

World Wrestling Council The World Wrestling Council (WWC; Spanish: "Consejo Mundial de Lucha") is a professional wrestling promotion based in Puerto Rico. It was originally established as Capitol Sports Promotions in 1973 by Carlos Colón, Victor Jovica, and Goril ...

and

Stampede Wrestling Stampede Wrestling was a Canadian professional wrestling promotion based in Calgary, Alberta. For nearly 50 years, it was one of the main promotions in western Canada and the Canadian Prairies. Originally established by Stu Hart in 1948, the prom ...

. Ángel Acevedo is a permanent resident of Canada and resides in

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

. Acevedo's son, Richie Acevedo, was also a wrestler for many years but retired in 2009. Acevedo allowed

Fidel Sierra David Canal (born July 27, 1960) is a Cuban professional wrestler better known by his ring name "The Cuban Assassin (El Sanguinario Cubano)" Fidel Sierra. He is notable for being a longtime veteran of the Puerto Rico-based World Wrestling Counc ...

to use the Cuban Assassin name as well, as long as he did not use it in Japan, which has led to some mistakenly crediting Acevedo and Sierra with championships they did not win.

Early life

Ángel Acevedo was born on January 27, 1941, in

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

, son of a Puerto Rican mother and a Cuban father. The family moved to Cuba when Acevedo was seven months old. In school Acevedo competed in

Amateur wrestling Amateur wrestling is a variant of wrestling practiced at Olympic Games, Olympic, Collegiate wrestling, collegiate, Scholastic wrestling, scholastic, and other levels. There are two international wrestling styles performed at the Olympic Games, fr ...

and later on took up

boxing Boxing is a combat sport and martial art. Taking place in a boxing ring, it involves two people – usually wearing protective equipment, such as boxing glove, protective gloves, hand wraps, and mouthguards – throwing Punch (combat), punch ...

, even turning pro after graduating high school. He would later move to

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

and began training for a professional wrestling.

Professional wrestling career

Acevedo made his debut for

Eddie Graham Edward F. Gossett (January 15, 1930 – January 21, 1985), professionally known as Eddie Graham, and Rip Rogers was an American professional wrestler. He was also the promoter and booker for Championship Wrestling from Florida and President of ...

Championship Wrestling from Florida Championship Wrestling from Florida (CWF) was the corporate and brand name of the Tampa, Florida professional wrestling promotion, wrestling office existing from 1961, when Eddie Graham first bought into the promotion, until 1987, when it close ...

in 1973 where he created the ring persona "The Cuban Assassin", playing off his heritage as well as his resemblance to

Fidel Castro Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban politician and revolutionary who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and President of Cuba, president ...

due to his beard and hair. The following year Acevedo began working in Canada, initially in and around

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, working for

Stu Hart Stewart Edward Hart (May 3, 1915 – October 16, 2003) was a Canadian sport wrestling, amateur and professional wrestling, professional wrestler, wrestling Booker (professional wrestling), booker, professional wrestling promotion, promoter, and ...

. In Stampede he was given a partner, a masked man known as the "Cuban Assassin #2", with whom he won the Stampede Wrestling International Tag Team Championship in 1976. The duo won the championship from Ed and Jerry Morrow, Jerry Morrow would later go on to become a regular partner of Acevedo. The Cuban Assassins later lost the championship to

Leo Burke Léonce Cormier (June 29, 1948 – July 24, 2024) was a Canadian professional wrestler. He was born in Dorchester, New Brunswick. He competed across Canada, in several American promotions, and wrestled internationally for Puerto Rico's Worl ...

and Stu Hart's son Keith Hart. In 1977 Acevedo was trusted enough by Stu Hart to be the opponent of his son

Bret Hart Bret Sergeant Hart (born July 2, 1957) is a Canadian retired professional wrestler. A member of the Hart wrestling family and a second-generation wrestler, he has an amateur wrestling background at Ernest Manning High School and Mount Royal U ...

in Bret's debut match. Later on he began splitting his time in Canada between Stampede Wrestling and Emile Dupree's

(AGPW) that he often toured with over the summers. The Cuban Assassin and a masked wrestler known as "The Carpetbagger" ( Angelo Poffo) were the first recorded AGPW North American Tag Team Champions at some point in 1978. Later that same year Cuban Assassin teamed up with Norman Frederick Charles III to win the Stampede Wrestling International Tag Team Championship, defeating Jerry Morrow and George Wells, the run was short lived as Keith Hard and Huber Gallant won the titles before 1978 was over. Over the years the Cuban Assassin became a bit of a tag team specialist, winning the North American Tag Team titles with Goldie Rogers in 1976, then again with Bobby Bass in 1980. Later on Dupree decided to bill Acevedo as "Angel Castro", teaming him up with a wrestler billed as Raoul Castro to win the North American Tag Team titles. In late 1982 Acevedo returned to his native Puerto Rico, working for

(WWC), teaming up with Jerry Morrow as ''Los Mercenarios'' ("The Mercenaries"). On October 3, 1983, the due won the Puerto Rican version of the NWA North American Tag Team Championship in a tournament. Less than a month later the due defeated Gino de la Serra and Pierre Martel to win the

WWC World Tag Team Championship The WWC World Tag Team Championship is the tag team title contested for in the Puerto Rico, Puerto Rican professional wrestling promotion, the World Wrestling Council. History Abroad (2017) On February 11, 2017, Thunder and Lightning defended t ...

as well, making the double champions for two months before Gran Apolo and Pierre Martel won the world tag team championship. The following month ''Los Mercenarios'' lost the North American Tag Team Championship to Mr. Tempest and El Scorpio. After their tour of Puerto Rico they returned to Canada where the Cuban Assassin teamed up with Francisco Flores to defeat Mr. Hito and Jim Neidhart to win the Stampede International Tag Team Championship yet again. The following month the titles were shifted onto Bruce Hart and

Davey Boy Smith David Smith (27 November 1962 – 18 May 2002) was an English professional wrestler best known for his appearances in the United States with the World Wrestling Federation under the ring names Davey Boy Smith and The British Bulldog. Smith ...

. In 1985 Acevedo and

Sweet Daddy Siki Elkin James (June 16, 1933 – December 31, 2024) was an American-Canadian professional wrestler and singer, best known as Sweet Daddy Siki. Life and career Siki started wrestling in 1955 in Artesia, New Mexico. He also did some training in ...

defeated "Bulldog" Bob Brown and the Great Pogo to win the AGPW North American Tag Team Championship, but lost them to Hans Herman and Killer Karl Krupp before Acevedo's summer tour with AGPW ended. In 1986 The Cuban Assassin teamed up with Wayne Ferris to form a very successful and hated tag team. The two defeated Ben Bassarab and

Chris Benoit Christopher Michael Benoit ( ; May 21, 1967 – June 24, 2007) was a Canadian Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He worked for various pro-wrestling promotions during his 22-year career, but is notorious for Chris Benoit double-murd ...

to win the Stampede Tag team titles, which they later lost to Beniot and Keith Hart. In Stampede Avecedo and Gerry Morrow teamed up to become the Cuban Commandos, defeating Badd Company (

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 ...

and Bruce Hart) for what was Acevedo's sixth run with the titles, followed by a seventh in 1988 that was ended by

the British Bulldogs The British Bulldogs were a professional wrestling tag team consisting of cousins Davey Boy Smith and Dynamite Kid. They competed throughout the 1980s in Britain, North America and Japan and have consistently ranked among the top tag teams i ...

(Davey Boy Smith and the

Dynamite Kid Thomas Wilton Billington (5 December 1958 – 5 December 2018), best known by the ring name the Dynamite Kid, was a British professional wrestler. Trained by former wrestler "Dr Death" Ted Betley, he competed in the World Wrestling Federatio ...

). Acevedo and Morrow returned to Puerto Rico in 1989 where they defeated Huracán Castillo Jr. and Miguel Pérez Jr. to with the WWC Caribbean Tag Team Championship. In early 1990 Jerry Morrow left WWC, forcing the company to give half of the championship Ron Starr instead. The duo later gave up the championship, but would defeat Chris Youngblood and Mark Youngblood to win them one more time. Later on Super Médico I and Super Médico III won the titles from ''Los Mercenarios''. The team defeated Invader I and Invader IV on May 24, 1990, to win the WWC Caribbean Tag Team Championship one last time, ending in July 1990 when ''Los Mercenarios'' lost to Huracán Castillo Jr. and Miguel Pérez Jr. Acevedo went into semi-retirement in 1992 but kept getting offers to wrestle in Canada until 2004 when he finally retired from wrestling. In 2013 Acevedo appeared in the Victoria Pavilion, in Calgary, Alberta for the Hart Legacy Wrestling promotion. On April 29, 2017, Acevedo appeared alongside Leo Burke as special guests at Ultimate Championship Wrestling's 10th Anniversary event at the Halifax Forum in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The pair would answer questions during a fan access event, reappearing later in the night during a six-man tag match where Acevedo would replace an injured Nick Strong.

Personal life

Acevedo's first marriage produced a son and a daughter, one of which followed his father into professional wrestling as Richie Acevedo worked for many years as Cuban Assassin #2, then later Cuban Assassin Jr. for AGPW and later dropped the "Jr." to just be "Cuban Assassin". Acevedo later remarried after moving to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

and has two children with his second wife.

Championships and accomplishments

* Central States Wrestling **NWA Central States Tag Team Championship(1 time) - with Bulldog Bob Brown *

**AGPW North American Tag Team Championship (8 times) – with

Carpetbagger In the history of the United States, carpetbagger is a largely historical pejorative used by Southerners to describe allegedly opportunistic or disruptive Northerners who came to the Southern states after the American Civil War and were pe ...

(1), Goldie Rogers (1), Bobby Bass (1), Raul Castro (1),

(1),

(2), Gerry Morrow (1) * Canadian Wrestling Hall of Fame **Class 2012 * Prairie Wrestling Alliance **PWA Hall of Fame - 2008 *

** Stampede Wrestling International Tag Team Championship ( 6 times) - with Cuban Assassin #2 (1), Norman Frederick Charles III (1), Francisco Flores (1), Wayne Ferris (1), Jerry Morrow (2) *

** NWA North American Tag Team Championship ( 1 time) – with Jerry Morow ** WWC Caribbean Tag Team Championship ( 3 times) – with Jerry Morrow (2), Ron Starr (1) **

( 2 times) – with Jerry Morrow (1) and Ron Starr (1)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Acevedo, Ángel 1945 births Living people Puerto Rican emigrants to Canada Puerto Rican male professional wrestlers Sportspeople from San Juan, Puerto Rico Stampede Wrestling alumni Canadian people of Cuban descent 20th-century male professional wrestlers 21st-century male professional wrestlers Stampede Wrestling International Tag Team Champions WWC World Tag Team Champions