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

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 ...

best known under the

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 ...

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

Empresa Mexicana 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 (EMLL) (''Mexican Wrestling Enterprise''). Founded in 1933, it is the oldest profe ...

(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 ...

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 Wres ...

and

NWA World Welterweight Championship The NWA World Welterweight Championship () is an inactive professional wrestling championship governed by the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) and most recently promoted by NWA Mexico. The championship was originally created in 1946 by the Mexica ...

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 countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

for "Corkscrew").

Early life

Marcelo Andreani was born on February 8, 1910, in Fossola,

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

, 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, bar. Pole jumping was already practiced by the ...

er and swimmer. In college, Andreani played

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

for

Pumas CU The Pumas CU football program represents the National Autonomous University of Mexico (, UNAM) in college football at the ONEFA level. UNAM has competed in the Liga Mayor since the 2014 season. The team is led by head coach José Luis Canales. ...

. A

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

and

safety Safety is the state of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings The word 'safety' entered the English language in the 1 ...

, 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 for the style of professional wrestling originating in Mexico. Since its introduction to Mexico in the early 20th century, it has develope ...

''. 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), best known by his ring name El Santo (English language, English: "The Saint"), was a Mexican ''Lucha libre, luchador Wrestling mask, enmascarado'' (or masked professional wrestlin ...

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 Mexi ...

, 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 (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 governing body owned by Billy Corgan and operated by its parent company Lightning One, Inc. Founded in 1948, the NWA be ...

). 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. ...

, 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 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 ...

'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 ( , ; ), is a city and Port of Acapulco, major seaport in the Political divisions of Mexico, state of Guerrero on the Pacific Coast of Mexico, south of Mexico City. Located on a deep, semicirc ...

Guerrero Guerrero, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Guerrero, is one of the 32 states that compose the administrative divisions of Mexico, 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into Municipalities of Guerrero, 85 municipalities. The stat ...

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

Cuernavaca Cuernavaca (; , "near the woods" , Otomi language, Otomi: ) is the capital and largest city of the Mexican state, state of Morelos in Mexico. Along with Chalcatzingo, it is likely one of the origins of the Mesoamerica, Mesoamerican civilizatio ...

Morelos Morelos, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Morelos, is a landlocked state located in south-central Mexico. It is one of the 32 states which comprise the Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into Mun ...

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 or La Ciudad may also refer to: * La Ciudad (archaeological site), Hohokam ruins in Phoenix, Arizona * La Ciudad, district of Durango City, Mexico * ''La ciudad'', a novel by Mario Levrero published ...

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

Championships and accomplishments

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2 times "2 Times" is the debut single of English singer Ann Lee. It was released in Italy in December 1998 by X-Energy as the lead single from her debut album, ''Dreams'' (1999), and was issued worldwide the following year. The single peaked at number tw ...

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NWA World Tag Team Championship The NWA World Tag Team Championship is a professional wrestling World Tag Team Championship, world tag team championship created by the National Wrestling Alliance. From 1948 to 1982, the NWA allowed List of National Wrestling Alliance territories ...

''( 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 Professional wrestlers from Houston 20th-century American male actors 20th-century male professional wrestlers 20th-century Mexican professional wrestlers Mexican National Welterweight Champions NWA World Welterweight Champions Pumas CU players Mexican National Lightweight Champions