Miguel Pérez Sr.

Miguel Jose Perez (June 22, 1937 – July 16, 2005) was an Puerto Rican professional wrestler who was best known for his tag team with Antonino Rocca.

Montreal Athletic Commission (1954–1957)
Miguel Perez started his professional wrestling career in 1954 at the age of 17. He debuted on October 15, 1954 and wrestled for Montreal Athletic Commission in his early days. He was the MAC World Heavyweight Champion. He left the company in 1957.

Madison Square Garden (1957–1968)
In 1957, Pérez formed a tag team with popular wrestling star Antonino Rocca. They both wrestled in the famed Madison Square Garden on a regular basis. Pérez and Rocca captured the NWA Capitol World Tag Team Championship and were the first recognized champions in the ancestry of Capitol Wrestling Corporation, now known as World Wrestling Entertainment.

While Rocca left the company in 1963, and Pérez appeared in other areas, he was a regular on the undercard at Madison Square Garden through March 1968, when he pinned Crazy Luke Graham in less than 25 seconds in his final appearance. Some of his matches include 1964 wins over Lou Bastein, Lou Albano, and Bull Johnson; draws with Tony Marino, and then Red Bastein; with Pedro Morales teamed to lose to U.S. tagteam champs Dr. Jerry and Crazy Luke Graham, but came back to defeat Magnificent Maurice and Klondike Bill. Pérez won on disqualification over manager Bobby Davis, then teamed with Haystacks Calhoun to defeat Davis and Gorilla Monsoon.

World Wrestling Council (1974–1981)
In 1974, Perez joined Puerto Rican World Wrestling Council on January 6, 1974 as Jose Miguel Perez. He was billed as the first WWC Puerto Rico Heavyweight Champion and it was the first show of WWC. He lost the title to Dr. Klodied on March 8, 1975. He defeated Klodied just two weeks later to get his second Puerto Rico Heavyweight title.

The title was held up on August 30 when Perez had a match with Spoiler II. He won a tournament on September 20 and got his third Puerto Rico Heavyweight title. He lost the title to Tosh Togo on October 4. He would return teaming with former partner in CWC, Antonino Rocca. They both together captured the WWC North American Tag Team Championship on September 11, 1976 by defeating Los Infernos.

They lost the titles to Higo Hamaguchi and Gordon Nelson on October 16. He was still the partner of Rocca and they both wrestled as a tag team until March 15, 1977 when Rocca died. Perez started to compete on singles. On May 7, 1977, Perez captured his fourth and final Puerto Rico Heavyweight title by defeating Hurricane Castillo in a tournament final.

Just one week later, he lost the title to Castillo on May 14 in a rematch. Perez still wrestled for WWC. He was injured on February 27, 1979 in a match against Jose Rivera. He was forced to retire from professional wrestling on March 6 because he was not able to wrestle. Though four months later on July 28 at Bayamon he teamed up with Jack Veneno to take on the team of Hiro Sasaki and Kengo Kimura only for Veneno and Perez to lose the match, after this he retired for four years as a professional wrestler until he returned at WWC Anniversary on September 17, 1983 at the Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan, Puerto Rico to take on Barrabas and defeated him. The next year at WWC Anniversary on September 14 at the same venue saw Perez's final match against Leo Burke and Burke defeated him, after this match he retired as a professional wrestler for good.

In wrestling

 * Finishing moves
 * Sunset Flip

Death
On July 16, 2005, Perez died of a massive heart attack.

Championships and accomplishments

 * Montreal Athletic Commission
 * MAC World Heavyweight Champion (1 time)


 * National Wrestling Alliance
 * NWA Capitol Wrestling
 * NWA World Tag Team Championship (Capitol version) (1 time) - with Antonino Rocca
 * NWA United States Tag Team Championship (Northeast version) (1 time) - with Antonino Rocca


 * World Wrestling Council
 * WWC Puerto Rico Heavyweight Championship (4 times)
 * WWC North American Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Antonino Rocca