Ricardo Amezquita Cardeño (December 9, 1968) is a Mexican Luchador, or professional wrestler best known under the ring name, Virus. Amezquita originally worked in Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre's (CMLL) Minis division and held the CMLL World Mini-Estrella Championship under the name Damiancito El Guerrero, but was later moved into the regular division and given the name "Virus". As Virus Amezquita has held the CMLL Japan Super Lightweight Championship, CMLL World Super Lightweight Championship and the Mexican National Lightweight Championship. He was the leader of Los Cancerberos del Infierno.
Professional wrestling career[]
Ricardo Amezquita made his professional wrestling debut on April 20, 1986, under the ring name "Bird Boy", an enmascarado, or masked wrestler, with a bird inspired ring persona. Because of his small size he mainly worked on the low end of the card in the Universal Wrestling Association promotion. On July 27, 1991 Bird Boy defeated Super Archie to win the UWA World Featherweight Championship. He would hold the Featherweight title for over a year, losing it on August 25, 1992 to El Coralillo.
Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre[]
Amezquita had already begun working with Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) before he lost the UWA World Featherweight Championship, and became CMLL Exclusive after dropping the title. in 1992 then-CMLL booker Antonio Peña left Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) to form his own promotion, Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA); Peña had been the mastermind behind the CMLL Minis division and most of the Minis in CMLL decided to leave with Peña. Amezquita and a number of other wrestlers were brought in to replenish the division. Working in the Mini division does not mean that Amezquita has dwarfism, it is not uncommon for very short wrestlers to work in the "Mini" division in Mexico. Ricardo Amezquita was one of the wrestlers brought into CMLL to replenish the division after losing most of their workers and was given the ring persona of Piratita Morgan, a mini version of Pirata Morgan who worked in CMLL at the time and replaced the original Piratita Morgan that had left CMLL to join AAA. In 1994 Pirata Morgan left CMLL to join AAA as well, negating the need to have the smaller version working in CMLL. Instead he was given the name "Damiancito El Guerrero" after CMLL wrestler "Damian El Guerrero". In 1995 He toured Japan and worked for the W*ING promotion where he was billed simply as "Damiancito", the mini version of Damián 666 who worked for W*ING as well, subsequently he has mistakenly been described as working as "Damiancito" in CMLL as well, but it was only in Japan that he worked as a mini of Damián 666. After returning from Japan he defeated Máscarita Mágica to win the CMLL World Mini-Estrella Championship on February 27, 1996. In late 1997 CMLL booked an eight-man elimination match where the winner would earn the right to tag team with "regular sized" wrestlers. Damiancito El Guerrero defeated Cicloncito Ramírez, Tritoncito, Pequeño Cochisse, Platita, Guerreroito del Future, Pequeño Sayama an Fierito to earn the right to work with "regular sized" wrestlers.
Virus[]
In early 1998 he made his debut as part of the regular sized division under the name "Virus", no mention was made that Virus used to work as Damiancito El Guerrero or the fact that he still held the CMLL World Mini-Estrella Championship. On May 7, 1998 Virus defeated Akira to win the vacant Mexican National Lightweight Championship, a title CMLL had brought back to help showcase smaller workers such as Virus. After winning the title Virus worked a storyline feud against El Orientál, centering around Virus' Mexican Lightweight title and Orientál's Districto Federatl Lightweight title. Despite several title matches neither belt changed hands during the course of the storyline. By 1999 CMLL decided that it was time to crown a new CMLL World Mini-Estrella Champion as Virus was still technically the champion despite not having worked as a mini for over a year. Instead of making Virus return to the Minis division to lose the title CMLL decided to give the championship to Ultimo Dragoncito and then subsequently announce that Ultimo Dragoncito had "won" the title on an undisclosed day in October, 1999. In 1999 to 2000 CMLL made several tours of Japan to establish a "CMLL Japan" branch, Virus was one of the workers who regularly toured Japan and would capture the CMLL Japan Super Lightweight Championship on November 25, 1999. On August 6, 2000 Virus lost the CMLL Japan Super Lightweight title on Ricky Marvin and then on November 29, 2000 also lost the Mexican National Lightweight title to Ricky Marvin. Virus continued to show that while he may not have the size to be a headliner he had a knack for helping young wrestlers improve by working with them in the ring. After having been a Rudo (a Heel, or bad guy) his entire career Virus was turned Tecnico (Face or good guy) in 2002. In 2003 he took part in a series of matches between CMLL tecnicos, himself, Ricky Marvin and Volador, Jr., and a group called The Havana Brothers-based out of southern California that consisted of Rocky Romero, Ricky Reyes and T.J. Perkins. The well received series of matches between the six led CMLL to create the CMLL World Super Lightweight Championship. Rocky Romero became the first champion but lost the title to Virus on November 14, 2003. Virus held the title for 392 days before losing it back to Rocky Romero. In 2005 Virus was turned Rudo once more and generally used to help young, high-flying tecnicos get more experience. When El Satánico started working a reduced schedule in late 2008 Virus became the unofficial leader of Los Infernales, teaming with Euforia and Nosferatu.
Los Cancerberos del Infierno[]
At a CMLL press conference on November 19, 2009 it was officially announced that Virus was the leader of a new CMLL group called Los Cancerberos del Infierno (Spanish for "the Infernal Cerberos") a group that beyond Virus consisted of Euforia and Pólvora as well as two new characters Cancerbero and Raziel used to wrestle as Messala and Caligula, otherwise known as "Los Romanos" a low card Rudo tag team. On March 11, 2011, Virus defeated Demus 3:16 in a Hair vs. Hair match to also retain his spot as the leader of Los Cancerberos del Infierno and send Demus back into the Mini-Estrellas division. On June 7, 2011, Virus defeated Guerrero Maya, Jr. in a tournament final to regain the World Super Lightweight Championship.
In wrestling[]
- Finishing moves
- La Motocicleta (One-legged rocking horse)
- Virus Clutch (Delfin Clutch)
- Virus Stretch (Stretch Plum)
- Signature moves
- Tag teams and stables
Championships and accomplishments[]
- Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre
- CMLL Japan Super Lightweight Championship (2 times)
- CMLL World Mini-Estrella Championship (1 time)
- CMLL World Super Lightweight Championship (2 times)
- Mexican National Lightweight Championship (1 time)
- Mexican National Trios Championship (1 time) with Cancerbero & Raziel
- Reyes del Aire 2007
- Universal Wrestling Association
- UWA World Featherweight Championship (1 time)
Lucha de Apuesta record[]
Wager | Winner | Loser | Location | Date | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mask | Super Archie | Bird Boy I | Apatlaco, Mexico State | Unknown | |
Hair | Damiancito El Guerrero | Mascarita Mágica | Mexico City, Mexico | Unknown | |
Mask | Virus | El Mariachi | Unknown | Unknown | |
Hair | Virus | Kato Kung Lee | Oaxaca, Oaxaca | September 2, 2001 | |
Hair | Virus | Tony Rivera | Mexico City, Mexico | August 5, 2007 | |
Hair | Virus | Demus 3:16 | Mexico City, Mexico | March 11, 2011 |