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The G.O.A.T. 100 #58 | Blue Demon
Welcome to the G.O.A.T. 100 where we will count down with PWM wrestling historian Peter Edge the 100 greatest wrestlers of all time, based on many different stats and criteria. A new wrestler will be added on Mondays and Thursdays every week. Here is a link to an introduction essay with Peter explaining his GOAT100 concept. At the bottom of the article you can find the GOAT 100 Portal with links to all profiles so far published, as well as a visual key... Enjoy learning more about the history of our great hobby!
Spoiler alert: El Santo is going to be the highest ranking Mexican-born wrestler on this list. But every hero, as Santo was, needs a rival, a saboteur, a kryptonite. Santo’s nemesis was Blue Demon.
Born Alejandro Muñoz Moreno on April 22, 1922 in Nuevo Leon, as the fifth of twelve children. Before getting into wrestling, he worked in construction and at the railway station in Monterrey after attempts to become a musician failed.
It was during his time on the railroad that he became friends with a friend of luchador Rolondo Vera – just before Vera would hit the peaks of his career that made him a legend in the lucha game – and (after at first training Moreno in disciplines away from combat sports) he trained Alejandro in amateur wrestling. Muñoz compiled a 8-0 record as an amateur before Vera then began to train him in the art of pro wrestling.
Demon started pro wrestling relatively late by pro-wrestling standards, at the age of 26 in 1948. His first match came when Vera was asked to send some of his guys to a show in Laredo, TX.
After that debut under his real name, his mentor Vera came up with the Blue Demon name and attire that would go on to become so synonymous with the man: a blue mask with silver lining around the holes for the eyes, nose and mouth.
Trying to make ends meet as his career was starting up, Muñoz would continue working at the Monterrey station concurrently with wrestling as the Demon starting out.
Jesús Lomelí, the main talent scout for EMLL, was on his way to scout some American women wrestlers at a show in Nuevo Laredo, when he would make a fateful stop off en route and catch a show in Monterrey, only to discover Blue Demon. When Muñoz went to get his payoff, along with the money he had earned, he got a recommendation letter from Lomelí which said he was welcome to come to Mexico City whenever he had the chance to make the trip.
Demon’s EMLL debut was in 1948, in Arena México against Ciclón Veloz, losing in two straight falls. In spite of the loss, the fact that those two falls were Demon being disqualified showed that Demon was going to be pushed as a top rudo.
He was in that role before making the técnico turn in 1952, which started his most legendary feud, both in and out of the ring, with El Santo, who was the country’s most famous heel at the time.
It all started when the up-and-coming rudo team of Blue Demon and his kayfabe brother Black Shadow took a loss to the established rudo team of La Pareja Atómica in 1950. Black Shadow swore to avenge his defeat and went on to feud heel vs heel with El Santo for the next couple years.
It all came to a head November 7 1952, when Santo beat Black Shadow in a lucha apuesta match with both men’s masks on the line in what many consider the most important match in lucha history. Demon was seconding his partner Shadow, and when Santo’s win over Shadow saw his unmasking, Demon turned técnico fully and vowed his revenge on Santo.
The feud was notable for numerous encounters, the most famous of which took place on August 7, 1953 where Demon beat Santo in two straight falls. This win made him the top contender for Santo’s NWA Welterweight Title which Demon would take from Santo in a title rematch the following month. These two huge wins over the star Santo established Demon in the top tier, and he went on to retain that championship for four-and-a-half years during one of lucha’s boom periods, before finally dropping the belt to Karloff Lagarde.
Another legendary match in 1953 involving the two masked men’s rivalry was voted Match of the Year in lucha magazines, which would see Demon and Black Shadow wrestle Santo with Cavernario Galindo to a draw.
The Santo vs. Demon feud was immortalized in a song entitled “Los Luchadores,” released in 1983 and still a cult favorite in Mexican music circles. The lyrics talk about a (fictional) wild brawl with Demon & El Bulldog vs. Santo & Galindo, which turned into something of a Lucha Libre anthem.
Demon was nicknamed “Manotas,” in his prime, because he had shockingly large, powerful hands for a man of his small size, and he had grip strength that made him the Mexican version of Danny Hodge, whose grip was internationally renowned (did you know that Hodge crushed apples in one hand at free will?)
Along with Tarzán López and possibly Gori Guerrero, he was considered the toughest “shooter” in Mexico of the era, and trained in the ring three to four hours every day to keep up that reputation. His reputation in his prime was that of a tremendous llave wrestler, similar to Blue Panther (who, a couple of generations later, his technical skills have been pushed to the fore of fans consciousness thanks to Bryan Danielson’s kudos to the lucha legend.)
Demon’s career would be jeopardized though in 1957, when an accidental head-first collision with the ringpost in a match against El Espectro in July in Tampico saw Demon fracture his skull and be put out of commission for seven months.
It was a tough loss for EMLL because in many ways, he was just about the biggest name in lucha at that time with his name just as famous in Mexico as Santo. But even if everyone knew his name, Demon was not quite the level of star Santo was. Those differing tiers of fame was a catalyst for rivalry backstage.
Like other of the top Mexican wrestlers of the era such as Gory Guerrero (Eddy’s father), there was always some resentment of Santo, because he wasn't necessarily the greatest in-ring worker either, yet he was a bigger star than anyone.
While Santo and Demon starred together in several movies in the 60s, they never got along. By this point, Santo, who was not the athlete Demon was legitimately, was getting up in years. Demon would do all the tough work in the movie but in the end, Santo always got the lion’s share of credit and top billing. The most famous movie Blue Demon was associated with was “Las Momias de Guanajuato” which co-starred both Santo and Mil Máscaras (who some would rank behind only Santo as the second or maybe third biggest star in lucha history because Máscaras was more famous internationally than any other luchador in the 60s.)
In all, Demon was featured in 25 movies from 1961 through 1978, the heyday of the low-budget campy B-movie era starring masked pro wrestlers as crime fighters. It was a style of movie popularized by Santo, with Demon and Mascaras as the other featured players in a name-recognition centered system of cheap production similar to the Elvis movies of the 60s.
His final movie was to introduce his adopted son, Blue Demon Jr. It was filmed in 1989, but because Demon Jr. was adopted and there wasn't a strong resemblance, and he also wasn’t a great worker and didn’t have the charisma his dad did, he would never reach the superstar level that Santo’s son did. (And the truth is Demon Jr. just wasn't as good as El Hijo Del Santo, as seen in one's inclusion in the 100 down the line.)
Maybe Demon’s inferiority complex played into his big row with EMLL and its President Salvador Lutteroth, not long after his return after his fractured skull.
Transportation had become an issue for Demon, having not been expensed to fly to shows instead having to travel the road in a pickup truck. Demon would work two shows for Gory Guerrero in El Paso and his payday was good enough that he chose to fly back to Mexico City. EMLL was not happy that Demon had taken a gig for Gory and proceeded to punish him. When the board headed by Lutteroth called Demon for a meeting to tell him the punishment that was to be handed down, Demon called their bluff. Making himself the first to speak, Demon announced he was leaving EMLL.
Demon would return a few years later but only on a non-exclusive contract.
When Santo finally turned técnico in 1962, (largely because he was becoming such a mainstream celebrity in Mexico from the movies that he didn’t want to portray himself in wrestling as a rudo and have bad influence on children) promoters all over Mexico jumped at the dream team of Santo and Demon. But offers fell on deaf ears for years, with Demon refusing multiple requests such was the animosity he had for Santo. This was until 1968 when Demon relented and the pair finally teamed up, beating Benny Gallant and Rene Guajardo in front of an announced 20,000 at Arena México in an event that was one of the most hyped in Lucha history.
Maybe part of this suspension of hostilities on Demon’s part was due to a near-fatal situation in 1965. During a match against Cavernario Galindo in Oaxaca, Demon fell through the ropes outside the ring and hit the floor, breaking a blood vessel. He ignored doctor’s advice not to eat anything that evening, and a few minutes after his dinner he lost consciousness and fell down a flight of stairs, fracturing his skull again. He was another whole year out, but he eventually returned to the ring.
When back, Demon was famous for never missing a booking, something he took pride in, but he often wrestled in incredible pain. He even worked through the most painful of all injuries, a broken collarbone, without missing one match
His popularity was such even in the 80s that when booked for the LeBells in San Jose, (in an appearance that was hyped to death, but with most wrestling fans brought up on a diet of Roy Shire’s wrestling having no idea who he was, but at the same time with a large Mexican American contingent that clearly did) he drew a huge crowd for the time period, and the reaction for him was almost godlike, similar to what Tanahashi gets when he wrestles outside of Japan in recent years.
The non-Latino fans in the building, who never heard of him, had seen posters all over the building for this guy with a body like a Greek God, but when he finally came out, he was this very short old man, around 60 years old, who still had a surprisingly-taut and yet hunched physique. But in spite of all that, his mystique (and support from the lucha-knowers among the crowd) worked, and he got the reaction reserved for an all time legend. His opponent, Johnny Mantell (working in a mask and going by The Hood) sold nicely for him, as if he were the godlike creature the fans wanted him to be.
Demon continued to wrestle somewhat regularly until a retirement tour in March of 1989.
His retirement tour saw him in a series of high-profile matches in all the major cities with Arena México seeing Demon teaming with his son and his most famous trainee Ringo Mendoza going over on Emilio Charles Jr., Satanico and Pirata Morgan in his final match at the cathedral of lucha. His hometown of Monterrey would see the most high-profile match of the long goodbye, winning the mask of Rayo de Jalisco Sr. and revealing him as Max Linares. Demon’s final match was another lucha apuesta taking the mask of El Matematico.
Demon would stay on the scene outside the ring, but switched sides to AAA with his son in 1996. Senior would take part in angles alongside his son, with one in particular that saw Pierroth Jr. during a feud with Demon Jr. attack Demon at a Hall of Fame type ceremony which almost caused a riot in the building.
On December 16, 2000, Munoz Moreno suffered a heart attack while coming home from the gym and his daily early morning workout on a Mexico City subway. He always traveled alone and used the subway every day as he didn’t like taxis and couldn’t drive at his age. The newspapers of Mexico devoted extensive coverage to his death, and had a variety of contradicting stories as to the circumstances. Blue Demon Jr. told the media that he was called and rushed to the scene and that his father died in his arms while receiving medical attention.
As in Mexican tradition, his funeral took place later in the day and he was buried in Naucalpan wearing the mask that he never lost in the ring..
Blue Demon is one of the most recognisable faces in the history of the art of wrestling. That blue mask, with its iconic silver lining, can still prompt shouts of “Blue Demon” from passers by if you should walk down the street wearing a novelty replica.
Santo and Demon defined a generation in lucha libre. They gave birth to the idea that superheroes can come off the page and be in front of your very own eyes. Demon might have been a Demon by name but he was a hero to many.
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