Brazo de Oro (wrestler)


Jesús Alvarado Nieves was a Mexican luchador, or professional wrestler, who worked under the ring name Brazo de Oro. He was a part of the Alvarado wrestling family, the son of Shadito Cruz and brother of Brazo de Plata, El Brazo, Brazo Cibernético, Super Brazo and Brazo de Platino. His son Felipe de Jesús Alvarado Mendoza currently works as La Máscara for Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre. His nephews, Máximo Sexy and Psycho Clown are featured wrestlers for CMLL and Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide respectively.
Alvarado made his debut in 1975 and for over a decade wrestled under a wrestling mask, until he and his brothers Brazo de Plata and El Brazo lost a Lucha de Apuestas match to Los Villanos in 1988 and was forced to unmask. Over the years he has teamed with his brothers to win various championships such as the CMLL World Trios Championship, Mexican National Tag Team Championship, Mexican National Trios Championship, NWA Americas Tag Team Championship, NWA World Tag Team Championship , UWA World Tag Team Championship, UWA World Trios Championship, WWA World Tag Team Championship and WWA World Trios Championship. He started focusing more on behind the scenes activities in the early 1990s, where he worked as one of the bookers for CMLL and served as the head of the wrestlers' union for many years.

Early life

Jesús Alvarado Nieves was born on October 7, 1959, in Mexico City, Mexico, the youngest son of Juan Alvarado Ibarra, better known as professional wrestler Shadito Cruz. Growing up Jesús Alvarado often had to look after his younger brothers, especially when his father was touring Mexico, wrestling several days a week. In a 1991 interview, he recalled how he did not have time to play with other boys, as he was watching over all the Alvarado kids while both his father and mother had to work to make ends meet. At one point he began taking his younger brothers Juan and Pepe to the local wrestling arenas where they sold old wrestling magazines and worked as ushers for tips. Jesús Alvarado began training for a professional wrestling career while still a teenager, despite the misgivings of his father. Local promoter and trainer Felipe Ham Lee began training Alavardo and helped convince his father to let his oldest son train for a wrestling career. When his son was ready to make his in-ring debut Shadito Cruz allowed him to use one of Cruz' old ring names "El Hombre de Brazo de Oro", based on a movie starring Frank Sinatra, but the younger Alvarado soon shortened to simply "Brazo de Oro".

Pro wrestling career

Alvarado made his debut as "Brazo de Oro" an enmascarado who worked mainly in tag team action with his brother who worked as Brazo de Plata and in trios action with another brother known simply as El Brazo. Los Brazos, as they were billed, wrestled all over Mexico and made appearances for the Los Angeles-based "NWA Hollywood Wrestling". While working for NWA Hollywood Oro and Plata won the NWA Americas Tag Team Championship from Chino Chou and the Kiss on November 7, 1981. The brothers were also last holders of the Los Angeles version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship in 1982.

Losing the masks

Over the years Brazo de Oro and his brothers competed in a large number of Luchas de Apuestas where they put their masks or hair on the line against their opponents. Los Brazo's most famous Luchas de Apuestas occurred on October 21, 1988, when Plata, Oro and El Brazo all placed their masks on the line in a match against another well known Lucha libre family, Los Villanos, in this case Villano I, Villano IV and Villano V. The match was the culmination of a long feud between the two families and saw all six wrestlers bleed profusely during the bout. In the end Los Villanos won the match forcing all three Brazos to unmask and reveal their real names as is tradition in these types of matches. Despite losing their masks Los Brazos remained successful in the ring winning various tag team and trios titles such as the UWA World Tag Team Championship, UWA World Trios Championship, WWA World Tag Team Championship and the WWA World Trios Championship
By the 1990s Los Brazos worked mainly for Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre where Oro, Plato and El Brazo won the CMLL World Trios Championship from Los Infernales on April 6, 1993. Los Brazos lost the title to Dr. Wagner Jr., Gran Markus Jr. and El Hijo del Gladiador. In the 1990s Brazo de Oro became the head of the wrestler's union, and also worked as a booker for CMLL. From that point on he only wrestled occasionally, on smaller CMLL shows outside of Mexico. In 2006 he announced his retirement, but ended up working select dates and matches until 2015 where he had his last known match.

Personal life

The Alvarado wrestling family spans three generations starting with Shadito Cruz followed by his 6 sons who all took up wrestling, as well as a third-generation of Alvarados who followed in their father or grandfather's footsteps. Jesús Alvarado's younger brothers all adopted a variation of the "Brazo" name that he had made popular, as the began wrestling as El Brazo, Brazo de Plata, Brazo Cibernético, Brazo de Platino and Super Brazo. At least one of Jesús Alvarado's children followed in his footsteps as his son, Felipe de Jesús Alvarado Mendoza, began his wrestling career under the name "Brazo de Oro Jr." He later changed his name and became better known as La Máscara when all of the then-active third-generation Alvarados stopped using the "Brazo" name and created their own independent characters. In 2013 his daughter made her in-ring debut under the name "Aramís", wearing a modified version of the Brazos mask.

Death

Alvarado was rushed to a Mexico City hospital in the early hours of April 28, 2017, due to respiratory problems. A few hours later he died of a heart attack.

Alvarado family tree

† = deceased

Championships and accomplishments

Winner Loser LocationEventDateNotes
Brazo de Oro Roberto Paz N/ALive eventN/A
Brazo de Oro Atila N/ALive eventN/A
Brazo de Oro Frankenstein N/ALive eventN/A
Brazo de Oro Mohicano I N/ALive eventN/A
Ringo Mendoza Brazo de Oro N/ALive eventN/A
Dr. Wagner Jr. Brazo de Oro N/ALive eventN/A
Brazo de Oro Golden Rogers Ciudad Juárez, ChihuahuaLive event
Brazo de Oro El Texano Naucalpan, Mexico StateLive event
Los Brazos
El Migra I and El Migra II N/ALive event
Brazo de Oro Águila Roja Monterrey, Nuevo LeónLive event
Los Brazos
Danny Grimaldo and Tauro Naucalpan, Mexico StateLive event
Los Brazos
Los Wrestling Mexico CityLive event
Los Brazos
Enfermero II and Flama Azul Mexico CityLive event
Brazo de Oro Orión Pachuca, HidalgoLive event
Brazo de Oro Babe Face N/ALive event
Brazo de Oro Ultraman Tijuana, Baja CaliforniaLive event
Los Villanos
Los Brazos
Monterrey, Nuevo LeónLive event
Brazo de Oro El Signo Mexico CityLive event
El Hijo del Santo Brazo de Oro Naucalpan, Mexico StateLive event
Sangre Chicana Brazo de Oro Mexico CityLive event
Brazo de Oro Troglodita Mexico CityLive event
Brazo de Oro Popitekus Mexico CityLive event
El Brazo Brazo de Oro Mexico CityLive event
Rambo Brazo de Oro Mexico CityLive event
Gran Markus, Jr. Brazo de Oro Mexico City42. Aniversario de Arena México
Los Brazos
Las Bestias Negras
Celaya, GuanajuatoLive event
El Satánico Brazo de Oro Mexico CityLive event
Brazo de Oro Valentín Mayo Mexico CityLive event
El Signo Brazo de Oro Oaxaca, OaxacaLive event
Negro Navarro Brazo de Oro Nezahualcóyotl, Mexico StateLive event
Brazo de Oro Toro Salvaje Tuxtla Gutiérrez, ChiapasLive event
Villano III Brazo de Oro Naucalpan, Mexico StateLive event
Nitro Brazo de Oro Tlalnepantla, Mexico StateLive event
Los Brazos
Bestial and Impacto Cuernavaca, MorelosLive event
Villano III Brazo de Oro N/ALive event
Villano IV Brazo de Oro Acapulco, GuerreroLive event
Villano III Brazo de Oro QuerétaroLive event
Cesar Dántes Brazo de Oro Guadalajara, JaliscoLive event
Exterminador Brazo de Oro Guadalajara, JaliscoLive event