El Egipcio

the original, most well known Egipcio. There's a newer, Guadalajara based one as well.

Profile

El Egipcio (The Egyptian)

Name El Egipcio (The Egyptian) Real name José Luis Hernández Nicknames none Name history El Egipcio (debut - retirement) Family Maestro(s) Gorila Osorio, Rafael Salamanca Birth date, location January 9, 1957 - Oaxaca, Oax. Obituary date June 22, 2018 Debut, location March 21, 1976 - Puebla, Puebla Lost mask to Rayo de Jalisco Jr. - December 9, 1983 - Arena México Height 6'1"/1.83 cms Weight 226 lbs/100 kg Signature moves La Tapatía Titles: Puebla Tag Team Titles (w/ Centella Roja), National Heavyweight Title

Career

El Egipcio was born on January 9th, 1957, in Oaxaca, but spent most of his life in Puebla. He got a degree in physical education, but ended up pursuing lucha libre instead.

He was trained by Gorila Osorio and Rafael Salamanca and debuted on March 21st, 1976, at the age of 19 at Arena Puebla. Unlike many other wrestlers, he only had one name throughout his career: "El Egipcio", which translates to "The Egyptian".

When choosing his in-ring name, he was presented with three choices. The first choice was a soldier gimmick. The second choice was "Appalosa", which was a type of horse used by a Native American tribe, where he would dress up as an Apache Indian. And the third choice was "Sinuhe El Egipcio". The name came from a 1954 movie called "El Egipico". The main character in the movie was named "Sinuhe", who was a physician in 14th Century BC Egypt. When he tried to register that name with the Box y Lucha Commision, it was turned down because the name was too long. He was given a choice to either go with "Sinuhe" or "El Egipcio", and he ended up going with the latter as it would be more relatable.

He quickly started rising up the EMLL cards in Mexico City after a short stay in Guadalajara and captured his first mask win of Doberman on January 27th, 1979. He then captured his second apuestas win of the year by defeating Raul Armas for his hair on March 31st, 1979. Then on March 29th, 1980, he captured the hair of an El Invasor. He and Tony Salazar won a one-day tag team tournament in Arena Coliseo on December 22nd, 1981, defeating Crucero and Divino Roy. And on March 4th, 1983, he and El Faraon, who had another Egyptian gimmick, made it to the finals of a tag team torunament where they were beaten by Los Infernales of MS-1 and Satanico.

He developed a small feud with Rayo de Jalisco Jr. in November 1983 and after a tag team match between Hombre Bala and Rayo de Jalisco Jr. against Egipcio and Masakre. The four wrestlers agreed to relevos suicas match, where the losing team would be forced to fight in a mask vs mask match. In the mask vs mask match, Egipcio took the first fall, busting Rayo open, and as the blood flowed, Rayo won the second fall. In the third fall, both men barely escaped a double count out after dives to the outside and Rayo was able to defeat Egipcio with an abdominal stretch. Egipcio revealed himself to be Jose Luis Hernandez, 26, from Puebla.

While his 1983 ended on a bad note, he continued on, capturing the hairs of Volvanico and Ricky Boy in 1984, but he was shaved in an apuestas match by Pirata Morgan on April 5th, 1985. He and his partners Sangre Chicana and Tamba competed in the May 1st, 1985, Copa Ovaciones y Costalazos, but were defeated by Los Villanos in the first round after they were disqualified.

He took on multiple partners throughout 1985 and 1985 including El Faraon, Jerry Estrada, As Charro and others and was often seen against wrestlers like Kung Fu, Rayo de Jalisco Jr. and Alfonso Dantes.

He was said to have lost a hair vs hair match to MS-1 during 1987, though the exact date is unknown and he defeated Popitekus for his hair on March 1st, 1987. The feud with MS-1 continued into 1988, when they had a super libre match on February 19th. In 1989, he and his partner Super Halcon made it to the finals of the May 12th, 1989 one night tag team tournament, losing to Mogur and Rayo de Jalisco Jr. in the finals.

The match helped fuel a fued between Egipcio and Mogur. The met each other for weeks in various tag team matches and their feud was resolved on June 2nd, 1989, when they met in an aspuestas match. Egipcio ended up losing the match and his hair.

He took the hair of Javier Llanes on March 16th, 1991 and beat his old rival Rayo de Jalisco Jr. for the Mexican National Heavyweight Championship on April 13th, 1991. He defended the title against Blue Demon Jr., Mano Negra and Rayo, but Rayo won the title back on his second attempt. Egipcio tried to win the title back after losing it to him on June 13th, 1992, but was unsuccessful.

His career would come to an end later that year when the top rope snapped during a match, causing him to land on the floor back first. He attempted to wrestle after but was in too much pain and retired.

He was still seen at shows from time to time as a guest and was honored at CMLL's March 19th, 2018, "Homenaje a Dos Leyendas" event. He passed away on June 22nd, 2018, due to respiratory failure.

Sources

• luchaworld.com
• SuperLuchas

Luchas de apuestas record

Date	Apuesta	Winner(s)	Loser(s)	Arena and/or Place
??/??/??	hair	El Egipcio	Verdugo	unknown
1979/01/27	mask	El Egipcio	Doberman	Pista Arena Revolución - Mexico City
1979/03/31	hair	El Egipcio	Raúl Armas	Pista Arena Revolución - Mexico City
80/02/26	hair	El Egipcio	Doberman	Arena Coliseo
1980/03/29	hair	El Egipcio	El Invasor	Pista Arena Revolución - Mexico City
1983/12/09	mask (1)	Rayo de Jalisco Jr.	El Egipcio	Arena México
84?/?/?	hair	El Egipcio	Volvanico	Arena ? - ?
84?/?/?	hair	El Egipcio	Ricky Boy	Arena ? - ?
85/04/05	hair	Pirata Morgan	El Egipcio	Arena México - Mexico City
1987/02/27	hair (2)	MS-1	El Egipcio	Arena México
1987/03/01	hair	El Egipcio	Popitekus	Arena Coliseo - Mexico City
1989/06/??	hair	Mogur	El Egipcio	Arena Coliseo DF
1991/03/16	hair	El Egipcio	Javier Llanes	Mexico City
(1) Relevos suicidas vs. Hombre Bala & Masakre; (2) date can't be right; CMLL ran Arena Coliseo but not Arena Mexico that date

Gallery

1983

Unmasked

1985

1985

with Aristóteles I and Solar II

1985