El Siberiano
| El Siberiano (The Siberian) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Profile
Salvador Mendoza is a Mexican wrestler who was born on October 15, 1952, in Mexico City, Mexico. He had 10 siblings and stopped school to start working. He was trained by Sordo Lopez and Loco Hernandez and he debuted on March 13th, 1971. The exact date is unknown but he took up the name of "Siberiano" (The Siberian), which means a man from Siberia, one of the coldest and harshest parts of Russia. He was unmasked on May 31st, 1978 by Impacto. While for some wrestlers, losing their mask marked the beginning of the end for their careers, the mask loss did not hurt him.
He defeated a wrestler named El Delfin in an aspuestas match during the mid-70's. Later, he defeated the same wrestler in 1977 under his new name of Ku Klux Klan I along with his partner, Ku Klux Klan II in another another aspuestas match.He along with El Santo, Anibal, Fishman, TNT and Bulldog Morgan got on a plane in 1980 that had smoke coming out of it. The pilot was made aware of the situation and they were able to return to the airport safely.
He joined Pavillion Azteca in 1982, and formed a super-heavyweight team with TNT. The team consisted of two large men with wild hair which made them stand out at the time. Siberiano was also featured in one magazine's most ugliest wrestlers gallery. On May 1st, 1982, the team competed in a Ruleta de la Muerte tournament with hairs and masks at stake at Palacio de los Deportes. The team met Gran Markus and Super Maquina, a wrestler with an American football costume and gimmick. Siberiano and TNT lost the match and were forced to get a haircut. It is said that the fans pardoned Siberiano and he left with his hair intact. This ended up earning him a one-year suspension. He apparently tried to start his own promotion during this time, but local promoters blocked this from happening.
He then traveled to the US. Siberiano challenged for Mil Mascaras' IWA World Heavyweight Championship. While the official date is unknown, Siberiano was just another notch in Mil's 200 successful defenses of the title. He later went on to feud with his former partner TNT, who was frequently on the cover of many lucha libre magazines and was able to defeat him in a hair vs hair match.
He competed for the AWWA World Heavyweight Championship at one point but was defeated by Halcon Dorado. In 1983 he challenged the original Rey Misterio to a mask vs hair match in Rey's home territory in Tijuana, where he was defeated. He also made some appearances for the UWA during this time. He later became the America's Heavyweight Champion and defended his title successfully against Kiss(a wrestler whose character was based off the rock band), Super Maquina, Rey Misterio Sr. and Sargento Muerte. He lost his hair in a mask vs hair match to Kiss during this time.
Siberano passed away on Wednesday, August 13th, 1986 at 1:30 p.m when his car was hit by a bus.
Luchas de apuestas record
| Date | Apuesta | Winner(s) | Loser(s) | Arena and/or Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ??/??/?? | hair | El Siberiano | TNT | unknown |
| ??/??/?? | hair | Rey Misterio | El Siberiano | Auditorio de Tijuana - Tijuana, Baja California |
| 78/05/31[1] | mask | El Siberiano | Impacto | Arena Xochimilco |
| 82/05/01[2] | hair | Gran Markus & Super Maquina | TNT & El Siberiano | Palacio de los Deportes DF |
Gallery
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 with TNT |
