Hernandez (wrestler)


Shawn Hernandez is an American professional wrestler. He is best known for his time with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, where he performed under the mononymous ring name Hernandez. He is an eight-time tag team champion, having won the TNA World Tag Team Championship five times, the NWA World Tag Team Championship twice and IWA World Tag Team Championship once. He is also the co-promoter of the Houston, Texas-based promotion Latino Wrestling Entertainment.

Early life

Hernandez played college football at Texas A&M–Kingsville. He briefly signed with the Texas Terror of the Arena Football League in March 1996 as a lineman but did not play in any games.

Professional wrestling career

Early career (1996–2003)

Following the end of his football career, Hernandez trained under Tugboat Taylor and later under Rudy Boy Gonzalez in the Texas Wrestling Academy. He debuted in Texas All-Star Wrestling in November 1996.
In 2000 and 2001 Hernandez worked for the World Wrestling Federation as a jobber, appearing on episodes of WWF Jakked and in dark matches. He also wrestled dark matches for NWA Total Nonstop Action, and competed for Texas All Star Wrestling, Extreme Texas Wrestling and NWA Southwest. He also toured Japan on numerous occasions and worked for Ring of Honor in 2003, joining Team Texas Don Juan, Fast Eddie led by TWA head trainer Rudy Boy Gonzalez facing the Carnage Crew in a violent feud that lasted several months.
In 2001, Hernandez began wrestling for the National Wrestling Alliance. At the October 13, 2001 NWA Anniversary Show in St. Petersburg, Florida, he defeated Kevin Northcutt to win the NWA National Heavyweight Championship. He held the title for over a year before losing to Ricky Murdock on January 11, 2003, in Greenville, Missouri. Hernandez defeated Jorge Estrada for the NWA North American Heavyweight Championship on May 3, 2003, in Cornelia, Georgia. On September 28, 2003, in Hawaii, he lost the title to J.T. Wolfen.

NWA Total Nonstop Action (2003–2004)

Hernandez debuted in NWA Total Nonstop Action on the November 22, 2003, episode of TNA Xplosion, losing to Shane Douglas. He returned to TNA on June 16, 2004, as one-third of the "Elite Guard", a trio of mercenaries working for Jeff Jarrett after his first King of the Mountain match victory. The Elite Guard feuded with the 3Live Kru over the next two months. On July 14, 2004, Jarrett, the Elite Guard and Ken Shamrock lost to Dusty Rhodes, Larry Zbyszko and the 3Live Kru in a ten-man tag team bout. The Elite Guard remained with TNA until September 2004, when all three wrestlers were released.

Return to TNA (2006–2014)

Latin American Xchange (2006–2009)

In March 2006, Hernandez signed a new contract with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. He returned on the March 31, 2006, episode of TNA Xplosion as the newest member of the heel stable The Latin American Xchange, teaming with Homicide and being managed by Konnan. On the August 24, 2006, episode of TNA Impact!, Hernandez and Homicide defeated A.J. Styles and Christopher Daniels in a Border Brawl for the NWA World Tag Team Championship. Styles and Daniels regained the title from Hernandez and Homicide in an Ultimate X match on September 24, 2006, at No Surrender, but Hernandez and Homicide won the title back on October 22, 2006, at Bound for Glory inside the Six Sides of Steel. After winning the title back, they engaged in a feud with America's Most Wanted, defeating them in a match at Genesis and then a flag match at Turning Point. Their next rivalry involved Team 3D, and, after winning three consecutive matches at Final Resolution, Against All Odds and Destination X, lost the NWA tag-team championships to Team 3D at Lockdown in an Electrified Cage match, when Homicide was pinned. When Konnan left TNA in the summer of 2007, both Hernandez and Homicide turned face and at Bound for Glory defeated Senshi and Elix Skipper of Triple X in an Ultimate X match to get back in the tag team title picture. They would receive their shot at the TNA World Tag Team Championship on the November 1 episode of Impact!, but were defeated by the defending champions A.J. Styles and Tomko.
In 2008 LAX got another title shot by beating Rock 'n Rave Infection and The Motor City Machine Guns at Destination X and cashed it in during a three-way match on the April 17 episode of Impact! against the Tag Team Champions A.J. Styles and Tomko and the team that ended up winning the match, Eric Young/Super Eric and Kaz. The controversial ending of this match led to the title being vacated and being put up for grabs in a tournament. At Sacrifice, LAX, with their new manager Hector Guerrero in their corner, won the vacant TNA World Tag Team Championship, after defeating Team 3D in the finals of the "Deuces Wild Tournament". LAX lost the title at Hard Justice to Beer Money, Inc..
At the second Final Resolution pay-per-view of 2008, both Hernandez and Homicide each captured a briefcase from the "Feast or Fired" match which contained a shot at the TNA World Heavyweight Championship for Hernandez and a shot at the TNA X Division Championship for Homicide. On a January 15 episode of TNA Impact, Hernandez cashed in his "Feast or Fired" World Title shot against Sting, and won by disqualification when The Main Event Mafia interfered, which meant that he did not win the title. However, executive shareholder Mick Foley ruled that because of the interference Hernandez would receive another TNA Title Shot in the future. On the April 30, episode of Impact!, Hernandez was attacked by the debuting British Invasion faction of Brutus Magnus, Doug Williams and Rob Terry, to allow him time off to recover from a legitimate neck surgery.
On the July 23 episode of Impact! Hernandez returned to aid Homicide, who was being attacked by Samoa Joe and Taz. A week later, on July 30, he defeated Joe in his return match with a top rope splash. At Hard Justice Hernandez regained his "Feast or Fired" briefcase from the British Invasion by defeating Rob Terry in nine seconds. On the September 10 episode of Impact!, Homicide turned heel by betraying Hernandez and joining World Elite, thus signaling the official end of the Latin American Xchange. At No Surrender Hernandez cashed in his "Feast or Fired" briefcase, but was unable to win the World Heavyweight Championship in the 5-way main event match after World Elite leader Eric Young interfered and took him out of the match. At Bound for Glory, Hernandez was unsuccessful in capturing the TNA Legends Championship in a three-way match, involving champion Kevin Nash and Eric Young, after Young turned on Nash and captured the title.

Teaming and feuding with Matt Morgan (2010–2011)

In late-2009, Hernandez teamed up with Matt Morgan and D'Angelo Dinero and moved on to feuding with Rhino and Team 3D, who accused TNA of favoring the younger talent of the company. At Turning Point Rhino and Team 3D defeated Morgan, Hernandez and Dinero in a street fight. At Final Resolution Morgan, Hernandez, Dinero and Suicide defeated Neal, Team 3D and Rhino in an eight-man elimination tag team match. On the January 4, 2010, live, three-hour, Monday night episode of Impact! Hernandez and Morgan defeated Dr. Stevie and Raven to become the number one contenders to the TNA World Tag Team Champions British Invasion. At Genesis Hernandez and Morgan defeated the British Invasion to win the TNA World Tag Team Championship. At Against All Odds as part of the 8 Card Stud Tournament Hernandez and Morgan were forced to face each other in the first round. Morgan defeated Hernandez by taking advantage of his injured shoulder and pinning him, while grabbing a hold of his trunks. At Destination X Hernandez and Morgan retained the Tag Team Title in a match against Beer Money despite plenty of miscommunication between the two champions. After the match Morgan nailed Hernandez with the Carbon Footprint. The following day on Impact! Morgan defeated Hernandez via referee stoppage after sandwiching his head between his boot and the ring post. After the match Homicide came out to check on his former partner, who was being helped by medics. TNA later reported on Hernandez's kayfabe injuries, claiming that he had suffered a herniated disc and cervical damage to his neck in the assault and will be out of action indefinitely. The neck injury storyline was created so Hernandez could work in Mexico for three months.
With Hernandez scheduled to miss months of action, Morgan declared himself the sole World Tag Team Champion on the April 5 episode of Impact! and TNA went along with this and no longer recognized Hernandez as a champion.
Hernandez's return to TNA was hinted at on the June 3 episode of Impact!, when Matt Morgan was distracted by somebody in the crowd which cost him a four-way match with Samoa Joe, Sting and the winner of the match, TNA World Heavyweight Champion Rob Van Dam. The camera's immediately showed what was distracting Morgan, but nobody could clearly see who it was, although Taz and Mike Tenay believed it to be Hernandez. The following week, Hernandez made his official return by attacking Morgan, leading to a match between the two at Slammiversary VIII. The match at Slammiversary VIII ended in Hernandez being disqualified for assaulting the referee, when he was being reprimanded for going too violently after Morgan. The following month at Victory Road Hernandez defeated Morgan in a Steel Cage match to end the feud. In November it was reported that Hernandez had turned down TNA's request for him to return to the promotion from his stint in Mexico.

Mexican America (2011–2012)

Hernandez returned to TNA from his stint in Mexico at the February 1, 2011, tapings of the February 10 episode of Impact!. He made his return as a heel, when he was hired by Eric Bischoff to "hurt a few people" for his Immortal stable. Hernandez then re–ignited his feud with the now–face Matt Morgan by costing him the TNA World Heavyweight Championship in a match against Mr. Anderson. On February 13 at Against All Odds Hernandez explained the change in his attitude by claiming that in the United States he was treated like a second class citizen, while in Mexico he was treated like a star. On the following episode of Impact!, Hernandez aligned himself with Sarita and Rosita. On the March 3 episode of Impact! Hernandez was defeated by Morgan via disqualification. On March 13 at Victory Road, Hernandez defeated Morgan in a First Blood match, after using fake blood on him, following a run–in from a planted fan. On the following episode of Impact!, the alliance of Hernandez, Sarita and Rosita was named Mexican America. The three of them were then defeated in a six-person street fight by Morgan, Angelina Love and Winter. After the match, the "fan", who had interfered in the match at Victory Road, once again entered the ring and attacked Morgan. On the March 24 episode of Impact!, he was officially presented as the newest member of Mexican America and named Anarquia. According to Hernandez, the original plan was to find a partner in Mexico, but TNA decided to include Anarquia as his tag team partner. On April 17 at Lockdown, Morgan defeated Hernandez in a steel cage match to win the feud. After defeating Ink Inc. at Sacrifice and the team of Alex Shelley and TNA World Tag Team Champion James Storm on the June 9 episode of Impact Wrestling, Hernandez and Anarquia began demanding a tag team title shot, claiming that they were held back because of their race. On the July 14 episode of Impact Wrestling, Hernandez and Anarquia defeated The British Invasion, with help from Rosita, to become the number one contenders to the TNA World Tag Team Championship. Hernandez and Anarquia received their shot at the TNA World Tag Team Championship on August 7 at Hardcore Justice, but were defeated by the defending champions, Beer Money, Inc. Two days later, at the tapings of the August 18 episode of Impact Wrestling, Hernandez and Anarquia defeated Beer Money, Inc. in a rematch, following interference from the "Mexican Heavyweight Champion" Jeff Jarrett, to win the TNA World Tag Team Championship. On September 11 at No Surrender, Hernandez and Anarquia successfully defended the title against D'Angelo Dinero and Devon, following interference from Rosita and Sarita. Later that month, Mexican America began feuding with Ink Inc., stemming from their match at Sacrifice in May, where Hernandez had legitimately injured Jesse Neal. On October 16, during the Bound for Glory Preshow, Mexican America successfully defended the TNA World Tag Team Championship against Ink Inc. The following month at Turning Point, Anarquia, Hernandez and Sarita defeated Ink Inc.'s Jesse Neal, Shannon Moore and Toxxin in a six-person tag team match to retain the TNA World Tag Team Championship. On the following episode of Impact Wrestling, Hernandez and Anarquia lost the TNA World Tag Team Championship to Crimson and Matt Morgan. On the following episode of Impact Wrestling, Hernandez and Arnaquia failed to regain the title in a rematch. After spending three months off television, Hernandez returned on the March 22, 2012, episode of Impact Wrestling, when he and Anarquia unsuccessfully challenged Magnus and Samoa Joe for the TNA World Tag Team Championship. In April, Anarquia was released from his TNA contract, thus ending his partnership with Hernandez. According to Hernandez, TNA wanted to create a more stereotypical stable, but Hernandez refused to use Mexican jargon, so TNA gave the promos to Anarquia. Hernandez said Mexican America was the worst part of his career and the stable was doomed from the beginning.