Ray González
Ramón González Rivera, better known by his ring name Ray González, is a Puerto Rican professional wrestler and businessman. He has performed in the World Wrestling Council and International Wrestling Association in Puerto Rico, Wrestling International New Generation in Japan, Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre in Mexico, and the X Wrestling Federation in the United States. He was the first recognized Latin American wrestler to hold the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.
González has won the WWC Universal Heavyweight Championship and the IWA World Heavyweight Championship on numerous occasions. He also held the NWA World Heavyweight Championship once, with his reign being the third for a Latin American-born wrestler by chronological order, but the first among those formally acknowledged by the National Wrestling Alliance.
He won WWC Universal Heavyweight Championship for the 22nd time on August 31, 2024, defeating Intelecto 5 Estrellas at the annual WWC Aniversario show and became the only wrestler in history that has won the WWC Universal Heavyweight Championship on 4 different decades.
Early life
González became interested in professional wrestling by serendipity, being mesmerized by a match between Colón Sr. and Abdullah the Butcher that was casually being aired while he changed channels during his youth. This interest was not well received among his immediate family members, and he felt compelled to train covertly. However, a lack of adjacent wrestling academies complicated this goal. While still in school, one of his classmates introduced González to a wrestler named Gerardo "Jerry" Quiñonez Mercado and he began training under him at a multi-sports gymnasium located in the Río Piedras district of San Juan. Still doing this on his own accord, he was forced to either hitchhike or board the Cataño Ferry to the locale. After González debuted in CSP, his family figured that he was wrestling, but left him to his own devices. During this timeframe he was influenced by both local and international performers.Career
El Cóndor; AWF, CMLL, WING, WWC/CSP (1990–1998)
González debuted in Capitol Sports Promotions in 1990 as a masked cruiserweight named "El Cóndor", facing Joseph D'Acquisto, who performed locally as The Rochester Roadblock. He continued performing in the lowcard under this heel character for half a year, when he was unmasked and reintroduced as "Ray González". Under this new persona, González defeated Alex Porteau to win the CSP World Junior Heavyweight Championship on September 21, 1991. He vacated this title and began performing in the Americas Wrestling Federation, winning the light heavyweight title and the tag team championship along Tom Brandi. Parallel to this, Capitol reorganized into the World Wrestling Council after going bankrupt. On January 3, 1993, González defeated Takashi Okano in a Wrestling International New Generation tour. Two months later, Mastoshi Yosegi defeated him to retain the WWC Junior Heavyweight Championship. Back in WWC, González entered a feud against Louis Fabbiano, who was wrestling under the stereotypical villainous Arabic character, Mohammed Hussein, defeating his tag team partner. He teamed with Ricky Santana and unsuccessfully challenged for the WWC World Tag Team Championship after defeating a team known as "Solid Gold" twice. González also entered a battle royal but was eliminated. Two more attempts to win the championship along Santana and Ricky Steamboat ended in no contests. After losing to a team known as "The Dream Warriors", González began being pushed as a singles wrestler. He defeated Fabbiano three times, a jobber known as "Slammer" once and wrestling Mike Lozansky to a no contest. On July 8, 1993, González teamed with Carlos Colón to defeat Fabbiano and Dusty Wolfe.He went on to team with Lozansky in an unsuccessful attempt to win the tag team championship from Fabbiano and Wolfe. González lost his following singles contests against Sione Havea Vailahi, Greg Valentine and a masked Steve Keirn, who was wrestling as "Doink the Clown". He formed a tag team with Ramón Álvarez, defeating Fabbiano and Santana, who had turned heel. On March 19, 1993, González defeated Valentine. He and Álvarez went on to defeat "The Bruise Brothers", Ron and Don Harris. Two days later, he won a disqualification over Dutch Mantell in a title match. On April 24, 1994, González defeated Valentine to win his first Universal Heavyweight Championship. He came in as replacement for an injured José Huertas González, who in reality was promoting a push for him backstage and convinced Colón to grant him the opportunity. Despite this, González's first reign was portrayed as an "underdog run", which saw him win mostly by being opportunist. This creative direction brought forward a lukewarm reception from the crowd, which motivated the creative team to give it back to Mantell. He then entered a feud with Eddie Gilbert winning twice by disqualification and losing once in the same manner. González interrupted this feud by defeating Glen Jacobs in a singles match. He teamed on with Álvarez to feud with Gilbert and Mantell, exchanging victories but failing to win the tag team championship. A fourth match between González and Gilbert ended in a double disqualification. On August 5, 1994, he teamed with Jesús Castillo Jr. against Gilbert and Mantell in a losing effort. Following this, González and Álvarez teamed again, wrestling The Moondogs, composed by Randy Colley and Larry Booker, to two double countouts. On August 11, 1995, he began a Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre tour in Mexico by teaming with Juan Manuel Rodríguez and José Luis Casas to defeat Roberto Guttíerez Frias, José "Negro" Casas and Ultimo Dragon. He once again teamed with Casas Ruiz and Dr. Wagner win a match over Gutierrez Frias, Hector Garza and Ultimo Dragon. On August 25, 1995, González unsuccessfully challenged Gutierrez Frias for the NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship in a two out of three falls match.
La Familia del Milenio (1998–2002)
González remained working in the midcard, improving his skills and gathering support from the fanbase. This earned him more backstage supporters and a push was planned following Colón's purported retirement. A tournament for the vacant title was announced, supposedly with rounds taking place in several countries. However, this was a mechanism to trigger a push for González, who was receiving vignettes where Colón was depicted training him. Brandi was brought to WWC, claiming that he was the winner of the other tournament branch. On August 13, 1997, González defeated his former tag team partner to win the Universal Heavyweight Championship. During this reign he was heavily pushed, eventually entering a feud against David Sierra. The belt was held up following a match between them, but González recovered it two weeks later in a rematch. His next feud was precipitated randomly, when "El Nene" interrupted González during a promo, challenging him for the championship. However, this was used to advance the actual storyline, which began with Colón advising him not to accept the challenge. González dropped the title and a confrontation between both ensued after the match, with the differences between both growing during the following months. On May 19, 1998, González won a rematch and went on to turn heel by delivering a promo insulting Colón afterwards. He went on to create a stable known as La Familia del Nuevo Milenio or New Milenium Family and defeated every face wrestler in the midcard, which set up a match between both at Aniversario 1998. In the first night of this event, Colón won the Universal Heavyweight Championship, only to drop it back to González the following night. He went on another successful midcard talent run and held the title until November 26, 1998, losing it to Shane Sewell, before recovering it two days later. On January 6, 1999, González dropped the title in a rematch against Colón, quickly winning it back three days later. González brought in Pierroth, Jr along several Lucha Libre AAA World Wide wrestlers to 'invade' the WWC, but the Mexican turned on him after claiming being tired of receiving orders. The first contest between them resulted in a double disqualification due to illegal tactics, with the Universal Heavyweight Championship being held up. On April 3, 1999, González won the title back in a hair vs. mask apuestas match, unmasking Pierroth. However, he dropped it in their next encounter. The feud came to a conclusion in a stipulation match, in which the loser would leave WWC, which was won by González. Shortly afterwards, Carly Colón began appearing in WWC events as a cameraman. González began teasing him, prompting another contest against Colón Sr., who won the championship after his son hit González with a shovel. On November 13, 1999, the title was held up due to outside interference, Colón regained it. González went on to defeat Colón Sr. and regain the championship in WWC's next event, while Carly Colón began his career entering a major push. Soon, both engaged in a feud, and Colón became the youngest Universal Heavyweight Champion by pinning him on January 29, 2000. González then began bringing in several wrestlers to wrestle Colón for the championship, initially including Álvarez and Hercules Ayala.On February 19, 2000, he defeated Colón to regain the championship. At Aniversario 2000, González dropped the championship to Colón after Álvarez accidentally hit him. González turned on Álvarez, beginning a trend in which he would turn on wrestlers that "failed" the Familia. In this manner he entered a feud with Ayala and brought Curt Hennig to challenge for the title. His next guest challenger was Jerry Flynn. After this feud concluded, González and Colón once again feuded, with him winning the Universal Heavyweight Championship from Álvarez. On November 16, 2000, González defeated WWC President Victor Jovica to win 16% of WWC's stocks. This was used to explain the introduction of his own half-hour segment in WWC programming, "El Café del Milenio". Later that month, he wrestled in a three-way dance against Huertas and Álvarez. In his first match of December, González defeated Colón. He subsequently re-joined Álvarez to wrestle Colón Sr. and Huertas to a no contest. González closed the year by getting disqualified in a match against Hennig, after turning on him in the usual fashion. One of the wrestlers that he brought in was Ricky Fontán, who wrestled as the masked "Super Gladiador". Once he lost the mask to a jobber, La Familia expelled him. In a match against Fontán, the title was held up. On October 26, 2001, González won a rematch to regain the championship. This was followed by a program in which Félix "Barrabás" López and the tag team of Thunder and Lightning, composed by Reynaldo "Thunder" Rodríguez and Alex "Lightning" Cruz took control of the stable away from González. This led to a brief partnership between him and Colón, who teamed to defeat Thunder and Lightning. However, González turned on him shortly afterwards and recovered control of La Familia del Nuevo Millenio. In Lockout, González dropped the title in another match. González was later invited to participate in two tapings of the X Wrestling Federation, owned by Valentine and Jimmy Hart. In this promotion, he teamed with Konnan to defeat Juventud Guerrera and Psicosis. In his only singles match for the XWF, González defeated Kevin Northcutt. He then brought in another foreign challenger to WWC, Vampiro, only to turn on him. In May 2002, González defeated him by disqualification twice. Subsequently, González left the WWC after wrestling in WWC for over a decade, due to internal conflicts against Colón Sr. and Jovica following six months of irregular payment.