Silver King (wrestler)


César Cuauhtémoc González Barrón was a Mexican luchador enmascarado. He was known best as Silver King, but also had an extensive stint as the third wrestler to portray the Black Tiger character. He was the son of luchador Dr. Wagner and the brother of Dr. Wagner Jr. González worked for many years with El Texano as the tag team "Los Cowboys", winning tag team championships in both Mexico and Japan.
González worked for the Universal Wrestling Association, Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre, Lucha Libre AAA World Wide, World Championship Wrestling, All Japan Pro Wrestling, New Japan Pro-Wrestling and various smaller federations all over the world. González also starred as the villain "Ramses" in the movie Nacho Libre, starring Jack Black. In June 2010, González began using the ring name Silver Cain when wrestling in Mexico City as a way to be able to officially be allowed to wear his mask again.
In 2020, he was posthumously inducted into the AAA Hall of Fame.

Personal life

César Cuauhtémoc González Barrón was born on 9 January 1968, son of Magdalena Barrón and her husband Manuel González Rivera, better known by his luchador name, Dr. Wagner. César had two older brothers, Óscar and Juan Manuel, and a younger sister, Mayra. Sometime during late 1980s or early 1990s, César González married Xóchitl Guadalupe Hamada Villarreal, who is also a professional wrestler under the name Xóchitl Hamada.
In 2012, César González introduced a wrestler under the name "Silver King Jr.", a masked wrestler who was advertised as the son of González, but would later reveal that the first person to use the name Silver King Jr. was not his son, disassociating himself from the "fake" son. A second wrestler used the name Silver King Jr. in 2014 and 2015 until he was unmasked in a match on 11 October 2015, where he gave the name Felipe Garcia González. César González later introduced "El Hijo de Silver King", believed to be his real son, not a storyline. César González was the uncle of El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. and Galeno del Mal, sons of his older brother Juan Manuel, as well as the former brother-in-law of Rossy Moreno and the Moreno wrestling family until Juan Manuel and Moreno divorced.

Professional wrestling career

Early career (1985–1990)

Both César González and his brother Juan Manuel began wrestling at an early age. César made his debut in November 1985 and initially used the name El Invasor. Within a year of his debut, he changed his name and started working as the Luchador Emmascadero Silver King. Silver King started working for the Universal Wrestling Association in the lower matches on the cards. On 12 November 1987, Silver King wrestled in a Lucha de Apuestas where he put his mask on the line against El Hijo del Santo's mask. When Silver King lost he was forced to unmask and in lucha tradition reveal his true name; it was here that it was first revealed that Silver King was one of Dr. Wagner's sons.

Los Cowboys (1990–1998)

Shortly after being unmasked Silver King formed a team with El Texano that would become known as "The Cowboys"/"Los Cowboys". In 1991 the team won their first tag team championship winning a tournament to become the first ever World Wrestling Association World Tag Team Champions. On 19 January 1992, they added the UWA World Tag Team Championship to their collection when they defeated Gran Hamada and Kendo for the title in Japan and brought the titles back to Mexico. Their run with the UWA World Tag Team titles saw them work a storyline with the Can-Am Express. The storyline saw Los Cowboys lose the UWA World Tag Team title on 28 June 1992, but gain a measure of revenge less than a month later when Los Cowboys beat the Can-Am Express in a "Lucha de Apuestas" match and forced Furnas and Kroffat to unmask and reveal their true identities. During their time as double champions, Los Cowboys were invited to participante in a tournament to crown new National Wrestling Alliance World Tag Team Champions hosted by World Championship Wrestling. The team competed at Clash of the Champions XIX and lost in a first-round match to The Fabulous Freebirds.
On 7 July 1993, Los Cowboys lost the WWA World Tag team titles to El Dandy and Corazon de Leon but regained them two months later. Their second run with the WWA World Tag Team title only lasted a month as Villano IV and Villano V took the title from them on 10 October 1993. On 31 October, only 21 days after losing the tag team titles Silver King won his first singles title when he defeated his partner El Texano for the UWA World Light Heavyweight Championship. Despite having defeated his own partner Los Cowboys did not turn on each other but kept on working together. In early 1994 Los Cowboys ended their relationship with the UWA and began working for Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre. Silver King defeated Black Magic for the CMLL World Heavyweight Championship on 28 July 1994. Not content to work in the singles' division Los Cowboys won the CMLL World Tag Team Championship on 16 December 1994, by unseating long time champions El Canek and Silver King's brother Dr. Wagner Jr. As if being a double champion was not enough Silver King teamed up with Shocker to win the 1995 Gran Alternativa tournament.
During 1995 Los Cowboys began working for the Japanese-based International Wrestling Association of Japan where they won the IWA World Tag Team Championship from Los Headhunters on 3 March 1995, in Hiroshima, Japan. The duo lost the tag team title on 20 August the same year on the undercard of the IWA's "King of Deathmatches" show. Silver King would also lose the CMLL World title and the tag team title in 1995 being defeated by Apolo Dantés and the team of Los Headhunters respectively. In February 1996 he teamed up with his brother and defeated Dos Caras and Último Dragón to win the vacant CMLL World Tag Team Championship. When WCW started signing Luchadors in 1997, Silver King joined the North American promotion and vacated the title that he and his brother still held at the time.

World Championship Wrestling

Cruiserweight division (1997–1998)

Silver King joined World Championship Wrestling as a full-time wrestler in 1997 as one of the many luchadors that worked for the company in that time period. He made his WCW debut on the June 9 episode of Monday Nitro by teaming with Psychosis and La Parka against Juventud Guerrera, Super Calo and Ultimo Dragon in a six-man tag team match, which King's team lost. This marked his first appearance in the promotion since 1992. On the June 14 episode of Saturday Night, King received his first win in WCW as he teamed with Damian and Psychosis to defeat Guerrera, Calo and Dragon in a six-man tag team match. At Clash of the Champions XXXV, King teamed with Psychosis, Villano IV and Villano V to defeat the team of Hector Garza, Guerrera, Calo and Lizmark Jr. in an eight-man tag team match. He mostly found himself usually working multiple tag team, six-man and eight-man tag team matches by teaming with fellow luchadors such as Psychosis, La Parka, Villano IV and Villano V and competed against various luchadors. King's first singles match in WCW took place on the August 25 episode of Monday Nitro against Ultimo Dragon, which he lost. He made his first appearance at a pay-per-view event for WCW at World War 3, where he participated in the namesake battle royal for a future WCW World Heavyweight Championship title shot but failed to win.
King won his first match in singles competition on the January 24, 1998 episode of Worldwide by defeating Lizmark Jr. At Souled Out, King teamed with El Dandy, La Parka and Psychosis against Chavo Guerrero Jr., Juventud Guerrera, Lizmark Jr. and Super Calo in a losing effort in an eight-man tag team match. At Slamboree, King participated in a battle royal for an immediate Cruiserweight Championship title opportunity but failed to win. On the June 4 episode of Thunder, King received his first title shot in WCW against Dean Malenko for the Cruiserweight Championship but the match ended in a no contest due to interference by Chris Jericho. King received another title shot for the Cruiserweight Championship against Juventud Guerrera on the September 10 episode of Thunder, which he lost via disqualification after using a chair. This led to a rematch between the two for the title at Fall Brawl, which King lost. At World War 3, King participated in the namesake battle royal for a future World Heavyweight Championship opportunity but failed to win.

Latino World Order and Los Fabulosos (1998–2000)

At a live event on December 5, King turned on his tag team partner Lizmark Jr. during a tag team match against Latino World Order members Ciclope and Damien. After the match, King was offered a spot in LWO and he accepted, thus joining Eddie Guerrero's group which was made up of the luchadors who had always been held back in WCW. However, the group disbanded the following month as Guerrero was injured in a car accident and all the members quit the group to accept Ric Flair's offer of fighting for WCW and being promised of a better treatment than Eric Bischoff. Following the dissolution of LWO, King resumed teaming with and competing against various luchadors in the lower mid-card whilst also serving as an enhancement talent to upper mid-card wrestlers. He made his only pay-per-view appearance in 1999 at Bash at the Beach by participated in a Junkyard Invitational but did not receive any success.
On the November 13 episode of Saturday Night, King teamed with El Dandy as they unsuccessfully challenged Billy Kidman and Konnan for the World Tag Team Championship. King frequently began teaming with Dandy as the two received another tag team title shot on the March 11, 2000 episode of Worldwide against The Mamalukes. On the March 15 episode of Thunder, King and Dandy began receiving a new push when they forced the ring announcer David Penzer to call their team "Los Fabulosos" before their match against Chavo Guerrero Jr. and La Parka. Los Fabulosos lost the match but they received a new manager in Miss Hancock, who provided them with a new outfit and some guidance. Los Fabulosos won a few tag team matches including their last televised match in WCW on the April 1 episode of Saturday Night where they defeated Jeremy Lopez and Tommy Rogers. Their last match in WCW was a loss to Harlem Heat 2000 at a live event on April 1. King was released by his WCW contract on May 5.