Omar Atlas

Omar Mijares (born April 22, 1938), is a retired Venezuelan professional wrestler, best known by his ring name Omar Atlas, who competed in North American and international promotions including the National Wrestling Alliance, Stampede Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federation from the late 1950s until the early 1990s. A longtime ally of Venezuelan wrestler Cyclone Negro, he was often billed as his younger half-brother Omar Negro when teaming with him in NWA Southwest Sports during the 1960s and later in Championship Wrestling from Florida during the 1970s.[1]

Omar Atlas
Birth nameOmar Mijares
Born (1938-04-22) April 22, 1938
Caracas, Venezuela
ResidenceSan Antonio, Texas
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)Omar Atlas
Buddy Moreno
Buddy Marino
Super Gladiator
Buddy Silver Wolf
Super Steele
Omar Negro
Billed height5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Billed weight240 lb (110 kg)
Trained byJene Howard
Debut1958
Retired1993

He was also a popular star in Latin America wrestling as Super Steele in Mexico and Super Gladiator in Puerto Rico as well as Buddy Moreno in the southwestern United States.

Career

Born in Caracas, Venezuela, Mijares became involved in amateur wrestling as a youth and later competed and won a silver medal at the Pan-American Games in 1958. Traveling to Spain soon after, he began acting as a cornerman for friend and former olympian Cyclone Negro. Eventually persuaded by Negro to enter professional wrestling, he began training under Jene Howard in Barcelona before making his debut before the end of the year. Spending eight months in Spain, he eventually moved on to Colombia and spent the next four years wrestling throughout Latin America as well as returning to Spain from time to time.

In 1962, he was one of several South American wrestlers brought into Houston by Cyclone Negro and billed by promoter Morris Sigel as Cyclone Negro's storyline brother Omar Negro.

NWA

Leaving Houston a year later Mijares toured the United States with the National Wrestling Alliance wrestling in numerous regional territories including for promoters such as Paul Boesch, Sam Muchnick, Nick Gulas, Eddie Graham, Jim Crockett, Vince McMahon, Sr., Joe Blanchard and Carlos Colon. He would also become a leading star in San Francisco for Roy Shire, Don Owen's Pacific Northwest Wrestling and Bob Geigel's NWA Central States where he would remain one of the area's most popular stars throughout the 1970s. Feuding with NWA North American Tag Team Champions Yasu Fuji & Chati Yokouchi during early 1972, he and Danny Little Bear would twice capture the tag team titles before finally losing the titles to them in Wichita, Kansas on March 9, 1972. Several months later, he would also defeat Harley Race for the NWA Central States Heavyweight Championship in St. Joseph, Missouri on July 7 holding the title for half a year before losing to Roger Kirby in December.

By the 1970s, Mijares began competing in Canada feuding with Abdullah the Butcher and Harley Race in Calgary-based Stampede Wrestling as well as eventually winning the Stampede North American Heavyweight Championship from Gil Hayes on November 9, 1973. Enjoying a close relationship with promoter Stu Hart and the Hart family, he would spend the next 12 years between the World Wrestling Council in Puerto Rico and promoter NWA Central States in Kansas City, Missouri winning the NWA World Tag Team Championship with Pat O'Connor from The Interns (Joe Turner & Bill Bowman) in Kansas City, Kansas on August 29, 1974. He would also compete internationally, visiting Australia, Korea and Japan.

While in the Kansas City-area during the late 1970s, he would face Jesse Ventura in his debut match in Wichita. According to his autobiography, Ventura claimed that if he had impressed the crowd during their match, Mijares had been instructed to allow Ventura to throw him over the top rope so as Ventura would receive a disqualification. If not, he was to injure Ventura in a legitimate "shoot".[2]

WWF

Mijares joined the World Wrestling Federation in 1984 as it began its national expansion under Vince McMahon, Jr. Although facing many of the promotions top stars such as the British Bulldog, Randy Savage, Honky Tonk Man, Jake Roberts and Ted DiBiase, he would be used primarily as a preliminary wrestler during his career in the WWF, Atlas continued competing for the WWF until the early 1990s.

Retirement

In 1993, Mijares retired from professional wrestling and eventually went into law enforcement as a probation officer. In recent years, Mijares works with convicts as a security monitor for the Bexar County Adult Probation Department in San Antonio, Texas.[3]

In 2004, Mijares was honored by the Cauliflower Alley Club at their annual banquet in Las Vegas, Nevada.[4]

In July 2016, Mijares was named part of a class action lawsuit filed against WWE which alleged that wrestlers incurred traumatic brain injuries during their tenure and that the company concealed the risks of injury. The suit is litigated by attorney Konstantine Kyros, who has been involved in a number of other lawsuits against WWE.[5] The lawsuit was dismissed by US District Judge Vanessa Lynne Bryant in September 2018.[6]

Championships and accomplishments

References
  1. Rose, Barry (2006). "Wrestler: Omar Negro". CWFarchives.com.
  2. Cohen, Daniel. Jesse Ventura: The Body, the Mouth, and the Mind. Brookfield, Connecticut: Twenty-First Century Books, 2001. (pg. 41-42) ISBN 0-7613-1905-0
  3. Molinaro, John (1999-10-27). "Omar Atlas: Just doing his job". SLAM! Sports.
  4. "CAC 2004 Reunion: Omar Atlas, 2004 CAC Honoree". Cauliflower Alley Club. 2004.
  5. "WWE sued in wrestler class action lawsuit featuring Jimmy 'Superfly' Snuka, Paul 'Mr Wonderful' Orndorff". FoxSports.com. Fox Entertainment Group (21st Century Fox). July 18, 2015. Retrieved July 20, 2016.
  6. Robinson, Byron (September 22, 2018). "Piledriver: WWE uses 'Hell in a Cell' as springboard to future shows". Montgomery Advertiser. Retrieved October 28, 2018.
  7. "N.W.A. Central States Heavyweight Title". Puroresu Dojo. 2003.
  8. "N.W.A. North American Tag Team Title (Central States)". Puroresu Dojo. 2003.
  9. "N.W.A. World Tag Team Title (Central States)". Puroresu Dojo. 2003.
  10. "Florida Tag Team Title". Puroresu Dojo. 2003.
    • Will, Gary; Duncan, Royal (2000). "Texas: NWA Texas Heavyweight Title [Von Erich]". Wrestling Title Histories: professional wrestling champions around the world from the 19th century to the present. Pennsylvania: Archeus Communications. pp. 268–269. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
  12. "NWA Texas Heavyweight Title". Wrestling-Titles. Retrieved March 30, 2017.
  13. "N.W.A. Pacific Northwest Tag Team Title". Puroresu Dojo. 2003. Retrieved 2007-10-09.
  14. "S.C.W. Southwest Tag Team Title". Puroresu Dojo. 2003.
  15. "North American Heavyweight Title (Calgary Stampede)". Puroresu Dojo. 2003.
  16. Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2000). Wrestling Title Histories (4th ed.). Archeus Communications. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
  17. "Caribbean Tag Team Title". Puroresu Dojo. 2003.
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