Posted on by bdamage1
Brian Damage
In the business of professional wrestling, there are some guys that you look at and think that they have “it.” Whether it is a certain look or a certain move set…you watch them and think that they are going to go far in pro wrestling. The Ring the Damn Bell crew even did a top five article on guys we thought would have much bigger careers than they actually did. While not making the cut, this particular wrestler was to me in that discussion. He was none other than ‘The Latin Heartthrob’ Al Perez.
In his 20-year career, Perez was a wrestler who always seemed on the cusp of greatness, but never quite got there. Al Perez had a chiseled physique and athletic ability. What skills he had inside the ring, he seemed to have lacked outside of it. Perez had some charisma but definitely lacked the personality to get him over the hump to success. He made a name for himself wrestling throughout the territories during their dying days. Perez found success in places like Florida, Mid South and World Class.
While winning titles in the territories and wrestling all over the world in places like Puerto Rico and Japan, Perez never quite became that nationally recognized superstar. He seemed to have been a favorite of Dusty Rhodes. When Dusty was the booker for Jim Crockett and the NWA, Perez was brought in and given much needed national exposure and a big push. He was paired up with the great Gary Hart as his manager. There was even some speculation that Perez was being groomed by Dusty to eventually becoming the NWA world champion.
Perez worked programs against Rhodes and Nikita Koloff to prepare him for bigger things, but it never came to be. Attitude and ego started getting in the way of business, some by Al Perez and some by his opponents. One example was when Perez was beating Nikita down in the ring after a match, Sting was supposed to clear the ring and make the save. The problem was when Sting ran into the ring, Perez refused to run away. Instead, he had a stare down with Sting.
The two got into it backstage and Al’s reasoning was because he never backs down from anybody. Sting went to Dusty, who was the booker, to complain. Dusty’s answer to Sting was apparently, “Next time, bring a chair.” It was clear that Perez was a Dusty favorite. Sting wasn’t the only wrestler to have issues with Perez. Another was Ric Flair. Perez was scheduled to challenge Flair for the World title in Florida, Perez’s hometown. He was booked to lose to Flair but refused to do the job. According to Perez himself, he wasn’t jobbing to Flair in Florida. Eddie Gilbert was used instead.
There was also a time that Al Perez and another wrestler were scheduled to lose a tag team match to the Midnight Express. Al Perez refused to do the job and apparently had issues with his partner losing the match as well. Perez was a perfectionist both in and out of the ring. While he refused to do jobs to opponents if it didn’t make sense to him, he also apparently demanded to re-shoot taped promos if he felt that his tag team partner or opponent cut a better promo than he did.
After he left WCW, his wife convinced him to send a tape of his best matches to the World Wrestling Federation. According to Perez, he wasn’t thrilled with the idea of going to the WWF but agreed it was probably the next logical step in his career. The WWF liked what they saw and signed Perez. After a few dark matches and house show matches, things got ugly pretty quickly. Perez said that WWF road agents told him to change his look, move set etc. He became frustrated with the company and began complaining to the higher-ups.
The beginning of the end in the WWF occurred when he had a meeting with Vince McMahon’s top aide, Pat Patterson. Patterson sat on a table that Perez was at and started talking about his potential. According to Perez, Patterson said, “You know what’s good about you Al? You can go either way.” Al, knowing that Patterson was gay and had a reputation of coming on to other talents, took that comment as Patterson coming on to him and kicked the table Patterson was sitting on. Pat insisted that was not what he meant by saying could go either way. He supposedly meant it as being a heel or a babyface.
Three weeks later, Vince McMahon approached Al and told him that he was going to be squashed in a match against the Ultimate Warrior. Perez refused and instead quit the company. Perez would return to WCW in 1990.
Ric Flair stated that Al Perez was originally planned to be given the Black Scorpion gimmick in WCW. While he did wrestle Sting under the Black Scorpion mask at Clash of the Champions, Perez ultimately refused the gimmick because he was scheduled to lose the feud to Sting.
Al Perez walked out of WCW, burning yet another bridge. Perez did feel that his brief time in the WWF ruined his career. That once the incident with Pat Patterson took place, McMahon had a vendetta against him and sent word to various promoters that Perez was too difficult to work with. His bookings began to dry up. Whether that was a direct cause from McMahon or because of the supposed bad reputation he already had is debatable.
Al Perez retired from the business and at last check, was working for UPS in the Florida area. When looking back at his in-ring career, Al Perez came close to hitting it big, but for several reasons, never did make it bigger than what it could have been.
David Fullam
It wasn’t that he refused to job to Ric Flair, he was actively telling everyone he would shoot on Flair, force a pin or submission and take the title. Gary Hart could not go with that and told the top what was going on. End of Perez in the NWA. He had it all, the look, the talent, the manager. He was a great World Class Champion. If only he did not have the chip on his shoulder.