| Name |
Tito Santana |
| Height |
6 ft 2 in |
| Naionality |
American |
| Date of Birth |
10-May-1953 |
| Place of Birth |
Mission, Texas, U.S. |
| Famous for |
Wrestler |
Tito Santana is an American professional wrestler whose heyday spanned from the late 1970s to the early 1990s, though he continues to appear on the independent circuit. He is best known from his time in the World Wrestling Federation where he competed almost exclusively from 1979 to 1993.
Solis was twice WWF Intercontinental Champion and twice co-holder of the WWF Tag Team Championship and helped bridge the gap between the 1980s "Rock 'n Wrestling Connection" era to the 1990s "New Generation" era. Santana had his first taste of WWF success in 1979 when he teamed with Ivan Putski to defeat Johnny Valiant and Jerry Valiant for the WWF Tag Team Championship at Madison Square Garden in October 1979. The duo held the titles for close to six months before losing to the Wild Samoans in April 1980. In 1983, he engaged in a lengthy feud with Intercontinental Champion Magnificent Don Muraco. Santana finally won the title on February 11, 1984, becoming the first Mexican American wrestler to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship. He quickly entered into a feud over the Intercontinental Championship with Greg "The Hammer" Valentine. Valentine captured it from Santana in September 1984 in London, Ontario. Soon after, Valentine injured Santana's knee and put Santana out of action for several months. Santana returned at WrestleMania, and in the opening match defeated a masked wrestler known as The Executioner ("Playboy" Buddy Rose) in 4:05. Santana made an appearance in the ring later in the card during the IC Championship match between Valentine and his friend, the Junkyard Dog. Wearing civies, Santana rushed to the ring to inform the referee that Valentine had used the ropes to help pin the JYD. Despite having already called for the bell, the ref re-started the match and Valentine was counted out as he didn't get back into the ring to continue.
Santana and Valentine went on to wrestle a memorable series of singles and tag team matches with neither gaining the upper hand. They wrestled in a variety of different types of matches such as regular title matches, No Disqualification matches, and Lumberjack matches. Santana, along with only Hulk Hogan, holds the unique distinction of appearing in the first nine WrestleManias, accumulating a 2-7 record during that time. Officially he is recognized only for the first eight Wrestlemanias and a 1-7 record as the match against Papa Shango at WrestleMania IX was dark. On Right After Wrestling, hosted by Arda Ocal and Jimmy Korderas, Tito stated that he was somewhat disappointed with being the first match on WrestleMania. Vince McMahon later told Santana that his reason for putting him in the opening match was to kick the show off with a quality match, something he knew Tito, as a solid fan-favorite and former Intercontinental Champion, would produce. Tito Santana continues to make appearances on the independent circuit. On March 13, 2004 he was inducted to the WWE Hall of Fame, with an induction speech by his WrestleMania VIII opponent Shawn Michaels. In September 2008, he was inducted into the Spanish Hall of Fame of Pro Wrestling (Salon del Catch).
On the November 15, 2010 "Old School" episode of Raw, he ring-announced Alberto Del Rio. On April 14, 2012 he made an apprence wrestling a match for Pro Wrestling Superstars against Shawn Spears defeading him with an inside cradle. On September 14, 2012, Santana made an unadvertised appearance for Chikara, when he entered the 2012 King of Trios tournament, teaming with Mihara and The Mysterious and Handsome Stranger, with the three losing to the Spectral Envoy (Frightmare, Hallowicked and UltraMantis Black) in their first round match.
