Mexican professional wrestler (born 1964)
Jorge Luis Casas Ruiz (born March 22, 1964), better known by his ring name El Felino ("The Feline"), is a Mexican "luchador" (or professional wrestler) working for Mexican wrestling promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL). Casas started his professional wrestling career under the name Babe Casas, working for the Universal Wrestling Association (UWA). In 1989, he adopted the "Felino" ring character, wearing an orange full body suit and cat inspired mask. With the exception of a short stint in AAA in 1999, Casas has worked for CMLL since adopting the "El Felino" ring character. El Felino was originally an "enmascarado", or masked professional wrestler, but was forced to unmask in March 2010 due to losing a match.
He is a second-generation professional wrestler, as he is the son of wrestler-turned-referee Pepe Casas and a part of the Casas wrestling family. His siblings include his older brother Negro Casas and younger brother Heavy Metal. He is also the uncle of wrestlers Canelo Casas, Danny Casas, Black Star, Destroyer and Nanyzh Rock. His sons are both wrestlers under the names of Tiger and Puma King respectively. Up until mid-2014, his wife, Blanca Rodríguez wrestled under the ring name "Princesa Blanca" but has since retired.
He was a member of the group "La Peste Negra" ("The Black Plague") from 2008 to 2020, with whom he has held the Mexican National Trios Championship. He has also won the CMLL World Welterweight Championship three times in his career, the Mexican National Welterweight Championship once, and is the current Mexican National Light Heavyweight Champion in his first reign. He has also won several major CMLL tournaments, including the 1999 "Torneo Gran Alternativa", the 2001 "Copa Ovaciones" and the 2002 "Leyenda de Plata" tournament.
Personal life.
Jorge Luis Casas Ruiz was born on March 22, 1964, son of professional wrestler Pepe Casas, best known as wrestling referee Pepe "Tropi" Casas later on, and part of the Casas wrestling family, spanning three generations of wrestlers. Jorge Casas' older brother José would later become known under the ring name Negro Casas, while his younger brother, Erick Francisco Casas, would be known as Heavy Metal.
For years Casas was married to Blanca Rodríguez, who is known as professional wrestler Princesa Blanca. Prior to his relationship with Rodríguez, Casas had two children with his previous wife, known as Puma King and Tiger. His sister-in-law, wife of José, is a professional wrestler known as Dalys la Caribeña, and through that marriage he is related to Rafael Ernesto Medina Baeza, known as Veneno. His nephews and niece, Canelo Casas, Danny Casas, Destroyer and Nanyzh Rock are also second-generation professional wrestlers.
Professional wrestling career.
After training under his father and Raúl Reyes he made his in-ring debut in 1982, using the ring name "Babe Casas". The first documented match for Babe Casas took place on January 14, 1984. He later began working for the Naucalpan, State of Mexico-based Universal Wrestling Association (UWA). Early on in his time with the UWA, he won the Naucalpan Lightweight Championship, but ended up losing it to El Pantea on January 27, 1985. Around the same time he would lose a "Lucha de Apuestas", or "Bet match", to Pantera I on two different occasions, which meant that he shaved bald as a result. On January 29, 1989, he won his "Apuestas" match, pinning Mario Prado Jr. to force Prado to have his hair shaved off.
Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (1989–1999).
In 1989 Casas began working for Empresa Mexicana de la Lucha Libre ("Mexican Wrestling Enterprise"; EMLL), later known as Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre ("Word Wrestling Council"; CMLL). in EMLL, he adopted a new masked persona, the "technico" "El Felino" (Spanish for "The Feline") character. As El Felino he wore an orange mask with black tiger stripes as well as an orange full body suit to match the mask design. On July 5, 1992, El Felino defeated Ciclón Ramírez to win the Mexican National Welterweight Championship. The match was part of a longer running storyline between the two. Felino vacated the title after winning the CMLL World Welterweight Championship on July 16, 1992. He lost the championship to Ciclón Ramírez on May 21, 1993, as part of their ongoing feud. The storyline between the two led to a mask vs. mask, "Lucha de Apuestas", on July 9, which saw El Felino pin Ramírez, forcing him to remove his mask and state his name afterwards. Felino regained the CMLL World Welterweight March 30, 1994 in Acapulco, conclusively ending the storyline between the two as he defeated Ciclón Ramírez again.
His second reign came to an end on June 21, 1994, as he relinquished the championship to El Pantera II in Cuernavaca, Morelos. Near the end of 1994, El Felino won another mask, as he defeated Justiciero in a "Lucha de Apuestas" match in Guadalajara, Jalisco. Felino was teamed up with Emilio Charles Jr. for the 1995 "Copa de Oro", held in honor of Oro who died during a match in 1993. The duo defeated Blue Demon Jr. and Silver King in the first round, the team of Máscara Mágica and Ringo Mendoza in the semi-finals before losing to Chicago Express and Pierroth Jr. in the finals. With his success in the welterweight division, El Felino was one of 16 wrestlers in a tournament to determine a new NWA World Welterweight Champion. He defeated Onita Jr. and Oro II to the semi-finals, where he lost at this stage to El Hijo del Santo to be eliminated from the tournament. In May of that year Máscara Mágica defeated El Felino in the finals of a tournament for the vacant CMLL World Welterweight Championship after Felino had first defeated Alacran de Durango, Ángel Azteca, and Ciclón Ramírez to advance to the finals.
In 1997, El Hijo del Santo began defending the WWA World Welterweight Championship in CMLL. On February 21 El Felino added another welterweight championship to his collection as he defeated El Hijo del Santo for the WWA title. El Hijo del Santo regained the championship on October 8, 1997, only for El Felino to win it a second time on January 31, 1998. The championship ended up being vacated after a match on March 8 ended without a conclusive winner. Four months later El Hijo del Santo claimed the title once more, when he defeated El Felino in the rematch.
Casas made his first trip to Japan in 1998 to work New Japan Pro-Wrestling's (NJPW) Best of the Super Juniors tournament. He ended up with just one point in the tournament, losing all but one match. 1998 also marked the year El Felino competed in the "Leyenda de Plata" ("Silver Legend") tournament, CMLL's most prestigious tournament at the time. He was eliminated by Scorpió Jr. early on. For the April 1999 "Gran Alternativa" tournament, El Felino teamed up with rookie Starman, but lost to Mr. Niebla and Atlantico in the opening round.
AAA (1999).
In 1999, after 10 years with CMLL, Jorge Casas left the company to work for their Mexican rival AAA. He, as El Felino, was introduced to the AAA audience as support for his younger brother Heavy Metal and their father as part of an ongoing storyline. His first mach for AAA took place on April 18, 1999, when he, Heavy Metal and Perro Aguayo Jr. defeated El Texano, Espectro Jr. and Sangre Chicana. The Casas storylined peaked at "Triplemanía VII" on June 11, 1999. In the semi-main event El Felino and Heavy Metal defeated Kick Boxer and Thai Boxer in a match where Pepe Casas' hair was on the line if the Casas brothers had lost. As a result of the Casas' brothers victory, referee El Tirantes' hair was shaved off instead. By the end of the year El Felino left AAA, with his last match for the company taking place on October 17 that saw El Felino, Hator, La Parka Jr. and Path Finder defeating "Los Vipers" (Abismo Negro and Electroshock), El Hijo del Espectro and El Hijo del Solitario.
Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (1999–current).
After his short stay with AAA, El Felino worked his first match back for CMLL on October 22, only five days after his last match for AAA. In December, El Felino teamed up with rookie Tigre Blanco (who had a similar "wild cat" character) for the "Gran Alternativa" tournament. The duo defeated Fugaz and Scorpio Jr. in the first round, then Ricky Marvin and Ringo Mendoza in the semi-finals and finally Máscara Año 2000 and Sangre Azteca in the finals to win the entire tournament.
Felino won the CMLL World Welterweight Championship for the third time with a victory over Nosawa on September 21, 2001, in Mexico City. On July 26, 2002, El Felino and Black Tiger survived a 16-man "torneo cibernetico" elimination match as the first stage of the "Leyenda de Plata" tournament. The following week El Felino defeated Black Tiger to earn his way to the finals of the tournament. In the end, El Felino defeated Black Warrior to win the "Leyenda de Plata" trophy. His third CMLL World Welterweight Championship reign lasted more than two years, ended by El Satánico on November 25, 2003, in Mexico City. On December 5, 2003, Felino, Volador Jr. and Safari won the vacant Mexican National Trios Championship by defeating Alan Stone, Super Crazy and Zumbido in the finals of a tournament. At the 2004 "Homenaje a Dos Leyendas" ("Homage to two legends") show, El Felino, Safari and Volador Jr. successfully defended the Mexican National Trios Championship against Olímpico, Super Crazy and Zumbido. The Mexican National Trios Championship reign lasted 476 days, as they lost the championship on March 25, 2005, to Dr. X, Nitro and Sangre Azteca.
Through CMLL's working relationship with International Wrestling Revolution Group (IWRG), El Felino had worked for the group on special occasions over the years, but began working for them on a regular basis in 2005. First he formed a group called "Los Revolucionarios" with Black Dragon and Matrix, but soon began working with his brothers instead. On August 25, 2005, the Casas brothers defeated "La Corporacion" (Black Tiger, Pentagon Black, and Pantera) to win the IWRG Intercontinental Trios Championship. The Casas' brothers trios championship reign in IWRG lasted 133 days, until Cerebro Negro, Veneno and Scorpio Jr. won it from them. Later in 2006, El Felino teamed up with longtime rival Pantera to win the IWRG Intercontinental Tag Team Championship on June 29, 2006, as they defeated "Los Cerebros" (Cerebro Negro and Dr. Cerebro). They would hold the title into 2007, losing to "Los Junior Dinamitas" (El Hijo de Cien Caras and Máscara Año 2000 Jr.).
"La Peste Negra" (2008–2020).
In July 2008 Mr. Niebla returned to CMLL, forming a group with Negro Casas and Heavy Metal called "La Peste Negra" (Spanish for "the Black Plague), a Rudo group that had a more comical approach to wrestling. The trio started wearing large afro wigs, painting their faces black and dancing during their entrances and generally worked a less serious style of match than was unusual, especially for a serious wrestler like Negro Casas. On September 2, 2008, the last Casas brother, El Felino turned Rudo as well and joined "La Peste Negra". After Felino joined the group Heavy Metal was quietly phased out as he was not comfortable working the comedic style. Felino's wife Princesa Blanca joined the group in early 2009, turning Rudo to work with La Pestra, the turn led to Princesa Blanca winning the Mexican National Women's Championship from Marcela on January 30. La Pesta Negra's biggest triumph to date is Negro Casas' title win over Místico that brought the CMLL World Welterweight Championship into the group. After the title win, "La Peste Negra" continued their feud with Místico and his various allies. The feud led to Místico and Negro Casas facing off in a "Lucha de Apuesta" on the CMLL 76th Anniversary Show, where Casas lost two falls to one and had his hair shaved off. After the match Místico challenged El Felino, Casas' cornerman, to an "Apuesta" some time in the future although nothing came of it at the time.
In early 2010 El Felino began a storyline feud with La Sombra. The feud began on February 2, 2010, with a singles match between El Felino and La Sombra, after each wrestler won a fall, Puma King, El Felino's nephew, showed up wearing