Villano III | |
---|---|
Birth name | Arturo Díaz Mendoza |
Born | Mexico City, Mexico | March 23, 1952
Died | August 21, 2018[1] Guadalajara, Mexico | (aged 66)
Professional wrestling career | |
Ring name(s) | Búfalo Salvaje Mancha Roja Pulpo Blanco Ray Rosas Rokambole Villano III |
Billed height | 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in) |
Billed weight | 96 kg (212 lb) |
Trained by | Felipe Ham Lee Ray Mendoza |
Debut | January 29, 1970 |
Retired | 2015 |
Arturo Díaz Mendoza (23 March 1952 – 21 August 2018) was a Mexican professional wrestler. He was best known for performing under the stage name Villano III (in Spanish Villano Tercero).
Díaz was a second generation wrestler, son of luchador Ray Mendoza and the father of professional wrestlers Villano III Jr. and El Hijo de Villano III himself. He retired from wrestling in 2015 due to health issues caused by wrestling.
For years Díaz was one of the known performers for the Universal Wrestling Association and during his career that spanned from 1970 until 2015 he worked for all major Mexican wrestling promotions such as Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre and AAA.
Díaz was an enmascarado, or masked wrestler, up until 2000 where he lost to Atlantis and was forced to unmask. The match against Atlantis was later named "Match of the Year" by the Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards.
He died from a cerebral infarct on August 21, 2018 in Guadalajara, aged 66.[1]