Villano IV
Profile
| Wrestling Observer Hall Of Fame Member |
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Notes
Villano IV is the youngest of the Villano brothers and the son of Ray Mendoza. Despite his number, Villano V is actually older than him.
He is said to have debuted at the age of 15. Before becoming a Villano, he competed as Leopardo Negro II, alongside of Leopardo Negro I. He feuded with Leopardo Negro I and eventually beat him for his first ever mask vs mask win on July 31st, 1982. It was not a secret that he (or Rokambole) was related to Ray Mendoza or Los Villanos as he was featured in magazines with them.
1983 would be a big year for Villano IV. On April 16th, 1983, he defeated Luis Mariscal in a mask vs hair match at Arena Puebla. He graduated college soon after and he was finally given the Villano IV name. He also teamed up a few times with Villano II, who he probably teamed up the least with of his brothers. His 1984 got better as he won the hair of Enfermero II on August 21st, 1983 and then won the hair of Emilio Charles Jr. on September 29th, 1983.
On February 16th, 1984 he won the mask of Bull Power. Bull Power would end up losing the same mask multiple times to wrestlers including Blue Panther and Rambo.
From the limited results we have, Villano IV seemed to have started focusing more on trios action from 1984 on. He would typically team with Villano I and Villano V as Villano III was often focused on his singles career. The brothers formed a steady rivalry with rudo trios like Los Temerarios, Missioneros de la Muerte, El Triangulo de la Muerte and Los Brazos during this time. On February 5th, 1985, the trio met up with Missioneros de la Muerte in a super libre match, though the result of the match is unknown. The trio almost won the May 1st, 1985 Copa Ovaciones, but were defeated in the semifinals.
On July 21st, 1985, the Villanos became trios champions for the first time as they defeated career rivals Los Brazos for the UWA World Trios Championship. The trio held the belts for two years. Missioneros de la Muerte challenged them for the belts atleast twice but were unsuccessful.
In April 1986, four of the Villano brothers teamed up for the first time in a series of matches against El Signo, Negro Casas, Negro Navarro and Texano. Later in that year on July 9th, 1986, the team attempted to become double champions by challenging for Los Brazos' Mexican National Trios Championship, but were unsuccessful.
The trio of I, IV and V spent most of 1987 in various trios matches against various combinations of wrestlers like Los Brazos, Los Infernales and Missioneros de la Muerte, who they lost their UWA World Trios Championship to on April 24th.
1988 was a good year for Villano IV. He had met with Loco Zandokan multiple times in trios action in January. Then on January 31st, 1988, the two met in a singles mask vs mask match. Villano IV was victorious.
1988 however would be the year of the Villanos vs Los Brazos. The teams battled over nine times throughout the year with the Villanos winning the UWA World Trios Championship for a second time over the Brazos on May 30th, 1987. The feud really heated up towards the end of September 1988 and the teams teams decided to meet in a triple mask vs mask match on October 21st, 1988. The match would go on to be one of the famous matches in the history of lucha libre with Villanos I, IV and V winning the Brazos masks in a bloody match. Less than two days later, the two teams went to a draw in a UWA Trios title match but the feud continued on into 1989 and eventually, for two more decades.
Between 1988 and 1989, the Villanos vacated their UWA World Trios Championship for unknown reasons. Tragedy struck on April 17th, 1989 when Villano II comitted suicide. The death of Villano II stayed with the family for the rest of their lives and hurt Villano I's interest in wrestling.
In 1989, The Villanos started to develop a new set of long-term rivals with Mercenarios Americanos. The teams traded the WWA World Trios Championship, though the dates of when that happened are unknown.
On June 1st, 1990, the Villanos unsuccessfully challenged El Triangulo de la Muerte for the UWA World Trios Championship but were able to beat them for the belts weeks later on June 24th, 1990. During this period, Villano IV captured the WWA World Junior Light Heavyweight Championship from Fishman on June 11th. The Villanos successfully defended the titles against El Triangulo in a rematch on August 28th, 1990, but were defeated by Los Brazos on October 21st, 1990. The Villanos lost a rematch for the titles on November 4th, 1990, but recpatured the titles for the fourth time on January 1st, 1991 against them.
Villano IV then captured the mask of Engendro I on February 3rd, 1991. The team had multiple matches with Los Temerarios in early 1991 and lost their trios titles to the Hawaiin Beasts of Kokina, Fatu and the Samoan Savage on April 7th, 1991. The team quickly recaptured the titles though on May 31st, 1991 in a rematch. This would mark their 5th reign with the titles.
Villano IV unsuccessfully challenged El Signo for his UWA World Light Heavyweight Championship on April 12th, 1991. Interestingly, Villano IV was the third Villano to have matches for the title with El Signo, as Villano III and Villano I had also been involved in title matches with him for it.
The Villanos also spent a lot of time in 1991 feuding with Mercenarios Americanos. The feud reached its peak on July 19th, 1991, when they met in a triple mask for mask match, which the Villanos won.The Villanos spent the end of 1991 defending their UWA Trios titles against Missioneros de la Muerte and the exotico team of Pimpinela Escarlata, May Flowers and Rudy Reyna. On October 20th, 1991, Villano IV had his last mask win for 13 years as he beat Tigre Canadiense. Missioneros recaptured the UWA titles on March 1st, 1992, with the Villanos never holding the belts again. Villano IV also made two attempts at Pegasus Kid and his WWF World Light Heavyweight Championship throughout 1991 and 1992, but was unsuccessful. On October 25th, 1992 during a trip to Japan, Villano beat the wrestler who would eventually be known as Jado for the Universal/FULL UWF Super Middleweight Championship. He made one successful defense of it against Gran Hamada on November 21st, 1992, but Hamada later took the belt back on June 4th, 1993.
The Villanos did not have a lot of highlights through 1993 and 1994. Villano I stopped wrestling regularly at the end of 1993 and their promotion, the UWA, was starting to run into financial issues. Villano III took over I's spot in the trio and when the UWA closed, the Villanos went to AAA. In 1996, they became one-fourth of the inaugural AAA Mexican National Atomicos Champions and one-third of the inaugural AAA Americas Trios Champions. The brothers also began to compete in WCW. The brothers were mostly used as lower card jobbers and on September 21st, 1998, Villano suffered a neck injury due to a botched powerbomb at the hands of Raven and Kanyon.
As a side note, Villano IV made a one-off unmasked appearance in 1996 WCW under the name Tony Peña. This was a shot at AAA owner Antonio Peña who had agreed a talent trade deal with WWF while WCW were working with Promo Azteca at the time. This was meant to be a complete squash, but "Tony"'s opponent was Lord Steven Regal, who saw the luchadores for their talent and knew they were better than being used as fodder. So we were treated to the bizarre sight of this unmasked jobber having a competitive technical battle with a current champion in WCW and then never appearing again.
Villano IV did return however and the Villanos became regulars in CMLL in 2000. The brothers stayed until 2003, when they started competing in IWRG and the independent scene. The trio returned to CMLL in 2007 but only stuck around a year or so, before they went back to the independents.
With Villano V's retirement and Villano III's death, Villano IV was the last second generation Villano brother with his mask intact until his 2022 loss to Pentagón Jr. at TripleManía XXX Mexico City. He helped train and advance the careers of the next generation of Villano's in Rokambole Jr. and Villano V Jr. at Villanos Gym. There was a Villano IV Jr. who wrestled briefly in 2017, but he eventually disappeared from the scene. Whether he was actually Villano's son or not has yet to be confirmed.
Spanish Bio
Villano IV es el quinto hijo de Ray Mendoza y el hermano menor de Los Villanos. Ha pertenecido a diversas empresas, como Universal Wrestling Association (UWA), Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA), World Championship Wrestling (WCW) y Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL). De los tres Villanos que sobreviven, Villano IV es el único que continua enmascarado.
Villano IV debutó en la lucha libre a los 15 años con el personaje de Leopardo Negro II, haciendo pareja con Leopardo Negro I. En 1982, como Leopardo Negro II se enfrentó a Leopardo Negro I apostando la máscara y el nombre, saliendo triunfador de dicho encuentro y quedando así como el único Leopardo Negro. En 1983 adopta el nombre de Villano IV. Por orden de edad, el nombre de Villano IV le correspondía a Raymundo Díaz Mendoza (Villano V), sin embargo, en ese momento Raymundo interpretaba el personaje de Rokambole y no tenía planes de usar el nombre “Villano”, por lo que fue el menor de los hermanos el que portó el número “IV”.
Una vez que adoptó el nombre de Villano IV, de inmediato hizo equipo con sus hermanos. Durante los años siguientes Los Villanos protagonizaron una encarnizada rivalidad con Los Brazos, la cual alcanzó su punto más álgido el 21 de octubre de 1988, cuando Los Villanos (Villano I, Villano IV y Villano V) se enfrentaron contra Los Brazos (Brazo de Oro, Brazo de Plata y El Brazo) en la Plaza de Toros Monumental de Monterrey, en una lucha de máscaras vs. máscaras, saliendo victoriosos Los Villanos, y desenmascarando a Los Brazos.
Luchas de apuestas record
| Date | Apuesta | Winner(s) | Loser(s) | Arena and/or Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 82/07/31 | mask | Leopardo Negro II | Leopardo Negro I | Arena Lopez Mateos - Tlalnepantla de Baz, Mexico State |
| 83/04/16 | hair | Leopardo Negro II | Luis Mariscal | Arena Puebla - Puebla, Puebla |
| 83/08/21 | hair | Villano IV | Enfermero II | Arena Neza - Nezahualcoyotl, Mexico State |
| 83/09/29 | hair | Villano IV | Emilio Charles Jr. | Arena Xalapa |
| 84/02/16 | mask | Villano IV | Bull Power | Xalapa, Veracruz |
| 88/01/31 | mask | Villano IV | Loco Zandokan | El Toreo de Naucalpan - Naucalpan, Mexico State |
| 88/10/21 | masks | Villanos I, IV & V | Los Brazos (Oro, Plata, Brazo) | Plaza de Toros Monumental - Monterrey, Nuevo Leon |
| 91/02/03 | mask | Villano IV | El Engendro | El Toreo de Naucalpan - Naucalpan, Mexico State |
| 91/07/19 | masks | Los Villanos I, IV & V | Mercenarios Americanos (Tim Patterson, Bill Anderson & Louie Spicolli) | Auditorio de Tijuana - Tijuana, Baja California |
| 91/10/20 | mask | Villano IV | Tigre Canadiense | El Toreo de Naucalpan - Naucalpan, Mexico State |
| 04/11/20 | hair (1) | Villano IV | Brazo de Oro | Centro de Convenciones de Acapulco - Acapulco, Guerrero |
| 09/07/01 | hair (2) | Villano IV | Hombre Bala | Arena Lopez Mateos - Tlalnepantla de Baz, Mexico State |
| 13/03/16 | mask, hair | Villano IV & Villano V | Hijo de Pirata Morgan & Cassandro | Gimnasio Olimpico Juan de La Barrera - Benito Juarez, Distrito Federal |
| 2022/10/15 | mask | Pentagón Jr. | Villano IV | Arena Ciudad de Mexico |
| (1) Brazos vs. Villanos cage; (2) Cage match with Ringo Mendoza, Dos Caras, Universo 2000, Brazo de Oro | ||||
Gallery
 Mask Mask match vs Tigre Canadiense |
 with Hijo del Villano III |
| Los Villanos |
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| Ray Mendoza |
| Villanos: I ▪ II ▪ III ▪ IV ▪ V |
