Dr. Wagner

After training for several years Velasco finally felt that González was ready and arranged for him to make his wrestling debut on July 16, 1961. Initially he worked under a mask as Centella Negra (Spanish for "Black Lightning Spark") and would team with Torbellino Negro ("Black Tornado"). In their debut match they lost to the team of Pancho Ramírez and Monje Loco.[1] After wrestling from under a year González came into contact with Elías Simón, who was one of the main wrestling promoters in the North of Mexico at the time. Simón suggested that González needed a new ring identity and suggested "El Hijo del Médico Asesino", a storyline son of recently deceased Médico Asesino. González liked the idea of a "Doctor" character but wanted to build his own identity and not live off the name of someone else.[2][1] After giving it some thought González came up with the name "Dr. Wagner", inspired by the German composer Richard Wagner, and his new ring identity was born. He adopted a white mask, white trunks and boots to go with the Doctor character and made his debut as a Rudo (bad guy or Heel) defeating Rubén Juárez in the main event.[1] Dr. Wagner quickly earned the nickname "El Galeno del Mal" ("The Doctor of Evil") for his brutal style of wrestling and his cheating ways.[2] By 1965 Dr. Wagner was contracted by Mexico's largest promotion Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre (EMLL) and worked regularly in Mexico City. Dr. Wagner's position as a main eventer was established when he defeated Raúl Reyes in a Luchas de Apuesta (bet match), mask vs. hair match on July 17, 1966, forcing Reyes to have his head shaved bald after the match.[1]

In early 1966 Dr. Wagner would begin teaming with Ángel Blanco under the name La Ola Blanca ("The White Wave"), a name born from the fact that both wore white and overpowered their opponents like a tidal wave.[3] The team quickly became one of the most well coordinated, talented teams as the two masked wrestlers' style complimented each other so well.[1] La Ola Blanca began headlining cards all over Mexico, drawing full crowds whenever they faced the top local talent. In late 1969 the team won a several weeks long tag team tournament to earn a shot at the Mexican National Tag Team Championship held by El Santo and Rayo de Jalisco, a team that was virtually unbeatable up until that point in time. La Ola Blanca defeated Santo and Rayo in three very closely contested falls to take the championship.[4] Over the next couple of years La Ola Blanca defended their titles against top teams such as Mil Máscaras and Black Shadow and Los Rebeldes (René Guajardo and Karloff Lagarde).[5] The team were voted Boy y Lucha magazine's "Tag Team of the year" in 1966 and again in 1967.[2] Early on in their career La Ola Blanca became a trio when they added El Enfermero ("The Nurse") but the trio did not last long as El Enfermero was too old to keep up with the intensity of Wagner and Ángel Blanco.[3] La Ola Blanca would become a trio once more when rookie El Solitario joined the group. El Solitario had both the talent and the charisma to keep up with Wagner and Ángel Blanco. By 1969 the group was the biggest Rudó team in all of Mexico, but El Solitario started to gain quite a following among the fans. El Solidario's popularity only skyrocketed when Dr. Wagner and Ángel Blanco turned on him one night during a match and attacked him. The attack on El Solitario started one of the biggest and longest-running storylines in wrestling, spanning three decades.[1] In 1972 El Solitario defeated Ángel Blanco in a Luchas de Apuesta match, unmasking him in the process.[3] The feud between La Ola Blanca did not slow down due to the unmasking and drew full houses all over Mexico as La Ola faced El Solitario and various partners such as El Santo or Rayo de Jalisco. On March 16, 1973, Dr. Wagner defeated Enrique Vera to win the Mexican National Light Heavyweight Championship.[6] Dr. Wagner held the Mexican National title until September 22, 1974, where he won the NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship, forcing him to vacate the national title.[6][7] La Ola Blanca travelled to the United States, working in the NWA Los Angeles where they held the NWA Americas Tag Team Championship for a day.[8] Dr. Wagner would also tour Middle America, teaming with El Enfermero to win the Latin American Tag Team Championship while on tour.[1] On May 1, 1975, Dr. Wagner teamed with El Halcón to defeat Los Gemelos Diablo in a Luchas de Apuesta match, unmasking the twins per Lucha Libre traditions.[9] On February 27, 1976, Dr. wagner lost the NWA Light Heavyweight Championship to Adorable Rubí as he and Ángel Blanco were leaving EMLL to work for the Universal Wrestling Association (UWA).[7] Not long after Dr. wagner defeated Alfonso Dantés for the Mexican National Light Heavyweight Championship, a title he took with him to the UWA where he defended it for two years. In 1977 Dr. wagner successfully defended the title against UWA's fastest rising star, El Canek but a year later, on January 15, 1978, El Canek finally won the title.[5][6]

By the late 1970s La Ola Blanca had split up and Dr. Wagner began feuding with the now tecnico Ángel Blanco, even taking it so far as to defeating Ángel Blanco in an Apuesta match on January 1, 1979, leaving his former team mate bald.[9] Dr. Wagner would briefly hold the Mexican National Light Heavyweight title for a third time in 1973, holding it for 19 days, winning it from Astro Rey and losing it to Enrique Vera.[6] On March 16, 1980, Dr. Wagner teamed with El Texano to face Robot C-3 and Astro Rey in the finals of a "Losers advance" tournament, forcing Robot C-3 to unmask and the already unmasked Astro Rey to have his hair shaved off.[9] In the early 1980s Dr. Wagner was beginning to show his age, working as a tecnico would still be able to produce good matches teaming with El Solitario or Aníbal against Ángel Blanco. When he turned on El Solitario and Aníbal he got one last run as a main event wrestler as a reunited Ola Blanca faced Solitario and Aníbal. On December 1, 1985, Dr. Wagner and El Solitario finally met in a one on one Luchas de Apuesta in the main event of a show that sold out the 15,000-seat Plaza de Toros Monumental in Monterrey, which was the largest and most profitable show in Monterrey up until that point. In the end El Solitario defeated Dr. Wagner, two falls to one and claimed the white mask as the biggest Apuesta win of El Solitario's career.[1][9] Following his unmasking Dr. Wagner focused on introducing his son, wrestling as Dr. Wagner Jr., to the professional ranks.