Villano III

Villano III wearing the distinctive Villano mask that all the Villano brothers wore at some point in their career.

In 1973 Arturo's father and older brothers finally deemed him experienced enough to use the Villano name, taking the name Villano III (Villano Tercero).[6] In 1975 Arturo's father joined with wrestling promoter Francisco Flores and investor Benjamín Mora Jr. to form a new wrestling promotion called Universal Wrestling Association, which was in direct competition with the company Ray Mendoza and Flores had worked for up until that point, Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre (EMLL). One of the reasons behind the split was that Mendoza felt that EMLL was not giving his sons enough opportunities in the ring.[5] All three Villanos followed their father to the newly formed UWA. While his brothers worked as a tag team, Villano III became a singles competitor and was pushed as one of its top stars, due to his father's influence and Vilano being the Vilanos' most talented wrestler.[5] On December 14, 1975, Villano III became the first ever UWA World Welterweight Champion by winning a tournament.[7] Over the next couple of years, Villano III defended the championship in several high-profile, main event matches, earning favorable reviews from both fans and reporters. His run with the welterweight title lasted until May 29, 1977, where he lost to El Solar.[7] Following the title loss, Villano III moved from the welterweight division (with a maximum weight of 78 kg (172 lb)) to the light heavyweight division (with a maximum of 97 kg (214 lb)). On March 1, 1981, he defeated Fishman to win the UWA World Light Heavyweight Championship, a title his father had won previously as well.[8] Villano III lost the title back to Fishman 140 days later, ending the first of his two reigns with that championship.[8]

In 1982 Villano III started a storyline feud against Los Misioneros de la Muerte ("The Missionaries of Death"; El Signo, El Texano and Negro Navarro), that would lead to Villano III becoming a tecnico (a face, those that portray the good guys in wrestling). As Villano III became more and more popular with the fans and the UWA officials decided to make him a "technico", using the hated Los Misioneros trio to that end.[9] After his "tecnico" turn Villano III joined up with El Solitario and Aníbal to form a trio called Los Tres Caballeros ("The Three Gentlemen"), who would go on to main event a series of sold-out UWA shows. His first major opponent after the turn was Perro Aguayo, starting a long-running, intense feud over the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship that the UWA promoted at the time. On March 20, 1983, Villano III defeated Aguayo to win the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship, beginning the first of seven reigns for Villano III, tied with Aguayo for most reigns with that title.[10] His first reign lasted 140 days before Aguayo regained the title.[10] The feud between the two also saw Villano III defeat Aguayo in a Lucha de Apuesta, hair vs. mask match, on August 21, 1983.[11]

In 1985 Villano III defeated Gran Hamada to win the WWF Light Heavyweight Title for a second time.[10] Villano III's second title reign lasted 826 days, which is the longest of any WWF Light Heavyweight Champion in its history.[10] During the mid-1980s his two younger brothers began using the names "Villano IV" and "Villano V", often teaming with Villano I. Over the following years, Villano III traded the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship with Perro Aguayo, Rambo, and, Sangre Chicana.[10] In 1991 Villano III began working against a young Canadian known as Pegasus Kid, sent to Mexico by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) to train and gain experience. Villano III and Pegasus Kid had a series of matches throughout 1991, including Pegasus Kid winning the WWF Light Heavyweight Title on March 3, 1991.[10] By late 1991. Pegasus Kid's learning excursion to Mexico came to an end, but not before Villano III defeated him in a Lucha de Apuesta match, forcing him to unmask and reveal his real name: Chris Benoit.[11] Villano III's seventh and last reign with the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship began on July 18, 1994, when he defeated El Signo. He held the title until January 1995 when the UWA closed and Villano III vacated the title with which he had been closely associated for more than ten years.[10]

In 1995 the UWA was forced to close down, leaving Los Villanos without a home base for the first time in their careers. The brothers soon signed with Antonio Peña's AAA and began working for the promotion as a trios group, marking Villano III's transition from being primarily a singles wrestler to working more trios matches.[5] In March 1996 Los Villanos defeated Cien Caras, Heavy Metal, and Latin Lover to become the inaugural holders of the AAA Americas Trios Championship, a title created by Peña specifically for Los Villanos as AAA did not have an active trios championship before.[12] The team held the championship until November 19, 1996, when they lost to Los Oficiales (Guardia, Oficial, and Vigilante), but regained the championship less than two months later.[12] Los Villanos also became the first ever Mexican National Atómicos Champions, teaming with Pierroth Jr. to win the four-man team exclusive championship.[13] By mid-1996, Villano IV and Villano V had begun working for the US-based World Championship Wrestling (WCW). In 1997 most of the wrestlers that worked for WCW split off from AAA to form Promo Azteca, which included the Villano brothers. By leaving AAA Los Villanos vacated both the Americas Trios title and the Mexican National Atómicos Championship.[12][13]

After leaving AAA, Villano III toured Puerto Rico several times in 1997 and 1998, working for the World Wrestling Council (WWC). On November 27, 1997, Villano III defeated Ricky Santana to win the WWC Puerto Rican Championship to start his tour with WWC. Two days later Santana regained the championship before Villano III regained it on December 21.[14] Villano did not work in Puerto Rico between January and April, only returning to the island to lose the Puerto Rican championship to Glamour Boy Shane on WWC's 25th Anniversary Show.[14]

Villano III also worked on the independent circuit after leaving AAA, as well as making sporadic appearances for both Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) and Promo Azteca at the time. On July 18, 1998, Villano III was one of 32 wrestlers putting their masks on the line in a Ruleta de la Muerte ("Roulette of death") tournament where the losing teams advance and in the end the final team would face off in a Lucha de Apuestas match. Villano III and his partner Shocker lost to Rayo de Jalisco Jr. and Mil Máscaras in the first round, but defeated El Hijo del Santo and Guerrero del Futuro in the second round to preserve their masks.[15]

In late 1998 Villano III began working almost exclusively for CMLL. On December 25, 1999, Villano III and Super Astro teamed up to wrestle against Lizmark and Fishman in a Relevos Suicidas. When Villano III and Super Astro lost they were forced to wrestle against each other in a Lucha de Apuesta match. In the end, Villano III won yet another Apuesta match, forcing Super Astro to unmask.[16]

On November 22, 1999, Villano III defeated Atlantis to win the CMLL World Light Heavyweight Championship. The title change was just one of the highlights of a long-running feud between Atlantis and Villano III, a feud that also included III's younger brothers Villano IV and Villano V who no longer worked for WCW. On March 17, 2000, at CMLL's 2000 Juicio Final event, Atlantis won his biggest Apuesta victory to date as he defeated and then unmasked Villano III in a match that was voted the Wrestling Observer 2000 Match of the Year.[17] In 2010 Súper Luchas Magazine suggested that this may have been the lucha libre match of the decade for the 2000s.[18]

A few months later Villano III, IV, and V defeated Escuadron de la Muerte ("The Death Squadron"; Cyborg Cop, Maniac Cop, and Vader Cop) to win the IWRG Intercontinental Trios Championship. Los Villano still worked for CMLL but they had a talent sharing arrangement with International Wrestling Revolution Group (IWRG) that allowed Los Villanos to work for IWRG as well.[19] Villano III's CMLL World Light Heavyweight Championship reign ended on September 7, 2001, when he was pinned by Shocker. Following the title loss, Los Villanos worked more infrequently for CMLL, taking bookings both in IWRG and on the Mexican independent circuit as well. On March 21, 2002, Villano III's last title reign ended when Los Villanos were stripped of the IWRG Trios title as Villano V was injured and unable to defend the title.[20] On July 30, 2005, Villano III teamed up with rookie wrestler Gallo Tapado Jr. for IWRG's La Copa Black Shadow tournament. The duo defeated El Matemático and Black Man Jr. and then the team of Rambo and Bobby Lee Jr.; Brazo de Plata Jr. and Brazo de Oro to win the tournament.[21]

In the latter half of the 2000s, Villano IV and V worked for CMLL on a regular basis, while Villano III's CMLL appearances were more sporadic, wrestling mainly on the independent circuit. Villano III frequently appeared in Lucha de Apuesta matches, having won the hair of Scorpio Jr. (twice), Brazo de Oro, Brazo de Platino and El Cobarde II during that time period, only losing one Apuesta match; losing his hair to L.A. Park in a multi-man match on May 5, 2007.[11] Around 2010, Díaz's wrestling appearances were reduced as he was dealing with both age and ring related ailments and worked a much lighter schedule. 2013 saw him work 11 confirmed matches,[22] and 2014 he only competed in 7.[23]

In May 2015, Arturo Díaz announced that he would retire from active competition due to several knee injuries and diminishing eyesight leaving him unable to compete competitively.[24] Afterward Díaz agreed to another match, teaming with his younger brothers to take on Los Psycho Circus (Psycho Clown, Monster Clown and Murder Clown) at Triplemanía XXIII, AAA's biggest show of the year, promoting it as Villano III's retirement match after a 45-year career. While Los Villanos won the match, the age of the Villanos and deteriorating health of Villano III and V led to many mistakes in a heavily criticized match, that was voted the "worst match of 2015" by the readers of the Wrestling Observer.[25] Despite his retirement announcements and ailing health Díaz did work one match in both 2016 and 2017.[26]