Enrique Torres

Enrique Torres (July 25, 1922 – September 10, 2007) was an American professional wrestler, the oldest three Torres brothers in wrestling, and a major star in the late 1940s and 1950s. Personal life Torres was married to Maria in 1938. They had one daughter, Helen, born in December 1939. They also had a son, Enrique (Tony), born in November 1940. Later Torres married Rachel in 1950. They had two sons; Allan Enrique, born April 1952, and Jim (James), born June 1956. Enrique married Kata in 1963; Kata and he later moved to Canada ultimately to reside in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, they had forty-four wonderful years together. In his later years Enrique was on kidney dialysis in addition to receiving a kidney transplant in 2006, then suffered a stroke. On September 10, 2007 he died as a resident of the Carewest George Boyack Nursing Home in Calgary. Professional wrestling career Torres was born in Santa Ana, California and after a long amateur career entered professional wrestling in 1946 debuting at the Olympic Auditorium and was very successful in the nascent and booming televised wrestling market in the California. He had no gimmicks, however his signature move was a deftly executed Flying Scissors. He used no self given stage name but a Mexican-market newspaper billed him as “La Pantera Negro de Sonora”, or "The Black Panther from Sonora, Mexico," due to his "smooth and lightning-fast moves." He was later named "The Mexican Adonis." In his first year, he won the California version of the world heavyweight championship before losing it Gorgeous George, only to win it back the following year. In 1952 Torres and then-rival Baron Leone were involved in a case that went all the way to the Santa Monica Superior Court due to two fans claiming they were injured when Leone threw Torres into the crowd. Leone claimed if he was capable of the feat he'd leave wrestling to play for the Southern Cal football team, and the two were exonerated. One of Torres' greatest matches was in February 1953 while he was the reigning Pacific Coast Heavy Weight champion, he wrestled the legendary world heavyweight champion Lou Thesz to a one-hour draw. The gate was a then-record $5000 in Sacramento. He also claimed the Central States championship in 1952 and 1963.