Miguel Pérez Jr. (born April 22, 1966) is a Puerto Rican professional wrestler. The son of fellow professional wrestler Miguel Pérez, he began his career in Puerto Rico's World Wrestling Council, winning several championships including the Puerto Rico and Caribbean Heavyweight championships.
In addition to his appearances in Puerto Rico with the World Wrestling Council and the International Wrestling Association, Pérez Jr. has appeared in Japan with All Japan Pro Wrestling, New Japan Pro-Wrestling, W*ING and International Wrestling Association Japan; in Mexico with Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre; and in the United States with Extreme Championship Wrestling, World Championship Wrestling, and the World Wrestling Federation.
Early life Pérez is the son of Miguel Pérez, who is one half of the first tag team champions crowned in WWE, winning the NWA Capitol World Tag Team Championship along Antonino Rocca, when the promotion was still known as "Capitol Wrestling" and was affiliated to the National Wrestling Alliance.
Professional wrestling career
Early career Pérez debuted in 1984 at the Dominican Republic at Santo Domingo Sports Promotions teaming with his father vs. Los Kimbas. He did his first tour to All Japan Pro-Wrestling during his rookie year. Later in 1985 went to WWC in Puerto Rico and got involved in an angle where his father Miguel Pérez Sr. appeared as a photographer at ring side taking pictures and scouting opponents before Miguel Pérez Jr.'s debut. During a match Eric Embry attacked Miguel Pérez Sr. with the camera in hand and Miguel Pérez Jr. came to his father's rescue. This eventually lead to Pérez Jr.'s Puerto Rico debut match September 21, 1985. Had a feud with The Crusher in early 1986. At Aniversario 1986, Pérez unsuccessfully challenged Ric Flair for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. At Aniversario 1987, he defeated Reginald Lisowski. At Aniversario 1988, Pérez teamed with Huracan Castillo Jr. to defeat Bobby Jaggers and Dan Kroffat in a hair vs hair match. In 1989, he joined Castillo in a tour to New Japan Pro-Wrestling, with both being rebranded as "José Pérez" and "Daniel Castillo", using their middle names as their firsts, collectively known as "The Caribbean Express". On February 22, 1989, they lost to Kuniaki Kobayashi and Osamu Kido. The Caribbean Express repeated this performance in their next appearance. On February 28, 1989, Pérez and Castillo lost to Kengo Kimura and Tatsumi Fujinami. They opened the Big Fight Series with a lost, a tour where both wrestled alongside Memphis based wrestler and USWA Champion Jerry Lawler. In the second date, The Caribbean Express defeated Hirozaku Hata and Naoki Sano. They then joined Sid Vicious to defeat Kengo Kimura, Sano and Tatsumi Fujinami. This was followed by a loss to Kobayashi and Masa Saito in a rematch. In his first singles match for NJPW, Pérez was unsuccessful in challenging the owner of NJPW, Antonio Inoki twice. The Caribbean Express once again teamed with Vicious in consecutive losses to Hiroshi Hase, Masa Saito & Riki Choshu and Kengo Kimura, Shiro Koshinaka and Tatsumi Fujinami. On March 12, 1989, Pérez and Castillo lost to Hirokazu Hata and Naoki Sano. In the following two events, Kuniaki Kobayashi teamed with Hiro Saito and Naoki Sano to earn consecutive victories over The Caribbean Express. Returning to WWC for Aniversario 1989, Pérez and Castillo dropped the WWC Caribbean Tag Team Championship to David Sierra and Gerry Morrow. At Aniversario 1990, Pérez and Castillo retained over Sierra and Ron Starr. In late 1990, he returned to NJPW now as a singles wrestler and was rebranded as "Miguelito Pérez". He teamed with Owen Hart in a loss to Kengo Kimura and Osamu Kido. On October 5, 1990, Pérez teamed with Chris Benoit to defeat Shiro Koshinaka and Jushin Thunder Liger. In his next appearance, Masa Saito and Shinya Hashimoto won a tag team match over him and Ricky Steamboat. Teaming once again with Hart, he lost to Keiji Muto and Masahiro Chono. On October 11, 1990, he lost a singles match to Masa Saito. Pérez then joined Benoit and Vader in a loss to Animal Hamaguchi, Tatsutoshi Goto and Super Strong Machine. On October 14, 1990, he teamed with TNT to defeat Kengo Kimura and Kuniaki Kobayashi. At New Year Dash, Pérez teamed with Benoit in a victory over the Dragon Bombers of Black Cat and Takayuki Iizuka. This was followed by a win in a three on three match, where he teamed with Benoit and Monsieur Rambo. Pérez then teamed with Poirier to defeat Tatsumi Fujinami and Kimura. The team of TNT and Pérez lost their second match together, but both teamed again in six-man tag matches that involved Vader, with mixed results against Mutoh, Chono, Hashimoto, Masa Saito, Kobayashi and Animal Hamaguchi. His following match was another three on three, where he teamed with Poirier and Marcus Laurinaitis in a loss to Kimura, Fujinami and Osamu Kido. He then teamed with Laurinaitis in a loss to Kido and Kimura. The following week, TNT replaced Lauranaitis in a win over the same team of Kimura and Kido. On May 27, 1991, Chono defeated Pérez in a singles match. In his following appearance, he teamed with TNT and Vader in a win over Keiji Muto, Kimura and Fujinami. Fujinami went on to win a singles match between them. In the next event, the Dragon Bombers of Liger and Koshinaka defeated Pérez and Benoit. At The Legend of Dragon Tatsumi Fujinami 20th Anniversary both teamed with Strong Machine in a loss to Kimura, Kido and Steve Keirn.
At Aniversario 1991, Pérez reunited with Castillo to defeat Samu and Fatu. In the second half of 1991, Pérez went on a tour for the Universal Wrestling Association, where he debuted winning a six-man two out of three falls match. His second contest was under the same rules, but his team ended being disqualified. Pérez then teamed with Jeff "Giant Warrior" Bearden, but ended on the losing end of a tag team match against Mil Mascaras and El Canek. After losing another match, the team firmed a partnership with Ricky Santana. Together they won three consecutive six man two out of three falls matches. On November 24, 1991, Pérez unsuccessfully competed for the UWA World Heavyweight Championship. He then returned to Japan, now performing for Wrestling International New Generation, losing his first tag team match. In his first singles match at WING, Pérez defeated Vic Steamboat. Before concluding this tour, he lost a match to Santana, who wrestled as "The Iceman". From that point onwards, Pérez and Santana remained a mainstay team, being joined by other heels in six man tag team matches. They returned to the UWA winning consecutive matches, before evening the count by losing twice and then losing a six-man two out of three falls contest. On June 6, 1992, Pérez and Santana were scheduled to compete on World Championship Wrestling's tournament for the NWA World Tag Team Championship, but were unable to attend the event. To advance the storyline, their scheduled opponents, The Steiner Brothers, were declared winners by forfeit after they were said to have been "involved in a car accident", with implications that they had actually been assaulted backstage. Upon returning to the UWA, he was involved in the losing side of a six-man tag team match. At Aniversario 1992, Pérez defeated Abdullah the Butcher by disqualification. He gathered a 2–2 record on his next UWA matches, before reuniting with Santana. Together, they won five consecutive matches. This winning streak was snapped by a team known as Los Misioneros de la Muerte (Negro Navarro, El Signo and El Texano), whom they had defeated during this run. Back at WING, Pérez successfully defended the WWC Caribbean Heavyweight Championship. After losing a tag team match, he concluded this tour with a singles victory over William DeMott. After performing once in UWA, Pérez returned to Japan and won the WING World Tag Team Chsmpionship. He won three consecutive singles matches over Takashi Okano and Nobutaka Araya, before dropping the WING Tag Team Championship. He was then involved in the losing half of a team "survival match". Pérez then made a brief tour to the United States for the International Championship Wrestling Alliance and Smoku Mountain Wrestling, but both of his contests were inconclusive.
Pérez then participated in four UWA-Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre shows, but was in the losing end of team matches in each. Returning to WING, he formed a tag team with Yukihiro Kanemura, winning twice. On May 7, 1993, Pérez defeated Carl Yvon Ouellet. He and Kanemura then challenged The Headhunters for the vacant WING Tag Team Championship, but lost. They also lost a rematch, but Pérez defeated one of the Headhunters in singles competition. After wrestling a no contest, he won three consecutive contests to end this visit. He performed in two tag team matches in UWA, before returning to WING. In his return to Japan, Pérez lost a match to Dick Murdoch and three consecutive team contests involving the Headhunters, but won a battle royal. Pérez then entered a feud with Doug Gilbert, who wrestled masked as "Freddy Krueger" and defeated him in singles competition and a cage team match. Pérez then defeated a jobber and lost two team matches before returning to Puerto Rico. At Aniversario 1993, he wrestled Curtis Hughes as part of a tournament for the vacant WWC Universal Heavyweight Championship, but both were eliminated following a double countout. Upon returning to UWA, Pérez won one and lost two six man team matches, interrupting this to participate in WING's Best Champ, losing another team contest involving Doug Gilbert. After competing in another UWA event, Pérez returned to WING for a season. There he wrestled Gilbert to a double countout, but lost two more team matches involving him. On September 30, 1993, he joined Shoji Nakamaki to unsuccessfully challenge the Headhunters for the WING World Tag Team Championship. In November, he made a single appearance for UWA winning in a six-man tag team match. In WING Pérez formed a tag team with Bill DeMott winning two of their next three contests. On November 26, 1993, Pérez defeated Nobutaka Araya. He teamed with DeMott twice again, dividing results. Pérez then entered a winning streak of four one-on-one matches, including two over DeMott. In his last WING match, he was on the losing side of another tag team match involving Gilbert.
IWA Japan and reunion of The Caribbean Express