Andrés Alejandro Palomeque González (July 1, 1971 – March 22, 2009) was a Mexican professional wrestler. He is best known for appearing under the stage name Abismo Negro, which is Spanish for "Black Abyss", in the Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA) promotion. Before appearing under the ring name Abismo Negro, Palomeque worked for five years under the alias "[the] Winners", and before that, also wrestled as the characters "Alex Dinamo", "Pequeño Samurai", and "Furor" for short periods. Palomeque owned and operated the Gimnasio Abismo Negro, a wrestling school where individuals were trained to become professional wrestlers.
Throughout his career, Palomeque worked for the two most prominent professional wrestling promotions in Mexico: Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) and AAA. He also worked for the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) in North America due to talent exchange programs between AAA and WWF in 1997 and TNA in 2004, as well as making appearances for Michinoku Pro and Pro Wrestling Noah in Japan.
On March 22, 2009, Palomeque was found dead in a river near El Rosario, Sinaloa; the official cause of death was listed as drowning. On the night before, a wrestler using the Abismo Negro outfit worked an AAA show pretending to be Palomeque; this incident caused the promoter to be barred from promoting shows for two years. Palomeque was inducted into the AAA Hall of Fame in June 2013.
Early life Andrés Alejandro Palomeque González was born on July 1, 1971, in Villahermosa, Tabasco, Mexico. Palomeque started to get interested in lucha libre at the age of nine when his father, Juan Francisco Palomeque Torres, took him to his first event. The family later moved to Poza Rica, where a young Palomeque took up pentathlon (long jump, high jump, 110 metres hurdles run, shot put, 1500 metres run) in school and trained in martial arts with his brother César Palomeque. Palomeque started working in a gymnasium where wrestlers were trained at the age of thirteen, initially cleaning after hours to pay for his gym access. He began training to become a professional wrestler under Don Nerio Soto, who worked under the ring name El Noruego ("The Norwegian"), and his brother Delio Soto after the family moved back to the Tabasco region. Don later recollected how he and his family took the young man in and made him part of their family, practically adopting him while he was enrolled in Soto's wrestling school, and later as he worked on the local wrestling circuit.
Professional wrestling career
Early career (1987–1992) Palomeque made his professional wrestling debut in 1987, at the age of 16, under the ring name "Alex Dinamo". He received further training from famous Mexican wrestling coaches Diablo Velasco and Ray Mendoza before changing his character and ring name to "Pequeño Samurai"—a masked persona patterned after the Japanese samurai tradition. In 1991, Palomeque began working for Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), the biggest wrestling promotion in Mexico at that time, as Furor, another masked ring persona. As Furor, Palomeque won his first Lucha de Apuestas ("bet match"), defeating his mentor, El Noruego, in a match where Noruego's hair and Palomeque's mask was at stake.
AAA (1992–2004)
Winners (1992–1997) When CMLL head writer Antonio Peña left the company in 1992 to create his own wrestling promotion, Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA), Palomeque followed suit and joined AAA. There, his ring persona was changed to "Winners" (sometimes written as Winner's), a fan favorite character (técnico) who wore a silver bodysuit and mask. He wrestled on the very first Triplemanía on April 30, 1993, teaming with Super Caló and El Salsero to defeat Baby Sharon, May Flowers and Rudy Reyna in a six-man tag team match. At Triplemanía II-A on April 26, 1994, he, Rey Misterio and Rey Misterio Jr. to defeat Los Destructores ("The Destroyers"; Rocco Valente, Tony Arce and Vulcano).
In early 1995, Winners participated in a Relevos Suicidas ("Suicide Relays") tag team match, in which the losing team members have a match of their own, with the loser being forced to unmask; Winners' team won the match. At Triplemanía III-B on June 18, he placed his mask on the line against Marabunta, defeating him to retain it. On June 30, at Triplemanía III-C, Winners lost his mask to Caló, thus never being able to wear it again. His mask loss only enhanced Winners' popularity, as the handsome Palomeque's appeal among female fans increased. He and Caló also continued to work together as a team. On June 15, 1996, Winners, Caló, Misterio Jr. and Oro Jr. defeated Kraken, Halloween, Mosco de la Merced and Perro Silva at Triplemanía IV-B. On July 15, Winners, Caló, El Mexicano and La Parka defeated Fishman, Flowers, Jerry Estrada and Villano IV in one of the featured matches of Triplemanía IV-C.
Abismo Negro (1997–2004) On January 10, 1997, Palomeque made his debut under the new character "Abismo Negro" in an eight-man tag team match. The character was that of a cheating villain (rudo) with a flamethrower display routine, created by using a lighter and an Aerosol spray can, which he regularly used during his entrance and, on occasion, during a match. His signature move was a piledriver known as the Marinete, where he simulated driving the top of his opponents' head into the mat. The move was "banned" in Mexican wrestling and led to a disqualification if it was used during the match, giving Negro the nickname El Rey del Martinete ("The King of the Piledriver"). Negro and Cibernético formed Los Vipers ("The Vipers") along with Psicosis, Mosco, Maniaco and Histeria (who was soon replaced by Histeria II). In 1998, Negro acquired a "mascot", a midget wrestler called Mini Abismo Negro. Los Vipers engaged in several scripted rivalries with other AAA groups, including the group of masked wrestlers dressed as clowns, Los Payasos ("The Clowns"), and Los Vatos Locos ("The Crazy Guys")—consisting of Espiritu, Flowers, Nygma, Picudo and Silver Cat. Negro defeated Pentagón on May 19 to win the Mexican National Middleweight Championship, which he held until January 1999. On June 7, he, Mini Abismo and new Vipers member Electroshock lost to Octagón, his mascot Octagóncito, and Pentagón at Triplemanía VI.
In 1999, Los Vipers split into two factions, with Negro leading a splinter group called Los Vipers Extreme ("The Extreme Vipers"), consisting of Electroshock, Pentagón, Shiima, El Cuervo and Mini Abismo, while Cibernético created a group called Los Vipers Primera Clase ("First Class Vipers"). After less than two months, the angle was dropped and Los Vipers reunited. Not long after, Cibernético formed a group intent on taking over AAA called Lucha Libre Latina (LLL); it was inspired by World Championship Wrestling (WCW)'s New World Order (nWo). Negro assumed leadership of Los Vipers, which became a subgroup within LLL. On May 2, Negro and Electroshock defeated Perro Aguayo and Perro Aguayo Jr. to win the Mexican National Tag Team Championship, but lost it after four months to Haytor and the Panther. Negro became one of the driving forces in LLL's feud with AAA owner Antonio Peña and his AAA loyalists, feuding with the likes of La Parka Jr., Latin Lover and Octagón. Negro's position as one of AAA's top workers was cemented on March 5, 2000, when he competed in the Rey de Reyes ("King of Kings") tournament. In the opening round, he defeated Dos Caras, Killer and Psicosis II, and in the finals, he defeated El Alebrije, Charly Manson and Cibernético to win the tournament.
Negro's status as a main eventer caused storyline issues between him and Cibernético, leading to a series of matches to see who should lead Los Vipers. On September 29, at Verano de Escandalo ("Summer of Scandal"), Negro defeated Cibernético. A steel cage match between the two at Guerra de Titanes ("War of the Titans") on December 8 ended without a winner, after which the rivalry cooled off. In 2001, Negro lost to La Parka Jr. in the finals of that year's Rey de Reyes. At Triplemanía IX on May 26, Negro, Cibernético, Electroshock and Máscara Maligna lost to Máscara Sagrada, Alebrije, Octagón and La Parka Jr., when Negro was forced to submit. In December 2002, Negro and Mini Abismo lost to Sagrada and Máscarita Sagrada in the finals of a tournament to crown the inaugural AAA Mascot Tag Team Champions. On March 16, 2003, Negro again lost to La Parka Jr. in the Rey de Reyes finals. In 2004, LLL was phased out in favor of a new super group, La Legión Extranjera ("The Foreign Legion"), meaning that Los Vipers now regularly teamed with foreign wrestlers, including NWA-TNA performers like Abyss.
World Wrestling Federation (1997) Shortly after his debut as Abismo Negro, he made his World Wrestling Federation (WWF) debut, as part of a working relationship between the WWF and AAA, on the January 19, 1997 episode of Free For All, held on the pre-show before the Royal Rumble pay-per-view. On the telecast, Negro teamed with Heavy Metal and Histeria in a loss to Blue Demon Jr., Octagón and Tinieblas Jr. Negro appeared in January against Perro Aguayo Jr. and made two additional appearances on Monday Night Raw in March 1997. During his appearances in March, Negro was announced as being part of Los Vipers, a recently created alliance of wrestlers.
Japan (2000–2006) Abismo Negro wrestled his first match in Japan for Michinoku Pro on April 9, 2000, at their Sumo Hall card, defeating Oriental. During AAA's tour of Japan, Negro wrestled in the main event of Triplemanía VIII on July 5, where he, Cibernético, Electroshock and Shiima lost to Octagón, Jushin Thunder Liger, Latin Lover and Cuije. Amid rumors that he was jumping from CMLL to AAA, Negro remained in AAA and was sent on a tour with Pro Wrestling Noah in the spring of 2006.
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2004) In 2004, TNA and AAA established a partnership where TNA wrestlers performed in Mexico and AAA wrestlers appeared on TNA's weekly pay-per-views. Managed by AAA owner Antonio Peña, Palomeque, as Abismo Negro, along with Héctor Garza, Juventud Guerrera, Mr. Águila and later Heavy Metal, worked for TNA as Team AAA in the TNA America's X Cup Tournament. The team made their debut on January 28, 2004, defeating Chad Collyer, Eric Young, Matt Stryker and Shark Boy. In the following weeks, Negro and Team AAA won against Elix Skipper, Jerry Lynn and Sonjay Dutt, and finally all of Team USA in a four-on-four match to claim the Americas X Cup. On March 10, Team AAA successfully defended the X Cup against Team Canada, as Negro and Guerrera defeated Jack Evans and Teddy Hart to tie the score between the two teams, allowing for a final four-on-four elimination match that Team AAA won. Negro and the rest of Team AAA were rebranded as "Team Mexico" for the 2004 World X Cup Tournament. He remained undefeated until April 7, when his team lost to James Mason and Jason Allgood in one of the first matches of the tournament. Later that night, Team Mexico defeated Team UK to even the score. The World Cup saw Team Mexico lose to Team USA, Team Canada (Young and Bobby Roode), and Team Japan (Mitsu Hirai Jr. and Ryuji Hijikata). Team Mexico tied in points with Team USA and Team Canada, meaning that a representative of each team met in an Ultimate X match to determine the winner of the tournament. Garza represented Mexico, but Team USA's Chris Sabin won the match and the tournament.
Return to AAA (2005–2009)