Juan Manuel González Barrón (born August 12, 1965) is a Mexican professional wrestler, who is best known under the ring name Dr. Wagner Jr., having used that name since 1987. He is the son of Manuel González Rivera, better known as Dr. Wagner, and the brother of the late César Cuauhtémoc González Barrón, who worked primarily under the name Silver King. His son made his professional wrestling debut in 2009 under the ring name El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr.. González was once married to professional wrestler María Moreno León, better known as Rossy Moreno.
While he has worked all over the world as Dr. Wagner Jr., he primarily works in Mexico and has worked with both Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) and Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (AAA), Mexico's two largest professional wrestling promotions, on multiple occasions, as well as being a regular on the Mexican independent circuit. He was introduced to Lucha Underground at the end of season two and has worked for various Japanese promotions, most notably for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW).
During his career, he has won such notable championships as the AAA Mega Championship on three occasions, been the inaugural AAA Latin American Champion, held the CMLL World Light Heavyweight Championship twice, the CMLL World Tag Team Championship on four occasions with four partners, the CMLL World Trios Championship four times (as part of four teams), the NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship and the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship with Kendo Kashin.
González worked under a mask from his debut in 1985 until August 2017, when he was forced to unmask after losing to Psycho Clown in a Lucha de Apuestas at Triplemanía XXV. Following the unmasking, González renamed himself Rey Wagner ("King Wagner").
Personal life Juan Manuel González Barrón was born on August 12, 1965, son of Magdalena Barrón and her husband Manuel González Rivera, better known as the professional wrestler Dr. Wagner. Juan González was the second son born, with his brother Óscar being two years his elder. His parents later had another son, César Cuauhtémoc González Barrón, and a daughter, Mayra. At one point in the late 1980s to 1990s, Juan González was married to María del Rocío Moreno León, who is also a professional wrestler under the name Rossy Moreno; together, the couple had at least two sons, El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. and Galeno del Mal. Juan González' sons' names are not a matter of public knowledge as they wrestle as enmascarados, which traditionally means that their personal information are kept from the general public, per lucha libre traditions. Juan González later remarried, although it is unclear if his current wife is directly involved with lucha libre or not. In the early 2000s, César González introduced the wrestling world to a son, referred to only as "El Hijo de Silver King", who at the time was training to be a wrestler.
Professional wrestling career González started out working as a masked wrestler known as El Invasor ("The Invader"), allowing him to gain in-ring experience without the pressure of the Dr. Wagner name. He only worked as El Invasor for about a year before it was decided to reveal his family relationship. He was slated to make his in-ring debut as Dr. Wagner Jr. in a match where he would team up with his father against his former tag team partner Ángel Blanco and Ángel Blanco Jr. on April 27, 1986. While driving to the show, the car carrying his father, José Vargas (Ángel Blanco), El Solar, Mano Negra and Jungla Negra crashed when one of the tires exploded. Vargas was killed by the crash, and González' father suffered severe spinal damage. Manuel González would later use a wheelchair to accompany his son to the ring for some matches.
Universal Wrestling Association (1986–1993) After adopting his father's name, Dr. Wagner Jr. began working for the Universal Wrestling Association (UWA), the same promotion where his father worked for most of his career. Promoters played off the rivalry of their famous fathers and often paired him against Ángel Blanco Jr. On August 3, 1986, the two rivals were teamed up for a Ruleta de la Muerte ("Roulette of Death") tournament, where the losing teams advance and the team that lost the finals would have to wrestle each other in a Lucha de Apuestas, or "bet match", for their masks. They defeated Mano Negra and Aníbal to survive the tournament with their masks intact. On July 22, 1990, Dr. Wagner Jr. defeated Astro de Oro to win the UWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship, his first professional wrestling championship. He held the title for 218 days, until February 25, 1991, when he lost it to Enrique Vega.
Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (1993–2009) In the early 1990s, the UWA's popularity began to dwindle as less fans attended their shows. As a result, they began working with long-time rival promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), co-promoting shows and allowing UWA workers to also compete on their shows. On April 2, 1993, Dr. Wagner Jr. defeated Pierroth Jr. to win the CMLL World Light Heavyweight Championship. Later that year, the two promotions worked together to host a tournament for the newly created CMLL World Tag Team Championship, with Dr. Wagner Jr. and UWA's top name, El Canek, defeating CMLL's Vampiro and Pierroth Jr. in the finals to become the first CMLL World Tag Team Champions. Dr. Wagner Jr.'s first reign as CMLL World Light Heavyweight Champion ended on March 2, 1994, as he was defeated by Atlantis.
By early 1994, Dr. Wagner Jr. began teaming with Gran Markus Jr. and El Hijo del Gladiador as La Nueva Ola Blanca ("The New White Wave"), adopting the name of his father's tag team. La Nueva Ola Blanca won the CMLL World Trios Championship on April 22, defeating Los Brazos (El Brazo, Brazo de Oro and Brazo de Plata). In November of that year, El Canek stopped working for CMLL, forcing Dr. Wagner Jr. to give up his half of the world tag team championship. In early 1997, Dr. Wagner Jr. and his brother, Silver King, won the CMLL World Tag Team Championship, yet Wagner was forced to give up his half since Silver King left CMLL to work for World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in the United States. He later won the championship for a third time, this time with Emilio Charles Jr. as his partner. He then won the CMLL World Trios Championship on three additional occasions, first with Black Warrior and Blue Panther, then with Blue Panther and Fuerza Guerrera, and finally with Black Tiger (his brother under a new ring identity) and Universo 2000. In the main event of the CMLL 67th Anniversary Show on September 29, 2000, Dr. Wagner Jr. lost to Negro Casas in the semi-final of the Leyenda de Plata ("Silver Legend") tournament.
On June 18, 2004, Dr. Wagner Jr. defeated El Canek in Mexico City to win the UWA World Heavyweight Championship, a title still promoted ten years after the UWA closed. The championship change was part of a long running storyline between the two, which was set to culminate in a four-way Lucha de Apuestas at the CMLL 71st Anniversary Show on September 17. The week prior to the show, Manuel González died, which led to a surge of sympathy for Dr. Wagner Jr.; the crowd was solidly behind the until-then hated Dr. Wagner Jr. as he put his mask on the line against El Canek, Universo 2000 and Rayo de Jalisco Jr. In the end, El Canek, defeated Universo 2000 to take his mask. As result of the newfound popularity of Dr. Wagner Jr., CMLL decided to turn El Canek rudo (villain), allowing for the rivalry to continue. Later on, when Dr. Wagner Jr. moved on to a feud with Atlantis, the story repeated itself as the crowd turned against Atlantis, forcing CMLL to turn him from técnico (hero or good guy) into one of the bad guys of the storyline. The rivalry continued for several months until Dr. Wagner Jr.'s focus shifted to newcomer L.A. Park, resulting in a series of very violent, out of control matches between the two.
On April 27, 2008, Wagner led a protest march for anyone who believed they were being mistreated by their bosses to join. About 200 people joined the march, including Fuerza Guerrera and professional wrestlers from International Wrestling Revolution Group (IWRG). Wagner claimed he was not being used because he criticized CMLL in the press, and claimed he was in talks with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). The rivalry between Dr. Wagner Jr. and L.A. Park reached its climax at the CMLL 75th Anniversary Show on September 19, where their match ended in a disqualification due to excessive brawling outside the ring. A short time later, Dr. Wagner Jr. was officially fired from CMLL for breaking their strict rule about not bleeding during matches or using weapons.
Japan (1988–2004) Starting in 1988, Dr. Wagner Jr. began making regular trips to Japan, primarily working for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) through their relationship with the UWA, as well as Wrestling International New Generations (W*ING) and Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW). During a BJW tour in 1996, Dr. Wagner Jr. lost the CMLL World Light Heavyweight Championship to Aquarius, but regained it eight days later. The title change was not sanctioned by CMLL and not officially recognized in Mexico.
In 1997, Dr. Wagner Jr. participated in NJPW's Best of the Super Juniors IV tournament, where he defeated Doc Dean and Chavo Guerrero Jr., but lost the remaining four matches and failed to advance. The following year, Dr. Wagner Jr. was invited back for the 1998 Best of the Super Juniors, winning his block with a total of four victories, but lost in the finals to Koji Kanemoto. Later that year, he teamed up with Kendo Kashin to compete in a tournament for the newly created IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship, losing in the final to Shinjiro Otani and Tatsuhito Takaiwa. When Dr. Wagner Jr. returned to Japan in 1999, he and Kashin won the championship on January 4 at Wrestling World 1999 in the Tokyo Dome. The following month, Dr. Wagner Jr. unsuccessfully fought Jyushin Thunder Liger for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship. The reign with the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship ended after 96 days, with two successful defenses, when they lost to Liger and The Great Sasuke on April 10. For the third year in a row, Dr. Wagner Jr. competed in the Best of the Super Juniors, which was won by Kashin. On May 5, 2001, Dr. Wagner Jr. and Silver King unsuccessfully challenged Liger and El Samurai for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship at Wrestling Dontaku 2001.
In October 2003 and March 2004, Dr. Wagner Jr. and Silver King toured with All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) instead of NJPW, working primarily as a tag team for the entirety of each tour. At the end of the first tour, Dr. Wagner Jr. unsuccessfully challenged Kashin for the AJPW World Junior Heavyweight Championship, while on the second, he and Silver King failed to win the All Asia Tag Team Championship from Great Kosuke and Shiryu.
Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (2009–2013)