Tito Santana is one of the all-time most underrated, in my opinion. He still wrestles on the independents too! And yes, a very kind man as Naitch points out. There's a solid Ric Flair/El Matador Tito Santana match on RU-vid that's worth checking out!
As were his matches with Greg Valentine and Don Muraco. He was a great worker and a tough no nonsense guy in the ring who could go hand to hand with the toughest guys in the business. Jesse Ventura speaks very highly of him as well.
Tito/Muraco, Tito/Orndorff, Tito/Valentine and Tito/Savage were all classic feuds. He was the perfect foil for the heel and he did not a have a stupid gimmick, he was just Tito Santana.
Tito was a great company man, he pushed a lot of great guys. Shawn's first singles WrestleMania success was beating Tito. I still think that Santana should have had one last run with the IC belt though. After Warrior dropped it, he could have run with it, he proved that with his matches against Mr. Perfect that summer. Of course, Kerry eventually got the belt from Perfect, and I'm not knocking him, he was a great talent too. I just think that Tito Santana could have been more than a guy to give the up and comers a push.
Tito/Chico had massive NYC/MSG heat/energy. He was Bruno #2 for the younger generation. The fact that he made his Mother hand scrub floors at night while he struggled on the mat didn't matter. When Chico lost a match his Marks really got depressed and felt let down. Best Wrestler to every carry the WWE IC belt and was a class act all the way.
Agree, Bret was better as a pick but also agree with Ric that Tito would have done nicely. The main reason is Tito was undeniably WAY over still. He could deliver in the ring athletically (was younger than Ric) and for those who bring up his talent enhancement (Tito was no jobber) times Vince could have easily devised a strategy to elevate him. Vince's magic was invincible back then, Tito as transitional champ would have been an easy spell.
My first live wrestling event I was a kid in 1981 or 82, something like that. Tito was in the AWA and wrestled in Ladysmith, WI. I want to say it was against Nick Bockwinkle but it may have been someone else. Got his autograph and felt like a million dollars that day. Class act to everyone in that gym that day.
Tito was on the rise and then focused on tag team wrestling. He then won gold with Ivan Putski. They did the power and speed thing very well. Then most people remember Tito defeating Don Muraco for the IC title. That wasn't even Tito at his peak. When he lost that belt to Valentine he learned the figure four leg lock (which was Greg's signature finisher/ ankle brace and all) and recaptured his IC title. He then lost it to Savage and then bounced around. It wasn't until he replaced Tom Zenk from Can Am connection to form Strike for with Rick Martel. That dynamic duo found tag team gold as well. THIS was the point where Tito could've had a brief run at the top but he would have needed a major push BUT instead creative thought it wise to make him... a matador??? WTF... never found his way after that because traditional baby faces were not in anymore. He could've done a heel turn with Pedro Morales (former WWF Champion and first grand slam champion) as manager. Pedro could've guided him and mentored Tito to a WWF/WWE title (short run like Backlund or Slaughter but it still could've worked/ 2 babyfaces that turned heel and captured gold). Promo's would've been a challenge but his in work performance with a mean streak twist could've been enough to get him over
Don't forget that between Valentine and Muraco he had a heated feud with Orndorff, who was supposed to finish by taking the belt until Vince got cold feet not knowing if he could trust Orndorff at the time, and went with Valentine instead. That feud was actually my favorite of Tito's. "You know something Paula.....
Tito was the WWF Intercontinental Champion for quite a while, so I agree he could have done pretty well. Tito Santana is a very underappreciated wrestler in my opinion.
There is more to that story. It seems it was if Vince chose to expand in Canada, or went to South America. Had it been SA, would have been Tito- yet another thing Brett would have complained about.
@@A_RU-vid_Commenter Brett was difficult to do business with long before Montreal, he gambled when going to WCW and lost. Terrible about his brother....but his business problems were is of his own doing.
@@chuckjames1434 It's interesting to me that nobody gives Vince grief for telling Bret that he can no-longer honor Bret's contract after only 11 months. Same for Vince letting his reigning champion sign with the competition that is beating WWF in the ratings. For some reason both of those are solely Bret's fault. 🤨
Tito should have been higher on the card, had the talent and the looks. Maybe there was a reason he wasnt pushed? like not an obvious one. Not an over the top personality maybe, not the right niche profile. I liked that era when they had long matches and little filler, a match would go over three commercial breaks lol
@@ACOB Was it? Cuz Bret became champion after his feud with the Mountie and every wrestler had a kayfabe "job" during that time. Rick Martel was already the "Model" at this time and Tito became "El Matador" not too long after Strike Force broke up.
Bret was the right choice because he was a legit megastar overseas and that's what kept WWF afloat in mid 90s. Tito was a good babyface but his window had definitely closed by 1992
@Catcha Predator cause the American market was dead across the board, in every company. Look at the roster from Royal Rumble 92 to Wrestlemania 9. Bret was the first champion in that compqny who had to make his opponents from scratch. Imagine how much more money they would have lost if he wasn't a megastar overseas? Use your brain
That was mildly funny - in a simpleton way - when Jesse would say it 40 years ago. It boggles the mind that people would be still flogging that. I doubt Ventura thought it was that good a joke. 🤦🤦🤦
@@datacipher Chico was also a garbage picker on the back of the truck, that was a much better slight. Either way, nobody wants to eat Chimichangas every day, so we don't need him as champion.
And Tito was pretty tough behind the scenes which many don't know about, he didn't tolerate disrespect and made that clear fast if you thought he was just a nice guy.
I was a Muraco fan (still am) so I didn't like Tito simply for beating him for the belt. But his matches with Orndorff and Valentine were clinics and Tito seemed like the kind of wrestler who could work with anyone. Tito deserved more than he got I think.
Heh, i was a muraco fan too. I liked it though when Muraco and Fuji moved on to feud with steamboat. Muraco even got a few matches with hulk - sad that wasn’t higher profile. Muraco was the man!!! And when he juiced up even more, and had new martial arts skills from Fuji ;-) he should have been promoted as a killer contender. Maybe the priceless comedy undermined that a bit as well.
I think Tito was a little too old-school in his style and Bret had a younger energy to him. But you can't take anything away from Tito in the ring, he was one of the best in the 80's. The El Matador gimmick they pushed on him was completely unnecessary and did more harm than good. Tito got over just fine as himself.
Tito was a great worker and highly admired in the locker room. His weakness was his lack of mic skills. He was never the most 'fashionable' wrestle. Yet he was way over with the fans.
I disagree. I think he was OK on the mic. No worse than many champs - above average. Worse than Flair of course but probably better than the other horsemen lol. As good or better than Bret at that time for sure. I don’t think he could be some long running multi year champ but as a decent baby face champ he could carry it a year or so.
If not Bret my next choice was Mr. Perfect. His back didn't hold up unfortunately but at the time he had just turned face and was getting even bigger pops than Bret.
@@A_RU-vid_Commenteryeah he wasn’t that great on the mic either and frankly… I think he’s overrated in the ring for one reason only: the 70’s comedy style selling. If not for that he’d be first class in the ring.
I don't think Chico had the charisma to be the top guy, he was great in the ring though. He was used pretty well during his mid 80s run with the IC title.
It’s weird how mindless dullards in their basement now say “Chico” when it was just meant as a funny slur from Jesse - who wouldn’t dare use it seriously then or now - but for obnoxious basement dwellers it’s “kewl” 😂😂😂
One of the great finishers and it comes out of nowhere. And I love how he adopted a second finisher, the figure four after Valentine took the belt from him. A back at you move that he and Valentine would do to each other. Tito was great.
The problem with Tito is that he already had a run on top with the IC belt in the early 80's and moved down the card. Bret was young and moving up the card. Tito didn't have the mic skills to be in that position, so it made no sense to give him another push when you can try someone new (Bret).
The WWF was going to either expand into South America or Canada , that’s why Tito was considered. Job guy yes but he was over still and genuinely opened most the big shows to get the crowd going.
@@richardvanoudheusden7935 no, he couldn’t have. He was a great worker nobody is denying that. Very very vanilla though. Couldn’t cut a promo, had no merch, was already seen as a lower/mid card guy by that point. He was being squashed at PPVs around this time, if he was even on them. Nobody is going to convince me he would be a WWF champion in ‘92.
Tito Santana was in no way over enough to have even been considered in 1992. Bret had been having sensational matches and gotten himself so over with the fans. Tito had been a 'jobber-to-the-stars' for years, been recently re-packaged and was already being jobbed out. I think they would have even gone with Virgil or Terry Taylor before Tito.
Bret was absolutely the correct choice at that time. He was coming off of that incredible match with Bulldog at Wembley, while Tito Santana had been saddled with that stupid matador gimmick and had been pinned in every big match he had that year. While Bret was having an all time match with Bulldog, Tito got pinned by Papa Shango in five minutes in a match that was so low on the card, it was a dark match. There was no way they were going to go with Tito at that time.
I never cared for Santana as a kid watching wrestling. I always just saw him as a boring mid card filler even though he had good in ring skills. I guess I didn't see anything cool or fun or interesting about him and when they gave him the gimmick it got even more lame. We were supposed to like him just because. I have seen some interviews with him on RU-vid and he seems like a pretty nice and down to earth guy. He just never did it for me back in the 80s and early 90s when wrestling was my life.
I did enjoy it when he feuded with Million Dollar Man though. And MDM would have a promo where Virgil would drive him into Tito's old childhood neighborhood and MDM would make fun of the houses there and say a lot.of racially insensitive things to stir up heat. It was hilarious. They wouldn't have the balls to do something like that today it would trigger all of the wokesters who can't take a joke.
Chico was a good worker and good babyface but I do not think he was World Champion material. Always was just a hair below the top level both in the ring and on the mic. He was an ethnic hero but he was just not as good as Bret for example.
