A lot changed in lucha libre over the weekend, most notably when it was announced that WWE had acquired Lucha Libre AAA. But a story that went unnoticed by many may have had an even more profound impact, as word trickled out early Sunday morning that Esteban Mares Castaeda, better known as lucha libre legend Black Terry, had passed away at the age of 72.
Born September 3, 1952, Terry debuted at the age of 21 in 1973 under the Black Terry name, though he quickly changed it to La Gacela upon taking a mask. He resumed going by Black Terry after being unmasked in 1977, and by the 1980s was working for the Universal Wrestling Association, Mexico's number two promotion behind CMLL.
Despite being considered undersized at the time, Terry found success as a singles competitor, holding the UWA World Lightweight Championship for 823 days, and as a trios wrestler, winning the Distrito Federal and Mexican National Trios Championships with Jose Luis Feliciano and Shu El Guerrero as Los Temerarios. Alongside Los Brazos and Los Misioneros de la Muerte, Los Temerarios are considered one of the trios that helped pioneer trios wrestling in lucha libre during the 80s. As UWA began to decline, Terry joined CMLL in 1992, adopting the name Guerrero Maya and largely working in the undercard as a veteran helping younger talent.
Terry's career changed again in 2002, when he left CMLL and joined the Internacional Wrestling Revolucion Grupo, based out of Naucalpan. At 50 years old, Terry appeared to be on the downside of his career, only to launch a wildly successful second half. Over the next 20 years, Terry became one of IWRG's mainstays, both as a luchador and more notably as a trainer at IWRG's gym. Despite being older, Terry remained as well regarded a luchador as he did in his younger years, having notable matches with AEW's Rush, Cerebro Negro, Ultimo Guerrero, Wotan, Mr. Condor, and Terry's protege, CMLL luchador Guerrero Maya Jr.
During this period, Terry would also return to CMLL intermediately, most notably in 2017 when he formed a partnership with fellow lucha legend Negro Navarro. The duo would shockingly capture the lower level CMLL Arena Coliseo Tag Team Championships at an independent show on Christmas Day 2016, before defending the titles twice in CMLL the next year. They would lose the titles on July 22, ending their reign at 209 days.
Even in his 70s, Terry was continuing to wrestle, working on March 28 in Mexico State, and was planning to wrestle in Japan later this year as part of the Lucha Fiesta event. Both IWRG and CMLL honored Terry with emotional tributes over the weekend, with the CMLL tribute including his former partner Feliciano, now a CMLL booker, and Terry's son, Black Terry Jr., a well known lucha libre photographer. Wrestling Inc. offers its condolences to Terry's family and friends during this difficult time.
