Arturo Beristain

Arturo Beristain (September 5, 1949) is a retired Mexican professional wrestler, or Luchador in Spanish, who currently works as a wrestling trainer. Beristain is best known for working under two different ring names, Talismán and El Hijo del Gladiador, both personas started out as enmascarados, or masked and Beristain lost both masks in Luchas de Apuestas, he lost the Talismán mask to Atlantis in 1984 and the Hijo del Gladiador mask to Rencor Latino in 2000. As Talismán Beristain won the Mexican National Welterweight Championship twice, the Mexican National Middleweight Championship and the Mexican National Lightweight Championship. As el Hijo del Gladiador he has won the CMLL World Trios Championship with Gran Markus, Jr. and Dr. Wagner, Jr. and the IWRG Intercontinental Middleweight Championship. When Beristain lost the "Hijo del Gladiador" he was announced as "Arturo Beristain Ramírez" to further the storyline that he was actually the son of wrestler "El Gladiador", but his last name is not actually Ramírez.
==Professional wrestling career==
Arturo Beristain made his professional wrestling debut in 1971 at the age of 21, wrestling under the ring name Santiago Ayala. A few years later Beristain adopted an enmascarado (masked) ring persona by the name of Talismán. The change to the Talismán character was so successful that Beristain began working for Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre (EMLL), Mexico's largest wrestling promotion. On August 30, 1978, Talismán defeated Mario Valenzuela to win the Mexican National Lightweight Championship, his first professional wrestling championship. He held the title for 221 days before losing the title to Rodolfo Ruiz on April 8, 1979. It would be almost two years before Talismán won another title, defeating El Supremo for the Mexican National Welterweight Championship on March 30, 1982. Talismán successfully defended the title several times, including a rematch with the deposed champion, until losing it on November 12, 1982 to Mocho Cota. In 1984 Talismán entered and won a tournament for the vacant Mexican National Welterweight Championship, defeating Américo Rocca in the finals. On September 21, 1984, Talismán lost a Luchas de Apuesta, bet match, to Atlantis and was forced to unmask after the match and reveal his real name per lucha libre traditions. Talismán held the Welterweight title for 222 days before Rocca finally managed to defeat Talismán. On March 2, 1986, Talismán gained a measure of revenge on Atlantis by defeating him for the Mexican National Middleweight Championship. He would successfully defend the title for 273 days before losing it to Mogur on November 30, 1986.
In the late 1980s Beristain switched ring characters, becoming an enmascarado once more, using the name El Hijo del Gladiador (Spanish for "The Son of the Gladiator"), using a storyline blood relation to deceased wrestler El Gladiador. Hijo del Gladiador began teaming with Dr. Wagner, Jr. and Gran Markus, Jr. to form the group La Ola Blanca, a group that continued the tradition started by Dr. Wagner, Jr's father Dr. Wagner and Ángel Blanco in the 1960s and 1970s. On April 22, 1994, La Ola Blanca defeated Los Brazos (El Brazo, Brazo de Oro and Brazo de Plata) to win the CMLL World Trios Championship (EMLL had been renamed Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) in 1990). The trio held the title for almost a year, 343 days in total, before losing the Trios title to Bestia Salvaje, Emilio Charles, Jr. and Sangre Chicana on March 31, 1995. On August 6, 1996, Hijo del Gladiador and Gran Markus, Jr. teamed up to defeat Atlantis and Rayo de Jalisco, Jr. to win the CMLL World Tag Team Championship. The team only held the title for 43 days before losing it to Atlantis and Lizmark on September 18, 1996. After the loss of the tag team title La Ola Blanca broke up with each wrestler going their separate ways. Due to the CMLL/International Wrestling Revolution Group (IWRG) talent-exchange agreement Hijo del Gladiador began working for IWRG in late 1997, and in early 1998 he defeated El Pantera to win the IWRG Intercontinental Middleweight Championship. He defended it a couple of times in the following 186 days before losing the title to Magnum Tokyo on July 5, 1998. On August 4, 2000, El Hijo del Gladiador was one of the participants in a Torneo cibernetico, where the last man eliminated would be forced to unmask. On that night he was bested by Rencor Latino and forced to unmask as a consequence of his loss. Beristain announced that his full name was "Arturo Beristain Ramírez" to keep up the storyline that he really was the son of El Gladiador. It was later confirmed that his last name was not Ramirez. Arturo Beristain retired from wrestling in 2005 and became a full-time wrestling trainer for CMLL in their wrestling school in Mexico City.
==In wrestling==
*Finishing moves
:*Gory special
==Championships and accomplishments==
*Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre
:*CMLL World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Gran Markus, Jr.
:*CMLL World Trios Championship (1 time) – with Gran Markus, Jr. and Dr. Wagner Jr.
:*Mexican National Lightweight Championship (1 time)
:*Mexican National Middleweight Championship (1 time)
:*Mexican National Welterweight Championship (2 times)
*International Wrestling Revolution Group
:*IWRG Intercontinental Middleweight Championship (1 time)
===Lucha de Apuesta record===
Wager	Winner 	Loser 	Location 	Date	Notes
Masks	Talismán and Mr. Niebla (1st version)	Los Tigres del Ring 	Tijuana Baja California 	 	 
Hair 	Talismán 	Irazu 	Mexico City, Mexico 	 	 
Hair 	Talismán 	Tauro 	Mexico City, Mexico 	 	 
Hair 	Talismán 	Huroki Sito 	Mexico City, Mexico 	 	 
Mask 	Talismán 	Arisona 	San Luis Potosi, San Luis Potosi	 	 
Mask 	Talismán 	El Mago 	Mexico City, Mexico 	 	 
Mask 	Talismán 	El Legendario 	Unknown 	 	 
Mask 	Talismán 	Tiburon 	Mexico City, Mexico 	 	 
Mask 	Atlantis 	Talismán 	Mexico City, Mexico 	 	
Hair 	Talismán 	Américo Rocca 	Mexico City, Mexico 	 	 
Hair 	Talismán 	Lemus II 	Mexico City, Mexico 	 	 
Hair 	Mocho Cota 	Talismán 	Mexico City, Mexico 	 	 
Hairs	Sangre Chicana and Mocho Cota 	El Faraón and Talismán 	Mexico City, Mexico 	 	 
Hairs	El Signo, El Texano and Negro Navarro	El Dandy, Talismán and Jerry Estrada	Mexico City, Mexico 	 	 
Hair 	Américo Rocca 	Talismán 	Mexico City, Mexico 	 	 
Mask 	El Hijo Del Gladiador 	Sangre Guerrera 	Mexico City, Mexico 	 	 
Mask 	Rencor Latino 	El Hijo Del Gladiador 	Mexico City, Mexico 	 	Lost in the final of a Torneo Cibernetico.
Hair 	Tony Rivera 	El Hijo Del Gladiador 	Puebla, Puebla 	 	
Hair 	Ricky Marvin 	El Hijo Del Gladiador 	Mexico City, Mexico 	 	 
Hair 	Justiciero 	El Hijo Del Gladiador 	Coacalco, Mexico State 	 	 
==External links==
* Profile
* Profile
Category:1949 births
Category:Mexican wrestlers
Category:Professional wrestling trainers
Category:1971 debuts
Category:2005 retirements
Category:Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre alumni
Category:Empresa Mexicana de la Lucha Libre alumni
Category:International Wrestling Revolution Group alumni
Category:Universal Wrestling Association alumni
Category:Living people
Category:Male wrestlers