Luís Mante

Mante in December 2023

###

Monclova, Coahuila, Mexico

**Luís Meza** (born February 14, 1992 in Monclova, Coahuila, Mexico) is a Mexican luchador enmascarado, or masked professional wrestler currently working for Dragon Gate (DG) under the ring name **Luís Mante**, where he is the current Open The Dream Gate Champion in his first reign, while also being a former two-time Open The Triangle Gate Champion and a former Open The Twin Gate Champion.

He is known for his work for the Mexican professional wrestling promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), where he used to be a tecnico ("Good guy") wrestling character. Diamante is the son-in-law of professional wrestler José Casas, known under the ring name Negro Casas, where the family relationship is publicly acknowledged.

For many years including Diamante's debut, his real name was not a matter of public record and his private life was kept a secret from the wrestling fans until July 2023, when he was forced to unmask after losing a Steel Cage Survival Five-Way match.

In Dragon Gate, he was a member of Z-Brats, where he portrayed a rudo ("Bad guy") character, he would work mainly in opening matches, before starting to be pushed in December 2019, leading him to win the Open The Triangle Gate Championship in two different occasions. Afterwards, Diamante and won the masks of Bokutimo Dragon and Dragon Dia by defeating them in a *Lucha de Apuestas* matches before losing his mask to his long-time tag team partner Shun Skywalker.

## Professional wrestling career

### Early career and New Japan Pro Wrestling (2008–2015)

The wrestler later known as Diamante made his debut at a very early age, initially working as El Sonidero, and also working under the identities of Charly Meza, Megatron Jr., and Aereo Boy early on, working primarily in Nuevo León. Later on, he adopted a new ring name and image as Principe Diamante ("Prince Diamond"). He worked for Lucha Libre AAA World Wide at the age of just 16, wrestling at the 2008 *Rey de Reyes* show teaming with Street Boy and Tigre Cota to defeat Black Mamba, Rio Bravo, and Tito Santana. In the summer of 2009, Principe signed a contract with Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) . He would work for CMLL until the end of 2013, by which time he held the Mexican National Trios Championship and the Occidente Heavyweight Championship, one time each. After his departure from CMLL, he would take some time away from wrestling before returning in 2015, briefly using the name As Charro Jr., to work Mexican independent promotion Leyendas Inmortales de Lucha Libre. After his short tenure with LILL, he would shorten his name to Diamante.

During his time with CMLL, Diamante made his first trip to Japan in January 2012 appearing on two jointly promoted shows between CMLL and Japanese based New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) called *Fantastica Mania*. On the first night Diamante teamed up with Japanese natives Jushin Thunder Liger and Tetsuya Naito defeated Mephisto, Shinsuke Nakamura, Yujiro Takahashi. On the second night Diamante, Hiroshi Tanahashi and Naito lost to Mephisto, Takahashi and Kazuchika Okada. In January 2013, Diamante returned to Japan to take part in the three-day *Fantastica Mania 2013* event. During the first night on January 18, he teamed with BUSHI and Ryusuke Taguchi in a six-man tag team match, where they were defeated by Rey Escorpión, Tomohiro Ishii and Yujiro Takahashi. The following night, Diamante and Máscara Dorada were defeated in a tag team match by Mephisto and Okumura. During the third and final night, Diamante took part in a twelve-man *torneo cibernetico*, from which he was the sixth man eliminated by Okumura and which was eventually won by Tomohiro Ishii.

### All Japan Pro Wrestling (2017–2018)

In August 2017, Diamante began touring with Japanese promotion All Japan Pro Wrestling. During the tour, which lasted until August 27, Diamante, lost all of his matches, with his last match being on August 27 at All Japan 45th Anniversary Show against Carístico in a losing effort. He returned to the promotion in the following November for a second tour, which lasted until November 6, winning only two of his matches.

### Dragon Gate (2019–Present)

On August 3, 2019, Diamante was announced as the newest member of the heel stable R.E.D, with his debut match being on August 7. At the event on August 7, Diamante made his in-ring debut for Dragon Gate teaming with his R.E.D stablemates Kazma Sakamoto and Takashi Yoshida in a winning effort against MaxiMuM (Dragon Kid, Jason Lee and Kaito Ishida). He would work mainly in opening matches, before starting being pushed in December, leading him on December 15 at Final Gate, winning the Open The Triangle Gate Championship with his R.E.D stablemates H.Y.O and Takashi Yoshida, after defeating Strong Machines (Strong Machine J, Strong Machine F, and Strong Machine G) and Natural Vibes (Kzy, Genki Horiguchi and Susumu Yokosuka) in a three-way match. Later that month, Diamante became part of a "Generation War" against Dragon Gate and Toryumon. Diamante, H.Y.O, and Yoshida lost the Open The Triangle Gate Championship to Toryumon trio of Dragon Kid, Ryo Saito, and Kenichiro Arai on February 7, 2020. From May 15 until May 30, Diamante took part in the 2020 King of Gate, losing in the quarterfinals to YAMATO, eliminating him from the tournament. On September 21, at Dangerous Gate, Diamante, Kazma Sakamoto and Takashi Yoshida defeated Dragon Gate 's (Ben-K, Dragon Dia, and Strong Machine J) to win the Open The Triangle Gate Championship. The titles would later declared vacated on November 1, after Diamante was sidelined with an injury.

On February 23, 2021, Diamante and his R.E.D stablemates Dia Inferno and HipHop Kikuta defeated Team Boku (Bokutimo Dragon, Punch Tominaga and Ryo Saito) in the finals to win the Open The Triangle Gate Championship Next Challenger Team Decision Tournament to become the #1 contenders to the Open The Triangle Gate Championship. On March 4, following a tag team match between Diamante and his R.E.D stablemate Kazma Sakamoto against Bokutimo Dragon and Último Dragón, Diamante challenged Último Dragón to a *Lucha de Apuestas Mask vs. Mask* match. However, he was unsure to who, due to previous years COVID-19 implications, leading Ultimo to instead pass his challenge to Bokutimo Dragon. Two days later, on the first night of the Champion Gate in Osaka, Diamante, Kikuta and Inferno unsucessfully challenged Natural Vibes (Kzy, Genki Horiguchi and Susumu Yokosuka) for the Open The Triangle Gate Championship. On April 9, Diamante defeated Bokutimo Dragon in a *Luchas de Apuestas* match, forcing him to unmask as per the match stipulation. In May, Diamante took part in the 2021 King of Gate, finishing the tournament with a record of three wins and two losses, failling to advance to the semifinals of the tournament. Meanwhile, a storyline had started involving a feud between Diamante's R.E.D stablemate Dia Inferno and Masquerade's Dragon Dia with Diamante and Shun Skywalker, being caught in the middle of Dia and Inferno. This led to on November 5, General Manager Ryo Saito to announce a Mask vs. Mask tag team match, with Diamante with Inferno and Dia with Masquerade stablemate Shun Skywalker on December 1, with the loser of the fall having to unmask. At the event, Diamante and Inferno won the *Lucha de Apuestas* match, with Dia being pinned by Diamante after Skywalker pushed Dia into Diamante, and as a result, Dia was forced to unmask and reveal his real name.

On February 5, 2022, after Eita was kicked out of R.E.D, H.Y.O and SB KENTo decided to renamed the stable to Z-Brats. On May 5, at Dead or Alive, Diamante and Z-Brats stablemate Shun Skywalker defeated Dragon Dia and Yuki Yoshioka to win the Open The Twin Gate Championship. In May, Diamante took part in the 2022 King of Gate, being eliminated in the quarterfinals to eventual winner Yuki Yoshioka. On July 30 at Kobe Pro-Wrestling Festival, Diamante and Skywalker lost the Open The Twin Gate Championship to Jason Lee and Jacky "Funky" Kamei.

On April 5, 2023, Diamante made a shocking return to Dragon Gate since February, attacking Último Dragón, ripping his mask, holding it in his hand. Afterwards, Diamante challenged Dragón to a match for his mask, however on May 5 at Dead or Alive, Dragón refused. Six days later, Diamante pinned Dragón in a eight-man tag team match, after Diamante removed Dragón's mask to secure the win for his team. Following the match, Dragón continued to deny a match against Diamante, claiming that it was impossible for him to face match him at that time. This led to Dragón to be suspended indefinitely for refusing Dragon Gate General Manager Ryo Saito's multiple attempts to booking a match against Diamante. On June 1, Dragon Kid appeared and introduced a video message from Dragón, who accepted the match against Diamante. This storyline dragged out Shun Skywalker, Strong Machine J and Dragon Kid and led to a five-way mask vs. mask steel cage survival match at Kobe Pro-Wrestling Festival on July 2. At the event, in the finals moment of the match, Diamante saved Skywalker from his losing his mask in the match, when he, Skywalker and Strong Machine J were the only ones left in the cage. After Machine escaped from the cage, Skywalker, alone with Diamante, seemingly offered an act of gratitude towards him. It looked as if Skywalker, who had been saved by Diamante, was going to sacrifice his mask so that Diamante could escape. However, Skywalker turned on Diamante and later tied the back of his mask to the ring ropes, paving the way for an easy exit from the cage. Faced with the proposition of either removing his mask to halt Skwyalker's progress up the cage, or deal with the crushing defeat and subsequent unmasking, Diamante chose the latter and Skywalker left the cage, leading Diamante to lose the match being forced to reveal his real name and being forced to unmask, which he asked Dragón to remove his mask.

On July 5, Diamante has requested to be removed from the 2023 King of Gate, which was accepted, leading his opponent Susumu Mochizuki to advance to the next round by forfeit. Two days later, Diamante came into the ring with Ultimo Dragon. The two shook hands. Diamante stated that he wanted to unmask himself in front of the audience, before Z-Brats came out and laughed at Diamante for losing his mask. Diamante then delivered a dropkick to Shun Skywalker, before announcing that he would return to Mexico for a brief period of time. He returned to Dragon Gate on October 6, under the ring name "Luís Mante", confronting Skywalker, and challenging him to a singles match. Despite his challenge, Skywalker accepted under the condition that Mante would face him on a Four-on-One handicap match, between him and Z-Brats, which he accepted. On November 9, Mante defeated Z-Brats in the Four-on-One handicap match, after H.Y.O turned on Skywalker, allowing Mante to secure the win. Afterwards, both formed a team named "Big Hug" and Mante challenged Z-Brats' KAI to a match. On December 9, Mante defeated KAI. After the match, Mante challenged Skywalker to a match, but he refused stating that he was not afraid to lose to Mante, due to being the best wrestler in Dragon Gate. This led to Madoka Kikuta coming to ring, proclaming the he was the best wrestler since he was the Open The Dream Gate Champion. After Dragon Gate's General Manager Ryo Saito came out, Kikuta proposed a three-way match, with Saito setting the match between the three. On December 24 at Final Gate, Mante defeated Skywalker and Kikuta to win the Open The Dream Gate Championship. Afterwards, Skywalker demanded to be Mante's first challenger for the title.

## In wrestling

* **Finishing moves**
	+ *DD* (Deadlift sitout powerbomb)
	+ *Diamante Special* (Arm-trapped sharpshooter)
	+ Springboard 450° splash
	+ *Vuelta Finale* (Modified gorilla press dropped into a falling powerbomb)
	+ *Vuelta Finale 2* (Modified gorilla press dropped into a sitout facebuster)
* **Signature moves**
	+ Dropkick, sometimes while springboarding
	+ Inverted stomp facebreaker
	+ Low blow
	+ *Super Torre* (Running reverse Samoan drop)
	+ Scoop powerslam
	+ Snap suplex
	+ Spinning kneeling reverse piledriver
	+ Standing corkscrew elbow drop
	+ Suicide dive
	+ Tilt-a-whirl gutbuster transitioned into a backbreaker
* **With SB KENTo**
	+ **Tag team finishers**
		- *MCC* (*Super Torre* (Diamante) / Jumping cutter (KENTo) combination)
* **With Shun Skywalker**
	+ **Tag team finishers**
		- *Cielo Finale* (Double gorilla press spinebuster)
		- *La Combinación DSD* (Assisted pop-up wheelbarrow facebuster)
* **Nicknames**
	+ **"Bosou Kikansha"** (Japanese for "Rampaging Locomotive")
* **Entrance themes**
	+ "Delight Extra Realize" (2nd version) by YO-HEI (used while part of R.E.D)
	+ **"Viva Victory"** by Jon Underdown and YO-HEI

## Championships and Accomplishments

* **Dragon Gate**
	+ Open The Dream Gate Championship (1 time, current)
	+ Open The Twin Gate Championship (1 time) – with Shun Skywalker
	+ Open The Triangle Gate Championship (2 times) – with H.Y.O and Takashi Yoshida (1) and Takashi Yoshida and Kazma Sakamoto (1)
	+ Open The Triangle Gate Championship Next Challenger Team Decision Tournament (2021) – with Dia Inferno and HipHop Kikuta
	+ Seventeenth Triple Crown Champion

### Luchas de Apuestas record

1 **^**  This was a *Lucha de Apuestas* Mask vs. Mask tag team match also involving Shun Skywalker and Dia Inferno.

2 **^**  This was a *Lucha de Apuestas* Mask vs. Mask 5-Way Survivor Steel Cage match also involving Dragon Kid, Último Dragón and Strong Machine J.