STW - Tito Santana [Show Notes] (Patreon)

Tito Santana

Merced Solis was born on May 10th, 1953 in Mission, Texas

Where's Mission located at in Texas?

When did you first meet Tito Santana?

Tito is an underrated talent. When people talk about whose the best babyface of all time, usually the answer is Ricky Steamboat, because he had been a babyface his entire career, never turning heel. Well, Tito has also been a babyface his entire career, he never turned heel either.

What's interesting is, when Tito was growing up, he wasn't a wrestling fan as a kid. 

We've done a lot of these biography shows where the subject wasn't a wrestling fan growing up, but he'd end up becoming a legend in the business. Pretty ironic how that's that happened many times 

Tito went to West Texas State University, where he played tight end on the football team. Ironically, the quarterback of that team was Tully Blanchard. Also on that team was Ted DiBiase.

Tully's dad, Joe Blanchard, who ran Southwest Championship Wrestling, in Texas would come to their games and towards the end of Tito's junior year, they started talking to him about becoming a professional wrestler.

At first, Tito wasn't interested, because he had hopes of playing in the NFL.

Tito ended up getting signed by the Kansas City Chiefs, but was released in training camp. He played a season for the BC Lions of the Canadian Football League, appearing in 13 regular season games. 

Tito then changed his mind & decided that he'd take Joe & Tully up on their offer, and become a professional wrestler. Terry Funk also played football at West Texas State and he and Tito became friends and Terry would often talk to him about wrestling

Did Tito ever talk to you about his football career and Tully & Joe Blanchard?

Before Tito started training to be a wrestler, he referred some matches in San Antonio

Joe set Tito up to get trained in Florida with Hiro Matsuda. After about a month training, Terry Funk, who was the NWA World Champion at the time asked Tito how he was liking it. Tito said he loved the business, but he wasn't making any money. So, he told Terry he was thinking of going back to play football for the BC Lions then maybe try to get back into the business later

Terry told him before he makes any decisions, let him talk to Eddie Graham first, which Terry did and after that, Tito started getting bookings, then he went to Atlanta, where Jim Barnett gave him a guarantee and Tito started to learn more about the business from there. Tito started officially wrestling in 1977. When Tito started, he looked up to Jack Brisco and tried to pattern himself after him

When Tito went to Atlanta, he was given the name of Richard Blood, which was Ricky Steamboat's real name. Tito said he was given that name because Ricky Steamboat was previously in Atlanta but Ole Anderson who was booking let him go, then he went to Charlotte and became the hottest thing they had at the time

So when Tito came in, Ole asked Ricky's permission if he could use the name Richard Blood for Tito, and Ricky let him them do it

Did you ever hear that story?

When Tito got to Atlanta, they told him he was going to be working on top. However, Tito had only worked about 4 matches before he got there, some of which was against Paul Orndorff. They actually played college football against each other. 

Ole told him because he was a young, good looking guy, they wanted him to enter the ring with energy and jump over the top rope to get into the ring. So, Tito's first match there was against Ted Oates, in Augusta, Georgia (Hulk Hogan's birth town) and Tito jumped over the ropes, but he tripped and fell into the ring

Tito had some tough learning when he was in GCW, he would take bumps when he wasn't supposed to, etc. He also started teaming with Brad Armstrong. Even though Brad was younger than Tito, Brad grew up in the business because his father was Bob Armstrong. So teaming with Brad helped Tito learn. 

Tito was also roommates with Dino Bravo in Atlanta. In fact, Dino told Tito that he should start saying Arriba after his interviews

Paul Jones also was a big to help to Tito's development. They traveled together and Paul taught him a lot about wrestling psychology

From there, Tito went to Armarillo which was run by Dick Murdoch & Blackjack Mulligan at the time. Tito was only there a few months, but while he was there, Andre the Giant took one of Tito's tapes and gave it to Vince McMahon, Sr 

Andre and Tito were friends. When they were both in Georgia, Ole appointed Tito to make sure Andre made the shots, so Tito would drive Andre around and let him sleep in his bed, so Andre and Tito became good friends

From there, Vince invited him to New York. Tito had a dark match and Vince told him to come up with a catchy name. 

There was a guy who lived in Tito's hometown, Mission Texas whose last name was Santana, which Tito liked, so he chose Santana for his last name and picked Tito for his first name

On October 22nd, 1979 Tito and Ivan Putski won the WWF World Tag Team titles from the Valiant Brothers. They held them until April 12th, 1980, when they lost them to the Wild Samoans

Vince later asked Tito where he wanted to go to wrestle and Tito chose the AWA because he heard good things there and there was really nothing but top guys there. So, Vince sent him there. He worked there from 80-82. Vince also sent Tito to Japan to work for Giant Baba for 6 weeks

While Tito was in AWA, he teamed with Rick Martel against the High Flyers, Greg Gagne and Jim Brunzell in babyface matches. Of course, Tito and Rick would become WWF World Tag Team Champions together as Strike Force, in 1987

Tito would make his way to Mid-South for Bill Watts, and while he was there, Ernie Ladd told him that Vince Sr wanted him to come back to the WWF, but Ernie told him Bill also wants him to stay and told Tito he'd have to make a decision. Tito's wife was from New Jersey and he felt WWF was the top promotion in the country, so it was an easy decision for him to go back to the WWF. This was in 1983.

Ironically, Tito's first match back in the WWF was May 10th, 1983, which is also Tito's birthday. 

Not long after Tito returned, he started a feud with the Intercontinental Champion, Don Muraco.

Santana won the title on February 11th , 1984, becoming the first Mexican-American wrestler to win the Intercontinental title.

Tito successfully defended the title against Muraco in a series of rematches. He'd also successfully defend it against David Schultz, Mr. Fuji, Masked Superstar, JJ Dillion, and others.

On September 24th, 1984 in London, Ontario Canada, Tito lost the Intercontinental title to Greg Valentine

At WrestleMania 1, Tito was in the first match in WrestleMania history, when he defeated The Executioner, who was Playboy Buddy Rose under a mask

Later in the show, during the IC title match between Valentine and the Junkyard Dog. Wearing street clothes, Santana rushed to the ring to inform referee Dick Kroll that Valentine had used his feet on the ropes to help pin the JYD. Despite having already called for the bell, Kroll restarted the match and JYD ended up winning by CO

On July 6th, 1985 in Baltimore, Tito regained the IC title from Valentine in a steel cage match. After the match, Valentine, destroyed the title by repeatedly bashing it against the steel cage, forcing the WWF to get a new belt. Santana would hold on to the title until February 8, 1986 when he lost it to Randy Savage, at the Boston Globe, after Savage knocked him out with a foreign object he had hidden in his tights 

At WrestleMania 3, Tito teamed with The British Bulldogs to take on The Hart Foundation and former ref, Danny Davis. The Hart Foundation and Davis won the match when Davis used Jimmy Hart's megaphone to knock out and pin Davey Boy Smith 

Later in the show, Tito came to the ring and attacked manager Slick after Butch Reed had defeated Koko B. Ware. Santana, in response to previous attacks by Slick, tore the clothing from Slick. 

You came to the WWF right after this, what was Tito like at this time?

Not too long after this, Tito and Rick Martel were put together at Strike Force. The original team was Tom Zenk and Rick Martel, but Zenk left, so Tito was put in the team. 

Tito said the original gimmick for the team was to be called The Border Patrol, because Tito was from the South and Rick was from the North. At the time, some Mexicans passed away from heat exhaustion, when trying to cross the border when they were inside of a train box. So, Tito told Vince he felt that name would be too controversial because of that, so they changed it to Strike Force

What's your memories of Tom leaving the WWF and why was Tito picked for that spot?

On October 27th, 1987 Strike Force defeated The Hard Foundation to win the World Tag Team titles

The tag team division in the WWF was stacked at this time. Do you think they were the right choice for the titles?

At Survivor Series 1987, Strike Force was involved in the stacked tag team elimination match, where they teamed with The British Bulldogs, Killer Bees, Fabulous Rougeaus, & Young Stallions to take on The Hart Foundation, The Islanders, The Bolshevicks, Demolition, Dino Bravo & Greg Valentine 

In the match, Tito pinned Boris Zuchov and he was later pinned by Jim Neidhart

Neidhart pinning Tito seemed to maybe set up the Hart Foundation winning the titles back from Strike Force at some point, but that didn't happen. Was that ever discussed?

Over the next several months, Strike Force would have successful title defenses mostly against The Hart Foundation and The Islanders

That takes us to WrestleMania 4, on March 27th, 1988. Demolition defeated Strike Force to win the World Tag Team titles

We did a full show on Demolition, which is available in our archives

During the match, Martel hurt his neck and was going to have to be out of action for several months. However, his wife was ill and he took the time off to care for her

Over the rest of 1988, Tito was just used in lower matches on house shows with no angles or anything like that. Rick Martel returned at the 1989 Royal Rumble, and he and Tito reformed Strike Force

That takes us to WrestleMania 5. Strike Force against The Brain Busters; Tully Blanchard and Arn Anderson.

Tito facing his college quarterback, Tully Blanchard. During the match, Tito accidentally hit Rick with his flying forearm and for the rest of the match, Rick wouldn't tag in and ended up leaving and going to the dressing room. Tito ended up getting spike piledrove and pinned

Rick cut a promo on Tito in the dressing room and turned heel, becoming Rick the Model Martel

After the split, Tito asked be the heel, but Vince declined that. Was there ever talk of turning Tito heel?

They'd never have a 1 on 1 singles pay per view match, but they'd wrestle on house shows. 

Why did they never have a one on one match? That's kind of a no brainer that'd happen after a team splits up

However, on October 14th, 1989 the King of the Ring tournament was held. They were held on house shows in those days and Tito defeated Rick in the finals, to become the 1989 King of the Ring. However, that was never mentioned on TV

At the Survivor Series 1989, Tito teamed with Dusty Rhodes, Red Rooster & Brutus Beefcake against Big Boss Man, Rick Martel, Bad News Brown and Honky Tonk Man

In the match, Tito did not eliminate anyone, and he was eliminated by Rick Martel

In the 1990 Royal Rumble, Tito came in at #23. He didn't eliminate anyone and he was eliminated by Ultimate Warrior and Rick Martel

At WrestleMania 6, Tito was beat by the Barbarian. Later in the show, IC Champion Ultimate Warrior beat Hulk Hogan to win the World Title. After that, Warrior vacated the IC title and a tournament was held to crown a new Intercontinental Champion.

On April 4th, 1990 in Glens Falls, NY the tournament started. Tito beat Akeem in round 1 by countout. He was to face the winner of Brutus Beefcake, but both men were counted out and eliminated, so Tito got a bye to the finals.

On April 24th, in San Antonio, Mr. Perfect defeated Tito in the finals of the tournament, to win the Intercontinental title

After that, Tito lost a lot of house show matches to the Warlord and to Mr. Perfect in rematches for the IC title

At the 1990 Survivor Series, he teamed with Nikolai Volkoff and The Bushwackers. He was the winner and sole survivor in the elimination-style match against Sgt Slaughter, Boris Zuchov and Orient Express

Tito eliminated Boris and Tanaka and Slaughter was Dqd and Tito was the last one left on his team, so he was the sole survivor

As a result, Santana advanced to the final elimination match, teaming with Hulk Hogan and The Ultimate Warrior against Martel, DiBiase, Hercules & Paul Roma. Santana would eliminate The Warlord with his Flying forearm before being pinned by DiBiase. 

Tito said he thought he'd be getting a push coming out of this, which didn't happen so he said it was kind of depressing

While taking a short hiatus from the WWF, he wrestled in International World Class Championship Wrestling (IWCCW) briefly where he held a feud with Tony Atlas. On an IWCCW card in Brooklyn, New York, Atlas defeated Dusty Wolfe. After the bout, he openly challenged any of his fellow wrestlers to try to beat him. Tito Santana immediately responded, charging out and dropkicking Atlas out of the ring. 

Following the event, Santana and Atlas scheduled a match for June 15 in Nassau in The Bahamas for the IWCCW title, where Santana sought to avenge his former tag team partner  Ivan Putski, whom Atlas had hung over the ropes previously. Santana had the upper hand in the bout until Atlas' manager Tony Rumble interfered by distracting Santana by repeatedly putting Atlas' foot on the rope. Santana then went after Rumble, pulled him onto the ring apron, and knocked him onto the floor. Tony Atlas took the opportunity to blindside Santana with a pair of brass knuckles from behind. Atlas was Dqd.

What lead to Tito taking a break from the WWF and how was he able to wrestle in the IWCCW

When Tito returned, he was given the gimmick of El Matador.

Tito said the El Matador gimmick was Vince's idea, but Tito said that he hated it

What's your memories of how that was created and why?

Tito said usually when someone was given a gimmick, they'd get a push, so he thought that was going to happen. Vince sent him to Mexico to learn how to bullfight, which Tito said was a great experience. Tito said that he had heard Vince spent over $500,000 on all of that while Tito was in Mexico

Not long after Tito got back from Mexico, he asked Vince what merchandise they were going to do for it, and Vince said to call the merchandise department. So, he did and he was told all they were going to do was make the action figure. Tito asked is that all and they said yes. He then called his wife and told her that they didn't have any plans for El Matador

However, Tito said at one point, he was considered for the World Title, but that was given to Bret Hart in 1992, when he beat Ric Flair.

Tito lost to Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania 8

Tito didn't get a push and was mostly used in mid card matches and as an enhancement talent

Tito stopped appearing on WWF TV in North America, but he continued working on the WWF Summer tour in Europe and the international house show circuit through the course of August–September. 

Interesting note, Tito, along with only Hulk Hogan, holds the distinction of appearing in the first 9 WrestleManias, accumulating a 2-7 record during that time. Officially he is recognized only for the first eight WrestleManias matches. In his final in-ring WrestleMania appearance, he defeated Papa Shango at WrestleMania 9 in the dark match. 

Santana continued to wrestle through the first half of 1993 following WrestleMania 9, facing Razor Ramon, Adam Bomb, and Papa Shango. His final match was on August 13, 1993 in Wildwood, New Jersey, when he defeated Damian Demento. 

Tito said one day he told Vince that he felt it was time to leave and Vince said to him, I think you're right. Tito said Vince seemed relieved that it was Tito's idea to leave, he didn't think Vince wanted to let him go because he had been there so long. What's your memories of Tito leaving the WWF?

From there, Tito went to ECW, which was known as Eastern Championship Wrestling at the time. He won the ECW World Title from on old rival Don Muraco on August 8th 1993, but after that, Tito never came back. He said it wasn't for him, so he forfeited the title and Shane Douglas was given it

After leaving ECW, Santana returned to IWCCW where he wrestled some of his old WWF rivals such as Hercules Hernandez, Rick Martel, and Greg Valentine. During his second stint, he won the vacant IWCCW World title with a tournament victory over Greg Valentine who later won the title in a rematch. 

During 1994 and 1996 Santana wrestled in the short-lived American Wrestling Federation (AWF). He was both the first and last AWF Heavyweight Champion, defeating Bob Orton in a tournament final for the inaugural belt in November 1994, and losing and regaining the title from Orton on the same night in October 1996 

Tito said the AWF closed because the owner ran out of money. They were supposed to have another investor come in, but he backed out

Tito returned to the WWF as a commentator in the Spanish Broadcast table, He called Raw & PPV events, he was last doing Spanish commentary at WrestleMania 14. In November 1997 he made on-air appearances as El Matador in the Karate Fighters Holiday Tournament, facing Carlos Cabrera and Jerry Lawler 

On January 10, 2000, Santana made a one-time appearance in WCW. He defeated Jeff Jarrett in a Dungeon match on Nitro

Tito was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2004. Shawn Michaels inducted him. Tito said the WWE picked Shawn to do that. Kind of an odd choice, since they only wrestled the one major match against each other and never had an angle together

On December 4, 2012, the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum announced Santana would be inducted into their Modern Category. The PWHF Induction took place on May 18, 2013 

Tito is now a Spanish teacher and basketball coach at Eisenhower Middle School in Roxbury Township, New Jersey, where he lives with his wife Leah and their three sons Matthew, Michael, and Mark. 

His wife operates Santana's Hair Salon in Succasunna, New Jersey. He also teaches wrestling classes at the New Jersey-based Independent Wrestling Federation. He was also a physical education teacher for Smalley Elementary School in Bound Brook, New Jersey. 

Amazingly, Tito still wrestles. His most recent match was on October 26th, 2019 Centereach, New York. Tito & Tony Vincita beat Stephen Azure & Steve Somerset

Favorite Tito match?

What do you think is Tito's legacy in professional wrestling?