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Ray Fernandez (May 7, 1957 - March 6, 2004) was a professional wrestler who primarily wrestled in Florida and Texas before joining the World Wrestling Federation. He was best known by the ring name Hercules or variations thereof. Fernandez was also a featured bodybuilder, appearing in several muscle magazines.
CareerEarly career
In JCP Hercules was paired up with Jody Hamilton who had been wrestling as the Masked Assassin with Hercules adopting the gimmick of the Masked Assassin 2, a gimmick that had been played by several other wrestlers over the years. The two competed at the first ever Starrcade beating the team of Rufus R. Jones and Bugsy McGraw[2]. A less than a year later Hercules would be unmasked by Jimmy Valiant ending his run as one of the Assassins. After being unmasked Hercules moved on to Bill Watts Mid-South Promotion where he once again put a mask on. Mr. Wrestling II had recently turned on his tag-team partner Magnum T.A. and turned heel. Mr. Wrestling II renamed himself simply “Mr. Wrestling” and he got a new protégé “Mr. Wrestling II” who was Hercules under a mask (in magazines he was referred to as “Mr. Wrestling III” to avoid confusing their readers). Hercules seconded Mr. Wrestling in his feud with Magnum T.A. Later on Hercules unmasked and competed once again as “Hercules “ Hernandez where he would feud with ”Hacksaw” Jim Duggan under the tutelage of Jimmy Hart. Later on Hercules would join Skandor Akbar’s stable known as Devastation Inc. alongside future WWF co-worker Ted Dibiase. As part of Devastation Inc. Hercules would feud with the Junkyard Dog and Terry Taylor before leaving for Florida. In “Championship Wrestling from Florida” Hercules quickly won the NWA Florida Southern Heavyweight Championship from Brian Blair and then won the NWA Florida Heavyweight Championship from Hector Guerrero the following month making him a double champion[1]. Some time during July 1985 Hercules was fired from the CWF over a dressingroom fight with Wahoo McDaniel and stripped of both titles. After leaving Florida Hercules signed with the World Wrestling Federation. World Wrestling Federation
On November 26, 1986 Hercules got a very publicized shot at the WWF World Heavyweight Title when he faced Hulk Hogan on Saturday Night’s Main Event but came up short to Hogan’s “Big Boot, Leg Drop” combination[4]. The World Title match on SNME is arguably the highest Hercules ever got in the WWF. In the early part of 1988 during an episode of WWF Superstars of Wrestling Hercules was swinging his chain in the direction of The Ultimate Warrior. Warrior caught the chain, and the two began a tug of war with the chain which led to the steel chain snapping at the middle, with credit being given to the Warrior for snapping the chain[5]. This led to their match at WrestleMania IV which ended with Warrior pinning Hercules after kicking off the corner pads and landing on top of Hercules all while trapped in the full nelson. During the fall of 1988 Bobby Heenan sold Hercules' contract to “The Million $ Man” Ted Dibiase; Dibiase claimed that in Hercules, he had now purchased his own slave". This comment got to Hercules who stated that he was owned by no man and turned face to feud with Ted Dibiase. The feud with DiBiase saw the two meet at Survivor Series 1988 where Dibiase got the better of his “Slave”. Image:HerculesandRoma.jpg Power and Glory After the feud with Dibiase ended Hercules had a series of matches with ”King” Haku, but despite pinning Haku at WrestleMania V he did not become “King”. After the feud with Haku ended Hercules’ career stalled, without direction he was mainly used to help push the latest heels such as The Earthquake who Squashed him at WrestleMania VI. In the summer of 1990 Hercules career took a turn as he turned heel alongside Paul Roma and the two became Power and Glory managed by Slick. They had a high profile feud with the Rockers and challenged |WWF World Tag-Team Champions the Hart Foundation but the two, despite working well together as a team, never seemed to be able to win that “big match” they needed to cement themselves as serious players in the tag-team division. When The Legion of Doom squashed them in 30 seconds at WrestleMania VII the writing was on the wall, the team was not destined for greatness. After Summer Slam 1991 Roma left the WWF and Hercules spent the rest of his time in the WWF as an “Enhancement Talent” losing to everyone from The Big Boss Man to Sid Justice before leaving the federation in early 1992. After the WWFAfter being with the WWF for 7 years Fernandez signed with World Championship Wrestling and once again adopted a masked persona, this time as Super Invader, a supposed oriental assassin under the management of former enemy Harley Race. As the Super Invader he beat Todd Champion at Wrestle War 1992[6] and beat Marcus Bagwell in a dark match before the Great American Bash 1992 PPV. The highlight of Fernandez run as the Super Invader was his appearance at Clash of the Champions XX teaming with Rick Rude, Jake Roberts, and Big Van Vader in an elimination tag-team match against Sting, Nikita Koloff, and The Steiner Brothers. Fernandez's team won the match but he had been eliminated early in the match by Sting. By the end of 1993 Ray Fernandez had left WCW and started to compete on the independent circuit. One of the federations he worked for was New Japan Pro Wrestling where he appeared as “Hercules” Hernandez once more, mainly teaming with fellow power house wrestler Scott Norton to form The Jurassic Powers. The team would win the IWGP World Tag Team Championship from the Hell Raisers (Hawk Warrior & Power Warrior) and hold them for about 4 months before losing them back to the Hell Raisers at NJPW’s January 4 Dome Show (NJPW’s biggest annual event)[7]. While holding the titles the Jurassic Powers successfully defended against teams such as Takayuki Iizuka & Akira Nogami, Masa Saito & Manabu Nakanishi, and the Barbarian & Haku. The team also had a series of matches with The Steiner Brothers and made it to the finals of the 1993 Super Grade Tag League where they lost to Keiji Mutoh & Hiroshi Hase[8] In 1994, he wrestled in the American Wrestling Federation promotion taking part in the tournament to crown the first AWF champion. His appearance in the AWF made clear that he was no longer taking steroids, as he had lost most of his muscular definition. In 1999 Hercules decided to end his career after working for various independent promotions all over the world. Fernandez died in his sleep in his home on March 6, 2004. He was 46 years old. The cause of death was attributed to heart disease according to Fernandez wife[9]. In Wrestling
ManagersChampionships and accomplishments
References
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