Brazo de Plata

José Alvarado Nieves (born March 19, 1963) is a Mexican Luchador (professional wrestler) best known under the ring name Brazo de Plata, he has used since his debut in 1977 and also for his appearances in WWE as "Super Porky". Alvarado is a part of the Alvarado wrestling family which includes his father Shadito Cruz, five brothers who used the "Brazo" name at some point and several third generation wrestlers who have appeared over the last couple of years.

Professional wrestling career

Alvarado made his debut as "Brazo De Plata" (Spanish for "Silver arm"), an Enmascarado (masked wrestler) who worked mainly in tag team matches with his brother who worked as Brazo de Oro ("Gold arm") and in trios action with another brother known simply as El Brazo ("the arm"). Los Brazos, as they were billed, wrestled all over Mexico and made appearances for the Los Angeles based "NWA Hollywood Wrestling". While working for NWA Hollywood, Plata and Oro won the NWA Americas Tag Team Championship from Chino Chou and the Kiss on November 7, 1981. The brothers were also last holders of the Los Angeles version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship in 1982.

Losing the masks

Over the years Brazo de Plata and his brothers competed in a large number of Luchas de Apuestas ("Bet fights") where they put their masks or hair on the line against their opponents. Los Brazos' most famous Luchas de Apuestas occurred on October 21, 1988 when Brazo de Plata, Brazo de Oro, and El Brazo all placed their masks on the line in a match against another well known Lucha libre family, Los Villanos, in this case Villano I, Villano IV and Villano V. The match was the culmination of a long feud (storyline) between the two families and saw all six wrestlers bleed profusely during the bout. In the end Los Villanos won the match, forcing all three Brazos to unmask and reveal their real names as is tradition in these types of matches. Despite losing their masks Los Brazos remained successful in the ring, winning various tag team and trios titles, such as the UWA World Tag Team Championship, UWA World Trios Championship, WWA World Tag Team Championship and the WWA World Trios Championship

By the 1990s Los Brazos worked mainly for Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) where Plato, Oro and El Brazo won the CMLL World Trios Championship from Los Infernales (Pirata Morgan, Satánico and MS-1) on April 6, 1993. Los Brazos lost the titles to Dr. Wagner, Jr., Gran Markus, Jr. and El Hijo del Gladiador. 1993 also saw Brazo de Plata get the biggest singles win of his career as he defeated Black Magic for the CMLL World Heavyweight Championship, a title he would hold over a year.

As the years wore on and Brazo de Plata's waistline expanded he found himself working a more comedic style, often seen as a specialty act. During this time period he was nicknamed "Super Porky" in reference to his weight gain, a nickname Brazo de Plata seems to embrace.

WWE Juniors division

Plata was hired by World Wrestling Entertainment in 2005 as part of the SmackDown! brand's short-lived Junior Division. Plata was billed as "Super Porky" and paired up with the minis of the Junior division. Brazo de Plata's appearances played for comedy and no real in-ring appearances came of it before the entire Juniors division concept was ended in March 2006 and all the workers in the division were released.

Jump to AAA

After having worked for many years for CMLL Brazo de Plata jumped to its rival promotion Asistencia, Asesoría y Administración (AAA) making one of his first appearances at AAA's annual Verano de Escandalo show. Almost from the start Brazo de Plata began working a storyline with "Los Guapos VIP" a stable of wrestlers obsessed with their good looks, the polar opposite of the fun loving, overweight Brazo de Plata. At Verano de Escándalo, Brazo de Plata, Intocable, El Oriental and El Zorro lost to the team of Alan Stone, Hator, Scorpio, Jr., and Zumbido. At the following featured show, Guerrera de Titanes 2006, Brazo de Plata had his hair shaved off as he lost a Dog collar chain match to Alan Stone and Scorpio Jr. The storyline with Los Guapos VIP continued throughout 2007 and into 2008 where it saw a surprising turn. Brazo de Plata's brother El Brazo jumped to AAA and attacked his own brother, taking the (storyline) control of the Los Guapos VIP group. The storyline fight of the two brothers came to a crescendo at Guerrera de Titanes 2008, where they faced off in a steel cage match where the loser would have his hair shaved off. El Brazo lost and had his hair shaved to put at least a temporary end to the storyline.

He left AAA in March 2009, with his last appearance being March 15 at the Plaza Nuevo Progreso in Guadalajara, Jalisco, losing to La Parka in a semi-final of the Reyes de Reyes Tournament, also featuring Escoria and Kenzo Suzuki.

Post-AAA

After leaving AAA, Plata began working independent dates throughout the country as well as regularly for International Wrestling Revolution Group and Perros del Mal Producciones.

The Alvarado Family

The Alvarado wrestling family spans three generations starting with Shadito Cruz followed by his 6 sons and a third generation who have begun wrestling in recent years. José Alvarado has 5 children who have all followed in his footsteps, his sons José (working as Máximo), Psycho Clown and Magia Jr. and his two daughters Danah and Gloria Alvarado Nava, who wrestles as Goya Kong.

† = deceased

In wrestling

• Finishing moves
  • Diving splash
  • Senton a la Porky (Jumping seated senton, sometimes as a sunset flip counter)
• Signature moves
  • Full body block
  • Hip toss
  • Porky Plancha (Jose stands on the apron & falls onto his opponent on the outside, as opposed to diving)
  • Running splash
  • Running seated senton to an opponent sitting in the corner
  • Slap
  • Stink face
  • Suicide dive
• Nicknames
  • "Super Porky" (although his official name in WWE it became a nickname when he reverted to the Brazo de Plata identity)
  • "Rotoporky"

Championships and accomplishments

• Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre
  • CMLL World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
  • CMLL World Trios Championship (1 time) – with Brazo de Oro and El Brazo
  • Mexican National Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Brazo de Oro
  • Mexican National Trios Championship (3 times) – with Brazo de Oro and El Brazo (2) and El Brazo and Super Elektra (1)
• Federación Internacional de Lucha Libre
  • FILL Trios Championship (1 time) – with Brazo de Oro and El Brazo
• NWA Hollywood Wrestling
  • NWA Americas Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Brazo de Oro
  • NWA World Tag Team Championship (Los Angeles version) (1 time) – with Brazo de Oro
• Pro Wrestling Illustrated
  • PWI ranked him #229 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the PWI 500 in 2006
• Universal Wrestling Association
  • UWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Brazo de Oro
  • UWA World Trios Championship (3 times) – with Brazo de Oro and El Brazo
• World Wrestling Association
  • WWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Brazo de Oro
  • WWA World Trios Championship
• Other titles
  • Distrito Federal Trios Championship (1 time) – with Brazo de Oro and El Brazo
  • Distrito Federal Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with El Brazo
  • Puebla Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Brazo de Oro

Luchas de Apuestas record

Mixed martial arts record