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Andrés Alejandro Palomeque González (July 1, 1971 – March 22, 2009) was a Mexican Lucha libre (Spanish language for "masked professional wrestler"). He is best known for appearing under the ring name Abismo Negro, which is Spanish for "Black Abyss", in the Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA) promotion. Before appearing under the ring name Abismo Negro, Palomeque worked for five years under the alias "the Winners" and before that also wrestled as the characters "Alex Dinamo", "Pequeño Samurai", and "Furor" for short periods. Palomeque owned and operated the Gimnasio Abismo Negro, a wrestling school where individuals were trained to become professional wrestlers.
In his professional wrestling career, Palomeque worked for the two most prominent professional wrestling promotions in Mexico: Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) and AAA. He also worked for the North American–based promotions the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) due to talent exchange programs between AAA and WWF in 1997 and TNA in 2004, as well as making appearances for the Michinoku Pro and Pro Wrestling Noah promotions in Japan.
On March 22, 2009, Palomeque was found dead in a river near El Rosario, Sinaloa; the official cause of death was listed as drowning. On the night before, a wrestler using the Abismo Negro outfit worked an AAA show pretending to be Palomeque; this incident caused the promoter to be barred from promoting shows for two years. Palomeque was inducted into the AAA Hall of Fame in June 2013.
In AAA, Cibernético formed Los Vipers with Negro along with Psicosis II, Mosco De La Merced, Maniaco and Histeria. Histeria was replaced a few weeks later by Histeria II. In 1998, Negro acquired a "mascot": a midget wrestler called Mini Abismo Negro. Abismo, Mini Abismo, and new Vipers member Electroshock were defeated by Octagón, his mascot Octagóncito, and Pentagón in a six-man tag team match at Triplemanía. Los Vipers engaged in several scripted rivalries with other AAA groups, such as the group of masked wrestlers dressed as clowns known as Los Payasos. They also had a long-running rivalry with Los Vatos Locos—consisting of Espiritu, Picudo, Nygma, May Flowers, and Silver Cat during the rivalry—over the Mexican National Atómicos Championship. Los Vipers won the Atómicos titles from Los Vatos on several occasions, but Negro was not part of the teams that won. Palomeque wrestling as Abismo Negro did capture a title of his own when he defeated Pentagón on May 19, 1998, to win the Mexican National Middleweight Championship, a title he held until January 1999.
In 1999, Los Vipers split into two factions, with Abismo Negro leading a splinter group called Los Vipers Extreme consisting of Electroshock, Pentagón, Shiima, Dark Cuervo and Mini Abismo Negro while Cibernético created a group called Los Vipers Primera Clase (First Class Vipers). After less than two months, the angle was dropped and Los Vipers reunited. Not long after Los Vipers reunited, Cibernético formed a group called Lucha Libre Latina (LLL), a group intent on taking over AAA that was inspired by World Championship Wrestling's New World Order. Los Vipers became a subgroup within LLL, and Negro assumed leadership of Los Vipers. On May 2, 1999, Negro and Electroshock teamed up to defeat Perro Aguayo and Perro Aguayo Jr. to win the Mexican National Tag Team Championship. Los Vipers held the tag team title for four months before losing it to the team of Haytor and the Panther.
In 2000, Palomeque participated in a AAA tour of Japan and competed at Triplemanía VIII, where he was on the losing side of an eight-man tag team match main event; Negro teamed with Cibernetico, Nobuhiko Oshima and Electro Shock against Octagón, Jushin Thunder Liger, Latin Lover and Cuije. While touring with AAA, Palomeuqe also made an appearance at Michinoku Pro's April 9 Sumo Hall card, where he defeated Oriental. On May 7, Abismo Negro and Electroshock regained the Mexican National Tag Team title by defeating Haytor and the Panther but only held on to the title for two months before losing it to Héctor Garza and Perro Aguayo Jr.
Negro became one of the driving forces in LLL's feud with AAA owner Antonio Peña and his AAA loyalists. Over the years, Negro feuded with the top técnicos of AAA such as La Parka Jr., Octagón and Latin Lover. Negro's position as one of AAA's top workers was cemented on March 5, 2000, when he competed in AAA's annual Rey de Reyes tournament. In the opening round, he defeated Dos Caras, Killer and Psicosis II and in the finals, he defeated El Alebrije, Charly Manson and Cibernético to win the 2000 Rey de Reyes tournament. Negro's status as a main eventer caused storyline problems between LLL's leader Cibernético and Abismo Negro, leading to a series of matches between the two to see who should lead Los Vipers. On September 29, 2000, Negro defeated Cibernético in a one on one match at Verano de Escandalo (2000). When the two faced off in a steel cage match at Guerra de Titanes (2000), the match ended without a winner, after which the rivalry between the leader and the deputy leader was put on the back burner. In 2001, Negro almost won Rey de Reyes again, but La Parka Jr. defeated him in the finals. His string of losses continued at Triplemanía IX, where the LLL team of Abismo Negro, Cibernético, Electroshock and Mascara Maligna lost to Mascara Sagrada, El Alebrije, Octagón and La Parka Jr. when Negro was forced to submit.
In 2000 Abismo Negro won the hair of the Panther in Lucha del reves match, a contest where two masked wrestlers put their hair on the line instead of their mask. On September 7, 2001, Abismo Negro won another Lucha del reves match, defeating El Alebrije. In December 2002, Negro and Mini Abismo Negro made it to the finals of a tournament to crown the first ever AAA Mascot Tag Team Champions but lost to Mascara Sagrada and Mascarita Sagrada. Negro qualified for the Rey de Reyes (2003) final, but La Parka Jr. once again defeated him. In 2004, LLL was phased out in favor of a new super group known as La Legión Extranjera or the Foreign Legion in English, which meant that Los Vipers now regularly teamed with foreign wrestlers, especially NWA-TNA performers such as Abyss.
Abismo Negro and the rest of Team AAA returned for the 2004 World X Cup Tournament where they now competed as "Team Mexico". Abismo Negro remained undefeated until April 7, 2004, when his team lost to James Mason and Jason Allgood in one of the first matches of the World X Cup Tournament. Later in the night, Team Mexico defeated Team Britain to even the score. The World Cup saw Team Mexico lose to Team USA, Team Canada (Eric Young and Robert Roode), and Team Japan (Ryuji Hijikata and Mitsu Hirai Jr.). Team Mexico tied in points with Team USA and Team Canada, which meant that a representative of each team met in an Ultimate X match to determine the winner of the tournament. Héctor Garza represented Mexico, but in the end Team USA's Chris Sabin won the match and the tournament.
He often appeared on the morning television program Vida TV, in full wrestling gear and persona, billed as Abismo Negro. He usually appeared as a kind of judge for talent contests on the show earning him the nickname Fiscal De Hierro de la Televisión (the Iron Judge of Television). Palomeque owned and operated "Gimnasio Abismo Negro" where he taught both professional wrestling and physical fitness. Graduates of Abismo Negro's wrestling school include Independent wrestling workers El Intocable, Extassis and Mini Cibernético as well as AAA workers Sexy Star and Aero Star. Abismo Negro is a playable character in AAA's first ever video game, AAA El Videojuego. The Abismo Negro character was one of the first characters used to promote the game and show the quality of the graphic rendering.
On Saturday March 21, while Palomeque was either lost in the hills or already dead, someone worked as Abismo Negro on an AAA show in Cancun. In the past, the wrestler known as Black Abyss had worked as Abismo Negro when Palomeque failed to show, but this time Black Abyss was not the man behind the mask, as he was on the opposing team that night. Following the discovery of Palomeque's body, the deception in Cancun received national coverage in Mexico and the local promoter responsible for the show, Renán Martínez, was suspended for two years by the Benito Júarez Boxing and Wrestling commission. On November 25, 2024, during an appearance on Latin Lover's podcast, fellow Mexican wrestler Laredo Kid admitted to having been the one who replaced Abismo Negro during that match with authorization from AAA. According to Laredo, he only made a brief appearance as Abismo Negro to be beaten and sent on a stretcher to the back.
On October 26, 2009, AAA held the Torneo Abismo Negro in honor of Palomeque, the tournament was a 7-man gauntlet-style match and included a mix of five AAA veterans and two Abismo Negro students. The participants were Cuervo, Black Abyss, Gato Eveready, Kempo Dragon, Joe Líder, Extreme Tiger and Relámpago. Relámpago, Abismo Negro's last student to turn professional, won the match after 48 minutes. The event was not televised and did not become an annual event. During Triplemania XVII there was a moment of silence in memory of Abismo Negro, Antonio Peña and Mitsuharu Misawa (Misawa had died the night before).
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2004)
In 2004, TNA and AAA began a working relationship that saw TNA wrestlers work in Mexico and AAA wrestlers make several appearances on TNA's weekly pay-per-views. Managed by AAA owner Antonio Peña, Palomeque, working as Abismo Negro, along with Héctor Garza, Juventud Guerrera, Mr. Águila, and later Heavy Metal, worked for TNA as Team Mexico in the TNA 2004 America's X Cup Tournament. The team made their debut on January 28, 2004, at TNA Weekly pay-per-view event #78, defeating the team of Eric Young, Shark Boy, Matt Stryker and Chad Collyer. In the following weeks, Negro and Team AAA won against Elix Skipper, the team of Jerry Lynn and Sonjay Dutt and finally all of Team USA in a 4 on 4 match to claim the Americas X Cup. Four weeks later Team AAA successfully defended the X Cup against Team Canada, as Abismo Negro and Juventud Guerrera defeated the team of Teddy Hart and Jack Evans to tie the score between the two teams, allowing for a final four-on-four elimination match that Team AAA won.
Return to AAA (2005-2009)
After the World X Cup tournament ended, Negro returned to AAA full-time taking full charge of Los Vipers. In early 2005, he was once again involved in the final match of that year's Rey de Reyes, but La Parka Jr. defeated him for the third time. AAA hinted at a possible técnico turn when Negro, along with Psicosis and Mini Psicosis, attacked Cibernético. The two faced off in a cage match, won by Cibernético, but they eventually reconciled their differences once more. At some point after 2005, Abismo Negro won the hair of Stuka Jr. in a Lucha del reves match. Despite rumors that he was jumping to Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre, Negro remained in AAA and was sent on a tour with Pro Wrestling Noah in the spring of 2006. Later in the year, he finally turned técnico and began a sustained storyline with Cibernético and his group La Secta Cibernetica. The on again, off again storyline with Cibernético was put on hold when Cibernético suffered a severe knee injury in late 2006. At some point during 2006, Los Vipers left La Legión due to their "Anti-Mexican" philosophy and began fighting La Legión and La Legión's imported wrestlers. At Verano de Escandalo (2006), Negro, Charly Manson, Electroshock and Histeria lost to Team TNA (Homicide, Low Ki, Samoa Joe and A.J. Styles).
Black Abyss
In late 2007, AAA created a ring persona for a new wrestler called Black Abyss; the gimmick featured the same mask and attire as Negro and used a similar wrestling style to Negro as well. Initially, it was believed that this was done because there were rumors of him jumping to CMLL or to cover several no-shows. In 2008, Negro's "almost winning" streak at Rey de Reyes continued as he lost in the final to El Zorro. Black Abyss made sure Negro did not win by interfering on Zorro's behalf during the match, furthering the storyline between the two. During the fall of 2008, AAA pushed the storyline further by having Black Abyss "injure" Negro with his own trademark move the "Martinete". Abismo Negro was scheduled to take part in Triplemanía XVI in a match where he would face Los Vipers (Psicosis, Histeria, Black Abyss and Mr. Niebla) in a cage match, but in the weeks leading up to the show Abismo Negro suffered an injury and the match had to be cancelled, AAA used the attack at Rey de Reyes as a storyline explanation of why the match did not take place. At the 2008 Guerra de Titanes, Negro returned to challenge Los Vipers' Revolution and specifically Black Abyss. Subsequently, the storyline between Negro and Black Abyss seemed to be building to a Luchas de Apuestas fight between the two, with their masks on the line. Both Abismo and Black Abyss were booked in the same four-way elimination match qualifier at the Rey de Reyes (2009) event. Negro was able to eliminate Black Abyss from the match but was in turn eliminated by Latin Lover. Black Abyss still competed under the Black Abyss name, still as a rudo, but seemingly only a couple times on TV since then. Black Abyss has stated his wishes to continue with the character to honor the memory of Abismo Negro, but AAA didn't shown a lot of interest in using it on TV. In October 2010 it was reported that Black Abyss had left AAA.
Abismo Negro II
On September 27, 2011, AAA announced the start of a competition to find a new Abismo Negro. In the end no one was chosen to take over the Abismo Negro character.
Personal life
Palomeque was married to a woman named Martha for 15 years and the couple had four children, two girls and two boys. Palomeque's wife has been suffering from breast cancer for a number of years.
Death
Palomeque was found dead on March 22, 2009. His body was found in a river near the town of El Rosario, Sinaloa. According to a bus driver who was transporting Palomeque and other passengers to Mexico City on Friday night March 20, Palomeque became agitated, panicked and demanded to be let off the bus despite it being 1:30 in the morning. A text message he sent to his wife after leaving the bus confirms that Palomeque found himself lost on the dark hillside. After receiving the text message, his wife contacted local wrestling promoter Vicente Martinez, who organized a search party. On the morning of March 22, Palomeque was found floating face down in the river. Afterwards, medical expert Jesús Enrique Castro López stated that such an anxiety attack could be Anabolic steroid related, but Palomeque's alleged steroid abuse has not been confirmed. An autopsy was carried out on March 23, which determined that the cause of death was drowning, and no further investigation into the death is planned. A memorial was held in Mexico City on March 24 for friends and family of Palomeque, many of whom showed up without their masks on, to keep the focus of the event on Palomeque. His body was subsequently cremation, with the ashes taken to Villahermosa to be buried.
Championships and accomplishments
Luchas de Apuestas record
See also
Footnotes
Further reading
External links
Categories: 1971 Births, 2009 Deaths, 20th-century Male Professional Wrestlers, 20th-century Mexican Professional Wrestlers, 21st-century Male Professional Wrestlers, 21st-century Mexican Professional Wrestlers, Accidental Deaths In Mexico, Deaths By Drowning, Masked Wrestlers, Mexican Male Professional Wrestlers, Professional Wrestlers From Tabasco, People From Villahermosa, Mexican Professional Wrestling Trainers, Mexican National Tag Team Champions, 1987 Professional Wrestling Debuts, Rey De Reyes Winners
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