Gran Markus Jr., a multiple-time Mexican National Heavyweight champion and member of La Ola Blanca, died this past Friday.
Cándido Robles Cruz died last Friday with his age being reported at 72. His listed birth date was August 14, 1953.
While adopting the moniker of Gran Markus Jr., he had no relation to Gran Markus, although he feuded with his namesake and shaved the elder’s head in a 1989 program where the younger version placed his mask on the line.
Cruz began his career in 1977 under the name Tony Benetto and spent a decade wrestling under the alias before adopting the more popular persona. Early in his career, he teamed with Herodes, who was several years older and had been wrestling for eight years by the time Cruz debuted. Both were trained by Hall of Famer Diablo Velasco.
As Tony Benetto, he lost his hair to Cuauhtémoc Torres, Satánico, Halcón Ortiz, Ringo Mendoza, Sangre Chicana, a double hair loss with Herodes to El Faraón & Ringo Mendoza on June 27, 1980.
On January 15, 1980, Benetto defeated El Halcon to win the Mexican National Heavyweight title. He held the belt for six months until he was unseated by Cien Caras, who would keep the belt for over a year during his first reign.
In 1985, Benetto was teaming with Rayo de Jalisco Jr., and the pair won the National tag team titles on October 28 from Cien Caras & Sangre Chicana in Nuevo Laredo. Again, Caras would end the title reign, with partner Mascara Ano 2000.
In 1987, he became the masked Gran Markus Jr. and joined EMLL (the precursor to CMLL) and formed La Ola Blanca with El Hijo del Gladiador and Dr. Wagner Jr.
Under the mask, he held the Mexican National Heavyweight title two more times, with a December 1987 victory over Super Halcon and regaining the belt from the Popitekus in May 1990. Former partner Rayo de Jalisco Jr. ended his third and final reign.
La Ola Blanca held CMLL’s Trios titles in April 1994, defeating Los Brazos, and held them for nearly a year before losing to Los Chacales of Sangre Chicana, Emilio Charles Jr., and Bestia Salvaje.
His unmasking occurred on June 29, 1997, when he lost to Mil Mascaras. The show was for Dos Caras’ Top Win Promotions, and despite the name value and stipulation, the show drew a mere 1,500, as noted in the July 14, 1997 edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter:
Top Win Promotions, headed by Dos Caras, ran the big triangle mask vs. mask match with Mil Mascaras, Tinieblas Sr. and Gran Markus Jr. The show was a total flop drawing only 1,500 fans to the 18,000-seat arena that AAA had come close to selling out two weeks earlier. Markus Jr. was promised a $10,000 payoff for doing the job. Because the crowd was so small, they didn’t do much in the match. It started out with Markus vs. Tinieblas and Markus broke a beer bottle over Tinieblas’ head before the match actually started and ref Pepe Casas called for the DQ, so Tinieblas actually never wrestled. Mascaras and Markus did a singles match with lots of interference by both Aguayo (in Mil’s corner) and Cobarde (in Markus’ corner). Mil finally got the pin with his 60-year-old flying body press in what all the magazines described as an awful match from start to finish.
The final years of his career saw the unmasked Cruz continue to wrestle as Gran Markus Jr. and lose his hair to notable names like Brazo de Plata, Atlantis, Rayo de Jalisco Jr., and La Parka. He unmasked Veneno on March 17, 2002, at Arena Mexico, and shaved his head after a rematch in November that year. His last major stipulation match was losing his hair to Pierroth Jr. in March 2003.
There was another Gran Markus Jr. who wrestled during this era (and died in March 2015. They were separate performers, but some of their histories have been combined, which isn’t the case, and Cruz is believed to have stopped wrestling in 2003.
When his career ended, he began selling masks and other merchandise while battling diabetes, which reportedly affected his vision. In one of his final interviews, he mentioned previously having a stroke.
Several notes, courtesy:
– Mexican Wrestling Legend Gran Markus Jr dies at 72 (The Latin Times)
– Luchawiki profile
