Sin Cara

Sin Cara
Jorge Arias as Sin Cara in April 2014
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)	Sin Cara (I) Sin Cara (II)[1] Sin Cara Azul[2] Sin Cara Negro[3]
Billed height	5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) (as Luis Urive)[4] 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) (as Jorge Arias)
Billed weight	180 lb (82 kg) (as Luis Urive)[5] 205 lb (93 kg) (as Jorge Arias)
Billed from	Mexico City, Mexico[5]
Debut	000000002011-03-25-0000March 25, 2011[6]

Sin Cara is a professional wrestling character used by WWE, originally portrayed by Luis Urive and currently by Jorge Arias, formerly known as Hunico.

Spanish for "Faceless",^[7] Sin Cara wears a lucha libre-style mask that completely covers his face. This is in stark contrast to other luchadors who would at least have eye sockets and a mouth area open. Additionally, the lights at ringside previously dimmed to a blue and yellow shade during the character's matches.

Arias's portrayal of Sin Cara is bilingual due to Jorge Arias having grown up in the United States near the Mexico–United States border, and thus speaks either Spanish or English, depending on the intended audience. However, Urive legitimately does not know English, and during his time in WWE often required a translator during interviews and media appearances.^[8]

Urive wrestled as Sin Cara in WWE from 2011–2013, while Arias wrestled as Sin Cara in WWE briefly in 2011 during a feud with Urive, and has since been portraying the character subsequently after Urive's departure from WWE in 2013.

History

Luis Urive debuts and two Sin Caras (2011–2013)

Sin Cara teaming with John Cena at the WWE Raw tapings on April 18, 2011, in London, England

On January 30, 2011 SuperLuchas Magazine confirmed that Mexican star Luis Urive (Místico) had signed a contract with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).^[9] On February 24, WWE held a press conference in Mexico City to introduce Urive under his new name, Sin Cara. On March 25, Sin Cara made his WWE debut at a Raw live event at Assembly Hall in Champaign, Illinois, defeating Primo in a singles match.^[6][10] On the April 4 episode of Raw, Sin Cara debuted, saving Daniel Bryan from an attack by then United States Champion Sheamus, and establishing himself as a face.^[11] On that week's SmackDown, Sin Cara similarly appeared, this time attacking Jack Swagger and cementing his face status.^[12] Sin Cara made his televised in-ring debut on April 11, defeating Primo.^[13] The next week in London, Sin Cara teamed with John Cena to defeat the then WWE Champion, The Miz and Alex Riley.^[14]

On July 17, Sin Cara participated in the Money in the Bank ladder match at the eponymous pay-per-view, but failed to earn a World Heavyweight Championship match after being taken out of the match with a storyline injury.^[15] The following day, WWE announced that it had suspended Sin Cara for 30 days for his first violation of its Wellness program.^[16] Urive later claimed in an interview that he did not know what he had tested positive for and that he had received a routine injection for an injured knee in Mexico.^[17]

The Sin Cara character returned on the August 12 episode of SmackDown, defeating Tyson Kidd;^[18] however, with Místico still serving his suspension, for this appearance Sin Cara was portrayed by WWE developmental wrestler Jorge Arias.^[19] After another week of Arias portraying Sin Cara, Urive returned under the mask on August 20 at a live event in Tacoma, Washington.^[20][21] On August 26 it was reported that Urive had been sent home from the week's SmackDown tapings, with Arias once again appearing on TV under the Sin Cara mask.^[22] During Urive's time away from WWE, the Sin Cara character seemingly turned heel by attacking Daniel Bryan.^[23]

The original Sin Cara (Luis Urive) often prevailed over Hunico (front), who later became the second Sin Cara

At the tapings of the September 16 episode of SmackDown, Urive returned as the original Sin Cara, confronting the impostor version of the character.^[24][25] On September 19, on Raw, the original Sin Cara was booked to face Cody Rhodes, but was attacked by the impostor character prior to the match starting.^[26] On the September 23 episode of SmackDown, the impostor Sin Cara attacked the original version during his match with Daniel Bryan, then took his place in the match and pinned Bryan for the win.^[27] The following week, the impostor revealed a new black attire to distinguish himself from the original version, while also explaining that he was going to steal the Sin Cara identity from Urive, just as Urive had stolen the Místico identity from him, leading to a match between the two Sin Caras at Hell in a Cell.^[28] To further distinguish the two characters, WWE began referring to the original as Sin Cara "Azul" (Blue) and the impostor as Sin Cara "Negro" (Black).^[29] At the pay-per-view on October 2, Sin Cara Azul defeated Sin Cara Negro in a singles match.^[30] Following Hell in a Cell, Sin Cara Azul was again attacked by Sin Cara Negro.^[29] The rivalry culminated in a Mask vs. Mask match at the October 16 taping of SmackDown in Mexico City, where Sin Cara Azul was victorious, unmasking Sin Cara Negro by force after the match.^[31][32] Afterward, the unmasked Sin Cara Negro changed his ring name to Hunico, aligned himself with Camacho and continued his rivalry with Sin Cara. On November 20, at Survivor Series, Sin Cara and Hunico were on opposite sides of a ten-man tag match. Sin Cara was eliminated after he suffered a legitimate patellar tendon rupture while diving out of the ring. He underwent surgery and was sidelined for over six months.^[33][34] Sin Cara returned on May 19, 2012, at a house show in Florence, South Carolina, defeating Hunico in the opening match.^[35] Urive last wrestled as Sin Cara against Alberto Del Rio at a WWE Live Event on October 19, 2013.

Sin Cara signing autographs

In late January 2014, Urive announced that he would return to wrestling in Mexico on February 1.^[36] A shoot interview that aired days later confirmed Urive's departure from WWE. Urive also claimed that he owned the Sin Cara character and blamed his poor in-ring performances on WWE not allowing him to wrestle the style he used in Mexico.^[8] Despite these claims, Hunico continues to wrestle with the Sin Cara gimmick in WWE.

Urive's first post-WWE match as Sin Cara took place at his self-produced independent event on February 1, which featured wrestlers from both Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA) and CMLL.

Urive was officially released by WWE on March 26, 2014.^[37] After signing with Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA) in February,^[38] Urive adopted a new ring name "Myzteziz".^[39]

Jorge Arias permanence (2013–present)

On December 2, 2013, the Sin Cara character returned to Raw, with Arias reprising the character and defeated Alberto Del Rio.^[1] The character experienced a resurgence as he began a winning streak.^[40] Sin Cara's streak was ended by Del Rio on the January 6, 2014 episode of Raw.^[41] As 2014 progressed, Sin Cara failed to win the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania XXX,^[42] a battle royal for the United States Championship in May,^[43] a Money in the Bank qualifying battle royal in June, and a battle royal for the WWE Intercontinental Championship at Battleground.^[44][45] Sin Cara was then sent to NXT, where he formed a tag team with Kalisto known as "The Lucha Dragons". At NXT TakeOver: Fatal 4-Way, Sin Cara and Kalisto defeated The Ascension to win the NXT Tag Team Championship.

The night on Raw after WrestleMania 31, The Lucha Dragons made their main roster debut as a team in an 8-man tag team match, teaming with The New Day (Big E and Kofi Kingston) to defeat Tyson Kidd and Cesaro and the Ascension (Konnor and Viktor). At Elimination Chamber in May, The Lucha Dragons competed in the first ever tag team Elimination Chamber match for the WWE Tag Team Championship in a losing effort.^[46]

On July 18, 2016, Sin Cara and Kalisto announced they were dissolving their partnership in preparation for the 2016 WWE Draft.^[47] Later that night on Raw, Sin Cara was defeated by Baron Corbin. During the Draft, Sin Cara was drafted to Raw, where he later start competing in the newly created cruiserweight division.

Other media

An animated version of Sin Cara appeared in Scooby-Doo! WrestleMania Mystery in a non-speaking role. To promote the film, Sin Cara was accompanied by Scooby-Doo (portrayed by a costumed man) and went to defeat Damien Sandow on the March 24, 2014, episode of Raw.

Sin Cara appears as a playable character in WWE '12, WWE '13, WWE 2K14, WWE 2K16 and WWE 2K17.

In wrestling

Sin Cara trampolining into the ring

• Finishing moves
  • High-angle senton bomb^[27]
  • La Mistica (Tilt-a-whirl headscissors transitioned into a facebuster, sometimes floated over into a Fujiwara armbar) – 2011–2013^[48][32][49]
  • Moonsault slam^[13][50] – 2011; used rarely thereafter
  • Springboard senton bomb followed by a springboard moonsault^[51][52] – 2011
  • Sunset flip powerbomb^[53][54] – 2014
• Signature moves
  • Enzuigiri from the ring apron^[55][56]
  • Handspring back elbow^{[50][57][58][59]}
  • Hurricanrana, sometimes while springboarding^[60][61]
  • Moonsault,^[62] sometimes while springboarding^[4][63][64]
  • Suicide dive^[62][65]
• Nicknames
  • "The International Sensation"^[66][67]
• Entrance themes
  • "Ancient Spirit" by Jim Johnston^[68] (WWE; April 4, 2011 – January 25, 2015)
  • "Lucha Lucha" by CFO$^[69] (NXT/WWE; September 11, 2014 – August 8, 2016; used while teaming with Kalisto and in singles competition)
  • "Faceless" by CFO$ (WWE; August 8, 2016 – present)

Championships and accomplishments

• Baja Star's Wrestling
  • BSW Intercontinental Middleweight Championship (1 time)^[70]
• WWE
  • Slammy Award (1 time)
    • Double Vision Moment of the Year (2011)^[71]
• WWE NXT
  • NXT Tag Team Championship #1 Contender's Tournament (2014) – with Kalisto^[72]
  • NXT Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Kalisto ^[73]

Luchas de Apuestas record

References

External links

• Sin Cara at the Internet Movie Database
• Sin Cara on WWE.com
• Sin Cara on Facebook
• Sin Cara on Twitter