Máscara Dorada (Spanish for "Golden Mask") (born November 3, 1988) is a Mexican luchador enmascarado, who currently works for Japanese promotion New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). He is best known for his decade long stint in Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) and his time in WWE, where he worked as Gran Metalik.
Máscara Dorada's real name has not been officially documented, a tradition in Mexican Lucha Libre where masked wrestlers' real names often are not a matter of public record. The wrestler currently known as Máscara Dorada made his debut in 2005 and has worked under other names, but achieved most success as Máscara Dorada.
After a decade of working for CMLL in his native Mexico, Dorada signed with the Japanese promotion New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) in January 2015. After a year with NJPW, Dorada returned to CMLL in January 2016 before signing with WWE in the summer of 2016. He then competed in its cruiserweight divison and later as part of the Lucha House Party before being released from WWE in the fall of 2022, as part of budget cuts relating to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Professional wrestling career[]
New Japan Pro Wrestling (2010–2016)[]
In April 2010, it was announced that Máscara Dorada and Valiente would travel to Japan in early May to participate in New Japan Pro Wrestling's first ever Super J Tag Team tournament. In the first round of the tournament they lost to former IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Ryusuke Taguchi and Prince Devitt in just under eight minutes. In November 2010 Máscara Dorada and La Sombra took part in New Japan's five-day-long Super J Tag League. After winning two out of their four matches in the group stage, Sombra and Dorada finished third in their block, missing the finals of the tournament. Dorada and Sombra returned to New Japan on January 4, 2011, at Wrestle Kingdom V in Tokyo Dome, where they defeated Jushin Thunder Liger and Héctor Garza in a tag team match.
Dorada returned to New Japan on April 16, teaming with Tama Tonga to defeat Liger and King Fale in a tag team match. Dorada worked a majority of the tour as a rudo, teaming with members of the CHAOS stable. On May 3 at Wrestling Dontaku 2011, Dorada unsuccessfully challenged Liger for the CMLL World Middleweight Championship. Dorada's extended tour of New Japan also included participation in the 2011 Best of the Super Juniors tournament in late May-early June. Dorada managed to win four out of his eight matches in the round robin stage of the tournament, which included wins over Liger and CMLL World Welterweight Champion Ryusuke Taguchi, and finished sixth out of the nine wrestlers in his block. On June 18 at New Japan's Dominion 6.18 show, Dorada defeated Taguchi to regain the CMLL World Welterweight Championship. Three days later Dorada entered the J Sports Crown Openweight 6 Man Tag Tournament, teaming with IWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi and KUSHIDA, with the team defeating Brian Kendrick, Gedo and Jado in their first round match. The following day the trio was eliminated from the tournament in the second round by Giant Bernard, Jushin Thunder Liger and Karl Anderson. Dorada's tour of New Japan ended the following day, when he, Tanahashi, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Tiger Mask and Wataru Inoue were defeated in a ten man tag team match by Chaos (Dick Togo, Gedo, Jado, Masato Tanaka and Yujiro Takahashi).
On January 4, 2012, Dorada returned to New Japan at Wrestle Kingdom VI in Tokyo Dome, where he teamed with Jushin Thunder Liger, KUSHIDA and Tiger Mask to defeat Atlantis, Taichi, Taka Michinoku and Valiente in an eight man tag team match. Dorada returned to Japan on January 21 to take part in the Fantastica Mania 2012 events, teaming with Rush losing to the team of Hirooki Goto and KUSHIDA on the first night. The second night, Dorada successfully defended the CMLL World Welterweight Championship against KUSHIDA. On September 7, 2012, Dorada returned to Japan for another two-week tour with New Japan Pro Wrestling. In January 2013, Dorada returned to Japan to take part in the three-day Fantastica Mania 2013 event. During the first night on January 18, he teamed with La Máscara and Máximo in a six man tag team match, where they were defeated by Taichi, Taka Michinoku and Volador Jr. The following night, Dorada and Diamante were defeated in a tag team match by Mephisto and Okumura. During the third and final night, Dorada took part in a twelve-man torneo cibernetico, from which he was the eighth man eliminated by Yoshi-Hashi and which was eventually won by Tomohiro Ishii. Dorada returned to New Japan on September 23, 2013, working the entire tour opposite the Bullet Club stable, which also included his fellow CMLL worker Rey Bucanero. Dorada's tour concluded on September 29 at the Destruction pay-per-view, where he pinned Bucanero in an eight-man tag team match, where he teamed with Captain New Japan, Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma against Bucanero, Bad Luck Fale, Karl Anderson and Tama Tonga. Dorada returned to Japan in January 2014, when he took part in the five-day Fantastica Mania 2014 tour. The tour concluded on January 19 with a main event, where Dorada unsuccessfully challenged Volador Jr. for the NWA World Historic Welterweight Championship. From April to July 2014, Dorada worked an extended tour with New Japan, which included a two-day tour of Taiwan, the Wrestling Dontaku 2014 tour, the 2014 Best of the Super Juniors, where he finished with a record of three wins and four losses and thus missed the semifinals of the tournament, and the Kizuna Road 2014 tour. On October 25, 2014, Dorada returned to NJPW, teaming up with BUSHI for the 2014 Super Junior Tag Tournament. The team lost to reDRagon (Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly) in the first round. Dorada remained with NJPW until November 8.
In January 2015, Dorada returned to Japan to take part in the Fantastica Mania 2015 tour, during which he and Atlantis won the Fantastica Mania 2015 Tag Tournament. Dorada's participation in the tour was built around a rivalry with La Sombra, which culminated in a singles match between the two on January 19, where La Sombra was victorious. During the final event, Dorada announced he had signed a one-year contract with NJPW. After doing interviews suggesting the unification of his CMLL World Welterweight Championship and the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship, Dorada entered the IWGP Junior Heavyweight title picture by challenging reigning champion Kenny Omega on February 11 at The New Beginning in Osaka. He received his title shot on April 5 at Invasion Attack 2015, but was defeated by Omega.The following month, Dorada entered the 2015 Best of the Super Juniors. He finished third in his block with a record of five wins and two losses, failing to advance to the finals of the tournament. On December 19, Dorada lost the CMLL World Welterweight Championship to BUSHI following outside interference from BUSHI's Los Ingobernables de Japón stablemate EVIL. He regained the title from BUSHI on January 22, 2016, at Fantastica Mania 2016. Dorada's final match under his NJPW contract took place two days later.
Return to NJPW (2022–Present)[]
On February 17, 2022, NJPW announced that Dorada would be making his return to the promotion after five years, to take part in the Strong Style Evolved event on March 20. Dorada made his return to Japan on February 2024, as part of the Fantastica Mania tour.
Professional wrestling style[]
Whether working as Máscara Dorada, or Gran Metalik in WWE, he generally portrays a face (técnico), the professional wrestling term for the protagonists of the storylines. He is known for performing a high-risk, high-flying version of lucha libre, exemplified by his frequent use of dives out of the ring. One such dive is the Brillo Dorada, a somersault suicide senton (Topé con Hilo), where he leaps through the top rope, or sometimes in the second rope and jumps over the top onto an opponent on the floor. Despite his accustomed style, his finishing move is a Samoan driver, where he lifts an opponent up on his shoulders before slamming them down to the ground, referred to as the Dorada Screwdriver.
Personal life[]
During a 2016 interview with Lucha World, Máscara Dorada revealed that he was the father of two young girls. His immediate family still resides in Guadalajara, Jalisco. He has relatives living in Los Angeles, California while Dorada himself lives in Mexico City. He welcomed his third daughter on November 5, 2018.
In wrestling[]
- Finishing moves
- Corkscrew somersault senton bomb
- Dorada Screwdriver (Samoan Driver)
- Springboard Dragonrana (Springboard Sommersault Hurricarrana)
- Signature moves
- Brillo Dorada (Topé con Giro, after springboarding off the tope rope or sometimes in the second rope)
- Double jump springboard victory roll
- Multiple hurricanrana variations
- Dorada runs down the ramp, jumps over the ropes and executes a hurricanrana
- Double jump springboard
- Slingshot
- Topé con Giro
- Topé Reversal (Springboard senton)
- Tornillo (Springboard corkscrew dive)
- Sunset flip powerbomb
- Nicknames
- "El Joven Maravilla" (Spanish for "The Boy Wonder")
- "The King Of The Ropes"
- "Kūchū no Shihai-sha" (Japanese for "The Ruler of the Skies")
- "Kogane no Hayate" (Japanese for "The Golden Gale")
- Entrance themes
- "Tornado" by May's
Championships and accomplishments[]
- Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre
- CMLL World Welterweight Championship (4 times)
- Fantastica Mania Tag Tournament (2015) – with Atlantis
- Pro Wrestling Illustrated
- Ranked No. 152 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2013
- Ranked No. 130 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2018