Héctor Solano Segura (June 12, 1969 – May 26, 2013) was a Mexican professional wrestler, better known by the ring name Héctor Garza. During his career he worked for various major Mexican professional wrestling promotions such as Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), Perros del Mal Producciones and, at the time of death, AAA. Garza also worked for several major promotions such as World Championship Wrestling (WCW), the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) in the United States.
Solano was a second-generation wrestler, son of Humberto Garza. His own son, known as El Sultán, also became a professional wrestler after Garza's death. The extended Garza family includes Angel Garza and Humberto Carrillo (formerly known as Último Ninja). In 2017 Garza Jr. adopted a ring persona similar to that of Solano, paying homage to his uncle's rudo ("bad guy") persona and wrestling style.
At the time of his death, Garza was in the middle of his second reign with the Mexican National Heavyweight Championship. He had also won the CMLL World Heavyweight Championship, the CMLL World Tag Team Championship three times, the CMLL World Trios Championship five times in CMLL and the IWC World Heavyweight Championship, the Mexican National Light Heavyweight Championship and the Mexican National Tag Team Championship. He was posthumously inducted in the AAA Hall of Fame.
After being trained by his uncle Mario Segura, and Mr. Lince and Blue Fish, Solano made his professional wrestling debut in 1992, using the ring name "Héctor Garza", after his father who worked as Humberto Garza. He initially wrestled for Federacion Internacional de Lucha Libre (FILL; "International Wrestling Federation" in Spanish) promotion in Monterrey, Nuevo León. As Garza, his first prominent storyline feud played out in 1993 as he was paired with El Sanguinario ("The Bloodthirsty One"), who portrayed a ruthless rudo (a "heel character", those that portray the "bad guys" in wrestling), juxtaposed with the young, fan-friendly técnico (or "face character", those who portray the "good guys"). On June 6, 1993, Garza won his first Lucha de Apuestas, or "Bet match", when he defeated El Sanguinario to force El Sanguinario to be shaved bald as a result. Two months later, Garza defeated Sanguinario once more, this time to win the FILL Light Heavyweight Championship.
Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (1994–1996)
After his local success in Monterrey, Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) hired him to work nationally instead, joining the world's oldest professional wrestling promotion as part of CMLL's rebuilding after a split that led to the creation of Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA). He was put over veteran rudos like Bestia Salvaje and Satánico in hair matches and Garza quickly became one of the top técnicos in the company. In the following year, he teamed with Dos Caras and La Fiera to win the CMLL World Trios Championship, and lost to Emilio Charles Jr. in the final of the La Copa Junior, a tournament for second-generation wrestlers.
AAA / World Wrestling Federation (1996–1997)
When Garza joined AAA, he was also able to work for the US-based World Wrestling Federation (WWF) through AAA's working agreement. His first televised WWF appearance saw him defeat T.L. Hopper on an episode of Superstars. At the 1997 Royal Rumble pay-per-view show Garza teamed up with El Canek and Perro Aguayo to defeat Fuerza Guerrera, Heavy Metal and Jerry Estrada. He worked several more matches for the WWF, with his last appearance for the company taking place on March 10, 1997, where he, Latin Lover and Octagón lost to Pentagón, Heavy Metal and Pierroth on the 200th episode of Monday Night Raw.
In AAA he often worked as part of a trio known as La Maquina del Amor ("The Love Machine") alongside Heavy Metal and Latin Lover, a group of young, good looking, fan favorites that were very popular with the female fans. All three members of La Maquina del Amor qualified for the 1997 Rey de Reyes tournament along with Octagón, which Latin Lover won. Later that year Garza teamed up with Super Nova for the "Young Stars" tag team tournament. In the first round the duo defeated May Flowers and Pentagón, but lost to Fuerza Guerra and Mosco de la Merced in the semi-finals.
World Championship Wrestling (1997–1999)
Cruiserweight division (1997–1998)
The AAA/WWF collaboration ended in mid-1997, which led to many AAA workers wrestling for WWF's rival, World Championship Wrestling (WCW), later in the year. Garza made his WCW debut on May 20 by defeating Psychosis at a live event. He made his televised debut in WCW on the May 26 episode of Monday Nitro by teaming with Juventud Guerrera and Super Calo to defeat Ciclope, Damien and La Parka in a six-man tag team match. His first televised singles match in WCW took place on the June 7 episode of Saturday Night against Billy Kidman, which Garza won. The young Garza would become known in WCW for his twirling turnbuckle to floor plancha called the "corkscrew plancha". On the June 30 episode of Nitro, Garza received his first title shot in WCW as he unsuccessfully challenged Lord Steven Regal for the World Television Championship. The following month, he made his first pay-per-view appearance in WCW at Bash at the Beach, where he teamed with Juventud Guerrera and Lizmark Jr. to defeat La Parka, Psychosis and Villano IV.
On the September 22 episode of Nitro, Garza enjoyed the biggest moment of his WCW career by scoring an upset victory over Scott Hall. The victory was played off as a "fluke" and Hall defeated Garza two weeks later on Nitro in just over a minute as a follow-up to the storyline. Garza competed in the World War 3 battle royal at the namesake event for a future WCW World Heavyweight Championship opportunity but failed to win the match. Garza continued to team with and compete against various luchadors in tag team matches and singles competition while alternating between WCW and Mexico. He took a hiatus from WCW in early 1998 and competed in his native Mexico throughout the year. He returned to WCW on the September 7 episode of Nitro by unsuccessfully challenging Juventud Guerrera for the Cruiserweight Championship.
Latino World Order (1998–1999)
On the October 5 episode of Nitro, Eddie Guerrero interrupted a match between Garza and Damien and prevented luchadors from fighting each other and instead urging them to unite which resulted in the formation of Guerrero's new faction Latino World Order (lWo), consisting of the underutilized Mexican wrestlers on the WCW, with Garza joining in as one of the pioneer members of the group. The group began feuding with Rey Misterio Jr. as he refused to join the lWo. The following month, at World War 3, Garza participated in the namesake battle royal for a future World Heavyweight Championship opportunity but failed to win. LWO prematurely disbanded in 1999 after Guerrero was injured in a car accident and the New World Order attacked various LWO members and threatened them to disband with the President Ric Flair urging them to disband the group and fight on WCW side with the promise of a better treatment than Eric Bischoff.
Following the dissolution of LWO, Garza resumed competing in WCW's lower mid-card, competing mostly against fellow luchadors while also serving as an enhancement talent to upper mid-card wrestlers. Garza's final televised match in WCW took place on the February 18 episode of Thunder, where he teamed with Silver King against Konnan and Rey Misterio Jr. in a losing effort. Garza's last match for WCW took place at a live event on October 1, where he teamed with King to defeat Los Villanos (Villano IV and Villano V). Garza was released from his WCW contract in November 1999 as part of mass releases including twenty-one other wrestlers due to budget cuts.
In late 1999, Garza returned to AAA where he became involved in a long-running storyline feud with Heavy Metal, Latin Lover and Perro Aguayo Jr. that would span several years. On December 26, 1999, Héctor Garza defeated Pirata Morgan to win the IWC World Heavyweight Championship, his first championship reign in AAA. 98 days later, Garza lost the championship back to Pirata Morgan. Two months later Garza defeated Sangre Chicana to win the Mexican National Light Heavyweight Championship on a show in his home town of Monterrey.