Charles Ashenoff (born Carlos Santiago Espada Moises; January 6, 1964),Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer, ed., May 10, 2010, issue.Sims, Steve. "Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame/Founded by Dave Meltzer - Konnan" . Accessed August 1, 2016. Online copy of May 10, 2010 Wrestling Observer Newsletter. better known by his ring name Konnan, is a Cuban-born American professional wrestling personality, manager, and former professional wrestler. During a career spanning almost three decades, he has wrestled for independent and national promotions in the United States and Mexico, and held fifteen title belts in nine promotions. He was also involved in the creation of Lucha Underground, where he was supposed to serve as a writer and producer, but ended up in an on-camera role as manager to Prince Puma throughout the first season. Outside of wrestling, Konnan is an occasional rapper.
He is best known to United States audiences for his run in World Championship Wrestling as part of the nWo stable and as part of The Filthy Animals. He also formed the 3 Live Kru for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) in the early 2000s and later the Latin American Xchange (LAX) stable there. In Mexico, Konnan was the first-ever CMLL World Heavyweight Champion, and the leader of the Foreign Legion in AAA when they were the top stable.
Konnan has been inducted into both the AAA and TNA Hall of Fame.
Early life Konnan was born Carlos Santiago Espada Moises in Santiago, Oriente Province (now part of the present day Santiago de Cuba Province), Cuba, of Puerto Rican and Cuban descent.Jericho, Chris. Talk Is Jericho, "EP199 - Konnan" . PodcastOne. November 27, 2015. Accessed August 1, 2016. No direct link to archive. In 1966, he and his mother arrived in Boston. Soon after landing in Boston, she met a young half-Jewish, half-Puerto Rican private investigator from New York named Richard Ashenoff. They soon married, and raised Carlos together. By 1967, the family relocated to Carol City in South Florida. When Richard formally adopted Carlos, he listed Carlos's legal name as Charles Ashenoff.
By 1976, under the influence of older friends and neighbors, Ashenoff had gotten into stealing cars. He learned how to drive at 12, learned to box, and was an "avid weightlifter". Ashenoff was expelled from several schools before landing at Southwest Miami Senior High School. In 1982, he graduated a year early from Southwest Miami, and was arrested and charged as a juvenile with credit card theft and motorcycle theft. Shortly after his 18th birthday, Ashenoff was caught selling drugs and charged as an adult. He was given a choice of going to jail or entering the military. He chose the latter, joining the United States Navy.Madison, Marc."Lucha Underground's Konnan discusses his time with the US Navy, working with Kevin Sullivan and his experience with Lucha Underground" The News Hub. August 5, 2015. Accessed August 1, 2016.
After boot camp, Ashenoff was relocated to San Diego, and assigned to a destroyer tender in the Pacific Fleet – the USS Cape Cod (AD-43). He won the California state (amateur) Middleweight Boxing Championship in 1983. He set a goal to qualify for the Junior Olympics in boxing, but injured his shoulder in training and was deployed to the Middle East subsequent to the U.S. Embassy bombing in Beirut on April 18, 1983. His ship was in the Strait of Hormuz when the US Marine barracks (along with the French paratrooper barracks) were bombed on October 24, 1983. By 1984, the Cape Cod was rotated out of the Persian Gulf. Ashenoff returned to San Diego, and received an honorable discharge.The Wrestling Observer article indicates that Ashenoff was discharged in 1989, but SLAM! indicates he served four years, which would be 1986.
Professional wrestling career Early career (1988–1996)
In San Diego, Konnan met John Roberts.SLAM! claims "A man by the name of John Roberts, looking for new lucha talent, "discovered" Konnan and directed him to Rey Misterio Sr., who trained Konnan for the wrestling ring." Meltzer says "In January 1988, a man Carlos had never met saw Carlos boxing at a gym that also trained wrestlers. The man, John Roberts, was a psycho fan and had no connection whatsoever with any wrestling promotion." Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter then details Ashenoff's first foray in to professional wrestling:
Carlos traveled to Tijuana on Wednesday, January 6, 1988, (his 24th birthday), where he was led to the dressing area and introduced to Manuel de los Santos, the promoter of the show, and who also wrestled in the main event as "Kiss". De los Santos took one look at the 215-pound bodybuilder and did the classic double-take—what the hell is this guy doing here, and, how quickly can I get this guy in the ring. Konnan introduced himself and explained how he was brought here by his manager/agent, John Roberts. Roberts had already bragged to de los Santos that Carlos had been a wrestler in Florida. Suddenly, a big roar (laughter) went up from another wrestler, Miguel Lopez, who wrestled as Rey Misterio. Lopez/Misterio explained to Carlos that Roberts was just a nutty fan, always in the front row, but that he did nothing involved with managing or agent-ing or anything else in the business. Still, the wrestlers asked Carlos, want to give it a try?SLAM! indicates that "Roberts, looking for new lucha talent, "discovered" Konnan and directed him to Rey Misterio Sr., who trained Konnan for the wrestling ring, as well as Rey Mysterio Jr., Psicosis, Ciclope, and Damien 666."
Billed as El Centurión ("The Centurion"), Ashenoff debuted for the Universal Wrestling Association (UWA) on January 6, 1988.
In the early part of his career, he wrestled for many different promotions. After making his debut for UWA, Konnan wrestled for the UWA Heavyweight title against El Canek at UWA 14 on January 29, 1989, and wrestled six- and eight-man tag matches intermittently for the promotion until 1994, with the likes of Dos Caras, Mascara Sagrada, and others. All of his matches for UWA after 1991 were cross-promotions with EMLL and AAA."Matches - Konnan" . Cagematch.net. Accessed July 29, 2016.
Konnan wrestled in a six-man, two out of three falls, tag team match as Konnan El Barbaro ("Konnan the Barbarian") with Lizmark and Yoshihiro Asai against As Charro, Indio Yori and Negro Casas on February 3, 1989, for World Wrestling Association. Konnan joined Empresa Mexicana de la Lucha Libre (EMLL) later that year. He used Konnan El Barbaro with EMLL as well.Meltzer states that "Konnan El Barbaro" originated in a match subsequent to the Lizmark match, which would appear to show that the name originated with an EMLL event. He writes, "Carlos was promoted as El Centurion and The Incredible Hulk and worked his way up the cards quickly. On his 24th birthday, he had his official debut match at the Auditorio Municipal in Tijuana....within 14 months, he had already won his first mask versus hair match, defeating As Charro in Tijuana on February 24, 1989. Word came to Tijuana that the promoter in Ciudad Juarez (right across the border from El Paso, Texas) was looking for fresh talent. Carlos went to Juarez, and arrived the day of a card. The promoter looked at him and immediately sent him out to run in on one of the day's matches. The next week came Carlos' debut –– but no one gave the ring announcer a heads up first. The ring announcer, not having this wrestler's name, but seeing the mask and the physique, and recalling movies he had seen, introduced Carlos as "Conan El Barbaro".
Konnan's first stint with World Championship Wrestling lasted only a few weeks. His debut was at Starrcade on December 16, 1990. Teaming with his trainer and mentor, Rey Misterio, Konnan entered the Pat O'Connor Memorial International Cup Tag Team Tournament held at the event. They defeated Norman Smiley and Chris Adams in the quarter-finals, but lost to eventual winners, the Steiner Brothers (Rick and Scott) in the semi-finals. He then won a televised match on WCW Power Hour against Chuck Coates on January 19, 1991. Konnan would not return to the promotion until 1996.
While still part of WCW, Konnan was contacted by talent scout Pat Patterson on New Year's Eve 1990, which led to a meeting with Vince McMahon, where the initial idea for what became Max Moon was discussed. According to Konnan, "When I was wrestling in Japan, I saw this Japanese anime cartoon robot on TV that shot confetti and fire. [Vince] asked if I knew anybody that could design it.""Hacking into the mystery of Max Moon with the legendary Konnan." WWE.com. Accessed July 26, 2016. Konnan was given an outfit (purchased by the WWF at the cost of $15,000) bedecked with circuitry and a pyrotechnic gun that shot sparkles into the crowd. Konnan recollected later that the costs associated with the costume led to problems between himself and the promotion right from the start.
Days later he received a tryout on January 7, 1991, at a WWF Superstars taping in Amarillo, Texas defeating Ultraman. He returned again on March 26 in Las Vegas, Nevada, defeating Louie Spicolli in a WWF Superstars dark match. He would defeat Spicolli again one night later at a Wrestling Challenge taping in Reno."1991" . historyofwwe.com. Accessed July 26, 2016. Konnan returned again on January 7, 1992, at a WWF Superstars taping in Daytona Beach, FL. wrestling this time as The Latin Fury, he defeated The Heartbreaker."1992" .historyofwwe.com. Accessed July 26, 2016. The next day he defeated The Juicer in a dark match at a Wrestling Challenge taping in Fort Myers, Florida. Konnan would wrestle twice more as The Latin Fury, the final time at a house show in Hyannis, Massachusetts on July 19, 1992, when he defeated Pete Doherty.
The next day, when he appeared at a WWF Superstars taping in Worcester, Massachusetts against The Mercenary, he was renamed El Relámpago. He wrestled again as El Relámpago the following night against Luis Mendieta.
A little over a month later he received the gimmick that he would become known for, Max Moon (although he was originally called The Comet Kid for a handful of appearances). The Moon character, created by Konnan, was that of a cyborg from "The Future" or "Outer Space".
Back in EMLL, Konnan lost his mask to Perro Aguayo in a Lucha de Apuesta mask versus hair match. on June 9, 1991, by disqualification. After the match, a young boy—introduced as Konnan's brother—entered the ring crying and handed Konnan his mask back, generating considerable bonhomie towards Konnan from the sympathetic crowd.
In 1991, EMLL changed its name officially to Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL). Konnan then became the first-ever CMLL World Heavyweight Champion later that year by winning a tournament consisting of four matches at four events: an eight-man elimination match for the first round on May 24, 1991; a four-man battle royal quarterfinal on May 31; a two-out-of-three falls semifinal match on June 7; and finally, a two-out-of-three falls match against Cien Caras at EMLL Super Viernes in Mexico City on June 9, 1991.
In 1992, Konnan, along with several other EMLL wrestlers, joined Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA). Shortening his ring name to simply "Konnan", he feuded with Cien Caras.
Back in AAA, following interference from Jake Roberts, Konnan lost a two out of three falls retirement match by count-out to Caras at Triplemanía I on April 30, 1993, in front of 48,000 fans in Mexico City, setting the all-time attendance record for a Mexican wrestling event. Konnan did not comply with the stipulations of the match and returned to defeat Roberts in a hair versus hair match at Triplemanía II on May 27, 1994, in Tijuana.