International Wrestling Association (1999–2009) Cosme began training in 1996, when he was instructed by a former wrestler. During this time, he enrolled in the
Interamerican University of Puerto Rico located in Bayamón. His major was in computer technology, but after completing two years of study, he decided to begin wrestling full time after meeting
Víctor Quiñones. In 1997, after working in the independent circuit, he moved to Mexico and became involved in a project to develop Hispanic talent organized by the
World Wrestling Federation (WWF). He debuted in
Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) on that year, working a televised match. Following a period of teaming with
Los Boricuas, his character was teamed with
Germán Figueroa, who wrestled as Gran Apolo and formed a tag team dubbed
La Nueva Generacion, which won the
IWA Tag Team Championship three times. On August 21, 2000, in a show in
Levittown, Puerto Rico, Cosme's character
turned on Gran Apolo. Following this, he joined the company's dominant
heel stable, Los Intocables, along with
Miguel Pérez and
Jesús Castillo. Following this, he teamed up with
Shane Sewell in a stable known as
Los Hermanos en Dolor. for his factions early in his career. Cosme's gimmick underwent another change when he joined then-dominant heel stable
La Compañía, led by
Savio Vega. This was followed by his fourth title run after he defeated Gran Apolo on January 6, 2003. Following a
legitimate injury suffered by Cibernético, Cosme's gimmick was slightly changed, launching into an angle where he pursued the leadership of Cibernético's stable, which then went by the name of
La Secta Cibernetica. The character was booked to be the leader of the stable after supposedly convincing several members of the group to join him and changing the name of the group to
La Secta Diabólica. The events of the angle were used to hype an eventual feud between López and Cosme's characters that took place in December 2006. This was used to explain Cosme's absence when he departed from the company to wrestle in the International Wrestling Association. During this time, he also wrestled for Panama Wrestling Crew in
Panama and in
Ecuador. From then on, he started to get a bigger push as a main event heel, feuding with Cibernético and his stable
Los Hell Brothers. During the feud, Cosme was both leader of
La Secta del Mesías and member of
La Legión Extranjera. Later, Cosme took both the IWC heavyweight championship from Cibernético and the GPCW SUPER-X Monster Title from La Parka in the preliminary rounds of the
AAA Mega Championship tournament. As Mesías, he became the first wrestler to win the AAA Mega Championship in AAA's pay-per-view event
Verano de Escandalo, after defeating
Chessman by disqualification. On November 29, 2007, he successfully defended the company's championship in a triple threat match at the
Guerra de Titanes pay-per-view. In March 2008, he returned to AAA after several months of inactivity. On March 16, 2008, Cosme dropped the championship to Cibernético. He was subsequently involved in an angle with Vampiro, leading to a match at
Triplemania XVI, which concluded as a time-limit draw. On October 24, 2008, Cosme won the
Copa Antonio Peña, defeating six other wrestlers in the process. Joaquín Roldán presented the relevant trophy. On March 15, 2009, at
Rey de Reyes, after successfully defending the AAA Mega Championship against Chessman,
Dr. Wagner Jr. challenged him directly after the match. On June 13, 2009, he was booked to lose the title to Wagner at
Triplemania XVII. The feud continued for several months, until he regained the title on December 11, 2009, at the main event of
Guerra de Titanes. Cosme's third reign as AAA Mega Champion ended on March 12, 2010, at
Rey de Reyes. He was not booked to lose, but
Electroshock submitted
Mr. Anderson, the third wrestler in the match, to win the championship. Afterwards, El Mesías began feuding with invaders from
Los Perros del Mal, the group's leader
El Hijo del Perro Aguayo in particular. On August 14 at
Verano de Escandalo, Aguayo,
Damián 666 and
L. A. Park defeated El Mesías, Cibernético and La Parka in a six-man tag team match, when Aguayo pinned Mesías after hitting him with a chair. On October 1 at
Héroes Inmortales IV, El Mesías gained a measure of revenge on Aguayo by defeating him in a singles match. On November 1, El Mesías entered the 2010 Lucha Libre Premier tournament. The first two rounds of the tournament were wrestled in a
parejas increibles format, with El Mesías teaming with Electroshock. The two would defeat the teams of
Extreme Tiger and L. A. Park and Cibérnetico and
Hernandez to make it to the semifinal four-way match, where El Mesías and El Zorro, defeated Electroshock and Dr. Wagner Jr. to advance to the finals. On November 28, El Mesías defeated El Zorro in the finals of the tournament to win the 2010 Lucha Libre Premier. Afterwards, Mesías entered a feud with
La Sociedad member L. A. Park, who defeated him on December 5 at
Guerra de Titanes, after using a chair on him. On March 18, 2011, at
Rey de Reyes, El Mesías and Park were both eliminated from the finals of the tournament after brawling to a double countout. On May 18, El Mesías challenged, and Park accepted, for the two to end their feud at
Triplemanía XIX in a Mask vs. Hair match. On June 18 at
TripleManía XIX, Park defeated El Mesías, forcing him to have his head shaved. El Mesías returned to AAA a month later at
Verano de Escándalo, saving Dr. Wagner Jr. from
La Sociedad. On October 9 at
Héroes Inmortales, El Mesías wrestled
TNA wrestler
Sting to a
no contest in what was billed as a "dream match" by AAA, following interference from
La Sociedad. The match had been put together by AAA Mega Champion
Jeff Jarrett in an attempt to stop El Mesías from chasing his title. On December 16 at
Guerra de Titanes, El Mesías defeated TNA wrestlers
A.J. Styles and
Rob Terry in back-to-back matches to become the number one contender to Jarrett's title. On March 18, 2012, at
Rey de Reyes, El Mesías defeated Jarrett to win the AAA Mega Championship for the fourth time. On April 23, El Mesías underwent surgery on his arm; as a result, he was sidelined from in-ring action for three months. In storyline, El Hijo del Perro Aguayo was credited with causing the injury. El Mesías returned on July 13, attacking Aguayo and his
Perros del Mal stable. On August 5 at
Triplemanía XX, El Mesías successfully defended the AAA Mega Championship against Aguayo. He then went on to lose the title to
El Texano Jr. on December 2 at
Guerra de Titanes. On March 17, 2013, El Mesías defeated
Canek and L. A. Park in the finals to win the
2013 Rey de Reyes tournament. In October, El Mesías came together with two former rivals, Cibernético and El Hijo del Perro Aguayo, to battle the
Secta stable, after its members had turned on Cibernético. The partnership ended on December 8 at
Guerra de Titanes, when Aguayo turned
rudo, leading to the reformation of
La Sociedad. On August 17, 2014, at
Triplemanía XXII, El Mesías won fellow
técnico Electroshock's hair in a six-way steel cage
Lucha de Apuestas. On March 6, 2015, El Mesías turned on
Blue Demon Jr. and La Parka, completing his return to the
rudo side. Shortly afterwards, he joined
La Sociedad. On May 26, 2017, Mesías and
Pagano won the
AAA World Tag Team Championship, after defeating Dark Family (Cuervo and Scoria). Nine days later, at
Verano de Escándalo, Dark Family won the titles back. At TripleManía XXV, Pagano and Mesías fought in a Street match that ended in a no-contest. In November 2017, Banderas suffered an injury in both knees. He made his return to the ring at
Rey de Reyes, where he was defeated by La Parka. On March 21, 2018, Mesias officially announced his departure from the AAA company on his Facebook account, ending his 12-year run with the company. The following day, Banderas explained his departure, claiming he was very unhappy with the promotion. He claimed AAA "forced" him to work with a knee injury, his defeat against La Parka in his return match was "disrespectful" and apparently, he signed a contract with AAA where he was given the rights to the ring name "El Mesías" Ricky Banderas.
Wrestling Society X (2006) Cosme participated as Banderas in the
Wrestling Society X television series (taped in
Los Angeles,
California), with the
gimmick of a disgruntled and
kayfabe disfigured man pursuing a feud with Vampiro. The feud commenced after Banderas threw a fireball at Vampiro's face, which resulted in MTV pulling the episode from its original airdate, with concerns that viewers would try it at home. In the following episode, Banderas explained that Vampiro rigged a casket with explosives during a match, with the explosion resulting in the damage to his face. On the eighth episode (which was taped on November 15, 2006) of the series, Banderas won the WSX Championship in his debut match for the promotion. At
No Surrender, he pulled Abyss under the ring by cutting a hole through the mat with a knife. On the September 13, 2007 episode of
Impact!, during a submission match between Abyss and
Kurt Angle in the
Six Sides of Steel, Mesias made his official debut, climbing up from underneath the ring and attacking Abyss. On September 21, 2007, it was reported that Cosme was suffering from
sciatica and that treatment required several weeks of rest, followed by physical therapy. This injury was the result of a fall from a ladder during a championship match at AAA's
Verano de Escandalo pay-per-view, which also knocked him out. Mesias returned on the December 13, 2007, episode of
Impact! where he strangled Abyss with a piece of
barbed wire, which he also used to cut his forehead open. He then repeatedly hit Abyss in the head with a chair. He finished his assault by delivering his finisher,
Straight to Hell, to Abyss on the same chair. In his TNA pay-per-view debut, Mesias defeated Abyss at
Final Resolution after hitting Abyss with his finisher onto a barbed wire-wrapped steel chair. The feud continued at
Against All Odds on February 10, 2008. They competed in a stipulation match called "
Barbed Wire Massacre", where the ring was surrounded by barbed wire, which Abyss won with his finisher, the
Black Hole Slam. In March, Cosme was released from his contract. On March 18, 2013, Cosme made a one-night return to TNA to take part in the tapings of the TNA World Cup of Wrestling
One Night Only pay-per-view. Working as Mesias, he represented Team International in a singles match, where he was defeated by Team United States'
James Storm. At the tapings of the following day's Hardcore Justice 2 pay-per-view, Mesias, once again managed by James Mitchell, was defeated by
Joseph Park in a
Monster's Ball match.
World Wrestling Council (2009–2012) An agreement between Cosme and the
World Wrestling Council (WWC) was first rumored on November 26, 2009. The promotion made the official announcement two days later, including highlights of his career in a compilation video displayed during a special event titled Crossfire. His debut was scheduled for January 16, 2010, being booked as Ricky Banderas in a contest against
Carly Colón.
Ray González was subsequently included, winning a three-way-contest where the WWC's first winner of the "Wrestler of the Decade Cup" was to be decided. The following week, both were booked in a rematch, with Banderas winning the cup. On July 11, 2010, Banderas was booked to act as special referee at Aniversario 2010, but was subsequently included in a stipulation match against Colón. His character made a heel turn in this event, attacking both Colón and
Hugo Savinovich. On January 8, 2011, Banderas defeated Colón, with help from an interfering Shane Sewell, to win the
WWC Universal Heavyweight Championship for the first time. Cosme was stripped of the title upon returning to the IWA, headlining an angle that revisited the promotion's first decade. His sole match took place on April 2, 2011, where he defeated González, who had since returned to his masked "Rey Fénix" persona, in the main event. Following this match, Cosme's involvement in the IWA concluded, remaining inactive in Puerto Rico until January 7, 2012, when he reappeared in WWC programming asking for an opportunity to challenge
Carly Colón for the Universal Heavyweight Championship. The challenge was accepted and took place at Euphoria 2012, but was inconclusive after
Savio Vega distracted Colón, which drained what was left of the pre-established time.
Lucha Underground (2014–2018) In September 2014, Cosme began working for
Lucha Underground under a mask and the ring name
Mil Muertes. In storyline, Muertes' real name was Pasqual Mendoza, whose entire family died in an earthquake in Mexico City when he was seven years old. He debuted on an episode aired on November 6, 2014, accompanied by
Catrina as his valet. He was then involved in a major rivalry with
Fénix (punctuated by Catrina's turning on him and aligning herself with Fénix), which concluded when Fénix defeated him in a "Grave Consequences"
casket match that aired on March 18, 2015. After being "resurrected" by Catrina, Muertes returned, and on April 19, 2015, at
Ultima Lucha, Lucha Underground's season one finale, defeated
Prince Puma to win the
Lucha Underground Championship. During the season two premiere on January 27, 2016, Muertes retained the Lucha Underground Championship against
Ivelisse, despite spearing Catrina. On the April 20 episode of
Lucha Underground, Muertes fought
Matanza Cueto for the Lucha Underground Championship to a no contest. On the May 5 episode of Lucha Underground, Muertes was defeated by Cueto for the Lucha Underground Championship in a Graver Consequences Casket Match. On July 13 at
Ultima Lucha Dos part 2, Muertes defeated
King Cuerno in a Death Match. On the August 5 episode of
Lucha Underground, Muertes was defeated by
Fénix for the Lucha Underground Championship. On the November 16 episode of
Lucha Underground, Muertes was lastly eliminated by
Sexy Star in Aztec Warfare for the Lucha Underground Championship. On the December 7 episode of
Lucha Underground, Muertes was involved in a Battle of the Bulls Tournament Fatal Four Way Match, which was won by
The Mack. On the June 7, 2017 episode of
Lucha Underground, Muertes was defeated by Prince Puma in a Street Fight. Muertes then was involved in the Cueto Cup, defeating
Veneno,
Paul London, and
Jeremiah Crane, but was defeated in the semi-final by
Pentagón Dark. Catrina's mother Captain Velasquez then tasked her daughter with claiming the Gauntlet of the Gods from
Cage. At her behest, Muertes defeated Cage and Crane at
Ultima Lucha Tres part 4, in a Triple Threat Elimination Match to win the Gauntlet. After the match, he was attacked by King Cuerno, who stole the Gauntlet.
Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (2018–2022) On August 22, 2018,
Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) announced that Mesías would be participate in the
2018 International Gran Prix. In CMLL, he was known by the ring name Gilbert El Boricua.
Major League Wrestling (2021–2023) In January 2021, Muertes made his debut for
Major League Wrestling (MLW), accompanied by
Salina de la Renta as his valet. This marked the beginning of a storyline that saw the arrival of several
Lucha Underground characters as part of an organization called Azteca Underground, led by a shady businessman known as "El Jefe". Muertes would win his first match by defeating
Brian Pillman Jr. At Filthy Island, Muertes defeated
Savio Vega in an Aztec Jungle Match, after the latter refused to sell IWA-PR to Azteca Underground. This streak continued with wins over
Parrow and
Gringo Loco, receiving his first loss after challenging
Alexander Hammerstone for the MLW National Openweight Championship. When "El Jefe" was revealed to be
Luis Fernandez-Gil (now known as César Durán, with "Dario Cueto" being explained as one of his many pseudonyms) and De la Renta concluded her run within the promotion, Muertes continued working for Azteca Underground in its quest to "build a new temple". His character's first name was changed from "Mil" to "King" as part of a general repackaging of the Lucha Underground intellectual property. On July 10, 2021, Muertes defeated
Richard Holliday in a "Caribbean Rules" match to win the
IWA Caribbean Heavyweight Championship (which had been mostly defended in MLW since 2019), as part of
Battle Riot III. His first title defense took place at Fightland, where he defeated former
MLW World Heavyweight Champion Tom Lawlor in a casket match. This event also featured the debut of Catrina in the promotion, resuming her function as valet.
Return to AAA (2024–present) On March 17, 2024, El Mesías returned to AAA after a six-year absence to participate in the
Orígenes tour. On April 27 at
Triplemanía XXXII: Monterrey, Mesías teamed with
Pagano and his old rival
Vampiro, defeating
La Secta (
Cibernético,
Dark Ozz, and
Dark Cuervo). On November 10, 2024, at
Guerra de Titanes, Mesías defeated
Octagon Jr., winning the
AAA Latin American Championship for the first time in his career and also becoming the
Second AAA Triple Crown Champion. On January 17, 2025 at Alianzas, Mesías retained his title against Octagon Jr. in a rematch. On March 22, at Rey de Reyes 2025, Mesías won the semi-final round match involving Panic Clown, Mr. Iguana and Pimpinela Escarlata. He was defeated in the final by eventual winner Niño Hamburguesa. This match also involved
DMT Azul and El Hijo De Dr. Wagner Jr. == Championships and accomplishments ==