Hercules

Raymond Constantine Fernandez (May 7, 1956 – March 6, 2004) was an American professional wrestler better known by his ring name Hercules Hernandez, or simply Hercules.

Fernandez was born in New York City on May 7, 1956.

After his mother died from cancer when he was aged six, his father relocated the family to Tampa, Florida.

Fernandez attended A. P. Leto High School, where he competed in amateur wrestling.

He graduated from high school in 1974 and enlisted in the United States Air Force for three years.

Fernandez was trained to wrestle by Hiro Matsuda.

Fernandez began his career in 1979, primarily wrestling in Florida and Texas before earning his greatest success by joining the World Wrestling Federation in 1985, where he was a member of The Heenan Family.

He started wrestling in 1979, mainly performing in Florida and Texas territories as "Hercules" Hernandez.

In 1982, he joined the NWA Central States territory (which ran out of Kansas City and promoted shows in Kansas, Missouri, and Iowa).

While in the Central States, Hercules teamed up with Dewey Robertson, and the two won the Central States tag team championship on two occasions; they beat Mike George and Mark Romero both times.

He also held the Central States Television title for a little over six months, winning it from, and losing it back to, his main rival, Romero.

His two other notable feuds in the Central States territory were with Manny Fernandez and Harley Race.

His feud with Race garnered Hernandez significant attention in the national wrestling scene, due to Race's stature as a former NWA World Champion.

This feud began because Race had an issue with Oliver Humperdink's House of Humperdink stable, which Hernandez had become a part of soon after joining the promotion.

One match between the two had the stipulation that if Race won, he would get five minutes inside a steel cage with Humperdink.

Hercules was caught using brass knuckles and disqualified, which meant that the cage match was on.

When the match was about to start, Hernandez ran to ringside, knocked Race out and threw him into the ring with Humperdink.

In the end, Race recovered and delivered a piledriver to Humperdink onto a steel chair injuring (kayfabe) Humperdink and causing him to leave the territory.

After losing his manager, Hernandez did not stay in the Central States territory for long but instead signed up with Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP).

In January 1983, Fernandez toured Japan with All Japan Pro Wrestling.

In JCP, Fernandez was paired up with Jody Hamilton, who had been wrestling as the Masked Assassin; Fernandez became the Masked Assassin 2, a gimmick that had been played by several other wrestlers over the years.

The two competed at the first ever Starrcade beating the team of Rufus R. Jones and Bugsy McGraw.

Fernandez's run as one of the Assassins ended less than a year later, after he was unmasked by Jimmy Valiant.

After being unmasked, Fernandez moved on to Bill Watts' Mid-South promotion, where he once again donned a mask.

Mr. Wrestling II had recently turned on his tag team partner Magnum T. A. and become a heel.

Mr. Wrestling II renamed himself simply "Mr. Wrestling" and got a new protégé, "Mr. Wrestling II", who was Fernandez under a mask (referred to as "Mr. Wrestling III" in magazines to avoid confusing their readers).

Mr. Wrestling II seconded Mr. Wrestling in his feud with Magnum T. A. Later on, Fernandez unmasked and competed once again as "Hercules Hernandez", and feuded with "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan under the tutelage of Jim Cornette.

Hercules soon joined Skandor Akbar's stable, Devastation Inc., alongside future WWF co-worker Ted DiBiase.

As part of Devastation Inc., Hercules feuded with the Junkyard Dog and Terry Taylor, before leaving for Florida.

In "Championship Wrestling from Florida", Hercules quickly won the NWA Florida Southern Heavyweight Championship from Brian Blair, and then won the NWA Florida Heavyweight Championship from Hector Guerrero the following month; this made him a double champion.

Some time during July 1985, Fernandez was fired from CWF after a dressing room fight with Wahoo McDaniel and stripped of both titles.

After leaving Florida, Fernandez went to World Wrestling Council (WWC), in Puerto Rico before signing with the World Wrestling Federation.

Hernandez had a brief stint in Dallas with NWA World Class Championship Wrestling where was managed by Sunshine and had several high profile feuds, most notably again Gino Hernandez.

Fernandez debuted in the WWF in 1985, managed by "Classy" Freddie Blassie.

His first major national exposure came when he competed at WrestleMania 2 in a losing effort against Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat at the Sports Arena in the Los Angeles part of the show.

Blassie soon retired, as, in storyline, he sold his stable to Slick and Fernandez soon found himself floundering in the WWF midcard.

In late 1986, however, his contract was "sold" by Slick to fellow heel manager Bobby "The Brain" Heenan.

He later split from the stable and feuded with Heenan and Ted DiBiase, afterwards turning heel in 1990, forming Power and Glory with Paul Roma, where they had a feud with The Rockers.

Fernandez was also a featured bodybuilder, appearing in several muscle magazines.

He is also known for his appearances in World Championship Wrestling, Jim Crockett Promotions, and New-Japan Pro Wrestling.