Carlos Rocha (wrestler)

Carlos Rocha was a Portuguese professional wrestler  known for being part of the WWWF and for having a career in international wrestling, especially in Canada and the United States.

Portugal and Europe (1940-1960s)
Portuguese Wrestling is often associated with the name of Tarzan Taborda, especially due to his influence on this modality and having worked almost his entire career in Europe and having close contact with Portugal. However, there is a figure who is little known, little talked about in the world of Portuguese Wrestling, and that figure is called Carlos Rocha.

Carlos Rocha is a very Portuguese name, and one that certainly stands out internationally, and this fact is quite important in this article, as Carlos Rocha is actually the Portuguese Wrestler with the best career ever in the world.

The “Portuguese Champion” as he was known in the United States, was born in 1927 and little or nothing is known about him when he grew up, however he began to be referred to by the Wrestling shows that, together with Tarzan Taborda and Zé Luís, lit up the stages of the Parque Mayer and the Coliseu dos Recreios in the 40s of the 20th century.

At that time wrestling was different, says Correio da Manhã: “They rarely went to the ropes or jumped out. All he needed was a pair of shorts and boots and he was like a fighter.”

However, his national career would remain quite young, as Carlos Rocha invested heavily in an international career. There are records that Carlos Rocha fought for Europe, especially for Spain and France. In the country of “our brothers”, Rocha was promoted in team fights with a supposed brother called Jack and in France there is a record of Rocha losing to Arabet Said in 1950. His career would change when he traveled to South Africa, in order to have some shows on the African continent and was accompanied at this time by Tarzan Taborda, however the future held something better for Rocha.

North America (1960s-1970s)
There are records that in the 60s, Carlos Rocha was already installed on the American Continent, more specifically in the country of opportunities, the United States of America, where he began by competing in some shows in California, little is known about this time, but a new stage in Rocha's life was beginning. The most notable fight recorded in the 1960s was with Peter Maivia in England, as Carlos Rocha was traveling all over the world, including South America.

International Wrestling – Montreal (1971-1972)
Rocha soon after moving to the cold country of the American Continent, began working under the orders of the International Wrestling promotion in Montreal, where he created a small rivalry with a current WWE Hall of Famer, Abdullah The Butcher. This rivalry generated a special event in the Portuguese's career, as on December 27, 1971, Rocha defeated Abdullah to become World/International Heavyweight Champion (Montreal-Version). Shortly after, Rocha left IW and worked all over Canada, passing through Vancouver and Stampede Wrestling, where by this time he had already become a well-known name in wrestling in Canada, being an acquaintance of the Hart family, more precisely the Stampede promoter Stu Hart.

Maple Leaf Wrestling – Toronto (1972-1977)
Another important point in Carlos Rocha's career was the promotion of Maple Leaf Wrestling, where we managed for the first time to extract a great deal of information about Rocha's character. Carlos Rocha was a technical and truly old-school wrestler, he was always accompanied by a blue jacket, he had an armband with the symbol of Portugal on his right arm and he entered to the sound of the national anthem on his way to the ring and was promoted as the “Portuguese Champion”, however it wasn't really a title, just something to add to his gimmick and to attract the Portuguese fans who at the time were based in Canada and believe it or not, Carlos Rocha was a valuable asset in the company.

He debuted in the company with a victory over Don Serrano in 1971. Several matches were made during his stay in MPLW, but the ones that caught the most attention were the 3 consecutive matches against the WWE Hall Of Famer, The Sheik. These fights broke spectator records, always reaching more than 14,000 people and in their third fight, they reached 18,700 people in the audience and Carlos Rocha, babyface, received huge ovations. The time in Canada and in the promotion passed quite quickly, as Carlos Rocha was now a well-known fighter and was in contact with wrestlers who would later become Hall of Famers. All this attention in Canada also drew attention to the American company World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) owned by Vince McMahon Sr. and then in 1977, Carlos Rocha became the first Portuguese to compete in the biggest wrestling company in the world.

World Wide Wrestling Federation (1976-1977)
The dream began now, Carlos Rocha was in the WWWF (now WWE) and could continue with his “Portuguese Champion” character, the problem however was his age. By this time Rocha was already a veteran and in his 50s. There were several fights in live events, as well as fights recorded and broadcast on television, fights that were described as “similar” in that Rocha was dominated during the beginning, but ended up recovering and winning the fight. It's true, our Portuguese has an excellent ratio of wins and losses, with many more victories without a doubt. He was only in the company for 6 months, however, he had unique experiences and time to create rivalries with Doug Gilbert and the well-known Executioners team (Killer Kowalski and Big John Studd). Individual matches with Gilbert almost always saw Rocha as the winner, however, to defeat the Executioner team, Rocha alienated himself from one of the greatest legends in world wrestling, Andre The Giant, and thus won their rivalry. Rocha may also be in contact with Gorilla Monsoon, Vince McMahon, Nikolai Volkoff, Stan Stasiak, Ric Flair and Terry Funk (in Canada in this 77 season).

But this all culminated in the highlight of his career, as Carlos Rocha challenged Superstar Billy Graham, who was the WWWF Champion at the time, for the title, to a match on Saturday, June 18, 1977, in Providence, Rhode Island. in front of 7,500 people, in a 2 out of 3 Falls Match that unfortunately ended in the defeat of our greatest Portuguese wrestling legend, at 11.06 minutes, however we can conclude that Rocha achieved a pinfall victory over the champion, firstly because it was an event special and second, because I was competing in a city where Portuguese emigrants settled during that time.

His last fight in the company was with his first enemy there, Doug Gilbert, where we saw our Portuguese take victory and leave the WWWF and return to Canada, where he fought a few more times for MPLW and where we also lost track the same. Rocha thus disappeared from the map, and from the world of pro-wrestling.

Death
Rocha passed away at 93 on January 28, 2020.

Championships and accomplishments

 * International Wrestling- Montreal
 * World/International Heavyweight Champion (Montreal-Version) (1 time)