José ÃÂngel Vargas Sánchez (August 2, 1938 â April 26, 1986) was a Mexican Luchador or professional wrestler best known under the ring name Angel Blanco. Vargas is the father-in-law of the first ÃÂngel Blanco Jr. and the father of the current ÃÂngel Blanco Jr. and Hijo del ÃÂngel Blanco I and II, as well as the grandfather of Horus. Vargas made his professional wrestling debut in 1958 and worked for the majority of his career for the Mexican professional wrestling promotion Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre (EMLL). As ÃÂngel Blanco he worked most of his career as an enmascarado, or masked wrestler until losing his mask to El Solitario 1972. Along with Dr. Wagner, Vargas formed one of the premier tag teams of the 1960s and 1970s called La Ola Blanca (Spanish for "the White Wave").
José Vargas was born on August 2, 1938, son of Francisco Vargas and Francisca Sánchez, in the small town of Atoyac, Jalisco, Mexico. Growing up in Jalisco he became a fan of Lucha libre which was the most popular pastime of the 1930s and 1940s. When he was old enough he began training under famous Jalisco wrestling trainer Diablo Velasco and Miguel Navarrete.
By 1960 Vargas was ready to make his professional wrestling debut, choosing the name "Ranchero" Vargas as his ring name. In 1962 Vargas became an enmascarado, or masked wrestler, when he adopted the ring persona "Gato Negro" (Spanish for "Black Cat"). His run as a masked wrestler came to an end after less than a year when Vargas lost a Luchas de Apuesta (bet match) to José Gómez and was forced to unmask afterwards. Following his stint as Gato Negro he began working as "Cruz Diablo", teaming with Black Gordman to form Los Hermanos Diablo ("The Devil Brothers").
Vargas worked as Cruz Diablo until Gonzalo González, a promoter in Torreón, decided to rename him ÃÂngel Blanco ("White Angel"), giving him a pristine white mask and outfit. One of ÃÂngel Blanco's early tag team partners was El Enfermero ("The nurse"), with whom ÃÂngel Blanco replaced his previous partner Médico Asesino who had died in 1964.
In early 1966 ÃÂngel Blanco began teaming with another white clad wrestler, Dr. Wagner to form the team La Ola Blanca ("The White Wave"). The team quickly became one of the most well coordinated, talented teams as the two masked wrestlers' style complimented each other so well. La Ola Blanca began headlining cards all over Mexico, drawing full crowds whenever they faced the top local talent. In late 1969 the team won a several weeks long tag team tournament to earn a shot at the Mexican National Tag Team Championship held by El Santo and Rayo de Jalisco, a team that was virtually unbeatable up until that point in time. La Ola Blanca defeated Santo and Rayo in three very closely contested falls to take the championship. Over the next couple of years La Ola Blanca defended their titles against top teams such as Mil Máscaras and Black Shadow and Los Rebeldes (René Guajardo and Karloff Lagarde). The team were voted Box y Lucha magazine's "Tag Team of the year" in 1966 and again in 1967. Early on in their career La Ola Blanco became a trio when they added El Enfermero but the trio did not last long as El Enfermero was too old to keep up with the intensity of Wagner and ÃÂngel Blanco. La Ola Blanca would become a trio once more when rookie El Solitario joined the group. El Solitario had both the talent and the charisma to keep up with Wagner and ÃÂngel Blanco. Beyond teaming with Dr. Wagner and El Solitario, ÃÂngel Blanco also worked storylines with Ray Mendoza and Dory Dixon. Blanco defeated Mendoza to win the NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship on May 9, 1969, losing it back to Ray Mendoza on Christmas Eve 1968. ÃÂngel Blanco went on to win the Mexican National Heavyweight Championship from Raúl Reyes in 1969. By 1969 the group was the biggest Rudó team in all of Mexico, but El Solitario started to gain quite a following among the fans. El Solitario's popularity only skyrocketed when Dr. Wagner and ÃÂngel Blanco turned on him one night during a match and attacked him. The attack on El Solitario started one of the biggest and longest-running storylines in wrestling, spanning three decades. In 1972 El Solitario defeated ÃÂngel Blanco in a Luchas de Apuesta match, unmasking him in the process. The feud between La Ola Blanca did not slow down due to the unmasking and drew full houses all over Mexico as La Ola faced El Solitario and various partners such as El Santo or Rayo de Jalisco. On October 26, 1973, ÃÂngel Blanco finally lost the Mexican National Heavyweight Championship to Enrique Vera, ending a more than three-year-long title reign.
Following his unmasking Vargas sometimes wrestled as "Ranchero" Vargas, but kept returning to his "ÃÂngle Blanco" name. When the Universal Wrestling Association (UWA) was created by splitting away from EMLL ÃÂngel Blanco was one of the wrestlers who left EMLL and helped make UWA a big hit in the late 1970s. By the late 1970s La Ola Blanca had split up with the two now wrestling each other instead of teaming together, even taking it so far as to defeating ÃÂngel Blanco in an Apuesta match on January 1, 1979, leaving his former teammate bald. On November 13, 1983, ÃÂngel Blanco became the inaugural Mexican National Cruiserweight Champion when he defeated El Insólito in the finals of a 16-man tournament. Blanco held the title for almost a year before losing it to Adorable Rubàon October 7, 1984.
On April 27, 1986, Vargas was scheduled to team with his son to face the team of Dr. Wagner and Dr. Wagner Jr. While driving to Monterrey from Nuevo Laredo the car carrying Vargas, González, Solar, Mano Negra, and Jungla Negra crashed when one of the tires exploded. Vargas, the driver of the car, was killed on impact while González suffered severe spinal damage and was rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery. The remaining three wrestlers, all passengers in the back seat, only suffered minor injuries from the crash. González had to have steel wires inserted into his spinal column in order to stabilize him, but the injury left him requiring the use of a wheelchair. The doctors told him he would never walk again but he would later learn to walk with the use of a cane.
Over the years several members of Vargas' family have become professional wrestlers, most of them using the "Angel Blanco" name that Vargas established. The original ÃÂngel Blanco Jr. was not the son, but the son-in-law of Vargas and was officially allowed to take the name. The original ÃÂngel Blanco Jr. is now known as Rey Salomón as Vargas son took over the ÃÂngel Blanco Jr. The wrestlers working as "El Hijo de ÃÂngel Blanco" ("The son of the White Angel") I and II are also sons of Vargas. In recent years a third-generation Vargas has made his debut, son of the second ÃÂngel Blanco Jr. he works as Horus.