Mario Pérez Jiménez, also known as Espectrito, was a renowned Mexican Mini-Estrella luchador, who made a significant impact in the world of professional wrestling. Born to be a wrestler, Jiménez began his career in 1984 under the ring name Centellita, working in the Mini division, which does not necessarily imply dwarfism, as short wrestlers can also compete in this category.
Jiménez's professional journey took a remarkable turn in 1989 when he became part of Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre's (EMLL) newly created Mini-Estrella division. He was given the ring persona of "Espectrito," a mini version of the successful wrestler Espectro I, who had been active in the 1960s and 1970s. As Espectrito, he began working a storyline feud against Mascarita Sagrada.
In 1992, CMLL created the CMLL World Mini-Estrella Championship, and Jiménez participated in a one-day tournament to find the first champion. Although he defeated Octagoncito in the first round, he lost to his rival Mascarita Sagrada in the finals.
In 1997, AAA began a working agreement with North American-based WWE, which led to several AAA workers appearing on WWE television programming. Jiménez was given the ring persona "Mini Vader," a miniature version of WWF wrestler Vader, due to his physical and facial resemblance to the latter. As Mini Vader, he made a couple of appearances in early 1997, often teaming with "Mini Mankind," his real-life brother.
In mid-1997, all the "Minis" working for WWE were repackaged, and Jiménez became "El Torito," a "human bull" character. As Torito, he worked a series of matches against Mascarita Sagrada, repackaged as "Mini Nova," and Mascarita Sagrada, Jr., who had been repackaged as "Max Mini." Jiménez made one pay-per-view appearance for WWE, teaming with Battalion and Tarantula (his brother under a new name),losing to the team of Mini Nova, Max Mini, and Mosaic at the 1998 Royal Rumble.
After AAA and WWE stopped working together in 1999, Jiménez continued to make appearances as El Torito until 2001, where he lost his mask in a Luchas de Apuestas against Pierrothito.
In his personal life, Mario Pérez Jiménez is the brother of twins Alejandro Jiménez, who wrestled as Espectrito II, and Alberto Jiménez, who wrestled as the original La Parkita. Unfortunately, the Jiménez twins were both murdered on June 30, 2009, in a crime that was covered worldwide.
