Américo Rocca
Mexican professional wrestler
Javier Hernández Padilla (born September 22, 1952) is a semi-retired Mexican professional wrestler best known under the ring name Américo Rocca. Hernández also worked as the enmascarado (masked) Ponzoña from 1990 until 1994, and as Ninja Samurai for a brief time in 1994. Hernández is a former holder of the Mexican National Lightweight Championship and a three-time holder of both the Mexican National Welterweight Championship and the NWA World Welterweight Championship all promoted by the professional wrestling promotion Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre (EMLL).
Professional wrestling career
Hernández made his professional wrestling debut in 1975, using the ring name Xavier "Américo" Rocca, later shortened to just "Américo Rocca". Just over two years after his debut Rocca defeated Flama Azul to win the Mexican National Lightweight Championship; he held the title for 82 days before losing it back to Flama Azul. On February 2, 1978, Rocca won the Mexican National Welterweight Championship from Kung Fu, holding it for 435 days before losing it to Lizmark. The following year, on April 30, 1979, Rocca won the NWA World Welterweight Championship from Mano Negra. Rocca made several successful title defenses in the following 264 days before losing the title to Kato Kung Lee on January 19, 1980. Just under two months later he won the Mexican Welterweight title once more, defeating Lizmark to regain the title. His second Mexican Welterweight title run lasted 217 days before he lost the championship to Franco Columbo on November 1, 1980.
“Américo Rocca” enters the record as mexican professional wrestler. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Américo, Rocca and Mexican can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Américo Rocca” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Américo, Rocca and Mexican provides the most credible route into that argument.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 26, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4749651. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1952, 1990, 1994 and 1975.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Américo Rocca”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Américo Rocca primary sources, Américo Rocca archive and Américo research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Américo Rocca”?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Américo Rocca” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.