Tommy Diablo

Armando Gorbea Pontón, better known as Tommy Diablo, is a professional wrestler better known for wrestling in both the International Wrestling Association in Puerto Rico and the World Wrestling Council, where he is a fifteen-time WWC World Junior Heavyweight Champion.

Gorbea was raised in the tourist district of Isla Verde, Puerto Rico, where several of the foreign wrestlers that worked for Capitol Sports Promotions (now the World Wrestling Council or simply WWC) and International Wrestling Association (IWA-PR) stayed. He would follow his neighbors around, chatting with them and asking where he could train to become a wrestler himself. Among them was Shane Sewell, with whom Gorbea struck a friendship and who referred him to Isaac Rosario's school in the municipality of Vega Alta. There he trained along The Colóns, Thunder and Lightning and Lucha Libre 101, whose members were starting to wrestle at IWA-PR and WWC and where veterans such as Ray González made training appearances.

While attending an IWA-PR card as a fan, Gorbea met founder Víctor Quiñones, who gave him backstage work assembling the ring, setting up the cameras and selling tickets. He continued training with Rosario, who intended to debut him in an independent show. Instead, Gorbea was contacted by Savio Vega (Juan Rivera), who recruited him to work in IWA-PR. He adopted the ring name “Tommy Diablo” prior to his debut, intending it to be concise and memorable. In 2000 Tommy Diablo made his professional debut in the International Wrestling Association of Puerto Rico. His first notable feud was against Andy Anderson and Tiger Ali Singh, during this angle he teamed up with Steve Bradley. The feud was part of Club WWF a weekly television program transmitted on Telemundo. He won his first title within four months, becoming the Junior Heavyweight Champion.

In June 2001, Stefano and Paparazzy defeated Anarchy and Tommy Diablo. During the summer of 2001, Gorbea was involved in a feud against Paparazzi and his assistant in El Tocotón Stefano. As part of this storyline he teamed with Anarchy to win a tag team match, but was subsequently humiliated by getting his lips painted. This tag team went on to defeat Lucha Libre 101 members Carlos Cotto and Sinigaglia. Gorbea and Anarchy then defeated Paparazzy and Stefano, but were covered in syrup by both the Tocotón crew and Lucha Libre 101. The following week, the team won a rematch where the loser would get tarred and covered in feathers. At Summer Attitude 2001, Gorbea won a battle royale. On August 4, 2001, Gorbea won the IWA Hardcore Championship by randomly intervening in a match due to the 24/7 rule, dropping it back immediately. Gorbea and García then had differences while working a tag team match.

A lingering knee injury forced Gorbea to take a break from the ring, missing the first edition of Juicio Final. After recovering, Diablo left the IWA and debuted on the World Wrestling Council during 2002. He was involved in a feud against Eddie Colón over the WWC Junior Heavyweight championship. He would fail to acquire the title for Colon. When Colon was defeated in a title match against Kid Kash, Diablo would develop a feud for the title. He won the WWC Junior Heavyweight championship on December 14, 2002. He won the title against Brent Dáil in a match to determine a new champion after the title was vacated by Kash. He teamed with Wilfredo Alejandro in an angle where he would attempt to unmask a wrestler that was playing mind games with him. Tommy Diablo was part of La Invasion Dominicana a heel faction led by El Bronco and Chicky Starr. Diablo would make a return to the International Wrestling Association in 2003. After losing to Noriega during the first night of Juicio Final 2003, Tocotón Team joined him in an attack over the former, until Anarchy and Chris Devine made the save. The following night, Gorbea defeated Anarchy and once again joined Stefano and Paparazzi in another attack. This feud continued throughout April, with the addition of other wrestlers in the matches between teams. Gorbea then formed an alliance with Freddy Lozada, which lost to Andy Anderson and Chris Devine. On May 4, 2003, Gorbea injured his arm in a match against Noriega. When Team Tocotón began having issues, Gorbea replaced García at El Tocotón and in exchange, Tapia helped him defeat Noriega to win the Junior Heavyweight Championship. In May 2003, Rivera and Eddie Colón encountered each other in a restaurant, entering into an argument about the practices and product of their respective promotions. The IWA turned this into an angle, where they belittled Colón as a “fan of Tommy Diablo” during a segment of El Tocotón. Noriega was able to respond by defeating him in a rematch.

On May 30, 2003, García formally quit El Tocotón, being replaced by Gorbea full time. However, both would later be involved in an angle where the new host of the segment would be selected by popular vote, where Gorbea aided Paparazzi in his bid to retain the segment. Meanwhile, Gorbea and Tapia formed a tag team, defeating Anarchy and Damián. He was then placed in a makeshift tag team with García, taking the pin and leading to a confrontation involving his title. In July 2003, Gorbea traveled to Mexico in order to join the Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre, where he performed throughout the following month. On August 2, 2003, Gorbea returned to the IWA and dropped the Junior Heavyweight Championship to Anarchy. Gorbea tried unsuccessfully to regain the championship twice. During this timeframe he also Noriega, but lost to García in the continuation of the Tocotón angle. On August 30, 2003, Gorbea regained the Junior Heavyweight Championship in another rematch. Despite this, he continued losing to the former champion. At Golpe de Estado 2003, Gorbea lost to García, leading to a confrontation with referee José Vázquez, against whom he exchanged wins the other nights of the event. The feud continued and Gorbea formed an alliance with another referee, who would rig the results in his favor. His ongoing alliance with Tapia continued being unsuccessful. On October 4, 2003, he defeated Freddie Lozada. Both would be involved in an ongoing rivalry during the rest of the month. After falling behind in a series against him 1–2, Lozada earned another win to tie the score. On October 7, 2003, Gorbea retained the Junior Heavyweight Champion in the promotion's first card in the city of Kissimmee, Florida. Lozada continued being a frequent challenger for Gorbea's title, who managed to retain it throughout October. Afterwards, García continued his winning streak over Gorbea. On November 1, 2003, Lozada won a four-way match to become the first contender and later in the night defeated Gorbea for the title. The former champion unsuccessfully attempted to sabotage Lozada, who also continued his winning streak over him. However, Gorbea was able to win a three-way where the champion also wrestled in return. Both were then involved in a brief interlude, where they defeated jobbers. During one of the preliminary nights of Hardcore Weekend, Gorbea defeated Chris Sabin. The main night of the tour, Lozada won a three-way match for the Junior Heavyweight Championship against Gorbea and Chris Sabin. He was involved in an angle in which he helped Paparazzi in a feud with Stefano, this angle lasted through fall. The long-running feud between Gorbea and García extended to 2004. His rivalry with Lozada also turned bizarre, with the addition of midget wrestlers. Gorbea entered a series with mixed results against masked wrestler Super Atomo, before making a brief run in the heavyweights, being squashed by Eric Pérez. On February 14, 2004, Gorbea briefly resumed his alliance with Tapia and his feud with García, helping him win the Junior Heavyweight Championship but losing to the second. Shortly afterwards, he was involved in more matches against Super Atomo and was occasionally aided by referee Anarchy. He defeated Lozada with the help of Tapia. On March 13, 2004, Gorbea defeated him to win the Junior Heavyweight Championship. This feud continued afterwards. At IWA Extravaganza, Blitz & Cyrus defeated Tommy Diablo & Just Perfect. In February 2004, Gorbea defeated Lozada. At Juicio Final 2004, he participated in an X-Match for the Junior Heavyweight Championship, but was dethroned by Lozada. When Diablo and other heels expelled a wrestler from their locker-room, Lozada intervened. During the following month, Gorbea stagnated in the low card, facing Golden Boy and winning the occasional title defense. He opened the Summer Attitude with a tag team loss. During the Summer Attitude tour, Lozada retained the Junior Heavyweight Championship by defeating Gorbea in a ladder match.

His stay in IWA-PR allowed him to travel to Japan, where he joined Taka Michinoku's Kaientai Dojo, being accompanied by other young talents. In Puerto Rico, he underwent a character change and adopted the moniker of Mr. Japan, but Lozada continued dominating their feud. On August 14, 2004, Ray González presented Gorbea as the latest member of his stable, La Familia. He was the involved in a feud with Julio Franco over the title. The title was held up after he scored a controversial win over referee Pelayo Vázquez, following the interference of Franco. Vázquez went on to win the title with the help of Franco, and win a rematch. At Golpe de Estado 2004, El Enjabonao defeated Gorbea. In September 2004, Gorbea defeated Pelayo Vázquez and Just Perfect. He was involved in an angle in which he was (kayfabe) gravely injured by Apolo, he was out of action until early 2005. On January 22, 2005, the IWA aired a segment where Lozada implied that Gorbea was a has been, signaling a face turn. On February 12, 2005, they were involved in an angle where the team sabotaged a gift that Carlos Cotto had left for a woman, only for Gorbea to intervene and be attacked instead. On March 6, 2005, it was revealed that Gorbea wanted to join a stable known as La Nueva Generacion, coached by Huertas. On April 18, 2005, Gorbea aided Blitz a match for the Junior Heavyweight Championship, despite being a face. At Juicio Final, he officially turned heel by abandoning his partner. He was involved in a feud with Super Mark eventually defeating him for Junior Heavyweight title on May 21, 2005, in Toa Baja, Puerto Rico. Gorbea helped Stefano defeat Viruz. On May 21, 2005, Gorbea won the Junior Heavyweight championship and turned on his valet. In June, Gorbea was involved in an inter-sex feud with Amazona, who defeated him in singles. At the Víctor Rodríguez memorial Cup, Gorbea retained the title over Amazona. In February 2006, Gorbea's team lost to Hiram Tua's team. During the following weeks, he continued participating in random tag team pairings with little success . On February 19, 2006, Gorbea intervened in a match for the Junior Heavyweight Championship by distracting Díaz to help Lozada and later boasted about helping the champion. At IWA Uncensored Díaz defeated Gorbea. At Juicio Final, he teamed with Díaz to defeat Lozada and Chris. On April 8, 2006, Lozada defeated Gorbea with the help of Chris. On June 10, 2006, he defeated Magnificent Chris. On July 15, 2006, Gorbea defeated Lozada by cheating. He then challenged for the title in a rematch, but won by disqualification. On August 19, 2006, Gorbea won a four corner match and Díaz issued a challenge for Golpe de Estado.

While IWA and WWS held a talent exchange agreement, Gorbea had a parallel feud with Chris at that promotion. He also challenged for the WWS World Heavyweight Championship. Gorbea then defeated Lozada in a grudge match, and prevented his rival from interfering in a match for the Junior Heavyweight Championship. At Golpe de Estado, Gorbea defeated Lozada. At Golpe de Estado, Díaz won a titular X match in which Díaz and Gorbea participated. Later in the tour, Díaz and Gorbea lost a titular three-way match to Super Mark. he rebounded by defeating the champion in a three fall match. On September 9, 2006, Gorbea lost to a debuting Muerte Cibernetica 2 (Richard Rondón). He then lost a non-titular match to Mark.