Carlos Rodrigo Cabrera (born October 18, 1959) is a Colombian former newsman and professional wrestling commentator signed to All Elite Wrestling and Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide. He is best known for his time with WWE, where he was one half of the company's Spanish announce team in which he is the play-by-play announcer. His longtime broadcast partner was the former Ecuadorian professional wrestler Hugo Savinovich, who was the color commentator on the announce team until October 2011. Then, his partner was Marcelo Rodriguez until 2022.
| Carlos Cabrera | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Carlos Rodrigo Cabrera |
| Born | 18 October 1959 Bogotá, Colombia[1] |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Carlos Cabrera[1] |
| Billed height | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) |
| Billed weight | 204 lb (93 kg) |
| Debut | 1993 |
Early career
editCarlos Rodrigo Cabrera was born in Bogota, Colombia. During his career as a newsman and radio personality, Cabrera has obtained many coveted awards, including the ACE Awards both in Radio and TV categories. Cabrera has one of the most recognizable voices in both Spanish radio and TV in the United States and is constantly used as a voice-over announcer for many important corporations and brand names that wish to advertise their products nationally.
Professional wrestling career
editWorld Wrestling Federation/WWE (1993–2022)
editCabrera had worked for WWF (now WWE) from 1993 until 2022, and, alongside, Ed Trucco, Hugo Savinovich and latterly Marcelo Rodríguez, was the Spanish announcer on Spanish language versions of Raw, SmackDown, Superstars, NXT, and pay-per-view (PPV) events. Their audio could be accessed in the United States via the SAP feature on most TV sets.
Cabrera and Savinovich had a show on WWE.com called 'WWE En Español (WWE in Spanish), a thirty-minute program that served as a recap of RAW, SmackDown, NXT, and pay-per-view events. The duo taped their one-hundredth episode in April 2006.
Rodríguez was a frequent substitute host of the program until October 2011, when he became permanent co-host following the departure of Savinovich from the company. For a brief period, Cabrera and Savinovich starred in a Spanglish mini-show called 28 Segundos.
In previous years, while working for WWE on its monthly pay-per-views, the announce table at which he has worked with Savinovich and Rodríguez, more commonly known as the Spanish announcers' table, has become a staple in modern professional wrestling as a convenient device on which for wrestlers to execute dramatic moves, such as the piledriver or the Pedigree, which almost always results in the destruction of the table, as it is designed to collapse on impact.
Cabrera and Rodríguez provided live Spanish commentary for all weekly shows from the WWE Television Studios in Stamford, Connecticut, and were at ringside for PPV events. This practice temporarily ended in mid-2006. Originally due to the addition of the now-defunct ECW brand, the announce teams of all 3 brands were present for tri-branded pay-per-views (Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series). During this time, Cabrera and Hugo Savinovich provided commentary for these events from the WWE Television Studios but were still placed at ringside for brand-exclusive PPV events.
When the brand-exclusive pay-per-view concept ended in 2007, the announce teams of all three brands were placed at ringside for all PPV events. Beginning in 2009, a single three-man announce team, composed of announcers from the two current brands, was designated for pay-per-views. Cabrera and Savinovich returned to ringside for PPVs at The 25th Anniversary of WrestleMania in 2009. However, they were not reinstated full-time until WrestleMania XXVI in 2010. In October 2011, Savinovich left WWE and Marcelo Rodríguez became the permanent Spanish color commentator and co-host of WWE En Español. Also in October 2011, Cabrera and Rodríguez were at ringside for the tapings of Raw and SmackDown in Mexico City, Mexico. During the SmackDown tapings, Cabrera took part in a WWE.com exclusive in-ring segment where he helped translate Triple H's dialect to the audience as they announced Mil Máscaras as the first inductee to the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2012.
In TLC: Tables, Ladders and Chairs (2012), the 3MB tag team (Heath Slater, Jinder Mahal, and Drew McIntyre) started to mock Carlos and Marcelo in a racist way (Kayfabe), including an attack to Ricardo Rodriguez, only to begin a feud with Alberto Del Rio, signalling a face turn for the Mexican duo.[2]
Carlos Cabrera had called every WrestleMania as a member of the Spanish broadcast team since WrestleMania X with Ed Trucco, with Hugo Savinovich from WrestleMania XI until WrestleMania XXVII and with Marcelo Rodriguez since WrestleMania XXVIII until 2021.
On February 17, 2022, Cabrera was released from the WWE, after nearly 30 years of working for the company.[3] Two days later, Cabrera would debut at Rey de Reyes for Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide along his long-time partner Hugo Savinovich and José Manuel Guillén.[4]
All Elite Wrestling (2024–present)
editDuring the April 17, 2024, broadcast of AEW Dynamite it was announced Cabrera had signed with All Elite Wrestling.[5]
References
edit- ^ a b "Carlos Cabera profile" (in Spanish). WWE. Retrieved 2010-02-08.
- ^ "PWTorch.com - TLC PPV NEWS: A.J. factors in main event, title match results, Shield's stand-out performance, Punk-Rock, heel turning face?". Pwtorch.com. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
- ^ "WWE despidió a Carlos Cabrera tras 29 años". Libero.pe. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
- ^ "AAA Rey de Reyes 2022: Carlos Cabrera hace su debut en la empresa de México junto a Hugo Savinovich". Solowrestling.mundodeportivo.com. 20 February 2022. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
- ^ "Tony Khan Confirms Former WWE Spanish Commentator Carlos Cabrera Has Joined AEW Dynamite Commentary Team". Wrestling Headlines.com. April 17, 2024. Retrieved April 17, 2024.
External links
edit- Carlos Cabrera Bio on WWE.com (Spanish)
- Carlos Cabrera at IMDb