Manuel Santiago

Born

1968-08-11

Birthplace

New York, New York, U.S.

Biography

The Headhunters is a professional wrestling tag team that consists of twin brothers Manuel and Victor Santiag, better known by their respective ring names, Headhunter A and Headhunter B. he Santiago brothers trained under Johnny Rodz and both debuted in 1987. In the early 1990s, The Headhunters travelled to Japan and began wrestling for W*ING. In August 1992, they were awarded the newly created W*ING International New Generation World Tag Team Championship. They held the titles until November 6, 1992, when they lost to Crash the Terminator and Mr. Pogo in Sapporo. The brothers regained the titles on May 19, 1993, defeating Miguelito Perez and Yukihiro Kanemura in Honjo, and held them until the promotion closed in March 1994. The Headhunters debuted in Eastern Championship Wrestling in August 1993, taking part in a tournament for the vacant ECW Tag Team Championship. The Headhunters were eliminated from the tournament after fighting their opponents, Ivan Koloff and Nikita Koloff, to a double disqualification. At ECW UltraClash on September 18, 1993, The Headhunters defeated Crash the Terminator and Miguelito Perez in a baseball bat match. The Headhunters began wrestling for Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre in the 1990s, and on June 30, 1995 in Mexico City they defeated El Texano and Silver King to win the CMLL World Tag Team Championship. They held the titles until November 3, 1995, when they were defeated by Atlantis and Rayo de Jalisco, Jr. The Headhunters returned to Japan in the mid-1990s. They joined the International Wrestling Association of Japan soon after its inception, and began the first IWA World Tag Team Champions by defeating Dick Slater and Nobutaka Araya on November 17, 1994 in Yokohama. They lost the titles to El Texano and Silver King on March 3, 1995 in Hiroshima, but regained them on August 20, 1995 in Kawasaki, Kanagawa. Their second reign ended when they lost to Cactus Jack and Tracy Smothers on September 29, 1995 in Yokohama. The brothers also wrestled for Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling, and on March 30, 1996, they defeated Super Leather and Jason the Terrible in Tokyo to win the FMW Brass Knuckles Tag Team Championship. They held the titles for over a year, finally losing to Hido and Kanemura on April 25, 1997 in Osaka. The Headhunters also held the FMW World Street Fight Six Man Tag Team Championship on two occasions in 1996, teaming with Super Leather and Hisakatsu Oya respectively.