he would sell out repeatedly later in his career. Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre (19731975) Shortly after his debut El Canek moved to Mexico City, working for Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre (EMLL) while also training at "Gym Ham Lee" under head trainer Felipe Ham Lee as well as Sugi Sito and Fantasma de la Quebrada. During his time with EMLL he would often tour the Northern territories for promoter René Guajardo. At that point he won the Northern Mexico Heavyweight Championship defeating Jose Torres, a man he would later also defeat in a Luchas de Apuestas match. Working mainly in the north El Canek won several headline matches, including unmasking El Destroyer and Lemus as well as winning the hair of Dory Dixon, Sunny War Cloud and Ruben Juarez but never worked regularly in EMLL's main territory in and around Mexico City. Universal Wrestling Association (19751995) In 1974 EMLL founder and owner Salvador Lutteroth brought his son into the promotion, grooming him to take over when the aging Lutteroth, Sr. eventually had to retire. This action combined with a very rigid and conservative promotional philosophy led EMLL's Promoter in Naucalpan, Mexico State, Francisco Flores, EMLL wrestler and trainer Ray Mendoza and investor Benjamin Mora, Jr. to break away from EMLL to form their own company called the Universal Wrestling Association. With the impending change of management in EMLL many wrestlers who had previously been loyal to Lutteroth decided to leave with Flores, Mendoza and Mora including promoters René and Karloff Lagarde as well as number of young wrestles, including El Canek who were frustrated with the lack of opportunities in EMLL. They held their first show on January 29, 1975 with El Canek teaming up with former rivals Dory Dixon and Sunny War Cloud to lose the semi-main event to the team of Mil Máscaras, Ray Mendoza and El Solitario. One of the early draws in the UWA was Mil Máscaras, but he began taking more and more bookings in both the United States and Japan, leaving little time for the UWA between tours, coupled with the age of two of the most recognizable wrestlers in the UWA, Mendoza and Guajardo, the UWA bookers were looking to create new headliners, with the two front runners being the tecnico (wrestling term for those that portray the "good guys") Dos Caras (brother of Mil Máscaras) and El Canek who played the