Shawn Hernandez (born February 11, 1973) is an American professional wrestler. He is best known for his time with Impact Wrestling, where he performed under the ring name Hernandez. He is an eight-time tag team champion, having won the Impact World Tag Team Championship five times, the NWA World Tag Team Championship twice and IWA World Tag Team Championship once. He is also the co-promoter of the Houston, Texas-based promotion Latino Wrestling Entertainment (LWE). Professional wrestling career Early career Following the end of his Arena Football career, Hernandez trained under Tugboat Taylor and later under Rudy Boy Gonzalez in the Texas Wrestling Academy. He debuted in Texas All-Star Wrestling in November 1996. On 2000 and 2001, Hernandez worked for the World Wrestling Federation as a jobber, appearing on episodes of WWF Jakked and in dark matches. He also wrestled dark matches for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, and competed for Texas All Star Wrestling, Extreme Texas Wrestling and NWA Southwest. He also toured Japan on numerous occasions and worked for Ring of Honor in 2003, joining Team Texas (Texas Wrestling Academy) Don Juan, Fast Eddie led by TWA head trainer Rudy Boy Gonzalez facing the Carnage Crew of Devito, LC Loc and Masada in a violent feud that lasted several months. In 2001, Hernandez began wrestling for the National Wrestling Alliance. At the October 13, 2001 NWA Anniversary Show in St. Petersburg, Florida, he defeated Kevin Northcutt to win the NWA National Heavyweight Championship. He held the title for over a year before losing to Ricky Murdock on January 11, 2003, in Greenville, Missouri. Hernandez defeated Jorge Estrada for the NWA North American Heavyweight Championship on May 3, 2003, in Cornelia, Georgia. On September 28, 2003, in Hawaii, he lost the title to J.T. Wolfen. Hernandez joined the Texas Wrestling Academy at the One Year Anniversary show in Queens NY facing the Carnage Crew and starting a feud that lasted a little over a year. Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2003–2004) Hernandez debuted in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling on the November 22, 2003, episode of TNA Xplosion, losing to Shane Douglas. He returned to TNA on June 16, 2004, as one-third of "The Elite Guard", a trio of mercenaries working for Jeff Jarrett after his first King of the Mountain match victory. The Elite Guard (Hernandez, Chad Collyer and Onyx) feuded with the 3Live Kru over the next two months. On July