Ignacio Patiño (born February 11, 1986), better known under the ring names Soul Rocker and Tito Santana is a Mexican luchador, or professional wrestler, currently working for Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (AAA). He is the son of retired luchador Kendor and actually worked as Kendor II early in his career. From 2005 through 2012, he used the name Tito Santana, although he is not related to the better-known Tito Santana. He began using the name again in 2017 after losing his mask. As Soul Rocker he wore wrestling gear reminiscent of the elaborate stage costumes of the rock group Kiss.
The Soul Rocker character was originally introduced as part of a group called Los Inferno Rockers (with Machine Rocker, Devil Rocker, Demon Rocker and Uru Rocker). Tito Santana is currently part of a trio known as El Poder del Norte (formerly El Nuevo Poder del Norte) along with Carta Brava Jr. and Mocho Cota Jr. that works for Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide. The trio are former AAA World Trios Champions. Prior to 2012 he teamed up with Tigre Cota (Mocho Cota Jr. under a different alias) and Rio Bravo to form the original El Poder del Norte, a group that held the AAA Northern Tag Team Championship on three occasions.
Professional wrestling career
Patiño received most of his training from his father, a wrestler known under the ring name Kandor. He made his debut in 2000, working under a wrestling mask as "Kandor II", teaming with his older brother Kandor Jr. and his father. In the early 2000s Los Kandors held the Federación Internacional de Lucha Libre (FILL) Trios Championship, although records only mention it after the fact, without a specific date given.
El Poder del Norte (2005–2012) By 2005, Patiño was known by the name "Tito Santana", although he had no relationship to the first Tito Santana (real name: Mercedes Solis). Santana, teaming with masked wrestler Rio Bravo, formed a team known as El Poder del Norte ("The Northern Power") and worked in Monterrey, often appearing on AAA shows when they toured through Nuevo León. In the winter of 2005 El Poder del Norte teamed up with Kaoma Jr. and Obscuridad to defeat Hombre Sin Miedo, Principe Zafiro and Rey Cometa in the opening match of AAA's Guerra de Titanes show. Santana and Rio Bravo won the local Northern Mexico Tag Team Championship at some point in 2007, which was later re-branded as the AAA Northern Tag Team Championship with El Poder del Norte as the first champions. On August 6, 2007 the duo lost the championship to Insolito and Maravilla Lopez, but regained the championship three months later. Their second reign as AAA Northern Tag Team Champions lasted 419 days, ending on January 11, 2009 when they lost to La Momia and Virtual X.
At the 2008 Rey de Reyes, Tito Santana and Rio Bravo teamed up with Black Mamba, losing to the trio of Principe Diamante, Street Boy and Tigre Cota in the opening match of the show. In 2009 El Poder del Norte''' became a trio as they added former rival Tigre Cota to their group. At some point in 2009 Rio Bravo quit AAA, but since he was masked AAA opted to give another wrestler the Rio Bravo mask and name, presenting it as if it was the same person under the mask. The trio lost to Real Fuerza Aerea ("The Royal Air Force"; Argenis, Atomic Boy and Laredo Kid) at AAA's Héroes Inmortales III show. Santana and Cota would win the AAA Northern Tag Team Championship on March 7, 2010, which was the last recorded championship match.
La Milicia (2010–2012) In the fall of 2010, Tito Santana and Tigre Cota were introduced as part of a larger group known as La Milicia ("The Militia"), where the members would all wear camouflage clothes and display a more militaristic attitude. At this point the second Rio Bravo character is abandoned while Santana and Cota began working for AAA more or less full-time. La Milicia would later be rolled up into the rudo (those that portray the "bad guys" in professional wrestling) group known as La Sociedad ("The Society"). Santana, Cota and Super Fly represented La Milicia in the tournament to crown the first ever AAA World Trios Championship, but lost to La Secta (Dark Cuervo, Dark Espiritu and Dark Ozz in the first round. One of La Milicia's last matches was at Triplemanía XIX where Santana, Cota, Decnnis and Dark Dragon lost to Aero Star, Argenis, Fénix and Sugi San.