Ring names: Carlito,Carlito Caribbean Cool,Carly Colón,Carlos Colón, Jr.,Carlos Colóne,Carly Columbus
Height 5 ft 10 in (178 cm)
Weight 220 lb (100 kg)
Born February 21, 1979, Santurce, Puerto Rico
Resides Miami, Florida
Billed from The Caribbean,San Juan, Puerto Rico (more specifically)
Trained by Carlos Colón, Sr., Ohio Valley Wrestling
Pro Wrestling Debut: 1999
Carlos "Carly" Colón, Jr. was born on February 21, 1979.
He is a Puerto Rican pro wrestler better known internationally by the WWE ring name Carlito; while on his native Puerto Rico he's known as both Carly and Carlito. He is currently performing on the RAW brand of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and, occasionally, the World Wrestling Council (WWC) where he is an 11 time WWC Universal Heavyweight Champion.
The son of Puerto Rican legend Carlos Colón, Colón started out performing in Puerto Rico's World Wrestling Council playing the role of an almost unbeatable face. He had a long feud against Ray Gonzalez which lasted until the departure of Gonzalez from WWC. During this feud they exchanged the WWC Universal Heavyweight Championship belt numerous times. Originally his gimmick was that of defender of his father's legacy. When he signed a WWE developmental contract he went to wrestle at OVW as a heel. With this gimmick change from face to heel, he had disagreements (kayfabe) with his father and brother resulting in a feud aganist his brother Eddie Colon. As his popularity continued to rise, WWC's writers decided for a face angle which prevails until now. As of 2006, he continues to perform there on special occasions. On December 16, 2006, he went on to win the WWC Heavyweight Championship, at WWC's event Lockout where he defeated Jon Heidenreich to win the title. However Carlito was stripped of the belt mostly because of contractual compromises with WWE the title was given back to Heidenreich.
In June 2003, Carly Colón signed a developmental contract with WWE and was assigned to Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), WWE's training territory on June 2. In OVW, he was briefly managed by Kenny Bolin. On December 15, Carly was placed in a special dark match before RAW where he teamed with Brent Dail to face Bart Gunn and Jim Steele.
During his time in OVW, Colón was still wrestling in WWC. In April 2004, WWE prevented a scheduled match between him and TNA's Abyss, which would have taken place in Puerto Rico.
On October 7, 2004, Colón made his Pro Wrestling Debut: on SmackDown! as Carlito Caribbean Cool and defeated John Cena to win the WWE United States Championship. With this he became one of only a few WWE wrestlers who have won a championship on their Pro Wrestling Debut: in WWE. He was the United States Champion for a little longer than a month, before separating his shoulder and subsequently losing the title to Cena. At Survivor Series 2004, Carlito represented Team Angle in a 8-man tag team match against Team Guererro, but was eliminated after being chased out of the arena by John Cena before the match started. On November 24, Carlito underwent an ambulatory artoscopy on his left shoulder.While injured, Carlito had a comical rivalry with SmackDown! general manager Theodore Long where he was made to do several demeaning jobs around the arena, such as selling hot dogs, shoveling snow in the parking lot, or mopping the floor, and in response created a petition to get Long fired from his job.
Using his WWE "Caribbean Cool" gimmick, Carlito had become a much hated heel in WWC, especially after spitting in the face of his own father on the Llamado de la Sangre event in November 2004 in Caguas, Puerto Rico. However, his successful run at WWE has since made him a loved wrestler in Puerto Rico, getting him cheers.
Carlito is the son of Puerto Rican legend Carlos Colón, the brother of fellow professional wrestler Eddie Colón who was recently signed by WWE, and brother of Stacy Colón who has teamed up with Carlito in a few wrestling matches in the WWC. He is also cousins with Orlando Colón who is also a wrestler.
His decision to jump to the WWE when the opportunity arose was a controversial one among the local Puerto Rican wrestling community. Since his father Carlos Colón is a legendary wrestling promoter, many fans and insiders believed that it was only natural for Carlito to take the family business from his father one day, but when Carlito chose to go to the WWE, he was not only criticized by the locals, he was also labeled as someone who had "sold out" his Puerto Rican wrestling traditions over for the "flash and flair" of the WWE. Carlito spoke of this in an interview with the Calgary Sun in which he stated "I didn't care about what they thought. I've always dreamed of working for the WWE when I was young, and I took that chance when it came".
According to Dave Meltzer, the reason Carlito is so fluent in the English language is because his mother is Canadian. Carlos wrestled in several Canadian territories early in his career and they grew up speaking English at home.
Carlito's theme music to promote the WWE Wreckless Intent album is, "Quien Soy Yo (Who I Am)" by Kaballon, but he does not use this entrance music. His actual entrance music is called Cool, which was featured on the WWE ThemeAddict: The Music, Vol. 6 CD of 2004.
Carlito Caribbean Cool sites at Celebrity Link
