[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/titosantana_2724.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:"''ARRIBA''!"]]

->''"'''ARRIBA!'''"''

Merced Solis (born May 10, 1953) is a semi-retired {{professional wrestl|ing}}er from Mission, Texas best known for his work in Wrestling/{{WWE}} in the 1980s as Tito Santana. He started his career in Florida in 1977 and also worked in Georgia, [=WWE=], the Wrestling/AmericanWrestlingAssociation, Southwest Championship Wrestling in San Antonio, and the [[Wrestling/TerryFunk Funk family]]'s Western States Wrestling promotion in Amarillo, TX before making his home in [=WWE=]. Santana is a 2x [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wwe/ic.html WWE Intercontinental Heavyweight Champion]], a 2x [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wwe/wwe-world-t.html WWE World Tag Team Champion]], holding the belts the first time with Ivan Putski and the second time with Wrestling/RickMartel as Strike Force and a 1x [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/ecw/ecw-h.html NWA ECW Heavyweight Champion]] (see below under TheCameo). He was inducted into the Wrestling/WWEHallOfFame in 2004.

----
!! "[=Tropo=] Santana":
* ArchEnemy: [[Wrestling/GregValentine Greg "The Hammer" Valentine]], Slick, Rick "The Model" Martel (after Strike Force's split at ''Wrestling/{{WrestleMania}} V''), Wrestling/{{Demolition}}
* BashBrothers: Rick Martel, Ivan Putski, Wrestling/JunkyardDog, Wrestling/PedroMorales
* TheCameo: He's made several since his regular WWE run ended.
** Made one appearance in Wrestling/{{ECW}} on August 8, 1993, wrestling three matches, including defeating fellow 1980s great Wrestling/DonMuraco for the [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/ecw/ecw-h.html NWA ECW Heavyweight Title]], and never wrestled for the promotion again.
** Defeated [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wcw/wcw-us-h.html WCW United States Heavyweight Champion]] Wrestling/JeffJarrett, in a non-title match on the January 10, 2000 ''Wrestling/WCWMondayNitro''.
** At ''Wrestling/{{CHIKARA}} King of Trios 2012'' Night 1, September 14, 2012, the Spectral Envoy (Wrestling/{{UltraMantis Black}}[=/=]Wrestling/{{Frightmare}}[=/=]Wrestling/{{Hallowicked}}) were supposed to face the Submission Squad, but they were not there, so three names were drawn from a hat. The first was [[Wrestling/ArchibaldPeck the Mysterious and Handsome Stranger]], who was there. The second was Kazuaki Mihara of Osaka Pro. The third was Wrestling/StanHansen, who was not there. They tried [[Characters/WWENewGeneration Kwang (Savio Vega doing a lame masked ninja gimmick in WWE from 1994-1995)]], who was not there. They tried Tito Santana, and he was there. The Envoy won after [=UMB=] rolled Tito up from behind for the pin.
* CatchPhrase:
** "¡ARRIBA!"
** "Strike Force!" (with Rick Martel)
** "¡Olé!" (as "El Matador")
** His pointing up and then spinning his hand around was often a signal to the crowd that he was going for the figure-four leg lock.
* CharacterTics: When Tito was about to do the figure-four leg lock, he would often point in the air and spin his hand around to signal it to the crowd.
* CombatCommentator: He acted as a commentator in WWF's Spanish Announcers table in the late '90s.
* ContinuityNod: He and Rick Martel never quite got over the Strike Force split. From then on, whenever they were in a situation against one another, like a Royal Rumble, one would always make a beeline for the other, to the exclusion of everyone else.
* EveryoneWentToSchoolTogether: He and Tully Blanchard were on the West Texas State University football team together.
* {{Face}}: One of the very few wrestlers to be a babyface for his entire career.
* FinishingMove: Flying Forearm, figure-four leglock; (as "El Matador"): ''El Paso de la Muerte''
* GeniusBruiser: Teaches Spanish in New Jersey.
* GratuitousSpanish: Inverted since Spanish really is his first language. He doesn't always do this, but near the end of promos he can be heard speaking a little Spanish before ending with his catchphrase.[[note]]Tito es diferente de los otros luchadores por hablar en su lengua nativa cuando hace algunas (pero no todas) de sus promos. ¡Arriba![[/note]]
* LegacyCharacter: WWE has repackaged [[Characters/WWETagTeams Primo and Epico Colon]], who are UsefulNotes/{{Puerto Ric|o}}an, as [[ArtisticLicenseGeography "Los Matadores."]]
* MistakenNationality: From Texas, billed from Mexico, though not even from an ''actual'' city in Mexico. See below.
* PartsUnknown: He was billed from "Tocula, Mexico", which apparently was a [[TyopOnTheCover misspelled]] reference to the city of Toluca, Mexico, making Santana possibly the most normal wrestler to be billed from a nonexistent place.
* SouthOfTheBorder: His "El Matador" gimmick.
* StartMyOwn: A slight aversion in that [[http://titosantana.net/HairSalon.html Santana's Hair Salon]] in Succasunna, New Jersey is operated by his wife. As noted in "Genius Bruiser", Tito himself is a high school Spanish teacher.
* StillGotIt: As [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7J0FQcQlAQ this clip]] from Wrestling/{{CHIKARA}} 2012 King of Trios Night 1 proves.
* TagTeam: [[TheSomethingForce Strike Force]], with Rick Martel
* TakeThatKiss: In a slight variation on this trope, Tito did this after a match with Ravishing [[Wrestling/RickRude]] where he stole Rude's traditional post-match kiss with a woman from the crowd. The woman Tito kissed was played by his real-life wife.
* TheWorfEffect: Acknowledged by Wrestling/JimCornette in his commentary on the Tito Santana-Kelly Kiniski match on ''Volume 5- Beat Me If You Can'' of the ''[[http://store.vcientertainment.com/product/Wrestling/477 Wrestling Gold]]'' series that if you faced Tito and beat him in [=WWE=] in the mid-80s that meant that you were on the way up and if you faced Tito and lost that meant you weren't. This also contributed to his status as the sort-of [[BizarroUniverse Bizarro World]] version of Wrestling/TheUndertaker, with a ''[=WrestleMania=]'' record of 2-7.
** Tito won the first-ever ''[=WrestleMania=]'' match, defeating the Executioner ([[Wrestling/PlayboyBuddyRose "Playboy" Buddy Rose]] under a mask).
** The Funks ([[Wrestling/TerryFunk Terry]] and Hoss [Dory Jr.]) (w[=/=]Wrestling/JimmyHart) d. Tito/JYD at WMII.
** The Hart Foundation ([[Wrestling/BretHart Bret "The Hitman" Hart]] and Jim "The Anvil Neidhart) and "Dangerous" Danny Davis (w/Jimmy Hart) d. Tito/The British Bulldogs ([[Wrestling/DynamiteKid The Dynamite Kid]] and Wrestling/DaveyBoySmith) at WMIII.
** [=Demolition (Ax and Smash)=] (w[=/=]Wrestling/MrFuji) d. [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wwe/wwe-world-t.html WWE World Tag Team Champions]] Strike Force for the titles at WMIV.
** The Brainbusters (Wrestling/ArnAnderson and Tully Blanchard) (w/[[Wrestling/BobbyHeenan Bobby "The Brain" Heenan]]) d. Strike Force after Martel walked out on the match at WMV.
** The Barbarian (w/Bobby "The Brain" Heenan) d. Tito at WMVI.
** [[ForeignWrestlingHeel The Mountie (Jacques Rougeau)]] (w/Jimmy Hart) d. Tito at WMVII.
** Wrestling/ShawnMichaels (w/[[Wrestling/SherriMartel Sensational Sherri]]) d. Tito at WMVIII.
** In a dark (non-televised match), Tito d. [[Wrestling/CharlesWright Papa Shango]] at WMIX.
* ThrowTheDogABone: By the late 1980s, it was more common to see Santana on the losing end of matches, although he did have plenty of non-televised (at least on terrestrial television) victories that, until the Internet and Website/YouTube eras weren't commonly known. These include a major push toward the WWF Intercontinental Championship in 1990 (although losing to [[Wrestling/CurtHennig Mr. Perfect]]), a Wrestling/KingOfTheRing championship-round victory over Rick Martel, and a rare victory (in Spain) over Wrestling/TheUndertaker. The latter victory, which came in 1991, in the midst of Undertaker's push as an unbeatable MonsterHeel, and also came a time where the WWF was pondering which direction to find its new face of the 1990s -- Canada (and Wrestling/BretHart) or Mexico (and Santana). While they ultimately settled on Hart (and American Wrestling/ShawnMichaels), Santana's reliability and workmanship in the ring gave the WWF a solid option and a solid wrestler to build around had they decided on a lucha libre direction.