Angel Medina has officially called time on his wrestling career. Medina, best known to Extreme Championship Wrestling audiences as Angel of Da Baldies, retired at a FLEX Wrestling event in New York on Friday, October 24.
The final match of Medina’s career saw him face HC Loc, an opponent with whom he had been involved in a FLEX Wrestling rivalry throughout the year. HC Loc won the bout. Adding another layer to the occasion, the match was officiated by Tony DeVito, Medina’s former Da Baldies partner in ECW.
For Medina, the retirement brings an end to a career that began in 1996 and included a memorable run during one of the most distinctive periods in ECW history. While he had not been competing continuously in recent years, the New York match represented a definitive final chapter for a wrestler whose name remains closely associated with Da Baldies and the promotion’s late-1990s identity.
A Closing Match Built Around Current History
Medina’s final appearance was not simply a one-off exhibition detached from his recent work. His opponent, HC Loc, had been part of an ongoing issue with Medina in FLEX Wrestling across 2026. That made the October 24 encounter a meaningful culmination of an existing program rather than a retirement match created without context.
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HC Loc emerged with the victory, closing the competitive portion of the night and Medina’s career. Retirement matches can carry a different kind of pressure from ordinary bouts: the result matters, but so does the fact that the performers and audience understand that there may not be another opportunity to revisit the rivalry in the ring. In this case, Medina’s match with Loc gave his departure a clear present-day opponent and a final on-screen conflict to resolve.
DeVito serving as referee was particularly notable because of the history he shares with Medina. Da Baldies was the ECW team that connected the two performers, and having Medina’s old partner in the ring for the final match provided a direct link between his retirement and the period for which many fans know him best.
The referee’s role placed DeVito close to every pivotal moment of the match while keeping the focus on Medina and Loc’s feud. It also created an appropriate historical backdrop without changing the central fact of the evening: Medina entered the match as an active competitor and left it having formally retired.
From a 1996 Debut to ECW
Medina made his in-ring debut in 1996. Two years later, he began working for ECW, initially wrestling under the name Spanish Angel. His time with the company would establish the association that has followed him long after ECW’s era as an active promotion ended.
As Angel, Medina became part of Da Baldies alongside DeVito. The team name remains the most recognizable shorthand for Medina’s ECW tenure, and it is why DeVito’s presence on October 24 carried such weight. The final match at FLEX brought together a current chapter of Medina’s career, represented by HC Loc, and an important element of his past, represented by DeVito.
ECW’s roster featured wrestlers with sharply defined identities, and Medina’s Angel character was part of that landscape. His work in the promotion began in 1998, placing him in the company during a major stretch of its history. The passage of time has made retirement moments like this one especially resonant for audiences who followed that generation of performers and continue to see them at independent events, reunions, and special appearances.
Medina’s retirement does not alter what he accomplished during that earlier period, but it does provide a final marker for his active career. A wrestler can remain connected to fans and the industry after stepping away from competition, yet the decision to retire draws a line under the physical, week-to-week side of the profession. For Medina, that line now follows nearly three decades from his debut.
A Career That Included Puerto Rico Success
Beyond ECW, Medina held the IWA Puerto Rico Hardcore Championship on six occasions. That championship record stands as a significant part of his résumé and reflects the longevity of a career that extended beyond the role most immediately associated with him.
Being a six-time champion in IWA Puerto Rico places Medina’s accomplishments in a broader view. His legacy is not limited to one team name or one promotion, even if Da Baldies remains the first reference point for many wrestling fans. The title reigns show that he found repeated championship success during his career and built a body of work across different settings.
That wider résumé is important when considering the meaning of his retirement. Medina is often identified through his ECW connection because of the lasting recognition attached to that period, but his career began before he arrived there and continued well beyond it. The October 24 match therefore represented the conclusion of a professional journey with multiple eras rather than the end of a single nostalgic return.
Medina also remained a regular competitor through 2019. After that, he took a hiatus from wrestling. The break marked a change from the sustained activity that had defined the earlier portion of his career, though it did not prove to be his final departure from the ring.
Return Before the Farewell
In 2024, Medina returned to competition for a handful of matches. That return gave him an opportunity to wrestle again after the hiatus and ultimately led to the final stage of his in-ring story. His FLEX appearances, including the program with HC Loc, ensured that his final match came after he had been able to return to action rather than immediately following his 2019 break.
The distinction matters. Medina did not quietly disappear after his last regular stretch in 2019. He came back in 2024, wrestled selectively, and remained involved long enough to participate in a year-long issue at FLEX. By the time he faced Loc on October 24, there was a current narrative around his involvement rather than only a retrospective celebration of his past.
That sequence also puts the retirement in perspective. Medina’s career contained an early debut, an ECW run beginning in 1998, championship accomplishments in Puerto Rico, regular activity through 2019, a hiatus, and a return for selected matches beginning in 2024. The final bout in New York now serves as the endpoint to all of those stages.
Retirement announcements in wrestling can sometimes be followed by uncertainty about whether a performer is stepping away permanently or merely taking another pause. Medina’s appearance at FLEX was presented as an official retirement, making the significance of the night clear. The loss to HC Loc stands as his final recorded outcome in the ring.
Da Baldies Connection Comes Full Circle
The image of DeVito officiating Medina’s final match is likely to be the detail many longtime viewers remember from the event. Their shared work as Da Baldies made DeVito a fitting person to oversee the closing bell, even as the actual contest centered on Medina’s modern FLEX rivalry with Loc.
It was a full-circle setting without requiring Medina to revisit an old role in the ring. He was able to conclude his career as part of a current program, against a current opponent, while still acknowledging the partnership that remains central to his wrestling identity. Loc earned the win; DeVito counted the action; Medina made the decision to retire.
Angel Medina leaves active competition with a career stretching back to 1996, a six-time IWA Puerto Rico Hardcore Championship record, and a place in ECW history through Da Baldies. His October 24 match at FLEX Wrestling was the final bell for Angel as an in-ring competitor.
Darryl Polo
Darryl Polo is a passionate wrestling fan covering WWE, AEW, TNA and beyond. He loves great rivalries, breakout stars and the moments that keep fans talking long after the bell. How we work.