He enjoyed a storied World Wrestling Entertainment career as Tito Santana.

But to a select group of seventh- and eighth-graders, he is known as someone else: Senor Solis.

Santana's post-wrestling life has led him to the classroom. An educator the past 12 years, Santana (real name Merced Solis) is a Spanish teacher at Eisenhower Middle School in Succasunna, N.J.

"The transition wasn't very hard to make because I knew I had to do something after I was done wrestling," Santana said last week in a telephone interview. "I'm lucky I have a degree teaching physical education and Spanish.

"A lot of guys become their character and have a really hard time when wrestling starts to end. I see guys like Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage and Ric Flair. They have bought into their gimmicks and live them 24 hours a day. They think they really are stars when those characters are just creations of the business."

Santana performed alongside all three of those legendary grapplers during his 13 years in WWE, including a stretch from 1983 to 1993. Santana defeated the Masked Executioner (Buddy Rose) in the opening match at Wrestlemania I in 1985 and performed on each of the first nine Wrestlemanias before leaving the promotion in 1993. Santana was inducted into WWE's Hall of Fame in 2004.

While he captured the WWE tag-team belts with Rick Martel as Strike Force, Santana is best remembered for his lengthy feud with Greg Valentine over the Intercontinental title in the mid-1980s. Valentine's hard-hitting style brought out the best in Santana, who knew he would have to work "stiff" in their predetermined bouts or risk getting legitimately pulverized by his foe, nicknamed "The Hammer."

"Greg was like a pit bull," Santana recalled. "If you didn't fight back, he was going to take and take (in the ring). After a couple months, I was in the best shape of my life because it was kill or be killed."

Santana's Spanish students - who weren't even born during his WWE days - can see some of his bouts through the Internet and WWE's 24/7 nostalgia channel. Fawning parents also tell Santana tales to their children.

"Some kids will come up and say, 'You were my dad's favorite,' or, 'My mom was in love with you,' " said Santana, 55. "It's funny because I'm just Senor Solis to them. From time to time, I do talk about some of my wrestling experiences."

Santana also wrote about them in his new autobiography Tito Santana's Tales From the Ring ($19.95; Sports Publishing LLC). The son of Mexican migrant workers, Santana got his break in grappling through Tully Blanchard, a football teammate at West Texas State University whose father Joe owned the Southwest Championship Wrestling promotion in San Antonio.

Santana is appreciative of the fame and fortune he earned through wrestling. But in his book, Santana writes, "I would not advise my own worst enemy to become a professional wrestler, let alone my own children or the children I teach."

Such an attitude stems from so many of Santana's WWE contemporaries whose out-of-the-ring issues contributed to their premature deaths.

"I'm not knocking (WWE owner) Vince McMahon, but it's just the nature of the business," Santana said. "I was very lucky that when I was around the drugs, steroids and pain pills that I was strong enough not to fall into becoming a follower."

With WWE now placing a heavier emphasis on Hispanic performers, Santana believes he could have become an even bigger star had he worked in the promotion during his heyday.

"I think I'd probably be world champion if Rey Mysterio is up there," said Santana, referring to the former WWE Smackdown kingpin. "Rey is only about 5-foot-5. At 6-foot-2, I would be considered a giant."

For more information on Santana, visit titosantanawrestling.com. To order his autobiography, visit sportspublishingllc.com.

Alex Marvez writes a syndicated pro wrestling column for Scripps Howard News Service.