They primarily worked as a rudo (a term used for wrestlers who portray the "Bad guys") faction for Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre (EMLL) and on the Mexican independent circuit.

The two soon began working for Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre (EMLL) in Mexico City and made their debut as a team on January 24, 1961.

[1] The duo won a tag team tournament in their debut, defeating Tony López and Kiko Córcega in the finals.

Due to their success and fan reaction Los Espantos soon started working regularly on EMLL's main show, the Friday night Super Viernes.

On Jun 22, 1963, Espanto I, II and El Santo lost a match to Rito Romero, Rayo de Jalisco, and Henry Pilusso.

One particularly heated match saw Los Espantos and Gladiador fight their opponents, Ray Mendoza, René Guajardo, and Karloff Lagarde all the way back to the locker rooms in an era where such a thing was unheard of in Mexico.

[2] At the first EMLL 30th Anniversary show Espanto II lost a Lucha de Apuestas, or "bet match" to Rubén Juárez and as a result was forced to unmask.

[4] In the winter of 1963 Espanto II was forced to shave his hair off as El Santo defeated him in a Lucha de Apuestas match.

[1][6] On May 30, 1968 José Vázquez, as well as fellow wrestler Popeye Franco, was killed by the owner of a cantina during a bar fight.

At the time of his death, Los Espantos were set to do a world tour with dates planned for Germany, France, Spain and Japan.

The storyline feud between the two reached its high point as the two faced off in a Lucha de Apuestas match, where both wrestlers put their mask on the line.

[17] In 2012 Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) introduced a new Espanto Jr. as part of their Generacion 2012 group of wrestlers.