MEN IN TIGHTS…and YOGA PANTS

Originally Published the Week of Nov. 23, 2015 in Western Outdoor News

It has always been on my bucket list of things to do since living in Mexico all these years.

 

But, we got invited by friends of ours…to a LUCHA LIBRE (Mexican wrestling) event and just couldn’t turn it down. How could we? The husband had been a former “luchador” himself going by the name of “El Domelador” (The Demolisher).

 

So, on a chilly fall evening, Jill and I found ourselves wide-eyed and open-mouthed in the middle of several thousand screaming fanaticos in a hastily thrown together concrete outdoor basketball stadium under the stagelights. And we were screaming ourselves having a blast.

 

The event was sold out. There were lines around the neighborhood block to get in. Our friend, the “Domeledor,” got us ring-side seats to see The Apache Sisters; Stardust; Cibernetico; the Super Doll; The Psycho Clowns and the Renegade Texan among others.

 

Pudgy hombres in tights…skinny guys in their kids’ pajamas…fat guys in yoga pants…masks…facepaint…glitter…overweight ladies in stretchy body suits. . .elaborate costumes and others that looked like discards from the Halloween bargain bin. Every match was great.

 

Some guys looked like steroid body-builders. Some looked like they had never seen a gym or the only weights they ever lifted were 12-oz. cans of beer and super-sized burritos.

 

A lot look like your fat uncle or neighbor next door. Or his wife.  One luchador, we found out later, was almost 70-years-old and the bony knees and elbows and hanging arm-skin were not fake!

 

Some were “professional.” Most were not. At least not full-time. We found out later that “El Elegido” was actually the guy taking tickets at the gate before he event!

 

But they could sure entertain and the crowds loved them! There thumps and punches; stomps and kicks. And unlike American wrestling, there was much more emphasis on flying bodies as well as tumbling and acrobatics. And, different. The inside ring is canvas-covered wood. It’s not padded. No spring underneath. A thump is a thump!

 

The interaction with the crowd is more than half the fun. In unison, the “family” crowd chants things that had us cracking up and aghast.

 

I mean, can you imagine 1000 people all chanting at Hulk Hogan (in Spanish) in the U.S. with…

 

“Assh___e! Assh___e! Assh—e!” and then him laughing and pointing at the crowd and flipping them the middle finger?

 

Or the crowd singing “He’s a jerk-o..f” at the referee? And the referee grabbing his crotch and turning to the crowd and telling the crowd, “Shut up Cabrones!”

 

Or two luchadores pounding the frijoles out of each other then freezing to smile at someone with a cellphone camera then resume smacking each other around?

 

All in fun.

 

And I learned a lot too.

 

Is it rigged? Not as much as you think!

 

The Domeledor explained to me that it’s a lot of “entertainment” but he would come home with plenty of bruises on his face and arms. His chest would have lots of broken blood vessels. His wife told me about him coming home with lots of swollen lips and faces.

 

They would not choreopraph the actual moves, but they would train very hard on jumping, flipping, twists and “combinations” of multiple moves.

 

The one who “orchestrates” things is actually the referee who would guage the mood of the crowd. He would calculate the cheering and the crowd favorite and how things would go.

 

The referee would whisper to the luchadores about when they needed to speed things up…do a “crowd pleaser move”…and when someone would take a fall. Or hit harder. Or throw the other guy through the ropes!

 

Yes, there are good guys and bad guys. The “technicos” are the good guys and the “rudos” are the “rude ones” who break the rules. Sometimes the crowd loves the “technicos” and sometimes they root for the “rudos.” It all depends on who is pleasing the crowd more. The bad guys are always the most fun.

 

He told me about some of the “tricks” of the ring. Here come the “spoilers” for those of you who are really into WWE wrestling…

 

When someone stomps another luchador, the “slap” is often the sound of the opposite foot stomping the mat or the louder slap is the hand slapping against a thigh.

 

Face punches and slaps are the sound of the palm hitting against a chest or the palm of another hand…like when you clap your hands.

 

Smashing a chair against your opponent’s head, one uses the soft part of the folding chair that bends easier and the forward part of the seat that easily folds back to absorb the hit.

 

However, spit is real. These guys spit A LOT!

 

But, make no mistake…for all the fake stuff, hits, kicks and punches do land accidentally It’s all part of it. It takes practice to make a hit sound and look violent. But, even a fake hit can hurt.

 

According to my Domeledor amigo, anonymity is EVERYTHING. That’s why they wear the mask. The Demeledor has lived in La Paz almost his whole life.

 

He was a champion free-style wrestler in mainland Mexico before he became a luchador and then wrestled for about 10 years in La Paz, where we live. He has rarely ever revealed his identity and still guards it religiously.

 

They live behind the mask and facepaint and when appearing for any public events they never show their faces.  In fact, one of the biggest disgraces is for a luchador to have his mask taken away from him by an opponent. There goes the magic. Sometimes an old luchador will do it as a form of “falling on the sword” in retirement or when a luchador wants to change to another personality.

 

My amigo explained to me that the promotion company actually owns the “personalities.” The actual wrestlers are usually just “employees.” Employees can get hurt…quit…get fired…but the personality can endure for years or for decades.

 

So, someone named “El Diablo” might not be the same guy all the time even though El Diablo has dominated his matches year-after-year. Or the guy might put on a different mask and be called “Superfreak.”

 

Sometimes, just like circus families there are families that are wrestling families and the son or grandson continues on with a family character.

 

Money is not very big. They earn a meager salary or portion of the gate. Most of the money comes from a percentage of the abundant t-shirts and costume sales at the arena or stadium. There’s no insurance. There’s no workman’s compensation. If you’re hurt, they find someone else to put on the mask.

 

But, as my friend explained, there’s nothing like the adrenaline of being “in the ring” and having everyone cheering for you or calling you a “cabron.”

 

Or being able to turn around and flip the one-fingered salute to several thousand people and have them laugh!

That’s my story!

Jonathan

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Jonathan Roldan has been writing the Baja Column in Western Outdoor News since 2004.  Along with his wife and fishing buddy, Jilly, they own and run the Tailhunter International Fishing Fleet in La Paz, Baja, Mexico  www.tailhunter-international.com.  They also run their Tailhunter Restaurant Bar on the famous La Paz malecon waterfront.  If you’d like to contact him directly, his e-mail is riplipboy@tailhunter-international.com  or drop by the restaurant to say hi!

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