THE DEMOLISHER

Originally Published the Week of Sept. 4, 2025 in Western Outdoor Publications

Pay no attention to the men behind the mask!

It’s a hot muggy summer night under the bright lights of the outdoor arena. The heat from the lights and the tightly packed presence of the crowd just adds to the stickiness and grit. 

With thunderous stomps on the canvas, the big-bellied-spandex-clad “EL DRAGON MYSTERIO” (Mystery Dragon), repeatedly pounded the writhing torso of his good-guy nemesis “DORADO” (The Golden One).

With each stomp, the crowd boo’d lustily standing and screaming and pumping fists in the air!

With each vicious stomp, the DRAGON looked up at the crowd and arrogantly pounded his chest defying the crowd with his dastardly prowess. Each merciless stomp eliciting even louder boos and screams!

The DORADO is defensively crumpled on the mat absorbing the pounding.  He is defenseless prey to the relentless DRAGON who sneers with each thunderous heel-plant onto his opponent.

This is too much!  The referee does nothing! The DORADO is helpless.

But, then a massive roaring cheer goes up!

It’s the masked DOMELEDOR (The Demolisher) suddenly leaping from the ropes and landing with a massive shoulder against the DRAGON!

The DRAGON folds from the hit and now the blue and yellow-clad DOMELEDOR delivers a muscled elbow to the DRAGON’s kidneys!

The crowd goes wild.  They stomp their feet and scream and chant.  They hate the DRAGON!

Now, the previously defeated DORADO leaps up and the DRAGON is now getting his!

The DORADO delivers a clubbed fist to the head of the DRAGON who spins back and now wobbles like a drunken sailor.  But he gets another flying shoulder from the DOMELEDOR who uses the elastic ropes to launch himself like a human missile into the torso of the DRAGON.

The DRAGON reels and dramatically bounces off the ropes only to be double-kicked by both the DOMELEDOR and DORADO.  It’s the famous DOUBLE- D move!

The crowd jumps, stomps and screams.  The DRAGON crumples and the DORADO pins him to the mat with the DOMELEDOR standing triumphantly with his hand on one hip and a his ham-size fist in the air!

The referee calls a pin!  The match is over and the crowd erupts with high-fives, fist bumps and massive cheers! 

The seemingly exhausted victors parade around the ring while their defeated enemy staggers off the mat and back to the locker room to the jeers of everyone.

This isn’t WWE.  This isn’t in a massive stadium or arena.

This is just local regional professional wrestling. It’s a converted tennis court filled with bleachers!  It’s the famous “Lucha Libre (free fighting)” And no matter, the level, it’s as much a part of Mexican culture and tradition as mariachi music and tamales at Christmas.

From the legendary El Santo to modern-day stars, lucha libre has a long history of producing flamboyant larger-than-life figures, and this trio of wrestlers…the DOMELEDOR, DRAGON and DORADO. are carrying on that tradition with style, skill, athleticism and showmanship even at this city level.

…even with over-sized dad bodies.  No steroids or rippling 6-pack stomach muscles or bulging biceps. Some wrestlers are simply “bulging” barely contained in the stretchy spandex. 

But the enthusiasm is just as frantic.

Several other matches take place, but now, the three wrestlers mingle with the crowd. 

Shaking hands.  Taking selfies and mugging with fans.  It’s all part of it.  Especially the merchandising and the sales of t-shirts and masks is brisk. 

The wrestlers aren’t paid much, but they often get a cut of the sale of swag so they skillfully work the crowd outside the ring with as much enthusiasm as they battled in the ring.

They are larger-than-life heroes and villains and cultivate the image, but never too large to take a selfie or hug a kid.

Later outside the small stadium, we walk to our parked car with our friends.  What a fun evening!

Leaning up against our car is a big smiling figure of a man. It’s Alberto. 

Shhhh….aka the DOMELEDOR!

 Dressed in jeans, tennis shoes and a Nike t-shirt stretched over his big frame, he carries a small gym bag with his glittered spandex and mask and wrestling boots.

Other families  walking to their cars pay no attention to the big man.  Just another guy. They are still talking about the fun wrestling they just witnessed. 

Alberto’s wife hugs him.  She asks if he is OK.  He towers over her with his barrel-sized body.

He says he’ll have a few bruises and might have a crick in his shoulder, but otherwise he’s OK and had fun.  He picks up and hugs his young kids and tells them that they shouldn’t yell so loud at these matches.

While he was wrestling, he could hear them screaming, “Don’t hurt my daddy!” from their seats.  He reminds them that that the identity of the DOMELEDOR is a secret. 

He laughs and puts a meaty index finger to his lips in the universal sign to shush! They smile and promise.

We stop for some Cokes and ice cream.

Tomorrow, the DOMELEDOR goes back to his regular job as a carpenter. 

Despite the fierceness of the ring, the man is the epitome of a gentle teddy bear.  Affectionate, affable, this quiet guy wouldn’t hurt a fly.  He’s a dad who has a unique side hustle in a stretchy outfit. 

He tells me later they all get some basic training and do a little practice in the evenings but there really isn’t that much time for rehearsing. 

They just try to make the stomps, punches and slaps as dramatic and noisy as possible…to “sell the move” to the crowd.

The louder the cheers and boos, the better. 

The referee is actually part of the act and is like a director whispering to the wrestlers if they need to crank it up a notch or do a certain move.

They try not to hurt each other too much.  All the performers are family guys with regular jobs.  But, there are still bumps, bruises and sprains.

Sometimes, “rehearsal” is just the guys getting together and hashing things out over beers!

Sometimes he’s a bad guy, but mostly he gets to be a good guy.

But dings to the body are part of wrestling and you have to love it or find some other way to have a side-income.

With t-shirt and mask sales, he might pull in $200 dollars for an evening.  A lot of money in Mexico.

Alberto has been the DOMELEDOR for 8 years now . But he knows his time is waning.  It takes longer for the bruises to heal and things are starting to hurt just a little more.

And when he steps away for the final time, someone new will don the mask and be the DOMELEDOR.   The image and character continue. 

In fact, the company that hires him and produces these matches has other “DOMELEDOR” characters in other cities with the same mask and outfit.

And the crowds will continue to cheer.

Alberto laughs and says he need a hot shower.  Turn out the lights.  The DOMELEDOR dad, wants to call it a night. 

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 Sportfishing Fishing Fleet in La Paz, Baja, Mexico  www.tailhunter.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: jonathan@tailhunter.com

Or drop by the restaurant to say hi.  It’s right on the La Paz waterfront!

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