Lucha libre (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈlutʃa ˈliβɾe], meaning "Free fight") is a term used in Mexico for a form of professional wrestling developed in the country. Although the term today refers exclusively to professional wrestling, it was originally used in the same style as the American and English term "freestyle wrestling",referring to an amateur wrestling style without the restrictions of Greco-Roman wrestling.
In the early 1900’s, Mexico was in the middle of a Revolution against the current dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz. As with many times of war, the public looked for diversions to distract them from the every day realities of the fighting around them. Two Italian businessmen, Giovanni Reselevich y Antonio Fournier began promoting fights, in which opponents fought each other hand to hand, without weapons or protection. These fights were known as Lucha Libre, or ‘free fight’, and were notorious for their lack of regulations and violence inflicted upon the luchadores, or fighters.
Mexican wrestling is characterized by colorful masks, rapid sequences of holds and maneuvers, as well as "high-flying" maneuvers, some of which have been adopted in the United States. The wearing of masks has developed special significance, and matches are sometimes contested in which the loser must permanently remove his mask, which is a wager with a high degree of weight attached. Tag team wrestling is especially prevalent in lucha libre, particularly matches with three-member teams, called trios.
Lucha libre wrestlers are known as luchadores (singular luchador) ("wrestler(s)"). They usually come from extended wrestling families who form their own stables. One such line integrated to the United States professional wrestling scene is Los Guerreros.
Lucha libre has also transcended the language barrier to some extent as evidenced by works such as Los Luchadores, ¡Mucha Lucha!, and Nacho Libre. Lucha libre also appears in other pop culture such as mainstream advertising: in Canada, Telus' Koodo Mobile Post Paid cell service uses a cartoon lucha libre wrestler as its spokesperson/mascot.
The history of Mexican wrestling dates back to 1863, during the French Intervention in Mexico, Enrique Ugartechea, the first Mexican wrestler, developed and invented the Mexican lucha libre from the Greco-Roman wrestling.
The use of mascaras, or Lucha Libre masks, had been a part of Lucha Libre since its inception, however, it wasn’t popularized until the introduction of Santo, El Enmascarado de Plata, or “Saint, the Silver Masked Man”. Santo made his debut in summer 1942, and quickly captured the public’s fascination with his fighting ability and mysterious secret identity.
Santo is clearly the greatest luchador of all time. Other contemporaries of great popularity include Blue Demon, Dr. Wagner, Solitario, Mil Máscaras, Rolando Vera, Anibal, Ray Mendoza, Rayo de Jalisco, and more.
Virtually all wrestlers in Mexico will start their careers wearing masks, but over the span of their careers, a large number of them will be unmasked. Sometimes, a wrestler slated for retirement will be unmasked in his final bout or at the beginning of a final tour, signifying loss of identity as that character
During their careers, masked luchadores will often be seen in public wearing their masks and keeping up the culture of Lucha Libre, while other masked wrestlers will interact with the public and press normally. However, they will still go to great lengths to conceal their true identities; in effect, the mask is synonymous with the luchador. El Santo continued wearing his mask after retirement, revealed his face briefly only in old age, and was buried wearing his silver mask.
No comments:
Post a Comment