Lucha libre

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Image:El Santo.jpg

Lucha libre, a Spanish phrase loosely translated into English as "free-style fighting," is a genre of professional wrestling developed in Mexico. Lucha Libre traces back to the early 1930s when Salvador Lutterroth brought American wrestlers he had seen during his time in Texas to Mexico. A Lucha Libre perfomer is known as a luchador, the plural of which being luchadores. Because most wrestlers in Mexico are smaller than their counterparts elsewhere in North America, there is less emphasis on power moves than in the United States or Canada. Mexican wrestling is marked by rapid sequences of holds and moves, as well as spectacular high-flying moves, many of which have been adopted north of the border.

In Mexico and other Spanish-speaking areas such as Puerto Rico, lucha libre is used to refer to all forms of professional wrestling, not just the Mexican style. However, since Mexico is the largest and most influential Spanish-speaking market for wrestling, the term is more synonymous Mexican professional wrestling.

Contents

Rules

The rules of Lucha Libre are very similar to its American predecesor in singles matches. Matches can be won by pinning your opponent to the mat for the count of three, making him submit, knocking him out of the ring for a count of twenty or by disqualification. Submission is generally verbal or signalled by waving the hands. The "tap out," which is popular in Japan and the United States, has little meaning in Mexico. Using the ropes for leverage is illegal and once a luchador is on the ropes, his opponent must release any holds and he will not be able to pin him. Disqualifications occur when an opponent uses an illegal hold or move such as the Martinete, hits his opponent in the groin (faul), uses outside interference, attacks the referee or rips his opponent's mask completely off. Most matches are two out of three falls (Dos de tres caídas) and failure to observe the rest period in between rounds can lead the referee to call rudisimo excesivo (usually translated as "excessive violence") and reverse the previous fall's decision.

Tag team rules

The primary match type in Lucha Libre is the six-man tag match called Relevos Australianos ("Australian tag match") although they are usually called tríos matches outside of Mexico. The matches usually have two referees and the two teams have a captain. In order to win a fall, either the team captain must pin the other team captain or any two members of one team must be pinned. If the legal man of the team leaves the ring, another team member can replace him without tagging in. The referee may also designate any two wrestlers as the legal participants. In traditional tag matches with two man teams, both members of the team must be pinned.

Masks

Masks have been used dating back to the mid-1930s with wrestler such as El Enmascarado (English: "The Masked Man"), the Irish Ciclón McKey and La Maravilla Enmascarada (English: "The Masked Marvel"). Early masks were very simple with basic colors to distinguish the wrestler. In modern Lucha Libre, masks are colorfully designed to evoke the images of animals, gods, ancient heroes, and other archetypes, whose identity the Luchador takes on during a performance. Virtually all wrestlers in Mexico will start their careers wearing masks, but almost all will eventually be unmasked before the end of their careers. 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, the masked luchadores will often be seen in public wearing their mask. In effect, the mask is synonymous with the luchador. El Santo, Mexico's most famous and well loved luchador, kept his mask until after retirement, revealed his true identity only in old age, and was actually buried wearing his mask. The character had trascended the person.

Some famous battles are based on the premise of Luchas de Apuestas (English: Matches with Wagers). The most iconic match is máscara contra máscara (English: mask versus mask), where two masked luchadores bet their masks, and the loser is unmasked by the winner and his real name is officially revealed. The older the luchador gets without being unmasked and the more times he successfully defends his mask, the higher his status. Another well-known type of battle is máscara contra cabellera (English: mask versus hair), in which one masked wrestler and an unmasked one compete (usually the unmasked one has lost his mask to the masked one in a previous bout); if the masked luchador wins, the unmasked one has to shave his head (a further sign of humiliation). If the unmasked luchador is the winner, he keeps his hair and the loser is unmasked. For two unmasked wrestlers, there is cabellera contra cabellera, where the loser of the match has his head shaved. Many wrestlers lose these matches at the end of their careers because it represents their final defeat and the promoter often gives the wrestler a large bonus for the loss of their hair or mask.

Other Characteristics

A traditional division of luchadores is rudos (bad guys, or heels, literally "rough" or "rude") and técnicos (the good guys, or faces, literally "technician") who always play by the rules, in theory at least. In American wrestling, the terms "face" and "heel" are considered "insider" terms and workers and announcers do not use the terms since they would "break kayfabe." The division is merely implied in American wrestling but since the division in Lucha Libre is about style rather than the morality of the wrestler (even though técnicos almost always get cheered and rudos get booed), announcers and luchadores openly use técnico and rudo. Tweeners are rare but rudo vs. rudo feuds are common.

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Luchadores, like their foreign counterparts, seek to obtain a campeonato ("Championship") through winning key wrestling matches. Lucha Libre uses a more specific weight class system to classify titles. Popular weight classes include; heavyweight, light-heavyweight (the more prestigous titles are light-heavweight, rather than heavyweight), welterweight and middleweight. Lightweight and super-lightweight titles are also used. Parejas titles for tag teams, trios or tercias titles for three man teams and atómicos titles for four man teams are also popular. Due to World Championship Wrestling bringing in Mexican wrestlers for its Cruiserweight championship, "Cruiserweight" is often associated with Lucha Libre. However, cruiserweight titles are rarely used in Mexico. Since major feuds and shows are built around luchas de apuestas, championships often take a secondary role with less emphasis on actually being the champion. Titles can be defended as few as one time per year and wrestlers usually only wear their belts on big shows and when they are defending them. In recent years, weight classes have been mostly nominal and there are occasions where a wrestler will have titles in two different weight classes (such as Dr. Wagner, Jr., who was UWA Heavyweight champion and NWA Light-Heavyweight champion). Title matches are still major accomplishments and many shows are built around title defenses. Titles used by promotions that have gone out of business are usually still used by whatever promotion the last title holder went to. Best examples of this practice are Canek's UWA World Heavyweight title and Mil Máscaras' IWA World title.

In recent years, several luchadores have found success in the United States. Notable former luchadores who are thriving in the USA today are Eddie Guerrero and Rey Mysterio. A fanciful take on the lucha libre concept can be seen in the animated cartoon ¡Mucha Lucha!

An upcoming motion picture entitled Nacho Libre is scheduled for release in 2006. It will be directed by Jared Hess and will star Jack Black as a priest-turned-luchador.

Promotions

Mexico

Japan ("Lucharesu", promotions using Lucha Libre rules)

United States

See also

External links

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