Luchadores: A History of Lucha Libre

By Judah Lyons

What started in small venues around Mexico in the 1930s has become an industry that is now known all around the world. Millions of fans attend live events and watch the television shows of Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre and Asistencia Asesoria y Administracion and the many independent wrestling companies of Mexico.

One of the qui

• Language: English
• Publisher: Minute Help, Inc.
• Release date: Feb 23, 2019
• ISBN: 9781629177540

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Introduction

One of the quickest, most exciting and popular forms of professional wrestling is lucha libre from Mexico.  For close to a century, crowds have been entertained and inspired by the wrestling bouts of legends like Mil Mascaras, Rey Mysterio, Santo, La Parka, Blue Demon, Mistico and many more.

What started in small venues around Mexico in the 1930s has become an industry that is now known all around the world.  Millions of fans attend live events and watch the television shows of Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre and Asistencia Asesoria y Administracion and the many independent wrestling companies of Mexico.

Fans of lucha libre get to watch wrestling that can't be contained in a ring.  A six-man tag match can have the crowd on its feet as they applaud the athleticism, tradition and the spectacle that is lucha libre.

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Rules of the Lucha Libre

As in most types of professional wrestling, the main objective is to win the wrestling match by pin or submission.  Pinning the opponent's shoulders to the mat for the referee to count to three is the most common form of win.  Locking the opponent in a submission hold until they tell the referee that they quit also occurs frequently.  Wrestlers can also be counted out of the ring or disqualified.  Rules often differ for different wrestling companies, while there can also be added or removed stipulations for different bouts at the same wrestling show.

The wrestling bouts are fought in a ring, usually a square shape with three ropes along each side.  At each corner a turnbuckle is covered by padding.  Mil Mascaras is famous for climbing to the top turnbuckle and hitting his cross body block that would send his opponent to the mat for the pin.

In lucha libre the bouts are fast and furious with action inside and outside the ring.  The ropes don't keep the combatants contained; they can actually be used by the wrestlers to perform high-flying moves.  The West Coast Pop was a move used by Rey Mysterio where he propelled himself using the top rope to land on the shoulders of his opponent before performing a hurricanrana that would result in a pin.

A common start to a professional wrestling bout is the collar and elbow tie up.  This can be a show of strength as one wrestler sends the other to the mat or into the ropes, or can change into a move that requires speed and technique as one wrestler gains an advantage over the other by moving to perform a wrestling hold.

Some of the common impact moves in lucha libre are drop kicks, clotheslines, body slams, suplexes and chops.  Aerial moves include the frog splash, elbow drop and moonsaults.  To win by submission, wrestlers in lucha libre will attempt to lock in moves like the figure-four leglock, camel clutch or abdominal stretch.  Many moves are named after the lucha libre superstar that invented or refined them, like the Gory special of Gory Guerrero or the Dragon Sleeper of Ultimo Dragon.

The types of bouts at a lucha libre event are only limited by the imagination of the promoters.  Usually most of the wrestling show consists of six-man tag matches.  With