When Michelle, Lola and I were talking about this upcoming trip, Lola mentioned that she has always wanted to go to see Lucha Libre in Mexico City. Michelle was not at all interested in going. When I decided to come on the trip, I agreed to go with Lola so she would not have to fulfill this bucket list dream alone.
Whenever I stayed with my Mom and Len growing up, Len would often be watching WWF in the 80s – the days of Hulk Hogan, Randy the Macho man Savage and Hacksaw Jim Duggan. I even went to see the WWF once with my friend Jason Tanner when he got tickets. So, although I was never passionate about it, I had early exposure to the professional wrestling genre of entertainment.
Lucha libre is the term for the style of professional wrestling originating in Mexico. They are known for their colourful masks, dramatic high flying aerial manoeuvres and audience participation. It was a cultural experience I was not going to pass up, and I certainly was interested in witnessing Lola realize her lifelong dream.
It was around a 20 minute walk to the Arena Mexico from our apartment. We knew we were getting close when we saw the bright lights emitting from the merch and snack vendors around the venue. The energy was palpable around the Venue.
The concession stands near our seats
We got there super early so we could soak up every part of the experience that we could. We were among the first ones there.
As usual, the focus was on the snacks. They were selling all sorts of chips, hotdogs, tostadas, fruit cups with hot sauce, beer with a salt rim, beer with a chili powder mixture on the rim…the atmosphere was amazing.
Finally the time had come for the matches to start. The was so much fanfare in the introductions, huge screens, flashing lights, theme songs blaring, people cheering and booing, it was all calculated for maximum drama.
The crowd was very invested. Many people wore the full head masks, and were very enthusiastically participating in the spectacle -sometimes chanting and yelling at the wrestlers and/or the refs – all for fun.
A big part of Lucha Libre is the audience partipation. This guy in the old school Blue Demon mask, surrounded by kids was maybe a little bit too into it…
The first match was a three member tag team. One team had two big scary looking wrestlers wearing masks and one short guy not wearing a mask – his stage name was Shockercito. He is 45 years old, stands at 50 kg and is just over 4 feet tall.
Lucha Libre is famous for dramatic storylines. Each match has a storyline of Técnicos (heroes with clean technical skills) vs Rudos (villains who will often use dirty tricks). In the second match, the Rudos were way more engaging, and I found myself rooting for them rather than the “good guys”. And, they had a cool bird mascot in a cool costume!
Lucha Libre is a huge part of the culture here. It is a form of pure entertainment and escapism which has a very long history. The CMLL ( in English: the World Wrestling Council) is celebrating its 92nd year!
In 2018, Mexico City officially declared Lucha Libre as an intangible Cultural Heritage of Mexico City.
Masks are an integral part of the costuming for Lucha Libre, but not all luchadores (wrestlers) wear masks. The ones that do take it very seriously- it is supposed to be illegal to take someone’s mask off while they are in the ring, but some of the Rudos do it anyway – threatening to do it is often a part of the drama. Most unmasked characters distinguish themselves through hairstyles: either completely shaved heads, long luscious locks, or boldly coloured hair styles and intimidating makeup
Here are some highlights from the evening:
On our way home we came across people doing dance lessons in the park – I can’t begin to express how much I love this concept.
On the way home I picked up a late night snack from my current favourite: El Califa Taqueria – the vegan tacos al pastor hit the spot. I needed fuel as I still had to finish my homework!
Am I going to follow professional wrestling from now on? Probably not. Would I recommend checking it out? Absolutely! I thoroughly enjoyed experiencing another fascinating aspect of Mexico City culture.