Take a walk around Mexico during the World Cup and one image keeps popping up: the masked wrestler.
From stadium precincts to city streets and bars, masked lucha libre fans have become one of the defining sights of the tournament in Mexico. Travelers from across the globe have gravitated to the sport, which the article says is a national passion alongside soccer.
At Arena México in Mexico City, known as the cathedral of lucha libre, tens of thousands watched Místico and Máscara Dorada face The Beast Mortos and Sammy Guevara while Spain played Uruguay in Guadalajara.
“It was simply fantastic, we enjoyed it immensely,” said Andy Winston, a Manchester native traveling with his family through all three World Cup host countries, Canada, the United States and Mexico, while supporting England. “You can’t come to Mexico and not come to watch lucha libre. It’s a great tradition, a classic.”
In the stands, fans wore jerseys from England, Japan, South Korea, Brazil, Colombia, Spain and Mexico.
“It was a wonderful night, much better than I imagined,” said Henrique Nunes dos Santos, from Brazil. “You connect with the spectacle in a way that makes it all seem real. … There’s a gigantic energy.”
The origins of Mexican lucha libre date to the beginning of the 20th century. Its style combines techniques from American wrestling and Greco-Roman wrestling with aerial acrobatics and performance elements. It was declared part of Mexico City’s cultural heritage in 2018.
“Lucha libre is in our roots. For almost 93 years, it has been part of us Mexicans and has also become a calling card for Mexicans,” said Julio César Rivera, spokesperson for the World Wrestling Council.
The matches center on the fight between the técnicos, the good guys, and the rudos, the bad guys. Masks are a defining part of that tradition. The article says they can be vibrant and colorful or intimidating, depicting superheroes, animals or other symbolic figures, and that wrestlers rarely reveal their real names to preserve the mystery.
“Lucha libre is my life,” said the 30-year-old wrestler known as Star Black. As a child, he helped his grandparents sell masks in a small local business. “I started to fall in love with the masks, the capes, the aerial maneuvers, the moves of lucha libre, and one day I decided to train.”
The World Cup has pushed that culture further into public view. The article says masks and impromptu fights have spilled out from the ring as tourist numbers rise.
José Ángel Garfias Frías, a lucha libre expert at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, said Mexico has become a popular base for tourists before they travel to see matches in other host countries, amid soaring prices elsewhere.
“Lucha libre was already popular, but now with the World Cup, the arenas are much more crowded, and we see many tourists there wearing their jerseys and shirts of their respective national teams,” Garfias said.
Around Mexico’s stadiums, vendors display masks alongside flags. Masks are prohibited inside stadiums under FIFA security protocol, but some fans were spotted wearing them anyway. FIFA referred a request for comment back to the code of conduct and did not reply to a follow-up question about enforcement.
Garfias said soccer and lucha libre have been closely linked for decades. The article points to Argentine player Gabriel Pereyra, who wore Místico’s mask after scoring for Mexican club Cruz Azul, and to the 1970s wrestler América Salvaje, whose mask was inspired by Club América’s colors.
“Lucha libre is Mexico. It’s part of our identity. And it’s as popular as soccer,” said Claudio Díaz, one of many masked men who celebrated Mexico’s second victory and place in the knockout round in the capital’s streets.
“I feel that soccer doesn’t represent us Mexicans as much; lucha libre represents us way more,” said wrestler Dragón Legendario. “People from all walks of life come here: from grandmothers to businessmen to the women who run small restaurants, it has all kinds of fans.”
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