September 9, 2024 • 36 mins
After Batman and Superman had their comics, Wonder Woman emerged. Well, similar things were happening in Mexico, in the 50s, when a female wrestler emerged to become a legend in women's wrestling: Irma González! Despite facing adversities, Irma's perseverance and talent turned her into an icon of the Lucha Libre universe, breaking barriers and paving the way for future generations of female wrestlers.
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
The nineteen fifties are coming to an end. More and
more famlies in the US have cars in their drivers
and TVs in their living rooms. But let's move the
scene to Mexico City, where a bus is parked outside
of Arena Mexico. On the bus, a group of EMLLL
wrestlers are about to go on a cross country tour.
The EMLLL has been around for a while at this point,
(00:26):
but something new is happening. There are female wrestlers on
the bus as well, Luca Voras. When Ensanto gets on,
he goes to his seat in the front by the window,
suitcase in hand. This is just another week at work,
he says high to fellow Luca Ordes as they load in. Next,
(00:46):
a woman boards. She has curly red hair, and Santo
knows her well. It's Irama Gonzalez, the multi year national
women's wrestling champion. He smiles and waves at her. As
soon as she sees him, Irma gets butterflies into her stomach.
She says hello. Doing her best to control her breeding. Today,
(01:08):
she is determined to ask him the question she's been
putting up for weeks. She might not get a chance
with Santo alone, so this could be her best shot,
and there's an empty seat next to him. Does she
take it? When he invites her to join him, she
goes for it, knowing it's now or never. The bus
starts moving and they head out of the city. There's
(01:31):
a long drive ahead and El Santo and Ima chat freely.
What kind of music they've been listening to? Are things
at home? All the almost stuff people talk about to
pass the time on a long trip. The question Irma
wants to ask is on the tape of her tongue,
but she keeps waiting for the right moment. The chat
(01:52):
turns to childhood. Santo is curious about Irma's life growing
up and the circus her father run. Did fire eaters
ever burn their tongue? Can you bend your back like
a contortionist? It's this kind of curiosity that gives Irma hope.
Santo cares about her and has always supported her career.
But does this cross the line? Can the question she's
(02:14):
planning to ask risk their friendship forever? Irma decides she
just has to find out. No more vacillating. Just like
a tope the suicide died. Sometimes you can't hesitate, You
just have to plant your feet and go for it, Santo?
(02:34):
Do you think I could wear your mask and start
wrestling as the bride of El Santo? There the words
were out. She had sprung from the rope, but now,
like the tope, she was high in the air, horizontal,
completely vulnerable. Was she gonna stick the landing or break
(02:55):
her neck? What if he said no? What if he
got mad just for asking king? But then she was
on the ground, on her feet. She had landed the
tope and the crowd was cheering Claro Santo said, of course.
(03:16):
Irma smiles and breathes a sigh of relief. Her whole
wrestling future had been in question. An anxiety about talking
to Santo had crippled her. She thinks, Santo, and he says,
of course, you always have my support. But then he
asks her, why do you want to wrestle with a mask?
(03:37):
Irma had an answer for him, and I'm going to
tell you what she said later in this episode, But
first I'm going to tell you who Irma is and
how she became Mexico's most famous luchadora. In fact, in
twenty twenty three, they even started a tournament in her honor,
the Iluma Gonzaleska. I am Santos Escobara, the Emperor of
(04:10):
Lucha Libre and a WW superstar. For over twenty years,
I have been a professional wrestler in Mexico, the United
States and around the world. I've been a champion, a hero,
a villain. I've won and lost, but I always represent
(04:30):
Lucha Libre with pride. Lucha Libre it's tradition, its heritage,
its culture, Ladies and gentlemen. The following podcast is schedule
for twelve episodes, and it's all about Lucha liber This
is Lucha Libre Behind the Mass Episode five, Irma Gonzalez
(04:55):
Women in Lucha Libre. Irma's first name is indeed Irma,
but her last name is Morales Munos. She was born
in nineteen thirty six in a city called Cuernavaca, Lasudad
de la Primavera, about an hour south of Mexico City.
She grew up in a Sergus family which her dad run.
(05:16):
It was called Sirco Oriente Rmanos Morales. Irma's childhood was
a magical or at least my image of it is,
traveling all over Mexico, growing up alongside Acrobat's magicians and actors.
Her first act was as a contortionist, but when she
(05:37):
was twelve, she decided she wanted to become a trapeze artist.
It was obvious to Irma's parents and the whole troop
that Irma was full of courage and talent. Here's Irma's daughter,
Irma Aguilla Yavia Una de riva del a mesa asia
(05:57):
ye Asiya. She describes one of her mom's routines where
she sat in a chair on top of a table,
then bent back behind her to retrieve a handkerchief with
her mouth. Crowds loved it, she says. Irma was made
for the circus with her natural abilities as a contortionist
and her skills on the trapeze robes. She had an
(06:20):
entire career ahead of her, but it just wasn't meant
to be, because one dark day in a city called Sacatecas,
her father's circus caught fire. Everything burned, the family's possessions,
the tents, the carts, everything with little besides the shirts
(06:44):
on their backs. The family moved to Mexico City, where
they arrived at Irma's grandmother's house, but that was the
last time the family was together. Irma's father also an
accomplished clown, left for the United States to find work
at another circus. At first he sent money home, but
then the checks came less and less frequently, then stopped
(07:06):
coming at all. Irma, her sister, and her mom had
to find a way to fend for themselves, and that's
how Irma stumbled upon wrestling. She hadn't even turned fifteen
when a new friend asked her if she had ever wrestled.
Irma of course hadn't, but was immediately intrigued when the
(07:28):
friend told her that a luchaota for an event that
night had gone missing and they were looking for a replacement.
We'll pay you one in amen, Derma said, and like
that she went from contortionists to trapeze artists, to unemployed
fifteen year old to one of the world's small handful
Luca lores. Sometimes our lives are just a series of
(07:50):
accidents if you think about it. For example, I didn't
get my start the way I thought no one does.
I had trained, but couldn't get a debut until finally
one day I got a last minute call. Promoter Benjamin
Mora called me. He told me that a wrestler for
an event in Bachuca had fallen through and they needed
a replacement. It was a stroke of luck, but I
(08:12):
ran with it. The same thing happened to Irma. To
be clear, Irma wasn't the first Lucalorra ever. Women's Lucha
libre had already been around for a few years in Mexico,
although very much on the margins, which shouldn't come as
such a surprise given that in the thirties in Mexico,
women couldn't vote, couldn't fight for divorce, or even up
(08:32):
in a bank account. To be frank, back then, if
a woman wore pants it was a problem. Against this backdrop,
the first women's wrestling match was organized on July twelfth,
nineteen thirty five, a mere two years after Lucha Libre
arrived in Mexico. Women in the wrestling ring naturally sparked
(08:56):
a lot of curiosity among fans and confusion. Just as
Luca had a head start in the States, women had
started wrestling their first too, so most of the women
who competed were foreigners. That night, all the Luca Loodas
were American. One, though, even though she lived in Texas,
(09:17):
had been born in Mexico. Her name was Natalia Basquez,
Natalia fought an attack team alongside Katherine Hart, a popular
wrestler who already had a fan base in the States.
Natalia and Catherine were technicas and they faced off against
the Ruda's team, made up of Teddy Mayors and may Steam,
the current heavyweight and midweight champions, respectively. We don't have
(09:41):
many details about Natalia, but we know that women had
earned a place in the Mexican Lucha libre universe. Female
wrestlers in the ring was something that audiences had to
get used to, but it didn't take them long. Here's
anthropologist Ugo Monroy. He points out this was especially significant
(10:03):
given the times Marisola, Minte Dik and Luna's activity. That
is who who explains how women were almost exclusively limited
to traditional feminine roles if they play sports at all.
It was something like tennis, so a combat sport. It
was almost unthinkable, but it worked. The success came in
(10:25):
large part because of Don Java, who you know that,
with the exception of furniture, had good business instincts. He
saw female driven Lucha liberta was working in the US,
and he knew he had to bring it to Mexico. Now,
let's go back to that very first night, when Irma
found herself on the cosp of her first Lucha Libre match,
her friend assured her not to worry and that nothing
(10:48):
dangerous would happen. So on good faith, Irma accepted and
they went together to the arena. This friend was also
a wrestler, and her match was earlier in the night
than Irma's. Irma watch in horror from the sidelens as
this person kept getting hit left and right, eventually falling
(11:08):
to the mat and losing. This is the person who
recruited me, the one who said nothing dangerous would happen,
she thought, But it was too late to back up,
and before she knew it, her name was called and
she was jumping in the ring. There was nothing left
for Irma to do than summoned that deep Mexican courage
that has given our people the strength to not only
(11:30):
dominate Lucha libre, but to win more boxing championship than
any other country on Earth. It's something deep in us,
and all our wrestlers have it. But no matter how
brave she was, this was Irma's first time competing in
a sports She didn't even know. Things went badly from
the start. Almost immediately her opponent was pummeling her. She
(11:52):
was taking hits all over. She was getting slammed to
the mat, lifted, then slammed again. It wasn't even a match.
I didn't even know where the punches were coming from.
And she loved the arena. Bloody and bruised. You would
think that after a night like that, you would run
from anything that had anything to do with lucha libre,
(12:13):
but in fact the opposite happened. Despite getting whooped, Irma
had loved the experience. She loved the energy of the
audience in the arena, and even though she didn't know
the sport yet, she knew she could learn it. She
knew with training she could become as good as the
woman who beat her, as well as the woman who
(12:34):
beat the friend of hers who brought her to the match.
And just like that, Irma dubbed headfirst into lucha libre.
She trained like Rocky Balboa day and night, but quickly
hit a wall. Just like most things, learning to be
(12:54):
a luchado was much harder for women than men. To
start with, There was no one to train her. Coaches
simply wouldn't do it, so during the early years of
her career, Irma and a handful of other pioneering women
taught themselves. It was scrappy. There was no textbook. They
stopped by different gyms to learn a hold here, a
(13:17):
move there. Most of the time they were turned away,
but little by little they got better. They studied men's
matches and copied their moves. Whoever would teach them anything,
they would take them up on it. This informal collective
included Luca legends like Chaveela Romero, Rosita Williams, and Rossi
Moreno l'an fermeira the nurse. As Irma learned the ins
(13:41):
and outs of Luca, she realized that all her years
in the circus had prepared her body for this. That's
Irma's daughter again. She says. She already had the flexibility
and leg stranged good wrestlers need. She also had this
in the circus. Idrama had trained every day, always strengthened
(14:05):
in every part of her body. The training not only
gave her more power, it helped prevent injuries. Finally, with
full confidence in her physical prowess, Iima took the next
step and started building her Lucadorra identity. She decided she
would wrestle on the side of the technicos as a
technica and decided her name would be Irma Gonzalez Gonzales,
(14:29):
being a pseudonym like Santo, like myself, like so many
Luceaaldo's across generations. She sealed her destiny at that moment.
But while everything was moving forward, IAmA faced a new
kind of resistance her family. Her mother staunchly opposed this
(14:49):
career path for her daughter and urged her to look
for another job. Ima didn't understand her mom's objections. After all,
she could do everything the other restlers could. She could
poke ice too and land the same punches. But her
mother would just tough and say, you know, you're really
something and the argument would stop. It was like a
(15:10):
broken record. Each day Ima would insist on why she
should pursue lucha libre, and each day her mother would
shut her down. Remember, Irama is still a teenager at
this point, so you can't imagine how these fights might
have gotten nasty. Finally, her mother put her foot down.
You go tell them you're not coming back. You don't
(15:33):
have my permission and you're not gone. But that just
escalated things. Irma ignored this order and kept training. In fact,
it wasn't long before she was having her first matches
in the ring. We don't know much about those early bouts,
but we know she quickly rose through the ranks and
started wrestling in the EMLLL under the one and only
(15:57):
Don chab A Ludot. She was brought under his wing.
Everything changed. She had access to top facilities at Arena
Mexico and was finally able to train with the same
coaches who trained the men. IMA's professional assent helped turn
things around with her mother. Once she saw that Irma
(16:19):
was earning far more than she could ever make in
the circus, the picture looked brighter. Among other things, they
could start paying off the debt they got stuck in
when Irma's dad stopped sending money. It was a dream.
Irma could dedicate herself to her new passion and support
her family while she was at it. She took great
(16:39):
pride that she was training alongside some of the best
blue childs in the sport, including, of course, the inimitable
El Santo Santo treated Irma with a great deal of respect,
but not everyone did Los Compagnios and Supercellossos. Ima Aguilar
explains that her mom failed all kinds of jealousy about
(17:01):
access to the gyms and locker rooms from male wrestlers,
But jealousy was just the tip of the iceberg. Some
lucealloda's even bullied women, doing things like gluing their shoes
to the floor or throwing their backs out of the
locker room which the women had to share naturally, or
(17:22):
outright harassing them. Ora leasamonos a sukasa go home ladies
matro style. Like virtually all areas of Mexican life during
that time, with the exception of the home, Lucha libre
was a male dominated space. It was not an easy road.
Irma and her fellow lucallodas were trying to carve. Yet
(17:45):
Irma and the others prevailed shaking off the insults and
ungluing their shoes. They were not to be stopped. Their
determination is especially impressive given that the fans were sometimes
just as bad. While generally the addition of female restlers
to luca was popular, that did not protect this women
from the type of terrible sexism made possible by drunk
(18:08):
voice us nearly all male crowds. Part of the mistreatment
was the result of history after the Mexican Revolution, When
Mexico was rebuilding in the thirties, the political climate was
progressive and forward thinking, but by the fifties that had changed.
Modernization brought on a regression, and once again women were
(18:30):
expected to have babies and stay home. Here's Ugo again,
Nostavan Tintando con He says that what the women were
doing by participating in a public sporting event for the
masses was little short of radical. Go home and wash
the dishes, the men would shout. The misogyny was both
(18:52):
severe and it was everywhere, but nevertheless Itma thrived. Santo
wasn't her only ally among the male wrestlers. Aluchado, named Gorrigerero,
for example, trained with her and taught Irma a move
called la campana the bell. It's a move that is
(19:12):
both effective and a crowd pleaser. You stop your opponent's
face on the mat, hook their heels against your waist,
grabbed their wrists, and then pull them towards their heels.
After that, you left them off the ground and swing
them back and forth like the clapper of a bell,
which is how it got its name. It became one
of Irma's signature moves, and as I said, Santo was
(19:36):
a huge advocate. Every time she went into the ring,
he said, tu puel schaparita, which roughly means you got
this shorty. So the day came that Irma Gonzalez had
one of the most important matches of her career. It
was February twenty eighth, nineteen fifty five against La Luchadora
(19:59):
named La and Mascarada the Masked Day, another titan of
Mexican women's wrestling. It was an exciting match for a
lot of reasons, but one thing I'm sure the commentators
were talking about is how each woman got their start
in the circus. Irma as a contortionist, Ladama as a
strong woman. One of Ladama's regular acts was lifting bar
(20:23):
bells with her teeth. If that wasn't enough to make
her intimidating, Ladama was the first mask female restorer in
the country and the first winner of the inaugural Women's
National Championship, a title she held that night when she
faced Irma Gonzalez. We don't know the details, but the
(20:43):
former circus pros switched places that night, which is to
say Irma Gonzalez won and became the title and Ladama
and Mascarada became a formidable but not invincible luchaura, and
if you've been listening closely, it won't surprise you to
(21:05):
hear that the match in fifty five kicked off an
exciting rivalry. Ladama and Mascarada wanted that title back and
was determined to show the public that her loss to
Ima was a stroke of bad luck. Eventually, the rivalry
escalated and the two women found themselves on the cusp
of a match from which there was no going back.
A bad match on a lucha le abuestas mascare contracaager
(21:34):
mask versus hair. Ladama went home with a shaved head.
That night, Irma Gonzalez had prevailed once again, making her
the first female wrestler to ever unmask someone. Having held
on to the national title for years and now having
won against her rival, Irma became one of the most
(21:58):
celebrated Lucca ordas in Mehi. Yes, she had her haters
in the form of misogynists men who booed her, but
she also had fans, people who believed she was a
champion and worked cheering for. Irma was connecting with what
attracted her to Lucha Libre in the first place. The
magnetic relationship between the wrestler and the crowd. The rash,
(22:21):
the thrill, the power of ten thousand people chanting your name.
I know it all too well myself. When you're there,
exhausted but victorious and the rev raises your hand in
the air, triumphant. Oh well, there's nothing quite like him
(22:42):
but Dright when things were looking up and Itema was
finding her groove again, something happened that she never could
have imagined. Mexico City's major and his political team banned
woman from professional wrestling. Yeah, you heard it right, banned
talk about regression. The men responsible was a certain Ernesto Uruchurtu.
(23:10):
Uruchurtu held his government post for fourteen years and targeted
all sorts of entertainment. During his tenure, he and his
allies started a decency comedy where they reviewed every entertainment
venue to make sure it met mortal standards. Naturally, these
(23:30):
standards weren't based on anything besides what this stagy group
of men decided. Part of the regressive campaign was to
shut down anything that was deemed too sexual, So women
showing their thighs or their belly buttons was out of
the question. It's also backwards. The male rests were barely
(23:53):
anything at all. Luca libre wasn't the only part of
Mexico City's cultural life that took a hit. Theaters were
closed and anything them offensive was squashed by the government.
The official end of women's lucha libre in the capital
happened on July twenty fifth, nineteen fifty four. A newspaper
(24:15):
article even asserted that if women were involved, lucha libre
couldn't be considered a sport. The article went on to
say that lucallodas were an affront to women's real role
in society, staying at home and raising their family. According
to the article, lucha librea threatened women's reproductive abilities and
(24:39):
their role as the guardian angels of Mexico Rose. So,
just like that, dozens of lucalodas found themselves both demoralized
and out of a job, all because of a draconian
social policy. But wait, there was a way, don't cha
(25:01):
shout out again? Don Java found a way to continue
boosting women's Women could wrestle as long as they stayed
outside of Mexico City. No, this is who who explains
how despite all the criticism, the e MLLL leadership insisted
(25:24):
that the show must go on and women's matches must continue.
The situation was confusing to the luchos themselves. Ima found
out about the band from other wrestlers, not from the announcement.
Here's Patricia Sellis, the Argentine anthropologist expert in wrestling ter
(25:47):
She says that the supposed reason for the new laws
was obscenity, but that the true obscenity was a society
that didn't know what to do with the generation of
women who were starting to find their voice. Still able
to compete outside the capitol, women took their shows on
the road. It's not like this was a huge adjustment.
(26:09):
Remember it was on a bus that Irma had her
pivotal mass conversation with Santo. Being on the road is
part of the trade for all of us. Countless times
in my career have I driven for two days for
one match in a distant town, just to turn around
(26:29):
and drive two days back home. And even though it's normal,
travel is one of the most grueling parts of the job,
and for the women this had become their only way.
This is how Irma's described it. Fine, She says, can
(26:50):
do our job here we'll go on the road. Whether
promoters call, we'll be there. The work did come, but
the reality that road matches paid less and everything depended
on how many people showed up and where each wrestler
got placed on the wrestling card. A reminder, it's not
(27:12):
like there were going around the country in the fancy
tour buses football teams take. These buses were old, and
to make matters worse, the roads were bad. Accidents and
breakdowns happened all the time. Nasmi Ma Marrezon one time,
Ima got home dirty and without her shoes Irma Guilarcez.
(27:32):
The bus had been forced off the road and into
a ravine. Itma was lucky, but some of the other
wrestlers were injured badly. But just like she always had
since she was a young girl, Itrama didn't let setbacks
get to her. She kept her eye on the price
and continued to become a better and better luchadora. Her
(27:53):
next major triumph came in the nineteen fifties when she
faced Schabela Romero, another top Mexican wrestler. Irma once again
became the national champion. Then another unexpected thing happened on
one of her tours, Irma met someone and she fell
(28:17):
in love. And it turns out that the object of
her affection was a lawyer. He was about to take
off for work, but he would be back in seven
months and then they would get married. The thing is,
(28:38):
the guy's proposal came with a catch. If she wanted
to be his wife, she'd have to quit wrestling. While
he was on his trip, Ima had a long think,
do I continue with this vocation I've committed decades too,
or do I change the path of my life and
settle down. In the end, Irama I found a way
(29:00):
to have both. She would wrestle with a mask. That way,
no one in the audience would recognize her. And of
course she was going to keep all this secret from
her husband. All this about the mask and her marriage
(29:27):
is what Irma told Santo when he asked her why
she wanted to wrestle in a mask. You can understand
now why she was so nervous. It wasn't just the
bold ask of Santo. Her whole future hinged on his answer.
But as we know, Santo endorsed the idea wholeheartedly, and
when they got back from the tour, Ima had a
(29:50):
silver mask of her own and then starting with her
very next match, Ima transformed into a luchadora. The world
had never met the Bride of Santo. As we have
already talked about on this show, the mask is a
powerful force. It gives you strength, it gives you anonymity,
(30:12):
and soon after making the switch to Bride of Santo,
IAmA already found herself in a high profile bound. It
was a rematch against Chavela Romero, the restler she had
been in the national championship match. The match started, we
don't have a play by play of what happened, but
(30:33):
we know who won. It all came down to the
third fall. Later, Killa Ichi Lucha Aloda managed to get
the other cut in holes, but each would break free.
Finally the match broke open. The Bride of El Santo,
wearing a blue leotard, gained the upper hand and climb
up on the ropes Matala. The crowd scream kill her.
(30:58):
A professional showman since her childhood, Irma raised her hands,
urging the crowded cheer even louder. Then Bang, the Bride
of Santo turned and jumped towards the mat. She grabbed
Chhavela's wrist caught her in a hold and slammed her
to the ground bam. When Chavela finally got up, the
(31:19):
Bride of Santo just slammed her down again. She grabbed
her by the arms and demanded the revs start the count,
and then right as she was going to finish her,
someone in the crowd shouted finish her. Irma, Wait, who
how the Bride of El Santo was completely taken aback?
Who out there could possibly recognize her since she was
(31:42):
wearing a mask. She was thrown off enough that Chavela
was able to escape the hole, not only escape, but
go on the offensive, and soon it was Chavela who
was in control of the match. She put the Bride
of El Santo into a powerful hold, but Irma used
her Coolian strength of her legs to break free. Irma
(32:02):
shoved Chabla off her then slam her again against the
man the man. The impact sent Shavela into a roll,
and it looked like she was going to roll all
the way off the mat, but she cut herself and
matched somehow to get back to her feet. At that point,
Chavella was spinned and dizzily. She approached the Bride of
Santo with her hand outstretched, a gesture to end the
(32:25):
match on friendly terms. But that audience, like any lucha audience,
doesn't spend their heart earned money to see a good
match end with a handshake. Anirama wasn't going to disappoint them.
She pretended to accept Chavella's hand, but instead pulled her
clothes and put her in another hole. Take her out.
(32:45):
The crowd cheered. The Bride of El Santo brought Shavela
down onto the mat, and finally the revs count sounded out.
Uno does press, and yet again, the arm of brideables
Santo was raised in the air. After that victory, Irma
(33:11):
would continue to wrestle in the silver mask, but the
same thing kept happening. People recognize her, They knew her
wrestling style and all of her moves. Her mask might
cover her face, but it couldn't hide the athlete people
already knew so well, she decided not to fight what
(33:32):
was obvious. Anonymity was impossible, so rather than retire, she
instead returned the mask to El Santo and picked up again,
wrestling as Irma Gonzalez, a name and persona already beloved
by the fans. Ima managed to not only have an
(33:53):
amazing career in Mexico, she wrestled all over the world.
People saw her matches in the United States, Panama, Venezuela,
and Japan. And even though the official Band of Women
lasted at least twenty more years, Ima remained at the top,
and eventually she returned to the capital to wrestle once
(34:14):
again in the city's most famous arenas. We'll get to
those bouts. They were epic, but a lot happened in
those twenty years, including a match that is as iconic
as any in the history of Lucha libre, the very
first triangular La Morte or Triangle of Death. Don't worry,
(34:39):
no one actually died, but it has such a dramatic
name for a reason. The three points of the triangle
are Lucha Legends, Fishmen, Sangri Chicana and El Kovarde. And
I'll tell you this story in the next episode Lucha
(35:01):
Libre Behind the Mask, hosted by Santos Escobar, produced by
Fernande Strada Arbumelo and Marianna Coronell, Written in Spanish by
Daniel Lopez and adapted in English by Asa Merrit Story
editor Rodrigo Crespo. Fact checking by monserrad mal Donado. Research
(35:24):
and interviews by Marianna Coronel with help from Fernandez Strada,
Daniel Padilla and Saul Cortes. Mixed and sound design Daniel
Padilla and Fernando Galaviz. Studio recordings in Orlando, Florida by
High Hello Studios. Studio recordings in Mexico City by Daniel Padilla,
Fernando Glaviz and Andres Baena in Sonorro Studios. Development by
(35:48):
Rodrigo Crespo. Executive producers Camilla Victoriano and Joshu Weinstein for
Sonro and Gisel Beancez for Iheartsmichael Toura podcast Network. Marketing
Strata An execution by Claudia Fernandez, Mariana Heirera, Paola Perez,
Marianna Baron, Gundy Barba and Berenice Soto. Head of Marketing,
(36:10):
Susanna Marina. Lucha Libre Behind the Mask is a Sonoro
original series for ihurtsmikl to the podcast network, listen to
more podcasts in the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
you listen to your favorite shows. Agredeci Minos Specialist Para
Ugo monroy E, Patricia Celis vanegas covered art Carlos Miranda.
(36:37):
Thank you to the CMLL for the permissions granted to
record ambient audio in their facilities.
The nineteen fifties are coming to an end. More and
more famlies in the US have cars in their drivers
and TVs in their living rooms. But let's move the
scene to Mexico City, where a bus is parked outside
of Arena Mexico. On the bus, a group of EMLLL
wrestlers are about to go on a cross country tour.
The EMLLL has been around for a while at this point,
(00:26):
but something new is happening. There are female wrestlers on
the bus as well, Luca Voras. When Ensanto gets on,
he goes to his seat in the front by the window,
suitcase in hand. This is just another week at work,
he says high to fellow Luca Ordes as they load in. Next,
(00:46):
a woman boards. She has curly red hair, and Santo
knows her well. It's Irama Gonzalez, the multi year national
women's wrestling champion. He smiles and waves at her. As
soon as she sees him, Irma gets butterflies into her stomach.
She says hello. Doing her best to control her breeding. Today,
(01:08):
she is determined to ask him the question she's been
putting up for weeks. She might not get a chance
with Santo alone, so this could be her best shot,
and there's an empty seat next to him. Does she
take it? When he invites her to join him, she
goes for it, knowing it's now or never. The bus
starts moving and they head out of the city. There's
(01:31):
a long drive ahead and El Santo and Ima chat freely.
What kind of music they've been listening to? Are things
at home? All the almost stuff people talk about to
pass the time on a long trip. The question Irma
wants to ask is on the tape of her tongue,
but she keeps waiting for the right moment. The chat
(01:52):
turns to childhood. Santo is curious about Irma's life growing
up and the circus her father run. Did fire eaters
ever burn their tongue? Can you bend your back like
a contortionist? It's this kind of curiosity that gives Irma hope.
Santo cares about her and has always supported her career.
But does this cross the line? Can the question she's
(02:14):
planning to ask risk their friendship forever? Irma decides she
just has to find out. No more vacillating. Just like
a tope the suicide died. Sometimes you can't hesitate, You
just have to plant your feet and go for it, Santo?
(02:34):
Do you think I could wear your mask and start
wrestling as the bride of El Santo? There the words
were out. She had sprung from the rope, but now,
like the tope, she was high in the air, horizontal,
completely vulnerable. Was she gonna stick the landing or break
(02:55):
her neck? What if he said no? What if he
got mad just for asking king? But then she was
on the ground, on her feet. She had landed the
tope and the crowd was cheering Claro Santo said, of course.
(03:16):
Irma smiles and breathes a sigh of relief. Her whole
wrestling future had been in question. An anxiety about talking
to Santo had crippled her. She thinks, Santo, and he says,
of course, you always have my support. But then he
asks her, why do you want to wrestle with a mask?
(03:37):
Irma had an answer for him, and I'm going to
tell you what she said later in this episode, But
first I'm going to tell you who Irma is and
how she became Mexico's most famous luchadora. In fact, in
twenty twenty three, they even started a tournament in her honor,
the Iluma Gonzaleska. I am Santos Escobara, the Emperor of
(04:10):
Lucha Libre and a WW superstar. For over twenty years,
I have been a professional wrestler in Mexico, the United
States and around the world. I've been a champion, a hero,
a villain. I've won and lost, but I always represent
(04:30):
Lucha Libre with pride. Lucha Libre it's tradition, its heritage,
its culture, Ladies and gentlemen. The following podcast is schedule
for twelve episodes, and it's all about Lucha liber This
is Lucha Libre Behind the Mass Episode five, Irma Gonzalez
(04:55):
Women in Lucha Libre. Irma's first name is indeed Irma,
but her last name is Morales Munos. She was born
in nineteen thirty six in a city called Cuernavaca, Lasudad
de la Primavera, about an hour south of Mexico City.
She grew up in a Sergus family which her dad run.
(05:16):
It was called Sirco Oriente Rmanos Morales. Irma's childhood was
a magical or at least my image of it is,
traveling all over Mexico, growing up alongside Acrobat's magicians and actors.
Her first act was as a contortionist, but when she
(05:37):
was twelve, she decided she wanted to become a trapeze artist.
It was obvious to Irma's parents and the whole troop
that Irma was full of courage and talent. Here's Irma's daughter,
Irma Aguilla Yavia Una de riva del a mesa asia
(05:57):
ye Asiya. She describes one of her mom's routines where
she sat in a chair on top of a table,
then bent back behind her to retrieve a handkerchief with
her mouth. Crowds loved it, she says. Irma was made
for the circus with her natural abilities as a contortionist
and her skills on the trapeze robes. She had an
(06:20):
entire career ahead of her, but it just wasn't meant
to be, because one dark day in a city called Sacatecas,
her father's circus caught fire. Everything burned, the family's possessions,
the tents, the carts, everything with little besides the shirts
(06:44):
on their backs. The family moved to Mexico City, where
they arrived at Irma's grandmother's house, but that was the
last time the family was together. Irma's father also an
accomplished clown, left for the United States to find work
at another circus. At first he sent money home, but
then the checks came less and less frequently, then stopped
(07:06):
coming at all. Irma, her sister, and her mom had
to find a way to fend for themselves, and that's
how Irma stumbled upon wrestling. She hadn't even turned fifteen
when a new friend asked her if she had ever wrestled.
Irma of course hadn't, but was immediately intrigued when the
(07:28):
friend told her that a luchaota for an event that
night had gone missing and they were looking for a replacement.
We'll pay you one in amen, Derma said, and like
that she went from contortionists to trapeze artists, to unemployed
fifteen year old to one of the world's small handful
Luca lores. Sometimes our lives are just a series of
(07:50):
accidents if you think about it. For example, I didn't
get my start the way I thought no one does.
I had trained, but couldn't get a debut until finally
one day I got a last minute call. Promoter Benjamin
Mora called me. He told me that a wrestler for
an event in Bachuca had fallen through and they needed
a replacement. It was a stroke of luck, but I
(08:12):
ran with it. The same thing happened to Irma. To
be clear, Irma wasn't the first Lucalorra ever. Women's Lucha
libre had already been around for a few years in Mexico,
although very much on the margins, which shouldn't come as
such a surprise given that in the thirties in Mexico,
women couldn't vote, couldn't fight for divorce, or even up
(08:32):
in a bank account. To be frank, back then, if
a woman wore pants it was a problem. Against this backdrop,
the first women's wrestling match was organized on July twelfth,
nineteen thirty five, a mere two years after Lucha Libre
arrived in Mexico. Women in the wrestling ring naturally sparked
(08:56):
a lot of curiosity among fans and confusion. Just as
Luca had a head start in the States, women had
started wrestling their first too, so most of the women
who competed were foreigners. That night, all the Luca Loodas
were American. One, though, even though she lived in Texas,
(09:17):
had been born in Mexico. Her name was Natalia Basquez,
Natalia fought an attack team alongside Katherine Hart, a popular
wrestler who already had a fan base in the States.
Natalia and Catherine were technicas and they faced off against
the Ruda's team, made up of Teddy Mayors and may Steam,
the current heavyweight and midweight champions, respectively. We don't have
(09:41):
many details about Natalia, but we know that women had
earned a place in the Mexican Lucha libre universe. Female
wrestlers in the ring was something that audiences had to
get used to, but it didn't take them long. Here's
anthropologist Ugo Monroy. He points out this was especially significant
(10:03):
given the times Marisola, Minte Dik and Luna's activity. That
is who who explains how women were almost exclusively limited
to traditional feminine roles if they play sports at all.
It was something like tennis, so a combat sport. It
was almost unthinkable, but it worked. The success came in
(10:25):
large part because of Don Java, who you know that,
with the exception of furniture, had good business instincts. He
saw female driven Lucha liberta was working in the US,
and he knew he had to bring it to Mexico. Now,
let's go back to that very first night, when Irma
found herself on the cosp of her first Lucha Libre match,
her friend assured her not to worry and that nothing
(10:48):
dangerous would happen. So on good faith, Irma accepted and
they went together to the arena. This friend was also
a wrestler, and her match was earlier in the night
than Irma's. Irma watch in horror from the sidelens as
this person kept getting hit left and right, eventually falling
(11:08):
to the mat and losing. This is the person who
recruited me, the one who said nothing dangerous would happen,
she thought, But it was too late to back up,
and before she knew it, her name was called and
she was jumping in the ring. There was nothing left
for Irma to do than summoned that deep Mexican courage
that has given our people the strength to not only
(11:30):
dominate Lucha libre, but to win more boxing championship than
any other country on Earth. It's something deep in us,
and all our wrestlers have it. But no matter how
brave she was, this was Irma's first time competing in
a sports She didn't even know. Things went badly from
the start. Almost immediately her opponent was pummeling her. She
(11:52):
was taking hits all over. She was getting slammed to
the mat, lifted, then slammed again. It wasn't even a match.
I didn't even know where the punches were coming from.
And she loved the arena. Bloody and bruised. You would
think that after a night like that, you would run
from anything that had anything to do with lucha libre,
(12:13):
but in fact the opposite happened. Despite getting whooped, Irma
had loved the experience. She loved the energy of the
audience in the arena, and even though she didn't know
the sport yet, she knew she could learn it. She
knew with training she could become as good as the
woman who beat her, as well as the woman who
(12:34):
beat the friend of hers who brought her to the match.
And just like that, Irma dubbed headfirst into lucha libre.
She trained like Rocky Balboa day and night, but quickly
hit a wall. Just like most things, learning to be
(12:54):
a luchado was much harder for women than men. To
start with, There was no one to train her. Coaches
simply wouldn't do it, so during the early years of
her career, Irma and a handful of other pioneering women
taught themselves. It was scrappy. There was no textbook. They
stopped by different gyms to learn a hold here, a
(13:17):
move there. Most of the time they were turned away,
but little by little they got better. They studied men's
matches and copied their moves. Whoever would teach them anything,
they would take them up on it. This informal collective
included Luca legends like Chaveela Romero, Rosita Williams, and Rossi
Moreno l'an fermeira the nurse. As Irma learned the ins
(13:41):
and outs of Luca, she realized that all her years
in the circus had prepared her body for this. That's
Irma's daughter again. She says. She already had the flexibility
and leg stranged good wrestlers need. She also had this
in the circus. Idrama had trained every day, always strengthened
(14:05):
in every part of her body. The training not only
gave her more power, it helped prevent injuries. Finally, with
full confidence in her physical prowess, Iima took the next
step and started building her Lucadorra identity. She decided she
would wrestle on the side of the technicos as a
technica and decided her name would be Irma Gonzalez Gonzales,
(14:29):
being a pseudonym like Santo, like myself, like so many
Luceaaldo's across generations. She sealed her destiny at that moment.
But while everything was moving forward, IAmA faced a new
kind of resistance her family. Her mother staunchly opposed this
(14:49):
career path for her daughter and urged her to look
for another job. Ima didn't understand her mom's objections. After all,
she could do everything the other restlers could. She could
poke ice too and land the same punches. But her
mother would just tough and say, you know, you're really
something and the argument would stop. It was like a
(15:10):
broken record. Each day Ima would insist on why she
should pursue lucha libre, and each day her mother would
shut her down. Remember, Irama is still a teenager at
this point, so you can't imagine how these fights might
have gotten nasty. Finally, her mother put her foot down.
You go tell them you're not coming back. You don't
(15:33):
have my permission and you're not gone. But that just
escalated things. Irma ignored this order and kept training. In fact,
it wasn't long before she was having her first matches
in the ring. We don't know much about those early bouts,
but we know she quickly rose through the ranks and
started wrestling in the EMLLL under the one and only
(15:57):
Don chab A Ludot. She was brought under his wing.
Everything changed. She had access to top facilities at Arena
Mexico and was finally able to train with the same
coaches who trained the men. IMA's professional assent helped turn
things around with her mother. Once she saw that Irma
(16:19):
was earning far more than she could ever make in
the circus, the picture looked brighter. Among other things, they
could start paying off the debt they got stuck in
when Irma's dad stopped sending money. It was a dream.
Irma could dedicate herself to her new passion and support
her family while she was at it. She took great
(16:39):
pride that she was training alongside some of the best
blue childs in the sport, including, of course, the inimitable
El Santo Santo treated Irma with a great deal of respect,
but not everyone did Los Compagnios and Supercellossos. Ima Aguilar
explains that her mom failed all kinds of jealousy about
(17:01):
access to the gyms and locker rooms from male wrestlers,
But jealousy was just the tip of the iceberg. Some
lucealloda's even bullied women, doing things like gluing their shoes
to the floor or throwing their backs out of the
locker room which the women had to share naturally, or
(17:22):
outright harassing them. Ora leasamonos a sukasa go home ladies
matro style. Like virtually all areas of Mexican life during
that time, with the exception of the home, Lucha libre
was a male dominated space. It was not an easy road.
Irma and her fellow lucallodas were trying to carve. Yet
(17:45):
Irma and the others prevailed shaking off the insults and
ungluing their shoes. They were not to be stopped. Their
determination is especially impressive given that the fans were sometimes
just as bad. While generally the addition of female restlers
to luca was popular, that did not protect this women
from the type of terrible sexism made possible by drunk
(18:08):
voice us nearly all male crowds. Part of the mistreatment
was the result of history after the Mexican Revolution, When
Mexico was rebuilding in the thirties, the political climate was
progressive and forward thinking, but by the fifties that had changed.
Modernization brought on a regression, and once again women were
(18:30):
expected to have babies and stay home. Here's Ugo again,
Nostavan Tintando con He says that what the women were
doing by participating in a public sporting event for the
masses was little short of radical. Go home and wash
the dishes, the men would shout. The misogyny was both
(18:52):
severe and it was everywhere, but nevertheless Itma thrived. Santo
wasn't her only ally among the male wrestlers. Aluchado, named Gorrigerero,
for example, trained with her and taught Irma a move
called la campana the bell. It's a move that is
(19:12):
both effective and a crowd pleaser. You stop your opponent's
face on the mat, hook their heels against your waist,
grabbed their wrists, and then pull them towards their heels.
After that, you left them off the ground and swing
them back and forth like the clapper of a bell,
which is how it got its name. It became one
of Irma's signature moves, and as I said, Santo was
(19:36):
a huge advocate. Every time she went into the ring,
he said, tu puel schaparita, which roughly means you got
this shorty. So the day came that Irma Gonzalez had
one of the most important matches of her career. It
was February twenty eighth, nineteen fifty five against La Luchadora
(19:59):
named La and Mascarada the Masked Day, another titan of
Mexican women's wrestling. It was an exciting match for a
lot of reasons, but one thing I'm sure the commentators
were talking about is how each woman got their start
in the circus. Irma as a contortionist, Ladama as a
strong woman. One of Ladama's regular acts was lifting bar
(20:23):
bells with her teeth. If that wasn't enough to make
her intimidating, Ladama was the first mask female restorer in
the country and the first winner of the inaugural Women's
National Championship, a title she held that night when she
faced Irma Gonzalez. We don't know the details, but the
(20:43):
former circus pros switched places that night, which is to
say Irma Gonzalez won and became the title and Ladama
and Mascarada became a formidable but not invincible luchaura, and
if you've been listening closely, it won't surprise you to
(21:05):
hear that the match in fifty five kicked off an
exciting rivalry. Ladama and Mascarada wanted that title back and
was determined to show the public that her loss to
Ima was a stroke of bad luck. Eventually, the rivalry
escalated and the two women found themselves on the cusp
of a match from which there was no going back.
A bad match on a lucha le abuestas mascare contracaager
(21:34):
mask versus hair. Ladama went home with a shaved head.
That night, Irma Gonzalez had prevailed once again, making her
the first female wrestler to ever unmask someone. Having held
on to the national title for years and now having
won against her rival, Irma became one of the most
(21:58):
celebrated Lucca ordas in Mehi. Yes, she had her haters
in the form of misogynists men who booed her, but
she also had fans, people who believed she was a
champion and worked cheering for. Irma was connecting with what
attracted her to Lucha Libre in the first place. The
magnetic relationship between the wrestler and the crowd. The rash,
(22:21):
the thrill, the power of ten thousand people chanting your name.
I know it all too well myself. When you're there,
exhausted but victorious and the rev raises your hand in
the air, triumphant. Oh well, there's nothing quite like him
(22:42):
but Dright when things were looking up and Itema was
finding her groove again, something happened that she never could
have imagined. Mexico City's major and his political team banned
woman from professional wrestling. Yeah, you heard it right, banned
talk about regression. The men responsible was a certain Ernesto Uruchurtu.
(23:10):
Uruchurtu held his government post for fourteen years and targeted
all sorts of entertainment. During his tenure, he and his
allies started a decency comedy where they reviewed every entertainment
venue to make sure it met mortal standards. Naturally, these
(23:30):
standards weren't based on anything besides what this stagy group
of men decided. Part of the regressive campaign was to
shut down anything that was deemed too sexual, So women
showing their thighs or their belly buttons was out of
the question. It's also backwards. The male rests were barely
(23:53):
anything at all. Luca libre wasn't the only part of
Mexico City's cultural life that took a hit. Theaters were
closed and anything them offensive was squashed by the government.
The official end of women's lucha libre in the capital
happened on July twenty fifth, nineteen fifty four. A newspaper
(24:15):
article even asserted that if women were involved, lucha libre
couldn't be considered a sport. The article went on to
say that lucallodas were an affront to women's real role
in society, staying at home and raising their family. According
to the article, lucha librea threatened women's reproductive abilities and
(24:39):
their role as the guardian angels of Mexico Rose. So,
just like that, dozens of lucalodas found themselves both demoralized
and out of a job, all because of a draconian
social policy. But wait, there was a way, don't cha
(25:01):
shout out again? Don Java found a way to continue
boosting women's Women could wrestle as long as they stayed
outside of Mexico City. No, this is who who explains
how despite all the criticism, the e MLLL leadership insisted
(25:24):
that the show must go on and women's matches must continue.
The situation was confusing to the luchos themselves. Ima found
out about the band from other wrestlers, not from the announcement.
Here's Patricia Sellis, the Argentine anthropologist expert in wrestling ter
(25:47):
She says that the supposed reason for the new laws
was obscenity, but that the true obscenity was a society
that didn't know what to do with the generation of
women who were starting to find their voice. Still able
to compete outside the capitol, women took their shows on
the road. It's not like this was a huge adjustment.
(26:09):
Remember it was on a bus that Irma had her
pivotal mass conversation with Santo. Being on the road is
part of the trade for all of us. Countless times
in my career have I driven for two days for
one match in a distant town, just to turn around
(26:29):
and drive two days back home. And even though it's normal,
travel is one of the most grueling parts of the job,
and for the women this had become their only way.
This is how Irma's described it. Fine, She says, can
(26:50):
do our job here we'll go on the road. Whether
promoters call, we'll be there. The work did come, but
the reality that road matches paid less and everything depended
on how many people showed up and where each wrestler
got placed on the wrestling card. A reminder, it's not
(27:12):
like there were going around the country in the fancy
tour buses football teams take. These buses were old, and
to make matters worse, the roads were bad. Accidents and
breakdowns happened all the time. Nasmi Ma Marrezon one time,
Ima got home dirty and without her shoes Irma Guilarcez.
(27:32):
The bus had been forced off the road and into
a ravine. Itma was lucky, but some of the other
wrestlers were injured badly. But just like she always had
since she was a young girl, Itrama didn't let setbacks
get to her. She kept her eye on the price
and continued to become a better and better luchadora. Her
(27:53):
next major triumph came in the nineteen fifties when she
faced Schabela Romero, another top Mexican wrestler. Irma once again
became the national champion. Then another unexpected thing happened on
one of her tours, Irma met someone and she fell
(28:17):
in love. And it turns out that the object of
her affection was a lawyer. He was about to take
off for work, but he would be back in seven
months and then they would get married. The thing is,
(28:38):
the guy's proposal came with a catch. If she wanted
to be his wife, she'd have to quit wrestling. While
he was on his trip, Ima had a long think,
do I continue with this vocation I've committed decades too,
or do I change the path of my life and
settle down. In the end, Irama I found a way
(29:00):
to have both. She would wrestle with a mask. That way,
no one in the audience would recognize her. And of
course she was going to keep all this secret from
her husband. All this about the mask and her marriage
(29:27):
is what Irma told Santo when he asked her why
she wanted to wrestle in a mask. You can understand
now why she was so nervous. It wasn't just the
bold ask of Santo. Her whole future hinged on his answer.
But as we know, Santo endorsed the idea wholeheartedly, and
when they got back from the tour, Ima had a
(29:50):
silver mask of her own and then starting with her
very next match, Ima transformed into a luchadora. The world
had never met the Bride of Santo. As we have
already talked about on this show, the mask is a
powerful force. It gives you strength, it gives you anonymity,
(30:12):
and soon after making the switch to Bride of Santo,
IAmA already found herself in a high profile bound. It
was a rematch against Chavela Romero, the restler she had
been in the national championship match. The match started, we
don't have a play by play of what happened, but
(30:33):
we know who won. It all came down to the
third fall. Later, Killa Ichi Lucha Aloda managed to get
the other cut in holes, but each would break free.
Finally the match broke open. The Bride of El Santo,
wearing a blue leotard, gained the upper hand and climb
up on the ropes Matala. The crowd scream kill her.
(30:58):
A professional showman since her childhood, Irma raised her hands,
urging the crowded cheer even louder. Then Bang, the Bride
of Santo turned and jumped towards the mat. She grabbed
Chhavela's wrist caught her in a hold and slammed her
to the ground bam. When Chavela finally got up, the
(31:19):
Bride of Santo just slammed her down again. She grabbed
her by the arms and demanded the revs start the count,
and then right as she was going to finish her,
someone in the crowd shouted finish her. Irma, Wait, who
how the Bride of El Santo was completely taken aback?
Who out there could possibly recognize her since she was
(31:42):
wearing a mask. She was thrown off enough that Chavela
was able to escape the hole, not only escape, but
go on the offensive, and soon it was Chavela who
was in control of the match. She put the Bride
of El Santo into a powerful hold, but Irma used
her Coolian strength of her legs to break free. Irma
(32:02):
shoved Chabla off her then slam her again against the
man the man. The impact sent Shavela into a roll,
and it looked like she was going to roll all
the way off the mat, but she cut herself and
matched somehow to get back to her feet. At that point,
Chavella was spinned and dizzily. She approached the Bride of
Santo with her hand outstretched, a gesture to end the
(32:25):
match on friendly terms. But that audience, like any lucha audience,
doesn't spend their heart earned money to see a good
match end with a handshake. Anirama wasn't going to disappoint them.
She pretended to accept Chavella's hand, but instead pulled her
clothes and put her in another hole. Take her out.
(32:45):
The crowd cheered. The Bride of El Santo brought Shavela
down onto the mat, and finally the revs count sounded out.
Uno does press, and yet again, the arm of brideables
Santo was raised in the air. After that victory, Irma
(33:11):
would continue to wrestle in the silver mask, but the
same thing kept happening. People recognize her, They knew her
wrestling style and all of her moves. Her mask might
cover her face, but it couldn't hide the athlete people
already knew so well, she decided not to fight what
(33:32):
was obvious. Anonymity was impossible, so rather than retire, she
instead returned the mask to El Santo and picked up again,
wrestling as Irma Gonzalez, a name and persona already beloved
by the fans. Ima managed to not only have an
(33:53):
amazing career in Mexico, she wrestled all over the world.
People saw her matches in the United States, Panama, Venezuela,
and Japan. And even though the official Band of Women
lasted at least twenty more years, Ima remained at the top,
and eventually she returned to the capital to wrestle once
(34:14):
again in the city's most famous arenas. We'll get to
those bouts. They were epic, but a lot happened in
those twenty years, including a match that is as iconic
as any in the history of Lucha libre, the very
first triangular La Morte or Triangle of Death. Don't worry,
(34:39):
no one actually died, but it has such a dramatic
name for a reason. The three points of the triangle
are Lucha Legends, Fishmen, Sangri Chicana and El Kovarde. And
I'll tell you this story in the next episode Lucha
(35:01):
Libre Behind the Mask, hosted by Santos Escobar, produced by
Fernande Strada Arbumelo and Marianna Coronell, Written in Spanish by
Daniel Lopez and adapted in English by Asa Merrit Story
editor Rodrigo Crespo. Fact checking by monserrad mal Donado. Research
(35:24):
and interviews by Marianna Coronel with help from Fernandez Strada,
Daniel Padilla and Saul Cortes. Mixed and sound design Daniel
Padilla and Fernando Galaviz. Studio recordings in Orlando, Florida by
High Hello Studios. Studio recordings in Mexico City by Daniel Padilla,
Fernando Glaviz and Andres Baena in Sonorro Studios. Development by
(35:48):
Rodrigo Crespo. Executive producers Camilla Victoriano and Joshu Weinstein for
Sonro and Gisel Beancez for Iheartsmichael Toura podcast Network. Marketing
Strata An execution by Claudia Fernandez, Mariana Heirera, Paola Perez,
Marianna Baron, Gundy Barba and Berenice Soto. Head of Marketing,
(36:10):
Susanna Marina. Lucha Libre Behind the Mask is a Sonoro
original series for ihurtsmikl to the podcast network, listen to
more podcasts in the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
you listen to your favorite shows. Agredeci Minos Specialist Para
Ugo monroy E, Patricia Celis vanegas covered art Carlos Miranda.
(36:37):
Thank you to the CMLL for the permissions granted to
record ambient audio in their facilities.
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