August 19, 2024 • 37 mins
The mask is the most important accessory in Lucha Libre, a symbol recognized worldwide. However, this tradition was born in the USA, and when Salvador Lutteroth saw it, he had an idea: to mask the first Mexican wrestler, creating a new character whose identity was unknown to the audience, thus making history.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
If I ask you to think about Mexican wrestling, the
first thing that probably comes to mind is the iconic
luchador mask. And that's not surprise, because you could say
that the mask is the very soul of the sport.
Perhaps its most mysterious use is that it protects a
luchador's identity. If you're a lucha or there's value to
(00:23):
keeping your name secret, and the mask makes that possible.
The mask is also your source of power. Because no
one knows who you are, you can be whoever you
want to be. It's counterintuitive but true. I have had
the opportunity to wear a mask in my career, and
(00:43):
I can tell you when you put it on and
walk into that ring, you feel invincible. With the mask,
You're still yourself, but it's another version of you. The
mask has its own personality, and giving yourself over to it,
it's accelerated. Even anthropologists know about the power of a mask.
(01:08):
In Lucca.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Non la Marca Ecomo la col Fonamenta.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Patricia Seliz is an anthropologist from Argentina who has been
researching wrestling for over ten years. There, she's talking about
how the mask and the wrestler are related and how
the mask is at the foundation of a luchador's character,
that there's a synthesis, and she's completely right. When I
put on the mask, I do what the mask asks
(01:45):
of me. It tells me how to move and what
to do. It even tells me how to talk. Sure,
I'm the guy wearing the mask, but the mask is
calling the shots. Well, the mask and the crowd. Patricia
(02:06):
explains that without the crowd, there is no character. It's
an ongoing conversation, a transaction and exchange. I give one thing,
the crowd gives back, and together we make heroes and villains.
The process is especially magical when a new mask loocher
(02:29):
door enters the ring for the first time. It's a
blank slate for the audience and anything is possible. You
just don't know how it's going to go. No one does.
Maybe they'll accept you right off bed cheering and clapping,
or maybe it'll go in the other direction and they'll
(02:49):
try to boo you out of the arena. If you
really get on their bad side, they'll even start insulting
your mother. So you have to convince them. You have
to win them over. It's something all luchaot is have
to do, but especially the ones who enter the ring
with a mask. The mask is so powerful that it
(03:10):
lends the sport a mystical quality. Just think about indigenous
tribes who wear masks in ceremonies, or now theater in Japan,
or even the mask that killers were in slasher films.
A mask is an ancient tool, and humanity is programmed
to engage with them emotionally and viscerally. Similarly, the mask
(03:35):
is at the heart of Mexican Lucha Liberte. As powerful
as the mask is, it doesn't make it easier on
the luchao. In fact, fighting with a mask is much
harder than fighting without one. Today we're going to talk
about the experience of wearing a mask as a luchador,
and we're also going to talk about the luchador who
(03:55):
started the mask tradition, who, believe it or not, wasn't
a Mexican. I am Santos Escobara, the Emperor of Lucha
Libre and a WWE superstar. For over twenty years, I
(04:16):
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
Lucha Libre with pride. Lucha Libre, it's tradition, its heritage,
(04:37):
its culture, Ladies and gentlemen. The following podcast is scheduled
for twelve episodes, and it's all about Lucha Libre. This
is Lucha Libre Behind the Mask, Episode two The Mask. Okay,
(05:01):
so you remember Don Chava Luteto right, father of Lucha Livre. Well,
he's also responsible for bringing the first masked wrestler to Mexico,
and this is how it happened. As we know, Don
Chava had problems presenting rucha live in Mexico. Everyone was
(05:22):
hot and cold. First, nobody trusted him, but then once
he started seeing success, things got better. One opportunity that
came back to the table after early success was holding
fights in the Arena Nacionale. One of the owners offered
to rent the arena to Don Java for all of
his cards. Woo. Sounds great, right, but the offer came
(05:46):
with a catch. If Don Chava refused, they would take
away all of his restorers and cut him out. Don
Chava had no choice but to accept, and starting in
October nineteen thirty three, the EMLLL began to organize fights
on Thursdays at the Rena and on Sundays at the Renamoello,
(06:08):
the other Mexico City arena we talked about last episode.
Things were more or less going okay, but then Don
Chava ran into another problem. One of the EML partners,
the one from the United States, split from the mL
and started running his own shows, and he took all
his wrestlers with him, including the Chino A Chiu and
(06:30):
Jackie Joe. You see this kind of thing all the
time in sports, most recently with Saudi Arabia's Leave Golf League,
which has effectively caused a crisis in golf. Big business
moves always come with casualties, and the rift in the
EML was no exception. But through the form, Donchava bounced
(06:50):
back and thought about how he could improve his cards
to make up for his last stars. His first move
was to partner with Frei Nano, who had founded La
Ficion de Lucha Leave It, a newspaper. Fry advised Don
Chava to start racing homegrown stars so he wouldn't have
to bring pricey lucha artists from abroad. Chava took the
(07:11):
advice and hired a martial arts expert to turn local
amateurs into professionals, and by April of nineteen thirty four,
just a year and a half after he started the EMLL,
Don Chava was back on track and on the cusp
of a massive stroke of good luck. And by luck,
(07:32):
I mean luck and a whim. Don Chava bought a
lottery ticket from a guy selling tickets at the arena
and he hit it big. If you need a new
pin number four to two. Four to two was the
winning number. Don Chava won forty thousand pesos that night,
(07:53):
enough money to throw a massive anniversary event for the EML.
He thought long and hard on how the event could
be special, something new and big. This was a chance
to recover some of the momentum he had lost when
he lost some of his star wrestlers to his former partner.
(08:13):
And at some point he remembered the fight he saw
in Texas. There was a certain wrestler who always entered
the ring with a mass well not quite a mask,
but a bala clava type thing he wore over his head,
revealing only his eyes and mouth, and Don Java said,
that's what I want. I want to introduce a masked
(08:35):
wrestler at the anniversary. Seems like such a simple strange choice,
doesn't it. You really think some dude in a balaklava
is going to help you make the comeback you need.
But in don Chava we trust, right, folks, Let's find out.
His first decision was who would this mask wrestler even be?
(08:56):
Most of his local talent wasn't ready yet. But after
sniffing around long and he landed on Cyclone. Mackie remember him.
He was a friendly looking guy who lost to Chino Achiu.
Donchava approached the irishman with the idea, and as it
turned out, Cyclone Macki had in fact already fought with
a mask back in the US. For all Java knew,
(09:17):
Cyclone was the very same mask wrestler he had seen
in a passo. Who knows, but we do have some
of the basic facts about Maki. His real name was
Corbin Massi, and he was one of the many Luca
looties who used the balaklava and the name masked Marble
while fighting in the United States. Some accounts say that
(09:39):
wearing a mask was actually Massi's idea because he was
ashamed to show his face in Mexico, where he had
lost to Achi whoever's idea it was, Massi was going
to be the guy who was a surprise wrestler at
Don Java's big event. So wrestler check. Next up mask
(10:03):
Chava put the job on Massy and to get the mask,
he was going to have to find someone in Mexico
to make something like the one he used back when
he was one of the mask marvels in Texas. Remember
back then, there was no Internet, no smartphones, no knockofs
from China. If you wanted to find something past, you
(10:24):
had to get out on the streets and start asking around.
So the Irish man started by asking his fellow lucelloes
if anyone knew at place in Charro Wayo. A fellow
wrestler said he had a guy. Massi knew Charo from
the days when they were both wrestling in the States. Anyway,
Charro had been in Mexico for a while at this
point and knew everyone associated with Lucha Libre, including all
(10:48):
the best cobblers. The shoemaker Charo had in mind was
named Antonio Martinez. Charro told Massi he was the best
guy for a mask because Charro had success as fully
ordered custom work from him in the past. Massi would
have found Antonio sooner rather than later, even without Charles's wreck.
Antonio shop was right near Adnan Nacional, and he focused
(11:12):
exclusively on making boots for boxers, so when Lucha lib
arrived to Mexico, he quickly fell in love with it.
Antonio became a committed fan of Charles. If he was
in the arena while Charro was wrestling, he would help
him up if he got knocked out of the ring.
After everyone had left, Antonio would wait for Charroo outside
(11:34):
of the arena to help him with his backs. Eventually
the two became friends, and so it happened that Charro
made the custom order he told Massy about. See until
that time, Lucia dis wrestled in boxing boots which were
heavy and had thick soles. El Charro told him he
needed something, a lighter, something with thin soles so he
(11:58):
could be quick on his toes. Antonio took up the
challenge and designed something nimble and lightweight. The new boots
worked great, so great that other luceiaoders flocked to his
shop asking for a pair of their own. So on
the Fateful afternoon, El Chad brought the Irishman to Antonio's workshop.
The request a mask to cover his face was a
(12:21):
little unheard of, and at first Antonio was confused. Ahood,
he asked, like a monk, No MASSI said something tight
fitting that you couldn't pull off of someone's head. Antonio
didn't fully understand what the irishman had in mind, but
he took a few measurements and told them to come
back in a few weeks. Elpin son Araca persona but Yeshorman.
(12:52):
Now that's Victor, Antonio's son, his admitting that at first
his father thought you could size a mask to a
face the same way you can size a shoot to
a foot, but that obviously doesn't work that way. Victor
inherited his father's business and knows the whole story the
Primero and mask can Antonio made the mask out of
(13:14):
goat's skin, which was the softest material he could find.
He made holes for the mouth, nose, and ice, but
Victor says that his dad's first try was a disaster.
It was too tight in the loose places and too
loose in the tight places. Antonio kept trying new versions,
(13:35):
but nothing came close to comfortably fitting a person's face,
and this was a problem because he was out of time.
He's a lot of work. Window elapsed and Massy came
looking for his mask. When the Irishman tried on the
crude red mask, he ripped it off and got furious
it didn't fit at all. He cursed the poor man out,
(13:57):
threw money at him, and stormed out of the shot.
He did walk out with the mask though, even though
it did not fit and didn't even look good. For
that matter, MASSI had a deal with Don Java and
he knew he was going to have to worry no
matter what. And trust me, I've been in those shoes before,
(14:19):
and that's exactly what happened. At the anniversary show on
September twenty first, nineteen thirty four, for the first time,
the Mexican audience was introduced to a masked Lucha Libre wrestler.
That night, a battle between two four inners started the action.
One was an American known for being super rough and
(14:40):
dangerous in the ring. He got the crowd on his feet,
but as soon as they realized how dirty he was fighting,
started booing him. They kept booing him for the duration
of the fight, which wasn't long because the gringo quickly
disqualified himself for breaking so many rules. Next up were
(15:05):
the headliners, Fine, a restaurer from Texas who already had
earned himself an impressive streak of victories, and the crowd
knew well a completely. There was a Lucello in the
(15:37):
corner that was much certain. He was a man, He
was big, he was strong. But who was he? Where
was he from? His face was covered with the red mask,
and the audience could only guess n Java's instinct was right.
The mystery of a mask lue Cello made the crowd
absolutely crazy. We don't have many details about the fight,
(16:05):
but what's certain is that after three falls, the undisputed
champion was the irishman hidden behind the red mask. The
next day, the sports papers were dripping with headlines about
the masked wrestler, the mysterious incognito. The officion went so
(16:29):
far as to publish an open letter to the wrestler,
who are you, mask man? Tell us who you are.
To everyone's surprise, the wrestler growed back for reasons, I'm
not at liberty to share. No one, for any reason,
can know my identity. Ah, what a tease. Whoever it
(16:52):
was signed the note the mask marvel, Rumors and gossip
chease me, we say in Mexico spread like wildfire. Some
people said the masked wrestler was an European aristocrat who
had to make sure his family never found out what
he was up to lest he lose his status or inheritance.
(17:16):
That's a good reason to mask yourself up. Others said
that he was a played out wrestler no one wanted
to hire anymore, so this was his way back in.
I know a few that have done the same thing.
Even with all the suspicions, doubts and theories, one thing
was certain. La Manville Mascarada was an absolute heat on phenomenon. Massy,
(17:44):
of course, was thrilled. Who doesn't want to win and
what professional entertainer doesn't want to be at the center
of the conversation. I know, I do. His only gripe
was with the mask. It just didn't fit. Given Antonio's work,
Massi took advantage of the trip to Europe to see
(18:06):
if he could find someone there who could make what
he needed weel shack dot a. According to Victor Antonio's son,
Massy went all over Europe, France, Italy, Germany, but no
one wanted to help him because they didn't want to
get it wrong, and so the Irishman went back to
(18:28):
Mexico and showed up at Antonio's shop with his tail
between his legs, asking for another mask. Antonio knew he
had made some mistakes on the mask, but hadn't forgotten
how badly the Irishman had treated him, so he refused
to make another mask, saying he had already wasted too
much time and material on this project and that working
(18:50):
with that veto just wasn't worth it. The Irishman had
no choice but to humble himself. He apologized for everything
and offered to pay in full for any additional materials
in labor Antonia decided to give him another chance. Victor
explains that this time Antonio did it differently. He developed
(19:14):
a far more sophisticated system, which included seventeen different measurements
of Mass's face. It's the same set of measurements that
Victor still uses today. Antonio changed up his materials this
time around as well. The first time he had made
the mask with two pieces of leather, this time there
(19:34):
would be four. Another change was he left the back
of the mask open for flexibility. Antonio also added laces
to better secure the mask while the wrestlers moved just
like shoelaces, but for your head. The Irishman went back
to the workshop to try on the new version and
was thrilled it fit like a globe. In fact, the
(19:57):
design was so effective that it's been almost a century
and the mask has stayed the same. Victor has kept
the formula exactly the same, just like a perfect molipoblano recipe. Okay,
so back to the action. La Maraville and Mascarada started
(20:18):
showing up all over town on posters. The fans not
only accepted this new breed of mask wrestler, they loved
him as for the actual red mask, with the sweat
and the ewes. It would feed the irishmen better and better.
So he asked Antonio to make six more so he
would have a supply. He would need them because over
(20:41):
the next few years, La Maraville Mascarada had fights all
across Mexico. He defeated famous Luca ODIs from all over
the world, and his career went through the roof. By
nineteen thirty six, it is fair to say La Maravillen
Mascarrada was a megastar and On November fourth, the newspapers
(21:01):
in Mexico City announced he would face off against the
Syrian wrestler ben Ali mara Lla, also known as Al
Shaikh and no it's not the same one that used
to troll Hulk Hogan day in and day out. The
match would be a lucha de abostas mask versus hair. Now,
(21:24):
Lucha Theoistas are a huge part of Lucha libre and
if you don't know about them, listen close with Alucha
the aboised us. Everything is at stake for Ali, his
hair was on the line. That meant if he lost,
he would have to cut his hair in front of
the whole arena. And if the mask Restaural lost, well,
(21:46):
he would have to take off his mask, ending the
mystery of his identity. The fight went down on November fifth,
nineteen thirty six. We don't know the details, we do
know the result. One of the restlers lost the wager
and their career was changed forever. It was the Irishman.
(22:13):
He could not overcome the Chikh and lost the fight.
When the time came for him to remove his mask,
Arina Nacional descended into chaos and the crowd rushed the ring.
They were shouting, whistling, and moving as close to the
mask restler as possible. Everyone was dying to know who
had been hiding behind the red mask for the past
(22:35):
two years, and without even knowing it, the crowd that
night witnessed something historic, the first Mexican Lucha lit a
match where Luchalord was unmasked. De Luchadord pulled off his
mask and dropped it to the match and the crowd
learned the truth. It was Coorbin Massy, the beloved Irish
(22:57):
known as Cyclone Macki. The defeat destroyed Corbin. He was
so undone that he went all the way back to
the US where he had started his career, never to
return to Mehic, but nevertheless, thanks to Massi's run, masks
(23:18):
for here to stay. In fact, this was just the
beginning of the tradition. But before we get there, let's
check in on Donchava littro So. In nineteen thirty five,
he decided to give up wrestling and try his hand
at the furniture sales again. He opened a new shop.
Just kidding, just kidding, Donchava isn't going to let us
(23:40):
down like that. Things were actually going great for him.
Lucha liiver was so successful in the capital city that
he had started organizing fights all over the country, Puebla, Monterey, Vera, Cruz, Guadalajara, Pachuca, everywhere. Really,
business was absolutely booming. But then Arena Nationale, the one
(24:02):
in the historic center of Mexico City, caught fire. Arena
Nationale is the one owned by the guys who forced
Donchava to rent from them. But by the time this
fire was over, there was nothing but ash. There would
be no more boxing or wrestling matches. It was hard
(24:23):
to find even a single seat that wasn't fully destroyed.
The fire freed don Chava from the less than ideal
business commitments with the arena owners, but also left him
without a premier venue for his shows. Don Chava decided
he wasn't going to put himself in a precarious renting
position ever again, so he got down to work and
(24:46):
started building the new arena from the ground up. It
was called the Arena Colisel. He was able to finance
the ambitious construction with another windfall, and guess where it
came from. He won the lottery again. Seriously, some people
(25:06):
don't believe it, and maybe you don't either. But that's
how the story goes and wherever the money came from.
Thanks to don't Chava's good luck, Lucha Libre stayed alive.
Let's post for a second to look at the calendar.
It's now nineteen thirty eight. In a year, Germany will
(25:29):
invade Poland and start World War Two. In Mexico, a
new president is about to make the enormous decision to
nationalize Mexico's oil industry. We're only a few decades away
from the era where every home in the developed world
has a TV. Things are moving quickly, and Lucha Libri
was also on the move because on April third, nineteen
(25:52):
thirty eight, the first mass restaurant one hundred percent born,
raised and trained in Mexico, stepped onto the MEHAE can
lose a scene. The mask Bat his first match was
(26:13):
one for the ages, and frankly, I guarantee you it
must have been better than any Batman movie. They say.
The mask Bat entered the arena in a black mask
and wearing a great black cape, something like Hercules meets Dracula.
Maybe he walked slowly towards the ring, surveying the audience,
(26:35):
menacing mysterious daring the crowd to question him. Here's a
play by play account. With each step he took towards
the ring, a step of darkness followed, like the feeling
of being followed by footsteps. The arena was dead and silent.
He was the master of suspense crawls, just thinking about it.
(27:02):
Once the crowd finally came to their senses. Not really
knowing what else to do, they began to whistle. Finally,
the bat made it to the ring. There, looking out
of the crowd, he raised his right hand, blessing the audience.
Some people responded positively, but others saw the gesture as
(27:25):
a provocation and started to yell at him. Then, in
one fluid movement, with the grace of a magician, the
bat took off his cloak and something extraordinary happened. According
to one account, a cloud of bats flew forth and,
blinded by the lights of the arena, flew up towards
(27:47):
the ceiling. For a moment, the arena was silent. This
was absolutely unheard of, and for this Mexican crowd it
was too dark to stomach. Everyone resumed their attack on
the bat, screaming insults at him. People even threw beer
bottles and cigarettes at him. The mask Bat would need
(28:12):
an easy opponent when the crowd was this much against him,
but that was not to be because he was up
against Jack O'Brien, an Italian Mexican citizen who has been
immortalized in Lucha libre history because of several holds he invented,
like the deadly tirabuson for examply, a challenging hold where
you make your opponent immobile by grabbing their wrists and
(28:35):
twisting their arm so their chest is unprotected and they
can move their neck. We don't have too many details
from the match, but we do know that Jack O'Brien won.
It was the Bat that beat himself. He didn't lose
on falls. It was disqualified for bringing too many rules
eye gouging, binding, hair pulling, closed fist punches. Who knows
(28:59):
how many, he wrote. Nobody could keep count chit loser
respect the rules. The entire arena had turned against him,
and the referee as well. Of course, who was this
mask rudo? Who was this dirty fighting bat? No one
there knew, of course, but I'm going to tell you
(29:21):
the whole story. The real name of the mask Bat
was Jesus Velasquez Quintero. He was born February twenty second,
nineteen ten, on a small ranch in Guanajuato, a city
in central Mexico. This is where the mummies are. As
(29:44):
a kid, Velasquez loved going to luchai Vermatchez and he
knew from an early age that he wanted to be
a lucello. It's possible the first wrestling show he ever
saw was the one year anniversary of EMLL the spectacular
fight we talked about earlier and see that would track
because if Belasquez was there, he also was likely blown
(30:06):
away by the presence of a mysterious mask wrestler, La
Maravillen Mascarada. Whether he was there or not, it was
that tradition that he followed, and despite losing that first match,
the mask bat had a glorious future ahead of him.
He quickly recovered from the loss and started rocking up wins.
Within a few months, he was one of the most
(30:26):
well known lucca otes in the country. To show just
how famous he was, I'm going to tell you a
little story. I already mentioned how Donchava Lutode had started
recruiting and training amateur wrestlers to become professionals. Right, Well,
(30:47):
one of these guys graduates from training and makes his
debut in the ring. He comes out for the first
time to introduce himself, and he introduces himself as none
other than El Murcielago Mascarado Segundo, the mask Bat two. Seriously,
who is this guy? Blaskis must have thought, until now
(31:11):
he'd been the one and only bat in the luchalire universe.
How many mask bats can one sport have. He had
no idea who this wrestler could have been, or that
this kind of thing could even happen. It was so
far from reality that the Mexican Boxing Commission certainly didn't
have any rules about such a thing. But Belaskis went
to them to complain, no one should be able to
(31:34):
take my name, he surely thought. One thing Belascas didn't
know was that it wasn't the restler's idea to steal
the name, but actually his trainer. The trainer thought this
would be a quick way to get a new wrestler
a little bit of name recognition, fame by association. Right,
that's how big the mask Bat already was on the
(31:54):
wrestling circuit. The mask Bat one sued mask beat two
and one. The title of Elmurci Mascarado was his and
his alone, and the other wrestler had to stop using
it immediately. Belasquez carried on and by the time nineteen
(32:16):
forty began, his career was boosted by a rivalry with
another Luca lord named Octavio Gahana, a world middleweight champion.
Don't ask me why or how this rivalry started, because
I don't know, but what seems to have happened is
that during their first clash things got quite violent. To
(32:38):
raise the stakes, Gahana challenged the Bat to a rematch
una Lucha de Apostas, this time with the Bat's mask
on the line, the stipulation if he lost, he would
have to take it off. The Bat agreed, but on
one condition. The stipulation if Gahana lost, he would have
(33:00):
to cut his hair off. Despite the massive match, many
referred to this match as the very first Luca de
albostas in the Lucha Libre universe or wager fight. Whether
it was the first or the second, this match helped
make the Lucha de ap ostas popular, and they have
since become a hallmark of Mexican lucha Liba, an invaluable
(33:24):
heritage in the Lucha Libre universe. To prepare for the
big rematch, each wrestler fought in a series of smaller
matches against other wrestlers. During this time, the BAT went
on a winning streak, winning four strade matches where the
losers had to cut their hair off. Then, in July
(33:45):
nineteen forty, the scheduled rematch game. We don't know the specifics,
but we do know the bad lost and with La
Marville Mascarada, everyone was dying to know who the man
behind the mask was. Now. Remember when Massive lost, he
(34:12):
ran back to the US broken because everyone knew who
he was. But the stars delivered different destinies to every Luccao,
and for the Bat, it was different l Murcilla when
Mascarado was revealed as Jesus Belskis, but he simply pivoted
(34:33):
to the simplest option possible, El Murceilla Gobleskis. From here on,
he fought without a mask. He even beat Gayona in
a rematch and became the national champion. Velaska's time at
the top was short lived, however. Just a year after
(34:54):
he won the title in nineteen forty three, he lost
the belt to none other than the restler who had
that first years the name El Murciela Mascarado Segundo. It
appears Velasquez had won in court but lost in the
ring where it counts that Lucador's name was Rodolfo Gusman,
and by the time he beat the bag his new
(35:16):
name was already known, El sand Ellen Mascarado de Plata,
the one with the silver Mask. He's one of the greatest,
if not the greatest, legend in the Lucha Libre universe.
And I'm going to tell you everything about the incredible
story of Elsando on the next episode of Lucha Libre
(35:37):
Behind the Mask. Lucha Libre Behind the Mask, hosted by
Santos Escobar, produced by Fernande Strada, Argumelo and Mariana Coronell
Written in Spanish by Tania Lopez and adapted in English
(35:58):
by ASA Merit editor Rodrigo Crespo. Fact checking by Monserrad Maldonado,
Research and interviews by Mariana Coronel with help from Fernandez Strada,
Daniel Padilla and Saul Cortes. Mixed and sound designed by
Daniel Padilla. Studio Recordings in Orlando, Florida by High Hello Studios.
(36:20):
Studio recordings in Mexico City by Daniel Padilla, Fernando ga
Laviz and Andres Baena in Sonoro Studios. Development by Rodrigo Crespo.
Executive producers Camilla Victoriano and Joshu Weinstein for Sonorro and
Gisel Beancez for iheartsmikeel Tura Podcast Network. Marketing strategy and
(36:41):
execution by Claudia Fernandez, Mariana Herera, Paola Perez, Mariana Baron,
Wendy Varva and Bernice Soto. Head of Marketing, Susanna Marina.
Lucha Libre Behind the Mask is a Sonoro original series
for Iheartsmichael Tura podcast Network. Listen to more podcasts in
(37:01):
the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
your favorite shows. Agradecimentos Specialist Para Victor Ortiz E, Patricia
Celis Vanegas, Covered Art Carlos Miranda. Thank you to the
CMLL for the permissions granted to record ambient audio in
(37:23):
their facilities
If I ask you to think about Mexican wrestling, the
first thing that probably comes to mind is the iconic
luchador mask. And that's not surprise, because you could say
that the mask is the very soul of the sport.
Perhaps its most mysterious use is that it protects a
luchador's identity. If you're a lucha or there's value to
(00:23):
keeping your name secret, and the mask makes that possible.
The mask is also your source of power. Because no
one knows who you are, you can be whoever you
want to be. It's counterintuitive but true. I have had
the opportunity to wear a mask in my career, and
(00:43):
I can tell you when you put it on and
walk into that ring, you feel invincible. With the mask,
You're still yourself, but it's another version of you. The
mask has its own personality, and giving yourself over to it,
it's accelerated. Even anthropologists know about the power of a mask.
(01:08):
In Lucca.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Non la Marca Ecomo la col Fonamenta.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Patricia Seliz is an anthropologist from Argentina who has been
researching wrestling for over ten years. There, she's talking about
how the mask and the wrestler are related and how
the mask is at the foundation of a luchador's character,
that there's a synthesis, and she's completely right. When I
put on the mask, I do what the mask asks
(01:45):
of me. It tells me how to move and what
to do. It even tells me how to talk. Sure,
I'm the guy wearing the mask, but the mask is
calling the shots. Well, the mask and the crowd. Patricia
(02:06):
explains that without the crowd, there is no character. It's
an ongoing conversation, a transaction and exchange. I give one thing,
the crowd gives back, and together we make heroes and villains.
The process is especially magical when a new mask loocher
(02:29):
door enters the ring for the first time. It's a
blank slate for the audience and anything is possible. You
just don't know how it's going to go. No one does.
Maybe they'll accept you right off bed cheering and clapping,
or maybe it'll go in the other direction and they'll
(02:49):
try to boo you out of the arena. If you
really get on their bad side, they'll even start insulting
your mother. So you have to convince them. You have
to win them over. It's something all luchaot is have
to do, but especially the ones who enter the ring
with a mask. The mask is so powerful that it
(03:10):
lends the sport a mystical quality. Just think about indigenous
tribes who wear masks in ceremonies, or now theater in Japan,
or even the mask that killers were in slasher films.
A mask is an ancient tool, and humanity is programmed
to engage with them emotionally and viscerally. Similarly, the mask
(03:35):
is at the heart of Mexican Lucha Liberte. As powerful
as the mask is, it doesn't make it easier on
the luchao. In fact, fighting with a mask is much
harder than fighting without one. Today we're going to talk
about the experience of wearing a mask as a luchador,
and we're also going to talk about the luchador who
(03:55):
started the mask tradition, who, believe it or not, wasn't
a Mexican. I am Santos Escobara, the Emperor of Lucha
Libre and a WWE superstar. For over twenty years, I
(04:16):
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
Lucha Libre with pride. Lucha Libre, it's tradition, its heritage,
(04:37):
its culture, Ladies and gentlemen. The following podcast is scheduled
for twelve episodes, and it's all about Lucha Libre. This
is Lucha Libre Behind the Mask, Episode two The Mask. Okay,
(05:01):
so you remember Don Chava Luteto right, father of Lucha Livre. Well,
he's also responsible for bringing the first masked wrestler to Mexico,
and this is how it happened. As we know, Don
Chava had problems presenting rucha live in Mexico. Everyone was
(05:22):
hot and cold. First, nobody trusted him, but then once
he started seeing success, things got better. One opportunity that
came back to the table after early success was holding
fights in the Arena Nacionale. One of the owners offered
to rent the arena to Don Java for all of
his cards. Woo. Sounds great, right, but the offer came
(05:46):
with a catch. If Don Chava refused, they would take
away all of his restorers and cut him out. Don
Chava had no choice but to accept, and starting in
October nineteen thirty three, the EMLLL began to organize fights
on Thursdays at the Rena and on Sundays at the Renamoello,
(06:08):
the other Mexico City arena we talked about last episode.
Things were more or less going okay, but then Don
Chava ran into another problem. One of the EML partners,
the one from the United States, split from the mL
and started running his own shows, and he took all
his wrestlers with him, including the Chino A Chiu and
(06:30):
Jackie Joe. You see this kind of thing all the
time in sports, most recently with Saudi Arabia's Leave Golf League,
which has effectively caused a crisis in golf. Big business
moves always come with casualties, and the rift in the
EML was no exception. But through the form, Donchava bounced
(06:50):
back and thought about how he could improve his cards
to make up for his last stars. His first move
was to partner with Frei Nano, who had founded La
Ficion de Lucha Leave It, a newspaper. Fry advised Don
Chava to start racing homegrown stars so he wouldn't have
to bring pricey lucha artists from abroad. Chava took the
(07:11):
advice and hired a martial arts expert to turn local
amateurs into professionals, and by April of nineteen thirty four,
just a year and a half after he started the EMLL,
Don Chava was back on track and on the cusp
of a massive stroke of good luck. And by luck,
(07:32):
I mean luck and a whim. Don Chava bought a
lottery ticket from a guy selling tickets at the arena
and he hit it big. If you need a new
pin number four to two. Four to two was the
winning number. Don Chava won forty thousand pesos that night,
(07:53):
enough money to throw a massive anniversary event for the EML.
He thought long and hard on how the event could
be special, something new and big. This was a chance
to recover some of the momentum he had lost when
he lost some of his star wrestlers to his former partner.
(08:13):
And at some point he remembered the fight he saw
in Texas. There was a certain wrestler who always entered
the ring with a mass well not quite a mask,
but a bala clava type thing he wore over his head,
revealing only his eyes and mouth, and Don Java said,
that's what I want. I want to introduce a masked
(08:35):
wrestler at the anniversary. Seems like such a simple strange choice,
doesn't it. You really think some dude in a balaklava
is going to help you make the comeback you need.
But in don Chava we trust, right, folks, Let's find out.
His first decision was who would this mask wrestler even be?
(08:56):
Most of his local talent wasn't ready yet. But after
sniffing around long and he landed on Cyclone. Mackie remember him.
He was a friendly looking guy who lost to Chino Achiu.
Donchava approached the irishman with the idea, and as it
turned out, Cyclone Macki had in fact already fought with
a mask back in the US. For all Java knew,
(09:17):
Cyclone was the very same mask wrestler he had seen
in a passo. Who knows, but we do have some
of the basic facts about Maki. His real name was
Corbin Massi, and he was one of the many Luca
looties who used the balaklava and the name masked Marble
while fighting in the United States. Some accounts say that
(09:39):
wearing a mask was actually Massi's idea because he was
ashamed to show his face in Mexico, where he had
lost to Achi whoever's idea it was, Massi was going
to be the guy who was a surprise wrestler at
Don Java's big event. So wrestler check. Next up mask
(10:03):
Chava put the job on Massy and to get the mask,
he was going to have to find someone in Mexico
to make something like the one he used back when
he was one of the mask marvels in Texas. Remember
back then, there was no Internet, no smartphones, no knockofs
from China. If you wanted to find something past, you
(10:24):
had to get out on the streets and start asking around.
So the Irish man started by asking his fellow lucelloes
if anyone knew at place in Charro Wayo. A fellow
wrestler said he had a guy. Massi knew Charo from
the days when they were both wrestling in the States. Anyway,
Charro had been in Mexico for a while at this
point and knew everyone associated with Lucha Libre, including all
(10:48):
the best cobblers. The shoemaker Charo had in mind was
named Antonio Martinez. Charro told Massi he was the best
guy for a mask because Charro had success as fully
ordered custom work from him in the past. Massi would
have found Antonio sooner rather than later, even without Charles's wreck.
Antonio shop was right near Adnan Nacional, and he focused
(11:12):
exclusively on making boots for boxers, so when Lucha lib
arrived to Mexico, he quickly fell in love with it.
Antonio became a committed fan of Charles. If he was
in the arena while Charro was wrestling, he would help
him up if he got knocked out of the ring.
After everyone had left, Antonio would wait for Charroo outside
(11:34):
of the arena to help him with his backs. Eventually
the two became friends, and so it happened that Charro
made the custom order he told Massy about. See until
that time, Lucia dis wrestled in boxing boots which were
heavy and had thick soles. El Charro told him he
needed something, a lighter, something with thin soles so he
(11:58):
could be quick on his toes. Antonio took up the
challenge and designed something nimble and lightweight. The new boots
worked great, so great that other luceiaoders flocked to his
shop asking for a pair of their own. So on
the Fateful afternoon, El Chad brought the Irishman to Antonio's workshop.
The request a mask to cover his face was a
(12:21):
little unheard of, and at first Antonio was confused. Ahood,
he asked, like a monk, No MASSI said something tight
fitting that you couldn't pull off of someone's head. Antonio
didn't fully understand what the irishman had in mind, but
he took a few measurements and told them to come
back in a few weeks. Elpin son Araca persona but Yeshorman.
(12:52):
Now that's Victor, Antonio's son, his admitting that at first
his father thought you could size a mask to a
face the same way you can size a shoot to
a foot, but that obviously doesn't work that way. Victor
inherited his father's business and knows the whole story the
Primero and mask can Antonio made the mask out of
(13:14):
goat's skin, which was the softest material he could find.
He made holes for the mouth, nose, and ice, but
Victor says that his dad's first try was a disaster.
It was too tight in the loose places and too
loose in the tight places. Antonio kept trying new versions,
(13:35):
but nothing came close to comfortably fitting a person's face,
and this was a problem because he was out of time.
He's a lot of work. Window elapsed and Massy came
looking for his mask. When the Irishman tried on the
crude red mask, he ripped it off and got furious
it didn't fit at all. He cursed the poor man out,
(13:57):
threw money at him, and stormed out of the shot.
He did walk out with the mask though, even though
it did not fit and didn't even look good. For
that matter, MASSI had a deal with Don Java and
he knew he was going to have to worry no
matter what. And trust me, I've been in those shoes before,
(14:19):
and that's exactly what happened. At the anniversary show on
September twenty first, nineteen thirty four, for the first time,
the Mexican audience was introduced to a masked Lucha Libre wrestler.
That night, a battle between two four inners started the action.
One was an American known for being super rough and
(14:40):
dangerous in the ring. He got the crowd on his feet,
but as soon as they realized how dirty he was fighting,
started booing him. They kept booing him for the duration
of the fight, which wasn't long because the gringo quickly
disqualified himself for breaking so many rules. Next up were
(15:05):
the headliners, Fine, a restaurer from Texas who already had
earned himself an impressive streak of victories, and the crowd
knew well a completely. There was a Lucello in the
(15:37):
corner that was much certain. He was a man, He
was big, he was strong. But who was he? Where
was he from? His face was covered with the red mask,
and the audience could only guess n Java's instinct was right.
The mystery of a mask lue Cello made the crowd
absolutely crazy. We don't have many details about the fight,
(16:05):
but what's certain is that after three falls, the undisputed
champion was the irishman hidden behind the red mask. The
next day, the sports papers were dripping with headlines about
the masked wrestler, the mysterious incognito. The officion went so
(16:29):
far as to publish an open letter to the wrestler,
who are you, mask man? Tell us who you are.
To everyone's surprise, the wrestler growed back for reasons, I'm
not at liberty to share. No one, for any reason,
can know my identity. Ah, what a tease. Whoever it
(16:52):
was signed the note the mask marvel, Rumors and gossip
chease me, we say in Mexico spread like wildfire. Some
people said the masked wrestler was an European aristocrat who
had to make sure his family never found out what
he was up to lest he lose his status or inheritance.
(17:16):
That's a good reason to mask yourself up. Others said
that he was a played out wrestler no one wanted
to hire anymore, so this was his way back in.
I know a few that have done the same thing.
Even with all the suspicions, doubts and theories, one thing
was certain. La Manville Mascarada was an absolute heat on phenomenon. Massy,
(17:44):
of course, was thrilled. Who doesn't want to win and
what professional entertainer doesn't want to be at the center
of the conversation. I know, I do. His only gripe
was with the mask. It just didn't fit. Given Antonio's work,
Massi took advantage of the trip to Europe to see
(18:06):
if he could find someone there who could make what
he needed weel shack dot a. According to Victor Antonio's son,
Massy went all over Europe, France, Italy, Germany, but no
one wanted to help him because they didn't want to
get it wrong, and so the Irishman went back to
(18:28):
Mexico and showed up at Antonio's shop with his tail
between his legs, asking for another mask. Antonio knew he
had made some mistakes on the mask, but hadn't forgotten
how badly the Irishman had treated him, so he refused
to make another mask, saying he had already wasted too
much time and material on this project and that working
(18:50):
with that veto just wasn't worth it. The Irishman had
no choice but to humble himself. He apologized for everything
and offered to pay in full for any additional materials
in labor Antonia decided to give him another chance. Victor
explains that this time Antonio did it differently. He developed
(19:14):
a far more sophisticated system, which included seventeen different measurements
of Mass's face. It's the same set of measurements that
Victor still uses today. Antonio changed up his materials this
time around as well. The first time he had made
the mask with two pieces of leather, this time there
(19:34):
would be four. Another change was he left the back
of the mask open for flexibility. Antonio also added laces
to better secure the mask while the wrestlers moved just
like shoelaces, but for your head. The Irishman went back
to the workshop to try on the new version and
was thrilled it fit like a globe. In fact, the
(19:57):
design was so effective that it's been almost a century
and the mask has stayed the same. Victor has kept
the formula exactly the same, just like a perfect molipoblano recipe. Okay,
so back to the action. La Maraville and Mascarada started
(20:18):
showing up all over town on posters. The fans not
only accepted this new breed of mask wrestler, they loved
him as for the actual red mask, with the sweat
and the ewes. It would feed the irishmen better and better.
So he asked Antonio to make six more so he
would have a supply. He would need them because over
(20:41):
the next few years, La Maraville Mascarada had fights all
across Mexico. He defeated famous Luca ODIs from all over
the world, and his career went through the roof. By
nineteen thirty six, it is fair to say La Maravillen
Mascarrada was a megastar and On November fourth, the newspapers
(21:01):
in Mexico City announced he would face off against the
Syrian wrestler ben Ali mara Lla, also known as Al
Shaikh and no it's not the same one that used
to troll Hulk Hogan day in and day out. The
match would be a lucha de abostas mask versus hair. Now,
(21:24):
Lucha Theoistas are a huge part of Lucha libre and
if you don't know about them, listen close with Alucha
the aboised us. Everything is at stake for Ali, his
hair was on the line. That meant if he lost,
he would have to cut his hair in front of
the whole arena. And if the mask Restaural lost, well,
(21:46):
he would have to take off his mask, ending the
mystery of his identity. The fight went down on November fifth,
nineteen thirty six. We don't know the details, we do
know the result. One of the restlers lost the wager
and their career was changed forever. It was the Irishman.
(22:13):
He could not overcome the Chikh and lost the fight.
When the time came for him to remove his mask,
Arina Nacional descended into chaos and the crowd rushed the ring.
They were shouting, whistling, and moving as close to the
mask restler as possible. Everyone was dying to know who
had been hiding behind the red mask for the past
(22:35):
two years, and without even knowing it, the crowd that
night witnessed something historic, the first Mexican Lucha lit a
match where Luchalord was unmasked. De Luchadord pulled off his
mask and dropped it to the match and the crowd
learned the truth. It was Coorbin Massy, the beloved Irish
(22:57):
known as Cyclone Macki. The defeat destroyed Corbin. He was
so undone that he went all the way back to
the US where he had started his career, never to
return to Mehic, but nevertheless, thanks to Massi's run, masks
(23:18):
for here to stay. In fact, this was just the
beginning of the tradition. But before we get there, let's
check in on Donchava littro So. In nineteen thirty five,
he decided to give up wrestling and try his hand
at the furniture sales again. He opened a new shop.
Just kidding, just kidding, Donchava isn't going to let us
(23:40):
down like that. Things were actually going great for him.
Lucha liiver was so successful in the capital city that
he had started organizing fights all over the country, Puebla, Monterey, Vera, Cruz, Guadalajara, Pachuca, everywhere. Really,
business was absolutely booming. But then Arena Nationale, the one
(24:02):
in the historic center of Mexico City, caught fire. Arena
Nationale is the one owned by the guys who forced
Donchava to rent from them. But by the time this
fire was over, there was nothing but ash. There would
be no more boxing or wrestling matches. It was hard
(24:23):
to find even a single seat that wasn't fully destroyed.
The fire freed don Chava from the less than ideal
business commitments with the arena owners, but also left him
without a premier venue for his shows. Don Chava decided
he wasn't going to put himself in a precarious renting
position ever again, so he got down to work and
(24:46):
started building the new arena from the ground up. It
was called the Arena Colisel. He was able to finance
the ambitious construction with another windfall, and guess where it
came from. He won the lottery again. Seriously, some people
(25:06):
don't believe it, and maybe you don't either. But that's
how the story goes and wherever the money came from.
Thanks to don't Chava's good luck, Lucha Libre stayed alive.
Let's post for a second to look at the calendar.
It's now nineteen thirty eight. In a year, Germany will
(25:29):
invade Poland and start World War Two. In Mexico, a
new president is about to make the enormous decision to
nationalize Mexico's oil industry. We're only a few decades away
from the era where every home in the developed world
has a TV. Things are moving quickly, and Lucha Libri
was also on the move because on April third, nineteen
(25:52):
thirty eight, the first mass restaurant one hundred percent born,
raised and trained in Mexico, stepped onto the MEHAE can
lose a scene. The mask Bat his first match was
(26:13):
one for the ages, and frankly, I guarantee you it
must have been better than any Batman movie. They say.
The mask Bat entered the arena in a black mask
and wearing a great black cape, something like Hercules meets Dracula.
Maybe he walked slowly towards the ring, surveying the audience,
(26:35):
menacing mysterious daring the crowd to question him. Here's a
play by play account. With each step he took towards
the ring, a step of darkness followed, like the feeling
of being followed by footsteps. The arena was dead and silent.
He was the master of suspense crawls, just thinking about it.
(27:02):
Once the crowd finally came to their senses. Not really
knowing what else to do, they began to whistle. Finally,
the bat made it to the ring. There, looking out
of the crowd, he raised his right hand, blessing the audience.
Some people responded positively, but others saw the gesture as
(27:25):
a provocation and started to yell at him. Then, in
one fluid movement, with the grace of a magician, the
bat took off his cloak and something extraordinary happened. According
to one account, a cloud of bats flew forth and,
blinded by the lights of the arena, flew up towards
(27:47):
the ceiling. For a moment, the arena was silent. This
was absolutely unheard of, and for this Mexican crowd it
was too dark to stomach. Everyone resumed their attack on
the bat, screaming insults at him. People even threw beer
bottles and cigarettes at him. The mask Bat would need
(28:12):
an easy opponent when the crowd was this much against him,
but that was not to be because he was up
against Jack O'Brien, an Italian Mexican citizen who has been
immortalized in Lucha libre history because of several holds he invented,
like the deadly tirabuson for examply, a challenging hold where
you make your opponent immobile by grabbing their wrists and
(28:35):
twisting their arm so their chest is unprotected and they
can move their neck. We don't have too many details
from the match, but we do know that Jack O'Brien won.
It was the Bat that beat himself. He didn't lose
on falls. It was disqualified for bringing too many rules
eye gouging, binding, hair pulling, closed fist punches. Who knows
(28:59):
how many, he wrote. Nobody could keep count chit loser
respect the rules. The entire arena had turned against him,
and the referee as well. Of course, who was this
mask rudo? Who was this dirty fighting bat? No one
there knew, of course, but I'm going to tell you
(29:21):
the whole story. The real name of the mask Bat
was Jesus Velasquez Quintero. He was born February twenty second,
nineteen ten, on a small ranch in Guanajuato, a city
in central Mexico. This is where the mummies are. As
(29:44):
a kid, Velasquez loved going to luchai Vermatchez and he
knew from an early age that he wanted to be
a lucello. It's possible the first wrestling show he ever
saw was the one year anniversary of EMLL the spectacular
fight we talked about earlier and see that would track
because if Belasquez was there, he also was likely blown
(30:06):
away by the presence of a mysterious mask wrestler, La
Maravillen Mascarada. Whether he was there or not, it was
that tradition that he followed, and despite losing that first match,
the mask bat had a glorious future ahead of him.
He quickly recovered from the loss and started rocking up wins.
Within a few months, he was one of the most
(30:26):
well known lucca otes in the country. To show just
how famous he was, I'm going to tell you a
little story. I already mentioned how Donchava Lutode had started
recruiting and training amateur wrestlers to become professionals. Right, Well,
(30:47):
one of these guys graduates from training and makes his
debut in the ring. He comes out for the first
time to introduce himself, and he introduces himself as none
other than El Murcielago Mascarado Segundo, the mask Bat two. Seriously,
who is this guy? Blaskis must have thought, until now
(31:11):
he'd been the one and only bat in the luchalire universe.
How many mask bats can one sport have. He had
no idea who this wrestler could have been, or that
this kind of thing could even happen. It was so
far from reality that the Mexican Boxing Commission certainly didn't
have any rules about such a thing. But Belaskis went
to them to complain, no one should be able to
(31:34):
take my name, he surely thought. One thing Belascas didn't
know was that it wasn't the restler's idea to steal
the name, but actually his trainer. The trainer thought this
would be a quick way to get a new wrestler
a little bit of name recognition, fame by association. Right,
that's how big the mask Bat already was on the
(31:54):
wrestling circuit. The mask Bat one sued mask beat two
and one. The title of Elmurci Mascarado was his and
his alone, and the other wrestler had to stop using
it immediately. Belasquez carried on and by the time nineteen
(32:16):
forty began, his career was boosted by a rivalry with
another Luca lord named Octavio Gahana, a world middleweight champion.
Don't ask me why or how this rivalry started, because
I don't know, but what seems to have happened is
that during their first clash things got quite violent. To
(32:38):
raise the stakes, Gahana challenged the Bat to a rematch
una Lucha de Apostas, this time with the Bat's mask
on the line, the stipulation if he lost, he would
have to take it off. The Bat agreed, but on
one condition. The stipulation if Gahana lost, he would have
(33:00):
to cut his hair off. Despite the massive match, many
referred to this match as the very first Luca de
albostas in the Lucha Libre universe or wager fight. Whether
it was the first or the second, this match helped
make the Lucha de ap ostas popular, and they have
since become a hallmark of Mexican lucha Liba, an invaluable
(33:24):
heritage in the Lucha Libre universe. To prepare for the
big rematch, each wrestler fought in a series of smaller
matches against other wrestlers. During this time, the BAT went
on a winning streak, winning four strade matches where the
losers had to cut their hair off. Then, in July
(33:45):
nineteen forty, the scheduled rematch game. We don't know the specifics,
but we do know the bad lost and with La
Marville Mascarada, everyone was dying to know who the man
behind the mask was. Now. Remember when Massive lost, he
(34:12):
ran back to the US broken because everyone knew who
he was. But the stars delivered different destinies to every Luccao,
and for the Bat, it was different l Murcilla when
Mascarado was revealed as Jesus Belskis, but he simply pivoted
(34:33):
to the simplest option possible, El Murceilla Gobleskis. From here on,
he fought without a mask. He even beat Gayona in
a rematch and became the national champion. Velaska's time at
the top was short lived, however. Just a year after
(34:54):
he won the title in nineteen forty three, he lost
the belt to none other than the restler who had
that first years the name El Murciela Mascarado Segundo. It
appears Velasquez had won in court but lost in the
ring where it counts that Lucador's name was Rodolfo Gusman,
and by the time he beat the bag his new
(35:16):
name was already known, El sand Ellen Mascarado de Plata,
the one with the silver Mask. He's one of the greatest,
if not the greatest, legend in the Lucha Libre universe.
And I'm going to tell you everything about the incredible
story of Elsando on the next episode of Lucha Libre
(35:37):
Behind the Mask. Lucha Libre Behind the Mask, hosted by
Santos Escobar, produced by Fernande Strada, Argumelo and Mariana Coronell
Written in Spanish by Tania Lopez and adapted in English
(35:58):
by ASA Merit editor Rodrigo Crespo. Fact checking by Monserrad Maldonado,
Research and interviews by Mariana Coronel with help from Fernandez Strada,
Daniel Padilla and Saul Cortes. Mixed and sound designed by
Daniel Padilla. Studio Recordings in Orlando, Florida by High Hello Studios.
(36:20):
Studio recordings in Mexico City by Daniel Padilla, Fernando ga
Laviz and Andres Baena in Sonoro Studios. Development by Rodrigo Crespo.
Executive producers Camilla Victoriano and Joshu Weinstein for Sonorro and
Gisel Beancez for iheartsmikeel Tura Podcast Network. Marketing strategy and
(36:41):
execution by Claudia Fernandez, Mariana Herera, Paola Perez, Mariana Baron,
Wendy Varva and Bernice Soto. Head of Marketing, Susanna Marina.
Lucha Libre Behind the Mask is a Sonoro original series
for Iheartsmichael Tura podcast Network. Listen to more podcasts in
(37:01):
the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
your favorite shows. Agradecimentos Specialist Para Victor Ortiz E, Patricia
Celis Vanegas, Covered Art Carlos Miranda. Thank you to the
CMLL for the permissions granted to record ambient audio in
(37:23):
their facilities
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!