Great-ing Gimmicks of the Past: A Lucha Primer

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Great-ing Gimmicks of the Past: A Lucha Primer

I’ve been doing the Lucharan! column for a little over a year now, and I just realized that a lot of you may be wondering just how lucha works. After all, if you see it on television, it’s in Spanish, and what’s with all the funky rules? Here’s a quick breakdown on some of the differences between lucha and American wrestling.

Promotions

There are two major promotions in Mexico. The first is CMLL (Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre). The company was founded in 1933 as EMLL (Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre), which makes CMLL the oldest active wrestling promotion in the world. EMLL changed its name in 1991 when it pulled out of the NWA (one reason was to have the name include the word Mundial – or world). CMLL is currently owned by Paco Alonso, the grandson of company founder Salvador Lutteroth. CMLL has been broadcast in the States on Galavision, but currently can only be seen on Fox Sports Espanol with a one-hour show. CMLL approaches lucha with a more traditional outlook.

AAA was founded in 1992 by Antonio Pena. Pena had actually been the booker for CMLL when, dissatisfied, he left the company and founded AAA with a great deal of the up-and-coming CMLL talent (including Konnan, a legitimate main eventer). In addition, Pena headed to the Tijuana area, where he signed young luchadors such as Rey Misterio Jr., Psicosis, and Juventud Guerrera. Despite Pena’s death late last year, the company is still thriving. AAA is currently seen on weekends in the United States on Galavision, which runs their complete three-hour shows on Saturdays and Sundays. AAA runs a more “modern” product, which is beginning to incorporate ideas from the United States.

There is (naturally) a great deal of bad blood between the companies. They have put on joint shows in the past, but only when forced to by Televisa, the network that broadcasts both companies’ shows.

The Matches

Traditional lucha matches feature three man teams competing in best two out of three fall matches. Each team has a captain and two other members. To win a fall, both members or the captain of the other team must be pinned. In addition, if a disqualification takes place, the team automatically loses the fall.

Mask vs. mask and hair vs. hair matches are extremely important. Either of these matches usually indicates the end of a feud. A mask match is obviously important – since a mask is such an important part of a luchador’s identity, to lose it is considered extremely humiliating. (Of course, the humiliation is often eased by the large paycheck demanded to lose the mask. An example is LA Park – who reportedly is asking $100,000 to lose his mask.) The masks are so important because several luchadors (perhaps most famously El Santo) are buried wearing their masks.

Hair vs. hair matches follow much the same guidelines. To a luchador, losing his (or her) hair is just as humiliating as losing a mask.

There are also certain specialty matches. One which recently occurred in CMLL is the cage of death match. In that match, luchadors fight to escape the cage until only 2 are left. The final two wrestle under normal pinfall or submission rules.

Another specialty is the cibernetico match. In the cibernetico, there are usually two 5-man teams. They compete with one change to the rules – the luchadors come in and out in a strict order, like a baseball team at bat. The match continues until one team is completely eliminated.

Of course, the more familiar matches such as ladder matches and cage matches (which are sometimes electrified) are also making their way into the lucha scene – primarily in AAA. AAA is also more willing to show blood and use more hardcore-style matches than the more conservative CMLL.

The Rules

There are a few unusual rules in lucha compared to American wrestling. One of the easiest to explain is the fact that countouts go to twenty instead of ten.

Tags operate differently, too. Luchadors can tag each other in, but a tag also automatically occurs if a competitor leaves the ring.

The referees are also stricter on disqualifications. Of course, a low blow or a weapon shot is an instant DQ. So is pulling an opponent’s mask off. It is also possible to be disqualified for excessive brutality, either before or after the end of the match. Another banned move is any variation of piledriver.

Of course, no matter where the match takes place, where there are rules in wrestling you can be sure that there are ways of breaking them. It’s not uncommon to see a luchador fake a low blow or pull their own mask off behind the referee’s back and throw it to their opponent just in time for the referee to turn around and catch them.

Philosophy

One thing which may seem odd is the somewhat lax attitude toward titles in lucha. CMLL has multiple titles (mini’s, women’s, super lightweight, welterweight, middleweight, light heavyweight, heavyweight, tag, and trios), but it’s not at all unusual for the champions to hold the belts for years with only sporadic defenses. An example is the current mini’s champion – Mini Olimpico, who has held that belt since December of 2003.

AAA, on the other hand, has never had their own titles. Instead, they’ve mainly used the Mexican National titles (which we’ll get to in a moment). It’s only recently that they’ve crowned AAA World, Tag, Mascot Tag, and Mixed Tag champions.

The Mexican National titles are some of the oldest titles in lucha. The Mexican National Heavyweight title, for instance, dates back to 1925. The Welterweight, Middleweight, and Light Heavyweight were all in existence by 1950, with the National Tag and National Women’s belts in existence by 1960. The catch is that these belts are regulated by the national lucha commission, and can only be held by Mexicans.

Another attitude toward titles is that, for the most part, they are controlled by the wrestlers and not the promotions. Dr. Wagner Jr. would normally come out wearing the UWA World Heavyweight title despite the promotion’s death over a decade ago. In addition, CMLL also still uses the NWA Middleweight and Light Heavyweight titles (which they kept when they withdrew from the NWA). In a nice touch, the referees for NWA title matches wear NWA patches on their shirts.

Luchadors also fall into one of two camps – tecnicos (faces) or rudos (heels). There aren’t any gray areas. In CMLL, the teams are even identified as such.

Overall, wrestlers in Mexico have different motivations than the ones in the US. In the US, wrestlers are gunning for titles and feuds wrap up within six months. In Mexico, it’s not uncommon for feuds to run for decades and generations. The Aguayo family has been feuding with Los Hermanos Dinamitas (Cien Caras, Universo 2000 and Mascara Ano 2000) on and off since the early 1990’s. El Santo and Blue Demon’s feud began in the early 1950’s, and their descendants El Hijo del Santo and Blue Demon Jr. still clash to this day.

In closing, I hope that this may give some of you who stumble across lucha programming a little bit of an idea as to what’s going on. And, by the way, the traditional conclusion of the ring introductions, “Sin limite de tiempo. Lucharan!” means “No time limit. Fight!”

We’ll be back to the normal format next week. And also don’t forget to check out Lucharan on every other Monday for lucha news coverage.