WLucha libre is the term used in Mexico for professional wrestling. Since its introduction to Mexico in the early 20th century, it has developed into a unique form of the genre, characterized by colorful masks, rapid sequences of holds and maneuvers, as well as "high-flying" maneuvers, some of which have been adopted in the United States, Japan, and elsewhere. The wearing of masks has developed special significance, and matches are sometimes contested in which the loser must permanently remove his mask, which is a wager with a high degree of weight attached. Tag team wrestling is especially prevalent in lucha libre, particularly matches with three-member teams, called trios.
WThe World Wrestling Association (WWA) is a lucha libre promotion based in the Tijuana-area of Mexico. It was founded in 1986 by Benjamin Mora Jr.. It featured some of Mexico's best luchadores at the time, such as Rey Mysterio Jr., La Parka and Juventud Guerrera, during the late 1980s and early 1990s and was also featured on American television via the Fox Sports en Español channel.
WWhen Worlds Collide was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event that took place on November 6, 1994, at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena in Los Angeles, California. It was scripted and produced by the Mexican lucha libre company Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA), now known as Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide, and their American partner, International Wrestling Council (IWC). The show was produced by the technical staff of World Championship Wrestling (WCW). WCW Executive Vice-President Eric Bischoff had helped AAA secure the show to be broadcast by American pay-per-view providers, marking the first time a non-US-based wrestling promotion was shown live on US PPV television. The show was broadcast in both English and Spanish. Chris Cruise and Mike Tenay called the action in English, while Arturo Rivera and Andrés Maroñas handled the Spanish announcing. This event also marked Tenay's first commentating role in professional wrestling. It is one of the few pay-per-view events not made available for streaming on the WWE Network service.
WBox y Lucha is a Spanish language magazine and website. It is the oldest lucha libre magazine still in existence and one of the first ones to be published. It also covers boxing and other martial arts.
WThe CMLL Torneo Nacional de Parejas Increíbles 2018 or "National Incredible Pairs Tournament 2018" is a tag team Lucha Libre tournament held by the Mexican wrestling promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL). The tournament is based on the Lucha Libre Parejas Increíbles match concept, which pairs two wrestlers of opposite allegiance, one portraying a villain, referred to as a "rudo" in Lucha Libre wrestling terminology, and one portraying a fan favorites, or "técnico". The 2018 version of the tournament was the ninth time in a row that CMLL held the tournament since the first tournament in 2010. The winners are presented with a trophy but not given any other tangible reward for the victory.
WThe CMLL Torneo Nacional de Parejas Increíbles (2019) or the National Incredible Pairs Tournament (2019) was a tag team Lucha Libre tournament held by the Mexican wrestling promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL). The tournament is based on the Lucha Libre Parejas Increíbles match concept, which pairs two wrestlers of opposite allegiance, one portraying a villain, referred to as a "rudo" in Lucha Libre wrestling terminology, and one portraying a fan favorites, or "técnico".
WThe CMLL Torneo Nacional de Parejas Increíbles (2020) or the National Incredible Pairs Tournament (2020) was the 2020 version of an annual professional wrestling tag team tournament held by the Mexican wrestling promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL). The tournament is based on the Lucha Libre Parejas Increíbles match concept, which pairs two wrestlers of opposite allegiance, one portraying a rudo, the antagonists of professional wrestling, and one portraying a técnicotécnico, the protagonist of professional wrestling
WConsejo Mundial de Lucha Libre Co., Ltd. is a lucha libre professional wrestling promotion based in Mexico City. The promotion was previously known as Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre (EMLL). Founded in 1933, it is the oldest professional wrestling promotion still in existence.
WThe Mexican professional wrestling promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) has held the La Copa Junior tournament on an infrequent schedule since 1996. The tournament pays respect to the fact that wrestling is a family tradition in Lucha libre, with many second or even third-generation wrestlers following the footsteps of their relatives. So far CMLL has held ten tournaments starting in 1996 and then intermittently since 2005. While most of the family relationships are real there are a few instances of the family relationship being a storylines family relationship, such as Dragón Rojo Jr. being billed as the grandson of Dragón Rojo, when in reality that is simply a storyline created by CMLL.
WIn lucha libre, an exótico is a luchador fighting/performing in drag. The exótico’s movement vocabulary is campy, often silly, and seldom dignified. Exóticos are male wrestlers who appropriate feminine aspects in their wrestling personas or "gimmicks" – through feminine costumes, for example, ‘contesting the dramatic representation of machismo’ and successfully unmanning their opponents in the ring while also ‘rejecting the outward signs of manhood’. Though exoticos may not necessarily be gay, they often are, and their sexual ambiguity is undeniable. Attired with feather boas, headdresses, sequins or stockings, they defy a religious Latin culture that is ardently macho.
WForjando un Ídolo was a professional wrestling tournament held by Mexican professional wrestling promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) in 2011 with the purpose of identifying which of the 16 "Rookies" in the tournament would move up the ranks of the promotion. The tournament consisted of two rounds, first a round robin group round, with the top 2 in each of the four groups competing in an elimination tournament. Wrestlers would earn points based on match results and points from a weekly online poll. The tournament ran from April 11 until May 20, 2012 and saw Ángel de Oro win the tournament. The top two from each group would team up with their mentor for a trios tournament called Forjando un Ídolo: La Guerra Continúa, won by Atlantis, Guerrero Maya Jr. and Delta.
WThe Haunted World of El Superbeasto is a 2009 American adult animated film directed, co-written and co-produced by Rob Zombie. The film was written by Zombie and Tom Papa from Zombie's comic book series of the same name. The film was produced by Starz Media and Film Roman, with animation provided by Carbunkle Cartoons and Big Star Productions.
WInternational Wrestling Revolution Group is a Lucha Libre promotion based in Naucalpan, State of Mexico, Mexico. Founded in 1996 by Adolfo Moreno and since Moreno's death in late 2007 has been controlled by his sons Alfredo and Marco Moreno.
WThe following is a list of professional wrestling attendance records in Mexico. The list is dominated by the now defunct Mexican wrestling promotion Universal Wrestling Association (1975-1995) which was the main rival of Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre, Mexico's oldest professional wrestling promotion, during the 1970s and 80s. The country's two biggest promotions, CMLL and Asistencia Asesoría y Administración, are tied with six events each. The U.S.-based World Wrestling Entertainment, which has controlled the industry in North America since 2002, has been slowly making inroads into the country holding several successful WWE Raw and WWE SmackDown television tapings at the El Palacio de los Deportes in Mexico City between 2006 and 2011.
WLucha Britannia is an English lucha libre-style professional wrestling promotion based in Bethnal Green, London since 2006.
WLucha Libre is an anthology comic book series written by Jerry Frissen. It is published in France by Les Humanoïdes Associés and reprinted in North America by Image Comics. It is also published in Spain, Italy and Korea. It is regularly illustrated by Gobi, Bill, Fabien M., Hervé Tanquelle, Nikola Witko, Romuald Reutimann, Christophe Gaultier along with several other guest artists.
WLucha Libre AAA: Héroes del Ring is a lucha libre video game developed by Immersion Games for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360. The video game features over 40 wrestlers from the Mexico based Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (AAA) professional wrestling promotion. The game was released on October 12, 2010, exclusively in North America. Cancelled Nintendo DS, Wii, and PlayStation Portable versions were being developed by Sabarasa.
WLucha Libre Elite, also referred to as simply Elite, is a lucha libre promotion based in Mexico City, Mexico. The promotion, founded in 2014 as Asociación de Lucha Libre Élite, is owned and managed by Carlo Colín and Ernesto Santillan. The Elite's promoters ran events in past years under the name "Proesa Entertainment". At one point the promotion had a weekly television show on Azteca 7.
WSalvador Lutteroth González was a Mexican professional wrestling promoter of the mid-twentieth century. Lutteroth's promotion, Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre (EMLL), has been the dominant Mexican promotion since its founding in 1933 until Lutteroth left the company in the 1950s. Under its current name of Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), it is, to date, the longest-running active professional wrestling promotion in the world presenting three weekly shows. Lutteroth was known as the "father of lucha libre," and, in his position as promoter and booker of the dominant promotion, was the most powerful man in Mexican wrestling, and one of the most powerful wrestling executives in the world. He was, in large part, responsible for the widespread fame of the most famous Mexican professional wrestlers of the mid-twentieth century, such as Octavio Gaona, the first Mexican wrestler to win the middleweight championship of the world defeating Gus Kalio, Carlos Tarzan Lopez, El Santo, Gori Guerrero, Rene Guajardo, Karlof Lagarde, Enrique Yañez and the international league wrestler Medico Asesino, Rito Romero, Dorrel Dickson and Mil Mascaras, who wrestled in the United States, Japan, and Europe.
WThe term Mini-Estrella is used in lucha libre to describe a division of short professional wrestlers or luchadors, some of whom have dwarfism. The Mexican Mini-Estrellas is comparable to Midget wrestling practiced around the world, but with the notable exception that some of the Mini-Estrellas do not have dwarfism but are simply short. Some Mini-Estrellas have later on moved on to work as regular sized competitors. The Mini-Estrellas have been featured in several promotions outside Mexico, most notably World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA).
W¡Mucha Lucha! is an American animated television series that premiered on Kids' WB, Teletoon, and Canal 5 on August 17, 2002. It was created by Eddie Mort and Lili Chin and produced by Warner Bros. Animation and Bardel Entertainment. It is the first animated television series intended for children created with Adobe Flash, a program which became widely used as a medium for animation in the years following until its closure in 2020.
WThe Pequeño Reyes del Aire Tournament is an annual wrestling tournament promoted by the Mexican professional wrestling promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) and has been held since 2007, holding two tournaments in 2012, and one every other year. The tournament includes a varying number of wrestlers, competing in a Torneo cibernetico match, essentially a multi-man elimination match with the last competitor remaining is declared that year's Pequeño Rey del Aire and is given a trophy. The match is based on CMLL's Reyes del Aire tournament which has an identical purpose, format and award. The winner is not normally awarded with a match for the CMLL World Mini-Estrella Championship or the Mexican National Lightweight Championship, the two Mini-Estrellas championships that CMLL promotes, as a direct result of their tournament victory but has as times been used to build but either a championship match or storylines between rival wrestlers.
WPerros del Mal Producciones, often referred to as just 'Perros del Mal', was a Mexican professional wrestling promotion founded in October 2007 by Perro Aguayo, Jr. when he left Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre and became inactive around 2015. The promotion shared a name with Aguayo, Jr.'s wrestling stable (group) Los Perros del Mal and the stable is the main Rudo (villain) group in the promotion. The promotion had an "open door policy" which meant they did not generally have wrestlers under contract but hired them on a per appearance basis. Perros del Mal was also a booking agency, responsible for hiring the core Perros del Mal group and others to various independent promotions all over Mexico.
WProfessional wrestling in Puerto Rico has been considered one of the most popular forms of entertainment in Puerto Rico for more than fifty years. It is considered the highest source of income in the sports entertainment industry on the island; a minor industry within its tertiary sector in its overall economy. After sports commentator José Antonio Géigel and a group of wrestlers founded the first promotion based in Puerto Rico, the discipline has consistently remained being broadcast in local television. Originally a mixture of foreign wrestling styles, the Puerto Rican wrestling style developed into a unique form of performing. Most notably, local promotions relied on unusual matches, often involving foreign objects or odd arenas. Local wrestling is considered to be one of the pillars that contributed to modern hardcore wrestling, being the territory where the first "fire" and "death" matches took place. Local promotions exploited the innovation and held their cards in large stadiums, eventually becoming an element of popular culture. During the course of six decades, Carlos Colón, Sr. has developed over 70 scars in his forehead that are product of this method of performing, becoming the main symbol of the style's nature. The storylines in Puerto Rico have historically revolved around the "foreign heel" formula, with local wrestlers obtaining victories over notable figures that include Ric Flair, Harley Race, Hulk Hogan, Terry Funk, Diamond Dallas Page, Scott Hall, Booker T, Samoa Joe and Curt Hennig among several others.
WSúper Luchas is a Spanish-language publication covering lucha libre and other forms of professional wrestling. The publication began as a print magazine in 1991 and later became the largest lucha libre magazine in the world and remained one of the few professional wrestling magazines to survive to the 2000s but now operates mainly as an online website. The website is the number one Spanish-language professional wrestling website in the world.
WThe Crash Lucha Libre, also referred to as simply The Crash, is a lucha libre promotion based in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico. The promotion largely runs its events in Tijuana, Mexico City, and Monterrey. The promotion currently has working relationships with American promotions DEFY Wrestling, PCW ULTRA, and International Wrestling Revolution Group and Promociones MDA, China's Oriental Wrestling Entertainment. The Crash previously had a working relationship with Impact Wrestling in US/Canada, Mexico's Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide and Japan's Pro Wrestling Noah between 2016 and 2018, until Konnan, the intermediary between the promotions, left The Crash. On February 21, 2019 The Crash announced a partnership with Mexico's Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre, America's Ring of Honor and Japan's New Japan Pro-Wrestling which would later on that year end in late September, on August 12, 2019, Major League Wrestling and The Crash Lucha Libre announced a working relationship which ended in November of that year when Major League Wrestling would work full time with Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide.
WTitanes en el ring was an Argentine lucha libre television program aired between 3 March 1962 and 1988.
WTorneo Sangre Nueva is a professional wrestling tournament promoted by the Mexican lucha libre promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), first held in 2012. The tournament focuses primarily on younger wrestlers or wrestlers who work in the lower ranks of the promotion, generally the first or second match of the show, as a way to highlight or promote a wrestler up to a higher level of competition. A total of 27 individuals have competed in the two Sangre Nueva tournaments held as of 2014 with nine competitors participating in both tournaments held so far: Bobby Zavala, Camaleón, El Cholo, Disturbio, Hombre Bala Jr., Robin, Soberano Jr., Stigma and Super Halcón Jr.. Soberano Jr. is both the youngest competitor over-all and the youngest tournament winner as well, while Cholo is the oldest at the time of his second tournament participation. Soberano Jr. was the lightest competitor and champion at 75 kg (165 lb) while Bronco, at 103 kg (227 lb), was the heaviest of any tournament competitor so far.
WThe Universal Wrestling Association (UWA) was a Mexican Lucha Libre or professional wrestling promotion based in Naucalpan, Mexico State that operated from 1975 until 1995. The name of the actual promotion was Lucha Libre Internacional (LLI) but outside of Mexico it is generally referred to as the UWA as it was the name of the fictional international sanctioning body that in storyline terms oversaw all championships promoted by the UWA. The company was founded by wrestler and trainer Ray Mendoza, promoter Francisco Flores and investor Benjamín Mora, Jr. as when they broke away from Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre to form their own promotion. The company had working agreements with wrestling promotions both in the United States and Japan as they worked with New Japan Pro-Wrestling, the World Wrestling Federation and Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (JWP).
WThe World of Lucha Libre: Secrets, Revelations, and Mexican National Identity is a book, published in 2008, by Heather Levi. The book is an account of lucha libre, a term used in Mexico for a form of professional wrestling.
WA wrestling mask is a fabric-based mask that some professional wrestlers wear as part of their in-ring persona or gimmick. Professional wrestlers have been using masks as far back as 1915 and they are still widely used today, especially in Lucha Libre in Mexico.
WXtreme Latin American Wrestling is a lucha libre professional wrestling promotion based in Mexico, founded in 2001 by wrestling journalist Ernesto Ocampo. The promotion is credited to be the first Hardcore wrestling company in Mexico.
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