Lucha Libre Continued

Most of my creative energy this week has gone into my Illustration Friday submission (although there was some glow bowling and gin and tonics in there too), but I did have time yesterday to make some Lucha Libre masks for a necklace for my friend Eli.

I made them too big! Now I have Luchador fridge magnets. Crisitunity! Hopefully I'll have some tiem during the weekend to create some new things. My Etsy shop could use dome new items.

I’ve stumbled on the big secret when it come to this luchador necklace thing: Lucha Libre Fans Like Them. Shocking, I know. I guess I was thinking more about the Archie McPhee bacon shower curtain hipster crowd, instead of good honest fans. I do feel a little intimidated of those cute indie rock people with their square glasses who enjoy Labyrinth from an ironic perspective. I enjoy it because it’s awesome!

Since many people don’t have the chance to visit a Lucha Libre match, I think I should describe my experience. Photos are courtesy of Lauren and Eli. We pretty much had no idea what it was going to be like driving down. It was in a neighborhood we don’t go into much. It was at a little sports hall, staffed by what looked like family members. Everyone was nice. They sold good pizza by the slice and bags of popcorn for $1. The beer was $5 right out of the keg and the lady selling it filled them right up to the top. They sold masks for $10 or $20. And the woman selling the masks loved my luchador necklace! Yay! We bought a tiny mask keychain, a Blue Demon mask, and another that resembles Swamp Thing. I’m not sure whose mask it is, but it was too good to resist.

There were plenty of families with little kids. At some point before everything started, the ring was full of little kids in masks posing for photos.
The wrestling itself is all spectacle. Good guys, bad guys, colorful costumes, flying leaps, choreographed moves. It reminds me a lot of ballroom dancing or Cirque du Soliel. I imagine they work out some thing ahead of time since many leaps and flips require the participation of two or more parties, but a lot was hilarious posing. Besides the headliners brought up from Mexico, the clear stars were Gringo Loco (who threw tortillas at the audience and swore he was half Puerto Rican) and Resistencia (who gave up in disgust a few times and sat down in the audience). Really charismatic and super fun to watch.

At the end, everyone posed for photos! Yeah!