The sweaty man growled and grabbed the heaving shirtless guy who stood, hulk-like, in front of him, grunting as he hurled the bellowing giant across the room, landing him squarely and sweatily in the lap of an innocent woman sitting nearby.
The woman laughed hysterically as her family members snapped endless photos of the ordeal.
This wasn’t some out-of-control bar brawl. It was just a night at the fights — Lucha Libre, to be exact. And there’s no better place than Mexico City to enjoy this traditional Mexican form of wrestling.
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After many visits to this bustling metropolis, my husband and I finally decided we should check out a live show; after all, lucha libre provides a truly authentic Mexico travel experience. There are two main venues: Arena Mexico (which is supposedly nicer) and Arena Coliseo (which is more downscale and authentic, according to one taxi driver). You don’t usually need to buy tickets in advance, so we took a taxi to the Centro Histórico, the bustling historic downtown area, where the Arena Coliseo rises like a beacon above a street crowded with fans of the sport. You can check out who’s fighting at both arenas by visiting the CMLL lucha libre website, and if you like you can buy tickets via Ticketmaster.
We paid 168 Mexican pesos (around $10) for third row seats. The inside of the venue looks like a fanciful movie set, with multi-colored wood seats surrounding a raised ring. Above, two levels of cheaper seats were behind a circular, cage-like fence. Don’t bother bringing your big camera, but I was able to get some decent shots using my cell phone (several of which I’m sharing here).
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The “show” (if that’s what you call it; surely, that’s what it is) was lively, acrobatic and over dramatic, with carefully choreographed moves, lots of overly expressive faces and easily identifiable heroes and villains. The lesser-known luchadores opened with one-on-one matches, leading up to more lively tag-team fights, including a group of female fighters who — in addition to kicking and throwing each other around — loved to spank and pull hair. Slapping chests was a common form of attack for both genders.
Throughout the performance, roaming vendors hawked everything from microwave popcorn and soup to Doritos, beer and soft drinks. Near-constant shouts from the audience of “puto” and swearing against the mother of certain fighters had me wonder how the many families present would explain the language to their kids. There were also stereotypes — like the “gay” wrestler who threatened opponents with tongue kisses, and the foreign wrestlers (in our case, from Puerto Rico) who received many taunts from the audience.
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But even with the crowd swearing, the mood was jovial and the throngs roared with appreciation every time a wrestler landed outside the ring or experienced an especially powerful body slam. They especially loved it in the few occasions a wrestler landed in an audience member’s lap (don’t sit in the front row unless you’re willing to run that risk, although these guys are so well choreographed they know how to land without causing harm to anyone — including themselves).
Sometimes it was hard to tell who was winning, or what exactly was happening, especially with the tag teams. But the overall emotion and carefully choreographed moves were easy to follow.
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It’s easy to find souvenirs to take home from any match. Vendors inside the building sell lucha libre masks, while outside, you’ll find the best prices (and probably the worst quality) masks for about $2 from the ambling street vendors (we picked up a couple colorful masks that way). Stands outside sell masks, capes, toys and wrestling belts, but for a bit more than the guys who are wandering around by foot. The neighborhood where the Arena Coliseo is located isn’t the best, and our taxi driver had advised us to never walk east or north when we exit the building. So we headed straight toward the nightlife area on the street called República de Cuba. But even if we had strolled down the wrong street and encountered trouble, I would have just put on my mask and started hurling bodies around.
For more about the history of lucha libre, check out the temporary exhibit La Lucha Libre, which runs through March 27, 2016 at MODO: Museo del Objeto del Objeto, a small Mexico City museum dedicated to art and pop culture in the Roma Norte district.