La Lucha Libre

I have been fascinated by Mexican wrestling for some time so when we came across a poster for La Lucha Libre I had to swallow my misgivings and buy tickets. As the event drew closer everything seemed to indicate we were in for a wild ride. My teacher and I talked for half an hour about La Lucha and while he never said so, I could read on his face that he was shocked that Sarah and I we going. Two days before the show we checked out a free movie that happens here in Oaxaca every weekend night and the main feature was Santos Contra Los Zombis. Santos was and is the most popular wrestler in Mexico, popular enought to warrant starring roles in many horror flicks. His schtick was even though he could be beaten his mask was never removed and thorugh that he still had his pride. A bit more history here. Tuesday rolled around and we drank a healthy amount of the courage juice before the show. I knew we were in for a ride but I had no idea. The two options of tickets were in the bleachers or for a bit more you could have a guaranteed seat in the rows in front of the ring. We went for the guaranteed seats and lucked out with a front and center view of the spectacle. Favorite moment? Hard to say. When the wrestlers came out of the ring and proceeded to use my chair to whack the piss out of each other I was pretty thrilled (I can vouch for the realism, my ass was in someones head print for the rest of the show). The girl on girl match was pretty fantastic. Unlike female wrestlers in the states who look way to topheavy to walk, much less fight, I really belived that these girls could kick some ass. There was plenty of dirty dealing and a corrupt referee. In the second to last match I was checking out the crowd and was falling in love with this old Mexican couple who apparently hadn´t gotten the message that this was all staged when I noticed the two young kids next to me darting to the side. I had time to think "oh shit" and look forward to see two wrestlers collide and fly over the ropes and in my lap. Audience participation redefined.Even after that, my chair was only the second most abused chair in the auditorium. My favorite wrestler was either the bad guy who trash talked the audience as much as his opponents or the midget or child who had a full body fur suit and whose main move was rubbing his fuzzy ass in fallen wrestlers faces. This was definitely my kind of cultural experience. -Dirk