If you love wrestling, you certainly peeked at Mexican wrestling or “lucha libre” at least once in your life. Similar to pro wrestling, lucha libre is a more dynamic, colorful and exotic type of wrestling, with masked characters and three to five bouts per match. “Lucha libre” means free fighting, so you should expect some spectacular moves with lost of acrobatics and athletic moves.

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Differences from American Pro Wrestling

The luchador (wrestler) wears a mask which will be associated with his character for his entire career. In lucha libre there is a great dishonor for a wrestler to have his mask removed. Because of this great stake, there is even a rule saying that the wrestler who takes of the mask of another wrestler while fighting is disqualified.

The only case in which a wrestler is taken off the mask is after a lost unveiling fight. These are by far the most expected matches by all lucha libre fans.

To keep the secret well guarded and add some more mystery to their characters, some fighters choose to wear the masks in their private lives too. Thus, they may never come unmasked when being interviewed, when in public or when appearing in places where they may be recognized.

The wrestlers are not as imposing in stature as their American counterparts. This enables them to perform aerial movements, intricate series of fast maneuvers. The Mexican wrestlers are known for their agility and as well as the acrobatics of their movements.

In lucha libre, all fighters play roles. Some are the good guys (technicos) which represent Christian figures, superheroes or Aztec warriors which fight for the well-being of ordinary men and some are the bad guys (rudo) which are mainly representations of drug dealers, crooked police officers, Americans and politicians which fight for their own interest.

The plot of the feuds usually go around these themes, with the good guys trying to free the people and the bad guys trying to earn as much as they can.

Tradition

The Mexican wrestling competitions date from the 1930s, when Don Salvador Lutteroth Gonzalez founded the first wrestling league, the Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre (EMLL) after seeing some wrestling matches in Texas. Nowadays there are two Mexican wrestling companies: the Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre (EMLL) and Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA) and the Mexican wrestlers are free to join any other wrestling competition they want, including becoming a pro wrestler in United States.

Costumes

The costumes Mexican wrestlers choose are in accordance with their theme and their ring name. However, most costumes are extremely colorful and lively. In most cases, a Mexican wrestling match is equal to an explosion of color and acrobatics.

The main Mexican wrestlers’ costume is a mask that covers the entire head, a pair of matching pants and matching boots. Sometimes wristbands matching the costume are worn by luchadores. For entrance many fighters use additional clothing items such as cloaks and jackets, but they are taken off when the competition begins.

The colors as well as the patterns from the costumes vary significantly from one luchador to the other, thus giving you total freedom to play with colors and patterns for Halloween.

If you decide to be a Mexican wrestler for Halloween you can either make your own costume, which is rather simple as long as you have some sewing and painting talents, or you can purchase the already made costume from the specialized sites (which is by far the most recommended solution if you have no time or inclination to sew.)

• View Lucha Libre Costumes at Amazon
• View Lucha Libre Costumes at Buycostumes

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