High-flying stunts! Wrestlers landing in our laps! Children in masks!
Where were we? A Lucha Libre match!
On Sunday, early evening, we walked from our hotel to the Guadalajara stadium to see us some wrestling. Though we got there 45 minutes before the matches began, we were able to get 2nd row seats!
Sunday is apparently family day, and the place was full of kids come to eat baskets of chicharrones and see the matches.
We were both ridiculously happy to be in the middle of all of this excitement. There was cheering, and yelling, and taunting, and every once in a while a wrestler would come over the ropes in front of us and land across Row 1. The first time this happened, we watched as all the people in the row in front of us suddenly scattered. We couldn't figure out why, until a wrestler came over the ropes, cleared the space between the ring and the spectators in no time flat, and totally knocked the unbolted (and now unoccpied) seats of Row 1 right back into us.
At one point, Texano Jr. took out all of Row 1 and most of our row, as well.
There was a ladies' match as well, and these women were totally hard-core. Though I did notice a lot more hair-pulling with the women than there was with the men.
You know what, still pics just don't give you a sense of the awesomeness of the matches. So here are a couple of videos for you.
Ladies!
And the crazy acrobatics of the men's title match! Or title brawl, really, since there were three guys on each side.
Seriously. Backflips in the middle of the ring.
I am stupid happy that we went to see this spectacle.
And now, off to enjoy Tlaquepaque!
So, Lucha Libre is most like a WWF/WWE event than a competition sport (for some reason my vague memories of Nacho Libre made me think it was like boxing, but with awesome costumes and crazy moves)?
Posted by: Michael | Tuesday, 29 March 2011 at 14:58
Hi, Michael! I would say yes. There are good guys, and bad guys, and planned moves - but it's still quite athletic.
There are title matches and such, but I don't know how much the outcome is predetermined...
Posted by: Boots in the Oven | Tuesday, 29 March 2011 at 17:57
Hi! I always wondered how much was scripted in WWF. They seem so proud to become champion...
Posted by: Michael | Wednesday, 30 March 2011 at 00:11