Lucha Libre

Monday, October 9

Christoph and I were lucky enough to have a good friend (who is Mexican) living in Mexico City. Mario showed us around his city, took us for tacos and recommended the best places for food and culture in Mexico City. One day he even surprised us with tickets to a “Lucha Libre” show – Mexican wrestling.

Every Saturday Mario picked us up from our apartment with his car and spent the day with us. He had planned out all our weekends to ensure we had the best possible time in Mexico City. Mario's commitment was truly touching and only through him were we able to gain such an insight into Mexican life and culture.

As we learned a very important part of Mexican culture in Mexico City is “Lucha Libre” (= “free fight”), which is why we attended a Lucha Libre match with Mario during our first week in Mexico. Lucha Libre fights take place every weekend in Mexico City and are a huge spectacle.

The fights take place in a large arena, last several hours (since there are many one-on-one fights in a row), sometimes theres loud music and the crowd enthusiastically shouts at the fighters. Choreographed wrestling is all about putting on a show and pulling off impressive stunts. The fighters (“Luchador”, “Luchadora”) wear eye-catching masks made of colorful leather and the entry of the individual Luchadores into the ring is a whole show in itself.

For hours, the audience cheers on the luchadores, drinks beer, eats chips and lets out all the pressure and stress they experienced at work that week. Lucha Libre fights are very popular among the Mexican population. The masks, with each fighter's signature design, are sold both in front of the stadium and in the markets around the city, and many of the spectators wear a Lucha Libre mask of their favorite luchador during the fights.

For us, the evening in the Lucha Libre Arena was a completely new but exciting experience and we were very happy that our friend Mario took us there!