Mexican Wrestling Troupe Brings High Flying Theatrics To Logan Heights

Speaker 1: 00:00 If you're looking for the high flying theatrics and over the top flare of Lucia Lee Bray, Mexican wrestling, you don't have to go south of the border to see it in person. In fact, you only have to go as far as Logan Heights, where a local brewery is exposing a new generation of fans to the traditional spectacle. Take a listen. Speaker 2: 00:30 [inaudible] Speaker 1: 00:31 San Diego union Tribune reporter Andrea Lopez via Fania joins us now with more Andrea. Welcome. Hi, Speaker 3: 00:39 Thank you for having me. Speaker 1: 00:40 So tell us a little bit about Lucia Libris and its popularity here in the United States. Speaker 3: 00:45 Yeah, I mean, Lucia Libra is huge. I mean, many of us who are at Latinos, we instantly feel a sense of, you know, recognizing it whenever we see it, right. Lou Tido is wearing these really colorful mass and uh, sometimes these really interesting costumes and they have these really elaborate kind of performances in the ring. Right. It's it's in a way. And our team, it can be a little theatrical. You have like the good guy and the bad guy, but yeah, they, they have like really amazing tricks that they do. And it's a lot, it's a lot of freestyle wrestling, but it can be really awesome and fun to watch. And Speaker 1: 01:21 Where are these matches being held? Speaker 3: 01:23 Yeah, so right now, um, the organization that is, um, really introducing them into the neighborhood of Logan Heights and hopefully expanding to other areas of San Diego is you as spa has stars. And right now they're taking place in Logan Heights and we had this brew house before that they were in OTI Mesa. Uh, they wanted to be closer to the border, but because of COVID, they haven't really been able to, you know, come up with some sort of venue that can accommodate them. So now they're doing them outdoors at this brewery. Speaker 1: 01:51 Is this an expensive event to go to? No, Speaker 3: 01:54 Absolutely not. So that's a big part of their mission. So these events can, can range from like 30 to a thousand dollars, especially when you're talking about like WWE events, but this organization has really made it a point to make these wrestling matches accessible for people who maybe normally wouldn't have enough money to pay for something like this. Uh, so they're about $25 for adults and I believe it's $10 for children. Speaker 1: 02:19 Um, tell us a little bit about the wrestlers themselves. I mean, how do they get drawn into wrestling? What's the allure of being a Luchador? Speaker 3: 02:26 Yeah, so, um, I spoke to a couple that day. One of their most recent matches and, and two guys are really interesting actually highlighted them in my story. Um, of course there's a sense of mystery there because they, they don't use their actual names and they never take off their mask in public when they're at a wrestling match, but one of them Romeo male, he, he grew up in Atlanta and he would go to these wrestling matches with his dad. And they were like, he told me that this was like a date that he would go on his dad with. And, um, so it had a very big significance to him. So ever since he was little, he wanted to be a Lucido, but his dad said, you know what, first you got to get a career. So he's actually an attorney in Botswana. He has his own law practice and he started training. Speaker 3: 03:07 Uh, he really enjoyed fitness and he always had a love for, for luteal evening. He made a promise to his dad that one day he'd be at each other. So, um, he became one and, uh, he's actually really, really fun to watch. And, um, yeah, he's, he's still on the tiny, so, uh, by the day he has clients and then in the afternoon, he's in the gym practicing these like really elaborate tricks. And then on the weekends, he's, you know, flying off to different states and, and, um, competing in these matches. One of the other guys I interviewed, he lives in spring valley and, um, he's now a professional Lieutenant. This is all he does. He doesn't have another side job. This is everything he does. And he's also, um, you know, he grew up with somewhat of a love for Lucha Lipa. He grew up around it and he was kind of getting into trouble as a young boy. And sport was kind of a way for him to distract themselves from, from those, uh, temptations. And so Lou tele braid kind of put him on the right track. Speaker 1: 04:02 Wow. Given that I'm guessing that for many of the Lucia doors themselves, you know, this isn't a full-time job, but could it be, or, or is it more of a passion for the people behind the masks? Speaker 3: 04:13 Yeah, it's definitely a full-time job. I mean, most of the guys that were there had kind of a side gig, some of them are Uber drivers. Some of them are construction workers. Some of them are line cooks, you know, different things that, you know, the one I spoke with was an attorney. Um, but it could definitely be a full-time profession. Uh, the, the fighter I spoke with, uh, the king glamy stereo, he, this is all he does during the pandemic. He did, he ended up getting into construction for a bit because a lot of events were canceled. Um, but yeah, that he lives off [inaudible]. This is everything he, he does every day, he travels. Um, and he was in Oklahoma, I think the week after the match that I covered. And so it's definitely liquid if business, these Pluto does get paid to attend the matches. So, um, you know, they, they can have, uh, different deals with different promotion companies and it could be, uh, it could be a career for some of them, of course, a career that, you know, is dependent on them being healthy on them, not getting injured, um, on them getting enough jobs. So it could definitely be a stressful job. Speaker 1: 05:17 So what kind of significance do these events have within the Mexican American community? Yeah, Speaker 3: 05:22 So, I mean, like I said, they kind of bring you back to, to maybe I'm hatching, you might've attended as a child, so many people there, it just felt like you were surrounded by like giant hits, you know, they, they were screaming and, and they were booing some times. And I almost felt like at some point they were going to throw things, but it's just this huge energy. And, um, it's very common to have these matches in Mexico and to see them as something that it's like, what you do on the weekends, right. Something you do with, with your dad, maybe, or your uncle. Um, so for a lot of people, it's, it's a sense of, you know, taking them back to this memories or feeling like they're back at home in Mexico, because, you know, people are shaking water bottles with beans and cite them, or they're drinking beers or they're booing. Uh, one of the wrestlers are being crushed by the rest of us flying out of the ring and flying into the crowd. So it's a lot of energy and I think it gives a lot of people's sense of belonging and Speaker 1: 06:23 This kind of theatrical wrestling both here and in Mexico. I mean, think WWE, right. Hadn't always been taken seriously. Uh, is that changing? Speaker 3: 06:32 Yeah, that is. So I spoke with the professor, actually, she had an interesting story. She was working on her thesis and she wanted to learn a little bit more about Lucero to, so she spent a lot of time, um, actually training each other to herself and, you know, just intervene but to different lutein Lotus. And at that time it was in the nineties, in the early nineties, uh, she, she said that Lieutenant has just felt like they, that they were a big part of Mexican culture, but they just weren't looked at that way. They weren't recognized that way. And for a long time, they, they really advocated for themselves and it wasn't until later it went when, um, you know, Mexico city that declared something special for the title it is. And, you know, as these organizations got larger, I think people started to recognize the significance of this sport and tradition as well. Speaker 1: 07:18 I've been speaking with San Diego union Tribune, reporter, Andrea Lopez via Fanya. Andrea, thank you so much for joining Speaker 3: 07:25 Us. Thank you for having me.