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Masked Luchador: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:
{{quote|''"The true luchador wears, on his head, a mask. On his body, a sequined unitard. On his feet... disco boots!"''
|'''Rikochet'''|''[[Mucha Lucha]]''}}
In ''lucha libre'', the Mexican sport of [[Professional Wrestling|pro wrestling]], it is far more common to see wrestlers wearing a mask and never revealing their true identities to the public, much like real-life [[
▲{{quote|''"The true luchador wears, on his head, a mask. On his body, a sequined unitard. On his feet... disco boots!"''|'''Rikochet''', ''[[Mucha Lucha]]''}}
▲In ''lucha libre'', the Mexican sport of [[Professional Wrestling|pro wrestling]], it is far more common to see wrestlers wearing a mask and never revealing their true identities to the public, much like real-life [[Superhero|superheroes]] and villains than in the American version of the sport. Bear in mind that many Mexican pro wrestlers don't ever wear a mask at all. To be unmasked by a rival wrestler, or indeed anyone at all, is usually an irredeemable dishonor to the athletes, but there have been cases where they continue to fight even after having been beaten in this way. The stock characterization for a luchador is a kindly [[Gentle Giant]] who loves kids, which is probably based on the story of [[wikipedia:Fray Tormenta|Fray Tormenta]] (Friar Storm), a Catholic priest who started wrestling to earn money for the orphanage he worked at (see ''[[Nacho Libre]]'' for a more honest homage). Pretty much the only time a villainous or evil luchador appears in a series is when it's about wrestling to begin with.
Over in Fiction Land, the Mexican luchador has become a sort of stock character used when the author needs a strong, muscled hero (or [[Dumb Muscle|mook]]) with some exotic, foreign flavor in their cast of characters.
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{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==▼
▲== Anime ==
* Lucha Master from ''[[Airmaster]]''.
* Lala's dad in ''[[School Rumble]]'' is a luchador.
* In ''[[
* Jesus Burgess from [[One Piece]] is a masked luchador pirate, introduced standing on a building and challenging an entire city to fight. Later on, he shows his strength by hurling a hotel at an opponent. He's actually one of those rare luchadores who are evil.
* In ''[[
* Kaoru's father from ''[[Demashita! Powerpuff Girls Z]]''.
* While strictly speaking much of the cast of ''[[Kinnikuman]]'' is made up of wrestlers who wear masks, the only actual luchadores are Skyman and Kinnikuman Mariposa. Mariposa is the only one with any story
* In [[Bleach]], one of these is a member of {{spoiler|the Vandereich}} and [http://www.mangareader.net/bleach/495/16 this pannel] shows him sneaking up on {{spoiler|Renji}}.
== Comic Books ==
* Examples from ''[[Hellboy (comics)|Hellboy]]'' and related series:
** In ''Lobster Johnson: The Iron Prometheus'', it's mentioned that, in the 50's, Mexican director Eduardo Fernandez created somewhere between nine and twelve low-budget films about Lobster Johnson, portraying him as a luchador hero. In fact, these were the source of the name "Lobster Johnson." Previously, all the fictional portrayals just referred to him as "The Lobster."
** In the ''Hellboy in Mexico'' one-shot, released on Cinco de Mayo, Hellboy teams up with three luchador brothers in 1950s Mexico to fight vampires. It's exactly as awesome as (and in the end, far more touching than) it sounds.
* Titan from ''La Cucaracha''.
* Jaime Reyes, the third [[Blue Beetle]], wears an armor with a faceplate that just happens to look like a luchador mask to go with his Mexican heritage. Done intentionally and explained as the mask being modeled after its creators' faces.
* In the Swedish comic ''De Äventyrslystna Karlakarlarna'' - "The Adventuresome He-men" - one of the eponymous [[Bash Brothers]] is the ([[McNinja|appearently Swedish]]) luchador [[Genius Bruiser|El Fjongo]].
* Examples from ''[[Batman]]'':
** Latin crimeboss El Sombrero in ''[[Batman]]''. Oddly, though, we never see him do any actual wrestling
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** Mil Máscaras ("A Thousand Masks"), who was specifically created for the movies during a contract dispute between El Santo and producer Enrique Vergara. He starred in 20 films.
** Las Luchadoras were a female tag team (Lorena Velázquez and ''gringa'' actress Elizabeth Campbell) who starred in six films, some of which made it into the English-language market (e.g., ''Wrestling Women vs. the Aztec Mummy''). The stars were actresses, not professional wrestlers. Lady luchadoras did exist at the time, but few had movie-star good looks.
* El Santo is a character in ''3 Dev Adam'' ("[[Three Big Men]]"), aka ''Turkish [[Spider-Man]]'' or ''Turkish [[Captain America (comics)]]'' (Spider-Man is actually the ''villain'' of the movie.)
* The fun [[Captain Ersatz]] of El Santo in ''[[Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter]]'' is named El Santos to [[Lawyer-Friendly Cameo|avoid lawsuits]]. Barely
* Jack Black's character in ''[[Nacho Libre]]'', which is loosely based on Fray Tormenta.
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== Live
* An episode of ''[[The Middleman]]'' featured a gang of luchadores obsessed with killing The Middleman's martial arts trainer and mentor, Sensei Ping (who also, incidentally, wore the mask of a luchador).
* One of these works for Wolfram and Hart in ''[[Angel]]'', and is the focus of one of the more interesting Season 5 episodes.
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** ''El Diablo Robotico!''
* In ''[[Los Luchadores]]'', watch Lobo Fuerte and his plucky sidekicks Turbine and Maria Valentine fight evil in Union City.
== Music ==
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* Mexican wrestling, of course. Removing an opponent's mask is cause for disqualification and one of the worst things a [[Heel]] can do. (Unless the mask was removed after losing a "Mask vs. Mask" or "Mask vs. Hair" match.)
* [[El Santo]], Mexico's most famous luchador.
* Appears occasionally in American wrestling particularly in the "cruiserweight" divisions. WCW and WWF/WWE each had a few wrestlers take on the style. The biggest name currently{{when}} would be [[Rey Mysterio, Jr.|Rey Mysterio]], although WWE is also promoting Sin Cara heavily.
* Not uncommon in Japanese wrestling either, with famous wrestlers like [[Tiger Mask]], Jushin Thunder Liger, and Ultimo Dragon.
* Lucha-inspired promotions have been becoming more popular in the United States independent scene. The most prominent is [[CHIKARA]], though Lucha Libre USA and Lucha Va-VOOM are also increasingly well-known.
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== Video Games ==
* MASK de Smith, a character in ''[[
** You can also collect luchador trading cards in ''[[No More Heroes]],'' ''Killer7's'' [[Spiritual Successor]].
** In fact, [[Suda 51]] has a thing for Masked Wrestling, and includes them in his games.
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* On a more obscure note, in ''[[Total Overdose]]'' there is a super move that summons a luchador named Mysterioso.
* On an even more obscure note, an old Midway racing game called ''Freaky Fliers'' had a character named Cactus Rose. If I remember correctly, her backstory included a brief stint as a masked wrestler.
* El Fuerte from ''[[Street Fighter IV]]'' is one of these.
** Before him, [[Fragile Speedster|Ramon]] and [[Ms. Fanservice|Angel]] from ''[[The King of Fighters]]''. Neither wears a mask, though. [[Heel Face Revolving Door|Raiden]] and [[Justice Will Prevail|Tizoc]], from ''[[Fatal Fury]]'', both wear masks but are conventional wrestlers.
* ''[[Psychonauts]]'' has a [[Quirky Miniboss Squad|quartet of minibosses]] who are all gimmicky luchadores based on both animals and card suits. This despite the fact that [[Spexico|the level they're found in is based on Spain]]. Huh.
** [[Fridge Brilliance|Justified.]] You are not in Spain, you are in the subconscious world of a institutionalized famous artist.({{spoiler|And later you learn that he is not an artist nor of Spanish descent. He ''was'' a wrestler though.}})
*** {{spoiler|He did start eating lunch in the art room after The Incident, though.}}
* Crasher Wake in ''[[Pokémon Diamond and Pearl]]''.
* There's a luchador in ''[[Tenjou Tenge]]''.
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* El Blaze, a newcomer to the ''[[Virtua Fighter]]'' series.
* The NES game ''Tag Team Wrestling'' featured a pair of masked wrestlers called the Strong Bads. Yes, they were the inspiration for [[Homestar Runner|that other Strong Bad]].
* ''[[Animal Crossing]]'' has a luchador costume available as one of the many "costume themes."
* Masked Wrestlers and [[Underground Monkey]] variants called ___ Gigas are common foes in ''[[Persona 3]]'' and ''[[Persona 4]]''.
* The Soccer game ''Sega Soccer Slam'' featured the character El Diablo, a massive powerhouse who [[Third Person Person|only refers to himself in the third person]].
* ''[[Shadow Hearts]] 2'' features this in Joachim Valentine, who first appears as the masked Grand Papillion. One of his special abilities is that every now and then he'll don the mask in a fight and receive a massive stat boost.
* ''[[F-Zero]]'' story wise is much like lucha libre, only with racing instead of wrestling.
* ''[[Katamari Damacy|We Heart Katamari]]'' includes a cousin named Lucha, who appropriately enough has the appearance of a luchador.
* [[Tiger Mask]], the Japanese wrestler appears in ''Fire Pro Wrestling D''.
** And in ''[[Massive Multiplayer Crossover|Shonen Sunday vs. Shonen Magazine]]''.
* ''[[Saturday Night Slam Masters]]'' has El Stinger/Stingray and Astro/Scorpio, whose designs are a nod/ripoff to real wrestlers Lizmark and Tinieblas respectively.
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* [[Rumble Roses|Evil Rose]] should fit the bill pretty well.
* There is a videogame based on the AAA (One of the 2 major Lucha Libre associations in Mexico) coming soon. The tagline? ''No es wrestling, es '''Lucha Libre''''' (It's not ''wrestling'', it's ''Lucha Libre'').
* La Mariposa (a.k.a. {{spoiler|Lisa}}) from ''[[Dead or Alive|Dead or Alive 4]]'' is a [[Fragile Speedster]] variant. Her [[Meaningful Name|name is meaningful]] because it means "butterfly" in Spanish, and [[Captain Obvious|she wears a butterfly shaped mask.]]
* Masked Muscle from ''[[Punch
* The Heavy from [[Team Fortress 2]] has a luchador mask called the "Large Luchadore", and in [[Poker Night At the Inventory]], he asks [[Homestar Runner|Strong Bad]] if his mask means he wrestles, like Iron Sheik. Strong Bad snubs the idea, saying he's a wrestle ''man'', not a hack wrestl''er''.
** A promotional offer for [[Saints Row the Third]] also gives the Heavy Killbane's mask.
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== Web Comics ==
* El Lightning Blue from ''[[The B-
* Dr. McLuchador from ''[[The Adventures of Dr. McNinja]]'', who was exiled from Cumberland for his extreme, wrestling-based methods. And his extreme methods in general, really.
== Western Animation ==
* The entire cast of ''[[Mucha Lucha]]'' consists of young
* The ''[[Angry Beavers]]'' had El Grapadura (The Stapler), who had his own TV show and even starred in a movie with the beavers.
* El Toro Fuerte from ''[[Jackie Chan Adventures]]''. Like Tohru, he was kind of a bad guy at first before becoming a steadfast ally of Jackie and a [[Gentle Giant]].
* A stock background character in ''[[The Fairly
* White Pantera's costume in ''[[El Tigre]]'' is highly reminiscent of these.
* Pantha, a female Brazilian luchadora from ''[[Teen Titans (animation)|Teen Titans]]''.
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[[Category:Occupation Tropes]]
[[Category:Useful Notes/Mexico]]
[[Category:
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