Sunday! Sunday! Monday?!?
Well, it may have been a weekday with some of the lesser known luchadors in the little beach town of Sayulita, but the fight was sin límite! And, actually, because of those factors the fight was even better than some of massive events in the big cities.
The ring was in the center of a warehouse-style storage bay, surrounded by white plastic chairs. As we would soon find out, there was a reason for the cheap, stacking seats.
From the moment the first luchadors ran into the makeshift arena, we could tell this shit was going to be crazy. They started with their performance and soon took the fight into the seats. Some people scurried to get out of the action while others sprinted to get into it. Evacuated chairs were now being used as weapons by the luchadors and shards of white plastic flew through the air.
The luchadors adapted to the ever changing situations very well. One of the “bad guys” was handed an unopened beer by a friend of ours and instead he reached for the half empty can in his other hand. He took a big mouthful of beer and spit it into the face of his adversary.
Being in the front few rows was an open invitation to involvement and I’m not talking about a Gallagher-style splattering of watermelon chunks. Holding up a plastic sheet here would do you about as much good as his comb-over did him. Several people discovered this after having their chair crushed beneath them from a lucha landing in their laps. Other spectators had to shield their eyes as plastic tabletops were shattered near them as well.
In between matches, the ring was opened up to the younger kids who had a pretty firm grasp on how to do some of the more simple moves. Like little monkeys they climbed the ropes and leapt onto the thinly padded floor of the ring, narrowly missing each other. The only adults allowed in the ring with the children were wearing lucha masks of their own and were immediately swarmed by the kids like africanized bees. After taking as much of a beating as they could stand, they would slip through the ropes and back into their seats.
The last match ended in upset when the bad guys were named the victors, although, the plot was pretty hard to follow by that time. Even still, the night was incredible and we highly recommend going to any lucha match you can- regardless of the size.
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While I would to have loved to have provided higher quality pictures, the lighting in the arena was heinous. Enjoy the gritty pictures that truly represent how gritty lucha libre can be!
LOL, that is so full of win. I became determined to see one of these fights after seeing Nacho Libre, lol. Not that it’s the same, but I think I’d like it. The fight you described here kind of reminds me of Sabada Gigante, because that show is over the top and ridiculous, too.
YES! Haha, this is awesome guys. In the second inline picture, it looks like the guys are praising some kind of upside down Jesus/Batman.
SOOO jealous! It’s the only thing I really wanted to do in Mexico that I didn’t do.
Love your photos.
So AWESOME!! Sounds like it was pretty effing intense. Great photos.
Sound fun but a little dangerous for the people in the front rows. They are some fearless wrestlers!
@ Jenn – I think Nacho Libre inspired a lot of people to want to see a real Lucha Libre fight. In fact, we brought an 11 year old boy that was staying with us at our hostel and he was stoked for that same reason. 😀
@ Evan – That upside down luchador is Magic Boy. He was amazingly agile, and a local favorite. That picture is of him launching himself over the ropes and crushing his opponent. He was pretty good about not landing on the spectators. 😛
@ Ayngelina – We pretty much had that whole day revolving around the fight. We surfed for a bit, but called it an early day to make sure we made it there on time. So glad we did too.
@ Pete – Indeed it was! We’ve been told that the bigger matches in cities like D.F. are quite a bit different, so we’re totally gonna try and go to one there too. Although, I don’t think they allow cameras in the big fights.
@ Kirk – Yup, but the fans are just as fearless! It was pretty hilarious watching some tourist get his chair crushed while he was sitting in it with this look of disbelief on his face. Luckily, we were warned ahead of time.
Haha that’s awesome you went! I thought about it when I was in Mexico City, but eh I decided to visit a museum instead. 😉
Oh my, I think I’ll skip that and stick to my museums and staff 😛 Great photos though!
Probably the coolest thing ever! Definitely adding this to my list of must-see events!
I think my husband will go nuts when we go to Mexico, fantastic!
@Andi: I plan on museuming it up in DF!
@Angela: lol! I can tell it is definitely not for everyone. 😛
@Roman: I had thought about going but never thought the opportunity would present itself. I was SO glad we went.
@Sophie: It is amazing!
Badfuckingass. I love it. My favorite is the caption on the picture “Yes, he is that short”….I laughed out loud for a LONG time hahahahhaha!
wow that’s so awesome, you got some really super kicka$$ photos in your gallery :)Love it!
why am I not surprised that you loved this??!! 😉
holy crap that looks like a blast! the photos are killer- dig the ass shots ha ha.
Awesome.
I want to go to this!! Looks amazing! Lots of drinking going on too?
I was in love with wrestling growing up and while I did indeed grow out of it in college, I would still place going to one of these shows near the top of my list in Mexico. thanks for the post!
I’ve been to Sayulita dozens of times, yet never seen lucha libre. Looks like it was quite a show! Was surfing La Lancha and saw Mike from Wildmex yesterday, he’s the other surf instructor who saw you guys when there 🙂
@ Sheryll – What they lack in height, they make up with in springy-ness. 😀
@ Sarah – Since these luchadors were more of the up-and-coming type, they were really cool about people taking pictures.
@ Michael – Because it was fucking amazing! That’s why! 😛
@ Lorna – Ass guy’s match was pretty bizarre. It involved multiple lap dances to one of the few female fans and even some bare-ass moments when his opponent caught him off guard.
@ Mica – Yeah, there was definitely a fair amount of drinking going on. One dude was so trashed that they literally threw him out after repeated attempts to climb into the ring during the matches, lol.
@ Scott – Yeah, I used to like WWF stuff back in the days of Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, etc. Going to a match wasn’t really on our radar until we saw the fliers. Soooooo glad we went. 😀
@ Fede – If Mike was there I hope that means the waves were good. So glad we got to meet up with you before leaving the coast. I wouldn’t be surprised if we make a stop in Sayulita on our way back at the end of the trip, haha.
Oh my gosh you guys haha. Those costumes look even wilder than I was picturing. So happy you’re having a good time… “sin limite.”
@Abby: I was looking back at some footage I took at the fight and I couldn’t help but smile. It really is an awesome time.
Crap this is SO much better than the one I saw in La Paz
@Lindsay: I’m not sure I want to see another so it won’t ruin my first experience! It was SO AWESOME!
Nice. so they like celeb shots 😛