How To Watch The Lucha Libre In Mexico City — ALONG DUSTY ROADS

One half of Along Dusty Roads has a confession to make.

It’s something that none of his friends know and his mother thought he’d given up when he was 14. Until the night when all was finally revealed to Emily, he’d only indulge in secret when she was away.

There are interests, some of questionable legality, which he would more readily share in polite company or around new people.

Andrew is a huge wrestling fan.

Present tense.

As a young kid on a farm in Scotland, it was hard to resist the muscles, fake tan, and charisma of people like the Ultimate Warrior, Randy Savage and Bret Hart. It was the best sort of show on TV – a total spectacle – and the glimpses of Americana on steroids (often quite literally) were captivating.

The late 90s ‘Monday Night Wars’ between WWF and WCW really hooked him in as a teen though and, for a brief moment, wrestling powerbombed its way into the mainstream. Personalities like The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin were pretty well-known in pop culture, and, though by no means cool, it was appointment viewing for certain schoolmates in the pre-streaming and pre-TikTok age of entertainment.

But then life became more interesting, and the pantomime soap opera of men in spandex seemed like a foolish, childish endeavour; something to leave firmly in the past.

And then the pandemic hit.

The period where a retreat into nostalgic, childhood pastimes was an acceptable comfort blanket to shut out those strange times. For some people it might have been gaming, bread making, Star Wars, upcycling furniture, or bookclubs over Zoom.

But for Andrew, wrestling was the escapism of choice.

If you don’t know your babyfaces from your heels, kayfabe from Kenny Omega, Rey Mysterio from ‘Ravishing’ Rick Rude, a hurricanrana from Hulk Hogan, Juventud Guerrera sounds like a football team, and you think Dwayne Johnson is a movie star rather than the People’s Champion, then the chances are that a night at the wrestling in Mexico City will simply be more an evening of kitsch fun and ironic entertainment.

For marks like Andrew, it’s all that and something a little bit more.

Whichever applies, in this explainer guide, we’ve shared everything you need to know before going to watch the lucha libre in Mexico City.

A regular weekly event for some locals young and old, lucha libre is deeply engrained in the country’s traditions and pastimes, and has deservedly grown in popularity as a fun experience for travellers too.

Whether you’re doing it independently like us…