The History Of The Luchador Mask In Wrestling, Explained

La Maravilla Enmascarada was an outsize hit with the Mexican crowd though, drawing above the mid-card expectations of his masked contemporaries in the US, so much so that Lutteroth began to introduce more and more masked characters to the EMLL, know as Enmascarados.

This allowed the promotion to focus more on homegrown talent, which in turn let them expand across Mexico and at the same time cemented the idea that the mask was part of what defined a luchador.

But the masks had no meaning, no actual significance, beyond their ability to draw – so as with all mysteries people, promoters, wrestlers, the fans began to fill in the significance.

This is likely where the misconception that the masks are an allusion to the traditions of the Aztec, Maya and other peoples of Mesoamerica.

For instance, the Maya wore masks for many occasions – they wore protective but intimidating masks to war, were buried in death masks that would shield them on their journey to the afterlife and for religious ceremonies would wear masks that represented different animals, whose spirits were entwined with the gods and conferred a portion of their power onto the wearer.

Like a strong King in a jaguar mask, or a Prince Puma.

The Aztec’s too believed masks had an intrinsic power as described by Dr Cecelia F. Klein an Art History Professor at UCLA who said:

“Masks were valuable because they were thought to be powerful. They derived some of their power from the materials used to make them.”

To even own a mask was a status symbol, something that can easily be brought forward to tie into the luchador honor system – lose the mask, you lose your status.

And that’s kind of the crazy thing here, none of this is why lucha masks exist, but the parallels throughout history keep cropping up.

Hell one ancient mesoamerican society known as The Olmecs had these pretty gross masks with disfigured faces that suggested a transformation into birds, lizards and felines – bringing the human and the natural together in a way that would come to define their cosmology.

They also apparently produced this very famous sculpture that has come to be known as The Wrestler and is widely debated as to its authenticity and its subject matter, as it’s likely not a wrestler – but you can see how all these myths can muddy the true origin of something as simple as a mask, especially when the veil of kayfabe is drawn across it too.

And masks afford a serious firewall of kayfabe for luchadors, right – because at the end of the show it comes off and the wrestler gets to walk down the street completely anonymous. No one the wiser that this man, who admittedly is built like a brick shit house, is the high flying performer they just saw. It’s kind of a Clark Kent/Superman kind of disguise, but he’s not wearing glasses or a mask.

Except I don’t even think the masks in lucha libre are actually meant to be read as masks. These are the character’s faces.

• rey mysterio
• history
• Explained
• Lucha Masks

Share this article with friends