Tales of Masked men : A Recked Review

I been a wrestling fan a looooonnnggg time , 47 years this year actually, so you would imagine that I've become jaded or something hey?....nup, wrestling has always chucked some thing at me to re stoke my interest...

.and one of my favourite things are masked wrestlers , the first hood head that i can clearly remember that visited Australia was Don Jardine, or The Spoiler if you like, and he has remained a firm favourite, after that pretty much anyone who wore a hood peaked my interest, Mr Wrestling Two, Masked Superstar, and Mil Mascaras were next to freak me out and then came Tiger Mask who blew my mind completely...

BUT THEN...when I was in the States on a holiday in 1984, checking out bands I read about in Circus,, I met a nice guy of mexican origins who was working at a comic book store in Frisco who sold me a Box Y Lucha or two, after "reading" the mags, we got talking and he said I should go to Mexico City if I wanted to see the top shelf stuff, 

so off I went, his cousin got us a hotel and also tour guided us in Mexico city and just when we were set to get drenched in Lucha,  El Santo, Enmascarado del Plata passed away, I dont remember if i'd heard of Santo up til that point.

You would of thought the Pope or King had died, close enough I suppose, Mexico City shut down and was mourning en masse, all shows were cancelled,  the funeral cortege passed by my balcony, the footpaths were stacked 7-8 deep, when the pall was over, we went to a few shows, couple in Arena Mexico and a show run by El Canek that had Andre on the card,  my longtime passion for all things Lucha Libre was firmly underway,

 it was around this time I discovered a luchador called Fantasma , now this bloke quickly became my favourite due to the fact he was dressed like the Australian super hero THE PHANTOM (YEAH, I'M A NERD) although I think my first favourite luchador was a guy called Medico Loco, Ive never seen him work, just pictures, but what a great name.

 I have to say, keeping up with Lucha Libre was a hard job, most American mags didnt cover it and you cant get Box Y lucha in Australia ( which didnt matter cause my spanish is abominable) But then after Konnan cut a deal with Heyman, ECW got Rey, Psicosis and Juvey, then WCW went one better and got all of the previous mentioned plus La Parka, Lismark jnr, Super Calo and Ultimo Dragon (among others), plus in the late 90s getting mags and stuff was becoming slightly easier....

and of course I got a copy of "When Worlds Collide" which included the all time classic Hair v Mask match starring Eddie, Art Barr, the Son of the Saint and Octagon and the cage match between Konnan and Perro Agauyo Snr.....of course I got all the Rey Mysterio dvds and the Story of Eddie Guerrero... ...

.I also scored few AAA Triplemania's  along the way (pity the english language one this year didnt quite work) and a mate put me onto CMLL to check out Mistico v Averno and or Volador Jnr, so that got added to the collection, I even went to Super Astros restaurant once, but didnt try the Quadrilatiro sandwich( I may be mad, but i aint crazy)....and of course, recently,  the amazing Lucha Underground has grabbed hold of me, 

ANYWAY.....I always though that it would be good if someone did a history of Lucha that helped us gringos out, i have googled a bit and bought dvds, including a Santo movie and one his son did, but spotted no serious documentary about the art form ,

 but then came.....
Lucha Libre, Life Behind the Mask  The first proper Lucha doco I had seen,  which was  the stories of three luchadors working in Los Angeles. they were, Dinamic, who, other than being a barber,  

He didnt wear a mask, cause one night he forgot to put it on before hitting the ring, I believe WHOOPS, is the required response here, 

Dinamic had been wrestling for thirty years and he was getting ready to retire from the ring, then there was the rudo Kayam, the son of a famous luchador, who carries on the family tradition in a tag team called Los Chivos, who near as I can tell are doing a version of Los Gringos Locos< i surmised this because they were waving the american flag during their intro and everybody was booing their ass , 

and then there was Principe Unlimited, a first generation luchador, just starting out....all in all the film was damn good piece of business...

then I was you tubing one day and found a movie called "Loco Fighters" from 2006, which wasnt bad either , although once again my limited spanish don't help...

then came Tales of Masked Men

This DVD has all that a true Lucha nut could want. It gives you a detailed view of the history of the sport, from Ciclone Mckay in the 30's and the beginnings of the business life of Salvador Lutteroth, right through to modern day . 

It gives you a peek you into the lives of all levels of masked men and women that live their lives with a mask. 

The bit that I really liked the most, was the story of El Santo,  the greatest luchador in the history of the sport. I hadn't seen a  detailed story about the man on film, the film, talks of his life and career beginning ,

 the famous mascara y mascara with Black Shadow, it shows how Santo, through wrestling, movies and comics, became a multi media star  a long time before Dwayne Johnson did it and you even get to hear the great man speak, 

so, its fair to suggest that i thoroughly enjoyed that bit probably the most. The film touches on women luchas and then goes onto the Minis and their history thereof...

Mini legend "Gulliver" or as his mum calls him Angel Mondragon speaks about how the minis came about and this segueways into Mini Superstar Mascarita Sagrada, along with his sister, pops in and gives a detailed story of how he grew up and got into wrestling ,

 the bit finishes with Gulliver and Mascarita giving each a laugh about their careers together.

to finish the Luchador part of the doco, comes lucha maestro Solar, he speaks of how he got started and lived a dream working against all the greats and his wife speaks of his friendship with lucha legend El Solitario...

the doco follows Solar snr and Solar jnr ( or El Hijo del Solar, if you like)as they travel to a indie show , part of the doco has Solar snr in El Paso( the town run for years by Gory Guerrero, the father of Eddie and partner to El Santo in "The Atomic Pair) 

Solar is working with luchador Negro Navarro in this match, Negro speaks very highly of Solar during the doco....

Then we go into a gym were Solar snr is being Maestro and is running both his son and other trainees through the things that will set them up for a career in lucha...brilliant

And like all great documentaries ,

 the required presence of some highly intelligent talking heads is a must, and this doco is no different, Heather Levi, Lourdes Grobet, Dan Madigan, Christian Cymet, William Nericcio and Ulises Jiminez all expound prolifically about their thoughts on, about and experiences within the world of Lucha Libre...if your not careful, you may very well learn something here.

SO, finally,  if your a fan of Lucha, or just wrestling in general, then do yourself a huge favour and spend a few bucks on this brilliant piece of work, 

director Carlos Avila has well and truly submerged himself into lucha libre world , and gives us fans  a well constructed and beautifully thought out glimpse into the world of Lucha ....

well, go on give your visa card a workout.