Well Sox, at least they don't plug him in this NW Herald article:
Wrestling is religion for lucha libre fans
Saturday, November 3, 2007 12:04 AM CDT
BY JOHN BURBRIDGE
jburbridge@nwitimes.com
219.993.3371
HAMMOND | No sneak-attack sucker punches.
No locker room ambushes.
Little if any interference from outside the ropes.
What kind of professional wrestling outfit is this?
"We're the National Wrestling Alliance ... we've been around for over 60 years," David Marquez said. "We put all the action inside the ring. We want the athleticism to tell the story. We put the wrestling first."
Marquez is a veteran in the professional wrestling trade, serving as an executive and producer within the NWA. On Nov. 10, the long-time organization with historic ties to Ric Flair, Sting and Harley Race will present the Lucha Libre Mexicana "Libertad" wrestling card at the Hammond Civic Center.
For a not-so-simple translation, the Spanish word for pro wrestling is "lucha libre," which morphs to "free fighting" when translated back to English. But don't worry, you'll won't need subtitles to follow the action. Just a quick eye.
"These guys are amazing," said Mark Munno of 2M Productions, which with Ambassador Enterprises, Inc. and Omar Presents are promoting the Civic Center card.
"It's the type of wrestling that's been so popular in Mexico for many years," Munno said. "And with the Hispanic community here and an ideal venue for wrestling ... it's about time it's come to the area."
Though some may question the "reality" of professional wrestling, next week's lucha libre card may be the closest opportunity for fans to see "real-life superheros."
"Lucha libre wrestling is more than just wrestling .... it's a religion," Dan Lentino of Ambassador Enterprises, Inc said. "Masked wrestlers in Mexico never show their faces in public, and often pass down their masks to their sons.
"Feature films in the 1950s and 1960s with lucha libre wrestlers were real popular in Mexico. Wrestlers even appeared in comic books. The stories were your typical 'good versus evil' morality plays. And when these guys appeared in public -- always in mask -- fans would flock to them like they were Batman or Superman. Except when children here would get autographs from the television Superman, they were meeting George Reeves. Mexican wrestling fans meeting El Santo were meeting El Santo."
Lentino said when lucha libre legend El Santo (The Saint) died in 1984, the country mourned the death like he was a head of state.
Among those scheduled to appear next Saturday include Blue Demon Jr., LA Park-K, Nicho (formally Psychosis) Ron Conway from WWE Raw and Sean "X-Pac" Waltman.
Even casual wrestling fans may remember "X-Pac," who with Triple H, Sean Michaels and Chyna of Degeneration X helped spark the resurgence of the WWE in the late 1990s -- known then as the WWF.
"He (X-Pac) has never stopped wrestling," Marquez said. "A lot of people don't know that. He's also scheduled to do shows with us in Australia and Japan.
"We're an international organization."
Lucha Libre Mexicana "Libertad"
Presented by the National Wrestling Alliance
When: 7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 10.
Where: Hammond Civic Center
Scheduled to appear: Blue Demon Jr., LA Par-K, Nicho (formally Psychosis), Sean "X-Pac" Waltman, Sicodelico Jr., NWA Tag Team Champs The Real American Heroes, Los Luchas and NWA Midwest Champion Roughneck Ryan.
Tickets: Call the Civic Center at (219) 853-6378 or Ticketmaster at (312) 559-1212, or go to
www.ticketmaster.com.
nwitimes.com/articles/2007/11/03/sports/region_sports/docfae1e1f49f6b327f86257387006abc1e.txt