Lucha in 1990-91

[KonaKrush]

Hi, I'm doing research on lucha libre in this era and I was hoping someone on the boards could give me a crash course on the business side of things during this time; while cagematch and other resources have a ton of information about what was going on elsewhere in the world, there seems to be a sort of black hole when it comes to figuring out what was running where, who was drawing cards, etc. For instance, who were the biggest stars of the time? Meltzer seems to think it's Perro Aguayo, but did he have a particularly big-name opponent? I know El Canek had a reputation of being some sort of Hogan-like figure who loved bodyslamming big foreigners, but could he sell out arenas? How does Konnan become a top star almost overnight?

 

And is there a great resource for this sort of stuff that I haven't been able to find because google is hiding Spanish results from me?

[Matt Farmer]

I've spent a TON of time researching this era of Mexico. What made this era so unique and ground breaking is television. Lucha on television in Mexico City was not common. There were some cable channels that carried it, but for the majority of homes in the Federal District (most populated state in Mexico) lucha was not on television. It wasn't until 1989 that EMLL got a regular television time slot and the wrestlers that were featured became instants stars. Prior to this time the number one promotion in terms of attendance was probably UWA but once television entered the picture EMLL started moving ahead.

 

In 1990 both promotions were doing excellent business. By 1991 EMLL was clearly ahead and doing record business, including 5 straight Friday night sellouts at Arena Mexico (the building was not ran full time during this era).

 

El Canek became a huge star during a period of time when lucha libre was on fire in Mexico. In terms of fans paying to see live wrestling, the late 1970's and early 80's was probably the most prolific period of time in terms of paying customers in Mexico. It's unlikely any promotion in history drew as many paying customers per year as the UWA was pulling in during this time. Second to them was EMLL at the time. El Canek was one of the top stars in UWA at the time so his name was built off of this time. He was a larger and more muscular than average luchador and he had charisma and was a good worker. In Mexico once you build your name, it carries on for a long time.

 

Konnan was very similar to Canek, which may explain some of the heat between the two. Konnan was bigger and more muscular than most, plus he had a ton charisma. A good look and charisma gives you a huge edge in becoming a star. The thing about Konnan is he got over right away, in numerous regions before becoming a big star in Mexico City.

 

Mexico was set up similar to how territories were in the United States. For instance if you worked in Monterrey for Carlos Elizondo, you'd work his big shows every Sunday at the Plaza de Toros then he would book you out around the state the rest of the week. Foreigners in the early 90's were making very good wages in a territory like Monterrey.

 

Perro Aguayo was/is possibly the biggest live attendance draw in the history of Mexico. While he's not the cultural star that Santo, Blue Demon, Mil Mascaras or El Solitario are. I'd be willing to be that Aguayo attracted more fans to pay money to see him than anyone in Mexico.

 

In the late 80's/early 90's he was so over and so respected he was allowed to headline for both promotions. When Konnan and Antonio Pena were booking EMLL for Paco Alonso, many names were brought up for Konnan to drop his mask to. Konnan and Pena suggested Perro even though he was the rival UWA's top star.

 

The biggest drawing cards in Mexico for 90' - 91' were (in no order)

 

Perro Aguayo - Konnan - Cien Caras - Rayo de Jalisco Jr - El Canek - Dos Caras - Fabuloso Blondy (Ken Timbs) - Villano III - El Hijo del Santo - Sangre Chicana - Mascara Ano 2000 - Atlantis - Ringo Mendoza - Octagon - Atlantis - Vampiro

 

I may be missing a few but this is a good start.

[Zenjo]

Was Máscara Año 2000 a draw? I think most of his success was down to tagging with his brothers. Cien Caras seemed like the only one with star power.

 

Whenever the CMLL TV show had these wrestler countdowns, Octagon seemed to be getting the most fan mail. Lizmark was very popular as well. He was Doña Vicky's favourite after all. Dandy deserves a mention also.

[ohtani's jacket]

Steve Sims' HOF bio for Konnan is a good place to start. You should be able to find that with a simple google search. There's a couple of lucha books on Google Books with info about the era as well. When I researched about 80s and early 90s for the DVDVR Lucha discs there were endless discrepancies with facts. There is no way to get a completely accurate take on the period. For example, different sources will give you different dates on when EMLL first began airing on terrestrial television in Mexico City, and so on. But basically there was a television boom in the era you're researching about fueled by the ban on televised wrestling being lifted in Mexico City and the booking ideas of Antonio Pena who came up with gimmicks like Konnan and Octagon. Pena's ideas were pretty modern for the time even if they did hark back to the way lucha magazines were responsible for creating gimmicks in the past. Pena's modern thinking butt shoulders with co-booker Juan Herrera's old-school leanings and for a while the "old meets new" blend made for a potent product. The UWA was really late to get TV. They didn't have a show until November of '91 by which time the TV boom had based them by. Monterrey and the other territories really suffered in this era too. It wasn't exactly death of the territories, but pretty close. I mean if you compare how well the territories were doing in the 80s (post TV boom) to 1991, it's pretty sad. That follows a global pattern, though, so I guess it's the nature of the beast. The 1990-91 period is not really complete without researching the wrestlers' strike and the start-up AAA promotion, IMO. That was a direct result of the TV boom and I'd include it in whatever endeavor you're doing.

[Matt Farmer]

Was Máscara Año 2000 a draw? I think most of his success was down to tagging with his brothers. Cien Caras seemed like the only one with star power.

Yes he was. Of course he and his brothers as Los Hermanos Dinamita were one of wrestling more underrated trios draws. Mascara Ano was a top guy in his own right, in fact the semi-final of Mexico's biggest wrestling event in front of 50,000 fans at Plaza de Toros was Mascara dropping his mask to Perro Aguayo.

 

Even late into his career he drew well on top.