Are there any good books about Lucha?

[IpponDropkick]

Hello folks,

Recently got into CMLL due to some promoting of it by fans both here and on Reddit. Really starting to dig it, and I want some reading material for the bus to learn about lucha. Just some E-Books to throw on my tablet. Any recommendations? 

[C.S.]

I have this one:

Mondo Lucha A Go-Go: The Bizarre and Honorable World of Wild Mexican Wrestling 
by Dan Madigan 

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B002UXS0FM/

I can't speak to its accuracy, but I remember it being really fun to go through. The author is an ex-WWE writer, for whatever that's worth.

The link has recommendations to other lucha books, so you can go down the lucha rabbit hole that way and see if anything strikes your fancy.

Edit: Just realized you were asking about ebooks. This obviously doesn't qualify because it's more of a glossy photo book. But the other recommendations in the link above may also have ebooks. 

[IpponDropkick]

Anyone know if there's an e-book out there of it?

[C.S.]

@IpponDropkick Not that I know of, unfortunately - at least not on Kindle.

If it had come out a few years later, there probably would've been an ebook. It's becoming more common now for books with heavy picture/art content to get ebooks, but that wasn't really the case when Mondo Lucha A Go-Go came out in 2007. 

[Tim Cooke]

Go to crossarmbreaker.com  

There are some really good lucha reviews there along with a couple of ebooks for more modern lucha matches

[IpponDropkick]

I'm having so much fun watching this.

It's funny, people always talk about how high risk lucha is - and it is - but there's WAY less bumping due to the 2 fall structure I think. Pretty much every big, flat bump is a fall. No wonder lucha guys last so far into old age.

I don't get the deal with Tirantes or whoever as ref. He seems to count kind of slow and have a bit of a character? Like, their red shoes or hebner or whatever? Can someone fill me in?

And I am shallow enough to admit I dig the ring card and entrance ladies.

[Al]

Are there good lucha historians who post their research online or are active posters/bloggers?

[Matt D]

Around once every six weeks or so, Cubsfan will update his database with old results.

(Here's an example of one of those posts: http://www.thecubsfan.com/cmll/2018/06/18/1960s-coahuila-durango-lineups-added-to-the-luchadb/)

 

[aaeo_]

3 hours ago, Al said:

Are there good lucha historians who post their research online or are active posters/bloggers?

All the ones i can recall seeing (other than cubsfan) write in spanish, for example there's a really interesting wordpress blog about lucha libre in Guatemala and this one for stuff from emll and uwa.

[JNLister]

20 hours ago, IpponDropkick said:

I don't get the deal with Tirantes or whoever as ref. He seems to count kind of slow and have a bit of a character? Like, their red shoes or hebner or whatever? Can someone fill me in?

 

Almost literally in the red shoes case -- Tirantes translates as braces or suspenders, which he was unusual in wearing.

More importantly, he was a heel/rudo-favouring ref in AAA in the 1990s and now has the legend/nostalgia status. I don't know if he was the first such heel ref in lucha, but it definitely stood out when AAA was picking up viewers in the US and Europe. At that time at least they normally had two refs for the trios matches, so it wasn't so much that the babyyfaces/technos were screwed, but rather they needed a bit of luck as to which ref was paying attention when they went for a fall or were hit with an illegal move.