Salvador Lutteroth
Encyclopedia
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
professional wrestling
Professional wrestling
Professional wrestling is a mode of spectacle, combining athletics and theatrical performance.Roland Barthes, "The World of Wrestling", Mythologies, 1957 It takes the form of events, held by touring companies, which mimic a title match combat sport...
promoter
Professional wrestling promotion
A professional wrestling promotion is a company or business that regularly performs shows involving professional wrestling. Promotion also describes a role which entails management, advertising and logistics of running a wrestling event...
of the mid-twentieth century. Lutteroth's promotion, Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre
Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre
Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre is a Lucha Libre-style professional wrestling promotion based in Mexico City while running cards in Guadalajara, Puebla and elsewhere in central and southern Mexico...
(EMLL), has been the dominant Mexican promotion since its founding in 1933, until Lutteroth left the company in the 1950s. Under its current name of Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), it is, to date, the longest running active professional wrestling promotion in the world presenting three weekly matches. Lutteroth was known as the "father of lucha libre
Lucha libre
Lucha libre is a term used in Mexico, and other Spanish-speaking countries, for a form of professional wrestling that has developed within those countries...
," and, in his position as promoter and booker of the dominant promotion, was the most powerful man in Mexican wrestling, and one of the most powerful wrestling executives in the world. He was, in large part, responsible for the widespread fame of the most famous Mexican professional wrestlers of the mid-twentieth century, such as Octavio Gaona,the first Mexican wrestler to win the middle weight championship of the world defeating Gus Kalio, Carlos Tarzan Lopez, El Santo, Gori Guerrero, Rene Guajardo, Karlof Lagarde, Enrique Yañez and the international league wrestler Medico Asesino, Rito Romero, Dorrel Dickson and Mil Mascaras, who wrestled in the United States, Japan and Europe.
Early life
Don Salvador Lutteroth González was born on March 21, 1897 in ColotlanColotlán
The municipality of Colotlán is located in the northern extremity of the Mexican state of Jalisco. The municipality covers an area of approximately 505 square kilometers...
, Jalisco
Jalisco
Jalisco officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Jalisco is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is located in Western Mexico and divided in 125 municipalities and its capital city is Guadalajara.It is one of the more important states...
, though he soon moved to Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
, where he went to agriculture school. At age 17, Lutteroth joined the Mexican Revolution
Mexican Revolution
The Mexican Revolution was a major armed struggle that started in 1910, with an uprising led by Francisco I. Madero against longtime autocrat Porfirio Díaz. The Revolution was characterized by several socialist, liberal, anarchist, populist, and agrarianist movements. Over time the Revolution...
, and served as a lieutenant, and captain under the orders of General Alvaro Obregon while battling against the forces of the infamous Pancho Villa
Pancho Villa
José Doroteo Arango Arámbula – better known by his pseudonym Francisco Villa or its hypocorism Pancho Villa – was one of the most prominent Mexican Revolutionary generals....
, among others. By 1923, he had been promoted to First Captain, but after getting married in 1924 to Armida Camou Olea from Hermosillo, Sonora; they had four children, Salvador, Hector, Enrique and Elsa; he left the military and soon took a job in the Tax Department as a property inspector. By 1929, Salvador Lutteroth was relocated to Ciudad Juarez, where he was first exposed to the sport of professional wrestling. While there he began regularly attending matches at Liberty Hall in El Paso, Texas, where he became enamored with the personalities of the various competitors, most notably the Greek star, Gus Pappas.
Wrestling career
Lutteroth then decided to bring this entertaining sport back to his native Mexico; and in 1933, he chartered his new company, Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre (EMLL), along with his financial partner Francisco Ahumada. After unsuccessful negotiations with the boxing promoters to let him use the premier National Arena, Lutteroth rented out the smaller Modelo Arena, that became the first true home of Lucha Libre. Fans soon began to catch on to the idea of professional wrestling in MexicoMexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
; and by the first anniversary of the EMLL, Lutteroth was promoting to gates upwards of 5,000 fans. In 1934, an American wrestler debuted in Mexico under a black, leather mask, and Lutteroth dubbed him "Maravilla Enmascarada" or "The Masked Marvel”. Soon after, Lutteroth incorporated the use of other masked wrestlers into Lucha Libre, creating real-life super heroes and villains for the audience to identify with. The idea was a huge success and thus, the modern era of Mexican wrestling was born. It was also around this time that Salvador Lutteroth would discover his first legitimate superstar, the masked icon El Santo, who is generally regarded as the greatest Mexican wrestler of all-time.
As his fan base continued to grow, Lutteroth and his partners eventually moved to larger and more profitable venues. Through an amazing stroke of luck, Lutteroth then won 40,000 pesos
Pesos
Pesos may refer to** Peso, the currency, in plural form* Fenfluramine, by the trade name Pesos...
in the Mexican lottery on September 21, 1934, and he immediately poured his winnings (which equates to $3,500 in today’s money, but about $40,000 in relative 1934 terms) to renovate the roof and seats for his promotion. By the mid-1940’s, the fan base grew so big that Lutteroth constructed the Arena Coliseo, which opened with a capacity for nearly 6,500 seats. As television surfaced as a viable entertainment medium during the 1950’s, another struck of luck, the personnel of the Arena Coliseo bought a lotery ticket that won 5 million pesos, it was the first grand prize and Salvador Lutteroth had bought half of the ticket and invested the money on the new Arena Mexico; Lutteroth was then able to broadcast his wrestling across the nation, subsequently yielding a popularity explosion for the sport. Moreover, it was the emergence of television that allowed Lutteroth to promote Lucha Libre’s first breakout superstar, El Santo, into a national pop-culture phenomenon.
The El Santo persona debuted in the early 1940’s as a rudo (heel), and initially engaged in a heated feud with Lutteroth’s top babyface, Tarzán López. However, the Mexican fanbase was so enamored with the mystique and the secrecy of his identity that El Santo soon became the company’s most popular performer. In addition, Lutteroth insisted that El Santo’s face remain covered by a mask at all times, even when he was not performing in the ring. Consequently, Lutteroth transformed El Santo into a mega-babyface; and for the next three decades, he would serve as the preeminent face of EMLL while he also acted in scores of action-adventure motion picture films, which were hugely popular at the time. As a result, El Santo quickly grew into one of Mexico’s most popular national celebrities of the 20th century, while the sport of Lucha Libre thus received an unparalleled degree of mainstream attention. Following the mammoth success of El Santo, Lutteroth then frequently pushed additional masked superstar characters, such as the Black Shadow
Alejandro Cruz (wrestler)
Alejandro Cruz Ortiz was a Mexican Luchador , known worldwide as Black Shadow. Cruz's mask vs. mask match against El Santo in 1953 is generally considered one of the most important matches in the history of Lucha Libre...
, the Blue Demon
Blue Demon
Alejandro Muñoz Moreno , better known as Blue Demon , was a Mexican luchador Enmascarado who was widely considered to be one of the greatest Mexican wrestlers of his time...
, Mil Mascaras
Mil Máscaras
Aaron Rodríguez , best known as Mil Máscaras , is a semi-retired Mexican professional wrestler and actor, who has starred in several films with fellow luchadores...
, and the Villano’s (among others); and to this day, Lucha Libre remains associated with high-flying masked superstars, with Rey Mysterio, Jr., Psicosis, Silver King, and La Parka representing the latest generation of masked luchadores.
The Lutteroth Family continues to serve as Lucha Libre’s most powerful promoters while steering the dominant EMLL organization. In addition his stable of emmascarados, Lutteroth also built a roster of legendary performers, including the likes of Gory Guerrero
Gory Guerrero
Salvador Guerrero Quesada , better known as Gory Guerrero, was one of the premier Hispanic professional wrestlers in the early days of Lucha Libre when most wrestlers were imported from outside of Mexico. He wrestled primarily in Empresa Mexicana de la Lucha Libre between the 1940s and 1960s...
, Cavernario Galindo
Cavernario Galindo
Rodolfo Galindo Ramirez was a Mexican luchador and film actor, best known by his ring name Cavernario Galindo , who was active in Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre from the 1930s to the 1990s...
, Tarzan Lopez, Perro Aguayo
Perro Aguayo
Pedro Aguayo better known as "Perro Aguayo" and El Can de Nochistlan , was a famous Mexican wrestler through 1970s to 1990s. His son also wrestles as Perro Aguayo, Jr. or El Hijo del Perro Aguayo . He is one of the biggest box office attractions in lucha libre history and was the last major rival...
, René Guajardo, Dorrel Dixon, Mil Máscaras, Rito Romero, Médico Asesino, Sugi Sito and others, while holding a virtual monopoly on the country’s wrestling landscape. Moreover, EMLL achieved international recognition for presenting a distinctive in-ring wrestling style that featured dazzling high-risk maneuvers and superior workrate in contrast to the increased brawling style that was employed in the U.S. Consequently, Mexican Lucha Libre
Lucha libre
Lucha libre is a term used in Mexico, and other Spanish-speaking countries, for a form of professional wrestling that has developed within those countries...
(along with Japanese Puroresu
Professional wrestling in Japan
Puroresu is the popular term for the predominant style or genre of professional wrestling that has developed in Japan. The term comes from the Japanese pronunciation of "professional wrestling" , which is shortened to puroresu . The term became popular among English-speaking fans due to Hisaharu...
) eventually gained world renown as a significant foreign alternative to American-style pro wrestling.
Later years
However, by the mid-1950s, an aging Lutteroth began to cede control of the EMLL to his son Chavo, who commanded the same level of respect from the wrestlers. Obtaining the recognition from the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), for the welterweight and light-heavyweight world titles for Mexico, which brought him great pride as promotion in that time was done without television because the mayor of Mexico City, Lic. Ernesto Uruchurtu banned the wrestling matches from being televised, and yet ticket sales at the arena averaged 90% with a maximum capacity of 16,500 seats; wrestlers were brought from Spain, England, Argentina, France, Japan, Korea, and Jamaica among others As a result, on January 16, 1975, NWA Light Heavyweight Champion Ray MendozaRay Mendoza
José Díaz Velazquez was a Mexican Luchador, or professional wrestler, better known under his ring name Ray Mendoza. Diaz had great success in the National Wrestling Alliance, where he was a five time World Light Heavyweight Champion, as well as the first Mexican to hold the championship...
broke away from the new EMLL management, and with the backing of arena promoters Francisco Flores
Francisco Flores (wrestling promoter)
Francisco Flores is a former Mexican professional wrestling promoter who is most known for his part in creating and running the Universal Wrestling Association from the mid-1970s until the 1990s when it closed down...
and Benjamin Mora Jr., started a competing federation known as Lucha Libre Internacional, S. C., which has since become known as the Universal Wrestling Association
Universal Wrestling Association
The Universal Wrestling Association was a Mexican Lucha Libre or professional wrestling promotion based in Naucalpan, Mexico State that operated from 1975 until 1995...
(and the eventual home of longtime champion El Canek
El Canek
Felipe Estrada , known as Canek and El Canek, is a masked Mexican professional wrestler and former Mixed Martial Arts fighter currently performing part time for Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre. In 1972, he debuted as "El Universitario" at the age of 18. In 1973, he would change his name to Canek, a...
). Salvador Lutteroth Jr. retired in 1987; and his nephew Paco Alonso
Paco Alonso
Francisco Alonso Lutteroth , commonly referred to as Paco Alonso is the owner of the professional wrestling promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre , the world's oldest wrestling promotion...
has since taken control of EMLL, which remains the world’s oldest wrestling federation while continuing to compete with the UWA and Antonio Pena
Antonio Peña
Antonio Hipolito Peña Herrada was the founder of the Mexican professional wrestling promotion Asistencia Asesoría y Administración in 1992, which today is the largest wrestling promotion in Mexico. Peña's promotion reached its height of popularity in the early 1990s before the downturn of the...
’s AAA promotion. With its fast-paced, athletic style, Lucha Libre is now entrenched among Mexico’s top attractions, ranking with soccer and baseball as its most popular pastimes. Moreover, in recent years, Mexican stars like Eddie Guerrero
Eddie Guerrero
Eduardo Gory "Eddie" Guerrero was a Mexican-American professional wrestler born into the Guerrero wrestling family. He wrestled in Mexico and Japan for several major professional wrestling promotions...
, Rey Mysterio, Jr., Konnan
Konnan
Carlos Santiago Espada Moises , also known as Charles Ashenoff and better known by his ring name, Konnan, is a Cuban professional wrestler and rapper of Puerto Rican descent...
, and Vampiro
Vampiro
Ian Richard Hodgkinson , better known by his ring name Vampiro, is a Canadian professional wrestler currently working as a wrestler and a consultant for Juggalo Championship Wrestling. Hodgkinson is semi-retired and is a member of the citizen crime patrol organization Guardian Angels, acting as...
have also been top draws in the U.S. as well.
Championships and accomplishments
- Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards
- Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of FameWrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of FameThe Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame is a professional wrestling hall of fame that recognizes people who make significant contributions to the sport. It was founded in 1996 by Dave Meltzer, editor of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame is not...
(Class of 1996)