• Look Back In History
• Pmessages
• Quiz
• Stump The Staff
• Top Fifty
• Close

Luchador Wrestling A Big Hit In Tulsa

Posted: Jul 16th 2010 By: CMBurnham

A Tulsa restaurant is offering something you can't find anywhere else in Oklahoma: luchador wrestling. In Mexico, it's one of the most famous events to watch, and now you can see it in downtown Tulsa. News Channel 8's Kristin Dickerson found out what a luchador is, what it takes to be one, and what these masked fighters mean for downtown Tulsa.

Lucha libre is Spanish for free fighting. Luchardores are its wrestlers. For the past two months,
Elote Cafe and Catering has hosted live luchador wrestling every other Thursday night. The crowds of fans continue to grow, all following the ongoing dramatic storyline between the wrestlers.

The fan favorite is El Tlacuache (the possum), "I feel like I'm the underdog and everyone's just kind of rooting for me."

On the other side of the ring is the prideful El Gallo Rojo Loco (the crazy red rooster), "there's me and then there's everyone else who's lost to me."

There are also the ladies, or luchadoras, like "La Princesa De Cerveza" (the princess of beer),
"I feel that us girls absolutely outweigh the men, even though there's few of us, we're stronger, for sure."

This wrestling craze started when Elote's owner, Libby Auld, needed something to make her business stand out. "When we were going to open the bar, we knew we needed a theme for it because every successful place has a good theme going. So we thought we'd be a luchador bar and then I don't know, I thought it'd be funny if our stage was the ring for live music and then someone talked me into doing luchadores."

Some of her friends volunteered to wrestle and others filled out an application. Now, Libby says, they all love it. "They'll talk about breaking pretend chairs over friend's backs when they were little. I'm like, is this really happening? I'm sort of helping to make their dream come true you know . . . I mean some of the girls would be like 'I'm gonna tell my grandchildren that I was a luchador'"

These matches are sanctioned by the Oklahoma Professional Boxing Commission
and the luchadores are licensed professional wrestlers.

Becoming a luchador does take training. Several nights a week the fighters practice, drink beer, and brainstorm about wrestling moves. Their luchador masks never come off, staying true to lucha libre's century old tradition. The great El Santo of Mexico was buried wearing his mask.

Picking their new luchador identities seemed easy, most started with buying a mask online.
El Gallo Rojo Loco had some help perfecting his. "My mom actually customized it. She made the little cap over the plumage right here and the little beak."

La Princesa's image was a simple matter of taste, "I love beer, absolutely love beer. So I figured why not be the princess of beer?"

What they're doing appears to be working. The number of people packed inside Elote continues to grow, and at this rate these luchadores could do great things for downtown night life.


"Ya I think it's gonna help revive downtown" said Elote's owner, Libby Auld. "The best thing about owning this restaurant is the fact that two years ago you used to come down here at night and there was no one on Boston, and if you're on our street 5 o'clock and it's packed because Elote's open, and I'm definitely proud of that."

Auld also said she hopes to one day move their small wresting ring outside, shutting down Boston Avenue for one huge event.