![]() ![]() ![]() WWE Hall of Famer Eddie Guerrero once wrote that “Calling him a legend doesn’t even do justice to how big he was. ![]() Fortunately it is not a problem as the Mexican luchador does not need a big body, it is a bad thing and not good for your health." If a bit of high flying excitement is agreeable to your well being, than get down to the Roundhouse.El Santo is, perhaps, the most famous grappler in the history of lucha libre. Our style of wrestling is not that suitable for larger wrestlers, the ideal luchador weights 90 kilosand is 1.85m high. Size matters, he tells me, in terms of a lack of abuse of medication and such like: "In Mexico there have always been many weights. Santito, as he is called at whiles out of respect for his famous father, tells me that the darker matters surrounding the American version of the sport are not so prevalent in Mexican tradition. The men in the ring might be smaller than your Big Show or Kane, but the money they can draw stands tall with the best in the business. The Latin market, like the European market, is no joke. I have always been someone who enjoyed the freedom to choose my career and be independent, and therefore have never really reached an agreement with them." TNA have always denied an interest in the Mexico City native, and one of eleven children. He says: "I have been asked to work for the WWE and they asked me to sign for them, which would mean working for WWE exclusively. It's a role he himself could well have had he assures me, despite some scepticism in the industry. Santo tells me he has huge respect for Rey, and that he represents the Mexican tradition to the world in proud and dignified fashion. ![]() My son loves lucha libre, but he also likes his ipod, he has time for both!" Last weeks interviewee Mysterio would doubtless agree. "I think that the new technology doesn't really compete with lucha libre, in fact, I think it has actually made it more popular, with lucha libre computer games available, televised lucha libre events, films, cartoons. Over the years, Mexicans embraced it as part of their culture, a mask of a luchador, like my father's mask, symbolizing Mexico in thesame way as a mariachi hat. Unsurprisingly, he disagrees, telling me: "Lucha libre in Mexico has been a popular and spectacular sport, second only to football. Isn't an ipod or Wii more attractive to the kids these days? We put it to him that wrestling is in danger of losing touch with the public, and particularly the masked warriors of Lucha Libre. FT has secured possibly the only interview the man in the mask has given in the UK in a decade. He's heading up proceedings at Camdens Roundhouse, and he won't be alone. One of the pioneers of the art form is El Hijo Del Santo ('The Son of the Saint'), Jorge Guzman to his mother, a second generation star who has been in the business for twenty-six years. British fans will get an opportunity to savour the very essence of the Mexican tradition this weekend in the capital, as Lucha Libre lands on these very shores. As we all know, the meats of our global wrestling stew are many and varied, infused with flavour from several parts of the world. In such dark times it would be easy to forget the object of all the blood, sweat, broken bones and battered bodies is simple entertainment. ![]()
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