After over 40 years of wrestling, world-renowned lucha libre fighter, El Hijo del Santo, decided to retire and announced his farewell tour, where he was set to fight in El Paso, alongside local icon Cinta De Oro.
This news came as an honor to the local lucha libre community, as it provided a chance to highlight the impact the El Paso/ Juarez region has had on lucha libre. Lucha libre fanatic, Julian Chavez, a 25-year-old, who runs the El Paso Knows How to Party Instagram page in his free time, sees a trend of more wrestling stars vising El Paso.
“Now that I’ve seen around [the local wrestling community], the big people like TNA (Total Nonstop Action Wrestling) and AEW (All Elite Wrestling) are starting to come more frequently because they know [about local talent]. Not only because of Cinta de Oro [but] also the great Eddie Guerrero, who helped make way for the wrestling scene here,” Chavez said.
The match was set for Sept. 6 at Ascarate Park, where local food trucks and artisan vendors, as well as live performances were set up. Spectators were gathered at the park hours before the matches were set to start, buying merch and waiting for meet-and-greet opportunities. However, as time passed, the weather worsened, and right before the lucha was set to start, the event was called off. Cinta de Oro Productions announced the event would be moved to 12 p.m. on Sept. 7 at the Boys and Girls Club of El Paso.
The weather mishap was not enough to dissuade fans from showing up the following day. By noon, the Boys and Girls Club was filled with spectators, some wearing masks to show support for their favorite wrestlers, others wearing merchandise, but all were ready for the show to begin.
The opening match was between Flama Roja Jr. vs. Akantus. After a long and entertaining match, Flama Roja Jr. came out victorious. This match made the crowd alive and even more excited for the closing act.
The next match was a tag team match with the Anklayer and Masacre Infernal vs. Sexi Mimi and Ramon Romantico. The former and senior team had a classic fighting style, while the freshman crowd brought a more theatrical performance. After a 23-minute match, where both teams fought outside of the ring on multiple occasions, Sexi Mimi and Ramon Romantico were able to pin down their opponents and come out on top.
The third match, “Choque de Amazonas,” was special as it featured the only two female luchadoras of the night, Zafiro and Sakura. This fight brought the crowd to life as many were shouting moves and strategies throughout the fight. After a rigorous fight where strikes landed and hair was pulled, Zafiro was able to pin Sakura down and win the match.
The “Battle on Star Mountain” match featured luchador Cosmo Orion wrestling against El Dragón. This match drew everyone’s eyes to the ring once again, as El Dragón asked for a time-out to catch his breath, and the crowd booed. Shortly after, Cosmo Orion pinned him down, and the match was over.
The fifth match was the second tag team match of the night featuring Rugido Infernal and Relampago Infernal vs. Minotauro and Monaguillo II. The fight started off structured, with one luchador from each side in the ring while the others waited their turn. After seven minutes, it evolved to both teams in the arena creating a challenge for the referee to keep order. Both groups went off the arena and among the chaos, it was hard to distinguish who would win. However, Los Infernales came out victorious.
The second to last match of the night, known as the triple threat match, involved a three-way match between Fray Tormenta Jr., Kempo Jr., and Skybird. All of them performed many jumps and maneuvers and soon after they began the match they were already outside of the ring. After one of them managed to come back to the ring, he took this opportunity to do a ‘topé con hilo’ maneuver, where he jumped and flipped from the ring into the stands to bring both of his opponents down. After a long match, Kempo Jr. managed to outwit his opponents and come out victorious.
The final match was the one that the crowd had waited two days to see. As the music started playing for the luchadores to enter, everyone was on the edge of their seats. The match was called, ‘La Despedida de una Leyenda y el Comienzo de un Legado’, featuring Ráfaga Jr., Romeo and Magno versus Cinta de Oro, Cinta de Oro Jr and the headliner himself, El Hijo Del Santo.
As tension rose in the ring, the crowd did not shy away from cheering on Cinata de Oro’s team and disparaging their opponents. This made the opponents more determined to win their match. The match grew into mayhem, luchadores were thrown on chairs, and fans scattered to get away from the landing zones. An older woman even got her cane taken from her by one of the wrestlers to use against his opponent.
El Hijo del Santo was almost unmasked by Ráfaga Jr., which only brought more negative chanting from the crowd but after a well-drawn-out match full of action Cinta De Oro’s team came out victorious.
The event ended with El Hijo del Santo thanking the fans and giving words of encouragement to Cinta de Oro Jr.
“Tú lo único que tienes que hacer es entrenar mucho, hacer esto con pasión y querer a toda esta gente,” El Higo del Santo said.
Alex Dominguez, a 54-year-old man who has been of fan of wrestling since he was 9 years old, was thankful for the chance to attend.
“I’m honored that I was able to make it to the show, it would’ve been a shame if he [El Hijo del Santo] would’ve lost his last match here in El Paso being the son of a legendary wrestler like El Santo,” Dominquez said.
Dominguez also expressed his hope that this event would bring more attention to the lucha libre scene in El Paso.
“Hopefully, we get more crowds into the local promotions. We get about four or five local promotions here in El Paso currently, and I hope that people start attending the shows and supporting the local promoters and the wrestlers. Also, the ones that come from Mexico City,” Dominguez said.
Despite complications, Cinta de Oro Productions, alongside El Hijo Del Santo, were able to put on a successful wrestling match that celebrated El Hijo Del Santo’s legacy one last time, while also raising money for the Boys and Girls Club of El Paso–bringing the Lucha Libre borderland community together.
Aylinne Morales is a contributor at the Prospector and may be reached at [email protected].
