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56-454: The first champion was "Gypsy Joe" Dorsetti , who won the title on November 6, 1952. In 1957 the NWA stripped Frank Stojack of the title for lack of NWA-mandated title defenses, but Stojack kept the physical belt and defended the title for over a year until the NWA regained possession of the actual Championship belt. (Edit: The NWA never regained possession of the actual belt. The actual original belt

112-459: A 2008 film entitled Academy of Doom , and a 2015 film called Aztec Revenge . Mil Máscaras has drawn criticism from fellow wrestlers such as Mick Foley and Chris Jericho for his unwillingness to sell moves and put opponents over . In a 2007 shoot interview, Superstar Billy Graham said that, during their series of matches, Mil Máscaras was unwilling to sell properly. Mil Máscaras has attributed these claims to cultural differences in

168-652: A Salvadoran bodybuilder Edgar Alexis Pineda played Mil Máscaras in the Salvadoran movie "3 Grandes Personajes" also known in the United States as "Samurai Jack and Mil Máscaras vs. Yumi". Mil's film career lay dormant after 1990 for 17 years, but he more recently resumed appearing in movies. In 2007, Mil Máscaras starred in Mil Mascaras vs. the Aztec Mummy (also known as Mil Mascaras: Resurrection ),

224-560: A bad guy. Mil's missions were becoming a bit more meaningful by this time. In Enigma of Death , Mil faces off against Carradine who plays the leader of an underground Nazi organization (who disguises himself as a circus clown!), while in Las Vampiras , Mil goes up against a secret cult of female vampires led by a very manic Carradine. In 1970, Curiel directed Mil Máscaras in two of his team-up movies. The Mummies of Guanajuato teamed Mil up with both Blue Demon and El Santo in what became

280-441: A contract dispute, and Blue Demon was injured unexpectedly and would require a prolonged time-out. Not wanting to stop making his successful cinematic quickies, Vergara decided to transform Lucha Libre newcomer Mil Máscaras as the star of his next two movies. Mil began a movie career that has continued to this day, appearing in a total of 20 Mexican horror/wrestling/action films. The first film, simply entitled Mil Máscaras (1966)

336-577: A gaggle of masked midget wrestlers in a number of their luchador films in the 70s. Over the next few years, a number of other team-up movies were made, most co-starring Mil Máscaras, who by this time was becoming the "King of the Team-up Movies". Champions of Justice Return (1972) was very similar to the first Champions film, only with El Fantasma Blanco sitting in for El Medico Asesino, El Rayo de Jalisco replacing Tinieblas, and El Avispon Escarlata replacing La Sombra Vengadora. (Mil didn't appear in

392-449: A promotion in that time was done without television because of 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 16 January 1975, NWA Light Heavyweight Champion Ray Mendoza broke away from

448-557: A significant foreign alternative to American-style professional wrestling. By the mid-1950s, an aging Lutteroth began to cede control of the EMLL to his son Salvador "Chavo" Lutteroth II , 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

504-656: A six-man tag team match. In April 2012, Mil Máscaras was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame by his nephew Alberto Del Rio. Mil Máscaras has never been unmasked in the ring, and like most masked luchadores, he goes to great lengths to conceal his true appearance and personal life. He has two brothers who wrestled, Dos Caras and Sicodélico . He has two sons and two daughters with his first wife, who died in 1975, and two daughters with his second wife, whom he married in 1995. His nephews are Alberto Del Rio (also known as Dos Caras Jr., El Hijo de Dos Caras, and Alberto El Patrón);

560-522: A triangular tournament that included Alfonso Dantés in the 1970s. Owing to the limited spread of news at the time, he repeated the feat in a Japanese ring, winning by submission. Mil Máscaras performed for All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) during the '70s. In his Japanese debut on February 19, 1971, he defeated Kantaro Hoshino in Tokyo . It was during this time that he had his best-known international feud with American masked wrestler The Destroyer . During

616-402: 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 work rate in contrast to the increased brawling style that was employed in the U.S. Consequently, Mexican Lucha Libre (along with Japanese Puroresu ) eventually gained world renown as

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672-525: Is a former WWE Champion and currently wrestles as Alberto El Patron. José's younger son Guillermo wrestles as El Hijo de Dos Caras . Pablo's son Aaron is better known as Sicodelico Jr. Mil Máscaras made his professional wrestling debut on July 20, 1963, in Pachuca . He became popular in Mexico for being one of the best conditioned luchadores in the heavyweight division, which was dominated by foreigners at

728-482: Is in the possession of a private collector.) After Stojack was stripped of the title, the NWA executive board decided to give Salvador Lutteroth and Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre control of the championship in 1958. The first champion under Lutteroth's authority was Dory Dixon , who had worked for EMLL for many years. During the late 1970s and early 1980s the title was also defended in the Los Angeles area; after

784-495: Is known due to appearing in the credits of the films he has starred in. His ring name is Spanish for "Thousand Masks". Mil Máscaras was inducted into the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2010, and the WWE Hall of Fame in 2012. He is a member of one of Mexico's most prominent wrestling families; his brothers José and Pablo respectively wrestle as Dos Caras and Sicodélico. José's oldest son Alberto

840-623: The Mexican Revolution , and served as a lieutenant, and captain under the command of General Álvaro Obregón while battling against the forces of Pancho Villa , among others. By 1923, he had been promoted to First Captain, but after getting married in 1924 to Armida Camou Olea from Hermosillo , Sonora , he left the military and soon took a job in the Tax Department as a property inspector. He and his wife had four children, Salvador, Hector, Enrique, and Elsa. By 1929, Lutteroth

896-599: The plancha and tope suicida , to Japanese fans. This brought him international fame as one of the first high-flyers, something he was not considered in Mexico where he fell under the mat-power category. Mil Máscaras made his international wrestling debut in 1968 at the Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles , getting involved in rivalries against the likes of Ernie Ladd , John Tolos , Black Gordman and Goliath . In Mexico City , he unmasked El Halcon in

952-502: The '70s, Mil Máscaras also had feuds with Mexican wrestlers such as TNT, Canek , El Halcon, and Angel Blanco . These feuds took place mostly in Mexico and the US and were broadcast on Spanish language stations in the US, Mil Máscaras was also the heavyweight champion of the IWA wrestling promotion, which was founded by Eddie Einhorn , and still holds the title to this day. In 1974, Mil Máscaras

1008-483: The 1950s, in another stroke of luck, the personnel of the Arena Coliseo bought a lottery ticket that won first grand prize of 5 million pesos. Salvador Lutteroth had bought half of the ticket and invested the money in the construction of the new Arena México on the site of the former Arena Modelo; Lutteroth was then able to broadcast his wrestling across the nation, subsequently yielding a popularity explosion for

1064-483: The 1980s, the title was only defended in Mexico. In March 2010, Blue Demon, Jr. , the president of NWA Mexico, sent letters to CMLL, telling them to stop promoting the NWA-branded championships since they were not part of the NWA. NWA Mexico had previously tried to reclaim the three NWA-branded championships promoted by CMLL, but was ignored by CMLL. The promotion did not directly respond to the latest claim either;

1120-781: The Champions X: Texas Shootout on February 6, 1990, in the Memorial Coliseum in Corpus Christi, Texas . On September 10, 1991, at the age of 49, Mil Máscaras won his final title, the WWA (Mexico) World Heavyweight Championship. He held the title until 1994 and assumed a state of semi-retirement after his final reign. Mil Máscaras' first American pay-per-view appearance was competing in WWF 's 1997 Royal Rumble match. He eliminated himself, diving off

1176-789: The Garden, he defeated The Spoiler (who was not permitted to wear his mask). During this time, he feuded with Superstar Billy Graham over the WWF World Heavyweight Championship . Mil Máscaras made many appearances during the 80s and the 90s at the World Wrestling Council in Puerto Rico. He also wrestled in World Championship Wrestling (WCW), where his most notable match was a match with Cactus Jack at Clash of

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1232-541: The Mexican lottery on 21 September 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-1940s, 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

1288-690: The Mummies of Guanajuato (1972) teamed up Mil with the Blue Angel and El Rayo De Jalisco. Mil Máscaras then co-starred with super-star strongman Sergio Oliva in Black Power (1973). He fought alongside the then-famous Superzan in Vampires of Coyoacan (1973) and later joined forces once again with El Santo and Blue Demon in 1977's Mystery in Bermuda , which most Mexi-cinema fans consider to be

1344-498: The NWA Welterweight Champion, Mephisto, commented, simply stating that the titles belonged to CMLL. Finally, on August 12, 2010, CMLL debuted the new NWA World Historic Light Heavyweight Championship and returned the old title to NWA. In 2013, NWA Mexico crowned its first recognized World Light Heavyweight Champion, with Súper Nova winning the vacant title. Súper Nova has not defended the title since 2014, with

1400-406: The U.S. Mil M%C3%A1scaras Mil Máscaras (born Aarón Rodríguez Arellano , July 15, 1942) is a Mexican luchador ( professional wrestler ) and actor. He is regarded as one of the greatest wrestlers of the lucha libre tradition in Mexico – along with El Santo and Blue Demon – and has been described as the first international superstar of lucha libre. Mil Máscaras is considered one of

1456-577: The boxing promoters to let him use the premier National Arena, Lutteroth rented out the smaller Modelo Arena, which became the first true home of Lucha Libre. Fans soon began to catch on to the idea of professional wrestling in Mexico ; 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

1512-908: The championship being de facto retired. There have been a total of 65 reigns shared between 40 wrestlers. Ray Mendoza has held the Championship the highest number of times with six title reigns; Gory Guerrero 's two reigns combined come to 1,963 days, the highest total of any champion. Roddy Piper is the champion with the shortest reign, 2 days; while the longest title reign belongs to Frank Stojack with 1,573 days. [G] - Royal Duncan and Gary Will (2006). "Mexico: EMLL NWA World Light Heavyweight Title". Wrestling Title Histories (4th ed.). Archeus Communications. p. 389. ISBN   0-9698161-5-4 . Salvador Lutteroth Mid 20th Century 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s Salvador Lutteroth González (21 March 1897 – 5 September 1987)

1568-423: 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

1624-448: The current El Hijo de Dos Caras ; Sicodélico Jr. ; and Hijo Del Sicodelico . Mil Máscaras is an avid golfer and plays in many charity golf tournaments around the world, including the annual Los Angeles Police Memorial Foundation Celebrity Golf Tournament. Along with pro wrestling, Mil Máscaras is a fan of Japanese martial arts , and has practised judo , aikido , jujutsu , karate and kendo , among others. He trained jujutsu under

1680-465: The day by teaming with his brother Sicodelico and his nephew El Hijo De Dos Caras to face one of his greatest rivals, Canek, along with Negro Navarro and Rey Bucanero in a special six-man tag. Mil Máscaras also starred in a series of 20 luchador action films beginning with his self-titled debut in 1966 at age 24. In 1966, Mexican movie producer Luis Enrique Vergara was looking for a new "enmascarado" to star in his wrestling/horror movies which were then

1736-517: The event. The Destroyer also commented on Mil Máscaras' wrestling style, "He was the best competitor that I ever wrestled. He never gave you anything – it's true – but I didn't give him anything either. You talk about a shoot or a half-shoot, and that's the kind of match that it was." On October 7, 2011, Mil Máscaras returned to Japan to celebrate the 40th anniversary of his debut in the country. He teamed with Dos Caras and Original Tiger Mask to defeat CIMA , Último Guerrero and Tiger Mask IV in

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1792-609: The first Mexican wrestler to win the middleweight championship of the world by defeating Gus Kallio , Carlos Tarzán López , El Santo , Gory Guerrero , René Guajardo , Karloff Lagarde , Enrique Llanes , and the international league wrestler Medico Asesino, Rito Romero , Dorrel Dixon and Mil Máscaras , who wrestled in the United States, Japan, and Europe. Salvador Lutteroth González was born on 21 March 1897, in Colotlán , Jalisco , though he soon moved to Mexico City , where he went to agriculture school. At age 17, Lutteroth joined

1848-493: The first lucha film featuring any of the so-called "Big Three" stars of the genre (Máscaras, Blue Demon, Santo) to be produced in English . The film screened at festivals around the world garnering awards and award nominations along with positive critical reviews. The film enjoyed almost continuous popularity and publicity for several years after its debut, including two magazine cover articles as late as 2012. He also appeared in

1904-444: The highest-grossing Mexican wrestler film of all time, pitting the three enmascarados against a group of re-animated mummies. The Champions of Justice (also 1970) saw Mil Máscaras in action with fellow wrestlers Blue Demon, Tinieblas , El Medico Asesino and La Sombra Vengadora (who all joined as sort of a super-team to fight monsters, mad scientists, criminals, evil dwarves or whatever else crossed their paths.) The producers employed

1960-591: The last real entry in the then fading Mexican wrestling/horror genre. He also appeared in a solo movie of his own, A Rose in the Ring (1972) and years later, he even teamed up with Santo's son El Hijo del Santo in The Lawless Frontier (1983), making Mil Máscaras the only Mexican superhero to ever co-star with both Santos, father and son. In the late 80's, Mil appeared in two more wrestling films, La Verdad de la Lucha and La Llave Mortal . In 2024

2016-478: 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 , Cavernario Galindo , Tarzán López, Perro Aguayo , René Guajardo , Dorrel Dixon , Mil Máscaras , Rito Romero , Médico Asesino, Sugi Sito and others, while holding

2072-434: The most influential wrestlers of all time for enhancing and popularizing the lucha libre style around the world, both in the ring and as the star of 20 films. He is also an accomplished artist and cultural ambassador for his native country and has appeared on three of its postage stamps. Although he has never been unmasked and his true identity is generally kept a secret out of respect for lucha libre traditions, his real name

2128-571: The new EMLL management, and with the backing of arena promoters Francisco Flores 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 (and the eventual home of longtime champion El Canek ). Salvador Lutteroth Jr. retired in 1987; and his grandson Paco Alonso has since taken control of EMLL, which remains

2184-422: The rage of Mexican cinema. Mil Máscaras was the first Lucha Libre personality that was created specifically to be a movie star, since his whole persona and flashy look was designed initially for the movies. (His real-life wrestling career followed and grew out of the excitement generated by his film appearances.) Vergara's two regular movie stars had suddenly become unavailable. El Santo had walked out on him over

2240-414: The sport, saying: One problem is that in the U.S. some wrestlers focus more on their image than their skills. I understand because I understand the business. I don't criticize them for that, but they should understand that for me wrestling means something more. If a guy doesn't execute a move, I don't pretend that he did. If I miss a move, then I don't ask anyone to make me look good. In 1975, Mil Máscaras

2296-449: The sport. Moreover, the emergence of television 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 1940s as a rudo (heel) and initially engaged in a heated feud with Lutteroth's top babyface , Tarzán López . The Mexican fanbase was so enamored with the mystique and the secrecy of his identity, however, that El Santo soon became

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2352-516: The third and final "Champions" film because it would've involved traveling to a foreign country where it was filmed.) However, in 1973, he teamed up again with Tinieblas and El Fantasma Blanco in two more films, Macabre Legends of the Colony and The Mummies of San Angel (which both resemble "Champions Of Justice" films, in spite of the Blue Demon's conspicuous absence from the casts). Theft of

2408-421: The time. It was also his size which permitted him to wrestle in the US and Japan under the heavyweight division. Mil Máscaras was one of the first masked luchadores outside of Mexico to play a non- heel role. He rarely resorted to rule breaking, instead relying on his repertoire of moves and counter-moves. Mil Máscaras was also one of the first wrestlers to introduce the high-flying moves of lucha libre, such as

2464-766: 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 , the Blue Demon , Mil Máscaras , and the Villanos (among others). To this day, Lucha Libre remains associated with high-flying masked superstars, with Rey Mysterio, Jr. , Psicosis , Silver King , and La Parka representing

2520-522: The top rope out of the ring onto Pierroth Jr. , whom he himself had just eliminated. Such a move is common in lucha libre, but it is technically a mistake in the Royal Rumble as it leads to elimination. On December 5, 2002, Mil Máscaras defeated Manny Fernandez at the inaugural show for Legacy Wrestling Enterprises in Fort Worth, Texas. On July 25, he celebrated his 50th in-ring anniversary to

2576-607: The use of other masked wrestlers into Lucha Libre, creating real-life superheroes 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 in

2632-675: The way for other luchadors such as Rey Mysterio Jr. , who has become one of the most popular luchadors in US wrestling. Even after reaching the age of 70, Mil Máscaras continues to perform sporadically. In 2001, he was inducted into the Southern California Pro-Wrestling Hall of Fame. In 2006, Mil Máscaras was honored by the Cauliflower Alley Club , a fraternal organization of both retired and active wrestlers. The Destroyer , one of Mil Máscaras' legendary rivals, presented him with an award at

2688-445: The world presenting three weekly shows. Lutteroth was known as the "father of lucha libre ," 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 ,

2744-676: The world to help downtrodden people everywhere, to fight criminals and to right wrongs, and just basically help make the world a better place. The plots of the first two films were rather lackluster. In both Mil Máscaras (1966) and its sequel Los Canallas (also 1966), Mil gets to fight a rather ordinary gang of thugs and a crooked fight promoter who are bullying the locals in some backwater burg in Mexico. Mil's second film Los Canallas and all of them thereafter were shot in Color. Federico Curiel directed Mil Máscaras' next two films in 1968, both of which feature American horror star John Carradine as

2800-464: The world's oldest wrestling federation while continuing to compete with the UWA and Antonio Peña '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 , Rey Mysterio, Jr. , Konnan , and Vampiro have also been top draws in

2856-422: Was a Mexican professional wrestling promoter of the mid-twentieth century. Lutteroth's organization, Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre (EMLL), was the dominant Mexican wrestling promotional enterprise from 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

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2912-673: Was relocated to Ciudad Juárez , 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 . 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

2968-453: Was sent to an orphanage. A group of scientists (not affiliated with any particular country) adopts the boy, secretly using him as a guinea pig, subjecting the child to an intensive regimen of physical exercise and mental training as he matures. When he reaches adulthood, Mil Máscaras is something of a superman (although without actual superpowers); both his mind and his body have been developed to perfection. The scientists then send him out into

3024-443: Was shot in black & white and made Mil out to be a sort of super-hero. The film gave Mil Máscaras a comic book-style origin story, which seems to have been somewhat swiped from the then-popular Doc Savage pulp novels that were selling very well in science-fiction bookstores in the mid-60's. According to the script, Mil was an infant who was found clutched in his dead mother's arms in a war-torn area of Europe during World War 2 and

3080-628: Was the World Champion of the short-lived International Wrestling Association promotion based in New York City. He had major title defenses against competitors such as Ivan Koloff and Ernie Ladd. Mil Máscaras appeared in World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now called WWE). He performed at Madison Square Garden several times after a ban on masked wrestlers was lifted for him, making him the first masked wrestler in

3136-573: Was voted as "The Most Popular Wrestler of the Year" by the company that now publishes the US magazine Pro Wrestling Illustrated . Satoru Sayama , the original Tiger Mask , has described Mil Máscaras' impact on Japanese professional wrestling, "If it weren't for Mil Máscaras, there would be no Jushin Liger , no Último Dragón or the Great Sasuke today,". Mil Máscaras' success in the US also paved

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