I’ve put photos sets from my trip to Mexico City a couple weeks ago over on Flickr. I generally took less photos as the week went on, as my camera phone filled up and I decided the photos I did take weren’t coming out too well. But it’s still good enough for website content. (It’s also good for jogging my memory before the podcast I’m doing tonight.)
We went to Arena Naucalpan on 09/12. It was not a greatly attended show, but it was one of my favorites. I appreciated getting to see the fabled Corona coolers and AYM technology in person. The Fresero dollars paid for most of the rest of the trip. I illegally recorded video of Sky Angel vs Fulgor II and then uploaded it to the internet, which is vastly out of character for me.
Before the Anniversary show on Friday, we walked the 80 Years of Lucha Libre photo exhibit. (That’s where we ran into the Super Libre crew, identified by the Canal58 channel jacket.) This is where I struggled with the concept of standing in front of objects when taking photos of them, leaving you with a lot of angled shots. I really liked this Oro Jr. picture. This Hector Garza one is very good too, especially with Averno’s expression.
My picture count says I took 600 photos of the Anniversary show, though Flickr has says only 541. I’m not sure why. Either way, I kind of fell in love with the burst/multiple photo option on my camera, then regretted it later when I have many photos of people getting ready to do moves, and not much space left on my phone. Still, it got me a nice Blue Panther dive photo. This shot of Volador before the match looks nice. The way I put my thumb on the camera accidentally nicely framed this post match shot. I also have a quick video of what the building looked like right after the main event finish. And a workable unmasked Volador photo I could’ve used that night.
We went to Expo Mascaras on Saturday. Ice Killer’s gimmick table was the last one I saw and my favorite one. We also want to the IWL show, where I took as many photos of stuff outside the arena as I did of the show. (This is a real bull who lost the bull fight.) The ATM outfits are weird.
We went to Coliseo Coacalco on Sunday, even though it turned out there was no show. The day looks a lot better in pictures than in real life. The area behind the tarp here is the dressing room. People can watch the event from a nearby rooftop, which sounds vaguely familiar to me.
I took a lot of tourist photos on Tuesday. (I had cleared off a lot of stuff from my phone at this point, and wasn’t scribbling notes about shows.) The photos actually turned on really well from both the anthropology museum and the historic district. Maybe it’s easier to take photos of things which aren’t moving? The historic district was amusing for the very old buildings where very modern businesses operate now. You can see the removal of the bleachers from the Zocalo from the previous day’s military parade as well as the security to block people from getting in. No one was getting in to run any show any time soon.
Going backwards to finish up, I took photos of the inside of Arena Mexico and the new mural. The timeline of masks really fascinated me, since it appears to be a historic record of everyone who’s lost a mask in this building (at least after a certain point.) I haven’t figured out everyone, but maybe we can. Starting from the far right, and with a lot of overlap.
I had to distort this one to make it viewable, and even then it’s pretty iffy. Going right to left, going backwards in time. Namajague is the newest mask, preceded by Mercurio, Rey Cometa, Aereo, Goya Kong (difficult!), Averno, Olimpico (Pequeno Black Warrior skipped), Bracito de Oro (out of order), Fabian el Gitano, Felino, Tigre Blanco, Rosa Negra.
(R to L) Rosa Negra, Villano V, Shockercito, Goddess, Blue Panther, Mictlan, Hijo del Lizmark
(R to L) Goddess, Blue Panther, Mictlan, Hijo del Lizmark, Black Warrior, ????, Pantera, Amapola, Universo 2000, Angel Azteca
(R to L and really blurry) – Amapola, Universo 2000, Angel Azteca, Violencia, Bulldog (Pequeno Violencia skipped), Solar II (Poder Mexica skipped?), Veneno? (or Mascara Magica?), Hijo del Gladiador, Villano III, Shocker, Mr. Niebla IWRG, Scorpio Jr.
(R to L) Bulldog, Solar II, Veneno?, Hijo del Gladiador, Villano III, Shocker, Mr. Niebla IWRG, Scorpio Jr. (Halcon Negro skipped?), Mr. Aguila, Steel
(R to L) Mr. Niebla IWRG, Scorpio Jr., Mr. Aguila, Steel, Bronco (Guerrero de la Muerte skipped?), Kahoz, ???, El Boricua (out of order?), Sombra 90s (Coliseo), Justiciero?, Mano Negra, Ciclon Ramirez
(R to L) ricua (out of order?), Sombra 90s (Coliseo), another Supremo? (should be Justiciero), Mano Negra, Ciclon Ramirez, Supremo I, Love Machine, Anibal, Gallo Tapado (Konnan skipped!), Huracan Ramirez II, Kung Fu, Cien Caras (Ninja Turtles AND Animals skipped), ? (and now we’re in the period where I won’t know many), and after that, I’m not really sure. All Star should probably be one of the three left (yellow, white, orange) but doesn’t quite match up with any of them.
The spade mask is As Charro. The devil mask is probably Belcebu. I don’t see MS-1, who should be in this group. The green mask needs to be brought back ASAP. This is also where some non colored masks start appearing; not sure if they were trying to reproduce an effect or they just didn’t have a color reference.
A better look at the last few. The Egyptian mask is cool.
That looks like MS1. He lost his mask two years before Cien Caras and there’s an awful lot of masks in between.
Another shot of pretty much the same masks.
The one in the middle is Lawrence of Arabia, who lost his mask in 1980. Perhaps he’s the old guy hanging out with the Tuareg! The mask on the far left is Sangre Chicana, who lost his mask in 1977. Dragon Rojo Sr.’s mask should be somewhere in between – maybe the white and red one?
El Halcon (77) is right next to Sangre Chicana. One of those Green masks is El Faraon. I’m not sure if the space indicates something, or was just room for a mask that wasn’t painted yet.
I had no idea SuperLucha’s Dr. Mascara (red, center) had lost his mask in Arena Mexico! That changes things. Many doctors and nurses around this time, and the end of the Espantos.
More Espantos, but it’s also at that point where the mural turns into something else – unless Santo & Rayo de Jalisco lost their masks without anyone ever finding out until just now. It’s a strange placement, because here are still more masks that people look before them.
There’s Black Shadow right near the beginning of this blurry mess, and some other less well known guys. There are faintly painted masks to the left of him, which more look like the first masks ever used than necessarily ones which people lost.
And the mask time line mural ends – or starts! with prehispanic masks like the ones I saw at the anthropology museum. The bigger mural above also connects that culture to the lucha tradition.