El Santo!

One of the main differences between American and Mexican wrestling is the wearing of the mask. In Mexico, wrestlers prefer to remain anonymous and their manhood and identity is protected through the mask. Often the loser of a match has to take off his mask and reveal his true identity. It is a form of public exposure and seen as degrading since it involves ?losing face? and hence one?s masculinity.

For Mexicans wrestling also has come to be a reflection of life and social and political circumstances. There are those wrestlers who are corrupt, cheat and fight dirty to achieve a victory (the rudos), while others who behave like ?saints? and play by the rules (the tecnicos). Often, demonstrating real life tendencies, the rudos, i.e. the ?cheaters?, gain victories at the indignation of the audience.