<font:Arial Bold:20><just:center><color:ffff00ff>History of Lucha Libre 2<color:ffffffff><just:left>

The history of Mexican wrestling dating back to 1863 when Enrique Ugartechea, the first Mexican wrestler, developed and invented the Mexican lucha libre from the Greco-Roman wrestling.

In the early 1933, Salvador Lutteroth founded the Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre, giving the sport a national foothold. It was the emergence of television that allowed Lutteroth to promote lucha libre's first breakout superstar into a national pop-culture phenomenon.

In 1942, lucha libre would be forever changed when a silver-masked wrestler, known simply as El Santo, first stepped into the ring. He made his debut in Mexico City by winning an 8-man battle royal. The public became enamored by the mystique and secrecy of Santo's personality, and he quickly became the most popular luchador in Mexico. His wrestling career spanned nearly five decades, during which he became a folk hero and a symbol of justice for the common man.