Lucha Libre (lucha = wrestling, libre = free) is the Mexican form of professional wrestling performed by very large men (generally 220lbs+) many with large beer guts, wearing lycra and gimp masks. Its very similar in many respects to the American WWF which is more coreagraphed theatrics than a real fight however some of the gymnatic prowess displayed by the luchadore's would put olympic gymnasts to shame. Its easy to do a back flip if your only a 50lb teenager, a backflip from a 250lb 40 year old is far more of a challenge!

We went to a match in Puebla last night and some of us went. The first two fights between two teams of three luchadores each I found pretty hard to follow. The rules are non-existent (hence 'free') with the referees decision final. We all appreciated the skill of luchadore's backflips, faigned falls and acrobatics but failed to see how with everyone knowing that the result was predetermined, that the crowd of locals at the ring was getting so excited. It was kind of entertaining but super engrossing. The third fight changed all that.

A 250lb+ luchadore with a pink mohawk and beer belly entered the ring wearing a little purple suit with a skirt that barely covered his arse..........he looked like something escaped from the Sydney Mardi Gras. As the fight progressed we were in stitches as he played the role of a very, very, very, very gay luchadorea much like the Little Brittan character Daffyd, the only gay in the village. At one stage his two team mates held one of the opposing team members and rather than the usually gravity defying kick he strutted across the ring and gave him a big kiss......we were in histerics and the crowd was in a frenzy chanting....... ...poofter......poofter........poofter in Spanish. It was difficult taking photos due to the wire mesh between us and the ring interfearing with the autofocus, however I do have some video footage of this portion of the fight which I'll attempt to upload to facebook soon.

By the fourth and last fight of the night we were primed and we were screaming ourselves hoarse along with the rest of the crowd each time one of the favourite team pulled off a succesful move on their opponents. I think it was as bad as the American WWF bullsh*te for actual fighting, the best (and most realistic) move of the night was pulled off by the referee arm barring a wrestler who kept arguing the result! However watching the crowd and the wrestlers it did provide a very entertaining spectical.