Box y Lucha 251A-252A (January 1957)

These issues are part of Box y Lucha’s Coleccion Diamante. Their issues dip out after the mid January. There’s a real cliffhanger too.

Box y Lucha 251A (January 11th, 1957)

EMLL (FRI) 01/04/1957 Arena Coliseo [Box y Lucha 250A, Box y Lucha 251A]
1) Jaibo García b Taro Hito
2) Memo Rubio DRAW Red Man
return of Red Man
3) Manuel Robles DRAW Sordomudo Rodríguez
return of Rodriguez
4) Karloff Lagarde b Orquídea
rated 7.
5) Rubén Juárez b Teizo Watanabe
25 minute match. Rated a 7.
6) Masahiko Kimura b Carlos Moreno
Rated a 7.5
7) Black Shadow & Blue Demon DQ Cavernario Galindo & Gladiador
Rated a 7.5.

The main event match has some controversy. Eddie Palau called the DQ for Galindo fouling Demon. Box y Lucha admits it happen but feels it was accidental and Palau was overzealous by calling a DQ.

Sunday show‘s show sees El Santo defeating Dorrel Dixon by knockout. Huroki Sito makes his return in the second match, going to a draw with Humberto Garza.

Dr. Castro is off for a “vacation” to his home on Nayarit. Box y Lucha uses the quote marks themselves, though I’m not sure what they’re meant for. Rene Guajardo gets mentioned as working in Monterrey; he was in Arena Mexico in 1955.

Box y Lucha 252A (January 18th, 1957)

EMLL (FRI) 01/11/1957 Arena Coliseo [Box y Lucha 251A, Box y Lucha 252A]
1) Rudy García b Tony Sugar
2) Chico Veloz b Fantomas
3) Memo Rubio TLDRAW Huroki Sito
20 minutes
4) Teizo Watanabe b Verdugo
5) Rubén Juárez b Frankenstein
6) Masahiko Kimura b Bobby Bonales
straight falls in a surprise
7) Black Shadow & Blue Demon b Cavernario Galindo & Gladiador [supre libre]
rated an 8.

Not really much of importance here or on the Sunday show. At least compared to the big news:

El Santo is out of EMLL. An early column says Santo quit, one later in the magazine says it was EMLL who cut ties. It’s the second story that seems to stick. El Santo had been part of EMLL since becoming El Santo 14.5 years ago. He showed up for payday on Monday and was told by the promotion he was done. Salvador Lutteroth Jr. said it was discipline issue and that no one was above the rules. Santo say what the issue was, and Box y Lucha has no idea what happened. Clinch 242’s year in review will say “neither side could agree to the conditions the other wanted”, though there’s no more details than that.

As it turns out, Santo already had tours scheduled to the US and Venezuela (where an Arturo Garcia was wrestling as a fake El Santo), so he’s in no shortage of work. Perhaps control or payment from the outside bookings are the issue?

El Santo is the Mexican Middleweight Championship. Box y Lucha says EMLL demanded the title back from him, then the commission demanded EMLL give it back to Santo. He had to lose in the ring, not by leaving the promotion. That didn’t seem to be the rule a few years prior, so this could be situation that set up rule wrestlers could leave promotions with the national titles.

El Santo is a famous wrestler at this point. He seems to be the top start in EMLL. He’s not the cultural hero El Santo. “Santo contra el Cerebro del Mal”, his first movie, is still a year away. There is no opposition promotion. Santo can find work outside of Mexico and indies (especially away from Mexico City where EMLL has less influence), but this is a big pivot point for his career. EMLL was betting Santo would come back humbled over time. Instead, Santo becomes that movie star and never really needs EMLL again. He’s not back for three years, as best I know.

El Santo is not the first EMLL top star to leave the promotion. They just went through a promotional war. There’s bits and pieces from the 30s and 40s which indicate main event wrestlers leaving at times. El Santo is the ultimate example of the Lutteroth’s belief in themselves and the machine they built: all wrestlers are replacable, even the greatest ones.

That’s it, painfully. I would love to see more reaction to Santo’s departure, but Box y Lucha’s archive dries up until April. Clinch 242’s Year end review adds a few results:

EMLL (FRI) 01/18/1957 Arena Coliseo [Box y Lucha 252A, Clinch 242]
1) Maravilla Enmascarada vs Eskimo Blancarte
2) Carnicero Grimaldo vs Centella Inca
3) El Espectro vs Cavernario GalindoRubén JuárezRay MendozaTarzán LópezEl Caballero [battle royal]
Lagrade & Demon in the battle royal as well
4) Gori Guerrero b Masahiko Kimura
return of Guerero. Kimura is 7th grade judo player.
5) Karloff Lagarde b Blue Demon

EMLL (FRI) 01/25/1957 Arena Coliseo [Box y Lucha 942, Clinch 242]
1) Karloff Lagarde vs Bobby Bonales
2) Sugi Sito b Espectro
return of Sugi Sito (following Santo leaving a couple of weeks earlier)

[Previous December 1956. Next would be February 1957 but I have no issues). Full index]

Box y Lucha 247A-250A (December 1956)

These issues are part of Box y Lucha’s Coleccion Diamante.

Box y Lucha 247A (December 14th, 1956)

EMLL (FRI) 12/07/1956 Arena Coliseo [Box y Lucha 246A]
1) José Munoz b El Coyote
rated 6
2) Kiko Torres b Maravilla Enmascarada
rated 5.5
3) Murciélago Velazquez DRAW Giuliano
rated 7.
4) Frankenstein b Manuel Robles
rated 7.
5) Huracán Ramírez b Canelo Segura
rated 6 ¾ .
6) Masahiko Kimura & Teizo Watanabe b Bobby Bonales & Henry Pilusso
Rated 8
7) Black Shadow b El Espectro
Shadow took ⅔. Rated 7.5

Back-to-back Friday night main event wins for Black Shadow, following his hair match win over El Gladiador on the last Friday of November. Gladiador & Carlos Moreno get a win on the Sunday show, defeating Blue Demon & Tarzan Lopez.

Henry Pilusso points out to Box y Lucha that he and Tarzan Lopez are still the Arena Coliseo tag team champions, as far as he can figure. They won it in 1952 over Black Shadow and Cavernario Galindo and never lost it. We do have records of a September 5, 1952 show where those two teams won semifinals for new Arena Coliseo Tag titles, so that fits. Pilusso wasn’t in EMLL from the tail end of 1963 until August 1956 as far as I have records, so it’s not like he was around to defend (or lose) these belts. The idea of a tag championship will pop up confusingly in 1957.

“Last Sunday” (date unclear), Dr. Castro lost his hair to Karis La Momia in Cuernavaca. Wrestlers often lose their hair before switching to a different gimmick, but this turns out not to be the end of Dr. Castro (and the start of Rayo de Jalisco.) He’s just stuck as a midlevel guy who occasionally loses big matches.

Box y Lucha 248A (December 21th, 1956)

EMLL (FRI) 12/14/1956 Arena Coliseo [Box y Lucha 247A]
1) Ángel Negro DRAW Jaibo García
finish unlcear; “quedaron tablas”
2) Centella Inca b Eskimo Blancarte
rated 6 ½
3) Giuliano b Dr. Castro
Rated 6 ¾
4) Canelo Segura DRAW Manuel Robles
Rated 7 ¼.
5) Frankenstein b Huracán Ramírez
bad match. Rated 6 ¼.
6) Bobby Bonales b Tarzán López
rated 7 ½ as the best match of the week
7) El Santo & Espectro b Blue Demon & Henry Pilusso

Espectro lost alone, but he and Santo are undefeated as a team. Pilusso won’t be defending the tag team titles on this run either; he’s already done and headed to Juarez. He won’t return until November 1957.

Sunday’s show includes the Mexico City debut of Monterrey’s Ruben Juarez in a semi-main loss to El Verdugo. He’ll be a regular for the EMLL until the beginning of the 70s, usually as a tecnico.

The week’s controversy is Box y Lucha reporting El Santo wrestled in a semi-main in Guadalajara. (He defeated Cavernario Galindo by disqualification.) Santo is said to be upset about this next week; he doesn’t want it out there that he would ever wrestle beneath the main event. Box y Lucha is insistent that he did.

A notes column ends with a mention that two luchadors – Juan Gonzalez and Ricardo Mata, passed away at the small wrestling building “Arena Tarzan Lopez” in Villa de Guadalupe. They’re said to be “victimas de dos cafreaficionados”, and I have no idea what that means. This never is mentioned again.

Box y Lucha 249A (December 28th, 1956)

EMLL (FRI) 12/21/1956 Arena Coliseo [Box y Lucha 248A, Box y Lucha 249A]
1) Astucia b Rudy García
Astucia debut. He’s a masked wrestler, trained under Murcielago Velazquez
2) Joaquin Murrieta b Daniel Aldana
3) Humberto Garza b Akio Yoshihara
4) Rubén Juárez b Manuel Robles
5) Frankenstein b El Verdugo
6) Bobby Bonales b Gorilla Flores
7) Black Shadow & Blue Demon b Espectro & Santo

The Santo/Espectro win streak comes to an end at the hands of Hermanos Shadow. Black Shadow’s own wins streak is a bit stronger.

Sunday’s show has the Japanese team of Kimura & Watanabe winning when Carlos Moreno & El Gladiador had issues. The previous week had an odd DQ where Gladiador came back in after being eliminated, costing Moreno the win that time too. It doesn’t go anywhere, and it’s tough to tell if it’s the booking being erratic or El Gladiador, known to have some issues, being erratic.

There’s also a special Tuesday show for Christmas. It’s another tag team tournament, with the final decided on 01/01. Espectro & Santo emerge from one half of the bracket, Black Shadow & Dory Dixon from the other half.

America Martin is this year’s Reina de Lucha Libre. It reads like this is the third year Box y Lucha’s held a vote to decide the top female wrestling fan, very much supported by EMLL. Fans could vote via form in the magazine – or at least they could until that form disappeared a few weeks earlier. Box y Lucha started running pro-America articles instead, so they knew who was winning this. America is said to have gotten 78,740 votes, a record. Last year’s winner, Elsa Galvan, arrived to the cermony/holiday party with El Santo to handover the role. Blue Demon presented Martin the scepter and Salvador Lutteroth the crown. There are a bunch of photos lucha libre people attending the party.

Rito Romero is mentioned in passing as getting married to Hollywood actress Ann Robinson. I don’t see that mentioned elsewhere and it’s possibly a Dia del Inocenets joke at this time of year. Robinson did marry a Mexican bullfighter the next year.

Box y Lucha 250A (January 4th, 1957)

EMLL (FRI) 12/28/1956 Arena Coliseo [Box y Lucha 249A, Box y Lucha 250A]
1) Tony Sugar b Mar Ala
result is cut off in Box y Lucha, taking a guess from what we can see. Rated a 5 ¾
2) Jaibo García b Carnicero Grimaldo
3) Chivo García b Centella Inca
4) Karloff Lagarde DRAW Huracán Ramírez
Return of Karloff Lagarde
5) Rubén Juárez b Canelo Segura
6) Dorrel Dixon & Tarzán López DQ Gorilla Flores & Ray Mendoza
straight falls, second by DQ
7) Espectro b El Gladiador

More Gladiador controversy. Box y Lucha has felt referee (and original EMLL trainer) Gonzalo Avenado is biased against him ever since a controversial call in his mask match. In this singles match, Box y Lucha accuses Avenaldo of ignoring an Espectro submission in fall two, then helping him remask in fall three. They want Avenaldo busted down to the prelim matches or outright suspended. In reality, EMLL’s gone cold on Gladiador.

Carlos Moreno, teaming with Cavernario Galindo instead of Gladiador, beats that same Japanese team of Kimura & Watanabe on 12/30. Black Shadow & Dory Dixon defeat Santo & Espectro in the 01/01 final of the tag team tournament. That show is also the return of referee Eddie Palau, sidelined due to illnes.

Enfermero is said to have defeated Raul Reyes for his hair back on 01/01.

That’s it for 1956. I’m missing any great summary of the year. Box y Lucha has been rating the best matches on a 10 point scale, so maybe the best way to look back is to list those best matches. It’s not a complete list because we don’t have all the magazines, and they’re not even doing them that often until the last few months. Box y Lucha uses 10 point scale (probably taken from soccer), but rarely are matches above 8 or below 6.

rated 8

  • 10/28 El Gladiador & El Mongol vs Joe Marin & Tarzan Lopez
  • 12/07 Masahiko Kimura & Teizo Watanabe vs Bobby Bonales & Henry Pilusso

rated 7.75

  • 08/24 Black Shadow vs Bobby Bonales
  • 10/26 Espectro & Santo vs Blue Demon & Rolando Vera

rated 7.5

  • 08/17 Black Shadow & Blue Demon vs Cavernario Galindo & Ray Mendoza
  • 08/24 El Santo vs Blue Demon
  • 11/04 Gladiador & Mongol vs Blue Demon & Rolando Vera
  • 11/16 Black Shadow vs El Gladiador
  • 11/25 Rolando Vera vs Espectro
  • 11/25 Carnicero Grimaldo vs Juan Diaz
  • 11/25 Blue Demon & Henry Pilusso vs Masahiko Kimura & Teizo Watanabe
  • 11/30 Black Shadow vs El Gladiador [hair match]
  • 12/02 Blue Demon vs Espectro
  • 12/14 Bobby Bonales vs Tarzan Lopez

Blue Demon doesn’t have an 8 in what we have, but he does show up six times on that list, the most of any.

[Previous November 1956. Next January 1957. Full index]

Box y Lucha 242A-246A (November 1956)

These issues are part of Box y Lucha’s Coleccion Diamante.

Box y Lucha 242A (November 9th, 1956)

EMLL (FRI) 11/02/1956 Arena Coliseo [Box y Lucha 241A, Box y Lucha 242A]
1) Ángel Negro b Mar Allah
2) Rudy García vs Juan Diaz
3) Frankenstein b Dr. Castro
4) Murciélago DRAW Mario Tello
5) El Caballero b Canelo Segura
rated 7.
6) Huracán Ramírez b Enfermero
7) Espectro & Santo b Cavernario Galindo & Gorilita Flores

Young Espectro and El Santo are said to be an unbeatable combo. The Huracan Ramirez win victory over Enfermreo a big one but also sort of a fluke: they collided head first and Huracan ended up getting his arm on top.

Nothing much on Sunday.

Jack O’Brien, under the direction of CMLL, is working at restarting shows in Veracruz. They had issues with buildings in the past. O’Brien was a EMLL wrestler, seemed to switch to the Televicentero group, and has been working for non-EMLL groups in previous mentions. There’s also a mention of EMLL trying to get shows into El Salvador.

Box y Lucha 243A (November 16th, 1956)

EMLL (FRI) 11/09/1956 Arena Coliseo [Box y Lucha 242A, Box y Lucha 243A]
1) Pery Lopez b El Coyote
“superestrella” actually took place after the main event. Lopez rated a 5, Coyote a 6
2) Erick Bouloff b Memo Rubio
3) Pepe Mendieta DRAW Frankenstein
4) Gladiador b Blue Demon
5) Espanto b Rolando Vera
rated a 7 of 10.
6) Enfermero & Santo b Huracán Ramírez & Joe Marín

The top eight names on this show are part of an eight man battle royal. This is a usual gimmick format for EMLL. There’s a battle royal midway through the show and the last four matches are set by order of elimination: 1 faces 2, 3 faces 4, 5 faces 6, and the last two left face each other in the main event. (They still do this in 2023.) The final two this time turned out to be El Santo & El Enfermero, who are allies and wanted not part of wrestling each other. Joe Marin & Huracan Ramirez were the final two thrown out of the ring and, when they started their singles match, Enfermero and Santo interrupted to request it be changed to a tag match. The commission (Manuel Munoz) agreed, which is not really like him at this point.

The ‘final two people don’t want to fight’ bit has been done a few other times in history; it’s famously the sequence of events that sets up Black Shadow and Blue Demon ‘revealing’ that they’re secretly brothers.

Sunday’s show, with Cavernario Galindo & El Mongol defeating Blue Demon & Henry Pilusso, is said to have a strong turnout.

Box y Lucha 244A (November 23rd, 1956)

EMLL (FRI) 11/16/1956 Arena Coliseo [Box y Lucha 243A, Box y Lucha 244A]
1) Seki Moto b Jaibo García
2) Akio Yoshihara b Carlos Segura
3) Frankenstein b Mario Tello
4) Orquídea DQ Giuliano
return of Giulano, wrestling a more rudo style
5) Jalisco González TLDRAW Jorge Allende
6) Huracán Ramírez b El Espectro
straight falls
7) Black Shadow b El Gladiador
rated a 7.5

This is a lower star power Friday but somehow ends up getting more detailed coverage than past ones. Box y Lucha may have an indication Shado defeating Gladiador is about to be meaningful.

Sunday’s show is the first two rounds of another tag team tournament. Masahiko Kimura & Teizo Watanabe win one semifinal, while Blue Demon & Henry Pilusso win the other.

Jose Macias is suspended (presumably by EMLL) for missing an 11/12 show in Pachuca. Jose Macias is one of the Gorila Macias brothers, and there’s a unrelated interview explaining who is who:

  • Gorila Macias I is Antonio Macias, who has already passed away
  • Gorila Macias II is Jose Macias
  • Gorila Macias III is Jacobo Macias

It’s said they grew to fame in the Televicentro promotion.

Box y Lucha 245A (November 30th, 1956)

EMLL (FRI) 11/23/1956 Arena Coliseo [Box y Lucha 244A, Box y Lucha 245A]
1) Rudy García b Seki Moto
2) Memo Rubio b Fantomas
3) Gorila Macías III b Kiko Torres
4) Chale Romero b Pepe Mendieta
5) Jalisco González b Joe Marín
rated 7. Marin is leaving Mexico City
6) Gladiador & Gorilita Flores b Black Shadow & Huracán Ramírez
7) Rolando Vera b Espectro
rated 7.5

El Gladiador gets his win back over Black Shadow in the semimain, which leads Black Shadow to immediately challenge him to a hair match.

Blue Demon & Henry Pilusso won the Sunday tag team tournament, earning 10,000 pesos and trophies.

A notes column includes Guadalajara promoter Elias Simon talking up his new great prospect: Raul Reyes! Reyes will become a relevant names in the 60s or 70s but something seems off here; we have his debut as in the year 1960, and this is well earlier than that.

Gori Guerrero, Sugi Sito and Dark Bufalo are mentioned as coming to CMLL in December. Bufalo is a Mexican wrestler who’s been successful in Venezuela lately.

Box y Lucha 246A (December 7th, 1956)

EMLL (FRI) 11/30/1956 Arena Coliseo [Box y Lucha 245A, Box y Lucha 246A]
1) Fantomas b Juan Diaz
2) Memo Rubio b Akio Yoshihara
3) Giuliano b Chivo García
4) El Verdugo TLDRAW Manuel Robles
Verdugo return. 20 minute draw. Rated a 7.
5) Tarzán López b Gorilita Flores
6) Masahiko Kimura & Teizo Watanabe b Carlos Moreno & Jorge Allende
Japanese took ⅔. Rated a 7.
7) Black Shadow b El Gladiador [hair]
Shadow took ⅓. Rated a 7.5.

Shadow defeating Gladiador drew a 50,000 gate. Gladiador’s lost both his mask and his hair within a year and a half.

The 12/02 Sunday show includes Blue Demon defeating El Espectro by DQ in the main event. Bobby Bonales returns after some time away.

[Previous October 1956. Next December 1956. Full index]

Box y Lucha 238A-241A (October 1956)

These issues are part of Box y Lucha’s Coleccion Diamante.

Puños 13 (October 9, 1956)

Puños is a monthly magazine similar to Clinch. The only real difference I can tell is Puños seems to have an issue date while Clinch just has the moment. (There’s also an “A-Z” magazine mentioned, but that hasn’t turned up digitally. They were putting out a lot of pages a month.)

The main story is an interview with Rolando Vera, covering the NWA Middleweight Championship mess. The commission invalidated Vera’s title win over el Santo, Santo refused to be given the belt, and Santo declared he’d only fight for it in a singles match with Vera – he’s not participating in a tournament. Rolando Vera says he appreciates Santo having his back on this one but also insists that any rematch for the title match should happen in front of the same fans in Monterrey who saw the now disputed title change. Vera wouldn’t get his way on that one.

Retired wrestler Firpo Segura is mentioned as working as a referee back at a June 12 Arena Coliseo show for a match between Dr. Castro and Chale Romero. He tells the magazine it was a one-time thing since it was a charity show for Bobby Corona.

Raul Romero, who’s been retired himself since 1951, is running gyms. He estimates it costs 100,000 pesos to run a gym for two years, so that’s what he’ll need to make.

There’s an argument between “La Momia de Guanajuato” and “Karis la Momia” over who has the rights to the mummy gimmick. Quite a few people ended up using the Karis la Momia character over the years, so perhaps it wasn’t settled. Karis La Momis works a lot of EMLL shows outside of Mexico City. I wonder if EMLL thought the gimmick wasn’t good enough for the big shows or the worker wasn’t good enough.

Box y Lucha 238A (October 12, 1956)

EMLL (FRI) 10/05/1956 Arena México [Box y Lucha 237A, Box y Lucha 238A, Punos 13]
1) Memo Rubio b Eskimo Blancarte
may have actually be the post-main event match
2) Frankenstein b Kiko Torres
3) Chivo García DRAW Orquídea
4) Mario Tello b Chale Romero
5) Huracán Ramírez b El Verdugo
Verdugo ripped up Ramirez’s mask. Ramirez has won six straight singles matches since debuting.
6) Jalisco González b Enfermero [MEX WELTER, final]
7) Cavernario Galindo & Gladiador b Black Shadow & Blue Demon
Shadow tope accidentally took out Demon, setting up the rudo win

Title histories have listed other locations for that Gonalez/Enfermero match and not listed it as a tournament final. It’s understandable; the semifinals were two months prior. Enfermero had a left arm injury, which both delayed a final and is an excuse for getting upset in this final. Enfermero was also dropping down in weight to compete for welterweight.

This title win prompts a Jalisco Gonzalez bio. He started his career as El Caballero Enmascarado in 1945, when the promoter just needed a fill-in guy. He lost that mask to Oso Negro, and he’s been around as a midcard guy since then. He reads like a technically solid luchador with not a lot of personality.

Nothing notable on the Sunday show. Box y Lucha notes Santo defeated Black Shadow in straight falls in Guadalajara when Shadow suffered an injury in the second fall. Box y Lucha feels Black Shadow and not El Santo is the rightful NWA Middleweight contender anyway due to winning that tournament in September. There’s also a mention of Carnicero Butcher breaking one of his hands in a match in Guadalajara and the promoting eventually paying the medical bills.

El Gladiador is still complaining that he lost his mask on a bad call by the referee.

Box y Lucha 239A (October 19, 1956)

EMLL (FRI) 10/12/1956 Arena México [Box y Lucha 238A, Box y Lucha 239A]
1) Juan Diaz b El Coyote
“super estrella” match actually held after the main event
2) Akio Yoshihara b Fantomas
3) Orquídea b Centella Inca
4) Joe Marín b Canelo Segura
5) Jalisco González b Jorge Allende
6) Henry Pilusso b Masahiko Kimura
7) Black Shadow & Blue Demon b Cavernario Galindo & Gladiador

Nothing going on here, and even less on Sunday. This week’s big news is the Santo/Vera title rematch is set for next Friday. Box y Lucha’s writers are confident Santo will win – he won all the other matches except the last one in Monterrey. They survey wrestlers and they instead lean heavily towards Vera winning the big match.

Box y Lucha 240A (October 26, 1956)

EMLL (FRI) 10/19/1956 Arena México [Box y Lucha 239A, Box y Lucha 240A]
1) Chico Veloz b Fantomas
superestrella – after the main event
2) Dr. Castro b Akio Yoshihara
3) Gorilita Flores b Mario Tello
4) El Enfermero DRAW El Caballero
debut of Caballero
5) El Gladiador b Black Shadow
Box y Lucha says this was a fast count. 6.75
6) Blue Demon b Cavernario Galindo
7.5 (of 10)
7) Rolando Vera b El Santo © [NWA MIDDLE]

There is now no doubt, Rolando Vera is the rightful NWA World Middleweight champion in the last Arena Mexico show of the year. Everything leading up to this title match – to clear up a title change that happened in Monterrey in August and was invalidated out by the Mexico City commission – remains messy and confusing. El Santo doesn’t consider himself defending champion and he’s not listed as the champion in EMLL’ s program. The ring announcer still does announce him as champion. The match itself also has some controversy. Neither man seems to come to the ring with the title belt. Santo has Vera locked in a half crab in fall three and feels a tap on his back twice. He believes that’s the referee calling the match over and let’s go, but it was actually Vera’s hand. Vera quickly locks on a suastica submission hold and Santo has no choice but to submit.

Rolando Vera’s finally given the belt he won two months ago post-match. He also reveals this match almost didn’t happen: Vera was in a car accident on Wednesday. He was hurt enough that EMLL wanted to postpone the match. Vera, perhaps having seen the commission trying to take away the belt for months, insisted on wrestling anyway.

EMLL seems to have made the best of whatever happened with that title situation. Vera is an odd pick going forward – he’s not a full time guy, and he’ll away from EMLL for large parts of his four year reign – but they kept the title on him when they had the chance to do so, and got some big crowds out of it.

Sunday’s Arena Mexico show has a controversy of a much milder sort: EMLL runs the first two rounds of a tag team tournament and says they’ll hold the final the following week. This is the first time EMLL’s tried it and Box y Lucha strongly dislikes the concept. CMLL still does this in 2023 and everyone still dislikes it. The idea seems to be to have a stronger second week with a built up main event, but I don’t see evidence (now or then) that it actually works.

Box y Lucha 241A (November 2nd, 1956)

EMLL (FRI) 10/26/1956 Arena Coliseo [Box y Lucha 240A, Box y Lucha 241A]
1) Jaibo García vs El Coyote
not listed in the results
2) Kiko Torres b Eskimo Blancarte
3) Chivo García b Memo Rubio
4) El Caballero b Orquídea
5) Carlos Moreno b Manuel Robles
6) El Enfermero b Dorrel Dixon
7) Espectro & Santo b Blue Demon & Rolando Vera

The main event has the usual reversal from the week prior. Vera gets the suastica on Santo again, but Santo’s figured out an escape in the week since and ends up submitting Vera.

Box y Lucha seems to use “Espectro” and “Espectro de Ultratumba” interchangeably. Those would be two different wrestlers many decades from now. Espectro hasn’t’ been seen here for months and later explains he broke his right arm on a dive in Monterrey about three months prior.

El Gladiador & El Mongol win the delayed final of Sunday’s tournament.

Medico Asesino is long gone from EMLL, but Box y Lucha is keeping close tabs on his matches in Texas. Sugi Sito, similarly a Televicentro star, is hyped as coming back into EMLL in December. He and EMLL had issues, like Medico. Sito left to wrestle on the west coast, “the Siberia of Lucha Libre Mexicana.” He later went to Central America and the southern US.

The commission has suspended Jorge Allende for no-showing a card in Puebla on 10/27. They’re also floating a proposal that any national champion who loses three consecutive matches would be automatically stripped of their championship. It’s unclear if they mean singles matches or all matches, because the idea doesn’t really go anywhere.

A history column mentions Televicentro coming up with the relevos australiano name in this issue.

[Previous September 1956. Next November 1956. Full index]

Box y Lucha 233A-237A (September 1956)

These issues are part of Box y Lucha’s Coleccion Diamante.

Box y Lucha 233A (September 7, 1956)

EMLL (FRI) 08/31/1956 Arena Coliseo [Box y Lucha 232A, Box y Lucha 233A]
1) Enrique Camarena b Kid Vanegas
2) Memo Rubio DRAW Carlos Segura
3) Chivo García b Kiko Torres
4) Canelo Segura b Akio Yoshihara
5) Huracán Ramírez b Giuliano
6) El Gladiador b Black Shadow [MEX MIDDLE, semifinal]
Box y Lucha claims this match went 90 minutes, which seems hard to believe. Said to be the match of the year
7) El Santo b Cavernario Galindo [MEX MIDDLE, semifinal]

Box y Lucha claims Gladiador/Shadow went ninety (90) minutes, which is tremendously hard to believe. Match 5 is the EMLL debut of Huracan Ramirez, who was most recently wrestling in Guadalajara and said to have been previously in Guatemala and El Salvador. He’s billed as not being actor David Silva – who had played the character in the same named movie in 1952 – but his 21-year-old stunt double. It is actually Daniel Garica, who’s closer to 30 years old. The magazine teases a younger brother of Huracan Ramriez is working prelims, but I don’t think any of the three brothers are at this point unless they’re doing it under unfamiliar names. Maybe it’s confusion with the unrelated Chivo Garcia?

Sunday’s show includes Tarzan Lopez and Joe Grant advancing to the final of the Mexican Light Heavyweight tournament.

Elsewhere, the magazine is fascinated by results from a show in Texas: all the matches were one fall! Also, Kimura is telling people he’s going to bring four wrestlers back with him to Japan. Kimura doesn’t seem to return to Japan as a professional wrestler, and maybe it’s just an idea to start a new promotion that never ends up taking.

Box y Lucha 234A (Septmeber 14, 1956)

EMLL (FRI) 09/07/1956 Arena México [Box y Lucha 233A, Box y Lucha 234A]
1) Akio Yoshihara b Chico Veloz
2) Huracán Ramírez DQ Gorilita Flores
3) Bobby Bonales TLDRAW Ray Mendoza
4) Masahiko Kimura b Steiko Watanabe [judo]
5) Tarzán López b Joe Grant [MEX LH, final]
Tarzan took ⅓.
6) Medico Asesino b Lotario [MEX HEAVY, final]
Medico took ⅔ to win

Medico Asesino is the biggest star of the heavyweights, but he’s also not a full timer in EMLL. He’s not long for this promotion. Tarzan Lopez is also closer to the end of his time in on top in EMLL than the beginning, though he’ll at least be around for a few more years to come.

Steiko Watanabe starts to take over here as Kimura’s traveling partner. They have a judo exhibition, which again must’ve looked different than what fans (and writers) were used to. Clinch 227 calls it a bore.

Box y Lucha 235A (September 21, 1956)

EMLL (FRI) 09/14/1956 Arena Coliseo [Box Y Lucha, Box y Lucha 1456, Box y Lucha 234A, Box y Lucha 235A]
1) Frankenstein b Centella Inca
2) Dr. Castro DRAW Moloch
3) Giuliano b Canelo Segura
4) Joe Grant b Bobby Bonales
5) Black Shadow b Cavernario Galindo
6) Medico Asesino b Masahiko Kimura
7) El Santo b Gladiador [MEX MIDDLE, final]

Santo takes falls 2/3 to claim this vacant title. Gladiador, frustrated, immediately challenges Santo for a mask match. The magazine believes Gladiador was outclassed in the tournament final and stands little chance against Santo in a mask match.

Santo winning the title is odd given the other title situation. It’s two conflicting stories: Santo wouldn’t be normally allowed to be a national champion if he’s considered a NWA champion, so whomever booked this tournament seems to have signed off on the title change.

Box y Lucha notes this show had a bad turnout, unusual for an El Santo main event.

There’s also an interview with Medico Asesino, bragging about the fancy cars he owns thanks to his winnings and talking about how he’s manged by former luchador Black Guzman. El Santo interrupts, and tells Medico Asesino is doing so much better as a masked man than when he was wrestling unmasked here years ago. It doesn’t seem like that’s a fact Medico Asesino wanted out. Asesino does reveal he’s now suspended from EMLL for the next three months, though it’s not clear why. I haven’t any more Medico Asesino in EMLL before he passes away in 1960, so this may be his last match with the promotion. His name still will come up in magazines often in the next few years.

September 16th, 1956 – Independence Day – is the first ever day where EMLL ran Arena Mexico and Arena Coliseo on the same day. (They didn’t have both arenas until then.) Bobby Bonales & Gladiador defeat Cavernario Galindo & the returning Verdugo in Coliseo, while Dorrel Dixon and Joe Grant win a one night tag team tournament in Arena Mexico. Grant & Dixon are said to have earned 10,000 pesos for winning the tournament. Box y Lucha notes a disappointing turnout led to a gate of 16,000, which meant EMLL lost money running the shows if the prize amount is accurate.

Box y Lucha notes that Jorge Allende and Ray Mendoza nearly got suspended for brawling into the crowd; the ring announcer Maximiliano Aguilar is credited for calming the situation.

Box y Lucha 236A (September 28, 1956)

EMLL (FRI) 09/21/1956 Arena México [Box y Lucha 1456, Box y Lucha 236A, Clinch 227, DJ SpectroEl Hijo del Santo, Punos 13]
***EMLL 22nd Aniversario***
1) Chivo García DRAW Kiko Torres
2) Orquídea DQ Adolfo Bonales
Box y lucha has this as a DQ, Clinch 227 lists as a draw
3) Lotario b Miguel King
4) Huracán Ramírez b Carlos Segura
Canelo Segura replaced Jorge Allende
5) Henry Pilusso b Ray Mendoza
6) Black Shadow & Tarzán López b Cavernario & Mongol
7) El Santo b El Gladiador [mask]
35 minute match. Santo takes fall 1/3. Santo submits Gladiador to win, though Gladiador argues he didn’t give up and the match is resumed. Santo again submits Gladiador to a double armbar and there was no doubt that time. Gladiador is Luis Ramirez Romero.

Gladiador’s been built up with big wins over 1955 and 1956, but the Aniversrio main event really gets set up with just one week build.

I’m guessing Torres/Garcia actually took place after the main event and that’s why there’s no results. This is a sellout, though what a sell out means depending on the source. Box y Lucha 1456’s history piece calls it “20,000” fans. Box y Lucha 236A’s report the week of the show says 15,000. That report also guesses at payouts, based on the gates and what they must know about percentages:

  • King/Loatario 460 pesos
  • Pilusso/Mendoza 675
  • Tarzan/Shadow/Caverario/Mongol 1,600 pesos
  • Santo/Gladiador could not be making more than 2000

Box y Lucha 237A (October 5th, 1956)

EMLL (FRI) 09/28/1956 Arena México [Box y Lucha 236A, Box y Lucha 237A]
1) Bobby Rolando b Carlos Segura
2) Centella Inca b Chico Veloz
3) Pepe Mendieta b Giuliano
4) Black Shadow b El Santo [quarterfinal]
an opening round tournament match! Rated 7 ¾
5) Gladiador b Dorrel Dixon [quarterfinal]
6) Cavernario Galindo b Tarzán López [quarterfinal]
7) Bobby Bonales b Blue Demon [quarterfinal]
8) Black Shadow DQ Gladiador [semifinal]
Gladiador fouled Shadow by accident. Rated 7 ¼
9) Cavernario Galindo b Bobby Bonales [semifinal]
10) Black Shadow b Cavernario Galindo [final]
Shadow wowed with his technique. Rated 7 ¼

This is previewed in 236 as a #1 contenders tournament to the NWA Middleweight Championship. The Mexico City commission puts it foot down, declaring they recognize Santo as champion, he can’t be in a #1 contenders tournament for his own title, and so the commission is out. The commission tries to fix the situation by recognizing Santo as the rightful champion, but Santo refuses that. He believes titles are meant to be won or lost in the ring and he lost the title, simple as that. Santo also makes it clear he doesn’t want to be in another title tournament to decide a new champion – he’s tired from the recent tournaments – and he’ll either face Vera in a decision match for the vacant title or he’ll have no part in it.

Black Shadow wins what’s was supposed to be a title show. Box y Lucha nonetheless brings him up as rightful contender for a time to come.

In other championship news, Mexican National Women’s Champion Rosa Williams says she’ll be retiring soon to marry luchador Tony Lopez and become a housewife. Times are different, but it’s evident things are tough for luchadoras right now; there’s no talk about lifting the ban in women’s wrestling in Mexico City, so anyone left is stuck traveling long distances and working on small shows

Clinch 227 – October 1956

Box y Lucha has two monthly magazines: CLINCH and PUÑOS. It would make sense for one to be wrestling and one to be boxing. They’re the usual half boxing, half lucha libre mix instead. They cover the previous month’s notes.

Highlights include

  • a editorial complaining about kids under 15 being banned from attending lucha libre
  • an interview with Salvador Lutteroth, which seems re-printed from the year prior. Some details here: the key office people are Lutteroth Jr., Manuel Flores (who seems to be the accountant), Antonio Andere (publicity) and Chucho Lomeli (programmer.)
  • A look back at Medico Asesino’s 1952
  • September 1952 rankings:
    • El Santo is wrestler of the month, most popular, biggest villain and half of the best team with Medicno Asesino
    • Top 10 best: Rolando Vera, Santo, Gori Guerrero, Rito Romero, Blue Demon, Chico Casasola, Black Shadow, Tarzan Lopez, and El Enfermero
  • An article with wrestlers talking about the lowest and highest pays they’ve got. Black Shadow says he got 7,000 pesos for his mask match and about the same for a NWA MIDDLE challenge. Gladiador mentions he got 4,000 pesos for his match on the Arena Mexico opening show.

One bio that caught eye was a long profile of Rosa (Rosita) Williams, the current national woman’s champion. The headline feels very 50s: “Rosa Williams, weaker sex? Yes, but she’s also a champion!” There’s more of a point to it. Young Rosa saw a photo of a woman covered in blood in a newspaper, noticed it said “This is the weaker sex?” and asked her father about it. He explained it was a luchadora. She forgot it about it, but later got became a boxer when a friend was invited here to her own match. Williams says she was an undefeated boxer until the day her boxing match and toured a bit, eventually fighting in the semimain of a show main evented by a Pantera Surina match. (This has to be a previous Pantera Surina luchadora; the famous Pantera Surena was born the same year this magazine was published.) Williams had never seen lucha libre before, and talked to luchador Octavio Gaona Jr. at the show to understand what was happening. She fell in love with it, starting training, and gave up boxing completely.

Williams’ first match was a mixed tag in Plaza el Progreso Guadalajara, teaming with Mario Prado against Golden Terror and the same Pantera Surina. She was very nervous, but her partner helped her get through it and they won the match. Her hardest match was in Torreon’s Palacio de los Deportes, another mixed tag with Raul Torres against Rudy Galindo and Pantera Surina again. Galindo was not yet a Cavernario but fought like one; Williams talks about all the hard shots she took in the match, which left her crying in the corner after the she tagged out. She had a headache for two weeks, and ended up shaving her head to reduce the pain. Williams wrestled around Mexico as a tecnico for five years, got tired of the beatings, and retired – to become a bull fighter instead. That didn’t work out (she didn’t have the right size for it) and she ended up returning to lucha as a ruda instead. She seems to be having much more fun in that style, and won the title as a ruda.

Williams says she won the women’s championship from Irma Gonzalez in El Toreo Cuatro Caminos (!) in February 1955. That’s a pretty big building for a women’s title match and suggests Mexico State didn’t ban women’s wrestling immediately after Mexico City did. Gonzalez is also said to be the first champion, which is different than what we have on the wiki right now. (There, Dama Enmascarada is the first champion; Williams actually says Enmascarada’s never had a chance but would make a good champion.) Williams says she’s since defended against Irma Gonzalez in Cuernavaca and Acapulco, with another match coming in Guadalajara.

Williams plans on getting married to fellow wrestler Tony Lopez in February or March of 1957 and retiring then. “Like any other woman, I want a home, a spouse, and a couple of children.” She cautioned one of her sisters not to train wrestling like Rosa. Her sister isn’t an athlete and won’t want to take the beating. William’s parents also have mixed feelings about this career: her mother hates seeing her get beat up, and her father wish he had never let her see the bloody woman photo, thinking she might have never taken this path. That bloody woman turns out to be Mildred Burke, and Williams is very proud to be the champion and The Best just like Burke was. She wants to retire as champion.

(The story doesn’t end the way Rosa Williams plans here; she’s back wrestling and champion again in 1959.)

The other profile is with referee Gonzalo Avendano. The referee gig is the less important job: he’s the original EMLL trainer, meeting Salvador Lutteroth in 1933 and training the first generation of Mexican born wrestlers. Avenando is military vet and a world traveler. He learned greco-roman wrestling and jiu jitsu in 1908 while attending military college. He says he reached the sixth grade of jiu jitsu and was the only one in America to do so. He also became friends with US wrestling pioneer William Muldon, and learned wrestling from him. Avendano served in World War I, earning the rank of Coronel, then ended up wrestling in Hollywood as “Maravilla Enmascarada” for four matches. He was invited back to Mexico by the governments to teach wrestling and lucha libre in 1931, and met Lutteroth a few years later.

Others lucha libre historians have pointed to Avenando’s jiu jitsu background as a reason for the rolling bumps and other peculiarities of Mexican wrestling style. He definitely seems to have great historical importance for someone we know little about.

[Previous August 1956. Next October 1956. Full index]

Box y Lucha 230A-233A (August 1956)

I’ve breezed past the weird situation with the national champions at this point in time. According to the history we have right now.

  • Lightweight: vacant since 1955?
  • Welterweight: vacant since 1954?
  • Middleweight: vacant since 1949
  • Light Heavyweight: vacant since 1951?
  • Heavyweight: vacant since 1955?

They’re all vacant, most for quite some time. I’m reading these a bit out of order in real-time. The summer 1955 issues include a bit where Black Shadow wants and plans to give up his long undefended lightweight title. It doesn’t happen, and the implication is he was told he has to lose in the ring. The light heavyweight and heavyweight are mentioned as being similarly forgotten. The unique aspect of the Mexican National titles is the Mexico City Commission controls them, and they’re especially strict and involved around the time. I guess that the commission just refused to recognize wrestlers vacating their titles for years, and somewhere in the issues we’re missing, they were finally convinced otherwise. The Box y Lucha ones I have picked up with title tournaments for all these championships in progress or starting soon. There’s an acknowledgment there’s a lot of them happening at once, but no explanation of why.

Box y Lucha 230A (August 17, 1956)

EMLL (FRI) 08/03/1956 Arena México [Box y Lucha 237A]
1) Canelo Segura b ?? [MEX WELTER, quarterfinal]
2) Joe Marín b ?? [MEX WELTER, quarterfinal]
3) Jalisco González b Black Killer [MEX WELTER, quarterfinal]
4) Enfermero b Orquídea [MEX WELTER, quarterfinal]

EMLL (SUN) 08/05/1956 Arena Coliseo [Box y Lucha 230A]
1) Miguel King b ? [MEX HEAVY, quarterfinal]
2) Lotario b Carlos Moreno [MEX HEAVY, quarterfinal]
3) Medico Asesino b Joaquin Murrieta [MEX HEAVY, quarterfinal]
4) Pepe Mendieta b ? [MEX HEAVY, quarterfinal]

I don’t have magazines covering the first half of the month. I’m more figuring out what matches must’ve occurred here based on other magazines’ stories. I’m missing a few more matches, which may include a more conventional (and bigger name) main event.

EMLL (FRI) 08/10/1956 Arena México [Box y Lucha 230A, Box y Lucha 237A]
1) Jalisco González b Canelo Segura [MEX WELTER, semifinal]
Rated 7 ½
2) Enfermero b Joe Marín [MEX WELTER, semifinal]
mentioned in a photo caption. Rated 7 ½
3) Espectro & Santo b Blue Demon & Dorrel Dixon
Santo & Espectro were praised as a team. Dixon lost but talks about getting a title match against Santo in September later in the magazine. Rated 7 ½

Another set of results patching together mentions in a few different magazines. Gonzalez and Enfermero will decide the title, though not on the next Friday night show. Box y Lucha eventually puts together that Enfermero got hurt in this match, and the final was delayed rather than changed. Santo and Espectro are a veteran/rookie team, and Espectro is quickly rising to the main event level.

A notes column mentions Santo is working Monterrey on Sundays. That’s about a week from being very important.

EMLL (SUN) 08/12/1956 Arena Coliseo [Box y Lucha 230A]
1) Bobby Rolando b Ali Bey
2) Adolfo Bonales b Kiko Torres
3) Lotario b Miguel King [semifinal, MEX HEAVY]
Lotario got a big head cut and was out for a short amount of time. 
4) Medico Asesino b Pepe Mendieta [semifinal, MEX HEAVY]
Straight falls. 
5) Jorge Allende & Ray Mendoza b Joe Grant & Tarzán López [super libre]
Rated 7

Just noting the progress of the heavyweight tournament.

Box y Lucha 231A (August 24, 1956)

EMLL (FRI) 08/17/1956 Arena Coliseo [Box y Lucha 230A, Box y Lucha 231A]
1) Troglodita Flores b Chico Hernández
2) Kiko Torres b Centella Inca
3) Adolfo Bonales DRAW Murciélago Velazquez
4) Tony Barbetta b Dr. Castro
5) Umeyiri Kiyomigawa b Miguel King
6) Carlos Moreno b Masahiko Kimura
7) Black Shadow & Blue Demon DQ Cavernario Galindo & Ray Mendoza
Blue Demon replaced Lotario (out of action after getting a head cut the previous Sunday.) Box y Lucha notes Blue Demon is an upgrade. Tecnicos took 2 (weird DQ) and 3, with Black Shadow landing a (reverse) tope that wows everyone. Rated 7 ½

A lot is going in Box y Lucha 231. The visible thing on the lineup is the new names Kiyomigawa and Kimura. Masahiko Kimura is considered one of the best judo practitioners, maybe the best. I don’t know much of his history, but he appears to have gotten into wrestling in the early 50s, then left Japan after a match with Rikidozan that Kimura claims broke down into a shoot. Kiyomigawa is his traveling partner here, though there’s a lot less available for him.  Kimura’s style, in particular, looks alien to the Box y Lucha recap, they have no idea what to make of it. Kimura is around until early next year.

(Sunday has a one night tag team tournament won by Black Killer & Gladiador over Blue Demon and Tarzan Lopez.)

The big news of the issue is taking place in Monterrey

EMLL (SUN) 08/19/1956 Arena Coliseo Monterrey [Box y Lucha 231A, SuperLuchas]
Attendance: 6000
1) Jaibo García b Mario Texas
2) Johnny Rodríguez b El Fugitivo
3) Karloff Lagarde b Sordomudo Rodríguez
4) Mongol & Samar Selem b Emilio Charles & Huracán Ramírez
5) Rolando Vera b El Santo © [NWA MIDDLE]

Vera defeats Santo cleanly to become the new world middleweight champion. Box y Lucha’s recap says Santo got frustrated enough in the third fall to throw punches, Vera grabbed an arm and locked Santo in la reinera, and Santo gave. Vera is respected for his technical ability, but this would be the only time he won a world title.

This title change causes an uproar in Box y Lucha. The Mexico City commission protests the decision, saying Vera shouldn’t have gotten a third shot – Santo has already beaten him in Arena Mexico and Arena Puebla over the last two months. The commission argues those defenses made Santo too tired, and it was unfair for him to defend. One of the Box y Lucha agrees with the criticisms. The magazine had been setting up Dorrel Dixon as Santo’s next challenger, and instead has to pivot to a Dixon interview where he says he wants to challenge no matter who has the belt.

Box y Lucha clearly indicates when they think a person has a belt they don’t deserve. That’s not what happened with this title win; the magazine heaps praise on Vera’s abilities whenever they get the chance, and will continue to as he holds the title. Instead, there’s a steady message that Santo’s loss wasn’t planned, or not everyone who normally would be on that sort of plan was told.

Box y Lucha 232A (August 31, 1956)

EMLL (FRI) 08/24/1956 Arena Coliseo [Box y Lucha 231A, Box y Lucha 232A]
1) Eskimo Blancarte b Sordomudo Quiroz
2) Centella Inca b Fantomas
3) Mario Tello DRAW Frankenstein
4) Gladiador b Gorilla Flores [MEX MIDDLE, quarterfinal]
5) El Santo b Blue Demon [MEX MIDDLE, quarterfinal]
Rated 7 ½
6) Black Shadow b Bobby Bonales [MEX MIDDLE, quarterfinal]
Rated 7 ¾
7) Cavernario Galindo b Espectrito I [MEX MIDDLE, quarterfinal]

The middleweight tournament becomes the third ongoing one. The matches were set by battle royal, so Santo/Demon just happened to take place with no forewarning.

El Santo being in this national middleweight tournament makes no sense if he was thought to still be the world middleweight champion at this point. It’s not impossible, stuff like that does happen from time to time.

Still, the talk is more of that other middleweight title. Box y Lucha seems to imply Santo lost a title he definitely wasn’t supposed to, and may have gotten some incentive to do so. Another weird factor is that much of EMLL’s owning family was probably in Monterrey for that title match. Enrique Lutteroth, credited with designing and running the building, got married in Monterrey that same weekend. It was a big ceremony with lots of important names, including El Santo himself.

EMLL (SUN) 08/26/1956 Arena Coliseo [Box y Lucha 231A, Box y Lucha 232A]
1) Joe Grant b Ray Mendoza [MEX LH, quarterfinal]
2) Tarzán López b Adolfo Bonales [MEX LH, quarterfinal]
said to be a great match even though it went two falls. Rated 7 ¼
3) Pepe Mendieta b Chivo García [MEX LH, quarterfinal]
4) Mongol b Moloch [MEX LH, quarterfinal]
5) Henry Pilusso & Lotario b Masahiko Kimura & Umeyiri Kiyomigara
a hard win

Sunday has the fourth national tournament, this one for the vacant light heavyweight title. The fifth and final tournament will kick off in September. The last Friday of the month (08/31) falls into notes that are mostly September, so I’ll save the rest of this for then.

[Previous July 1956. Next September 1956. Full index]