Lucha In Translation: On Mexican Wrestling’s Spread To US Television

By Arturo R. García

Poster for Lucha Libre AAA show “Rey De Reyes 2013.” Image via Facebook.

As it is with many fandoms, my relationship to Lucha Libre has changed over the years. Which made my ears perk up a bit last week when Lucha Libre AAA–the Mexican promotion, not the American car club–had reached an agreement to be broadcast on American television sometime next year.

It was even more interesting to see the news make its way through not only the lucha community, but the regular entertainment press as well. Because what separates this deal between AAA and FactoryMade Ventures is the stature of FactoryMade’s main players, co-CEOs John Fogelman and Cristina Patwa:

The two have previously worked with corporate brands Telefonica and JCP; and helped grow Hasbro’s film and TV business, which has resulted in the “Transformers” and “G.I. Joe” franchises, as well as The Hub kids cabler, with Discovery Communications. They also developed a digital gaming and commerce platform with HSN called HSN Arcade.

Lucha Libre becomes the latest Latin-themed venture in FactoryMade’s portfolio after partnering on Tres Pistoleros Studios and the El Rey Network, an English-language U.S. cable channel, with Robert Rodriguez, that’s backed by Comcast Corp and which launches Jan. 1, 2014.

The promotion itself, formally known as Asistencia Asesoría y Administración, is one of the two biggest in Mexico. While it has made some brief inroads in America since its inception in 1992, the deal represents the biggest move by a lucha in the US marketplace. And, as The Week reported, the deal hinges on the proposition that AAA can follow in the footsteps of not only its US counterparts, but other sports, as well:

Combat sports are an increasingly popular — and increasingly profitable — form of entertainment.

The WWE posted nearly $484 million in net revenue last year. That huge sum came from events and TV deals, but also from music, movies, and the licensing of WWE characters in the form of toys and other merchandise.

For a league like Lucha Libre AAA, which boasts 250 vivid characters — all of whom are covered by the new partnership deal — licensing could be a very lucrative future venture.

For the licensing aspect of this to work, however, those characters will have to be made to “translate” to this new market. Which makes me wonder what aspects of lucha will be incorporated into its American presentation.

Clip from “El Santo (L) y Blue Demon en la Atlantida” (1969).

At this point, that could mean an uphill battle against the image lucha conjures up for many modern viewers: random masked men in ever-outlandish movies that asked audiences to accept that not only were their battles with vampire women and Atlantean invaders life-and-death issues, so were the matches themselves.

Pro wrestling thrives on over-the-top conflict, but in presenting what WWE has defined as “sports entertainment,” Lucha’s presentation typically emphasizes the former over the latter. Take this interview segment filmed last year promoting TripleMania, the promotion’s centerpiece show, with one of the participants in the main event, Máscara Año 2000 Jr.:

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