Ever since she was a little girl, Lourdes Gourbet has been interested in the spectacle of Mexican professional wrestling, or lucha libre. She is the only woman to have worked in the area —for more than 25 years— and her lens has captured the magic of this exciting sport, which is much talked of but little known, constituting as it does a world apart, admired but misunderstood. These warriors need their disguise, because their appearance is not only a fine adornment characteristic of the world of wrestling but also a weapon with which to disconcert, astonish, and frighten their opponent, with a low blow if need be. Warriors transformed by the sublime pleasure of becoming stoically “anonymous”, whose public lives may be a well-known legend, but whose private lives must be a secret, for their epic fantasy plays out confrontation between normal, everyday environmental design and their particular mystery.

In this fascinating book the fan of the wrestling arena enters into the private lives of these idols, into their homes, their gathering places, and the celebrations of the historic gladiators of the ring. Rafael Tonatiuh contributes his special vision of a social phenomenon unique in the World. Each wrestler takes us to the brink of his personal mystery.