It’s Friday night at the Kia Forum, and the place has sprung to life. The nearly 13,000 fans in attendance have fallen into a trance after hearing a familiar theme song. They yell “Tenemos!” and follow it with “Zero Miedo!” As if summoned from the ether, Penta El Zero Miedo suddenly appears. His face is painted like a skeleton, his mask is horned and he’s surrounded by flames. The predominantly Latino crowd is eating it all up.
This weekend, the historic Inglewood venue played host to “Full Gear,” a pay-per-view wrestling extravaganza put together by All Elite Wrestling. Since its founding in 2019, AEW has become the second-largest wrestling promotion in the world, a challenger to WWE. Some of that rapid growth can be attributed to AEW’s willingness to embrace performers like Penta (as he’s known to his fans) and his lucha libre brethren — he and his brother Rey Fenix were among the promotion’s first signings. These types of moves have not only ensured that Latinos would play a prominent role on television weekly, but it has also attracted a rabid Latino fan base.
From the glory days of the Olympic Auditorium to Rey Mysterio’s WWE Hall of Fame induction at Wrestlemania 2023, here’s a brief history of lucha libre in Los Angeles.
That fan base and talent were in perfect sync Friday as Penta spent his time in the ring furiously throwing around his opponent, fellow luchador Kommander, while still finding time to lead the crowd in further chants. And then, as the match reached a peak, Penta lost. It was not his night.
Three weeks ago, the night before Halloween, it was a different story.
In addition to wrestling for AEW, Penta and Rey Fenix — known collectively as the Lucha Brothers — own and operate Republic of Lucha in South Pasadena, a 4,000-square-foot retail space that has become the beating heart of all things lucha libre in the Los Angeles area. The space periodically hosts its own events. For its latest, Republic of Lucha went all in on the spooky holiday, naming their sixth-ever event ROL VI VI VI: La Noche De Walpurgis.
Among the attendees that night was Arturo, a 7-year-old who showed up in a homemade Penta costume, complete with fake blood and battle damage to the mask. Arturo is not just a die-hard wrestling fan; he’s specifically a die-hard Republic of Lucha fan — a fact supported by the store’s break room, which is decorated by his schoolyard drawings he hand-delivers to Republic of Lucha’s manager, Javier Robles.
“It’s a concept that is entirely lucha libre for everyone to immerse themselves a little bit more into the Mexican culture and traditions,” said Penta of Republic of Lucha and the culture they’ve fostered.
The event was a love letter to Mexican culture and a gift to the fans who supported the shop. It was also a not-so-subtle promotion for AEW’s upcoming shows at the Kia Forum.
“I love L.A.,” said Tony Khan, owner of AEW, adding that it’s one of their best markets.
“We debuted in Los Angeles in 2022 and had a great first event, and we saw that kind of energy at every show we’ve done there so far. The fans really bring their all, and it makes us want to be here.”
Led by Tony Khan, AEW quickly became the No. 2 wrestling promotion in the world and has its sights set on WWE.
At the Forum, fans showed up wearing T-shirts of their favorite wrestlers. Some, like Jose Hernandez of El Sereno, even brought championship belts.
“[This] was gifted to me by my brother, and I’ve been collecting signatures on it ever since,” Hernandez said before pointing out a specific gripe.
“We definitely need some more [Latino] champions. Penta definitely. If there was ever a talent that definitely needs that, it would be him. And Rush. That guy, my god!”
Rush — pronounced “roosh” — portrays a roughneck mob boss leading La Faccion Ingobernable, an offshoot of a stable he popularized in Mexico’s Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre promotion. He and his brother Dralistico were part of a four-team ladder match for the AEW Tag Team Championship on Saturday.
“I think there’s been so much interest, and Rush brings an intensity and an authenticity that everybody can see when he gets out and fights,” Khan said. “He and his brother Dralistico have so much potential.”
Technically, there was a Latino world champion fighting at “Full Gear.”
Ring of Honor operates as a sister promotion to AEW, often sharing talent and television time. Its world champion, Eddie Kingston, defended his title against Jay Lethal on Saturday. Kingston, a 41-year-old from Yonkers, N.Y., who doesn’t look like the platonic ideal of a wrestler, is a fan favorite and he seems to know why.
“It doesn’t matter who you are, or what you are, or what ethnicity you are,” he said. “You understand emotion. You understand pain. You understand anger. You understand joy.”
Kingston grew up in an Irish neighborhood and has dealt with racism at home and in his chosen profession.
“Being discriminated against at a young age, learning what racism is at a young age made me proud to be Puerto Rican,” he said. “It made me proud to be a mutt, and it made me proud to be different.”
Also making an appearance this weekend was local favorite Daniel Garcia. The 25-year-old Buffalo, N.Y., native has earned the affection of Angeleno fans by wrestling in Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, the marquee independent promotion that regularly puts together events at the Globe Theatre in downtown L.A. Garcia is PWG’s current world champion. He’s also Hispanic, not Latino.
“My dad was from Barcelona,” he explained. “He passed away when I was young, so I didn’t have too much of a Spanish influence.”
Garcia is a self-proclaimed “no sabo kid.” Like many Latinos in Los Angeles and around the country, he is working on reclaiming his Spanish language skills.
“I have a professor from Venezuela that I take classes with every single week so I can better communicate with the folks from Mexico and the fans,” he said
Denise Salcedo, an L.A. native and prominent voice in wrestling media, was pleased to see that AEW gave the fans what they demanded.
“[It’s] great to see those lucha stars being featured on big shows and big promotions like AEW,” she said. “Getting to see that representation here and knowing that they know what the [fans] want is pretty cool.”
The weeklong event wasn’t just about contained violence. At “Full Gear,” there was even space for romance.
Diego Rodriguez and Monique Garcia, who showed up wearing matching shirts, were treating the weekend as their de facto anniversary. Their first date was a year ago, during AEW’S first L.A. show. Before asking her out, Rodriguez says, he overhead Garcia name-drop several wrestlers he liked. That was enough reason to approach her.
“The vibe was so great, we were having a great time here, a little tipsy and I reached for her hand,” he said. “She held my hand back, so it was like, ‘All right, we’re here.’”
