In what was a splendid evening of shades of orange and purple, last Saturday, Feb. 5, approximately 300 people gathered at John O’Connell High School in the Mission to enjoy an evening of pure Mexican-style wrestling with Californian flavor.

Pro Wrestling Revolution, a company located in San Jose, California, was the organizer of the event. In the words of its sponsor, Gabriel Ramirez, the event is “something for the Raza, because as a Latino, one can see that there isn’t much here that can be itself authentic, even though it could be an event to which [the average person] comes.”

Ramirez recalls how he would travel with his father’s family to see Lucha Libre AAA in Guadalajara, Jalisco, attending the fights of famous wrestlers like Chavo Guerrero, Eddie Guerrero, Roddy Piper and Tom Prichard. This experience led him to begin his business, Pro Wrestling Revolution, four years ago.

At O’Connell High School grandparents, moms, dads, children and young people chanted the names of the wrestlers as the little ones piled up, glued to the containment fences, giving high fives to the masked men as they walked toward the ring. Talking about how one of his daughters is taking wrestling lessons, Ramirez said, “I wouldn’t have these events if mom and dad can’t bring their children.”

The show, whose careful staging included music and smoke, featured wrestlers ‘The Phantom Cowboy,’ ‘Son of the King of Mystery,’ ‘The Galaxy,’ ‘Amnesia,’ and ‘The Soul Hunter’ among others. Two Caucasian wrestlers represented the US police border patrol and were throwing defamatory epithets at the audience in a humorous tone referring to their illegal status and chanting “¡Viva la migra!” (“Long live U.S. border patrol!”) while the fired-up crowd booed them.

“Quality wresting is a family event; there is no blood or foul language. Yes there are issues such as U.S. border enforcement, (…) but no one thinks that U.S. Border police came to arrest anyone, you’re never going to think that he is truly a bully, you know he is an actor and you have fun,” said Ramirez.

This is the fourth time that Robert Gamiño, who is in charge of the students’ physical education at John O’Connell, has worked with Pro Wrestling Revolution to organize the event. A percentage of the profits made go to subsidize school programs. “[E]verything we can possibly do to help the community. I give a portion of the proceeds directly to the school and they give scholarships for graduation and for the soccer team,” said Ramirez.

—Translation Nick Friedland