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79-498: The current champions are Demonio Infernal , Eterno , and Lunatic Xtreme who became champions on February 3, 2019 by defeating Los Comandos Elite ( Oficial Rayan , Oficial Spector and Oficial Liderk ). The first Distrito Federal Champions was the team known as Los Temerarios ("The Reckless"; Black Terry , Jose Luis Feliciano, Shu el Guerrero) who won the championship at some point in 1986. Due to very few paper records being preserved of professional wrestling events, especially on

158-413: A five-way match that also included Canario, Magic Dragon and Vardeus. By early 2016 Roja changed his ring name to "Demonio Infernal" ("Internal Demon"). Over the summer of 2016, he became involved in a storyline feud with tecnico (also known as a "face"; the protagonists of professional wrestling) Dragón Fly . The feud between the two led to a Lucha de Apuestas ("Bet match") between the two, where

237-409: A no disqualification match in the opening match of the show. The feud between the two ran over several months and saw Lunatic Xtreme defeat Demonio Infernal in a Lucha de Apuestas match on January 28, 2018, forcing Demonio Infernal to have all his hair shaved off as a result. Later on, Demonio Infernal began to team regularly with Lunatic Xtreme as their feud had been settled, and Eterno , forming

316-446: A " gimmick " consisting of a specific persona , stage name , entrance theme , and other distinguishing traits. Matches are the primary vehicle for advancing storylines, which typically center on interpersonal conflicts, or feuds , between heroic " faces " and villainous " heels ". A wrestling ring , akin to the platform used in boxing , serves as the main stage ; additional scenes may be recorded for television in backstage areas of

395-413: A background in authentic wrestling no longer mattered. After this time, matches became more outlandish and gimmicky and any semblance professional wrestling had to catch wrestling faded. The personas of the wrestlers likewise grew more outlandish. Gorgeous George , who performed throughout the 1940s and 1950s, was the first wrestler whose entrance into the arena was accompanied by a theme song played over

474-520: A carny term for a shooting gallery gun whose sights were not deliberately misaligned. Wrestling in the United States blossomed in popularity after the Civil War , with catch wrestling eventually becoming the most popular style. At first, professional wrestlers were genuine competitive fighters, but they struggled to draw audiences because Americans did not find real wrestling to be very entertaining, so

553-513: A central authority. Nor could any of them stomach the idea of leaving the NWA themselves to compete directly with McMahon, for that would mean their territories would become fair game for the other NWA members. McMahon also had a creative flair for TV that his rivals lacked. For instance, the AWA's TV productions during the 1980s were amateurish, low-budget, and out-of-touch with contemporary culture, which lead to

632-433: A champion suffering an injury being unable to defend the championship, or leaving the company. It is believed that the original champions Los Temerarios (Black Terry, Jose Luis Feliciano, Shu el Guerrero) won a trios tournament of indeterminate size, but no documentation of the date or participants of the tournament exists. In April 2010 IWRG stripped Los Terribles Cerebros (Black Terry, Cerebro Negro and Dr. Cerebro) of

711-574: A champion that Curley put forth: Dick Shikat . The National Wrestling Association shut down in 1980. In 1948, a number of promoters from across the country came together to form the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). The NWA recognized one "world champion", voted on by its members, but allowed member promoters to crown their own local champions in their territories. If a member poached wrestlers from another member, or held matches in another member's territory, they risked being ejected from

790-410: A fee, a visitor could challenge the wrestler to a quick match. If the challenger defeated the champion in a short time frame, usually 15 minutes, he won a prize. To encourage challenges, the carnival operators staged rigged matches in which an accomplice posing as a visitor challenged the champion and won, giving the audience the impression that the champion was easy to beat. This practice taught wrestlers

869-414: A genuine sport, and the phrase "professional wrestling" therefore has a more literal meaning in those places. A notable example is India's Pro Wrestling League . In numerous American states, professional wrestling is legally defined as a non-sport. For instance, New York defines professional wrestling as: Professional wrestling means an activity in which participants struggle hand-in-hand primarily for

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948-405: A legitimate sport. Firstly, wrestling was more entertaining when it was faked, whereas fakery did not make boxing any more entertaining. Secondly, in a rigged boxing match, the designated loser must take a real beating for his "defeat" to be convincing, but wrestling holds can be faked convincingly without inflicting injury. This meant that boxers were less willing to "take dives"; they wanted to have

1027-754: A match against Gus Sonnenberg in January 1929. Bowser then broke away from the trust to form his own cartel, the American Wrestling Association (AWA), in September 1930, and he declared Sonnenberg to be the AWA champion. This AWA should not be confused with Wally Kadbo's AWA founded in 1960. Curley reacted to this move by convincing the National Boxing Association to form the National Wrestling Association , which in turn crowned

1106-440: A new city, attendance was high because there was a waiting fanbase cultivated in advance by the cable TV shows. The NWA's traditional anti-competitive tricks were no match for this. The NWA attempted to centralize and create their own national cable television shows to counter McMahon's rogue promotion, but it failed in part because the members of the NWA, ever protective of their territories, could not stomach submitting themselves to

1185-602: A result. On February 3, 2019, El Infierno Eterno defeated Los Comandos Elite ( Rayan , Spector , and Liderk) to win the Distrito Federal Trios Championship . On May 19, 2019, Demonio Infernal outlasted 29 other wrestlers to win the 2019 Rey del Ring tournament, as well as the IWRG Rey del Ring Championship . Near the end of 2019, Demonio Infernal became involved in a storyline feud against Fresero Jr., which included Demonio Infernal successfully defending

1264-422: A trio known as El Infierno Eterno ("The Eternal Inferno"). Demonio was one of four wrestlers risking their mask or hair on the outcome of the main event of IWRG's Relevos Increibles de Máscaras y Cabelleras show. Demonio Infernal and Freelance lost to Aramís and Dragón Bane . Due to the loss Demonio and Freelance had to face each other immediately, with Freelance losing the match and also losing his hair as

1343-497: A typical American household only received four national channels by antenna, and ten to twelve local channels via UHF broadcasting . But cable television could carry a much larger selection of channels and therefore had room for niche interests. The WWF started with a show called All-American Wrestling airing on the USA Network in September 1983. McMahon's TV shows made his wrestlers national celebrities, so when he held matches in

1422-575: A victory for all the pain to which they subjected themselves. In the 1910s, promotional cartels for professional wrestling emerged in the East Coast (outside its traditional heartland in the Midwest ). These promoters sought to make long-term plans with their wrestlers, and to ensure their more charismatic and crowd-pleasing wrestlers received championships, further entrenching the desire for worked matches. The primary rationale for shoot matches at this point

1501-581: Is a Mexican professional wrestler ( luchador in Spanish) best known under the ring name Demonio Infernal (Spanish for "Infernal Demon"). He is a second-generation wrestler, son of Guillermo Martinez Cid, best known as Bombero Infernal and the brother of wrestlers Matrix Jr., Muerte Infernal, Capitain Muerte and La Bomberita. Rojas made his in-ring debut in 2012, using the name Demonio Imperial . He works for International Wrestling Revolution Group (IWRG) in

1580-410: Is a true sport. Wrestlers would at all times flatly deny allegations that they fixed their matches, and they often remained in-character in public even when not performing. When in public, wrestlers would sometimes say the word kayfabe to each other as a coded signal that there were fans present and they needed to be in character. Professional wrestlers in the past strongly believed that if they admitted

1659-447: Is also a professional, the enmascarada known as La Bomberita. As neither of his brothers nor his sister have been unmasked via a Lucha de Apuestas ("Bet match") loss, their names are not a matter of public record. The first documented match for Rojas took place on June 10, 2015, for International Wrestling Revolution Group (IWRG). Roja, working under the ring name Demonio Imperial ("Imperial Demon") lost to Soldado de la Muerte in

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1738-428: Is distinguished by its scripted outcomes and emphasis on entertainment and showmanship . The staged nature of matches is an open secret , with both wrestlers and spectators nonetheless maintaining the pretense that performances are bona fide competitions, which is likened to the suspension of disbelief employed when engaging with fiction . Professional wrestlers perform as characters and usually maintain

1817-494: The Apuesta challenge. in the end Demonio Infernal defeated Fresero Jr. in a Lucha de Apuestas match at the PALL 1st Anniversary Show on December 1, 2019. On January 1, 2020, as part of IWRG's Cinco Luchas en Jaula show, Demonio Infernal won a six-way steel cage match against Fuerza Guerrera Nueva Generacion , Pasion Cristal, Ave Rex, Emperador Azteca , El Hijo del Alebrije to win

1896-609: The New Jersey State Athletic Control Board that professional wrestling is not a real sport because its matches have predetermined outcomes. Shortly thereafter, New Jersey deregulated professional wrestling. The WWF then rebranded itself as a " sports entertainment " company. In the early years of the 20th century, the style of wrestling used in professional wrestling matches was catch wrestling . Promoters wanted their matches to look realistic and so preferred to recruit wrestlers with real grappling skills. In

1975-677: The State of Mexico as well as taking bookings on the independent circuit in Mexico. Demonio Infernal, Eterno and Lunatic Xtreme (collectively known as "El Infierno Eternal") hold the Districto Federal Trios Championship and he is also the current IWRG Rey del Ring Champion as well as the IWRG Intercontinental Middleweight Champion . Rojas was originally a masked wrestler ( Enmascarado in Spanish) but

2054-762: The United States , Mexico , Japan , and northwest Europe (the United Kingdom , Germany/Austria and France ), which have each developed distinct styles, traditions, and subgenres within professional wrestling. Professional wrestling has developed its own culture and community , including a distinct vernacular . It has achieved mainstream success and influence within popular culture , with many terms, tropes , and concepts being referenced in everyday language as well as in film , music , television , and video games . Likewise, numerous professional wrestlers have become national or international icons with recognition by

2133-545: The independent circuit there are periods of time where the status of the championship is unclear. At times there is no record of the specific date a team won the championship or who they defeated, leaving the possibility that there may have been other championship reigns in that period of time. Due to the fictional nature of professional wrestling, it is also possible that some of the championship changes that proceeded periods of uncertainty were fictional in nature, where new champions were announced but no actual match took place. In

2212-577: The 1920s, a group of wrestlers and promoters known as the Gold Dust Trio introduced moves which have since become staples of the mock combat of professional wrestling, such as body slams, suplexes , punches, finishing moves, and out-of-ring count-outs. By the early 1930s, most wrestlers had adopted personas to generate public interest. These personas could broadly be characterized as either faces (likeable) or heels (villainous). Native Americans, cowboys, and English aristocrats were staple characters in

2291-400: The 1930s and 1940s. Before the age of television, some wrestlers played different personas depending on the region they were performing in. This eventually came to an end in the age of national television wrestling shows, which forced wrestlers to stick to one persona. Wrestlers also often used some sort of gimmick, such as a finishing move, eccentric mannerisms, or out-of-control behavior (in

2370-506: The 1990s, WCW became a credible rival to the WWF, but by end it suffered from a series of creative missteps that led to its failure and purchase by the WWF. One of its mistakes was that it diminished the glamor of its World Heavyweight Championship . Between January 2000 and March 2001, the title changed hands eighteen times, which sapped fan enthusiasm, particularly for the climactic pay-per-view matches. In professional wrestling, two factors decide

2449-411: The 19th century, who later sought to make matches shorter, more entertaining, and less physically taxing. As the public gradually realized and accepted that matches were predetermined, wrestlers responded by increasingly adding melodrama, gimmickry, and outlandish stunt work to their performances to further enhance the spectacle . By at least the early 20th century, professional wrestling had diverged from

Distrito Federal Trios Championship - Misplaced Pages Continue

2528-460: The 2017 El Protector tournament, a one-night tag team tournament where IWRG would team up a veteran wrestler with a relative rookie. The duo defeated Hip Hop Man and Mr. Electro in the first round, then defeated Demonio's longtime rival Dragón Fly and Villano IV in the semi-finals, before losing to Black Terry and El Diablo Jr. in the finals of the tournament. At IWRG's 2017 Prisión Fatal , Demonio Infernal defeated Lunatic Xtreme in

2607-641: The Atlantic Athletic Corporation (AAC). The AAC shut down in 1960. In 1958, Omaha promoter and NWA member Joe Dusek recognized Verne Gagne as the world champion without the approval of the NWA. Gagne asked for a match against the recognized NWA champion Pat O'Connor. The NWA refused to honor the request, so Gagne and Minneapolis promoter Wally Karbo established the American Wrestling Association in 1960. This AWA should not be confused with Paul Bowser's AWA, which ceased operations just two months prior. Gagne's AWA operated out of Minnesota . Unlike

2686-408: The NWA, at which point his territory became fair game for everyone. The NWA would blacklist wrestlers who worked for independent promoters or who publicly criticized an NWA promoter or who did not throw a match on command. If an independent promoter tried to establish himself in a certain area, the NWA would send their star performers to perform for the local NWA promoter to draw the customers away from

2765-477: The NWA, which only allowed faces to be champions, Gagne occasionally allowed heels to win the AWA championship so that they could serve as foils for him. In August 1983, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), a promotion in the north-east , withdrew from the NWA. Vince K. McMahon then took over as its boss. No longer bound by the territorial pact of the NWA, McMahon began expanding his promotion into

2844-645: The Rey del Ring Championship against Fresero Jr. On the October 27 IWRG show Fresero Jr. helped El Hijo de Canis Lupus defend the IWRG Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship against Demonio Infernal by interfering in the match. Following the match Demonio Infernal made a Lucha de Apuestas , "hair vs hair" match challenge. Fresero Jr. defeated Demonio Infernal in a Super Libre , no disqualification match, on November 24, followed by accepting

2923-401: The arena's loudspeakers, his being Pomp and Circumstance . He also wore a costume: a robe and hairnet, which he removed after getting in the ring. He also had a pre-match ritual where his "butler" would spray the ring with perfume. In the 1980s, Vince McMahon made entrance songs, costumes, and rituals standard for his star wrestlers. For instance, McMahon's top star Hulk Hogan would delight

3002-418: The art of staging rigged matches and fostered a mentality that spectators were marks to be duped. The term kayfabe comes from carny slang. By the turn of the 20th century, most professional wrestling matches were "worked" and some journalists exposed the practice: American wrestlers are notorious for the amount of faking they do. It is because of this fact that suspicion attaches to so many bouts that

3081-550: The audience by tearing his shirt off before each match. The first major promoter cartel emerged on the East Coast, although up to that point, wrestling's heartland had been in the Midwest. Notable members of this cartel included Jack Curley , Lou Daro, Paul Bowser and Tom and Tony Packs. The promoters colluded to solve a number of problems that hurt their profits. Firstly, they could force their wrestlers to perform for less money. As

3160-412: The broader public. In the United States, wrestling is generally practiced in an amateur context. No professional league for competitive wrestling exists due to a lack of popularity. For example, Real Pro Wrestling , an American professional freestyle wrestling league, dissolved in 2007 after just two seasons. In other countries, such as Iran and India , wrestling enjoys widespread popularity as

3239-424: The cartel grew, there were fewer independent promoters where independent wrestlers could find work, and many were forced to sign a contract with the cartel to receive steady work. The contracts forbade them from performing at independent venues. A wrestler who refused to play by the cartel's rules was barred from performing at its venues. A second goal of the wrestling cartels was to establish an authority to decide who

Distrito Federal Trios Championship - Misplaced Pages Continue

3318-418: The case of heels). The matches could also be gimmicky sometimes, with wrestlers fighting in mud and piles of tomatoes and so forth. The most successful and enduring gimmick to emerge from the 1930s were tag-team matches. Promoters noticed that matches slowed down as the wrestlers in the ring tired, so they gave them partners to relieve them. It also gave heels another way to misbehave by double-teaming. Towards

3397-523: The championship due to Cerebro Negro electing to work a Desastre Total Ultraviolento (DTU) on the same day as an IWRG show, forcing IWRG to abandon the planned match. IWRG held an eight-team, one night single elimination tournament from April 15 to April 29, 2010 to crown the new champions. Cerebro Negro actually participated in the tournament, but did not team with his former partners Black Terry and Dr. Cerebro. As of November 29, 2024. Demonio Infernal José Antonio Rojas (born January 17, 1995)

3476-486: The championship for 21 days in 2005, making it the shortest confirmed reign of any champions. Four wrestlers have been champions under two different wrestling identities ; Black Terry has held the title twice under that name and once as the masked character Guerrero Maya. Oficial AK-47 has held it both under his current character and as "Ultra Mega" as well, Oficial Factor previously held the championship under his former identity of Mega as well while Oficial Spartan also held

3555-409: The championship under the name Omega. As it is a professional wrestling championship, the championship was not won not by actual competition, but by a scripted ending to a match determined by the bookers and match makers . On occasion the promotion declares a championship vacant, which means there is no champion at that point in time. This can either be due to a storyline, or real life issues such as

3634-423: The character in shows must be considered fictional, wholly separate from the life of the performer. This is similar to other entertainers who perform with a persona that shares their own name. Some wrestlers also incorporate elements of their real-life personalities into their characters, even if they and their in-ring persona have different names. Kayfabe is the practice of pretending that professional wrestling

3713-508: The commission. The Commission did on very rare occasions hand out such authorizations, such as for a championship match between Jim Londos and Jim Browning in June 1934. This decree did not apply to amateur wrestling, which the commission had no authority over. Wrestling fans widely suspected that professional wrestling was fake, but they did not care as long as it entertained. In 1933, a wrestling promoter named Jack Pfefer started talking about

3792-468: The competitive sport to become an artform and genre of sports entertainment . Professional wrestling is performed around the world through various " promotions ", which are roughly analogous to production companies or sports leagues . Promotions vary considerably in size, scope, and creative approach, ranging from local shows on the independent circuit , to internationally broadcast events at major arenas. The largest and most influential promotions are in

3871-540: The current fashion of wrestling is the universal discussion as to the honesty of the matches. And certainly the most interesting phrase of this discussion is the unanimous agreement: "Who cares if they're fixed or not—the show is good." Newspapers tended to shun professional wrestling, as journalists saw its theatrical pretense to being a legitimate sport as untruthful. Eventually promoters resorted to publishing their own magazines in order to get press coverage and communicate with fans. The first professional wrestling magazine

3950-405: The end of the 1930s, faced with declining revenues, promoters chose to focus on grooming charismatic wrestlers with no regard for their skill because it was charisma that drew the crowds, and wrestlers who were both skilled at grappling and charismatic were hard to come by. Since most of the public by this time knew and accepted that professional wrestling was fake, realism was no longer paramount and

4029-597: The facade of kayfabe as best as they could. In 1989, Vince McMahon testified before the New Jersey government that professional wrestling was not a true sport and therefore should be exempted from sports-related taxes. Many wrestlers and fans resented McMahon for this, but Lou Thesz accepted it as the smart move as it gave the industry more freedom to do as it pleased, and because by that point professional wrestling no longer attempted to appear real. The demise of WCW in 2001 provided some evidence that kayfabe still mattered to

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4108-470: The first place. "Double-crosses", where a wrestler agreed to lose a match but nevertheless fought to win, remained a problem in the early cartel days. At times a promoter would even award a victorious double-crosser the title of champion to preserve the facade of sport. But promoters punished such wrestlers by blacklisting them, making it quite challenging to find work. Double-crossers could also be sued for breach of contract, such as Dick Shikat in 1936. In

4187-610: The game is not popular here. Nine out of ten bouts, it has been said, are pre-arranged affairs, and it would be no surprise if the ratio of fixed matches to honest ones was really so high. The wrestler Lou Thesz recalled that between 1915 and 1920, a series of exposés in the newspapers about the integrity of professional wrestling alienated a lot of fans, sending the industry "into a tailspin". But rather than perform more shoot matches, professional wrestlers instead committed themselves wholesale to fakery. Several reasons explain why professional wrestling became fake whereas boxing endured as

4266-455: The government. They pledged to stop allocating exclusive territories to its promoters, to stop blacklisting wrestlers who worked for outsider promoters, and to admit any promoter into the Alliance. The NWA would flout many of these promises, but its power was nonetheless weakened by the lawsuit. Paul Bowser's AWA joined the NWA in 1949. The AWA withdrew from the Alliance in 1957 and renamed itself

4345-513: The independent. By 1956, the NWA controlled 38 promotions within the United States, with more in Canada, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand. The NWA's monopolistic practices became so stifling that the independents appealed to the government for help. In October 1956 the US Attorney General's office filed an antitrust lawsuit against the NWA in an Iowa federal district court. The NWA settled with

4424-492: The individual wrestlers are paid or have been paid for their performance in a professional wrestling exhibition. All engagements of professional wrestling shall be referred to as exhibitions, and not as matches. In the industry's slang, a fixed match is referred to as a worked match, derived from the slang word for manipulation, as in "working the crowd". A shoot match is a genuine contest where both wrestlers fight to win and are therefore "straight shooters", which comes from

4503-471: The industry was anything but a competitive sport. The first wrestling promoter to publicly admit to routinely fixing matches was Jack Pfefer . In 1933, he started talking about the industry's inner workings to the New York Daily Mirror , resulting in a huge exposé. The exposé neither surprised nor alienated most wrestling fans, although some promoters like Jack Curley were furious and tried to restore

4582-487: The industry's inner workings to the New York Daily Mirror , maintaining no pretense that wrestling was real and passing on planned results just before the matches took place. While fans were neither surprised nor alienated, traditionalists like Jack Curley were furious, and most promoters tried to maintain the facade of kayfabe as best they could. Not the least interesting of all the minor phenomena produced by

4661-494: The loser would have to unmask. Winning a Lucha de Apuestas match is considered more prestigious than winning a championship in lucha libre . The two faced off in the main event of IWRG's August 2016 Máscara vs. Máscara show, which saw Demonio Infernal lose, and thus had to unmask and reveal his real name as per the rules of the Lucha de Apuestas . In early 2017, Demonio Infernal teamed up with wrestling veteran Negro Navarro for

4740-498: The members of wrestling cartels as the champion drew big crowds wherever he performed, and this would occasionally lead to schisms. By 1925, this cartel had divided the country up into territories which were the exclusive domains of specific promoters. This system of territories endured until Vince McMahon drove the fragmented cartels out of the market in the 1980s. This cartel fractured in 1929 after one of its members, Paul Bowser , bribed Ed "Strangler" Lewis to lose his championship in

4819-402: The most reigns as a team, three; while Oficial is the individual with the most reigns, holding the championship with three different configurations of Los Oficiales . The longest reigning Trio is the current version of Los Oficiales , whose reign from July 19, 2007, to December 7, 2008, was the longest with 507 days in total. Technically the 31st reign by Gringos VIP lasted 679 days, but during

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4898-714: The promotion's closing in 1991. In the spring of 1984, the WWF purchased Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW), which had been ailing for some time due to financial mismanagement and internal squabbles. In the deal, the WWF acquired the GCW's timeslot on TBS . McMahon agreed to keep showing Georgia wrestling matches in that timeslot, but he was unable to get his staff to Atlanta every Saturday to fulfill this obligation, so he sold GCW and its TBS timeslot to Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP). JCP started informally calling itself World Championship Wrestling (WCW). In 1988, Ted Turner bought JCP and formally renamed it World Championship Wrestling. During

4977-439: The purpose of providing entertainment to spectators and which does not comprise a bona fide athletic contest or competition. Professional wrestling is not a combative sport. Wrestling constituting bona fide athletic contests and competitions, which may be professional or amateur combative sport, shall not be deemed professional wrestling under this Part. Professional wrestling as used in this Part shall not depend on whether

5056-440: The stamina for an hours-long fight. Audiences also preferred short matches. Worked matches also carried less risk of injury, which meant shorter recovery. Altogether, worked matches proved more profitable than shoots. By the end of the 19th century, nearly all professional wrestling matches were worked. A major influence on professional wrestling was carnival culture. Wrestlers in the late 19th century worked in carnival shows. For

5135-426: The territories of his former NWA peers, now his rivals. By the end of the 1980s, the WWF would become the sole national wrestling promotion in the U.S. This was in part made possible by the rapid spread of cable television in the 1980s. The national broadcast networks generally regarded professional wrestling as too niche an interest, and had not broadcast any national wrestling shows since the 1950s. Before cable TV,

5214-505: The trial, witnesses testified that most of the "big matches" and all of the championship bouts were fixed. By the 1930s, with the exception of the occasional double-cross or business dispute, shoot matches were essentially nonexistent. In April 1930, the New York State Athletic Commission decreed that all professional wrestling matches held in the state had to be advertised as exhibitions unless certified as contests by

5293-622: The trio's reign the Commission allowed Gringo Loco to be replaced by Apolo Estrada, Jr. as Gringo Loco had returned to the United States of America about halfway through their reign, making Los Oficiales the longest reigning trio. The current version of Los Oficiales is also the team with the longest combined, confirmed championship reign at 5,016 days and counting. Oficial AK-47 has the longest combined reign for an individual, combining four reigns to 5,178 days and counting. The Nuevo León based trio of Los Divos (Bengalí, Cats, and Raiden) held

5372-471: The truth, their audiences would desert them. Today's performers don't "protect" the industry like we did, but that's primarily because they've already exposed it by relying on silly or downright ludicrous characters and gimmicks to gain popularity with the fans. It was different in my day, when our product was presented as an authentic, competitive sport. We protected it because we believed it would collapse if we ever so much as implied publicly that it

5451-445: The vacant IWRG Intercontinental Middleweight Championship Professional wrestler Mid 20th Century 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s Professional wrestling (often referred to as pro wrestling , or simply, wrestling ) is a form of athletic theater that combines mock combat with drama , with the premise that the performers are competitive wrestlers. Professional wrestling

5530-405: The venue, in a format similar to reality television . Performers generally integrate authentic wrestling techniques and fighting styles with choreography , stunts , improvisation , and dramatic conventions designed to maximize entertainment value and audience engagement. Professional wrestling as a performing art evolved from the common practice of match-fixing among American wrestlers in

5609-535: The way of proceedings: the "in-show" happenings, presented through the shows; and real-life happenings outside the work that have implications, such as performer contracts, legitimate injuries, etc. Because actual life events are often co-opted by writers for incorporation into storylines of performers, the lines between real life and fictional life are often blurred and become confused. Special discern must be taken with people who perform under their own name (such as Kurt Angle and his fictional persona ). The actions of

5688-420: The wrestlers quietly began faking their matches so that they could give their audiences a satisfying spectacle. Fixing matches was also convenient for scheduling. A real ("shoot") match could sometimes last hours, whereas a fixed ("worked") match can be made short, which was convenient for wrestlers on tour who needed to keep appointments or share venues. It also suited wrestlers who were aging and therefore lacked

5767-409: The years preceding Los Oficiales winning the championship in 2007 the title was inactive for long periods of time and was not defended on a regular basis. Due to the gaps in records, it can only be stated that there have been at least 39 championship reigns between 34 different trios and 83 individual wrestlers. The first version of Los Oficiales (Guardia, Oficial, and Virgilante) is the trio with

5846-425: Was Wrestling As You Like It , which printed its first issue in 1946. These magazines were faithful to kayfabe . Before the advent of television, professional wrestling's fanbase largely consisted of children, the elderly, blue-collar workers and minorities. When television arose in the 1940s, professional wrestling got national exposure on prime-time television and gained widespread popularity. Professional wrestling

5925-488: Was challenges from independent wrestlers. But a cartelized wrestler, if challenged, could credibly use his contractual obligations to his promoter as an excuse to refuse the challenge. Promotions would sometimes respond to challenges with "policemen": powerful wrestlers who lacked the charisma to become stars, but could defeat and often seriously injure any challenger in a shoot match. As the industry trend continued, there were fewer independent wrestlers to make such challenges in

6004-557: Was forced to unmask in 2016 as he lost a Lucha de Apuestas bet match to Dragón Fly and has competed unmasked ever since. José Antonio Rojas was born on January 17, 1995, in Mexico City. He is the son of Guillermo Martinez Cid, a professional wrestler best known under the ring name Bombero Infernal . His three younger brothers are also professional wrestlers, known as the enmascarados ( masked wrestlers ) Matrix Jr., Muerte Infernal and Capitain Muerte respectively. His younger sister

6083-636: Was previously considered a niche interest, but the TV networks at the time were short on content and thus were willing to try some wrestling shows. In the 1960s, however, the networks moved on to more mainstream interests such as baseball, and professional wrestling was dropped. The core audience then shrunk back to a profile similar to that of the 1930s. In 1989, Vince McMahon was looking to exempt his promotion (the World Wrestling Federation ) from sports licensing fees. To achieve this, he testified before

6162-415: Was something other than what it appeared to be. I'm not sure now the fear was ever justified given the fact that the industry is still in existence today, but the point is no one questioned the need then. "Protecting the business" in the face of criticism and skepticism was the first and most important rule a pro wrestler learned. No matter how aggressive or informed the questioner, you never admitted

6241-417: Was the "world champion". Before the cartels, there were multiple wrestlers in the U.S. simultaneously calling themselves the "world champion", and this sapped public enthusiasm for professional wrestling. Likewise, the cartel could agree on a common set of match rules that the fans could keep track of. The issue over who got to be the champion and who controlled said champion was a major point of contention among

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