Misplaced Pages

#965034

107-561: Most wrestlers in Mexico try to maintain a separation between their professional career and their personal life, which is also true of Antonio Sánchez Rendón, confirming only the most basic details of his life such as birth age and location etc. He was born on September 4, 1954, in Ocotlán de Morelos , Oaxaca , Mexico , and trained for his professional wrestling career under Billy Robinson , Chamaco Azteca and El Carnicero. Sánchez has at least one child,

214-416: A Luchas de Apuestas , or bet match, which forced El Texano to unmask. The storyline expanded and saw the unmasked Misionaros clash with the masked Mosqueteros on UWA promoted cards all over Mexico. The fan reception to those matches and the positive coverage in various Lucha Libre magazines was so big that other promoters around Mexico wanted to book them on their shows, not as individuals but as teams, which

321-469: A tuna ensemble called the "Tuna Universitaria Santo Domingo de Guzman." This group organizes recitals such as the one in December 2009 for Christmas, inviting other tuna ensembles. The ensemble was founded in 1978 with the objective of preserving the music and traditions associated with the musical style and receives funding from Oaxaca state as well as from private sources. The town is intimately linked with

428-418: A Dos Leyendas: El Santo y Salvador Lutteroth show on March 19, 1999. Navarro and El Signo teamed up to represent the "old school" wrestlers of Lutteroth's era and defeated Olímpico and Tony Rivera in the first round of the tournament. In the semi-finals they lost to eventual tournament winners Mr. Niebla and Shocker . El Signo stopped working full-time for CMLL in 1999 or 2000, despite still being part of

535-579: A brief cameo in the Batman '66 comic series, based on the Batman TV series that originally aired in the 1960s. They aid Batman in defeating the evil luchador Bane after Batman cuts Bane off from using Venom to boost his strength. Just over a year after his retirement (in late January 1984), El Santo was a guest on Contrapunto , a Mexican television program and, without warning, removed his mask just enough to expose his face, in effect bidding his fans goodbye. It

642-728: A brother who entered the wrestling business as well, Miguel, who is known as Black Guzmán (due to his dark skin). Accounts vary as to exactly when and where he first wrestled professionally, either in Arena Peralvillo Cozumel on 28 June 1934 or at Deportivo Islas in the Guerrero colony of Mexico City in 1935, but by the second half of the 1930s, he was established as a wrestler, using the names "Rudy Guzmán", "Hombre Rojo" ("the Red Man"), "El Demonio Negro" ("The Black Demon") and "Murciélago Enmascarado II" ("The Masked Bat II"). The last name

749-485: A classroom at the school. Angry parents have protested and sued the school although those involved claimed no pornographic acts were involved. The city can seem like an ordinary and even empty town at first glance. However, because of its geographic location on the south end of the Central Valleys region of Oaxaca, the city is a distribution center for local towns and smaller cities such as Santa Lucía Miahuatlán . It

856-481: A computer center. All activities and resources here are offered free of charge. The house is located just north of the main square and preserves a number of Morales personal effects, including collages. The building is also home to the Fundación Cultural Rodolfo Morales, A. C (Rodolfo Morales Cultural Foundation), which is a private, nonprofit organization which promotes education and culture in

963-473: A court ruled in favor of Axxel, allowing him to again begin working as El Nieto del Santo. In July 2016, another one of El Santo's grandchildren and the son of El Hijo del Santo began working under the name "El Santo Jr." On 23 September 2016, to honor the 99th birthday of El Santo, Google Doodle ran a special El Santo Google doodle for that day. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2018 as part of

1070-429: A dancing procession to bring the bride and groom their wedding gifts to their new home. However, the most important tradition is the weekly Friday market day ( tianguis ), which is one of the oldest and largest in the Central Valleys region of Oaxaca. Produce and products from surrounding towns are available as well as manufactured products. Market day is not just buying and selling for rural and indigenous communities, it

1177-502: A heart attack after a hard blow to the chest. His life was only saved due to the actions of Ramírez who administered CPR at ringside. After the match the Lucha Libre magazinez, prompted by Francisco Flores, played off the real life tragedy by promoting Los Misioneros as the team that nearly killed the biggest name in Lucha Libre ever. The event made the team the most hated trio in Mexico for years to come and helped fill El Torero arena to

SECTION 10

#1733115246966

1284-655: A mythos and background for Santo, as the last of a long line of superheroes. It was an enormous success at the box office. Only four of the 53 Santo films were ever dubbed into English, the other 48 being only available in Spanish. The English-dubbed Mexican films of that time period were imported to the United States through the efforts of K. Gordon Murray who changed the name of Santo to "Samson" for some of his releases. Most of Murray's imported Mexi-films went directly to late-night American TV. Santo's most financially successful film

1391-450: A native of Ocotlán. The city's main attraction is the Temple and Ex-convent of Santo Domingo de Guzmán. The complex was constructed in various stages between the 16th and 19th centuries. The construction of the monastery was halted on several occasions due to the lack of manpower, due to the discovery of mines nearby such as Santa Catarina. The main vault, apse , choir and sacristy of

1498-406: A number of action/adventure films, their rivalry never really ended in later years since Santo always remembered his defeat at Blue Demon's hands. El Santo was known to never remove his mask, even in private company. When traveling on flights, he made sure to take a different flight than his crew to avoid having them see his face when he was required to remove his mask to get through customs. By

1605-555: A regular tag team with Lobo Rubio, and the two hand an extended storyline feud with the team of El Matemático and Black Man that started with the UWA title match and came to an end on January 29, 1978, when Signo and Lobo Rubio lost a tag team Luchas de Apuestas match and both were forced to be shaved bald as a result. In late 1978 El Signo vacated the UWA World Lightweight Championship for unexplained reasons, although

1712-622: A result was forced to unmask and reveal his birth name as per Lucha Libre traditions. While he had unmasked he retained the ring name El Signo and began working for the Universal Wrestling Association (UWA), one of two major wrestling promotions in Mexico (the other being Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre (EMLL)). In the UWA he defeated El Matemático to win the UWA World Lightweight Championship , his first championship ever. During that time period he formed

1819-563: A similar background and age to compete in the tournament for the titles. On July 6, 1996, the team defeated El Brazo, Brazo de Plata and Super Electra in the tournament finals to win the championship. During his time in CMLL he had an occasion to team up with Negro Navarro again, for the Salvador Lutteroth Memorial Tag Tournament held as part of Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL; formerly known as EMLL)'s 1999 Homenaje

1926-440: A son born in 1985 who now wrestled as the enmascarado , or masked character Hijo del Signo , but since he is an enmascarado his birth name is reported on out of respect of lucha libre traditions. It is not documented if he has other children or if he is still married to the mother of Hijo del Signo. Sánchez made his professional wrestling debut on September 16, 1971, a few weeks after turning 17 years old. He began wrestling as

2033-602: A son of El Hijo del Santo) originally wrestled as "El Nieto del Santo" ("The Grandson of Santo"), but now works under the name Axxel. Santo is said to have popularized professional wrestling in Mexico just as Rikidōzan did in Japan. He was buried in his silver mask, in one of the biggest funerals in Mexico. Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre honors him with the annual Leyenda de Plata ("The Silver Legend") tournament. In 2018, WWE inducted Santo into their Hall of Fame 's Legacy wing. The fifth of seven children, Rodolfo Guzmán Huerta

2140-518: A ten-man steel cage match that was the main event of the "El Signo Retirement Show" in Arena Neza. The match saw Halcon Dorado, Jr. lose the match and was forced to unmask. Ocotl%C3%A1n de Morelos Ocotlán de Morelos is a town and municipality in the state of Oaxaca , about 35 km south of the center of the city of Oaxaca along Highway 175. It is part of the Ocotlán District in

2247-401: A trie known as Los Misioneros de la Muerte ("The Missionaries of Death"). They were paired up against another trio of young, lightweight and high flying wrestlers, a trio of brothers dubbed Los Mosqueteros de Diablo (The Devil's Musketeers), Brazo de Oro ("Golden Hand"), Brazo de Plata ("Silver Arm") and El Brazo ("The Arm"). Early on in the storyline Brazo de Oro defeated El Texano in

SECTION 20

#1733115246966

2354-417: Is Angel Aguilar, who is known for making knives, swords, machetes and the like using the same techniques as those used in the 16th century. Aguilar began making blades when he was ten, taught by his father and uncle. He is now teaching the craft to the next generation. As municipal seat, the city of Ocotlán de Morelos is the government authorities for about forty other localities with the most populous outside

2461-540: Is a festive ritual which has been held regularly for thousands of years, attracting both locals and families from small outlying villages to both buy and sell. It is an opportunity for many to socialize with distant neighbors. Market day begins very early for both residents and those who travel to the town to sell. Many products such as plants, flowers, fruit, lime for tortillas, live animals, fabric, ceramics, baskets, knives, saddles, hats, rope, alebrijes , traditional footwear and drinks such as mezcal and tejate. Many of

2568-433: Is also a point of transit for those traveling between the state capital and the coast, a role that will be enforced with the completion of the new modern highway. One reason the area is relatively quiet is that for many years, until recently, its churches, monastery, plazas and gardens lay unkempt against the effects of the sun and time, as well as vandalism. Most of the restoration work was sponsored by artist Rodolfo Morales,

2675-405: Is fronted by a very large atrium fenced by a stone wall. The main facade has two bodies and a crest with both Baroque and Neoclassical elements. The first body contains the door arch and the second is marked by the choir window. Both bodies are flanked by columns with Ionic order capitols. The columns extend up the facade and have profuse vegetative decoration. At the top, there is a shell. In

2782-566: Is ice cream in flavors such as nut, cactus fruit , guanabana , horchata and others. Sweet breads such as "mamones" "rosquitas" "marquezotes" and coconut tortillas are popular as well. Most of the food products are locally made, including chapulines, animal crackers made with piloncillo and ice cream. The eighth campus of the Nova Universitas University, part of the SUNEO system, was inaugurated by Oaxaca governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz in

2889-518: Is immortalized in the rockabilly band Southern Culture on the Skids ' 1996 album Santo Swings!/Viva el Santo . Santo is often resurrected in Southern Culture's live performances when an audience member jumps onstage donning Santo's mask. The Latin ska band King Changó released an album titled The Return of El Santo . Turkish actor Yavuz Selekman portrayed an unlicensed version of Santo in

2996-590: Is known for its red clay pottery, which is often painted in various colors. Octolan is part of a stretch of road on which are a number of crafts towns such as San Bartolo Coyotepec, San Martin Tilcajete, Santo Tomás Jlietza and Santa Ana Zegache. While the men dominate the rug-weaving and woodcarving industries in Oaxaca, the women reign with their pottery. This is true in Ocotlan as well. The best known pottery family in Ocotlan

3103-421: Is planning on letting one of his own sons use the "El Nieto del Santo" name. These days, the grandson of El Santo works as "Axxel" and only uses "El Nieto del Santo" as an unofficial nickname to avoid any legal issues. Axxel uses the same trademark mask, cape and trunk design as El Santo but has incorporated black trim and knee pads, presumably not to infringe on the legal rights of El Hijo del Santo. In August 2012,

3210-549: Is referred to by Mexican rock band Botellita de Jerez in their song El Guacarrock Del Santo, in which they speak of Santo's victories in the ring and in the movies as well as the great respect he was given as a Mexican movie hero. Jeffrey Bell , writer/director of the American television series Angel , has stated that El Santo and his luchador brothers were an inspiration for the show's The Cautionary Tale of Numero Cinco episode. El Santo and several other masked wrestlers make

3317-683: Is the Aguilar. The dynasty begins with potter Isaura Alcantara Diaz, a potter. Isaura learned the traditional pottery making techniques of the Oaxaca Valley, which was mostly limited to making utilitarian items. She began to experiment with figures and more decorative pieces, with some of her pieces making their way into the Rockefeller collection, but died prematurely at the age of 44. Before she died, she taught potting to her children Josefina, Guillermina, Irene, Concepción and Jesús. Due to their mother's death,

El Signo - Misplaced Pages Continue

3424-479: Is the only documented case of Santo removing his mask in public. Santo died at a hospital from a heart attack (during a stage show he was putting on) on 5 February 1984, at 9:40 p.m., a week after his Contrapunto television appearance. He had been complaining of pain in his arm prior to his death. In accordance with his wishes, he was buried wearing his famous silver mask. Around 10 thousand people, including Blue Demon and Mil Mascaras, attended his funeral, which

3531-534: Is why the monastery was eventually founded here. In 1538, the bishopric sent Dominicans to found a parish. The monastery was founded in 1555 and called Santo Domingo de Ocotlán. The official founding of the town by Diego Hernandez Domingo Luis and Juan Vazquez also occurred in 1555. The complex was never finished because the local people also worked in the mines established nearby. By the 18th century, Octolan has eight small neighborhoods including one called Santa María Tocuela (the oldest) and San Juan Chilatece in which

3638-634: The Mexican National Light Heavyweight Championship , Mexican National Middleweight Championship , Mexican National Tag Team Championship with Rayo de Jalisco , Mexican National Welterweight Championship , NWA World Middleweight Championship and the NWA World Welterweight Championship . Early in his career, he worked under a variety of ring names and gimmicks both masked and unmasked, before becoming El Santo, El Enmascarado de Plata ("The Man in

3745-564: The UWA World Trios Championship for the first time, although it is not documented for exactly how long. On January 1, 1985, Negro Navarro won his first singles championship, the UWA World Junior Light Heavyweight Championship , when he defeated the then champion Aníbal . The title run only lasted 50 days, ending on February 25, 1985, when he lost to Mano Negra . In the mid-1980s the "War" between

3852-467: The ceramics making Aguilar family producing some of the best known craftsmen. The name Ocotlan is from Nahuatl and means "among the ocote trees" with the appendage "de Morelos" added in honor of José María Morelos y Pavón . During the colonial period the area was known as Santo Domingo Ocotlán due to the Dominican friars who created a monastery here dedicated to Saint Dominic . The Zapotec name for

3959-491: The enmascarado character "El Signo" ("The Sign"), wearing a mask (most often black) with an upside down question mark on the front of it. Sánchez started his wrestling career in the lighter weight divisions, often in the Lightweight or Welterweight divisions, where the official limits were around 70 kg (150 lb) and 78 kg (172 lb). In 1974 El Signo lost a Luchas de Apuestas , or bet match to Gatúbedo and as

4066-537: The "La Novia del Santo" name, but El Santo took action and put an end to the unauthorized use of the name. In the 1990s, one of El Santo's 25 grandchildren made his professional debut. After gaining some seasoning under different identities, he began working as "El Nieto del Santo" (Spanish for "the Grandson of Santo") during the 2000s. El Hijo del Santo took legal actions to prevent this as he owns all "El Santo" rights when it comes to wrestling, presumably because he himself

4173-409: The 1940s. In Mexican cinemas, audience participation with the films was common. His best-known movie outside of Mexico is also considered one of his best, 1962's Santo contra las mujeres vampiro ("Santo vs. The Vampire Women"), which was also featured in an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 . In this movie, the production values were better, and there was an attempt at creating more of

4280-432: The 1970s, Morales remained in obscurity, teaching art privately and for a UNAM affiliated preparatory school. In the 1970s, his work was discovered by Mexican painter Rufino Tamayo , when Morales was in his 50s. This later work was more surreal than that of the mural he painted when he was younger. From the time of his discovery by Tamayo until 1986, Morales continued to work at the preparatory school even though his work

4387-621: The Mexican National Trios Championship team, leaving the title to be mainly inactive and not highly promoted. El Signo made a special appearance for CMLL on March 3, 2001, on their Juicio Final ("Final Justice") show, losing the Mexican National Trios Championship to Mr. Niebla, Olímpico and Safari . In 2003 El Signo worked a number of matches for AAA, including a match where the original Los Misioneros were reunited for AAA's 2003 Guerra de Titanes show where they defeated El Brazo, Sangre Chicana and Pirata Morgan . In

El Signo - Misplaced Pages Continue

4494-492: The Mexican government asked for his extradition. He is accused of fraud, criminal associated and other offences associated with the social uprisings. Before he left for Canada, Gomez Urrutia was demanding an investigation into the deaths of 65 workers at a coal mine in the area. In 2009, protesters from several communities in the municipality blocked a highway to demand the cancellation of an arrest warrant against residents who opposed

4601-470: The Ocotlan District of the state of Oaxaca. The Foundation realizes restorations, the maintenance and conservation of architectural monuments, paintings and sculptures and trains young people in restoration work. The foundation was created in 1992 by Rodolfo Morales. The Octolan railroad station was built along the old Ferrocarril San Jerónimo to San Pablo Huixtepec line in 1906. In 1909, a second platform

4708-522: The Rodolfo Morales Foundation restored and converted the monastery space into a museum, which contains one room with works by Morales, one room with Oaxaca crafts and one room with artwork from the colonial period. There are also sound and book libraries. In the courtyard where the old pillory is, are held cultural events and photography shoots. The church was also restored by the foundation, but maintains its religious function. The church

4815-532: The Silver Mask"), in 1942. Santo's brothers were also luchadores , with Black Guzmán being the first to make his debut and later Pantera Negra and Jimmy Guzmán joining them in wrestling as well. Only one of his eleven children followed him into professional wrestling, El Hijo del Santo ("The Son of the Saint") making his debut in 1982. El Hijo del Santo's son made his debut as "Santo Jr." in 2016. Another grandson (not

4922-659: The UWA Trios Championship. Negro Navarro won the UWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship from Shu El Guerrero on December 27, 1993, and would hold that title until the promotion closed in 1995. The trio held on to the Trios Championship for 454 days, until May 1, 1993, where they lost them to El Engendro, Shu El Guerrero and Scorpio, Jr. , they regained the championship later that year, on December 25 and held them into 1994 where they lost

5029-567: The UWA and EMLL had cooled off enough for Los Misionerios to actually wrestle on the EMLL 53rd Anniversary Show , losing a trios Luchas de Apuestas to Ringo Mendoza , Américo Rocca and Tony Salazar . Los Misionerios regained the UWA World Trios Championship in 1987 defeating Los Villanos (Villano III, Villano IV and Villano V ), after what was considered the "peak" of Los Misionerios . With an influx of other popular trios both in

5136-467: The UWA and in Mexico in general Los Misioneros days on the top of the Trios scene came to an end, which was followed by the end of Los Missioneros de la Muerte in its original form. During a UWA World Trios Championship match against Los Villanos El Texano threw in the towel to save his partner El Signo any more punishment. After the match and title loss his partners turned on El Texano and attacked him after

5243-416: The UWA relied primarily on their heavyweight division for their main event matches. promoter Francisco Flores wanted to develop his own group of smaller, faster wrestlers into top level competitors and came up with the idea to team El Signo up with two similar sized wrestlers Miguel Calderón Navarro, known as Negro Navarro and Juan Conrado Aguilar Jáuregui, who was working under the name El Texano , forming

5350-478: The Zombies"). Santo was given the starring role with this film, and was shown for the first time as a professional wrestler moonlighting as a superhero. When Santo's film career took off in 1961, the producers of the first two films slyly entered Santo's name into the titles and finally got them released. Santo eventually wound up appearing in 53 luchador films in all (two of which were just cameo appearances). Because

5457-457: The area is "Lachiroo" which means "large valley" although some Zapotecs in the Tlacolula area called it "Guelache" which means "plaza of the valley". The ethnicity of the first populations of this area is not known, but one of the earliest settlements is a site called Tortolita, located two km from the modern town center. When the Spanish arrived, the settlement had about 2,000 inhabitants, which

SECTION 50

#1733115246966

5564-473: The artist and editor José G. Cruz started a Santo comic book, turning Santo into the first and foremost character in Mexican popular literature, his popularity only rivalled in the 1960s by the legendary Kalimán character. The Santo comic book series (four different volumes) ran continuously for 35 years, ending in 1987. Santo also became an animated mini-series on Cartoon Network in Latin America , and

5671-474: The belts back to Engendro, Shu el Guerrero and Scorpio, Jr. Black Power was later replaced by Rocky Santana and that version of Los Misioneros did win the UWA World Trios Championship on two occasions, holding the distinction of being the last team to hold the titles before the UWA closed in 1995. After the end of the UWA Los Misioneros made a few appearances for AAA , UWA's successor of sorts and one of

5778-613: The bootleg Turkish film 3 Dev Adam . This movie is also known in the United States as Captain America and Santo vs. Spider-Man. An unauthorized Santo appeared in three films directed by Lee Demarbre – Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter , Harry Knuckles and the Treasure of the Aztec Mummy , and Harry Knuckles and the Pearl Necklace – in the films, Santo is portrayed by Jeff Moffe. He also

5885-456: The brim when Los Misioneros teamed up with Perro Aguayo to face El Santo, Gory Guerrero , Huracán Ramírez and El Solitario in El Santo's retirement match. Following Santo's retirement Los Misioneros feuded with the top faces (wrestlers portraying "good guy" characters) such as Los Tres Caballero ( Aníbal , El Solitario and Villano III ) both in trios and in individual competition. During

5992-501: The care it deserves as the chambers have been used for storage as well as meetings. This palace was constructed to commemorate the Centennial of Mexican Independence which occurred in 1910, and was completed in 1913. The Rodolfo Morales house is a mansion from the 18th century which he rescued and lived in. Today, the building is a cultural center with an open-air theatre, which can seat 200 people, galleries of work by local artists and

6099-402: The children began working early, with Josefina being only seven. Poverty prevented the children from attending school. Like their mother, they began and mostly made pots and other kitchen utensils but they also worked to develop clay figures. Over time, these siblings became renowned for their fanciful painted clay figures that celebrate everyday life. Today, these siblings still work and much of

6206-529: The church were not finished until 1669. The pillars of the cloister were begun at this time as well, but were never finished. From then until the early 19th century, much of the complex was poorly maintained and fell into ruins. Starting in 1804, the Dominicans worked to rehabilitate the building, with attempts continuing until the complex was appropriated by the federal government during the Reform Laws . Ocotlan

6313-507: The city of Oaxaca by providing alternate routes for current and future traffic. In 2006, the social uprisings that affected much of Oaxaca affected Ocotlán. Much of the social unrest centered around the mines that are located in the municipality and consequences continue to this day. A mining labor leader from the area, Napolean Gomez Urrutia, living in Vancouver, is seeking asylum in Canada after

6420-585: The city. The college focuses on providing educational opportunities to indigenous populations. Professors give classes both in person at the campus and provide distance learning through big screens in remote classrooms with special monitors to allow student-teacher dialogue. The distance learning scheme allows students in Ocotlan to study with professors from other parts of the state and even attend classes offered in foreign countries. The first degrees offered are Computer Science and Agricultural Science. The school also offered adult and remedial education. The city has

6527-417: The current construction of a superhighway linking the city of Oaxaca has been bringing changes to the area. The road called Camino Real a San Juan was recently paved, and event that drew the attendance of the governor of Oaxaca. Other newly paved roads include Calle Industria, Calle Francisco Villa and Calle Ayuntamiento. The new paving is meant to relieve traffic congestion on the roads to Ejutla de Crespo and

SECTION 60

#1733115246966

6634-517: The early 1980s, El Santo slowed down his in-ring activities leading up to his inevitable retirement. His farewell tour was announced for August and September 1982. The first of three events took place on 22 August 1982 at the Palacio de los Deportes in Mexico City. On that night, Santo teamed up with El Solitario to take on Villano III and Rokambole , in a match that naturally saw the legends win. After

6741-435: The films were produced quickly and cheaply, they relied on recycled plot structures and stereotypical characterization. The style of the movies was essentially the same throughout the series, with Santo as a superhero fighting supernatural creatures, evil scientists, various criminals, secret agents and so on. The tones were reminiscent of U.S. B-movies and TV shows, perhaps most similar to the old Republic Pictures serials of

6848-420: The following years El Signo primarily worked on the Mexican independent circuit, wrestling other wrestlers who were considered "Old School", wrestlers who made their debut in the mid-1980s or before. He had a number of matches against Villano III, including at least two occasions where he lost a Luchas de Apuestas against him. El Signo had his last professional wrestling match on May 1, 2010, as he participated in

6955-400: The hero. In 1958, Fernando Osés, a wrestler and actor, invited Santo to work in movies, and although Santo was unwilling to give up his wrestling career, he accepted, planning to do both at the same time. Osés was planning on playing the hero (a masked cop named "El Incognito") in these two films, with Santo appearing as his costumed sidekick, "El Enmascarado". Osés and Enrique Zambrano wrote

7062-614: The interior is the Chapel of the Senor de la Sacristia, which is decorated in Neoclassical style. In both the church and the chapel are found a large number of colonial-era santos (statues of saints), many executed in fine polychrome and well preserved. The municipal palace has a sober Neoclassic facade built with pink stone, with columns and pediments. The main feature are the arches which rest on columns with rectangular bases, forming portals. It

7169-416: The legend of Santo, he won his last match and retired as the hero he always portrayed in the ring and on the screen. His retirement tour was also used to introduce Santo's son Jorge as the next generation El Santo, as he was ringside at each show wearing the silver mask and being introduced as El Hijo del Santo . In 1952, a superhero motion picture serial was made entitled The Man in the Silver Mask , which

7276-464: The legend of the Silver Mask, wrestling as El Hijo del Santo wearing the silver mask, cape and outfit that is very close to what his father used to wear. While El Hijo del Santo is not as big an icon as his father, he is considered a more technically proficient wrestler. In the early 1960s, a female wrestler called "La Novia del Santo" (Spanish for "the Bride of El Santo") worked the Mexican circuit. Under

7383-501: The life of painter Rodolfo Morales. He has depicted it in his works and has worked to save many of its historic and architectural treasures. The artist's work is devoted to images from this hometown, including local churches, indigenous women, religious procession and others. Art critic Julio Cesar Schara states that Ocotlan is a down without grace or major heroes but Morales reinvented the area with his own imagination, painting Neoclassic palaces, angels, fairies to express how he felt about

7490-537: The market was founded. During the Mexican War of Independence, Morelos camped here for three days on his way to Acapulco. Ocotlan was officially declared a town in 1875. In 1916, forces loyal to Venustiano Carranza successfully defended the town from an attack led by General Macario Hernandez. Ocotlan was officially declared a city in 1926. Since the Mexican Revolution , the city has been mostly quiet but

7597-702: The match, Villano and Rokambole lifted Santo up on their shoulders as he received the adulation of the sold-out arena. The following Sunday, Santo appeared at Arena México , where he teamed up with Gran Hamada to defeat Villano I and Scorpio. Santo's last match took place on 12 September 1982, a week before his 65th birthday. In his last ever match, Santo teamed up with Gory Guerrero who came out of retirement to reform "La Pareja Atómica" as they teamed up with Huracán Ramírez and El Solitario. Their opponents included one of Santo's biggest rivals in Perro Aguayo , as well as El Signo , Negro Navarro and El Texano . True to

7704-535: The match. The attack was done primarily to write El Texano out of the UWA storyline as he had given notice that he was leaving. UWA Promoter Francisco Flores decided to try to keep the Los Misioneros de la Muerte team active even after the departure of El Texano and experimented with a number of different partners for Navarro and El Signo. Teaming with the masked wrestler Black Power Los Misioneros defeated Los Villanos ( Villano I , Villano IV and Villano V) to win

7811-465: The most common match type in Lucha Libre since then. In 1981 the Los Misioneros de la Muerte name became a household name after a match in El Toreo de Quatro Caminos , UWA's main venue. During the main event Los Misioneros faced off against then 64-year-old El Santo , who was teaming up with Huracán Ramírez and Rayo de Jalisco . During the match El Santo collapsed in the middle of the ring, suffering

7918-605: The most likely being that he moved up into the Welterweight division and was too heavy to be considered a Lightweight. On June 24, 1979, El Signo won the UWA World Welterweight Championship from Bobby Lee , fully establishing him as a Welterweight wrestler. In the late 1970s the UWA promoters were noticing that rival EMLL had achieved financial and critical success with their lighter divisions, often having Lightweights or Welterweights in their main events while

8025-574: The mountain region located to the east and Santa Catarina Minas and San Miguel Tilquiapam to the west. The main surface water is the Ocotlan River, which is a tributary of the Atoyac. Other rivers include the Chilana, Santa Rosa, Rio Grande, Riod Chichicapan, San Pablo, Taviche, Atoyac, Guanibay, Rio Bravo, La Garzona, Del Panteon and Paraiso. In addition there are intermittent streams that principally flow during

8132-682: The operation of a mine and demand talks to close the La Trinidad mine. The mine belongs to a Mexican-Canadian company called Cuxcatlan. Protesters claim the mine is polluting their lands. The protesters were supported by Section 22 of the SNTE and APPO . An unrelated controversy in 2008 involved child pornography charges against the Colegio Guadalupe school. Implicated are several parents and photographer Norberto Dionisio Martinez. The photographs in question involved partially nude women, men and children in

8239-448: The place. One of his last works called "Mercados" depicts market scenes from the town painted on columns. Rodolfo Morales’ career as an artist developed in fits and starts. In the 1950s, Morales was commissioned to do the mural work in the municipal palace of Ocotlan, painting it with historical and current scenes related to the municipality. Much of this mural work shows similarities to mural work done by Diego Rivera. From that time to

8346-976: The population is involved in agriculture (23%), crafts and manufacturing (28%) and commerce (45%). One major crop is the castor oil plant , along with corn, beans and various fruit trees. Livestock includes cattle, pigs, goats and domestic fowl. There is a processing plant which makes vegetable oil, with mezcal and dairy products produced in small workshops. Crafts include textiles and ceramics. Most working in commerce has small family businesses. The municipality of Ocotlan de Morelos has 8 municipal agencies of Buenavista, Praxedis de Guerrero, Texas De Morelos , San Cristóbal Ixcatlán, San Felipe Apóstol, San Jacinto Chilateca , San Jacinto Ocotlán, and San Pedro Guegorexe. also has 5 Police Agencies. El Santo Mid 20th Century 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s Rodolfo Guzmán Huerta (23 September 1917 – 5 February 1984), best known by his ring name El Santo ( English : "The Saint"),

8453-529: The products are the crafts produced by other towns in the Central Valleys region of Oaxaca, such as textiles of Jalietza , and San Antonino Castillo Velasco and the alebrijes of San Martín Tilcajete . Prepared regional specialties are also offered here and the adjacent permanent municipal market. Some of the traditional foods here include several types of mole (negro, rojo, Amarillo, coloradito and more), chichilo, tasajo , tamales in banana leaves and tacos with chapulines (fried grasshoppers). Another favorite

8560-480: The rainy season. The climate is temperate with some variation in temperature during the year and a moderate rainy season in the summer and early autumn. Most of the municipality's flora and fauna has been disturbed by man, with flat areas converted into farmland or settlements. Forests of pine and ocote still exist in the higher elevations. There are deposits of gold, silver, iron, coal, lead, copper, zinc, antimony , titanium , asbestos and other minerals. Most of

8667-467: The restoration work in the monastery and church were done by Morales himself, including feminizing the angels and making the faces more solemn. While Morales is Ocotlán's best known creative mind, the town has been associated with crafts for generations. Some of the crafts still practiced here include basketry, textiles in the form of rebozos and other traditional clothing embroidered in silk thread, blade making, saddlemaking and miniatures in lead. The town

8774-688: The scripts for the first two movies, Santo contra el cerebro del mal ("Santo vs. the Evil Brain") and Santo contra hombres infernales ("Santo vs. the Infernal Men"), both made in 1958, and directed by Joselito Rodríguez. Filming was done in Cuba , and ended just the day before Fidel Castro entered Havana and declared the victory of the revolution. The films apparently could not find a distributor for several years. Santo's film career really took off in 1961 with his third movie Santo Contra los Zombies ("Santo vs.

8881-725: The seat being Praxedis de Guerrero (1530), San Pedro Guegorexe (813) and Tejas de Morelos (688). However, over seventy percent of the municipality's population of 19,581 lives in the city proper. The municipality borders the municipalities of Santa Ana Zegache , San Martín Tilcajete , San Juan Chilateca , San Antonino Castillo Velasco , Santiago Apóstol , Ejutla de Crespo , Santa Catarina Minas , San Dionisio Ocotlán , San Pedro Mártir , Asunción Ocotlán , San Pedro Apóstol , Magdalena Ocotlán , Santa Inés Yatzeche and Santa Gertrudis . The territory's geography varies from mountains to flat valley area with some rolling hills. Principle elevations include Yavitise, and Guevexco which are part of

8988-500: The silver mask was Irma González , a well-known wrestler who had promised her fiancé that she would stop wrestling, but went back in the ring under a mask when she could not resist the draw of competition. La Novia got El Santo's blessing to use the name and is the only non-family member ever given the right to use the Santo name. Gonzáles only wrestled as "La Novia del Santo" for 7 months until she got married. Later on, another wrestler adopted

9095-555: The south of the Valles Centrales Region . The area was a significant population center at the time of the Spanish Conquest , and for that reason an important Dominican monastery was established here in the 16th century. The complex still exists, with the church still being used for worship and the cloister area used as a museum. While mostly quiet, the city is an important distribution and transportation center for

9202-480: The south of the Central Valleys region of Oaxaca, a function which is expected to be reinforced with the opening of new highway being built to connect the city of Oaxaca with the Pacific coast. The city is known for artist Rodolfo Morales , who painted aspects of his hometown in his works and sponsored projects to save and restore historic monuments here. For generations the municipality has been known for its crafts, with

9309-502: The storyline El Solitario turned on his two partners, when he attacked El Signo with a bottle and costing Los Tres Caballeros an important match. The attack made the smaller Los Misioneros more sympathetic to the crowd, who began to support them more and more despite Los Misioneros being booked on the shows as heel characters ("bad guys"). On June 10, 1983, El Signo won the UWA World Junior Light Heavyweight Championship from El Solitario as part of their long running storyline, marking

9416-420: The third division El Signo had won the UWA title in. He would later be stripped of the title for making an unsanctioned title defense on a non-UWA show. Their popularity as a trio also led to them being invited to tour Japan , facing off against New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) light weight wrestlers such as Gran Hamada , Tiger Mask , George Takano , Akira Maeda and Osamu Kido . In 1984 Los Misioneros won

9523-450: The third generation are craftsmen as well. Some, such as Demetrio Garcia Aguilar, are making a name for themselves as well. Josefina Aguilar has been noted for her ceramic work since 1977 when she won the third Premio Nacional de Arte (National Art Prize) in 1977. Later, she would win statewide and other nationwide honors and would show her work internationally in places such as the United States and Europe, and her work can be found around

9630-530: The two biggest wrestling promotions in Mexico along with CMLL. The appearances included a match at Triplemanía III-A where a version of Los Misioneros (Navarro, Signo and a masked wrestler called "Misionero") defeated the team of El Torero , El Mexicano and Dragón de Oro . After the closure of the UWA in 1995 Negro Navarro and El Signo split up, going their separate ways on the Independent circuit, only teaming together for special occasions. Signo joined AAA and

9737-419: The world. Guillermina Aguilar Alcantara is known for her nativity scenes, wedding scenes, candle sticks and other works done in clay. She and her sister Irene have also won a number of awards and has exported her wares to over a dozen countries. Much of this exporting success was due to a grant by Fomento Cultural Banamex which allowed the family operation to purchase shipping equipment. Another known craftsman

9844-649: Was The Mummies of Guanajuato (1970), which co-starred Blue Demon and Mil Máscaras . The Santo film series inspired the production of similar series of movies starring other well-known luchadores such as Blue Demon, Mil Mascaras, Superzan, and the Wrestling Women (a.k.a. Las Luchadoras ), among others. Santo even co-starred with Blue Demon and Máscaras in several of his movies. Blue Demon invited Santo to co-star with him and Máscaras in Los Campeones Justicieros ("The Champions of Justice"), however, Santo

9951-674: Was a Mexican luchador enmascarado (or masked professional wrestler ), actor and folk hero . He is one of the most famous and iconic Mexican luchadores , and has been referred to as one of "the greatest legends in Mexican sports". His wrestling career spanned nearly five decades, during which he became a folk hero and a symbol of justice for the common man through his appearances in luchador films and comic books telling fictionalized stories of El Santo fighting for justice. He starred or co-starred in at least 53 movies between 1958 and 1982. During his career, he mainly wrestled for Mexican promotion Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre , where he won

10058-530: Was among the largest in the history of Mexico. He was entombed at a crypt on the Mausoleos del Ángel cemetery in Mexico City . It reportedly took hours for Santo's coffin to make it from the funeral parlour into the hearse. After his death, a statue of El Santo was erected in his home town of Tulancingo and other statues have been created since then. Santo's youngest son with his first wife, Jorge carries on

10165-460: Was being sold in Europe, Mexico and the United States. In 1986, Morales retired from teaching to paint full-time. The production from this time period brought him fame and fortune, allowing him to sponsor civic projects in his hometown. In 1992, he established the Rodolfo Morales Foundation dedicated to fomenting the culture of Oaxaca and supporting the youth of Ocotlan. The artist died in 2001. Much of

10272-541: Was born on 23 September 1917, in Tulancingo , Hidalgo , son of Jesús Guzmán Campuzano and Josefina Huerta (Márquez) de Guzmán. Rodolfo's family came to Mexico City in the 1920s, where they settled in the Tepito neighborhood. He practiced baseball and American football, and then became interested in various styles of wrestling and grappling . He first studied Ju-Jitsu and then later competed in amateur wrestling . Rodolfo has

10379-544: Was built. A number of important traditions are maintained in the community. The feast of the Virgin of Ocotlán is celebrated on 15 May. Most of the festivities take place on the main square of the town with live music and regional food, especially tamales and atole . The feast of the Señor de la Sacristia is celebrated on the third Sunday in May. One old tradition that is still maintained is

10486-487: Was called Santo Contra Los Clones . On 27 October 2004, Cartoon Network released an only season of 5 short episodes. Each episode is about 2 minutes long, and they were shown weekly on Wednesday nights at 8:00 PM. El Santo also inspired the Flash animated series ¡Mucha Lucha! and El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera . In ¡Mucha Lucha! he's called "El Rey", and is represented as an icon of all positive things. Santo

10593-403: Was designed to be a focus point for social interaction. The main feature of the interior is the mural work done in the council chambers by Rodolfo Morales in the 1950s, when he was a young man. The mural work depicts scenes from the history of Ocotlán as well as landscapes and representative scenes such as the municipality markets , mining and agriculture. Unfortunately, this work does not receive

10700-593: Was given a new ring character, a masked heel character called "Piromaniaco" ( Pyromaniac ) but he only made a few appearances under that name before reverting to his unmasked El Signo identity. In 1996 El Signo began working for Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL; previously known as EMLL) during a time where CMLL were given the rights to the Mexican National Trios Championship by the Mexican boxing and wrestling commission. El Signo teamed up with Blue Panther and Fuerza Guerrera , two wrestlers with

10807-496: Was in 1952, when he fought a tag-team known as Los Hermanos Shadow (which consisted of famed luchadors Blue Demon and the Black Shadow ). Santo beat and unmasked Black Shadow in the ring, which triggered Blue Demon's decision to become a técnico , as well as a legendary feud between Santo and Blue Demon that culminated in his defeat in a well-publicized series of matches in 1952 and again in 1953. Although they appeared together in

10914-422: Was one of the last towns in Oaxaca to still have friars in residence in the 19th century but by 1855, the last one had left. By 1885, the monastery area was completely abandoned, but the church was still functioning and remaining in relatively good condition. After it was no longer used as a monastery, the complex has several uses, including that of a prison, where inmates made crafts. In the latter 20th century,

11021-519: Was putting together a new team of wrestlers, all dressed in silver, and wanted him to be a part of it. Lomelí suggested three names, "El Santo" ("The Saint"), "El Diablo" ("The Devil") or "El Angel" ("The Angel"), and Guzmán chose the first one. On 26 July, aged 24, he wrestled at the Arena México for the first time as El Santo, although he later was known simply as "Santo". Under this new name he quickly found his style. One of Santo's greatest matches

11128-413: Was supposed to star Santo, but he declined to appear in it, because he thought it would fail commercially. The film was made instead with well-known luchador El Médico Asesino in the lead role, wearing a white mask similar to Santo's silver one. A villain named "The Silver-Masked Man" was introduced into the plot at the last minute, thus the title of the film strangely became a reference to the villain, not

11235-522: Was the same as that of El Murciélago Enmascarado ("The Masked Bat"), and after an appeal by Murciélago to the Mexican boxing and wrestling commission, the regulatory body ruled that Guzmán could not use the name. In the early 1940s, Guzmán married María de los Ángeles Rodríguez Montaño (Maruca), a union that would produce eleven children; including his youngest child Jorge, who also became a famous wrestler in his own right, El Hijo del Santo ("The Son of Santo"). In 1942, Guzmán's manager, Don Jesús Lomelí,

11342-413: Was the start of the trios match becoming more and more prominent in Lucha Libre. With the team being so in demand UWA started to feature Los Misioneros more often that by 1981 Los Misioneros began working high on the card, often working the main event match starting a trend of having trios matches instead of singles matches as the regular main event match format, something that helped make that match format

11449-615: Was too busy making other films to participate. By 1977, the masked wrestler film craze had practically died off, but Santo continued to appear in more films over the next few years. His last film was Fury of the Karate Experts , shot in Florida in 1982, the same year he retired from the ring. Seventeen years after Santo's death, his real-life son played the lead role in a brand new Santo movie called Infraterrestre ("Inner Earth"), which co-starred Mexican wrestler Blue Panther . In 1952,

#965034