Salvador Lutteroth

Salvador Lutteroth (born Salvador Lutteroth Gonzales) was a Mexican professional wrestling promoter of the mid-twentieth century. Lutteroth's promotion, Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre (EMLL), was the dominant Mexican promotion since its founding in 1933, until Lutteroth left the company in the 1970s. Under its current name of Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), it is, as of 2007, the longest running active professional wrestling promotion in the world. Lutteroth was known as the "father of "lucha libre"," and, in his position as promoter and booker of the dominant promotion, was the most powerful man in Mexican wrestling, and one of the most powerful wrestling executives in the world. He was, in large part, responsible for the widespread fame of the most famous Mexican professional wrestlers of the mid-twentieth century, including Santo and Gory Guerrero.

Early life

Don Salvador Lutteroth Gonzalez was born on March 21, 1897 in Colotlan, Jalisco, though he soon moved to Mexico City, where he went to agriculture school. At age 17, Lutteroth joined the Mexican Revolution, and served as a colonel, lieutenant, and captain while battling against the forces of the infamous Pancho Villa, among others. By 1923, he had been promoted to First Captain, but after getting married in 1924, he left the military and soon took a job in the Tax Department as a property inspector. By 1929, Salvador Lutteroth had relocated to the United States, where he was first exposed to the sport of professional wrestling. While in El Paso, Texas, he began regularly attending matches at Liberty Hall, where he became enamored with the personalities of the various competitors, most notably the Greek star, Gus Pappas.

Wrestling career

Salvador Lutteroth then decided to bring this entertaining sport back to his native Mexico; and in 1933, he chartered his new company, Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre (EMLL), along with his financial partner Francisco Ahumada. After unsuccessfully convincing boxing promoters to let him use the premier National Arena, Lutteroth instead rented out the smaller Modelo Arena, which had been scheduled for destruction but instead became the first true home of Lucha Libre. Fans soon began to catch on to the idea of professional wrestling in Mexico; and by the first anniversary of the EMLL, Lutteroth was promoting to gates upwards of 5,000 fans. In 1934, an American wrestler debuted in Mexico under a black, leather mask, and Lutteroth dubbed him El Enmascarado ("The Masked Man”). Soon after, Lutteroth incorporated the use of other masked wrestlers into Lucha Libre, creating real-life super heroes and villains for the audience to identify with. The idea was a huge success and thus, the modern era of Mexican wrestling was born. It was also around this time that Salvador Lutteroth would discover his first legitimate superstar, the masked icon El Santo, who is generally regarded as the greatest Mexican wrestler of all-time.

As his fan base continued to grow, Lutteroth and his partners eventually moved to larger and more profitable venues. Through an amazing stroke of luck, Lutteroth then won 40,000 pesos in the Mexican lottery on September 21, 1934, and he immediately poured his winnings (which equates to $3,500 in today’s money, but about $40,000 in relative 1934 terms) into building a new arena for his promotion. By the mid-1950’s, the fan base grew so big that Lutteroth constructed the new Arena Mexico, which opened with a capacity for nearly 18,000 seats. As television surfaced as a viable entertainment medium during the 1950’s, Lutteroth was then able to broadcast his wrestling across the nation, subsequently yielding a popularity explosion for the sport. Moreover, it was the emergence of television that allowed Lutteroth to promote Lucha Libre’s first breakout superstar, El Santo, into a national pop-culture phenomenon.

The El Santo persona debuted in the early 1940’s as a rudo (heel), and initially engaged in a heated feud with Lutteroth’s top babyface, Tarzán López. However, the Mexican fanbase was so enamored with the mystique and the secrecy of his identity that El Santo soon became the company’s most popular performer. In addition, Lutteroth insisted that El Santo’s face remain covered by a mask at all times, even when he was not performing in the ring. Consequently, Lutteroth transformed El Santo into a mega-babyface; and for the next three decades, he would serve as the preeminent face of EMLL while he also acted in scores of action-adventure motion picture films, which were hugely popular at the time. As a result, El Santo quickly grew into one of Mexico’s most popular national celebrities of the 20th century, while the sport of Lucha Libre thus received an unparalleled degree of mainstream attention. Following the mammoth success of El Santo, Lutteroth then frequently pushed additional masked superstar characters, such as the Black Shadow, the Blue Demon, Mil Mascaras, and the Villano’s (among others); and to this day, Lucha Libre remains associated with high-flying masked superstars, with Rey Mysterio Jr., Psicosis, Silver King, and La Parka representing the latest generation of masked luchadores.

Throughout the 1950s, '60s, and '70s, Salvador Lutteroth continued to serve as Lucha Libre’s most powerful promoter while steering the dominant EMLL organization. In addition his stable of enmascerados, Lutteroth also built a roster of legendary performers, including the likes of Gory Guerrero, Cavernario Galindo, Jose Lothario, Perro Aguayo, and others, while holding a virtual monopoly on the country’s wrestling landscape. Moreover, EMLL achieved international recognition for presenting a distinctive in-ring wrestling style that featured dazzling high-risk maneuvers and superior workrate in contrast to the increased brawling style that was employed in the U.S. Consequently, Mexican Lucha Libre (along with Japanese Puroresu) eventually gained world renown as a significant foreign alternative to American-style pro wrestling.

Later Years

However, by the mid-1970’s, an aging Lutteroth began to cede control of the EMLL to his son Chavo, who did not command the same level of respect from the wrestlers. As a result, on January 16, 1975, NWA Light Heavyweight Champion Rey Mendoza broke away from the new EMLL management, and with the backing of arena promoters Francisco Flores and Benjamin Mora Jr., started a competing federation known as Lucha Libre Internacional, S. C., which has since become known as the Universal Wrestling Association(and the eventual home of longtime champion El Canek). Salvador Lutteroth died several years later; and his nephew Paco Alonso has since taken control of EMLL, which remains the world’s oldest wrestling federation while continuing to compete with the UWA and Antonio Pena’s AAA promotion. With its fast-paced, athletic style, Lucha Libre is now entrenched among Mexico’s top attractions, ranking with soccer and baseball as its most popular pastimes. Moreover, in recent years, Mexican stars like Eddie Guerrero, Rey Mysterio Jr., Konnan, and Vampiro have also been top draws in the U.S. as well.

Championships and accomplishments

*Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards
**Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 1996)