The last time Cassandro was about to die was for an attempt to suicide: the pressure to face the Son of the Saint (Mexico City, 60 years) in a championship led him to make that decision. He wanted to absent. The abuse of years and discrimination had an effect on the exotic. Since then, he was world champion, once the prison was stomped and recovered from addictions. For Saúl Armendáriz, (El Paso, 53 years) his true name when he is not in the ring, ibuprofen and a can of Red Bull prior to the fight is a routine that accompanied him during the last decades.
The origin of the exotic
In the folklore of wrestling in Mexico, the so -called exotic date from the forties. At that time and even half of the twentieth century, these characters were treated as jesters and vulgar in the quadrilateral, in addition to being discriminated against by their rivals under the premise of being associated with homosexuality.
On this same route, there are some fighters who leave the heteronormativity mold and transgress the male models of Mexican society. These characters, within the luchistic jargon, are known as exotic. “They are a group of gladiators who have been associated with the homosexual and that, over time, have built an identity that today questions the origin of the term,” explain the researchers Leonardo Bastida Aguilar and Ariel Cruz Ortega in the article “The exotic: diverse fighters under construction”, published in the Magazine of Sexual Anthropology Studies.
The characteristics of these characters have been built by times. The former possessed an image similar to that of a dandi, who looked over his shoulder and enjoyed refined tastes. In this circuit there are two key figures: the first, Gardenia Davis (Texas, 90 years) that, when climbing at the ring, was sprayed of perfume and combed by his assistant, in addition to carrying bats with a zebra print; The second was Gorgeous George (Nebraska, 48 years old) who wore leather costumes and also sprinkled with Chanel in front of the public prior to fighting.
In each function, the exotic ones had a role to play during the three falls of the exhibition and nothing more; However, this changed in Mexico with the arrival of Rudy Reyna (San Luis Potosí, 69 years old). “Andrés Rodolfo Reyna Torres was his name and stood out from the rude, but not only did it for his fierceness above the ring, but because he publicly assumed his homosexuality, becoming the first really homosexual exotic,” they tell Bastida and Cruz in the aforementioned article. The Potosino, who died in April 2015, was nicknamed as The Mom of the Exoticsbecause during the 1990s he supported national fighters such as Pimpinela Scarlet, Mayflowers and Cassandro.
“Cassandro's work dignifies it. In the national context he has achieved spaces and accept his diversity quite well, unlike the middle of the last century. Very different from football, where almost no player says or demonstrates his sexual preferences openly,” details the researcher in wrestling and doctor of political sciences by UNAM, José Ángel Garfias.
Roman Mister, Wild Rose and Cassandro
Saúl Armendáriz's life is not understood without wrestling. He was born in the United States and his taste for this sport began since he was little when he saw the films of El Santo. There the curiosity arose. With 16 years, when he was still studying at the American Union, he dedicated himself to a short career for his mother's instruction. In his words, at age 17 he was received as a medical assistant administrator to get a job. During his adolescence, in a coming and going on the border, he attended the Municipal Gymnasium of Ciudad Juárez. At that time his teacher was Víctor Ojeda and, from that moment, his height of 1.60 centimeters was not an impediment to leave the quadrilateral.
In 1988, when he turned 18, he debuted as a fighter with the name of Roman Mr.but something did not fit. I used a mask, for fear of what they will say, although I felt it was not him. He decided to leave the masked subject and that name behind.
“When I started fighting, they put a mask. My teacher was King Mystery Mr. They put me a Romano to take the fear of the people, but I did not feel comfortable. I did not have the freedom to let me be what I am really until now. Experiences With the Son of the Saint, in July 2011.
A year later, by 1989, his name was another: wild pink. He was named as exotic, because there was a Mexican soap opera star by actress Verónica Castro and Guillermo Capetillo. But he didn't convince him, he was looking for something authentic.
“I wanted an original name, but not vulgar and current, or fall into that aspect with the morbid of wrestling. Then I came in 89 as Cassandro, which is neither a lady or man. I wanted of the Mexican legend. This joins the anecdote of a brothel in Ciudad Juárez who carried the same name and inspired his decision.
Of the World Championship to the Third Fall
Almost a year and a half of his debut, the native of El Paso had a chance: face the Son of the Saint, descendant of the Mexican legend of the pancracio. But the wind blew against. Businessmen, followers and even the Box and Lucha Commission did not see it with good eyes. In addition to this episode, and memories of sexual abuse in childhood, Cassandro tried to commit suicide a week after the meeting.
After the attempt of suicide and against all prognosis, he was helped. The meeting was held on Sunday, January 28, 1990 at the Sand Track Revolution – then Federal District– and the function was nominated as one of the best of the year. From that moment on, his career catapulted. In November 1992, he was crowned worldwide lightweight champion by the Universal Fight Association (UWA) and became the first exotic worldwide that achieved it.
Not everything was success for Cassandro. Five years later, his life took a turn: his mother died and plunged into alcohol and addictions. He came to sleep in the streets of Ciudad Juárez and in the courtyard of his friends, charged up to five pesos per function and even stepped on the jail. “Money and fame hurt me a lot and fell into drugs; (I had) a spiritual awakening and, if it were not for that, I would have already died,” he would remember years later, he also admitted to the Hall of Fame of the Triple AAA in Mexico.
Among his achievements, the quadrilateral professional also stands out for an exhibition at the Louvre Museum, in Paris, and a rematch against the Son of the Saint in 2007, where he lost his hair. “Saul wants to save me, but Cassandro wants to kill me,” he said five years ago to El País, when a documentary about his life was released.
When and where Cassandro movie, with Gael García and Bad Bunny, opens?
The stellarized film by Mexican actor Gael García, where the reggaeton Bad Bunny also participates, premiered this Wednesday, September 20 on the Amazon Prime Video platform in Mexico. The film, directed by Roger Ross Williams and written with David Teague, lasts one hour and 47 minutes. The cast also participated by Mexican Joaquín Cosío, as well as Rául Castillo, Roberta Colindrez and Perla de la Rosa.
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