On Saturday, August 17, 2013, I had the honor of wrestling at the third annual Lucha Libre event in South Park, WA.  This was my second big show, and my first time performing in South Park.

A retrospective tangent: What was I doing last year at this time? Thinking back to the weeks before last year’s Lucha Libre in the Calle, I was anxiously awaiting the arrival of my first mask and set of gear from Mexico. Alas, the delivery came too late to make my official debut during the summer show. Since I only had about 8 months of training at that point, I admit I was simultaneously relieved and disappointed. There was nothing for it but to train, train, and train some more for the next big show: Lucha de Sound II.  More on that later.

This year in South Park my tag team partner, Rey Jaguar, and I were pitted against El Chicano and Faviola Astral. El Viento and I defeated Chicano and Faviola last March in a whirlwind of sparkly lycra. This time with Rey Jaguar, well, not so much. We came, we saw, we… almost conquered.

Despite the outcome of my match, I do have to say that the show as a whole was a rousing success. I’ve never seen the Duwamish River Park so full of people, and I’ve never autographed so many souvenir masks, shirts, pieces of paper, and whatever else excited children could find to shove into my hands. What’s more, I had the enormous honor of cornering for my good friend El Fénix as he won the champion match against Hero.

Aside from being my first performance in Sough Park and cornering for the new Pacific Northwest Lucha Libre Champion, that Saturday evening marks another exciting experience for me. After I came off the ring, a guy by the name of Jeff came up to me and said he was creating a piece for a 24-hour radio contest; did I have a moment to talk with him? Of course I did! Considering lucha libre isn’t too terribly common of a sport in the United States, I never pass up an opportunity to talk to people who want to know about the sport. After a few minutes of recorded conversation- frequently interrupted by yet more children requesting photos and autographs with me- he figured he had enough material and went on his merry way. A few days later, Jeff sent me a link to the fruits of his labor, a piece entitled “The Near Destruction of Rey Jaguar,” which you can listen to here.

At the time of writing, “The Near Destruction of Rey Jaguar” is a top-ten finalist for the 24-Hour Radio Race. I’m excited I was able to be a part of the project, and perhaps more excited that a radio piece featuring Lucha Libre Volcánica is being heard by interested folks around the country and possibly the world.

If you missed the show, here is a link to a pretty comprehensive photo set by Scott Foster. You can also check out some short video clips courtesy of El Fénix here.