Customer Reviews

Mondo Lucha A Go-Go: The Bizarre and Honorable World of Wild Mexican Wrestling (Spanish Edition)

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If you're a fan of lucha libre (particularly the glory days of Santo, Blue Demon and Mil Mascaras), it's hard to go wrong with this book. There are several high-quality reproductions of lobby cards and movie posters from the 1950s through the 1970s as well as a generous assortment of full-page photographs. Many of the photos were taken specifically for this book. You'll also find profiles of the Guerrero family, various other wrestling families, and some of the most heartfelt and sincere text ever written about the sport of professional wrestling. Kurt Angle's introduction is one of the best I've ever read in any sports book, period.

What's missing? The recent rise in strong, popular female wrestlers such as Dark Angel and Lady Apache, for starters. And if only the book had a sort of appendix listing the title-holders for CMLL and AAA and the lengths of their reigns!

That said, this is as perfect a book about lucha libre as you could ask for otherwise and unlike some treatments of the subject this is a book written from the perspective of someone who isn't trying to create an ironic quasi-anthropological treatment. This is written by someone who genuinely loves not only the sport of lucha libre, but its pop-culture spinoffs and its loyal fandom. This is well-worth your money!

A must-have for any fan of Lucha Libre. Madigan's book is more that a thorough history of Lucha, it's also a classy love letter from a true fan of the sport-enterprise. And it's coffee table book quality. In fact it is our coffee table book!
Daniel Boyd

Mondo Lucha A Go-Go is a wildly imaginative, beautifully written and vastly insightful look into the world of Mexican wrestling. It's not easy to chronicle the bizarre. Dan Madigan must have spent years in the trenches to come up with so many vivid portraits and compelling details. I love the word "honorable" in the title. That's Madigan's point-of-view, and it's what makes this book so special. This is exactly what I want a book of this kind to be.

This book is excellent. It goes beyond talking about the Big three Luchadors Mils Mascaras, El Santo, and Blue Demon. It talks about El Muricelago, The Guerreros, La Parka, White Angel, Dr. Wagner and others. It gives you insight on the culture of Mexico and Lucha Libre as well. Beautiful photos are in the book some are very rare. This is a must for any wrestling fan. BUY IT!!!!!!

A lot of people might pick up this book with tongue planted firmly in cheek -- chuckling at the silly, pop culture nonsense of Mexican wrestling. But this book is not a joke and it's not about wrestling. It's about culture, history, society, entertainment, myth, etc. It's about the genuine love fans have for wrestling and what it means to them.

It's throughly researched and written with genuine enthusiasm - which is an amazing achievement when you consider its author is legally illiterate and often unable to wash himself properly.

Buy it and you'll see that this book and all of Mexican wrestling is no joke.

No se dejen por el titulo simplón. Este libro es una obra de auténtico amor hacia la lucha libre mexicana y sobre todos a los luchadores enmascarados. Excelentemente escrita, amena y documentada, y una presentación formidable, llena de imagenes a color y blanco y negro de alta calidad y fascinantes sobre el mundo de la lucha libre desde sus humildes origenes hasta la actualidad. Pone especial énfasis en las leyendas de EL SANTO, BLUE DEMON, MIL MASCARAS y otros. El autor demuestra estar muy enterado sobre este mundillo. Y particularmente me gustó el capitulo dedicado a las peliculas de Luchas, que es un tema muy dificilmente tratado.Este libro es altamente recomendado tanto para el iniciado como para el neótifo. Y da ganas de leerlo varias veces. Muy recomendable. Desconozco si es que hubiese alguna edición en castellano, pues a pesar de lo que diga el aviso, este libro esta en inglés, con pocas palabras en español.

Very well researched and wonderfully put together look at the Lucha Libre Mexican wrestling world. The glossy pages and beautiful reprints of vintage color posters and the masked wrestlers are amazing. The book is written in a very easy breezy style.

You learn a lot of how Mexican wrestling has influenced Japanese "puroresu" and how America (like pretty much everything "foreign" it treats) basically tries to put down Mexican wrestling as some sort of joke. Very enlightening to see how, in fact, Mexican wrestling influenced the American scene though that is hardly ever acknowledged.

But the heart of this fine book is the life stories of the masked wrestlers and why and how masks are used to portray these unique characters.

This is the definitive book on the subject of lucha libre.Told from an American perspective you get an overveiw of the history of pro wrestling in Mexico and the subtle nuances between Mexico's mat game and the type found north of the border.Of course there are in depth profiles on the "Holy Trinity of Mexican Wrestling"(Santo,Blue Demon and Mil Mascaras).But more than this,you also have features on lesser known(at least in North America)lucha legends like Tarzan Lopez and Dr.Wagner.My favorite chapter is the one on the Mexiluchahero movie phenomenon.This wonderful hybrid of the Republic movie serials of the 40s,Universal horror films of the 30s and 40s,Euro horror and spy films of the 60s,and of course the American comic book,is one of the coolest film entertainments to be found anywhere.I think that the book's chapter on lucha comics could have been a bit more in depth,but that's just me.This tome is lavishly illustrated throughout and I recommend this to pro wrestling fans everywhere.

Great Book! Lottsa history and current stuff such as Lucha Vavoom. Only in this book will you find a historical and enchanting journey into this very special and unique culture!

This book is about Mexican professional wrestling, obviously. It gives a general overview of the history of the sport, with special emphasis on some of the biggest stars. Some of these wrestlers became so popular that they became big movie stars in Mexico (while wearing masks, no less). Mexican wrestling has a very colorful history, and it's well covered here, with plenty of colorful pictures.