WWE Overtaking Lucha Libre Wrestling In Mexico

USA Today had an article touting how the WWE is overcoming the mighty lucha libre in Mexico. Actually, the WWE is not competing with lucha libre in a WCW versus WWF sense of the word. It is merely trying to grow its brand and lucha libre is the victim. The young people who are the targets for merchandise sales are being captured by the WWE. The older fans are beginning to see the value of staying home to watch wrestling for free rather than pay for tickets for arena matches. Lucha libre being designed for live audiences not vested in long promos and feuds that drive television.

Though there is a cultural sadness with the decline of Mexico's home brand of wrestling, it is inevitable. The way I miss drive-in movies but understand the economics that drove them away. It is the same thing Danny DeVito said about buggy whips in his famous monologue in Other People's Money. Obsolescence does all industries in. Essentially, Mexico is where the US was thirty years ago when the WWF did in the regional territories of wrestling. Yes, I miss Mid-South Wrestling and Georgia Championship Wrestling, but Vince McMahon brought a new way of doing things. Not saying it good or better, but it is.

As we get older, nostalgia sets in. The world changes but we do not change as quickly. Internet, videos, cable television, computers changed the cartoon experience for children. In my day we had to get up early for Saturday morning cartoons to get a good cartoon fix. Now, kids have access to cartoons twenty-fours from multiple sources. Even telephones have changed, the number of people with a landline is declining. Really, most people have them more from nostalgia than a practical need. The list could go on.

So, lucha libre is just another victim of change and for many the nostalgic hold is difficult to release.