Professional wrestling in Mexico has existed since the late 19th century, but became popular in the 1930s following the formation ofEmpresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre, the first widespread Mexicanprofessional wrestlingpromotion. Throughout the 20th century, professional wrestling had established itself as one of the most popularsports inMexico, so much so that it has played an important role innational popular culture. Mexican professional wrestling has developed a distinct style and presentation known as "lucha libre", which is characterized by its colorfulwrestling masks, rapid sequences of holds and maneuvers, spectacular high-flying techniques, andtelenovela-inspiredsports entertainment elements.

Professional wrestling often competed withboxing in television ratings, with both disciplines reaching their peaks in Mexico in the mid-to-late 20th century, though both continue to be popular in the country. The popularity of professional wrestling in Mexico has fluctuated over the years, and has experienced a major resurgence during the 2000s through 2020s with the "Místico Boom Period" and the airing oflucha libre events onstreaming services. With the rise of the popularity ofmixed martial arts (MMA) in Mexico, some Mexican wrestlers have competed in that discipline, notablyDos Caras Jr.,El Solar, andBrazo de Plata.

Unlike with other countries, professional wrestling is taken seriously by the Mexican sports press despite its predetermined nature and it is not considered a simple "spectacle" as it is in most parts of the world. Mexican news services and sports journalists do not report nor speculate on wrestlers' real names even if they know the names out of respect forlucha libre tradition, in which the true identity of masked wrestlers is kept secret from the general public. Certain Mexican wrestlers have transcended professional wrestling, notablyEl Santo,Blue Demon, andMil Máscaras – collectively dubbed theTres Grandes ("Big Three") of the Mexican wrestling tradition – becamefolk heroes and symbols of justice for the common man in Mexico through their appearances inluchador films.

With the globalization of professional wrestling, Mexican cities likeMonterrey,Tijuana, andMexico City have become important venues for foreign-based promotions on annual international tours.

The origins of professional wrestling in Mexico date back to the 19th century with the introduction ofGreco-Roman wrestling by French soldiers during theSecond Franco-Mexican War. The first widely recognized Mexican wrestler wasEnrique Ugartechea in 1863, who was known as the strongest man in the country, which caught the attention of brands likeSpalding who sponsored him.^[1]

In 1910, Italian wrestlerGiovanni Raicevich arrived in Mexico with his wrestling troupe. At the same time, Italian businessmen Antonio Fournier brought his Teatro Colón wrestlers to Mexico, including famouscatch wrestlerConde Koma, whose fighting style is considered the precursor ofBrazilian jiu-jitsu.^[2] The rivalry between the two wrestling troupes caused a stir among the Mexican population, generating lucrative business for both.^[3] In 1921, Belgian wrestler Constant le Marin also arrived in Mexico with his company, introducing León Molero, who had been a middleweight European champion. Two years later, he returned to Mexico, bringing the Japanese wrestler Kawamura, who, along with Hércules Sampson, performed at theFrontón Nacional venue.

In September 1933,Salvador Lutteroth founded Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre (EMLL), the first widespread Mexican-owned professional wrestling promotion in Mexico. For founding EMLL, Lutteroth is considered the "father of Mexican professional wrestling".^[4]El Santo,Blue Demon, andMil Máscaras – collectively dubbed theTres Grandes ("Big Three") of the Mexican wrestling tradition – emerged as three of the biggest EMLL stars. The three would also wrestle for theUniversal Wrestling Association (UWA), a major rival to EMLL in the 1970s and '80s. EMLL was later renamed asConsejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL). As an alternative to CMLL,AAA was founded in 1992 byAntonio Peña, who had previously worked for CMLL as abooker. Throughout the rest of the decade, AAA's popularity grew, collaborating with bothWorld Championship Wrestling (WCW) in 1994 and theWorld Wrestling Federation (WWF, later WWE) in 1997; with the former, it co-hosted theWhen Worlds Collide event,^[5] and with the latter, it co-hosted theRoyal Rumble event.^[6]

In the 2000s and early 2010s, Mexican professional wrestling experienced a major resurgence of popularity and mainstream awareness during CMLL's "Místico Boom Period", built around performers likeMístico andAverno. In 2011, Místico departed CMLL to join the American-based WWE promotion, where he performed under thering name "Sin Cara".

In the 2010s and 2020s, AAA and CMLL began airing their events onstreaming platforms likeTwitch andYouTube. In April 2025, AAA was acquired by WWE.

Lucha libre (translated as "freestyle wrestling") is the term used to describe the wrestling style created in Mexico,^[7] characterized by rapid sequences of holds and maneuvers, "high-flying" aerial techniques, and colorfulmasks. While in the rest of the world (especially theUnited States andJapan), the Mexican wrestling style is always known by its Spanish name,lucha libre (regardless of the language), in Mexico, it is also known aspancracio (the term used inancient Greece to describe wrestling) andel arte deGotch. Another distinguishing characteristic oflucha libre is its detailed system ofweight classes, possibly inspired byboxing. Each weight class has an official upper weight limit that competitors must abide by and are monitored by the Mexico City Boxing and Wrestling Commission, but examples can be found from the history oflucha libre of wrestlers who are technically too heavy to compete in their weight class, including some who have held a weight class' title.^[8]

In 2018, thelucha libre style was declared anintangible cultural heritage ofMexico City by the head of the Government of Mexico City.^[9]

In Mexico, there are numerous professional wrestling promotions, but the two that dominate the modern industry areConsejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) andLucha Libre AAA Worldwide (AAA). CMLL is the oldest promotion in the world, having been founded in 1933; AAA was founded in the early 1990s. To a lesser extent, theInternational Wrestling Revolution Group (IWRG), founded in 1996, andThe Crash Lucha Libre, founded in 2011, have emerged as other major national wrestling promotions in the country.

Notable active professional wrestling promotions in Mexico include:

TheMexican National Championships are a group of Mexico-specificprofessional wrestling championships that are sanctioned by the Mexico City Boxing and Wrestling Commission, thede facto nationalcommission oflucha libre in Mexico. While the commission sanctions the championships, it does not promote the events in which the championships are defended, but rather allows the championships to be defended on the events of promotions likeCMLL andAAA.^[10] The championships are intended to be held solely by Mexican nationals, though exceptions have been made, notably theMexican National Lightweight Championship was held by Japanese wrestler Mishima Ota and theNational Welterweight andTrios Championships were held by American wrestlerRey Mysterio.^[10] The earliest Mexican National Championship, theMexican National Heavyweight Championship, was created in 1926 and bestowed to Mexican wrestler Francisco Aguayo byMexican-Americans in theUnited States. Aguayo later brought the championship belt with him to Mexico and on June 21, 1934, firmly established it as a Mexican-based title with his victory over Manuel "El Toro" Hernández in the first championship match ever sanctioned by the Mexico City Boxing and Wrestling Commission.^[11] The Mexican National Heavyweight Championship is still promoted by CMLL, making it the oldest active championship in professional wrestling.^[12]

Over the years the commission has created a total of 13 different championships, seven of which are for variousweight divisions in Mexico. Three of the championships are for various forms of maletag teams. They also created two championships forwomen's professional wrestling, a singles championship and a tag team championship.^[10] From 1993 through 2006, the commission sanctioned theMexican National Mini-Estrella Championship, exclusively forMini-Estrellas, participants in a Mexican form ofmidget wrestling.^[10] From 2008 through the early 2020s, the Mexican National Lightweight Championship was held byMini-Estrella wrestlers.^[13] The commission's most recent championship addition was in 1996 when they created theMexican National Atómicos Championship, contested for by teams of four, referred to inlucha libre as "Atómicos".^[14] Embracing atraditionalist view on professional wrestling, the commission typically only allows its championships to be defended in "normal matches", strippingPsicosis of theMexican National Middleweight Championship for defending it in ahardcore match.^[15] However, at a later point, the commission allowed its Heavyweight Championship to be defended in asteel cage match on aTriplemanía event.^[16]

The Mexican National Championships have been promoted by a number of Mexican-based wrestling promotions over the years. CMLL, founded in 1933, has promoted the championships since their inception and currently promotes all remaining Mexican National Championships.^{[17][18][19][20][21]} In 1992, AAA was formed when bookerAntonio Peña and a number of CMLL wrestlers broke away to create a new company. Several of the wrestlers that left were reigning Mexican National Champions and the commission allowed AAA to take promotional control of those championships at that point.^[10] In 2006,Mascarita Sagrada, the Mexican National Mini-Estrella Champion, left AAA while still holding the championship, rendering it inactive from that point on.^[10][22] From 2008 to 2011, AAA abandoned all their Mexican National Championships, instead choosing to focus on promoting AAA-branded championships.

The Mexican National Championships include:

WWE, the world's largest professional wrestling company based inStamford, Connecticut, has held annual tours in Mexico since 2004. The first event was held on April 3 of that year atArena Monterrey in the city of the same name. After the success of the first WWE event in Mexico, WWE'sRaw brand returned to Mexico in November 2004.^[39] In 2011, thePalacio de los Deportes inMexico City would host the first Mexican television taping ofWWE Raw; days later, the same venue was host to an episode ofWWE SmackDown.^[40] As of July 2024, 89 WWE events have been held on Mexican soil.

Other non-Mexican professional wrestling companies have toured the country.Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) held ahouse show at Arena Monterrey in November 2006. In September 2019,British wrestling promotion Fight Club: Pro (FCP) held theirfirst event in Mexico in collaboration withThe Crash Lucha Libre. The following month in October 2019,Major League Wrestling (MLW) held theirfirst event in Mexico in collaboration with The Crash Lucha Libre; MLW has since held collaborative events in Mexico withLucha Libre AAA Worldwide (AAA) andConsejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL). On March 4, 2023, theNational Wrestling Alliance (NWA) held theirThe World is a Vampire event in collaboration with AAA atForo Sol in Mexico City; the event drew over 30,000 spectators,^[41] making itone of the highest attended wrestling events in the history of Mexico. On June 30, 2023,Japanese wrestling promotionNew Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) held their inaugural event in Mexico,Fantastica Mania México, in collaboration with CMLL; Fantastica Mania México has since become an annual collaborative event held by NJPW and CMLL. On June 18, 2025,All Elite Wrestling (AEW) held theirGrand Slam event inArena México.

Being a wrestling power, Mexico has exported a large number of professional wrestlers abroad, working for promotions such asWWE,New Japan Pro-Wrestling,All Elite Wrestling (AEW),Ring of Honor (ROH),Pro Wrestling Noah, among others. Most of them (especially the masked ones) carry the Mexicanlucha libre wrestling style with them, while others change their styles to better fit those of their adopted countries and promotions or mix thelucha libre style with other styles of professional wrestling.

Several Mexican wrestlers have wonprofessional wrestling championships, including prestigiousworld championships, in a country other than their own.Alberto Del Rio has held theWWE Championship and WWE'sWorld Heavyweight Championship, for a total of four reigns.^[42] In ROH,Bandido andRush are two-timeROH World Champions, with Rush's second reign being the third-longest in the title's history.^[43][44]Blue Demon Jr., son of the eponymous legend, held theNWA World's Heavyweight Championship for 501 days.^[45]Pentagón Jr. won theImpact World Championship, although his reign was one of the shortest in the title's history (two days).^[46]El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. has beenGHC Heavyweight Champion in Pro Wrestling Noah, being to date the only Mexican to achieve a world heavyweight title in Japan.^[47] Mexican wrestlerLuis Mante held theOpen the Dream Gate Championship, anopenweight championship in the JapaneseDragongate promotion.Thunder Rosa is the only Mexican woman to have held a world championship in the United States, winning both theNWA Women's Championship and theAEW Women's Championship.^[48]

Among the Mexican male wrestlers who have excelled abroad are:

Among the Mexican female wrestlers who have excelled abroad are:

• Ayako Hamada
• Cynthia Moreno
• Esther Moreno
• Sexy Star
• Thunder Rosa
• Yulisa León

• History of professional wrestling
• List of professional wrestling attendance records in Mexico
• Professional wrestling promotions in Mexico

• "Mexico’s ‘lucha libre’ makes the leap into American entertainment: Cultural appropriation or an opportunity for growth?"
• Title histories of Mexico

• Professional wrestling in Mexico

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• CS1 Spanish-language sources (es)
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