A few months ago, Nicole and I decided to spend a week in Zihuatanejo, Mexico. Since she teaches ice skating and had a synchronized skating competition over the weekend of March 7-8, I decided to fly to Mexico City for the weekend to watch the World Baseball Classic and some other events.

Since most of the Mexican leagues do not plan very far ahead, the only event I knew was taking place in Mexico City that weekend was the first round of the World Baseball Classic. However, I knew soccer matches for the Primera Division would be scheduled for Saturday and Sunday and I had read that Lucha Libre took place on Friday nights. With that information in hand, I decided to fly to Mexico City on Friday in order to have the chance to attend multiple events in addition to the World Baseball Classic.

About a week before I was scheduled to leave, I checked ticketmaster.com.mx and www.arenamexico.com.mx to find out what events were taking place. I discovered that Lucha Libre was scheduled for Friday night at Arena Mexico. Since I decided to stay at the Ramada by the Mexico City airport I took a cab to the event. The cab cost 360 pesos for the roundtrip to the arena.

Obtaining Tickets
I arrived about an hour early for the 8:30 pm start time. Ticket prices for the event ranged from 30 pesos ($2) for the upper deck to 300 pesos ($20) for ring side seats. I bought the upper deck seats.

Arena Mexico
As I tried to enter the arena, security told me cameras were not allowed inside. I tried to convince the guards (in lousy Spanish) that I would not take any pictures but to no avail. I was forced to check it while being assured it would be at the check point after the event.

Arena Mexico, which seats 16,500, has a lower and upper deck. However, there are no seats in the upper deck – just concrete rows for fans to sit on. Rather than walk around with beer and soda, the vendors in the arena sit within the crowd and shout “cervezas y frescos” frequently. One Corona or Victoria costs 25 pesos while sodas are 15 pesos.

At first food vendors were only on the first level, so for a time I thought I should have sat there. However, the food vendors eventually came up to the upper deck. For the first time ever, I happened to negotiate with a vendor. I bought a torta which was supposed to cost 25 pesos. However, I only had a 200 peso bill or 20 pesos in coins. The vendor accepted the 20 pesos since he did not have change for the 200.

Lucha Libre
Lucha Libre is pretty similar to the WWE, but does not have as much drama – although it is highly likely I did not understand everything they were saying in Spanish. In addition, the event was much more acrobatic as wrestlers seemed to have more of a connection with their opponent in moving around the ring. At certain points I was amazed at how the wrestlers would launch off the ropes, outside of the ring, and land on their opponent while both wrestlers maintained their balance. A few times the wrestlers would land on empty seats in the front row directly next to a patron. Next time I may spring for the seats closer to the ring.

My camera was at the check point after the event just as promised and my cab was waiting for me at 10:45 pm just as I had wanted. I picked the perfect time for him to arrive as the event had just ended.