I Now Understand Fredo Esparza

Fredo used to be part of the lucha libre community. He was the guy with tapes/DVD's, he watched all the same stuff we did. One day he just stopped selling stuff or things just weren't selling any longer. Chicken or egg, whatever. He was still around on social media commenting on certain things going on in AAA or CMLL or elsewhere. He did the CMLL Informa thread before Cubs even realized it was cool to do so. Then one day he wasn't. To this day he hasn't returned. I don't expect to ever see him online discussing lucha libre ever again.

Don't worry, Fredo is doing fine. I still follow him on IG. This isn't about him though.

This is about the lonely place it is now to be a long time lucha libre fan. An actual lucha libre fan. There is almost nobody to discuss actual lucha libre topics with any longer. Example: See my questions on Twitter that go unanswered since the people who can actually provide answers are either gone or run websites where the traffic is fueled by just posting about WWE/AEW. I find myself more & more comfortable just posting my thoughts here to nobody than engaging with anyone on social media.

Current lucha libre viewers can be divided into 3 groups:

1) Those who have been around a while, either going back to 90's CMLL/AAA or even just 5-10 years ago watching Rush & friends do their thing to a largely empty Arena Mexico while Vamp & Konnan were booking AAA into the ground.

2) Those who found out CMLL was getting hot about 2 years ago & jumped on the bandwagon.

3) WWE viewers who found out AAA/Lucha Libre existed in April 2025.

I put myself in the Group #1 of course. The group that is the smallest of all these groups & only shrinking by the week. Even this group I find myself holding back from engaging with because there are still those who are trying harder than I am to stick to following/watching everything & I feel I am coming from such a place of negativity to the current lucha scene that anything I say will either be intentionally disparaging or will be interpreted that way. I find myself trying my best to even talk as little current CMLL as possible with The Cubs Fan of all people. I don't want to be the one responsible for killing his enjoyment of CMLL. If it happens naturally, that's fine. I am guilt free. But I feel even sending him an audio making fun of all the constant redundant 3 way matches is influencing how he looks at them. Maybe he doesn't mind them at all, I don't know. But I feel guilty even bringing the subject up. I'd rather he just respond to me questions/comments about all the 80's/90's lineups I have been digging up.

I don't mind Group #2 that much because if something is good, you should want to search it out & watch it. There is nothing wrong with that. Where I catch myself not wanting to interact with this group are the times they make claims like "(match X) was great! Authentic CMLL lucha libre!" in response to a one fall singles match full of head drops & tropes from American/Japanese wrestling. My immediate thought is to engage but these days I catch myself. I don't. The thought that enters my head is how it will come off to the person I'd be engaging with. I remember back when I got into lucha & was telling people how great some things were, there were people who had watched way more lucha than me - back when it was far less high flying - who would always tell me how it wasn't actually good. It was better when they punched a lot, worked the mat for 20+ minutes, bled buckets in every single match, etc. This kind of response to my enjoyment wasn't a one time occurence, this was a constant occurence. One that tried to take the fun out of what I was enjoying & make me feel like I was enjoying something lesser. I remember that feeling & I don't want to be that guy to someone else.

Take the Villano/Zandokan match from this past Friday. I broke my no CMLL rule & watched it because I saw a couple people on the timeline putting it over big time as a classic (their words). I watched it. It was good. Just good. I wouldn't say classic. I wouldn't say great. But certainly a totally acceptable Dynamite level quality TV match. Didn't really understand the finish, I think Villano fucked something up & they had to improvise. Either way, it's a match that while it was fine - I remember very little of it besides the missed dive 24 hours later. But I don't want to be the one engaging & giving my real thoughts about how it wasn't a lucha match, it was the exact match they'd do if they were put on Dynamite tomorrow or in the BOSJ next year. That feels like an attack. It also makes me feel bad because then I come off as someone who lucha libre has passed by - which I admit it has. It's no longer the lucha libre I knew, it's just Mexicans doing American/Japanese wrestling. So who am I to differ on opinions with those who are watching through a lucha libre post-2023 lens? They don't want to see submissions or a more tecnico/rudo dynamic. That's not the lucha libre they've ever been presented so it's not what they are looking for or questioning why it's missing.

I may not be explaining all that properly but it's my blog so I can do what I want.

Group #3 is the one I just can't handle. For all the obvious reasons you'd imagine but it's not even what you're thinking. I don't care when WWE fans jump into my mentions to explain lucha libre to me. It's funny to me. I laugh & move on. What gets me is the people who fall into this category but aren't trolls. Some of whom are acquaintences I made over the years. People who end up trolling me unintentionally. I had a friend write to me last night about the mask match saying "they did a good job capturing authentic lucha libre." This is someone who had never bothered flipping on an AAA show before April 2025. Let alone watched any CMLL that didn't involve AEW talent. How do I respond to that? It's not someone being purposely mean or trying to poke me. So if I respond like an asshole explaining how that wasn't authentic lucha libre at all, I come off like a total jackass. Instead I'm put in a position where I have to be the nice guy & just reply "yeah, it was great". Even though I'm ignoring the urge to explain - yes it was great BUT... and then explain to them what authentic lucha libre actually is. I would rather these people just not message me about anything lucha related any longer but I can't just say that because then I'm the world's biggest asshole who is trying to gatekeep or whatnot.

So what I'm trying to say is I now understand Fredo Esparza's disappearing act. I aim to be courageous enough to pull a Fredo Esparza sooner rather than later.