Lucha Libre Extrema

• Prize
  Silver in Events/Sport
• Photographer
  Annick Donkers

I had been taking pictures of wrestling for a while before getting the opportunity to attend a “Hardcore Wrestling Match” or “Lucha Libre Extrema”. This type of wrestling is currently forbidden in Mexico City because of numerous accidents but it is still allowed outside the capital. Almost every month the organization DTU arranges a wrestling spectacle in the village where El Santo, Mexico´s most famous wrestler, was born. The students receive professional training before being allowed to try the extreme style and they get paid a bit more for their bravery. A local carwash is turned into a real arena and the site of this ultraviolent wrestling match. The public, old and young, receives the wrestlers as their local heroes.