El Santo 

Real Name - Rodolfo Guzmán Huerta

Lifespan - 9/23/17 - 2/5/84

5'9" 209 lbs. - Mexico City, Mexico

Athletic Background - Jiu-Jitsu, Wrestling

Teacher(s) - Black Guzmán 

Aliases - Rudy Guzmán, Hombre Rojo, El Enmascarado, Murciélago Enmascarado II, El Demonio Negro

Peak Years - `50-`58

Place in History - Professional wrestling is a unique attraction filled with everyone from the greatest athletes in the world and the most unique characters in entertainment to local heroes and pop culture icons. It has touched almost every country in the world in some form or another at some time or another. In Mexico, professional wrestling is distinct. "Lucha libre" is a hybrid form of pro-wrestling that became a national phenomenon in the 1950s through in-ring battles, on-screen heroics and comic book spectacles. The man to take this growing sport and make it a cultural wonder was El Santo, whose impact in the country and his brand of pro-wrestling is unequaled by any star in their respective land and style. In the 1930s, this young luchador was trying to find a place in the lucha libre world with various personas. His manager came up with the idea of a team of silver masked men, so Rodolfo became "El Santo" (The Saint) and the rest is history. He found a spot in Mexico City, the big time, and got over quickly as a rudo feuding with top technico Tarzan Lopez. Fans grew enamored with the brawler in the silver mask and he slowly became a popular star. He turned in and in the early 1950s, gaining fame battling rudos like Blue Demon and Black Shadow. In 1952, the legendary El Santo comic book was first released. It was a massive hit and would run for thirty-five years. El Santo's film career, for which he became immortalized, did not achieve much success in the 1950s. Between 1958 and 1982, El Santo would be featured in fifty-two films. They ranged from bad B-movies to lucha libre blockbusters. Some like "Santo contra las mujeres vampiro" (Santo vs. The Vampire Women) and "Santo en Las momias de Guanajuato" (Santo in The Mummies of Guanajuato) are considered the best films of the luchador movie genre. Although he was in his 50s at the peak of his movies, El Santo continued making them and wrestling with great success. His success also translated to success for other luchador film stars like his long-time partner and rival Blue Demon, Mil Mascaras, El Rayo de Jalisco, Tinieblas and others were able to pad their incomes by doing these films. These crime-fighting superheroes battled supernatural forces and were significant celebrities in the 1960s and 1970s. By the late 70s, these stars and the genre had lost steam and El Santo himself was entering his 60s. The world of lucha libre was changing and in the early 1980s, El Santo prepared for retirement. His youngest son, Jorge, would take over his legacy as "El Hijo del Santo" and became one of the best wrestlers in the world and honorably shouldered his father's legacy. In the last month of his life, El Santo took off his iconic silver mask on television, which he would be buried in following his 1984 death. El Santo's influence over lucha libre is vast and undeniable, the consequential contributions to pro-wrestling as a whole are impressive as well, but most significant is the great impact he made on Mexican culture. That is something only a select few, professional wrestlers or otherwise, can do.