Lucha libre is a performance, its stories are myths, and its wrestlers ... legends.

The eternal romance between the Mexican people and wrestling flourished in 1863 when Enrique Ugartechea, the first Mexican wrestler, invented this Greco-Roman wrestling-inspired sport.

In lucha libre, masks don't just disguise one's identity—they represent an enigma, a symbol. Behind each mask, a warrior fights in the ring and is cemented in the public's collective imagination.

Each fight is a story and a duel: a confrontation between heroes and villains, where technique and acrobatics are intertwined with the narrative of the battle between good and evil.

Nothing thrills the crowd more than a mask vs. mask, legacy vs. legacy duel. For some, losing their mask could mean the end of their career, while for others, a new beginning. What's certain is that this event is charged with cultural meaning.

Lucha libre is Mexico City's cultural heritage. It is an artform that transcends sport, capturing the imagination of generations and embodying Mexico's popular culture through its characters and colors.

The wrestlers are so much more than just flesh and bone—their exploits live on in Mexico's traditional toys, which enrich the imaginations of thousands of children as they grow up.

Every hit, every jump and every chokehold tells a story. It's a spectacle that entertains, inspires and unites, a reflection of life itself with its trials and triumphs.

Some wrestlers, like 'El Santo' or 'Blue Demon,' have even transcended the ring and time itself by becoming heroes of the silver screen and cultural icons.

New generations of wrestlers carry on the tradition, combining respect for the past with new ideas that keep the spirit of wrestling alive and preserve its culture.

Baseball is one of the most popular sports in Mexico. Anecdotally, some historical accounts state that the country's first baseball game took place during the war against the United States in 1847.

At that time, US soldiers fighting the Mexican army near Xalapa captured the wooden leg of Antonio López de Santa Anna as he retreated from the battlefield and used it as a bat in their leisure time.

However, it was not until the end of the 19th century that this sport began to be played in different regions of the Republic, thanks to the influence of sailors and workers from the United States, who taught the local inhabitants the rules of the game.

Although various sources attribute the birthplace of baseball in Mexico to regions such as Guaymas in Sonora, Nuevo Laredo in Tamaulipas, and Cadereyta Jiménez in Nuevo León, it was not until 1887 that a baseball team was founded in the capital of the Republic: the Club México.

These teams played in a match considered the first documented baseball game in Mexico, which took place in 1899. From then on, teams and local leagues were founded in different regions of the Mexican Republic.

In cities like Monterrey, Torreón, Hermosillo, and Guaymas in the north, as well as Veracruz, Yucatán, and Oaxaca in the south, this sport gained great popularity and became one of those most played by young people.

During the Mexican Revolution, baseball experienced a stagnation in its development due to the decrease in promoters and investors as a result of political and social turmoil.

However, the sport continued to be played daily by amateurs on the plains of the capital, as well as on university fields, where a League of Professional Schools was established that kept the sporting enthusiasm alive.

Around 1916, baseball in Mexico received a new boost once the country's political situation began to stabilize, following the military victory of the Carrancista faction in the armed conflict.

Sports promoters and writers took the initiative to reorganize baseball and establish an association capable of regulating and organizing games in the capital, with the goal of professionalizing the practice.

In 1917, at the initiative of the newspaper 'El Universal,' the Liga France was created in the capital of the Republic. This first attempt to institutionalize the sport did not prosper, although it managed to reawaken the interest of promoters and businessmen.

In 1925, through the initiative of the promoters Alejandro Aguilar Reyes 'Fray Nano' and Ernesto Carmona, the Mexican Baseball League was founded: the first professional circuit that brought together six of the country's clubs, from Veracruz, Guanajuato, Puebla, and Mexico City.

As our understanding of our own humanity has evolved, so has the way art captures the magic and spirit of sports.

Pietro Bazzanti, with his work 'The Wrestlers,' immortalized the essence of sport and man in stone through a naturalistic artistic representation that captures the true being of athletes and their physical effort.

Bazzanti masterfully captured an eternal moment, perfectly showcasing the physique of the wrestlers and paying homage to the beauty of the human body.

Naturalism is not the only artistic approach that has been adopted when portraying sports. With his impressionist style, Auguste Rodin managed to extraordinarily capture the essence of an athlete in bronze, almost half a century after Bazzanti.

In contrast to the wrestlers, 'The Athlete' by Auguste Rodin captures the athlete in a moment of calm, resting on a bench. The impressionist style of layering material in the sculpture reflects the construction of a perfect body, a union between art and sport.

This magnificent sculpture was inspired by the physique of the athlete Samuel Stockton White III, who won the Sandow medal in 1899, awarded to the strongest and most perfectly developed man in the United Kingdom.

Team sports are captured in artistic representations that create a mosaic of diverse unique moments, recreating a story within the frame.

Unlike naturalism, the beauty of impressionism becomes more evident the further we are from the work to appreciate it.

In his work 'Baseball,' Luis Améndolla captures one of the tensest moments of any game: a throw to first base. In contrast to the aesthetics of Bazzanti and Rodin, who capture stoic moments, this painting conveys movement and inertia.

Améndolla seeks to capture the realism of the sport, not through the physical perfection of the athletes, but by portraying the moments that turn sports into myth and its players into legends.

Sporting legends do not exist without their fans. It is their devotion, dreams, emotions, and tears that ignite the passion for sport. In this work, Améndolla shows us the strength of a dream.<br><br>

The greatness of sport lies in the moments that define it. This work, created to celebrate the 1970 FIFA World Cup in Mexico, seeks to immortalize a moment, just like Bazzanti's sculpture.

This work has a more naturalistic tint than Améndolla's aesthetic. However, it seeks to capture the athlete's internal struggle in the facial expressions.

This work forever commemorates the spirit and heart of the Brazilian team that won the 1970 World Cup.

Not everything in sports is about epic moments and displays of physical splendor. Sports are also the subject of laughter and comical situations that are rarely immortalized.

In the work 'Ponchador Ponchado' ('Strikeout Pitcher Struck Out'), Luis Améndolla humorously explores a tragedy that could happen to any pitcher.

This work captures the intense emotions that sports evoke in athletes, portraying the debates and conflicts common among opponents and teammates.