Newest Lucha Libre Villan Is An Anti-Immigrant Bad Guy

By Victor Landa, NewsTaco

The folks at Lucha Libre USA may be on to something. Actually, that’s an understatement, they’ve been on to something for years. All you need to do is check their weekly door receipts to see they’ve hit on a cultural phenomenon that’s been filling wrestling arenas  in Mexico for generations; they’ve planted the seed here in the U.S. where professional wrestling has been a hit for decades and the response has been just as big.

But there’s a recent twist. KVUE.com reports that in Austin, Texas the usual body slams and flying kicks now carry a heated political message: the newest villain in the Lucha Libre USA cast calls himself R.J. Brewer and he’s got a bone to pick with undocumented Latinos.

Calling Phoenix, Arizona, his hometown and the state’s controversial governor his mom, Brewer fights each night to keep “illegal” Mexican wrestlers from stealing the jobs of his American friends.

“For those of you who don’t know what SB 1070 means, I’ll translate it in your language,” Brewer taunted a Houston audience before a recent fight. “‘No papeles. Adios amigos!'”

Brewer is not his real name, but it works well enough to call himself Gov. Janet Brewer’s son, and every time he enters the ring and spews his anti-undocumented rap he’s greeted with boo’s and jeers and what you’d expect from a Lucha Libre crowd on a typical weekend.

With his hardline message on border security, Brewer is the perfect villain for lucha libre. Playing to the overwhelmingly Latino crowds, most nights he’s the most hated man in the house.

“More often than not, it’s an array of stuff being thrown at me, and curse words at me, and stuff like that,” said Brewer in an interview for KVUE.

Here’s his caveat, though: he says he’s not against all Mexican’s, just the on’s who are here without papers.

And part of that is true. Brewer, who’s real name is John Stagikas,  says he believes in strict immigration policies, he just hypes them for the show. And that’s OK with the Lucha Libre USA folks and the crowds at the matches – they love to have a character to hate.