ACROSS THE COUNTRY

Lucha libre, the Mexican version of professional wrestling, is thriving in Los Angeles, where the action and the masks draw fans to venues big and small.

WHY WE’RE HERE

We’re exploring how America defines itself one place at a time. Wrestling rings across Los Angeles are where masked luchadores and luchadoras come to make their mark in the United States.

Amazona wrapped her legs and arms around Lady Lee like a pretzel, and then slammed her face first into the canvas. Amazona, with her thick red hair flowing from the back of a red mask, and her sequin suit glistening like the shine of her black high-laced boots, raised her arms in victory.

Amid the crackling of wooden noisemakers and scattered shouts from the crowd, one voice screaming “Amazona! Amazona!” stuck out. It belonged to her 6-year-old son. Amazona, who when she’s not sitting behind a desk at a logistics firm is elbow-smashing and body-slamming unfortunate souls, couldn’t line up a sitter.

You never know what’ll happen on lucha libre night.

Lucha libre is Mexican-style professional wrestling, with masked wrestlers, high-flying acrobatics and a mystical aura. In Mexico, the sport is both a national pastime and a showy vehicle for collective catharsis: For legions of fans, the fight inside the ring represents the real-life battles outside it. Lucha libre was lucha libre before Hulk Hogan was Hulk Hogan.