FutboLucha

Truth be told, El Hijo del Santo probably could have ridden comfortably on his father's coattails. The son of legendary professional wrestler and Mexican icon El Santo, El Hijo was born into a large shadow and could easily have cashed in on his father's good fake name. But Mexican wrestlers don't wear coats; they wear masks and underpants, so El Hijo set out to carve his own niche in lucha libre. In his 25-year career, he's done just that, becoming one of the most successful Mexican wrestlers alive today. In order to mark his quarter-century anniversary in the ring, El Hijo has been touring Mexico with seventeen other wrestlers, putting on a show called El Todo por el Todo, which recently drew over 18,000 people in Mexico City. Dante Gallegos, of Denver's D Sound Entertainment, was at that show and realized immediately that he needed to bring it to the Mile High City.

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More About

• Dante Gallegos
• Patricia Rodriguez
• Major League Soccer
• Soccer
• Box Office

"People in the community kept asking us to put on a family event," says Patricia Rodriguez, Gallegos's partner at D Sound. "This event just seemed perfect."

The company teamed up with the Colorado Rapids to help sponsor FutboLucha 2008, a day of soccer and wrestling featuring twelve of the wrestlers from the original Mexican show — including the revered El Hijo. FutboLucha goes down at 10 a.m. at Dick's Sporting Goods Park, 6000 Victory Way in Commerce City; $30 gets you into the day-long affair, which also features live music, vendors and free masks for the kiddies.

"It's turned into a real festival," Rodriguez says, pointing out that this is the only American stop for the wrestlers before they continue on to China, Japan, England and Spain. El Santo would be proud.

The Rapids do battle with D.C. United at 1 p.m., and the lucha gets under way at 4:30. Tickets are available at the box office, 1-800-461-6556 or www.dsounduneed.com.
Sun., May 4, 10 a.m.-6:30 p.m., 2008