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London has an underground Mexican wrestling scene — and it's spectacular

Lucha Britannia!

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Lucha libre, which means "free wrestling," is a form of professional wrestling that was popularised in Mexico and subsequently the US. Now it's in Britain, and the entertainment sport is taking London by storm.

Wrestlers in c

"Lucha Libre" - Mexican wrestling - is the second most popular sport in Mexico after football and is now becoming massive in the UK.

Lucha Libre ("free wrestling" in Spanish) is characterised by colourful costumes and mysterious fighters famous for their masks.

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In the UK, Lucha Britannia is a mix of Mexican wrestling and US, British and Japanese martial disciplines.

Housed underneath the railway arches in a grotty end of Bethnal Green, Lucha Britannia trains would-be wrestlers and hosts events that attract hundreds each night.

The sport has a strong link with the burlesque and fetish scenes. Even the door staff wear masks.

It's amazing how up close to the action you can get. You can literally rest yourself against the ring.

However, if you don't watch out, you could get in the way of some aerial body slams.

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The compère is just as important as the wrestlers in keeping the magic of the characters alive and in getting the audience excited about the storylines.

It's not just about throwing each other round, the "heroes" and "villains" stay in character throughout the whole performance and even on social media.

There is a lot of humour during the show too.

You wouldn't dare tell these guys that what they're doing is "fake."

Effectively, they're stunt men and women who spend hours each week to doing a combination of cardio, strength, weights, wrestling and martial arts.

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They interact a lot with the audience. But sometimes there are inadvertent injuries. We saw a man get his tooth knocked out!

As an audience member, most of the time you're amazed that they don't shatter their spines.

The biggest pay off is seeing the ultimate "luchador" defend his title. In this case, it's El Mercurio.

The battle is always epic.

Usually the last match becomes a crazy melee involving a number of the other wrestlers.

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In the end, you always hope the good guy will win.

And when he does, the crowd goes ballistic.

When it all ends, you just want more ...

... which is why I have signed up to train as a Mexican wrestler myself.

Now you've seen this ...

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