Links
Aug
22
I’m not a big fan of professional wrestling—when I was a kid, yes—Jimmy “Super Fly” Snuka, Rocky Johnson, and Mil Mascaras were my favorites, but now-a-days I can do without. Recently I’ve been reading about Mexican luchadores and in Lucha Libre how wrestlers are either what they call tecnicos (technical fighters) or rudos (brawlers). Jiu-jitsu has the same categories.
It seems like there are two kinds of styles on the mat. There’s the little guy that fights from a ball from his back attacking subtly and with style, catching people by surprise with his fluidity and motion—That’s a tecnico. On the other hand you have the big guy, who’s either big and muscled or big and fat, but big none-the-less. He overpowers his opponent; he’s a squeezer and a crusher, and a neck-cranker. He goes fast and grunts a lot. His main objective is to cause pain. To make you tap by brute strength.
In Lucha Libre, like in jiu-jitsu, the tecnicos are the good guys, the rudos are the bad guys. Okay that’s just my bias for jiu-jitsu, but in Lucha Libre it’s true. If you’re a technical fighter, you’re good, if you’re a brawler you’re bad.
I think a lot of guys are rudos when they start jiu-jitsu, head-squeezing meat-heads, but those same guys are slowly transformed into tecnicos—the good guys– who flow and move and who become the masters of technique. Viva los Tecnicos!
Ole!