Máscara contra Cabellera: The biggest match in SoCal Pro history

Four years of playing host to some of the the best wrestling in Southern California, SoCal Pro Wrestling reaches its pinnacle with their 4 Year Anniversary Show, Saturday April 16th. The Boys and Girls Club in Oceanside California has been home to many high profile matches through the years, with many of the best names in Southern California squaring off in the ring. But no match has ever had the momentum this match carries.

Crazy v Paradise

 Dating back to a little over one year ago, the match was billed as Champion vs. Champion. NWA Affiliates, SoCal Pro Wrestling and Alternative Wrestling Show announced that a match up would take place to crown a dual champion. SoCal Pro Heavyweight Champion SoCal Crazy would step into the ring against the AWS Heavyweight Champion Johnny Paradise. Both men have been well known through out California crossing paths in various NWA affiliates in Southern California.
 “I hate him. I hate him for being the biggest thorn in my side ever… I came back to SoCal Pro to rid him of my life completely!” is how Johnny Paradise answered his feelings about SoCal Crazy. But don’t get him wrong, SoCal Crazy has earned his respect too. “No matter what I do to him, he just won’t stay down!” SoCal Crazy replied to me similarly with “… with Paradise its different because of all we have done to each other I believe that with our hatred comes respect. Once you kick the living crap out of someone and that person keeps coming back then you have no choice but to show respect.”

The real question is how it came down to Máscara contra Cabellera, a match where the loser will either have his mask removed or his head shaved? The identity of the luchador is typically identified in their Mask. The masks have dated back to the beginnings of Lucha Libre and the tradition of the Aztec Warriors. The mask is considered “sacred” to a degree, so much so that fully removing an opponent’s mask during a match is grounds for disqualification. Saturday Paradise hopes to remove the mask. Paradise said “It’s escalated to this because proving to each other, which of us is really best has far surpassed any title or accomplishments. I think we both have to take it personally. It is a bruise to both of our egos that each of us have dug deeper than we ever have before, and still haven’t managed to keep each other down. Crazy responded with “This rivalry is much more than championships; to me it’s about proving to Paradise that I can put him down for good and keep him down. To a luchador the mask is everything and like my trainer’s have told me ‘La mascara es la vida mata por ella’.”

The Máscara contra Cabellera match will change the identity of the man that loses. Paradise told me that “my hair is my image both in an out of the ring. It’s who I am. So without question this is by far & away the biggest match of my career. It could quite possibly define a career! And I refuse to let it define me as a loser. It will define me as a winner, and as the man that killed the legend of SoCal Crazy, the removal of ones identity is permanent.” For Crazy this match means the world. “I have been blessed with being champion of both AWS and SCP and that in itself is a huge accomplishment and it ranks up there, walking away with Paradise’s hair would go right up there with those accomplishments, for me it doesn’t get any bigger than hair vs. mask.”

The biggest match in the history of SoCal Pro Wrestling takes place April 16th when SoCal Pro Wrestling will be hosting its 4th Anniversary show at the Boys and Girls Club at 401 Country Club Lane, Oceanside. For $15 a ticket, $10 for kids and military, SoCal Pro has spent the past four years providing the best wrestling in the area. Also scheduled will be a SoCal Pro Heavyweight Tag Team Title match when Kid Caramba and Todd Chandler take on Damage Control, “The Mirror Image” Ricky Mandel takes on “El Chido” Hector Canales and the RockNES Monsters taking on 2 Skinny White Guys.