Blue Demon, Jr., the lucha libre wrestler and self-proclaimed champion of Mexican immigrants in the United States, has brought battles over immigration to the wrestling ring. An op-ed video published by the New York Times on Tuesday follows Blue Demon, Jr. in his quest to defeat the "Border Patrol", a tag-team of American "heels" led by "El Patrón" Oliver John (real name Oliver John Steinwandt). Their Pro Wrestling Revolution matches, seen in the video while they tour farming communities in California, are the latest in a long line of pro wrestling story lines which gain much of their charge from real-life political battles over immigration.
"I think lucha libre is a representation of life in general," says Blue Demon Jr. -- the adopted son of legendary lucha libre wrestler Blue Demon and whose real name is not publically known -- in the op-ed. "A representation of good versus evil. I consider myself an anti-hero who protects his people. I'm like Robin Hood."
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The video's director, Kevin Gordon, wrote in an accompanying article that the promoter of matches featuring "Border Patrol" villains, Gabriel Ramirez, had envisioned the idea as one which Latino audiences in the United States would see as "a type of Theater of the Oppressed, where social hierarchies are turned upside down and where, unlike in some media coverage, the Mexicans are the heroes." Gordon's op-ed is a companion piece to a full-length documentary film, which his crew is still working on.
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Blue Demon Jr. and Oliver John are picking up a story line that's been used before. In 2012, Blue Demon Jr. faced off against a wrestler going by the pseudonym "RJ Brewer" (real name John Stagikas, a Massachusetts real estate agent). Brewer claimed to be the son of Arizona Governor Jan Brewer, who in 2010 signed into law a series of bills to expand police powers over immigration crimes in her state, including the Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act (SB 1070), which opponents say encourages the use of racial profiling as a police tactic. There is no relation between the two. The Associated Press ran an article in March of 2012 describing a few of RJ Brewer's theatrics, which included railing against Mexican brands of beer, demanding that people speak English, and wearing "SB 1070" on the backside of his wrestling trunks.
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"This is different than any other program I've been involved with because usually I have to work really hard to get the audience to hate me," Stagikas said then in an interview with The Associated Press. "With this, I just walk in with the Arizona flag and the audience boos before I even say a word."
"I represent the Latino people. We are human beings," Blue Demon Jr. told the AP then from his Mexico City home. "I support the immigrant people no matter what country they come from."
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