Household saint

In his heyday in the 1950s and 1960s, the masked El Santo (The Saint) was probably the most famous wrestler in Mexico, if not in all of Latin America. In addition to his matches, which he fought worldwide, there was a comic book about his exploits, and he also starred in a series of over fifty B-pictures with titles like Santo vs. the Mummies of Guanajuato, Santo vs. the Vampire Women and Mystery in the Bermudas. Throughout his career he never lost a match (which would have required him to take off his mask in public). Although born in Hidalgo state, El Santo came to Mexico City as a child, and learned his chops in Tepito, a notoriously tough neighborhood that has been the breeding ground for many wrestlers and boxers. This statue, on the edge of Tepito, is a gift to the neighborhood from his son, another wrestler known as El Hijo del Santo (The Son of the Saint). Fans regularly leave wreathes in El Santo's memory, although he has been dead since 1984.