Rodolfo Guzman Huerta, known professionally as El Santo or in English The Saint, was a Mexican luchador enmascarado, actor and folk hero.
24 Facts About El Santo
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El Santo is one of the most famous and iconic Mexican luchadores, and has been referred to as one of "the greatest legends in Mexican sports".
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El Santo's wrestling career spanned nearly five decades, during which he became a folk hero and a symbol of justice for the common man through his appearances in lucha films and comic books telling fictionalized stories of El Santo fighting for justice.
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El Santo starred or co-starred in at least 54 movies between 1958 and 1982.
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El Santo was buried in his silver mask, in one of the biggest funerals in Mexico.
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El Santo practiced baseball and American football, and then became interested in wrestling.
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El Santo first studied Ju-Jitsu and then later competed in amateur wrestling.
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El Santo suggested three names, El Santo, El Diablo or El Angel, and Rodolfo chose the first one.
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El Santo was known to never remove his mask, even in private company.
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On that night El Santo teamed up with El Solitario to take on Villano III and Rokambole in a match that naturally saw the legends win.
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True to the legend of El Santo he won his last match and retired as the hero he always portrayed in the ring and on the screen.
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Oses was planning on playing the hero in these two films, with El Santo appearing as his costumed sidekick, "El Enmascarado".
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El Santo played a masked superhero-type sidekick to the main hero in these two films, and was not the main character.
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Only four of the 53 El Santo films were ever dubbed into English, the other 48 being only available in Spanish.
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El Santo even co-starred with Blue Demon and Mil Mascaras in several of his movies.
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El Santo became an animated mini-series on Cartoon Network in Latin America, and was called El Santo Contra Los Clones.
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El Santo is often resurrected in Southern Culture's live performances when an audience member jumps onstage donning El Santo's mask.
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El Santo is referred to by Mexican rock band Botellita de Jerez in their song Santo, in which they speak of Santo's victories in the ring and in the movies as well as the great respect he was given as a Mexican movie hero.
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Just over a year after his retirement, El Santo was a guest on Contrapunto, a Mexican television program and, without warning, removed his mask just enough to expose his face, in effect bidding his fans goodbye.
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El Santo had been complaining of pain in his arm prior to his death.
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El Santo was entombed at a crypt on the Mausoleos del Angel cemetery in Mexico City.
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Later on, another wrestler adopted the "La Novia del Santo" name, but El Santo took action and put an end to the unauthorized use of the name.
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Axxel uses the same trademark mask, cape and trunk design as El Santo but has incorporated black trim and knee pads, presumably not to infringe on the legal rights of El Hijo del Santo.
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El Santo was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2018 as part of the Legacy Inductees of that year.