Alex Marvez's weekly look at professional wrestling

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The possibility of Rey Mysterio losing his mask is overshadowed by other World Wrestling Entertainment storylines on Sunday's No Mercy pay-per-view show.This wouldn't happen in Mexican pro wrestling, where such costuming is treated with far more reverence."Lucha Libre: Life Behind the Mask'' ($14.95; Eagle Rock Entertainment) provides a glimpse into the cultural significance of the hoods. The 70-minute DVD focuses on several masked grapplers based in Southern California, where lucha-style wrestling draws from a large Mexican-American population.Some of those fans remember legendary luchadores like El Santo, Blue Demon and Mil Mascaras, whose matches served as athletic morality plays between good and evil. Leading roles in cheesy action movies added to the aura of all three as masked Mexican superheroes.In the 1990s, Mysterio (real name Oscar Gutierrez), Super Crazy (Francisco Pantoja Islas) and the late Eddie Guerrero were luchadores before joining major U.S. wrestling promotions. Mexican wrestling culture spread further into the U.S. mainstream earlier this decade through the Jack Black movie Nacho Libre and kids cartoon Mucha Lucha.The phenomenon intrigued a filmmaker (Kralyevich Productions Inc.) to commission Life Behind the Mask."There is tradition, honor and mystery behind the masks and the lengths the luchadores take to keep their identities a secret," documentary director Rich Walton said in a telephone interview. "We wanted to take a look at this from an outsider's perspective but not do it in a comical way."Walton, who entered the project with limited wrestling knowledge, quickly learned the mask is no laughing matter even away from the ring. The masks and what they symbolized were so important to El Santo and Blue Demon that the biggest stars in lucha history were each buried while wearing one.When their hoods were off, Walton was forced to digitize the faces of the veiled performers featured in "Life Behind the Mask.'' One of them was Kayam, who teams with brother Enigma Del Oro as Los Chivos.An elementary school teacher, Kayam sometimes enters the classroom with facial cuts and bruises. He tells students they came from "playing sports.""The last thing he wants is for students to find out he's a wrestler because of the potential for chaos in the classroom," Walton said. "The kids would look at their teacher in a whole different way."More fans see live wrestling in Mexico than any other country. Mexican promoters traditionally book mask vs. mask or mask vs. hair matches to end long-running feuds and headline major lucha shows.Whether such stipulations will continue to draw long-term has come into question. Masks may not carry the same mystique to newer generations of lucha fans, especially because photos of hooded grapplers with their faces exposed can easily be found on the internet.Like in the U.S., lucha is becoming increasingly perceived as "sports entertainment" rather than legitimate competition. WWE also is making a big push into the Mexican market, which threatens major lucha promotions like CMLL (Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre) and AAA (Asistencia Asesorma y Administracisn).Walton, who filmed "Behind the Mask'' in 2002 and 2003, already senses a shift on the Southern California lucha scene. Walton said one of the famed training gyms (Gil's Garage) has closed and more American-style wrestlers were booked on a lucha card he recently attended.Even the Southern California lucha shows Walton filmed earlier this decade weren't overflowing with fans. Walton, though, hopes the genre continues to survive."This wasn't what Americans think of wrestling with big arenas and pay-per-view events," Walton said. "This is something where the wrestlers truly have to love what they're doing. They have real jobs. I met luchadores from a whole range of professions like nurses and social workers."When these people put the mask on, they became a whole different person. They're not into this for the machismo, the fame or even the money. It's just a passion for lucha."For ordering information, visit www.eaglerockent.com. NEW MERCY: The final push for No Mercy coincides with Friday night's WWE Smackdown debut on MyNetwork TV. Paul "Triple H" Levesque vs. Matt Hardy vs. Chris Jericho headlines the show, which is moving to a new network after airing the past nine years on CW.(Alex Marvez writes a syndicated pro wrestling column for Scripps-Howard News Service. Contact him at alex1marv@aol.com.)