 |
| Don Salvador Lutteroth (right), the father of Lucha Libre, with his son Hector (left). Photo from EFE |
Salvador Lutteroth (at right in the photo above), the legendary Mexican professional wrestling promoter, was known as "the father of lucha libre." He is also known here at the Domed Globe website as the father of the "Ten Pounds of Gold."
Lutteroth commissioned Mexican jeweler Manual Sabala to make the famed belt for NWA president Sam Muchnick. Sabala is credited for designing the famously familiar "domed-globe" design that was prevalent on so many of the Mexican wrestling championship belts of that era.
Born in 1897, Lutteroth founded the wrestling organization Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre (EMLL) in 1933 after first seeing a pro-wrestling exhibition in El Paso, Texas a couple years earlier. That company evolved into CMLL ( Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre) which combined is the longest running single pro-wrestling promotion in the world.
During his time, Lutteroth was the most powerful man in wrestling in the country of Mexico and one of the most powerful wrestling executives in the world. By 1973, when the domed-globe belt was presented to Muchnick, Lutteroth's son was generally running things in the company and had received NWA sanction for the NWA world welterweight and light-heavyweight championships. The belt that represented the world light heavyweight title was nearly identical in design to the belt that would represent the heavyweight title in 1973. It is generally thought the world belt was a gift to Muchnick and the NWA from the Lutteroths, as they liked staying in good graces with the NWA president.
His influence on the image of the NWA title is immense. That image still exists today in the modern NWA title belt.
Salvador Lutteroth passed away in 1987.
Paco Lutteroth: https://lastwordonprowrestling.com/2019/07/07/cmll-owner-paco-alonso-passes-away-at-67/
