Google greets and celebrates El Santo, the man behind the popularization of wrestling in Mexico, and what would have been his 99th birthday.
Who Is El Santo?
El Santo is born on September 23, 1917 as Rodolfo Guzman Huerta in Tulancingo, Hidalgo, Mexico. He grew up in Mexico City as a natural born athlete. He played baseball and American football and trained Ju-Jitsu as a child.
He fell in love with lucha libre - the fast paced version of wrestling in Mexico - and debuted his wrestling career in the mid 1930s. After a slew of different stage names like El Hombe Rojo and El Murcielago II (The Bat II) he later became known as El Santo (The Saint). He wrestled for nearly 5 decades and is remembered as one of the greatest sports icons in Mexican history. The silver-masked luchador according to Google, became a cultural icon through his appearance in film and became the subject of comic books as someone who represents justice in the fight against evil.
Happy Birthday to the late, great El Santo. pic.twitter.com/jOqRBmj6Gr
— Lucha Libretarian (@LuchaLibrtarian) September 23, 2016
Google Doodle
It's considered defeat to a luchador if his mask is removed and El Santo had unmasked countless opponents on the ring. Legend has it that he even wore his mask at home and had a special mask for eating. He removed his mask eventually on television when he revealed his identity on the Mexican talk show Contrapunto. El Santo died on Feb. 5, 1984, a week after he unmasked himself. A statue of El Santo was later erected in his hometown, Tulancingo.
El Santo was buried wearing his iconic silver mask, which he specifically requested. The Doodle is visible across the U.S., Latin America, and Indonesia. It features El Santo fighting to defend cities against his enemies.
Wrestling is such a great sport, who knew there's so much history in it?
