Tuesday, March 7, 2023

Mask collection retrospective: 2014

I'm continuing my collection retrospective, this time moving forward into 2014. (Here's my previous post for 2013). This was a special year for me; it was the first time that I actually got to go to Mexico City, which, among many other things, meant more opportunities to buy masks.

The three masks that I'll be highlighting for 2014 are:

  • (Rey) Hechicero
  • Máscara Dorada
  • Flamita

(Rey) Hechicero

This mask is in his classic purple. It was ring-worn on July 18, 2014 at Arena México and is one of the last, if not the last, masks with his original design with covered eyes. I have "(Rey)" in parentheses because , although he had been billed as "Hechicero" since his arrival in CMLL, he signed this mask as "Rey Hechicero". Shortly after using this mask, he started to transition to his current design and to more consistent use of the shorter "Hechicero" name. It's pretty cool to have one of the last examples of an older design before a transition.

This was also the last mask that I bought before I went on my first ever trip to Mexico City to see lucha live! I got a bunch of masks there, but I'll highlight two of them with pretty cool stories.

Máscara Dorada

This mask is special to me for multiple reasons. For one, it's the first original mask that I ever got in Mexico, on September 12, 2014, and more specifically, it was used at the first lucha show that I ever attended live. Máscara Dorada kindly agreed to wait for me in the Arena México parking lot as the show finished.

It was here that I had my first experience in handling a ring-worn mask that was used less than an hour prior. I tried to put it on. My head is significantly larger than Dorada's, and the mask was still dripping wet. I needed help.


This was the only time that I actually got to meet Máscara Dorada in person. At least it was memorable.

Flamita

The last mask that I'll show for 2014 is a tricolor Flamita mask. As with Máscara the Dorada mask above, this mask commemorates the first time that I met Flamita, who was then the Open the Brave Gate champion in Dragon Gate, and this is the first mask that I bought that was worn on TV, but not in a ring. Our group was invited to observe a taping of Tercera Caída (the predecessor to Más Lucha) at TVC Deportes on Wednesday, September 17. As the story goes, Flamita was actually the backup choice for a guest that week (his appearance starts at the 38:30 mark):

And there was an extra YouTube-only extended interview:

We all went to dinner together afterward. I got a photo with the Open the Brave Gate belt:

I went on to collect many more masks from Flamita, but the first one is always special. In fact, the Máscara Dorada and Flamita masks are two of my strongest memories from that trip that don't involve the CMLL Aniversario proper. (This might also be partly due to the effort expended in trying to get the Máscara Dorada mask to air out and dry by the end of the trip!)

I really sped up my original mask collecting in 2014, but these three masks stuck out to me when I look back at that year. I hope that you've enjoyed the series so far. I'll be back later in the week with three masks from 2015.

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