Lucha VaVOOM: Wrestling, Humor, and Halloween

A full, festive, and fearsome ring of delights take a flying leap downtown.

How Halloween is celebrated by the holiday's many fans pretty much covers the ghoulish gamut, with costume parties, haunted houses, trick-or-treating, and dastardly dinners serving up the requisite chills 'n thrills.

Thus far, though, sporting and scares haven't combined all that often during the Halloween season, and, no, rooting for your team in the World Series doesn't quite count. But a dramatic tumble-and-preen night at LUCHA VaVOOM's annual Halloween-tacular does, for wrestling is the main draw.

Well, wrestling and burlesque and comedy and general theatrical over-the-top-a-tude, which is the heavily sequined calling card of this 13-year-old show, a for-the-adults extravaganza that's become a staple of the Mayan Theatre calendar.

But you don't need to be downtown on Halloween night to experience this mask-donning, rope-leaping brand of luchadore-amazing bravado. The performers'll be ready to bring the crowd-revving feats and eeks ahead of Oct. 31, on Wednesday, Oct. 28 and Thursday, Oct. 29.

Yes, you can leave your feather boa and stilettos at home, and your classic luchadore headwear, too, though both the crowd and those in the ring will likely summon the spirit of Halloween style.

Set to appear at "Mexican Horror Story": A whole caboodle of classic Lucha VaVOOM favorites, from Los Crazy Chickens to Heino! to the Poubelle Twins. Look for amazing acts of the hula hoop from artist like Marawa the Amazing, and look up to enjoy the twirls of "aerial pole superstar" Leigh Acosta.

There's more, more, more, as there often is for this LA icon, which not only pops up around the witchingest holiday of the year but Valentine's and Cinco de Mayo, too. But will Halloween bring the extra-outlandishness from a show that is not known for understatement, subtle showmanship, or a lack of lively, wild-applause-inducing fun?

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Halloween has a way of doing that via its many outlets, be they a haunted house or a costume party. But when the luchadores and burlesque artists and aerialists show up, count on the dazzlement dial getting turned all the way up.

And when sport takes a centerstage, of sorts, around Halloween, call it unusual and worth watching. How many other physical activities, beyond lucha, can boast such cred?

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