I am sure most of the people in attendance at the December 2023 Demand Lucha show, A Very Merry Lucha Christmas, came to see the likes of Gringo Loco, Jack Cartwheel and Alex Shelley. However, the unlikely duo of street performers, Arc Angel Divino and Ultimo Maldito, stole the show and caught everyone’s attention.
I was unfamiliar with Divino and Maldito. They are both from Mexico City and have only been to North America a handful of times.
Jordan Matthew Marques, the promoter of Demand Lucha, discovered the street performers when they were featured on VICE TV’s The Wrestlers in 2019. The show was hosted by Damian Abraham and he went across the globe showcasing different wrestlers and wrestling styles. Marques brought them to Demand to give Toronto an experience they could not get unless they travelled to Mexico.
Throughout their match, the crowd was on the edge of their seat or standing in amazement. The two of them had such chemistry and their match was the smoothest on the card, the loudest Parkdale Hall got was when they were in the ring.
There were many insane moments, like Divino diving from the top turnbuckle with a moonsault onto Maldito in the crowd or Maldito delivering a brutal chair shot to Divino’s head. The match concluded when Divino dropped Maldito with an avalanche Frankensteiner followed by a 450 splash from the top rope to get the victory. The entire crowd gave them a standing ovation when the match concluded.
“Toronto is a big city and has gotten a lot of big events,” said Marques. “To be able to get a standing ovation after their match is a testament to how jaw-dropping these two are.”
The two of them had a very unique beginning as luchadors, they are brothers and their father was a luchador. Thanks to their dad they fell in love with the sport and trained to become luchadors themselves. However, tragedy struck and their house in Mexico burned down, the two brothers were without a home and needed to make ends meet.
They came up with the idea of becoming lucha street performers.
“We needed to eat and figured that the best way to do it was to wrestle in the street in front of the stoplights in Mexico,” Divino told SlamWrestling.net through a Spanish interpreter.
They would find a busy street corner in Mexico and wrestle for three hours every day. If a crowd would gather and they would be making a lot of money, they would go another two hours. It would just be them two every day going back and forth showcasing their lucha libre.
They began to gain some traction online in 2013 and were discovered by Lucha Libre legend and booker of Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide, Konnan. He took a shot on the brothers, bringing them into AAA and allowing them to showcase their skills on a more global scale.
Marques recalled AAA and All Elite Wrestling star Pénta El Zero M giving praise to Divino and Maldito. “To steal from Pentagon [Pénta El Zero M], Divino and Ultimo Maldito fight with no fear and an endless amount of passion.”
Making the jump from street performing to arguably the biggest promotion in Mexico can be intimidating.
“Although we were on the streets, we always worked hard to train and be better every day until our dreams came true,” said Divino. “It is a big honor because to start in the streets and come from there to get a visa, coming here to Canada, going to the States, winning championships all over, means a lot to me.”
Maldito added his thoughts. “This was always the dream we had since the day we started at the traffic lights. One day we talked, and we said we would fight professionally, step by step we were able to get to this day, we are in Canada, our first date here with the promoter, and we are delighted. The goal was to fight all over the world, and now you can see the fruits of our labor.”
A lot of the time the two brothers face off against each other, but as a team they were able to become Pro Wrestling Revolution Tag Team Champions in 2023 and they currently still hold those titles. Even with all their accomplishments thus far, there is still so much more the brothers hope to achieve.
“One of our dreams is to go to Japan and another one is to be signed by one of the major companies in the United States,” said Divino.
Marques hopes to bring Divino and Maldito back to Demand Lucha in the future, but he says he will never have them face one-on-one again.
“We won’t be putting them in a singles match again, as I believe that moment should be saved for those who joined us for our December show, they will return in another capacity,” said Marques. “Maybe a trios or a scramble. No matter what match they are in, you can guarantee you will experience a mind-blowing match-up.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: The match is available to stream on the DemandLucha.com website, starting at the 49:44 minute mark.
Demand Lucha (demandlucha.com) returns to Parkdale Hall on Jan 18 for Plancha Tendencies featuring champion Jack Cartwheel, Mustafa Ali, Gringo Loco, and Kevin Blackwood.
JOHN GALLANT PHOTO GALLERY
[modula id=”162012″]
TOP PHOTO: Arc Angel Divino vs. Ultimo Maldito at Demand Lucha, at Parkdale Hall, in Toronto, Ontario, on Thursday, December 14, 2023. Photo by John Gallant / @hocusfocuspix
RELATED LINK
https://slamwrestling.net/index.php/2023/12/15/cartwheel-cartwheels-to-the-pinnacle-of-demand-lucha/
