Continued from Part 1!
Surprisingly, it took 3 years for the Catholic Church to catch on to the fact that a Dominican priest was moonlighting as a masked superhero in arenas across Mexico.
Gutiérrez's superior, Bishop Torreblanca, finally contacted him requesting help in identifying the mysterious Wrestling Priest.
Upon discovering the truth the Bishop predictably ordered a cessation of grappling proclivities.
Gutiérrez's response? Fine, I'll stop. I'll also come by every week to pick up your donation to the orphanage.
The Bishop's response? Okay, you can keep on wrestling!
Fray Tormenta's wrestling career continued to be his primary means of funding his orphanage and the resulting publicity had the benefit of increasing donations from the public.
Within the ring, the predominantly devout Catholic audiences of Mexico were rabid in their support of the Wrestling Priest, which caused much anxiety for his opponents who risked public lynching if they were seen to be acting too despicably during matches. Backstage Gutiérrez became a councillor to other luchadores, even hearing their confessions and once marrying a couple inside the ring. All without removing his mask!
Fray Tormenta retired from the grappling game in 2000 but continues to run his church and orphanage to this day, which has apparently produced a priest, two accountants, three doctors, seven lawyers, sixteen teachers and twenty computer technicians as well as a young luchador who has adopted la mascara under the name Fray Tormenta Junior (who is also a graduate in criminal law - education first!). Tormenta (Sr) has appeared in lucha libre post-retirement, mostly in the role of mentor to CMLL star Mistico.
In addition to Nacho Libre and a Jean Reno film L'Homme au masque d'or, Gutiérrez/Fray Tormenta has also been the prototype for several video game characters ("King" from the Tekken series, "Greco" from Chrono Cross and "Tizoc" from Fatal Fury) as well as the titular hero of the Japanese anime Tiger Mask, which itself has become the most famous gimmick in puroresu (Japanese professional wrestling) with four different wrestlers coming to fame portraying the masked do-gooder.
God indeed moves in mysterious ways!
All words my own
Photo at top of page (c) SLAM! Sports
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