In a bit of news that will change the face of lucha libre – or at least CMLL – for the future, CMLL President Francisco “Paco” Alonso Lutteroth passed away on Saturday, July 6, at the age of 67.
Alonso has been the man in charge of Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) – the oldest wrestling promotion in the world – since 1975 when his grandfather Salvador Lutteroth put he and Chavo Lutteroth in charge.
Salvador is considered the grandfather of lucha libre – having founded the company in the early 1930s – and ran the company until the 1970s when he relinquished it to his son Chavo and grandson Alonso. Alonso was the son of Lutteroth’s daughter.
By the 1980s, Chavo had also stepped away from the business and Paco Alonso took full control of the company. Alonso is also responsible for hiring longtime luchador Antonio Pena, who would later go onto create AAA after a falling out with CMLL.
Unlike Chavo, Paco commanded the same sort of respect from the luchadors as Salvador Lutteroth did and Alonso continued to run CMLL as the top promotion in Mexico for decades.
Alonso was not only responsible for CMLL’s expansion onto television but also responsible for expanding CMLL past its weekly Arena Mexico and Arena Coliseo events into promoting as many as 10 shows in a week at different times.
Alonso was reclusive and rarely spoke publicly but was known for his brilliant business mind and willingness to allow his bookers handle the wrestling side of things with little interference, for the most part.
Alonso is also known to hold grudges against those he felt had betrayed him – like Konnan and El Hijo del Santo – over the years. In the reverse, he is also known for keeping around those that are loyal longer maybe than needed, as well.
Alonso’s 28-year old daughter Sofia Alonso has been running the day-to-day of the company more and more over the last few years but it is unknown if Alonso had been sick or what the cause of death is as of yet. Sofia is expected to take control of the company in some capacity.
Paco Alonso oversaw some of the biggest business in the history of lucha libre over his 35-year career and the loss of this reclusive figure will be felt by CMLL for years to come.