Lucha Brutál carries on spirit of Maggie Martinez, late sister of owner Rogelio Martinez

Lucha Brutál carries on the spirit of Maggie Martinez, the late sister of owner Rogelio Martinez, as the company continues to grow and become a staple of Texas independent wrestling.

On May 23, 2019, Lucha Brutál presented “We Own The Sky” to the world.

It was the company’s very first show and was main evented by an intergender contest pitting Fuego Del Sol against Thunder Rosa.

After twenty minutes of back and forth action that was a perfect blend of traditional lucha libre action and modern indie wrestling, it was a devastating Samoan Driver from Thunder Rosa that put away Fuego Del Sol and gave “La Mera Mera” the victory to cap off the debut of Lucha Brutál.

It was a resounding success of an opening night for a company years in the making, but it wasn’t just about the great wrestling. Lucha Brutál carries on a legacy some attendees at the show might not even be aware of, but it’s one that is integral to the fabric of Lucha Brutál and one Owner and Promoter Rogelio Martinez surely doesn’t go a day without thinking about.

On Apr. 16, 2017, Rogelio Martinez and his sister Maggie Martinez were traveling to an Anarchy Championship Wrestling event in Austin, Texas called “Peace, Love & Anarchy.” On the way there, the two were happy and jovial while discussing their excitement for the event. Maggie was especially excited to see Thunder Rosa and Joey Ryan, even wearing a t-shirt of Ryan’s as they were headed there.

The day turned from joy to tragedy, and they never made it to the show. While Rogelio was driving the two of them down to Austin from Dallas, Maggie spontaneously suffered a massive stroke.

Unfortunately, the situation didn’t change and Maggie Martinez passed away at 2:50pm on Apr. 19, 2017. I had the opportunity to speak to Rogelio Martinez, Owner and Promoter of Lucha Brutál, about that day and how Maggie’s memory continues to live on in the world of wrestling.

“We’re going down to Austin and she has this- she had a stroke,” Rogelio explained. “And it was like- I don’t know- it’s a type of aneurysm or it’s a type of stroke that’s like an aneurysm. So, she basically was gone almost immediately. I’m driving the car, and it’s just this wild situation. She was 38 years old. I [had] just had this amazing week in Florida with her.”

The amazing week Rogelio is referring to was a series of independent wrestling shows surrounding WrestleMania 33 in Orlando, FL. By this point, they were huge independent wrestling fans, but that hadn’t been the case just a few years before then.

The very first wrestling event they attended was Lucha Underground Austin Warfare, which took place during SXSW (South by Southwest) in March of 2016. It was the unique aura of Lucha Underground that had caught their attention, and after their experience at Austin Warfare, they followed it up by attending the WrestleCon Supershow just a few weeks later in Dallas, which took place during WrestleMania 32 weekend.

“The very first independent wrestling show that I ever went to, because of Lucha Underground, was a supercard show in 2016 here in Dallas. It was the WrestleCon Supershow,” Rogelio said.

“And I went because like Brian Cage, Rey Mysterio, Ricochet, they were all gonna be there. Granted, this is my first indie show. So I’m seeing things that my eyes weren’t ready to see as far as the amazing matches. I saw Will Ospreay vs. Marty Scurll for the Progress Championship. And at the time, I had no idea what that meant, but now I’m like ‘wow, you should’ve appreciated that a whole lot more.’ That was my first [independent] show.”

“The reason that I went to WrestleMania week in Orlando was because WrestleMania was in my backyard and I went to one show, and I didn’t catch all these indie shows that I could,” he continued.

“So I told my sister, I was like ‘hey, I think we should go to WrestleMania week in Orlando and just go to all the indie shows.’ So we went to a ton of shows, it was awesome. I think we went to nine shows in three days or something like that. It was just an incredible experience. So just running on WrestleMania week means a ton to me, because of my experience with that. Basically, it all ties in because that WrestleMania week was like a week or a week and a half before she passed away.”

For some, having this sudden and traumatic experience so tied into attending wrestling events might form a negative connection, but that wasn’t the case here. On the contrary, it’s something Rogelio was very appreciative of.

“I’m a strong believer in ‘things work out for a reason the way that they do.’ And like, there was no other better goodbye than that. To know that it was just me and her enjoying wrestling. It was amazing,” Rogelio said. “That’s why I knew that I wanted to somehow tie her memory into wrestling, because she enjoyed it a lot. She loved Keith Lee, ACH, all these people that she had met on the scene. Brian Cage. Sammy Guevara was one of her favorites, she loved just giving him mess at shows, before and afterwards and stuff.”

Maggie’s enduring impact on all who knew her

Maggie’s love of wrestling might have been relatively new compared to longtime fans, but it didn’t make her any less passionate. In one short year of attending events, she made an indelible mark on everyone she interacted with. That was made abundantly clear by the outpouring of love and support from the wrestling community when she passed.

Immediately after Maggie’s passing, Heel/Face Wrestling was recording a Sammy Guevara podcast and did an entire tribute show for Maggie.

“That’s kinda where also my relationship with Thunder Rosa comes into play. My sister and I had met Thunder Rosa like once or twice before WrestleMania week, and then we ran into her there in Orlando,” Rogelio said. “[My sister] ended up being in the hospital for three days in a coma. During that time, it just so happened that Thunder Rosa was in town in Austin. I say in town, but it’s like an hour and a half away. She was in Austin promoting a Sabotage show in May that was coming up.”

“So, she was like ‘hey, can I come visit you and your family?’ So she came up, met my family, and she’s been— she calls my parents mom and dad,” he said. “She’s been like a sister to me ever since. It’s just, that was the thing that really brought us together, and it’s been an amazing relationship since.”

During the Sammy Guevara podcast in tribute to Maggie Martinez, Thunder Rosa actually came on and spoke briefly about Maggie and the impact she made in her life.

“You don’t see like genuine people trying to help other people, and she was one of those,” Thunder Rosa said. “That’s why some people came to see her [in the hospital] and pay their respects to her and for her because she deserved that because that was the life that she lived. She was going to something that she loved and she wanted to see Joey Ryan and she was excited. Every time I’m like complaining about life, I’m gonna think of her and think of her smile.”

The outpouring of love and support shows just how kind and special Maggie was, and her desire to help others was on display throughout her life as she spent 15 years as a NICU (neo-natal ICU) nurse helping babies born prematurely. As many great things as she did, it was a seemingly insignificant story that stood out to me and illustrates just how Maggie would jump at the opportunity to help others.

“She was a NICU nurse because she always had a passion for helping people,” Rogelio said.  “Even just wrestlers, and stuff like that. We were there at ‘Mania week [in 2017], and Shane Strickland was kind of like poking his head out from where all the wrestlers were and he’s like ‘man, I’m tryin’ to get a blue Gatorade.’ And she was like ‘oh, do you want me to run to Walgreens and get you one?’ And if you’ve ever been to WrestleMania week, this was like where the main hotel lobby was and it was just packed with people.”

“If you’re a wrestler, it’s just crazy, and she knew that it would end up taking him an hour to go run to Walgreens,” he said. “And so she’s like ‘yeah, I’ll go.’ And he’s like ‘are you sure?’ And she’s like ‘yeah, I’ll go.’ And so she went and got him [that blue Gatorade], and he was so thankful and stuff. That’s just the kind of person that she was. She didn’t do it because it was Shane Strickland. She did it because she knew it was a lot easier for her than it was gonna be for him, and she was just trying to help out.”

“[Her passing] just made me dive headfirst into working even more into wrestling,” Rogelio explained. “Because that’s kind of where I felt the community, and I felt her there. That’s what felt good.”

Rogelio and Heel/Face Wrestling

When Rogelio had first gotten into independent wrestling, he connected with some of the guys working with Heel/Face Wrestling, a media company dedicated to covering Texas independent wrestling much in the same way local outlets cover high school and college sports. As he continued attending shows, a friendship began to build.

“At the time my sister was going with me a ton, and she’s the kinda person who doesn’t know a stranger, you know? And me, I’m a little bit more reserved at first, and so she kinda really helped the friendship go along,” Rogelio said. “But soon enough there happened to be an Evolve show in San Antonio that my sister couldn’t go with me to, so I hit him up. I was like ‘hey, are you gonna be at these?’ And he was like ‘yeah,’ and I was like ‘I’m gonna hang out because my sister’s not gonna be there. I’m gonna be there by myself, but I really wanna go to this show.’ They were like ‘yeah, you’ll see us there.’ And I was like ‘okay, cool.’”

“So we go and I meet up with them and it’s like my first time hanging out with them just the three of us. It was me, Jeff Cerda, and Rudy Hernandez,” he said. “And after [the show] they were like ‘hey, we’re gonna go meet up with some people from another show that went all night, but first we’re gonna try to hit up a bar.’ So I was like, ‘okay.’ So we’re just in this random part of San Antonio and Jeff just googled ‘bar’ and we go. It’s one of the craziest nights.”

“These two brothers and sisters get in a fight, and this is the first time I’ve ever hung out with them. And I’m like, ‘what is going on?’ Like, they told people that I was a famous wrestler that they were doing a documentary on,” Rogelio said. “And like people were trying to fight me ‘cause they’re like ‘oh, you think you’re tough?’ Because they’re [drunk]. I was like, ‘okay, what have I gotten myself into?’ But shortly after that they found out that I actually did video work, and they were like ‘hey, man, you should work with us.’ And I just, I was like ‘okay.’”

“I took my camera along and Sabotage, they were helping bring Sabotage down to Austin shortly after that. I was doing promo pictures,” he said. “I’d never done anything like that. I was filming matches. I’d never- I kinda just jumped [in] head first, and after that any time Heel/Face was somewhere, I was there with them working shows and filming and doing photography. And so really, like my first step into the wrestling business was through that experience and through Heel/Face.”

Rogelio first started working with Heel/Face Wrestling before Maggie had passed, and a great example of her willingness to help out came with a simple food and wrestling show Rogelio began filming for Heel/Face Wrestling called “Let’s Taco ‘Bout Wrestling.”

While the show didn’t have an extended tenure, the first episode featured someone in the background as “The Invisible Man.” During the Sammy Guevara tribute show to Maggie, Beau Jeremy told the story of how the person willing to wear this absurd solid green suit to play “The Invisible Man” for the video was none other than Maggie Martinez.

As his various roles and responsibilities expanded, Rogelio became an integral part of Heel/Face Wrestling as they continued to grow and filmed more and more independent wrestling shows in Texas. Eventually, Rogelio decided to branch out on his own to make some extra income.

“I was doing a lot of work south of Dallas,” Rogelio said. “So I decided I was going to start my own production company for wrestling matches called 2 Count Productions. I’m gonna film matches and if people need that, I’ve built some equipment here where I can film a whole show by myself if I need to. Basically, I started this new company so I could establish fresh that this is to earn me some extra income. It’s not a favor. And while I still maintained my relationship and working with Heel/Face, anything I took under 2 Count was strictly my thing.”

“I’d just started putting my name out there, and this company in 2018, they were starting out. It was called Dallas Championship Wrestling,” Rogelio said. “I think they saw one of my highlight videos, and they were like ‘hey, we wanna hire you to film our shows.’ So their first show was in February 2018, and I was like ‘yeah, no doubt.’ I was like ‘this is my rate,’ you know that kind of thing. So they hired me on to do that.”

“The first show that I filmed for them, I showed up like 20 minutes before the show, set up my stuff, and filmed it. And it was cool. I liked it,” he said. “Then they were like, ‘hey, can you do like a hype video?’ So I was like ‘sure,’ and slowly my responsibility started to grow with them. Which I was totally cool with. I was like ‘hey, this is awesome.’ It all started to just kinda transform. I was getting more and more responsibilities. I was actually helping with setting everything up to make sure the show was ready to go on. We’re working in different venues, so we’re setting up the locker room, lights, and all that kind of stuff. And so I was more on the production [side] of the show while filming as well.”

From filming to booking

As Rogelio’s responsibilities continued to grow with DCW, he saw an opportunity to branch into a whole other area: actually booking a wrestling show. Mike Tatum, who owned DCW, had a more old school philosophy for the promotion. Seeing an opportunity because of the way the independent scene is today, Rogelio decided to ‘shoot his shot’ so to speak and pitch a different kind of event.

“I pitched to the booker, ‘hey, what if we do like a futures show? We highlight more of these up and coming guys.’ And I put together a fake card, just kinda made a fake poster, and I sent it to him. [It was] just guys that I had known from working so many shows in Austin and San Antonio, and he loved it,” Rogelio said.

“I was like ‘yo, what do you think about this? Give me your opinion. What do you think if we did something like this?’ It was called The Future is Now, and he was like ‘dude, I love it. Book it.’ And I was like ‘what?’ And he was like ‘yeah, just tell me how much it’s gonna cost, and if it’s within the realm [of possibility], we’ll book it.’ And I was like ‘okay.’”

“So I reached out to these guys, and I put the show together. For that show, I did the graphics and stuff, and they like really loved it,” he said. “It was really cool to be able to work with people that I had been filming promos for and doing photoshoots for, [and] then like actually being able to reach out to them and book them for the show. Not only that, [but] it just so happened that it was on my birthday the day of the show, August 16th. So I was really stoked about that.”

After the success of The Future is Now, Rogelio had earned the opportunity to continue helping with the booking and creative direction for DCW. While he didn’t have the same accolades or tenure that most wrestling bookers have, continued work with talent for promos and other things had earned him the respect of many, but one of the scene’s most respected names also looked out for him.

“Andy Dalton, like a Texas staple at this point,” Rogelio began, speaking of 20-year independent wrestling veteran “Dirty” Andy Dalton. “He really stepped up and kinda told the wrestlers in the locker room- And he told me privately, he was like ‘you need to own this position. If you’re gonna be doing it, don’t let people walk all over you. You’re the man now.’ And I was like ‘oh, gosh.’ First meeting there in the locker room, [Andy Dalton] steps up and is like ‘hey guys, Rogelio is one of the bookers now, so give him the respect he’s due, and what the position holds. Respect the position, and let him earn the respect.’ That really put me over with the guys in the locker room.”

The Maggie Martinez Memorial Intergender Tag Team Titles

Once Rogelio was in that role, and excelling, an opportunity to finally tie the legacy and memory of his late sister Maggie Martinez into professional wrestling presented itself.

“So November was her birthday month, and I’m working with DCW. And I told them ‘hey, for November I’d like to do a memorial show.’ You know, a lot of great ideas come down to just having to pay for them,” Rogelio said. “Some ideas are just too expensive. And I was like, ‘I wanna do a tag team tournament. A one night tag team tournament. We’ll have these intergender tag team titles. I’m gonna buy them.’ I was like ‘this is gonna cost a lot of money, but because it’s for my sister, y’all just pay what y’all normally pay for a show, and me and my family are gonna get the rest of the money together.’ And they were like ‘yeah, we’re down. Go ahead.’”

“Basically, I booked this tag team tournament [with] all these intergender tag teams. And then I was like, we’re running a one-day tournament. I’m gonna need something before the finale to give them a little time to breathe, because they were gonna be wrestling multiple times, to give them a little time to rest,” Rogelio said. “And so I booked a huge scramble. Brian Cage was one of her favorites, and we were able to bring him in. And brought in a lot of other talent.”

The opportunity was finally there for Rogelio to tie Maggie’s memory back into the wrestling industry, but much in the way she always tried to help others, Rogelio didn’t make this all about her or his family. He made sure it was about something even more important as well.

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“So, that first memorial show, it was premature baby awareness month in November, and I had a friend who had just adopted two twins that were born premature. And so we raised some funds for them,” Rogelio said. “On the title belt, it says it’s dedicated not only to Maggie’s memory, but to her commitment to prematurely born babies and awareness for that. So, any time those titles come up and that kind of thing, anytime someone wants to see them or take a picture with them, I know they look at that and they see that that’s huge. It’s not just the company’s name on there. It’s not just this or that, it actually has a lot of meaning to it.”

On what are honestly some absolutely gorgeous championship belts, the side plates tell the full story. “Maggie Martinez Memorial” adorns one, the simpler nod. The other has an insignia for her role as a NICU nurse, and says “In Loving Memory of: Virginia “Maggie” Martinez, 11/16/1978 – 4/19/2017, Dedicated to the Continued Support and Awareness of Prematurely Born Babies and Their Families.”

“Gino [Medina] and Hyan are the current holders of those titles, and it’s really awesome. After Gino won the title, he just told me he knows how much that means to me and how much those titles represent, and how much they mean and what they represent,” Rogelio said. “And there’s been a couple of occasions where he holds like four titles, and most of them are singles titles. This is the only tag title that he has, and I’ve seen shows where he comes out and he’s wearing that title. Out of all the other titles he could be wearing, he’s wearing that one. And that means a lot to me. I didn’t ask him to do that.”

On top of the deeper meaning of the titles, they also illustrate a continued support of intergender wrestling, which is something Maggie definitely supported as well. Rogelio talked about his support of intergender wrestling, and how it also plays into the fabric of Lucha Brutál.

“Any of my titles are intergender titles. Any of my titles can be held by a man or a woman. I’m here to tell compelling stories,” Rogelio said. “I’m here to showcase very talented people. My whole view on intergender wrestling is [that] it’s a part of wrestling as far as I’m concerned. It’s in the DNA. I moreso lean towards having intergender matches than having straight women’s matches all the time”

“The workers, I want them to get that valuable experience. So yeah, I would rather put a girl that I know is ready to break out against someone who just has the talent level to take her there, no matter their gender,” he explained. “And I don’t ever feel forced to book a female against a female just because it looks good to have a girls match. I would rather book three intergender matches and book three or four girls in that than have one token women’s match and say ‘look, I booked a girls match.’ It doesn’t make sense.”

“I love women’s wrestling. I love intergender wrestling. But the bottom line is I love good wrestling,” Rogelio emphasized. “To me, it’s not enough to help a wrestler by just saying ‘I’m gonna give you a booking.’ You gotta put ‘em in a situation to succeed.”

The foundational goals of Lucha Brutál

Intergender wrestling, put most simply, is just as much a part of Lucha Brutál as the ring itself. It’s not something special. It’s just there. It’s the norm. As the company continues to grow and their presence on the Texas independent wrestling scene continues to evolve, there are other goals and tenants that Rogelio has kept in mind.

“There’s a couple different main goals that I have with Lucha Brutál. One of them is helping young talent get to that next level by having these matchups with people that have been in the business longer than them or just have more experience and stuff. One of the others is bringing in talent to Dallas that hasn’t been here before,” Rogelio said. “The third big thing that I stand on for Lucha Brutál—and I haven’t been able to do it as much as I want to now, just because we’re small and we’re young, but the more influence I can bring from the hispanic culture into indie wrestling, I want to. Because indie wrestling borrows so much from lucha libre, as far as moves and stuff like that, but a lot of the culture gets left behind, you know?”

“As much as I can, I wanna bring some of that culture in,” he said. “And that might be a little challenging, on like what does that necessarily look like, but I just wanna be able to say lucha libre isn’t just cool moves, there’s other stuff to it as well. And just have people recognize that. It doesn’t have to be like the main aspect of the company, but in the future that’s one of my things that I really wanna implement is being like ‘hey, there’s more to [lucha libre] that just cool moves.’ That’s the third thing I really stand on.”

So far, Lucha Brutál has been a success, but Rogelio wasn’t shy about his potential doubts going into their first event. He wanted Lucha Brutál to be something special and didn’t intend to keep it going if it felt like more of the same to fans.

“To be honest, after I ran my first show, I was like— I don’t know if this is gonna me my first show or my only show. If people afterwards were like ‘oh yeah, that was cool man. It kinda reminds me of what I see at so and so company’,” Rogelio said. “I probably woulda been like ‘ah, cool, maybe I’ll run like two shows a year or something like that and move on.’ But afterwards people were like ‘oh my gosh that was awesome. We love it. It just feels different.’”

“The thing is I’m so laid back and that’s how I run my company. We had a technical difficulty or two. The first thing I do is I go and address people just to welcome them to the show. The mic starts to feedback and stuff, and I’m the only one who knows how to adjust the microphone. I’m standing on the stage in front of everyone, and the soundboard is behind the curtain. I know a lot of promoters, that would have frazzed them, and they would’ve been upset,” he said.

“They would’ve been like ‘this is my first time introducing my company and this messes up,’ and they would’ve been so mad. And I just kept talking into the mic. I was like ‘hey guys, so I’m just gonna walk around here behind the curtain because I am the only guy in the building that knows how to run the soundboard and we’re getting a little feedback here.’ And people just kinda laughed. I just took it in stride, you know? And I’m just real laid back. And I had so many people tell me, ‘you don’t know how that just upped the show to be a fun environment.'”

Just under a year since their first show, Lucha Brutál is now gearing up for their next event, Valor and Swagger, which will take place on Thursday, Mar. 26 in Irving, TX. While many companies have been forced to cancel events due to the continued spread of coronavirus, Rogelio Martinez and Lucha Brutál intend to move forward with the show and are making efforts to try and entertain and help others during this trying time.

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While the situation remains fluid both near Dallas and nationwide, Lucha Brutál still plans to provide fans a needed distraction from the realities of what is happening today while reminding fans to wash their hands and take necessary precautions to minimize risk. On top of that, this event is no doubt crucial for the independent wrestling scheduled to compete at it.

As David Bixenspan recently detailed in an article for VICE, the impact of broad cancellations on the independent wrestling industry could be catastrophic for some. Independent wrestlers, many of whom don’t have secondary jobs and are supporting themselves on a show-to-show basis, are more in need of the opportunity to work and provide for themselves than fans are in need of seeing the shows themselves.

It’s for that reason that, despite the challenges, Lucha Brutál intends to march forward and present Valor and Swagger and give these independent wrestlers the payday they’ve earned and likely are in desperate need of. If you’re within driving distance of the event and can safely (and fiscally) make the trip, these men and women need your support now more than ever.

Lucha Brutál carries on the memory of Maggie Martinez, her fight to help others, and does so by supporting independent wrestlers while providing quality entertainment to fans. As of right now, there are no plans for that to change for Valor and Swagger or for any show in the future. As fans, do whatever you can to help others, because it’s the right thing to do, and because it’s what Maggie would have done.

If you would like to contribute to the continued fight for premature babies, please consider supporting March of Dimes, an organization that has existed for over 80 years and “leads the fight for the health of all moms and babies.”