The Super Doll wrestler walks in a gym in Mexico City, in 2019. Teresa de Miguel (El País)
Wrestlers are collectors of various forms of pain.
Super Doll knew that since he got into a ring.
Inside, these neighborhood fighters suffer;
on the outside, they show happiness.
The joy was in his character: a clown mask and shorts suit.
It was the perfect magnet for children since the eighties.
This Wednesday, his death has been confirmed at the age of 59 after becoming infected with covid-19 that aggravated his delicate state of health.
Before being a friendly fighter, he had a character that scared from the name.
Sanguinario Jr. was his nickname, with which he debuted as a professional in 1982, in honor of his father, who also got up to deliver blows in the ring.
But the idea of Herbert Palafox, his real name, was to be the hero of children and that is why he was inspired by the famous Cepillín clown, who died in March 2021. The children's songs and the humorist's demeanor served the fighter to adapt his identity.
His golden mask had two stars in his eyes, a drawn smile and his head showed his hair, something atypical in the world of Mexican wrestling.
He then founded with two other fighters a trio taken from an old Disney movie: the Fantasy Trio.
He was joined by the characters Super Mouse and Super Pinocchio.
boom
in the wrestling arenas in Mexico.
In the ring, the toy wrestler fought against other Mexican idols such as Octagón, La Parka and Aguayo Dog.
He won more than a hundred matches in hair and mask bets.
He dedicated 37 years of his life to traveling throughout Mexico to fight.
“I was going to fight and he wanted to kill me.
They called me El Suicida in the eighties.
I threw myself and I didn't mind hurting myself.
Wrestling is very hard.
But now I don't want to die, I want to live more, "he said in an interview with EL PAÍS, in 2019. Super Muñeco resisted retirement despite the fact that he had back and knee injuries.
“One day I went to the doctor to check my right knee.
'You have to operate immediately,' he told me, but he was checking my left one! ”, He mentioned.
In his last years he dedicated himself to teaching wrestling classes in gyms in popular neighborhoods in Mexico City.
He also sold his branded masks and products on Facebook.
The pandemic caused wrestling shows to be canceled.
At the end of December 2020, some companies began to have activity.
Super Doll avoided leaving his house due to his diabetes.
"[I don't go out] for fear of the pandemic and dying," he said in an interview with the Efe news agency.
Super Muñeco traveled to the United States at the end of January to meet fans.
He was seen in a wheelchair.
And at the beginning of February he was admitted to the hospital.
One of his children, through his Facebook page, reported that he had tested positive for covid-19.
Already this February 9, the main wrestling companies, the CMLL and the AAA, reported his death.
The children who were brought to the arenas to see Super Doll 30 or 20 years ago, today shared the photos that they managed to take as adults with the fighter.
subscribe here
to the
newsletter
of EL PAÍS México and receive all the informative keys of the current affairs of this country
