Pin pals grapple for a cause

So who is that masked man?

"I want to keep that a secret from everyone except my mother because I needed her blessing," Super Mojado said in Spanish. "I will come out of hiding whenever the community needs me."

For all his strength, courage and wit, however, there was one thing Super Mojado could not do. That was to get rid of the house-arrest tracking bracelets attached to the legs of the 130 arrested Feb. 7 pending their court proceedings. Many of them volunteered at Saturday's grunt-and-groan spectacle to serve lunches of tacos and corn on the cob, clean the lot and sell tickets.

"I want to reach out and take off their ankle bracelets," Super Mojado said from behind the mask. "But I can't."

The wrestling ring, which was 19 feet square and 3 feet high, and the services of the 25 grapplers who fought in it were donated by Joe and Leo Medina, owners of Pacific Promotions, which specializes in professional wrestling and boxing events.

The event was held at the headquarters of Hermandad Mexicana, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping immigrants with legal problems.

"I never thought this character, Super Mojado, would get this big this fast," Joe Medina said. "This is his first of many matches. But we're not going to exploit it."

Super Mojado is wrestling for charity, not profit, Medina explained.

Judging from the outpouring of appreciation at Saturday's free-for-all, Super Mojado would probably continue to be top of the ticket at future events, taking a beating and then bopping his opponents with the moral support of allies like Matt of the Repo Show, a first-generation Irish immigrant dedicated to defending underdogs.

"Super Mojado symbolizes the hopes and struggles of immigrants everywhere," said lucha libre fan Marisol Velasquez, 33. "I think we have a winner."

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louis.sahagun@latimes.com