Unlike most sports, professional wrestling is unconcerned with win-loss records. In lucha libre, the truly important matches, the ones that make up a wrestler’s official legacy, are not world championship bouts. Instead, they are Mask vs. Mask, Hair vs. Hair, or even Hair vs. Mask matches. Luchadores wager their masks or their hair on the outcome of a fight. Of these, the mask is the more significant wager. When a wrestler is defeated and unmasked, his face is revealed to the public for the first time. His name and birthplace are published in the papers, and the mask, which once symbolized his honor, is retired and cannot be used again. In contrast, the loser of a Hair match is publicly shaved and humiliated, but they live to fight again, as hair eventually grows back.
