BENICIA, Calif. (AP) — The handwritten sign at a Northern California public library warned patrons to expect more noise than usual. That warning quickly proved to be an understatement as professional wrestlers, accompanied by booming music, thundered into the reading space and jumped into a ring flanked by row upon row of bookshelves.
Dozens of children and adults greeted the theatrics with hoots and hollers at the Benicia Public Library in Benicia, California.
Welcome to “Lucha Libro,” a high-energy, action-packed story time that is bringing live wrestling matches to libraries across the U.S. to promote literacy. Founded in 2024, “Lucha Libro” plays off the name of the popular Mexican-inspired sport of Lucha Libre. Libro means book in Spanish.
Libraries are typically sedate places, but the wrestlers did not hold back. They body slammed their opponents and aerial kicked each other in the chest.
