How did Santos Escobar lose his Mask?

Jorge Luis Alcantar Bolly is a second generation Mexican luchador, who is currently signed with WWE under the name Santos Escobar and is said to perform under the SmackDown brand. He is the leader of Legado Del Fantasma and a member of Latino World Order. In 2000, Alcantar began his pro wrestling career as a masked wrestler under the name Top Secret and used the name until 2003. In 2003, he changed his name to El Hijo del Fantasma by revealing his identity as the son of El Fantasma. He then adopted a new mask based on the comic book character “The Phantom” similar to his father. His first taped match was on December 14 2004 for the International Wrestling Revolution Group (IWRG).

Alcantar joined Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre in 2008 and wrestled there for the next five years. Where he won the CMLL World Trios Championship twice and CMLL World Middleweight Championship once. The trio of Hector Garza and La Mascara was a huge success, where they had won the CMLL Trio of the year award in 2009. In 2010, Garza walked out of the trio during the match due to miscommunication and internal tensions raised among them. However they somehow managed to work together to defend their CMLL World Trios Title but during the match Garza turned on Fantasma and Mascara and became heel.

In 2013 Fantasma debuted as heel on Lucha Libre AAA World Wide as the newest member of El Consejo. In Lucha Libre AAA World Wide, Fantasma won the AAA Fusion Championship, AAA Latin American Championship and AAA World Cruiserweight Championship. The promotion has been a turning point of Fantasma’s wrestling career where he had some of the greatest wins and a career changing loss. Fantasma has also appeared on other wrestling promotions while performing for AAA including Impact Wrestling and Lucha Underground.

In 2019, Fantasma announced his departure from AAA and signed a contract with WWE and made his WWE debut on the NXT brand under his real name, but once again changed it to El Hijo del Fantasma the following Year. He wrestled with the mask at the initial days of his days in NXT and won the Cruiserweight Championship. He then was joined by Raul Mendoxa and Joaquin Wilde, who attacked Drake Maverik. Fantasma unmasked himself and renamed himself as Santo Escobar and the crew as Legado del Fantasma.

They wrestled as a heel for years in NXT and made their main roster debut in 2022 with Zelina Vega. They have been the heel for weeks and no sooner became face by involving themselves in the Rey vs Dominik Mysterio storyline. The stable showed respect to Rey Mysterio for his legacy he has behind and backed up Rey whenever he was in trouble. Rey Mysterio before WrestleMania brought back the Latino World Order stable back and inducted the Legado del Fantasma in it.

Escobar used to wrestle with the mask as he is a luchador, why did he remove his mask? to whom did he lose his mask? Here is a detailed view of how Escobar became an unmasked wrestler.

How did Santos Escobar lose his Mask?

Between 2013 to 2019, Santos Escobar worked for Lucha Libre AAA World Wide under the name El Hijo del Fantasma. In 2018 at Triplemania XXVI, El Hijo del Fantasma, Psycho Clown, LA Park and Pentagon Jr. fought in a Poker Aces match risking their masks. Where Fantasma was defeated by LA Park and was forced to unmask and reveal his original identity. El Hijo del Fantasma then surrendered his mask to LA Park and revealed his name Jorge Luis Alcanter Bolly to the crowd. According to the Luchador traditions, masks are taken as one of the serious things and a part of life. If a luchador risks his mask and loses his mask, he should either retire or reinvent and repackage himself with a new characterization. He wrestled without a mask for the rest of his days in AAA.

In NXT, El Hijo Del Fantasma wore the mask at the initial days to showcase the culture and tradition of Lucha Libre and claimed himself as “The Emperor of Lucha Libre”. However, he removed the mask sooner and repackaged himself with a new name Santos Escobar. Escobar then wears his mask during the entrance, but no longer performs on the ring with it. In 2021, Escobar in an interview with Sports Illustrated expressed his emotions, his family reaction and the complete story of being unmasked. In 2022, Rey Mysterio gifted his own mask to Escobar as a symbol of respect, but was torn by Rey’s son Dominik Mysterio by disrespecting his father’s legacy.