Masked Republic issued a new press release announcing they have entered a partnership with FanGirl Consulting & Brand Management to promote their Expo Lucha live events beginning with Summer 2020’s event in Philadelphia.
Masked Republic is a multi-platform entertainment company dedicated to expanding lucha libre’s reach beyond the borders of Mexico. Expo Lucha was created in 2018 and it is not only the world’s largest lucha libre fan convention, but only event of its kind held outside of Mexico. Expo Lucha’s previous two events took place in Las Vegas and San Diego, with the third event set to take place in Philadelphia at the famed 2300 (ECW) Arena on August 15-16. Philadelphia was chosen for this year’s Expo Lucha event specifically to mark the 25th anniversary of the introduction of lucha libre into mainstream wrestling in the United States.
“We are very proud of how quickly we have been able to build our home grown lucha libre convention,” Masked Republic founder and CEO Ruben Zamora said, “But, with our small team, we knew that to meet both fan demand across the country and our own vision to add exponentially to the experiences offered at the Expo, we needed to find the right partners who understood both our goals and the market.”
“With their experience both in the pop culture brand building space along with their keen understanding and insight into one of our key targeted demographics, Hispanic families, FanGirl was the perfect fit, “said Kevin Kleinrock, President and COO of Masked Republic.
“The name of the company speaks for itself,” comments Anita Castellar, CEO of FanGirl Consulting & Brand Management. “For the fans, by the fans is one of our mottos at FanGirl. Our team is both bi-lingual and bi-cultural. We grew up watching both lucha libre in Spanish and wrestling leagues in English. It’s exciting to see many of these stars we grew up watching are now part of the Expo Lucha events and we get to share these experiences with our children. In short, we ARE the target demographic of Expo Lucha.”
FanGirl is a Hispanic, woman-owned company with nearly 20 years of experience in the licensing business. To support the new partnership, FanGirl Expo Services is a new division will identify opportunities on behalf of Expo Lucha for brand partnerships, event sponsorships, and marketing outreach to the Hispanic fan base.
Related: Tickets For Expo Lucha: Philadelphia’s Two Main Event Shows Now On Sale
Masked Republic was featured in Wrestlezone’s “Best For The Business ’19” feature that highlights some of the most influential people, promotions and brands that changed the wrestling business in a positive way in the past year.
The Masked Republic entry is below; click here to see the full list.
Masked Republic
Masked Republic is one of the premier brands in Lucha libre merchandise and looks to make the Mexican wrestling culture more accessible to fans in the United States.
Co-founder Kevin Kleinrock has been part of the wrestling world for more than 20 years and alongside Ruben Zamora and their team, Masked Republic has brought the Lucha libre culture to the United States and made it more accessible than ever before. MR is headquartered in San Diego, CA but they also have offices in San Francisco, Mexico City and London and have a hand in creating live events, merchandise and content distribution deals.
Kleinrock has said Masked Republic wants to bridge the gap with their brands, not only entering a market that’s lacking in products, but to help the wrestlers navigate the business world themselves. The company represents a number of Lucha libre’s top names like the Lucha Bros, Rey Mysterio, Tinieblas Jr and Blue Demon Jr , helping them create officially licensed products and navigate the business side of professional wrestling branding. In addition, MR has created their own intellectual property brands like The Luchaverse (comic books), Lucha Loot (merchandise crates), Lucha Central (Lucha Libre news) and Saints & Rudos Streetwear.
Masked Republic launched a number of new products in 2019, and previewed some more things to come like their new Legends of Lucha Libre action figure line from Boss Fight Studio. Three waves of the highly-detailed figures and accessories are already confirmed, and in what will be their third year this August, Expo Lucha is set to visit Philadelphia for their fan festival highlighting Lucha’s past and present. After two successful events in Las Vegas in 2018 and San Diego in 2019, Expo Lucha makes the journey to the famed 2300 (ECW) Arena, celebrating the 25th anniversary of the arrival of the luchadores in ECW back in 1995.
Related: Best For The Business: 2019’s Most Influential People, Promotions and Brands In Pro Wrestling
