Cassandro tells the story of Saúl Armendáriz, a man who creates the character Cassandro and goes on to become a world-famous luchador. The film is now streaming on Prime Video.
Warning: This article contains heavy spoilers
Plot summary
Saúl Armendáriz lives in El Paso, Texas, with his loving and supportive mother. He is an amateur luchador, a lucha libre wrestler. He does not make a lot of money from wrestling, so he and his mother do various odd jobs.
Saúl’s parents are not married. His mother had an affair with his father, who was a married man. His father is religious, so when Saúl came out to him at the age of fifteen, he abandoned Saúl and his mother. Saúl’s father is no longer a part of their lives, but his mother still loves him.
Like the other luchadors, Saúl dons a mask and is known by the ring name El Topo. Saúl loses a fight to a wrestler called Gigántoco and is told that he is going to fight him again a week later. During this time, he meets Sabrina.
Sabrina is also a wrestler, and when Saúl manages to impress her in their first meeting, Sabrina decides to train him, even though he cannot afford to pay her. While training with Sabrina, Saúl gets the idea to fight as an exótico, a male wrestler who fights in drag.
Saúl gets inspired by a character called Kassandra on television and creates the character of Cassandro. Usually, exóticos do not win, but Saúl is determined to make Cassandro win. As Cassandro, Saúl does not wear a mask, but he does wear makeup and alluring outfits.
Saúl loses Cassandro’s debut match against Gigántoco, but he manages to turn the jeers of the crowd into cheers, as he puts on a show that is entertaining enough to win everyone over.
This gets the attention of a promoter named Lorenzo. He decides to promote Saúl and also introduces him to his subordinate, Felipe. Saúl wants to continue wrestling as Cassandro, but his mother is opposed to it because she knows his father will not approve of this.
His mother sometimes blames him for his father leaving them. Apart from that, she is also scared of what people might do to a gay exótico wrestler who fights men twice his size with the intent to win.
Despite that, Saúl embraces his identity and designs a costume for his next match. He once again gets the crowd to cheer for him, much to his opponent’s frustration. His opponent is then joined by another wrestler to defeat Cassandro.
The two of them fail to defeat Cassandro, and the crowd continues supporting him. Seeing the crowd’s reaction, the opponents are offered money in exchange for losing the match, which leads to Cassandro winning. Saúl’s mother had come to see this match, and she feels proud of her son when he wins.
Saúl makes more and more money from his fights and becomes famous. He now dreams of buying a big house for himself and his mother. He is also dating a closeted wrestler, Gerardo, who is a married man and has children.
Soon, Saúl finds out that Son of Santo, a legendary wrestler, is putting on a big show in Mexico City, and he is looking for a worthy opponent. Lorenzo gets Saúl selected to fight Son of Santo, the wrestler Saúl idealized when he was a child. This is a dream come true for Saúl.
Cassandro ending explained in detail:
What happens to Saúl before the match of his career?
Before Saúl and Son of Santo’s match, Saúl and Gerardo break up, as Saúl gets sick of Gerardo hiding him and keeping their relationship a secret. Additionally, Gerardo liked Saúl more when he was a regular luchador. He warns Saúl that his fame is bothering other wrestlers because Saúl is changing how things have always been.
Furthermore, Saúl’s mother dies, and he struggles to deal with her loss. Saúl’s match against Son of Santo will be watched by thousands of people in the crowd and on TV, but Saúl does not have anyone he cares about watching him at home.
On top of that, he finds out that the house he wanted to buy for his mother has been sold to someone else. Saúl has been working so hard because he wanted to buy his dream house, but he can no longer do that. He faces one loss after another and is left heartbroken before the most important match of his life.
Does Cassandro win against Son of Santo?
Saúl enters the ring as Cassandro to wrestle with Son of Santo. The match against Son of Santo sees him losing focus. His mother’s death, his father’s abandonment, and his breakup weigh heavily on his mind. He gets overwhelmed and makes a wrong move, which has the crowd booing him off the stage.
However, Cassandro returns in style. He is seen standing on a railing and jumping into the crowd. Although Son of Santo defeats him, Cassandro gains his respect. Son of Santo carries Cassandro on his shoulders as the crowd applauds Cassandro.
A year later, Cassandro is invited to Son of Santo’s talk show. Cassandro, who is now known for changing the image of exóticos, announces his world tour, which aims to promote lucha libre.
Cassandro also inspires young people. A young boy in the crowd gets the opportunity to tell Saúl how Cassandro gave him the courage to come out to his father. The boy thanks him, and it brings tears to Saúl’s eyes.
Does Saúl mend his relationship with his father and Gerardo?
After his match with Son of Santo, Saúl tells Gerardo that he wants to get back together with him. Saúl is ready to keep their relationship a secret, but Gerardo refuses, as his wife has found out about the affair and threatened to leave him if he does not stop seeing Saúl.
Once Saúl makes it big in wrestling, he meets his father. His father tells him that he did not watch his match on TV because he was scared for him. Saúl then realizes that there was a time when he needed his father, but he does not need him anymore.
His father believes that he did not have a choice about the person that he ended up becoming. Saúl states that it was the same for him before leaving his father. Saúl moves on in his life and, as Cassandro, rises to international stardom.
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