mexican "lucha libre", or professional wrestling, has a long-standing tradition around the wrestling mask and its role in both "lucha libre" and the culture of mexico itself. in 1940 the "lucha de apuestas", or "bet match", was invented where a wrestler would either bet their mask or their hair (or on rare occasions their career) on the outcome of the match. if a masked wrestler lost the match he would be forced to remove his mask, state his given name and then never be allowed to wrestle with that mask on again. if an unmasked wrestler lost a "lucha de apuestas" he or she would be forced to have all his/her hair shaved off while standing in the middle of the ring, suffering the humiliation in front of everyone in attendance. over time the "lucha de apuestas" matches became more prestigious than championship matches in mexico and would often headline major shows. it is unclear exactly when the "rouleta de la muerte" (spanish for "roulete of death"), some times also referred to as "ruleta rusa" (russian roulette), tournament concept was created. the concept of the tournament is similar to another "lucha libre" staple the "parejas suicidas" ("suicide teams") or "relevos suicida" ("suicide relays") match. in a parejas suicida teams of two, often composed of rivals, have to wrestle against each other, the losing team is then forced to fight each other as "punishment" for losing the match. in a "ruleta de la muerte" the number of teams is expanded, often to four or eight teams. these teams face off and the losing team in each match moves on to the next round, until the team that loses the finals of the tag team portion are forced to face off for either their mask or their hair.