The Wrestling Women Vs. The Aztec Mummy (Mexico 1964)

Rating: *
Review Date: 8/2/22
Cast: Lorena Velázquez, Elizabeth Campbell

A more accurate title would be "Wrestling Women Awaken An Aztec Mummy And Run Away From It." The ruthless Prince Fujiyata and his Black Dragon Gang are murdering archeologists in an attempt to recover a codex for discovering an ancient Aztec treasure. The sole surviving archeologist splits his part of the codex into three pieces, which he entrusts to two professional wrestlers (Lorena Velázquez and Elizabeth Campbell). Meanwhile, Fujiyata spies on them with a video camera and uses hypnosis to steal one of the pieces. Ultimately, Fujiyata pits his two female judo experts against the wrestlers in a public exhibition to determine who should get all of the pieces. Makes perfect sense. But where's the Aztec Mummy? He only shows up at the very end when his temple is violated and the sacred breastplate is removed. He's not Popoca from the original "Aztec Mummy" movies, but his back story is identical. He can also transform into a bat and a spider, but is powerless during the day. Even though the good guys disturb the mummy and take his treasure, it's the bad guys that end up receiving the mummy's wrath. Go figure.

Like nearly all Mexican wrestling movies, the wrestling aspect is completely lost on me, and the seemingly pointless matches drag on way too long. This film is even worse than most because the women are heavily doubled in the wrestling scenes, making them appear even more ridiculous. To her credit, Elizabeth Campbell does a fair amount of her own stunts, but Lorena Velázquez is hilariously doubled by a short fat stuntperson for all of her fight scenes. Still, despite the embarrassingly awful action scenes, the women are the film's only saving grace. Both Lorena Velázquez and Elizabeth Campbell are stunningly beautiful, and serviceable actresses as well. The mummy is actually pretty horrifying when it finally shows up, but its supernatural abilities are very silly. The misplaced humor is appallingly bad and derails any attempt of the film being even slightly serious. It's a competently made film, but it's definitely a chore to watch and will leave you scratching your head in bewilderment.