Marcela

María Elena Santamaría Gómez (born May 31, 1971) is a Mexican professional wrestler, known mainly for her work in the Mexican professional wrestling promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), where she works under the ring name Marcela.

As Marcela, she is one of the top técnicas (the "good" characters, or faces) in CMLL.

Her daughter is also a professional wrestler, known under the name Skadi, who often teams with her mother.

María Elena Santamaría Gómez was born on May 31, 1971, in Mexico City, Mexico.

She grew up in Mexico City, living close to Arena Coliseo, where Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre (EMLL) held several Lucha Libre events each week.

Her mother was a fan and brought her daughter to the shows from a young age.

Initially, when Marcela wanted to become a professional wrestler her mother opposed it, causing a rift between the mother and daughter at the time, which was later reconciled.

Marcela had her first child at the age of 16.

Her second child, a daughter, became a professional wrestler as well, working under the ring name Skadi, and she often teams with her mother.

The following week, at the CMLL 72nd Anniversary Show, Marcela defeated Dark Angel to win the championship.

Santamaría began training for her professional wrestling career in the mid-1980s, at a time when female wrestling was banned in Mexico City itself, and only promoted by a few companies outside of the capitol.

She made her debut in December 1985 in Actopan, Hidalgo.

For her debut she borrowed an ill-fitting mask and boxing shoes as she did not have any of her own.

After the match, she decided to never wear a mask again.

She was billed simply as "Marcela" as she began working on the independent circuit.

The ban on women's wrestling was lifted in 1986, allowing EMLL and other companies promotion shows in the capitol to employ female wrestlers.

Santamaría has worked for CMLL since the early 1990s and has also wrestled in Japan and on the Mexican independent circuit.

In the early 1990s she began working for Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL).

In the mid-1990s and early 2000s CMLL did not focus on their women's division, and often there was over a month between women's matches on a CMLL show.

This meant that Marcela began working for a variety of minor Mexican promotions on the independent circuit.

Her first lucha de apuestas (Spanish for "bet match", the most prestigious match type in lucha libre) took place on September 7, 1991, where Marcela defeated La Migala.

After the match La Migala had her hair shaved off, per lucha libre traditions.

On August 3, 2001, Marcela teamed up with male wrestler El Mohicano I to defeat La Gata and Black Machine in an intergender lucha de apuestas match where both their male and female opponents left the ring with bald heads.

She also competed in a torneo cibernetico elimination match for International Wrestling Revolution Group's newly created Intercontinental Women's Championship.

The match also included Flor Metallica, Josseline, La Amapola, La Diabólica, Lady Metal, La Migala and tournament winner Ayako Hamada.

In 2004 CMLL began featuring more women's wrestling again and Marcela was one of the wrestlers who was given a full-time role with CMLL.

At some point prior to September 20, 2004, Marcela won the Distrito Federal Women's Championship, with a successful championship defense against La Amapola on that date.

Marcela and Dark Angel qualified for the finals of a tournament for the vacant CMLL World Women's Championship by outlasting Hiroka, India Sioux, La Medusa, La Nazi, Linda Star, Princesa Sujei, and Sahori.

Subsequently, she defended the title against Hiroka once and La Amapola on a number of occasions until her title reign ended on June 9, 2006, when Hiroka defeated her.

Marcela and Princesa Sujey outlasted 12 other women in a torneo cibernetico elimination match to qualify for the finals of a tournament for the vacant Mexican National Women's Championship, followed by Marcela defeating Princesa Sujey to win the title.

While Marcela held the championship until January 30, 2009, 637 days, she only successfully defended the championship once, defeating La Amapola on August 5, 2007.

Her reign as Mexican National Women's Champion ended at the hands of Princesa Blanca, who pinned Marcela to win the championship.

Marcela defeated, and unmasked, Rosa Negra after winning a lucha de apuestas match at the 53. Aniversario de Arena México show.

Marcel defeated La Amapola on October 28, 2011, to win the CMLL World Women's Championship for the second time, starting a 29-day reign that ended at the hands of Ayumi Kurihara in Japan.

Ayumi travelled to Mexico in March 2012, losing the title back to Marcela on March 9.

During her third reign, Marcela successfully defended the championship on 12 occasions, in Mexico, the United States and Japan.

In 2018, she began her fifth reign as CMLL World Women's Champion, which is a CMLL record.

She is a one-time Mexican National Women's Champion, held the District Federal Women's championship for over five years, and won the XMW Women's Championship.

She has won several major luchas de apuestas, bet matches, winning the masks of La Gata, Rosa Negra, and La Seductora as well as the hair of La Briosa, Tiffany, Dalys la Caribeña and Princesa Blanca.

Marcela was one of ten women risking their mask or hair in the steel cage match main event match of the 2012 Infierno en el Ring show on June 29, 2019.