IWRG Ruleta de la Muerte

In Lucha libre, the Mexican version of professional wrestling, the Ruleta de la Muerte ("Roulette of Death") is a type of professional wrestling tournament where the loser or losers of a match would advance in the tournament instead of the winners. The finals of a Ruleta de la Muerte tournament featured the losing teams wrestle each other under Lucha de Apuestas, or "bet match" rules, where the loser would be forced to either unmask or have all their hair shaved off as a result. Various Mexican promotions have held Ruleta de la Muerte tournaments; some like International Wrestling Revolution Group (IWRG - sometimes referred to as Grupo Internacional Revolución in Mexico) have held these tournaments on a regular basis.

The first documented IWRG-promoted Ruleta de la Muerte tournament was held in 1998 with Mega defeating Judo Suwa, forcing Suwa to be shaved bald as a result. Since the first tournament, IWRG has held at least six additional Ruleta de la Muerte tournaments with a total of eight wrestlers being shaved bald as a result: Suwa, Dr. Cerebro, Chico Che, Temerario Infernal, Oficial AK-47, Bugambiglia, Eterno and X-Fly. While masked wrestlers have participated in the tournaments, none have lost their mask as a result. In 2009 IWRG began using the Ruleta de la Muerte as the name of the entire event as well and not just the tournament. Since 2009 IWRG has been held a total of five times, with the most recent being the November 2015 Ruleta de la Muerte show.

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's unclear exactly when the Rouleta de la Muerte (Spanish for "Roulette 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.

...
Wikipedia