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. 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.
Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (early 1990s–present) In the early 1990s she began working for
Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL). 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. The following week, at the
CMLL 72nd Anniversary Show, Marcela defeated Dark Angel to win the championship. 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. Marcela defeated, and unmasked, Rosa Negra after winning a
lucha de apuestas match at the
53. Aniversario de Arena México show. starting a 29-day reign that ended at the hands of
Ayumi Kurihara in Japan. During her third reign, Marcela successfully defended the championship on 12 occasions, in Mexico, the United States and Japan. 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. Marcela was the third woman to climb out of the cage, keeping her hair safe, while the match ended with Princesa Blanca defeating
Goya Kong to unmask her. A new group of wrestlers had appeared in CMLL In 2012,
Los Invasores ("The Invaders"), with the storyline being that they represented CMLL's main rival
AAA. Female wrestler
Tiffany was part of that group and was immediately put into a storyline feud with Marcela. This led to a
lucha de apuestas match on August 5, where Marcela pinned her opponent, forcing Tiffany to have her hair cut off afterward. In late 2014 Marcela began a feud with
Dalys la Caribeña, as Dalys had risen up the ranks of CMLL during Marcela's title reign. The two met in one of the featured matches at the 2014
Homenaje a Dos Leyendas, where Marcela defeated Dalys in a
lucha de apuestas match. During her fourth reign, Marcela successfully defended the title against Dalys and
Zeuxis, before she lost the championship to Dalys on March 11, 2016. On March 11, 2016, Marcela lost the CMLL World Women's Championship to Dalys la Caribeña. The following week Zeuxis pinned Marcela to win the title. Marcela began her fifth CMLL World Women's Championship reign on November 19, 2018, as she defeated Dalys to win the title. Her first championship defense took place on April 29, 2019, as she defeated then-reigning Mexican National Women's Champion
La Metálica. She followed that up with a successful defense against La Amapola in July 2019. CMLL held their first
Universal Amazonas Championship tournament in August 2019. Marcela competed in the first block of eight wrestlers, but was eliminated by
Avispa Dorada. La Metálica would later lose to Dalys in the finals, earning Dalys a title match with Marcela at the
CMLL 86th Anniversary Show. The match had to be cancelled as Marcela suffered an ankle injury leading up to the show and was not able to compete. Dalys did get a championship match in December, but lost to Marcela. She later returned to Japan for individual BJW matches in October and December 1999. Her most frequent partner during the tour was Chihiro Nakano, although they also fought on opposite sides of the ring on some occasions. She returned to BJW in 2010 for their 15th Anniversary Death tour. On May 5, 2011, Marcela traveled to Japan and unsuccessfully challenged La Amapola for the CMLL Women's World Championship on a Universal Woman's Pro Wrestling REINA on the first show of the promotion. In November 2011, Marcela returned, this time as CMLL Women's World Champion, but lost the title to Ayumi Kurihara at a REINA show. marking the third time she lost the CMLL Women's World Championship in Japan. One of her major independent circuit matches was a six-woman steel cage match where the last woman in the cage would be shaved bald or forced to remove her mask. In the end, Marcela pinned La Migala, forcing her to be shaved bald afterward. CMLL has allowed Marcela to defend the CMLL World Women's Championship on non-CMLL shows. For example, she defended the championship against La Amapola at a show in Nezahualcoyotl in 2005. She later challenged for the championship, but lost to La Amapola at a show in Guatemala, and had a successful defense against La Amapola during her third reign. September 9, 2012 saw Marcela outlast 11 other women to win the
Copa Femenil Realizada tournament. Later that year, Marcela defeated Ludark Shaitan to win the Xtrem Mexican Wrestling's Women's Championship. On February 29, 2020, Marcela survived a six-way hair vs. mask match, escaping the match before India Sioux pinned Casandra to win the match and the right to cut Casandra's hair off.
Ring of Honor (2017) Through CMLL's partnership with the US-based
Ring of Honor (ROH), Marcela appeared at
Supercard of Honor XI on April 1, 2017, where she defeated La Amapola on the pre-show. ==Championships and accomplishments==