Mango’s response to a wrestling storyline could take the form of a drawing. A favorite wrestler, a funny moment, or something that caught her imagination gave her a reason to pick up the characters and tell the story her own way.
When she spoke with The Scrap in 2021, she had only been following wrestling for a couple of years. Drawing had been part of her life much longer. Sharing her illustrations brought those interests together and gave her a way to participate in the wrestling community.
Known online and through her credits as ChangoChamango and Mangoyu Art, Mango drew inspiration from both the wrestlers she watched and the artists whose work she admired. Her interview offers a personal look at how a newer fan began developing her own interpretation of wrestling.
Finding Favorites Worth Drawing
Mango began drawing at seven and became interested in professional wrestling around 2019. About a year later, she started posting wrestling artwork on social media, using it to express her thoughts about wrestlers and storylines.
The Dark Order were her favorite group to draw at the time. She also had a soft spot for wrestlers lower on the card, especially those with long, flowing hair.
Those preferences gave her illustrations a personal starting point. A wrestler didn’t need to be headlining a show to catch her attention, and a visual detail could be part of the attraction. Her choices reflected what she enjoyed watching and what she enjoyed drawing.
As she brought those wrestlers into her artwork, she looked to other illustrators for ideas about character, humor, and style.
The Artists Who Helped Shape Her Approach
Mango identified Ofooro, Flighty, and Glitchbat as major influences, with something different drawing her to each artist.
She admired Ofooro’s character design and clever punchlines. Flighty’s chibi designs offered inspiration through their small, exaggerated characters, while Glitchbat’s calm colors and sparkles appealed to her sense of presentation.
Discovering wrestling meant encountering artists who were already finding their own ways to respond to it. Their illustrations gave her another reason to engage with the shows and consider how she wanted to depict the wrestlers herself.
Giving Wrestling Fans the Championship Treatment
Her work for the women’s wrestling podcast Grit & Glitter offers a concrete example of that playful approach.
The podcast’s merchandise store credits ChangoChamango with its “Tag Team Champions” design, depicting hosts Harley R. Pageot and Emily Fear celebrating with championship belts.
The idea brings the hosts into the wrestling world they discuss. Their partnership becomes a championship team, giving listeners a design built around both the podcast and the shared interest behind it.
It also broadens the range of people represented in her wrestling artwork. Alongside the wrestlers who first caught her attention, Mango could illustrate the fans and commentators contributing to the conversation around them.
Where Her Illustration Has Taken Her
Since the original interview, published credits have documented another substantial part of Mango’s work. Under the name Changochamango, she illustrated Sue Marasciulo’s Pat & Pals books, including Hot Chips, Mad Fish & Other Tales, Can Ten Pigs Fit in a Tub?, and Fox Trot & Other Tales.
The books use illustrated stories to support beginning readers. Reviewing Hot Chips, Mad Fish & Other Tales in 2023, Kirkus praised her drawings for conveying the characters’ playful qualities and clearly showing the actions described in the text.
Her artwork is also credited by the literary podcast No Page Unturned under the name Mangoyu Art.
Those projects expand the picture of an artist whose wrestling work began with personal enthusiasm. She found wrestlers she wanted to draw, artists she wanted to learn from, and stories she wanted to respond to.
Mango was discovering wrestling as a viewer. Through her illustrations, she gave other fans something of her own to enjoy.
