#cmllanniversary

[lostinyourears]

MFW I’m thinking about how dreamy Cien Almas is. 

[lostinyourears]

CMLL 101 : #6 Recent CMLL Anniversary Show History (It’s Long)

77th Anniversary Show(2010)

We will go back to 77th(2010) which happened in September as the Anniversary show always does. It’s undercard was all trios matches with the first being a woman’s match and the other 3 trios matches having some pretty big names like Negro Casas, Blue Panther, Angel de Oro, and many others. 

The main event wasn’t really a blood feud, instead it was a free for all where everyone’s mask/hair was on the line. It was the same rules for the cage match that main events Infierno en en Ring. 14 men enter and 12 escape leaving the last 2 in a bet match where their hair or mask is on the line.   

This one I couldn’t find any video of. If I do I will link the main event here when I do. It included 14 men :  Místico, Volador Jr., Averno, Mephisto, Ephesto, Jushin Thunder Liger, Último Guerrero, Atlantis, Mr. Niebla, La Sombra, Olímpico, El Alebrije, Histeria and Psicosis.

It ended with La Sombra and Olimpico as the last 2 in the cage, before La Sombra got the fall on Olimpico who was then forced to unmask as per the stipulation of the match. This would continue propelling La Sombra’s momentum his first mask win was in the spring when he won over El Felino a well established rudo, which Olimpico was as well.  

78th Anniversary Show(2011) 

CMLL must have liked the business that the previous year's main event did as they did it again for 78th. The undercard however was more notable than the previous year. They had 2 tag matches, which I’m sure are fine. 

The most interesting thing though is one of the Leyenda de Plata torneo cibernéticos happened on the show. This was before the winner of the torneo cibernetico took on last years winner. 

Instead the format was 2 torneo cibernetico with the winner’s taking each other on in a final. Jushin Thunder Liger(who was full time at CMLL for a few years) won this one at CMLL 78th Anniversary over : Diamante, Dragón Rojo Jr., Fuego, Hijo del Signo, Olímpico, Máscara Dorada, Mephisto, Metro, Rey Escorpión, Sangre Azteca and Virus. 

While a week earlier Volador Jr won the other torneo cibernetico. I couldn’t find those, I did find the final : Liger vs Volador Jr for the Leyenda de Plata Plaque October 7th 2011

The main event like already noted was another  Infierno en en Ring match. This year  Rush, El Felino, Mr. Águila, El Terrible,  Rey Bucanero,  El Texano Jr., Héctor Garza, Máximo, Blue Panther, Negro Casas. 

It came down to Rey Bucanero vs El Felino, two rudos who no longer had masks so it was hair vs hair with Felino standing tall after the match. Nothing too groundbreaking, but still might have been a great match. As you can see on the poster for the event there were no masks up in this main event as all taking part either never had masks or had lost them. 

I couldn’t find video of this that wasn’t just highlights. If I find video in the future I’ll link it here. 

79th Anniversary Show(2012)

Finally! The format gets back to normal. Not that I don’t like Infierno en el ring, because it is a really cool stipulation. I just think that it should be it’s own event, since it feels strange headlining their biggest show of the year.

Yet again we start with a women’s trio and have other trios matches featuring guys like Prince Devitt, Niebla Roja, Taichi, Atlantis, Ultimo Guerrero and others.

The two big matches on the card were the betting matches. Yes, two of them! Which I think is more interesting than a giant clusterfuck singular betting cage match. It’s also much better for highlighting 4 talents than having a field of 10-14 like the last 2 main events which had many people who escape early and aren’t well highlighted. 

First in the midcard and half way through the show we had 

Rey Cometa vs Puma King, Mask vs Mask CMLL 79th Anniversary show

I recently watched this match for a spotlight I wrote about Rey Cometa. It’s a very fun match with two peers. Puma King however is about a decade younger than Rey Cometa. This match feels pretty weighty since the main event was a hair vs hair match. I think the two put on a really good show and no doubt had lots of pressure to deliver and I think they did. 

Puma ended up getting the win here and Rey Cometa no longer wears a mask. I think it was probably the right decision as CMLL has built Puma as a threat despite dropping the king from his name. He works with his brother(?) Tiger most of the time and both those felines are related to the well established Casas family. 

I wish Cometa seemed better positioned, but sadly since losing his mask imo Cometa has become a little bit of a loser/jobber. His last 2 betting matches have been loses to Cavernario back to back. He seems to be enhancement talent as of late and will likely continue this trend of being a matt for younger talent to walk over. Perhaps he can find a place in a stable and become more of a trio's talent? I hope the best for him, but I don’t know if CMLL see him as a big guy. 

El Terrible vs Rush, Hair vs Hair CMLL 79th Anniversary Show Main Event

This was the blow off for a year long rivalry between the two. Rush, who most will know as a rudo now and prominent member of Ingobernables. At the time though he was a tecnico vs El Terrible the older more established rudo. Despite being tecnico, Rush is seen being fairly ruthless in this match. Even gnawing on the top of Terribles head at some point. Also, the arena was firmly in El Terrible’s corner. He being the most established and well known talent of the two and had garnered a following throughout the years. 

This is no doubt the biggest match in both men’s careers despite the fact they are both well booked in CMLL this is both men’s only CMLL Anniversary main event betting match. They both have better matches, but not higher profile matches. They both were in the 78th main event as well, so one could argue that was as high profile.

Rush picked up the win here and it was well deserved. As 2014 came around and Rush, La Sombra, La Mascara would be in CMLL’s hot new stable Ingobernables all of whom would get a chance at main eventing CMLL Anniversary.  

80th Anniversary Show(2013)

This is where I was going to start, but figured I’d go back to 2010 since that was the start of the new decade. This card is stacked! I’d probably compare this to Wrestlemania 30 which was also a tick up from the normal quality of Wrestlemania imo. 

So, like all cards this one too has an undercard. Featuring 3 trios matches that included talents like Ishii, Marco Corleone, Niebla Roja, Stuka Jr., and plenty of others. 

Blue Panther vs Averno, Hair vs Hair, 2/3 falls Submissions only

This is rare as I can count on one hand the amount of submission only Hair vs hair matches I’ve seen... because this is the only one I’ve seen. I’m certain it’s happened before, but I’m not recalling any. 

Averno(rudo) and Blue Panther(Tecnico) had both lost their masks earlier in their careers. Averno at the 2011 Juicio Final, while Blue Panther lost his in the CMLL 75th(2008) Anniversary show main event vs his contemporary and peer Villano III.

It’s a pretty fun match, but go into it knowing this is a technical bout more than anything. For that though it’s pretty good with both men getting a fall early it leads to a very climactic 3rd fall/round with both men trying to get the other to submit and thus lose their hair. 

I think CMLL probably kicked themselves with the booking of this match since in 2014 Averno would leave for their biggest rival AAA. Still regardless of who won it’s a bout that shows off what these two men can do even though one of them was over 50 at the time of this match. 

Los Estetas del Aire (Máscara Dorada, Místico and Valiente) (c) vs Los Revolucionarios del Terror (Dragón Rojo, Jr., Pólvora and Rey Escorpión) for the CMLL Trios Champions

This match I couldn’t find video of, as always if I do find any I’ll link it here later. Since I haven’t seen this match I can’t attest to how good it is. This was actually in a sorta stiff part of the card between the build to the main event and the main event itself. I’m making note of it to show Mistico and Valiente are working together, just as they are now Trios champions today as well. They have been been established as some of the best trios competitors on the roster, that’s all I have to say about this match.

La Sombra and Volador, Jr. vs Atlantis and Último Guerrero, in an Relevos Suicidas(Suicidal Reliefs) tag team match, winners advance

I forgot about Relevos Suicidas in my match type CMLL 101 guide!

So I’ll put the explanation here and then edit it back into that post too :

Relevos Suicidas(Suicidal Reliefs) tag team match

: A rare match type in CMLL and Lucha Libre see’s 2 rivals team up vs another team of rivals. The rules can be one of two ways. Either the winners continue onto a mask vs mask match or the losers do. Which is why I have the ‘winners advance’ clarification.

That’s basically it, can they work together to avoid a mask vs mask match or... work together to get that match so they can get a chance make their tag partner/rival unmask in this case during the CMLL Anniversary Main Event.

I think it’s a really cool stipulation and could easily be used again with guys like Neibla Roja/Ultimo Guerrero vs Cavernario/Dragon Lee. I’d be pretty stoked if this was brought back for CMLL 84. 

This match actually went on before the trios champion match, which then gave both the competitors in the main event Volador Jr. and La Sombra rest briefly before having to go out again and have the 2nd singles match of the night where both would have to fight for 20+ minutes in front of the hottest crowd of the year on the biggest stage in Mexican wrestling. My big issue with this match is just how short it is, made it feel sorta anticlimactic .

La Sombra vs Volador, Jr., Mask vs Mask, CMLL 80th Main Event

I must start this out by stating the obvious, this is not the match that CMLL fans or Arena Mexico wanted. See, Atlantis vs Ultimo Guerrero in a mask vs mask match was teased before the Anniversary show. So much so that they spoke about signing a contract. It was a done deal, at some point both of them would have that match. No date was settled, but everyone thought that CMLL 80th would end with these two vets beating each other senseless for one another's mask. 

So, when they lost and instead CMLL 80th was going to be headlined by two relatively new young guys...the crowd was not happy because it wasn’t as big of a deal. Neither Volador nor Sombra had the betting match records of note compared to Atlantis and Ultimo who both had valuable masks in their wake and had a more long term feud and relationship between one another.

Still despite not wanting this match both men went out and put on a great main event match that probably helped CMLL more in the long term. Building both men up as stars coming out of the match and ushering them both into the upper card of CMLL where they would flourish and Volador Jr still stands as the longest current reigning champion. Volador was the rudo in this match up and Sombra was the babyface who stood tall at the end of the show, after an impressive match between the two. La Sombra in the spring would be apart of the new tecnico stable Los Gobernables who would eventually turn heel in the summer leading up to CMLL 82nd.

81st Anniversary Show(2014)

This card much like the other has some undercard trios matches, 2 this time.

La Copa 81 Aniversario, eight-woman Torneo cibernetico elimination match.

Cavernario vs Rey Cometa, Hair vs Hair

I sorta gave this one away in my earlier discussion of Rey Cometa vs Puma King. Still, it’s a good match with two guys that really know how to work within the Lucha Libre style. A fun match and probably more fun then the follow up hair vs hair match which Rey Cometa also lost. Hopefully, Rey/CMLL or whomever find a new angle for Rey Cometa to take, perhaps a rudo turn. As his Tecnico run feels like he isn’t getting any notable wins as of late. 

Negro Casas and Shocker(c) vs Ingobernables(La Mascara/Rush) for the CMLL Tag Team Championships

This may not be saying a whole lot since tag matches aren’t the norm in Mexico, but this may be one of the best CMLL has put on in recent memory. Normally trios are more emphasized, but this excellent new vs old match starring 2 of the more known veterans of CMLL. Ingobernables are the tecnicos in this match up as they won’t turn heel until the coming summer of 2015. Negro Casas/Shocker are still holding this belt and will no doubt give a good rub that whatever team CMLL decides to finally usurp this tag team.

Ultimo Guerrero vs Atlantis, Mask vs Mask, CMLL 81st Main Event

CMLL fans and Arena Mexico finally got the mask vs mask match that they wanted the previous year. It was a huge deal and the two went to war vs one another in the middle of the ring. The crowd loved every moment of it, though I would warn anyone that goes into this... context is needed to get the most out of this match. 

The two men knew each other so well, when Atlantis turned rudo for a few years(2005-2011). It was teaming with Ultimo Guerrero and his long time faction Los Guerreros del Infierno, who even changed their name to reflect the co-leadership with Atlantis becoming Los Guerreros de la Atlantida (The Warriors of the Atlantis).

So because they know one another so well they steal moves from one another and do other references to each others great legacies. 

This no doubt is the greatest CMLL main event of recent memory when it comes to weight and importance, but not so much for the actual in ring work. I like the match, but I could see others not being so sold on the main event that features both guys who are over 40 and Atlantis being over 50. 

I think if anything it shows how impressive both men are at ages where WWE stars would likely be retired. Atlantis continues to be a rock and this felt like Titan’s clashing with how hot the Arena Mexico crowd is. 

Ultimo would lose his mask here, but keep his pride as he obviously was devastated along with his fans/family. He still wrestles today and continues to lead his rudo faction. While Atlantis stands at the top of veterans in CMLL, by any measure the most valuable mask in CMLL. 

82nd Anniversary Show(2015)

WOW! Look at that fantastic poster! It tell’s you what I’m going to reenforce, that this is pretty much a one match card. No offense to the 4 trios matches in the undercard or the women’s singles match. This is just all about new rudo vs old tecnico. Will La Sombra send Atlantis out to pasture maskless for the rest of his days, or will Atlantis live up to his nickname as the idol of children?

Dark Angel vs Princesa Sugehit

I figured I’d include this match more because of it’s relation to the upcoming Mae Young Classic. Princesa Sugehit has been announced as a competitor. What most people might not realize is that Dark Angel is probably to thank for Sugehit making the list. See Dark Angel retired, but is now working in WWE as a backstage producer. No doubt she put in a good word for one of her bigger rivals Sugehit. Nothing is on the line in this match, just 2 rivals putting on a show for the CMLL fans in arena Mexico. I think it was Dark Angel’s swan song vs Sugehit who unmasked her 11 years prior. Probably the biggest Woman’s match in CMLL of recent years, but not a huge bar to leap. 

Atlantis vs La Sombra, Mask vs Mask, CMLL 82nd Main Event

This is a match that if you read above, kinda built up over the last 2 years. At the time of La Sombra main eventing 80 he was a tecnico. However, when 2014 came around he, Rush and La Mascara together became a new tecnico group called Ingobernables. They quickly all became very hot talents and La Sombra was the hottest of the 3. He was left off CMLL 81 entirely(Not sure the reason, perhaps injured?), so for CMLL 82nd he wanted to make sure to carve himself a spot on the card. 

Over the summer leading to CMLL Anniversary in September the tecnico group turned Rudo in the summer. With Sombra often tearing the mask of Atlantis whenever they met. La Sombra knew there was no better place to carve out then the main event and no Tecnicos mask is more valuable than Atlantis’. So in August about a month before CMLL’s biggest show of the year there was a press conference where CMLL announced the main event winners from CMLL 80/81 would take each other on, mask vs mask at 82nd. 

This match might be one of the best ever, in terms of an old vs new match up. La Sombra does an excellent job wrestling with the 50+ Atlantis and making both men look like a million bucks. You’d be hard pressed to find any luchador over the last few years that plays the cocky heel role as well as La Sombra does in this match. 

La Sombra had already been rumored to be leaving for WWE, so most weren’t exactly shocked by the outcome of La Sombra losing his mask. While Atlantis continues to add notches to his belt, a question remains heavy in the CMLL ecosystem : ‘Will Atlantis ever be unmasked?’.

83rd Anniversary Show(2016)

Are you here? Did you make it this far? If so, thanks for reading the short novel I’ve posted above and congratulations! You’ve made it to the most recent CMLL Anniversary show recap! I won’t be providing links for this entry because CMLL has it up still on their VOD page. It’s only 2.99 and is well worth it at that price for the main event alone! If it disappears from the CMLL VOD page, I will add it here then, but currently I don’t want to help steal a product I enjoy so much... if there is an easy and legal way to get it. 

3 Trios matches in the undercard, as with the rest they really fill out the card.

Rey Bucanero vs Super Crazy, Hair vs Hair

This is a strange one because Super Crazy has never be a ‘CMLL Guy’. If I had to guess, I would assume Super Crazy doesn’t like the old school style of CMLL with them mostly having trios matches, with Singles being a big deal. If you look at Super Crazy’s career page on Cagematch.net You’ll notice that Super Crazy’s main promotion has never been CMLL even in 2016 when they gave him this Marquee match. 

The match was fine, but a foregone conclusion. It was very obvious that Super Crazy, a guy who had never been devoted to CMLL wasn’t going to beat Rey Bucanero who’s been with the company since 1992 and CMLL has always been his home promotion.

The Sky Team (Místico, Valiente and Volador Jr.) (c) vs Los Guerreros Lagunero (Euforia, Gran Guerrero and Último Guerrero) for the CMLL Trios Titles

This matchup sees Dominate tecnico trio who have held the belts for ages Sky Team which includes : Volador Jr. teaming with Mistico/Valiente who had already been a champion trios team before with Mascara Dorada.

Also, Volador Jr. is a single champion at this time holding the NWA World Historic Welterweight Championship longer than any other current belt has been had. 

However,  right behind him is Ultimo Guerrero the NWA World Historic Middleweight Championship and second longest reigning current CMLL champion. 

He and the Los Guerreros Lagunero(The Lake Warriors) consisting of Niebla Roja, Euphoria had been champs before losing the belts to Sky Team in February.  

Los Guerreros are coming back for the belt with a change of lineup. Niebla was still in the group, but Ultimo went with his brother Gran Guerrero this time. 

Meltzer rated this as the best match on the card and it’s not hard to understand why. Ultimo is a pro and always a fun watch, Mistico/Valiente are 2 of the best trios guys in the companies and Volador isn’t the longest reigning current champion for no reason. 

It’s a match spilling with talent and really shows how exciting a trios match can be. Skyteam have yet to not impress me when I see them work. I’m convinced Mistico and Valiente could do their spots blindfolded it’s that crisp.

Dragon Lee vs La Mascara, Mask vs Mask, 83rd Main Event

Another stellar main event this time against two younger guys. An interesting thing to note that comes into play in the match is Rush. Rush and his relationship with the two in the match. See Rush is a rudo who is stable mates with La Mascara in the Ingobernables, Rush is also related to Dragon Lee being his real life older Brother. Rush decided to be Dragon Lee’s corner man. 

This match might not be everyone’s cup of tea because of how things work out. I actually think both parties put on a great show and the drama with Rush makes things interesting and tooth and nail for the third fall, which seems fair... like they are put in sudden death all thanks to Rush’s involvement in the match. 

Another note about how this match was received, despite Tecnico Dragon Lee winning when he was celebrating with his other brother Mistico people boo’ed because La Mascara had gotten over with the crowd. Another thing of note, La Mascara and Rush reunited with La Sombra after the show, who had been in attendance.

That’s all folks! I’ll add CMLL 84th here when it happens in September, but will probably do a review of it too. 

[lostinyourears]

CMLL 101 : #5 Events

Note : These events do not include the tournaments, which I covered in #3 of this series. Which for the most part take up the role of what you’d consider PPV’s, but CMLL had other non-tournament events that I felt I should cover.

CMLL Anniversary show

Obviously the granddaddy of all CMLL shows. This is the yearly show they run to celebrate all the years CMLL has been running. EMLL held it’s first show on September 21, 1933. Then in all years after they have held an anniversary show. It always happens in September, with one exception at the 60th anniversary which was on October 1st. Rain, Sleet or Snow, Sun rises and sun falls, and in September CMLL holds the biggest show they hold all year. These are the constants of life, and Lucha Libre. The show is most often headlined by betting matches, sometimes a card will have 2. One more in the middle of the card and one being the marquee main event. Since this show is very important and THE card of the year for CMLL I will go more in depth into it’s recent history in another CMLL 101 post coming at a later time.

Homenaje a Dos Leyendas(Homage to Two Legends)  

What started as a homage to just Salvador Lutteroth, the man who founded EMLL way back in the 30′s then grew to a homage of two legends adding in El Santo to the mix of tribute for a few years. It would then shift further to cycle out El Santo and instead have a unique luchador for each iteration.  March 17, 2017 was the most recent event in honor of Lutteroth and Villano III featured a main event of Diamante Azul vs Pierroth(Not the original), in a mask vs mask match.

Unlike many of the tournaments this event is pretty well cemented in March and has happened in March every year since 1998 when it began. Including Santo, the event has paid homage to 13 different luchadors and surprisingly one of them was even in the main event of the show paying tribute to him : 2005′s show dedicated to Perro Aguayo featured him and his son Perro Aguayo Jr vs Cien Caras and Máscara Año 2000 in a tag team hair vs hair match.

Infierno en el Ring(Hell on the Ring)

Covered in my Match types, Infierno has become it’s own PPV which for the last 3 years have all fallen in December which seems like where it will stay barring any sudden change by CMLL’s booking team. 

Since I covered it in match types I’ll borrow some relevant text from that write up : In CMLL it starts with many men in a cage at least 4, though in recent years it’s normally like 8-12 and sometimes even more. The match starts and people try to escape, the last 2 in the match then are in a bet match. The loser by pin/submission/escape has to shave their head or unmask.

The most recent edition of this featured all women and took place on  December 25, 2016, with 10 competitors the last 2 of which were in a bet match. Someone lost their mask and had to reveal their real name, as is custom when losing one’s mask. 

Sin Piedad(No Mercy)

An on again off again event that seems to have been picked back up by CMLL and will likely happen again in the next year. It’s the year end show for CMLL normally happening in December, but with the last two taking place on January 1st New Year's Day. It happened from 2000-2012, before disappearing for 4 years and becoming a New Year’s Day event for both 2016 and 2017. 

All, but one have featured a betting match which is pretty common for all these events. If CMLL is booking something as a PPV level event and giving the card a name... it’ll likely have a betting match as all the iterations of Homage to 2 Legends have and most CMLL anniversary shows(There are 80+ of those and early records are iffy + Masked wrestling wasn’t as big earlier in Mexico)

Fantastica Mania

Despite being a cross promotional event, or perhaps because it’s a cross promotional event Fantastica Mania is one of the events that’s consistently the same time every year since 2011. CMLL and NJPW have held this event in Japan in late January. There have been 31 days of this event since it’s inception. Having matches of NJPW vs CMLL, CMLL vs CMLL, and NJPW vs NJPW and even mixes of both fighting mixes of both. 

Nothing is safe as IWGP, CMLL and Mexican National titles have all been defended at the show over the years. 

Despite betting matches being a huge deal in CMLL/Mexico only one has taken place at these events in Japan. It’s not who you’d think : Tiger Mask fought Ishii, in a mask vs hair match, which happened on night 2 of the 2011 edition of this event.    

Also worth noting, the first 3 events had a “Black Cat” Memorial match for the perhaps the Mexican talent who worked longest in NJPW. 

Born in Mexico Black Cat worked in NJPW from 1981–2003 and died of a heart attack in 2006. While most of the 2nd half for his career in NJPW he was an undercard talent he was well liked. Some of his big career moments in : Winning a puroresu vs. lucha libre match vs Tiger Mask(I) in the early 80′s, Black Cat vs. Mascara Sagrada(Mask vs Mask Triplemania II in Mexico when he briefly came back to AAA in 1994), and 1994 also saw him teaming with Art Barr and Eddie Guerrero in both AAA and NJPW. 

Juicio Final(Final Justice)

This one isn’t yearly, but I’m making note of it because of how historical it has been and the fact that it’s not meant to be yearly. There have been 7 since it’s inception ; 1990, 1991, 2000, 2001, 2005, 2011, 2014. It seems CMLL wants this to happen every few years as a gap filler, but also to generate buzz. 

No special format for this despite Final in the name, it’s only held tournament matches once and that was 2011′s Forjando un Ídolo(Forging an Idol), which is an undercard tournament meant to elevate a lowcard/rookie talent into the midcard scene. 

All 7 editions of this event have had a Betting match Main Event and one of them featured what many consider to be one of the best Mask vs Mask matches of all time : Atlantis vs. Villano III.

Who knows if we'll get one this year. I’d hazard a guess of no, because I think this is more once every 5 years. Since the last one was 2014, I’d assume 2018/19 is a better bet. 

CMLL Sin Salida(No Escape)

The last one I’ll cover here is like the last sporadic. It debut in 2009 and has happened 3 times since. 2010, 2013,2015, and despite what the name might suggest, this isn’t about a cage/escape match stipulation. The only Sin Salida to have a cage match was 2013 where they had a steel cage betting match. 

Same format as the match type they use for Infierno en el Ring, but the 2013 main event for Sin Salida had a twist... as it was a 10 Mini-Estrella match.

We likely might not get one of these this year because... this is pretty much filler. If we get one, I’m sure it will be a good event. 

I wouldn’t be surprised if CMLL just drop this name though and go with something more unique. This could be left behind in favor of Infierno en el Ring, which would seem more fitting for the name of Sin Salida. CMLL might even fuse these two names together as  Infierno en el Ring : Sin Salida(Hell on the Ring : No Escape) doesn’t sound half bad.

Did I miss something? If so feel free to fill me in, I left out some CMLL events that don’t seem like they will be back : La Hora Cero(Zero Hour) which only happened once and Entre el Cielo y el Infierno("Between heaven and hell") used for various shows in the very early 2000′s not used lately.