| Acronym | CMLL |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1933 |
| Style | Lucha Libre |
| Headquarters | Mexico City |
| Founder(s) | Salvador Lutteroth |
| Owner(s) | Paco Alonso |
| Formerly | Empresa Mexicana de la Lucha Libre NWA-EMLL |
| Website | http://www.cmll.com/ |
Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) (Spanish for Worldwide Wrestling Council) is a Lucha Libre-style professional wrestling promotion based in Mexico City while running cards in Guadalajara, Puebla and elsewhere in central and southern Mexico. The promotion is also referred to by its previous name Empresa Mexicana de la Lucha Libre (EMLL) (Mexican Wrestling Enterprise). It is currently the world's oldest pro wrestling promotion still in existence.[1]
Contents |
The promotion was founded by "The Father of Lucha Libre" Salvador Lutteroth Gonzales when he ran a card under the banner of EMLL on September 21, 1933.[2] The promotion flourished and quickly became the premier spot for workers. If wrestlers were big in Mexico City, they were considered stars throughout Mexico. With stars like El Santo, Bobby Bonales, Tarzán Lopez, Cavernario Galindo and Gory Guerrero (father of Eddie Guerrero), "La Empresa" was at the forefront of the Lucha Libre movement and for the next 50 years, EMLL would continue its place as the leader.
In the 1970s, Lutteroth left the company in the hands of his son Chavo, but the company weakened with Ray Mendoza along with a few promoters breaking off and forming the Universal Wrestling Association. UWA ran in Mexico City and in nearby Naucalpan against EMLL. UWA would be a tremendous force for 15 years but due to a weakening talent pool and affiliates, it died in the 1990s.
EMLL joined the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) as its Mexican affiliate as NWA-EMLL. In time, it pulled out in the 1980s due to promoter disunity, and the NWA's losing battle to stave off the World Wrestling Federation's expansion and consolidation of the U.S. wrestling scene. At this time, it changed its name to Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre to make itself sound more international. At the start of the 1990s the company began appearing on Televisa. This led to a big boom in business due to national television exposure (before this, magazines were the sole medium of Lucha Libre). After the initial boom, long time booker Antonio Peña broke off and formed his own promotion, Asistencia Asesoría y Administración, taking many of the young talent with him. AAA took the lead for several years but when the Mexican economy declined in the mid-1990s, AAA scaled-back and CMLL started re-building with the famous El Hijo del Santo vs. Negro Casas feud where Santo shocked the world by turning heel when he dressed up like Negro Casas' brother Felino and attacked him. CMLL followed this up by pushing younger stars, leading to another boom period.
On March 16, 2010, a video was posted on YouTube featuring an interview David Marquez had with NWA Executive Director and Legal Counsel Robert Trobich. Trobich announced that CMLL did not have permission to use the NWA trademark. The rights to usage of the NWA trademark in Mexico is now held by NWA Mexico, represented by Blue Demon, Jr.
From 2007 to 2009, CMLL had a working relationship with American promotion Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, which saw CMLL's Averno, Rey Bucanero, Último Guerrero and Volador, Jr. winning the 2008 TNA World X Cup and TNA worker Alex Shelley winning the 2008 CMLL International Grand Prix. In 2008, CMLL established a working relationship with New Japan Pro Wrestling as part of "G-1 World", several wrestlers have since toured between the two companies winning titles, including Místico winning the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship and Jushin Liger winning the CMLL Universal Championship. In 2011, CMLL established a working relationship with Japanese women's promotion Universal Woman's Pro Wrestling Reina and announced that the two promotions would create a new championship for women who have been in the business for less than ten years, called the CMLL-Reina International Junior Championship.
Most CMLL events are held in the famous Arena Mexico in Mexico City, with the biggest weekly show being the Friday night Super Viernes ("Super Friday") show. Of all the major promotions in the world, CMLL is one of the most conservative. Matches with blood are not broadcasted and, other than an annual cage match, specialty matches such as ladder matches are never used.
CMLL's main programming, hosted by Alfonso Morales, Leobardo Magadan and Miguel Linares, is broadcast regularly on Televisa in Mexico, on LATV in the United States, and formerly on Telelatino in Canada and The Wrestling Channel in the United Kingdom. CMLL also had a syndicated show called "Sin Limite de Tiempo" ("with no time limit") which shows matches from Arena Coliseo shows and matches they could not fit onto the regular broadcast. It aired in Los Angeles on KWHY. This show was followed up by "Guerreros del Ring" on Canal 52MX. Also, Spanish-language American sports channel Fox Sports en Español recently started broadcasting CMLL programming. Recently CMLL also added the Mexican network Cadena Tres to its list of networks airing CMLL Wrestling. Galavision began airing CMLL wrestling in the spring of 2011.
CMLL shows have been available in the United Kingdom via BT Vision's download service. As of July 29, 2010 54 episodes of CMLL wrestling is available to view. The first show featured was from CMLL's 75th Anniversary Show from 2008. In Germany you can follow CMLL through online video and Web-2.0 media platform Sevenload.[3]
Each year CMLL promotes a number of signature events, some shown as pay-per-view events and others shown on regular television. Over the last couple of years CMLL have held three regular events each year and a number of one off, special events. The Major show, shown in order of when they happen during the year, include:
| Event | Next Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| La Hora Cero | Not announced for 2010 | A Pay-Per-View held on January 11, 2009. No indications of it becoming an annual event |
| Homenaje a Dos Leyendas | March 18, 2011 | Annual show since 2005, honors 2 "legends", one is always Salvador Lutteroth, CMLL's founder. |
| Infierno en el Ring | September 30, 2011 | Infierno en el Ring is an annual "multi-man" Steel Cage elimination match, sometimes it gets it own show, other years it's the main event of another Major Event. |
| CMLL Anniversary Show | Not announced for 2012 | The biggest show of CMLL's year, commemorates CMLL's debut in 1933. The longest running annual show in professional wrestling. Most recent anniversary was the 78th Anniversary. |
| Sin Salida | Not announced for 2011 | Sin Salida is a more recent show, so far held in December and in June |
| Championship | Current Champion(s) | Held since |
|---|---|---|
| CMLL Universal Championship | La Sombra | September 16, 2011[4] |
| CMLL World Heavyweight Championship | El Terrible | January 1, 2012[5] |
| CMLL World Light Heavyweight Championship | Rush | February 22, 2011[6] |
| CMLL World Middleweight Championship | Dragón Rojo, Jr. | November 18, 2011[7] |
| CMLL World Mini-Estrella Championship | Pequeño Olímpico | February 13, 2011[8] |
| CMLL World Super Lightweight Championship | Virus | June 7, 2011[9] |
| CMLL World Tag Team Championship | Los Guerreros del Infierno (Dragón Rojo, Jr. and Último Guerrero) |
November 2, 2010[10] |
| CMLL World Trios Championship | Los Hijos del Averno (Averno, Ephesto and Mephisto) |
July 15, 2011 |
| CMLL World Welterweight Championship | Máscara Dorada | June 18, 2011[11] |
| CMLL World Women's Championship | Ayumi Kurihara | November 26, 2011[12] |
| CMLL Arena Coliseo Tag Team Championship | Flash and Stuka, Jr. | June 29, 2008 |
| CMLL-Reina International Junior Championship | Silueta | October 18, 2011[13] |
| Championship | Current Champion(s) | Held since |
|---|---|---|
| Mexican National Trios Championship | Los Reyes de la Atlantida (Atlantis, Delta and Guerrero Maya, Jr.) |
December 16, 2011[14] |
| Mexican National Welterweight Championship | Pólvora | July 15, 2011 |
| Mexican National Light Heavyweight Championship | La Máscara | October 5, 2010[15] |
| Mexican National Lightweight Championship | Pierrothito | September 23, 2008 |
| Mexican National Women's Championship | Princesa Blanca | January 30, 2009[16] |
| NWA World Historic Light Heavyweight Championship | Rey Bucanero | June 21, 2011[17] |
| NWA World Historic Middleweight Championship | La Máscara | November 22, 2011[18] |
| NWA World Historic Welterweight Championship | La Sombra | March 13, 2011[19] |
These titles controlled by the Guadalajara branch of CMLL.
| Championship | Current Champion(s) | Held since |
|---|---|---|
| Occidente Heavyweight Championship | Vacant | Unclear |
| Occidente Light Heavyweight Championship | Okumura | July 12, 2011 |
| Occidente Middleweight Championship | Palacio Negro | August 14, 2011 |
| Occidente Tag Team Championship | Vacated | November 22, 2011 |
| Occidente Trios Championship | Unknown | Unknown |
| Occidente Welterweight Championship | Metal Blanco | April 4, 2010 |
These title are now defunct and was only when CMLL toured Japan in 1999 and 2000.
| Championship | Last Recognized Champion(s) | Date created | End of Recognition |
|---|---|---|---|
| CMLL Japan Super Lightweight Championship | Ricky Marvin | February 27, 1999 | August 6, 2000 |
| CMLL Japan Tag Team Championship | Vacated | February 24, 1999 | July 7, 1999 |
| CMLL Japan Women's Championship | Vacated | October 17, 1999 | February 13, 2000 |
CMLL conducts several annual tournaments which usually signify a big push. Tournaments have been left out of the schedule for unexplained reasons. Some tournaments are conducted as torneo cibernéticos, a large multi-man tag team elimination match, others are normal single elimination tournament.
| Tournament | Last winner | Last held | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Torneo Gran Alternativa ("Great Alternative" Tournament) |
Escorpion and Último Guerrero | April 8, 2011[20] | An elimination tag team tournament where an established star teams with a young midcarder with the intent to give the younger wrestler more credibility. |
| Campeonato Universal (Universal Champion) |
Jushin Liger | August 13, 2010 | An elimination tournament consisting of all champions to determine the "Universal champion". Winner received a title belt but it is defended in the annual tournament. |
| Copa Jr. ("Junior Cup") |
Dragón Rojo, Jr. | December 25, 2010 | This tournament features wrestlers who are at least second generation wrestlers, though worked family relations have been accepted as well. This tournament has been held four times in CMLL in 1996, 2005, 2006 and 2010. In 1996 the winner was Emilio Charles, Jr.. The 2005 winner was Shocker. The 2006 winner was Dos Caras, Jr. After a four year hiatus, the tournament was brought back in December 2010, when Dragón Rojo, Jr. emerged as the fourth winner. |
| Reyes del Aire ("King of the Air") |
Ángel de Oro[21] | January 1, 2011 | This tournament is for high flyers. The tournament usually works as a cibernetico with mostly young and undercard tecnicos, with the idea of focusing more attention on the winner. |
| Pequeño Reyes del Aire ("Miniature King of the Air") |
Pequeño Nitro | March 7, 2010 | Like the Reyes del Aire but for Mini-Estrellas |
| Leyenda de Plata ("Silver Legend") |
Volador Jr. | October 7, 2011[22] | A tournament in honor of El Santo. This is the most prestigious of the CMLL tournaments and the tournament is usually made up of the best in-ring workers. |
| Leyenda de Azul ("Blue Legend") |
Mr. Niebla | July 29, 2011 | A tournament in honor of Blue Demon. It is secondary to the Leyenda de Plata tournament but features most of the top wrestlers in the promotion. It has been conducted as a normal torneo cibernético and as a one night tournament. |
These are all the tournament that have been held in the past by Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre but have not been promoted in the last two years.
| Tournament | Last winner | Last held | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| International Gran Prix | Alex Shelley[23] | July 26, 2008 | Previously an elimination tournament, now a tornero Cibernetico. Features a "Mexico vs. International" wrestlers theme with one side being native Mexicans and the other side of the Cibernetico being foreigners, in 2008 it featured several Total Nonstop Action Wrestling wrestlers. |
| Copa de Arena Mexico | Team Tall (Black Warrior, Lizmark, Jr., and Rayo de Jalisco, Jr.) | 2002 | A one night tournament for trios teams. The winners earns a trophy; each team comes up with a name for their trio. The tournament was only held in 1999, 2001, and 2002. In 1999, the winners were Satánico, Rey Bucanero and Ultimo Guerrero as "Team Guerreros del Infierno". The 2001 winners were Black Warrior, Shocker, and Apolo Dantes as "Team Shocker". |
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||