EMLL 45th Anniversary Show

EMLL 45th Anniversary Show
Information
Promotion Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre (EMLL)
Date September 22, 1978[1]
Attendance Unknown[1]
Venue Arena México[1]
City Mexico City, Mexico[1]
Pay-per-view chronology

22. Aniversario de Arena México EMLL 45th Anniversary Show 23. Aniversario de Arena México
EMLL Anniversary Show chronology

EMLL 44th Anniversary Show (2) EMLL 45th Anniversary Show EMLL 46th Anniversary Show

The EMLL 45th Anniversary Show was a professional wrestling major show event produced by Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre (EMLL) that took place on September 22, 1978 in Arena México, Mexico City, Mexico. The event commemorated the 45th anniversary of EMLL, which would become the oldest professional wrestling promotion in the world.[2] The Anniversary show is EMLL's biggest show of the year, their Super Bowl event.

Event

The event featured an undetermined number of professional wrestling matches with different wrestlers involved in pre-existing scripted feuds or storylines. Wrestlers portray either villains (referred to as Rudos in Mexico) or fan favorites (Técnicos in Mexico) as they compete in wrestling matches with pre-determined outcomes. Due to the nature of keeping mainly paper records of wrestling at the time no documentation has been found for some of the matches of the show.

In one of the few confirmed matches of the show Tony Salazar put the NWA World Middleweight Championship on the line against the Japanese born Satoru Sayama. Sayama had come to work in Mexico after having a hard time finding work in Japan due to his small stature, which made him better suited for the high flying, Lucha Libre style. Salazar was able to wart off the challenger, defeating Sayama two falls to one.[1][3][4][5][6] The main event of the show was a double Lucha de Apuesta, or bet match between the team of Sangre Chicana and Rubi Rubalcava and the team of El Cobarde and Dragon Rojo. Dragón Rojo was the only enmascarado, or masked wrestler, in the match so he risked his match while the rest risked their hair on the outcome of the match. Chicana and Rubalcava won the match, two falls to one and thus El Cobarde was shaved bald while Dragón Rojo was forced to remove his mask and reveal his birth name as per Lucha Libre traditions.[3][4][5][7]

Aftermath

The name Dragón Rojo would be used again decades later when Dragón Rojo, Jr. was introduced, a storyline grandson of the original Dragón Rojo even though no blood relation exists between the two.

Results

No. Results[1][3][4][5] Stipulations
1 Tony Salazar (c) defeated Satoru Sayama[6] Two out of three falls match for the NWA World Middleweight Championship
2 Sangre Chicana and Rubi Rubalcava defeated El Cobarde and Dragon Rojo[7] Two out of three falls Lucha de Apuesta hair and mask vs. hair and hair match
(c) – refers to the champion(s) heading into the match

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 "45th Anniversary Show". Pro Wrestling History. September 22, 1978. Retrieved September 27, 2012.
  2. ↑ Madigan, Dan (2007). "A family affair". Mondo Lucha Libre: the bizarre and honorable world of wild Mexican wrestling. HarperColins Publisher. pp. 128–132. ISBN 978-0-06-085583-3.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "Historia de Los Aniversarios del CMLL". The Gladiatores Magazine (in Spanish). September 2, 2010. Retrieved September 28, 2012.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 "Historia de Los Aniversarios" (in Spanish). Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre. Retrieved September 28, 2012.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Ruiz Glez, Alex (September 7, 2010). "CMLL: 79 historias, 79 Aniversario, las 79 luchas estelares". SuperLuchas (in Spanish). Retrieved October 20, 2012.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2006). "Mexico: EMLL NWA World Middleweight Title". Wrestling Title Histories (4th ed.). Archeus Communications. pp. 389–390. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Lucha Libre: Conoce la historia de las leyendas de cuadrilátero". Sangre Chicana (1951) (in Spanish) (Mexico). 2008. p. 53. Grandes Figuras de la Lucha Libre.