CMLL 63rd Anniversary Show
The CMLL 63rd Anniversary Show was a professional wrestling major show event produced by Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) in 1996. Different sources identify different shows in September as the actual Anniversary Show, either on September 20 or September 27, or possibly both as CMLL has held multiple shows to commemorate their anniversary in the past. Both shows took place in Arena Méxicoin Mexico City, Mexico. The September 20th show consisted of five matches, with the main event seeing Rayo de Jalisco Jr. defend the CMLL World Heavyweight Championship against challenger Gran Markus Jr. On the undercard El Hijo del Santo and Negro Casas faced off in a singles match, working a storyline that a year later, at the CMLL 64th Anniversary Show saw them wrestle in a Lucha de Apuestas, hair vs. mask match. Also on the show Lola Gonzales defended the TWF Women's Championship against Lioness Asuka as well as three further matches.[1] The September 27th show consisted of at least four matches, with the main event being a Best two-out-of-three fallsLucha de Apuesta hair vs. hair match between rivals Emilio Charles Jr. and Silver King. One or both events commemorated the 63rd anniversary of CMLL, the oldest professional wrestling promotion in the world. The Anniversary show is CMLL's biggest show of the year, their Super Bowl event.
Production
Background
The 1996 CMLL Anniversary Shows commemorated the 63rd anniversary of the Mexican professional wrestling company Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (Spanish for "World Wrestling Council"; CMLL) holding their first show on September 22, 1933 by promoter and founder Salvador Lutteroth.[3] CMLL, originally known as Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre ("Mexican Wrestling Company"; EMLL) it would change its name to Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre in 1992 to signal their departure from the National Wrestling Alliance.[4] With the sales of the Jim Crockett Promotions to Ted Turner in 1988 CMLL became the oldest, still-operating wrestling promotion in the world.[4] Over the years CMLL has on occasion held multiple shows to celebrate their anniversary but since 1977 the company has only held one annual show, which is considered the biggest show of the year, CMLL's equivalent of WWE's WrestleMania or their Super Bowl event. CMLL has held their Anniversary show at Arena México in Mexico City, Mexico since 1956, the year the building was completed, over time Arena México earned the nickname "The Cathedral of Lucha Libre" due to it hosting most of CMLL's major events since the building was completed.[4] Traditionally CMLL holds their major events on Friday Nights, replacing their regularly scheduled Super Viernes show.[4]
Storylines
Both shows featured a number of professional wrestling matches with different wrestlers involved in pre-existing scripted feuds, plots and storylines. Wrestlers were portrayed as either heels (referred to as rudos in Mexico, those that portray the "bad guys") or faces (técnicos in Mexico, the "good guy" characters) as they followed a series of tension-building events, which culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.
Results September 20, 1996
Results September 27, 1996
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 "63rd Anniversary Show". ProWrestlingHistory. September 20, 1996. Retrieved February 19, 2010.
- 1 2 "1996 Especial!". Box y Lucha Magazine (in Spanish). January 10, 1997. pp. 2–28. issue 2280.
- ↑ "Los Lutteroth / the Lutteroths". Lucha Libre: Masked Superstars of Mexican Wrestling. Distributed Art Publishers, Inc. 2005. pp. 20–27. ISBN 968-6842-48-9.
- 1 2 3 4 Madigan, Dan (2007). "A family affair". Mondo Lucha Libre: the bizarre & honorable world of wild Mexican wrestling. HarperColins Publisher. pp. 128–132. ISBN 978-0-06-085583-3.
- ↑ Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2000). "MEXICO: Trans-world Wrestling Federation World Women's Title". Wrestling Title Histories. Archeus Communications. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
- 1 2 "Historia de Los Aniversarios del CMLL". The Gladiatores Magazine (in Spanish). September 2, 2010. Retrieved September 28, 2012.
- 1 2 Ruiz Glez, Alex (September 7, 2010). "CMLL: 79 historias, 79 Aniversario, las 79 luchas estelares". SuperLuchas (in Spanish). Retrieved October 20, 2012.
- ↑ "Historia de Los Aniversarios" (in Spanish). Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre. Retrieved September 28, 2012.