Introduction



It’s here! It’s finally here! If you know CMLL or Lucha Libre you know that CMLL Anniversary is the biggest Lucha show of the year. In the tapestry of Lucha Libre and really wrestling as a whole… nothing makes you cemented in wrestling history as appearing in his card. Especially if you are in the main event which for the last couple decades has been a betting match.

CMLL Anniversary, of course is the longest running annual wrestling show in the world. Only once in the last 85 years has this show not taken place back in 1985 when a massive earthquake hit Mexico City, where it is always held : Arena Mexico which is lovingly referred to as ‘The Cathedral of Lucha Libre’.



This post is meant to be a review of who is who and how we found ourselves with these matches. This is also taking place on September 16th, which is notable because it’s Mexico’s Independence Day, which is around when they normally hold this event.

Stuka Jr. Blue Panther Jr. The Panther

Hechicero Dragón Rojo Jr. Pólvora

Kickoff match

A team of tecnicos vs a team rudos.

Both have an odd man out as Hechicero isn’t aligned with Dragon or Polvora who alone are Los Revolucionarios del Terror(Revolutionaries of Terror). They often have entrances where they come out in Sombreros, dance with ring girls and shoot off old timey prop rifles.

While their 3rd Hechicero is NWA World Historic Light Heavyweight Champion and a Sorcerer. Hechicero literally translating to that or medicine man. He often has an entrance where he has a plate or handful of greek fire like substance.

While Stuka is similarly the odd man out. While the Panther Brothers aren’t a stable really they are a dynasty both being sons of the legendary Blue Panther who still wrestles regularly on CMLL. Two weeks ago he was in the opener of the Gran Prix PPV with both his sons.

While this match doesn’t have high stakes, both Rojo/Polvora and Panther Bros might be first draft picks for teams to usurp the CMLL Tag Champs Shocker and Negro Casas who have the longest CMLL Tag Title reign of all time… much to the dismay of fans as Shocker and Casas have barely worked together this year.

Marco Corleone Diamante Azul Valiente

Sansón Cuatrero Forastero

Second contest

Another typical face vs heel dynamic here.

The faces are just… a mish-mash of good guy talent. Marco hasn’t been a group in ages and neither has Azul. While Valiente is 1/3rd of the trios champions, ‘Sky Team’. I’m a little disappointed we aren’t getting a trios title defense, though CMLL might be looking to have Sky Team become the longest reigning CMLL Trios Champions right now they are in 2nd with 944 days while first place Black Warrior, Dr. Wagner Jr. and Blue Panther have roughly 1,141 days(exact length is iffy).

While the heels are a dynasty, Sanson and Cuatrero are brothers with Forastero being their cousin. The three normally wear black and white and together are known as Nueva Generación Dinamita(New Generation Dynamite) or NGD for short. This is their first time on Anniversary which I think is unique, as most of the people on this card have been on it in previous years. They have the 3 belts, though two are regional and one is one of the national titles. Not really the CMLL World Title Caliber team titles, but having 3 helps bolster relative their low value. CMLL seem high on them and if they beat the face team it would be one of their biggest wins yet… even if nothing is on the line.

Rush Kraneo Sam Adonis

Negro Casas Barbaro Cavernario El Felino

Rudos vs Rudos

We have Rush who atm is basically leader of Los Ingobernables(Though only his dad and him are in it), Kraneo who is a bit of a goofball and Sam Adonis who recently was given a big rub by beating Blue Panther in a hair vs hair match. He went on a rant about wanting to beat everyone in CMLL betting matches. So I’d look for seeds to be planted for a Felino/Barbaro/Casas hair vs hair feud for Adonis here.

On the other side we have 3 members of La Peste Negra(The Black Plague), with Felino and Negro being brothers and part of the Casas wrestling family. Negro(Spanish for black) is the leader of that faction and probably the biggest name on this undercard having main evented CMLL 4 times(64th, 67th, 69th and 76th) and on plenty of other Anniversary shows.

Princesa Sugehit vs Zeuxis, mask vs mask

This match has been building for a while. Back in February of 2016, Sugehit won the Mexican National Women’s title off Zeuxis. At last year’s CMLL Anniversary Sugehit’s team lost to Zeuxis’ team in women’s trios to kick off the show. Sugehit was in the last 1 on 1 Women’s match at CMLL where she lost to Dark Angel at CMLL 82nd, which was Dark Angel’s big farewell match.

While Sugehit is still holding the Mexican National Women’s title, Zeuxis in mid August won the vacant Reina-CMLL Women’s title which is a title CMLL has in the Joshi promotion Reina.

Unlike the men’s division titles it seems the CMLL branded world title isn’t as valuable as the National/Reina titles since Dalys who holds the CMLL title isn’t on the card. Though to be fair… no other women are on the card.



This match is pretty intriguing, as it could be either/or. Though even if I feel strongly about a match I probably wouldn’t try to spoil it here. Sugehit could win and be pushed as the female icon akin to Santo/Atlantis. Or perhaps CMLL think it’s too late to make Sugehit an icon. If so, Zeuxis win here could be the start of her getting that kind or rub/aura.

Flip Gordon Caristico Volador Jr.

Ultimo Guerrero Satoshi Kojima Mephisto

Penultimate Trios match

We have one more faces vs heels trio matchup. This one is basically the superstars. Volador Jr./Ultimo have both won the CMLL Universal Tournament(Highest honor/accolade in CMLL besides Main Eventing this card) and were in the finals this year. Volador Jr/Ultimo are also the longest currently reigning CMLL Singles champions.

Caristico is THE luchador of the mid 2000′s, he lost lots of steam going to WWE(Sin Cara) then AAA(Myzteziz) a few years ago. Recently CMLL have warmed back up on him and obviously know he has star power.

Ultimo/Mephisto are both rudo leaders. Ultimo of Los Guerreros(the main event featuring both guys who were in that group) and Mephisto is leader of Los Hijos del Infierno(Sons of Hell) which is a trio of devil/demon themed luchadors.



The odd men out are Kojima who has been rudo/heel in CMLL since arriving a few weeks ago. Flip Gordon will be making his CMLL debut at this show. I think both men are included because CMLL likes their show to semi-represent wrestling as a whole. While obviously Kojima/Flip Gordon don’t really represent all of ROH/NJPW/wrestling outside of CMLL. It’s CMLL spotlighting some outside talent.

The greater CMLL outside talent event happened 2 weeks ago at Gran Prix. This is probably the most noteable outsiders on Anniversary since 80th when Ishii and Desperado kicked off the show. (Though 83rd had Super Crazy, who isn’t a CMLL talent, but is still a Lucha guy)



Gran Guerrero vs Niebla Roja, Mask vs Mask

This match is former stable mates coming to blows. This all came to a head months ago, when Los Guerreros(Ultimo, Gran and Roja) were in a trios match that involved Angel de Oro(Gold Angel). Oro is older brother to Roja who before becoming Niebla Roja(Red Mist) was Angel de Plata(Silver Angel). Roja refused to lay a hand on his brother time and time again in the match. Roja had already been getting skittish with pulling heel antics. That match saw Roja kick Ultimo in the face and officially breaking away from Los Guerreros.

They may have just let him go AWOL, but one major thing was wrong. Neibla Roja’s mask is very inspired by the Los Guerreros leader, Ultimo Guerreros mask before he lost it at 81st Anniversary.

So in following weeks Ultimo and Gran would attack and tear the mask off Roja or at least tear it. This lead to them cutting promos that he NEEDED to change his mask design or they’d make him. Which is how we got here.

Gran Guerrero, the younger brother to Ultimo, vs Niebla Roja, the younger brother to Angel de Oro. In mask vs mask matches their are often cornermen, so my money would be on the older brothers filling those roles here even if Ultimo has a match right before.

Roja is the tecnico that deserted his rudo team and is now going to battle for the mask rights. Both men have Ultimo inspired masks, in fact Gran’s mask is basically the exact same mask Ultimo use to wear, while Roja’s is inspired, but is more unique with red/gold flair.

The build has been very weak to this. I’m still excited and hope the two deliver on this big spot they have been given. Niebla Roja went AWOL in Los Guerreros, but really for the last match has been AWOL for the build to this main event. I don’t know if Roja got hurt or had a family member get sick or perhaps has family in the part of Mexico that was affected by that earthquake? I don’t want to throw him under the bus, but I might be a little upset if I was Gran getting this big shot and I just have to coast doing next to nothing in the weeks leading to Anniversary.

The event starts at 5 PM Central Time Saturday and can be bought over at Internetv.tv

NOTE :

If you don’t watch CMLL regularly, ALL of these matches will be 2/3 falls, and the tag matches will be Lucha Libre tag.

What that means : to get a fall you have to pin the captain(Captain will likely be first named guy on each team) or pin both the other competitors on that team to get a fall. Obviously in singles matches you only need to pin/submit the other person, though you can lose a fall by tearing off the others mask… that likely won’t happen as you’d be risking your own mask.

Lucha Libre tag dictates that tags don’t need to be made, instead when one team member leaves another can come in to be the legal man.