EMLL 50th Anniversary Show

The EMLL 50th Anniversary Show was a professional wrestling major show event produced by Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre (EMLL) that took place on September 23, 1983 in Arena México, Mexico City, Mexico. The event commemorated the 50th anniversary of EMLL, which would become the oldest professional wrestling promotion in the world. The Anniversary show is EMLL's biggest show of the year, their Super Bowl event. The main event was the culmination of a long running, intense storyline between Sangre Chicana and MS-1, with both men putting their hair on the line against the outcome of their Lucha de Apuestas, bet match. The show featured at least three additional matches including Ultraman defending the Mexican National Middleweight Championship against El Supremo.

EMLL 50th Anniversary Show
Kevin Von Erich, made a special appearance for EMLL.
PromotionEmpresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre
DateSeptember 23, 1983[1]
CityMexico City, Mexico[1]
VenueArena México[1]
Attendance18,000[1]
Event chronology
← Previous
27. Aniversario de Arena México		 Next →
Juicio Final
EMLL Anniversary Show chronology
← Previous
49th Anniversary		 Next →
51st Anniversary

Production

Background

The 1983 Anniversary show commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Mexican professional wrestling company Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre (Spanish for "Mexican Wrestling Promotion"; EMLL) holding their first show on September 22, 1933 by promoter and founder Salvador Lutteroth.[2] EMLL was rebranded early in 1992 to become Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre ("World Wrestling Council"; CMLL) signal their departure from the National Wrestling Alliance.[3] With the sales of the Jim Crockett Promotions to Ted Turner in 1988 EMLL became the oldest, still-operating wrestling promotion in the world.[4] Over the years EMLL/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 EMLL/CMLL's major events since the building was completed.[4] Traditionally EMLL/CMLL holds their major events on Friday Nights, replacing their regularly scheduled Super Viernes show.[4]

Storylines

The event featured at least four 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. 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.

Event

The first documented match of the show had Mexican National Middleweight Champion Ultraman defend his title against El Supremo in a Best two-out-of three falls match, the standard Lucha Libre format for championship matches. Ultraman had won the title just over a month prior, defeating Águila Solitaria in a tournament final to become the new champion.[5] Ultraman defeated Supremo two falls to one to retain the title.[1][5] Kevin Von Erich, part of the famous Von Erich Family traveled south from Texas to make a special appearance for the 50th Anniversary show, teaming with EMLL regulars Mascara Año 2000 and Halcón Ortiz as they defeated Herodes, Coloso Colosetti and Pirata Morgan in a Best two-out-of-three falls Six-man tag team match[1] Also on the show Ringo Mendoza, Villano III and Lizmark defeated La Fiera, Mocho Cota and Espectro Jr.in a best two-out-of-three falls six-man tag team match.[1]

The main event of the 50th Anniversary show was the culmination of a very heated, very intense storyline between MS-1 and Sangre Chicana. The matches between the two wrestlers leading up to the event often ended in disqualification for excessive violence and with one or both wrestlers bleeding profusely. After a number of inconclusive matches between the two both men finally agreed to settle their dispute with a Lucha de Apuestas, or "Bet match" between the two where both men would wager their hair on the outcome of the match.[6] In Lucha Libre high profile Luchas de Apuestas matches are considered more prestigious than championship matches and are regarded as the ultimate "feud settler" between wrestlers.[4] The match between the two was contested under "Best two-out-of-three" falls rules, which is standard for Luchas de Apuestas matches and featured a more brutal style of wrestling than normally associated with Lucha Libre. The two opponents would bleed half way through the match, as they built the intensity between them up over the first two falls. In the third and deciding fall Sangre Chicana finally got his revenge on the hated rudo MS-1, pinning him to take the match. Following the victory Sangre Chicana watched as MS-1 was forcibly shaved bald while in the middle of the ring.[1][7][8][9][10]

Aftermath

Ultraman reigned as the Mexican National Middleweight Champion until March 4, 1984 when he would lose the championship to Jerry Estrada.[5]

Results
No. Results[1] Stipulations
1 Ultraman (c) defeated El Supremo Best two-out-of-three falls match for the Mexican National Middleweight Championship[5]
2 Kevin Von Erich, Mascara Año 2000 and Halcón Ortiz defeated Herodes, Coloso Colosetti and Pirata Morgan Best two-out-of-three falls lucha libre rules six-man tag team match
3 Ringo Mendoza, Villano III and Lizmark defeated La Fiera, Mocho Cota and Espectro Jr. Best two-out-of-three falls lucha libre rules six-man tag team match
4 Sangre Chicana defeated MS-1 Best two-out-of-three falls Lucha de Apuestas Hair vs. Hair match[7][8][9][10]
  • (c) – refers to the champion(s) heading into the match

References
  1. "50th Anniversary Show". Pro Wrestling History. September 23, 1983. Retrieved September 27, 2012.
  2. "Los Lutteroth / the Lutteroths". Lucha Libre: Masked Superstars of Mexican Wrestling. Distributed Art Publishers, Inc. 2005. pp. 20–27. ISBN 968-6842-48-9.
  3. 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.
  4. Madigan, Dan (2007). "Okay... what is Lucha Libre?". Mondo Lucha Libre: the bizarre and honorable world of wild Mexican wrestling. HarperColins Publisher. pp. 29–40. ISBN 978-0-06-085583-3.
  5. Royal Duncan and Gary Will (2000). "Mexico: National Middleweight Championship". Wrestling Title Histories. Archeus Communications. p. 392. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
  6. "Grandes Figuras de la Lucha Libre". MS-1 (in Spanish). Portales, Mexico. November 2008. p. 39. 17.
  7. "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.
  8. "Historia de Los Aniversarios del CMLL". The Gladiatores Magazine (in Spanish). September 2, 2010. Retrieved September 28, 2012.
  9. "Historia de Los Aniversarios" (in Spanish). Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre. Archived from the original on October 16, 2012. Retrieved September 28, 2012.
  10. Ruiz Glez, Alex (September 7, 2010). "CMLL: 79 historias, 79 Aniversario, las 79 luchas estelares". SuperLuchas (in Spanish). Retrieved October 20, 2012.
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