Date September 21, 1979 Venue Arena Coliseo | Attendance Unknown City Mexico City, Mexico | |
Promotion Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre EMLL 46th Anniversary Show 24. Aniversario de Arena México | ||
The EMLL 46th Anniversary Show was a professional wrestling major show event produced by Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre (EMLL) that took place on September 21, 1979 in Arena Coliseo, Mexico City, Mexico. The event commemorated the 46th 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.
Contents
Background
The 1979 Anniversary show commemorated the 46th 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. 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. With the sales of the Jim Crockett Promotions to Ted Turner in 1988 EMLL became the oldest, still-operating wrestling promotion in the world. 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. Traditionally EMLL/CMLL holds their major events on Friday Nights, replacing their regularly scheduled Super Viernes show. The event was the first Anniversary show to be held in Arena Coliseo since 1955 when EMLL held their 22nd Anniversary Show in that arena.
Storylines
The event featured at least three 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
In one of the few confirmed matches for the show NWA World Middleweight Champion, Japanese born Satoru Sayama successfully defended the championship against Mexican native Ringo Mendoza in a best two-out-of three falls match. In the main event both Gran Cochisse and Américo Rocca put their hair on the line in a Lucha de Apuestas hair vs. hair match, which was a result of a long running feud between the two. In the end Cochisse was successful and Américo Rocca was forced to have his long, curly hair shaved off completely while sitting in the middle of the ring.
Aftermath
Satoru Sayama remained champion until March 28, 1980 when he was dethroned by El Satánico. Sayama later returned to his native Japan and became famous as the masked wrestling character "Tiger Mask".