Date September 26, 1980 Venue Arena México | Attendance 17,000 City Mexico City, Mexico | |
Promotion Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre EMLL 47th Anniversary Show 25. Aniversario de Arena México | ||
The EMLL 47th Anniversary Show was a professional wrestling major show event produced by Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre (EMLL) that took place on September 26, 1980 in Arena México, Mexico City, Mexico. The event commemorated the 47th 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.
Contents
Background
The 1980 Anniversary show commemorated the 47th 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.
Storylines
The event featured six 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. The 47th Anniversary event is the oldest EMLL Anniversary event where all the matches have been documented.
Event
The show began with a regular singles match between El Vengador ("The Avenger") and Manuel Robles that was won by the masked Vengador. The second match of the night was a two out of three falls Six-man tag team match, a match format that would soon become the most used match format in EMLL. The match saw the rudo (wrestlers who portray the bad guys) team of Siglo XX, Mascara Año 2000 and El Cobarde defeat the team of Herodes, El Nazi and Bruno Victoria, two falls to one. In the third under-card match Seiji Sakaguchi and a partner whose identity has not been documented defeated the team of Tony Benetto and Alfonso Dantes in a regular tag team match. In the first featured match of the show Mexican National Heavyweight Champion, Cien Caras faced one of the early challenges in his long and successful career as he defeated TNT in a best two-out-of three falls match. The semi-final match saw Sangre Chicana successfully defend the NWA World Middleweight Championship against El Fantasma, in a drawn out, three falls match. The final match of the night featured Mocho Cota and El Satánico facing off in a Lucha de Apuestas hair vs. hair match. The Apuestas match is considered the most prestigious match in Lucha Libre, which is why it received top billing over two championship matches. The show saw Satánico pin his opponent twice, forcing Mocho Cota to be shaved bald after the match per the Lucha de Apuestas stipulation.