Date March 17, 2002 City Mexico City, Mexico | Venue Arena México | |
 | ||
Tagline(s) Apocalipsis ("Apocalypse") Promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre Homenaje a Dos Leyendas El Santo y Salvador Lutteroth (2002) International Gran Prix (2002) | ||
Homenaje a Dos Leyendas: El Santo y Salvador Lutteroth (2002) (Spanish for "Homage to Two Legends: El Santo and Salvador Lutteroth") was a professional wrestling major show event produced by Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), which took place on March 30, 2002 in Arena México, Mexico City, Mexico. The event was to honor and remember CMLL founder Salvador Lutteroth who died in March 1987. It also honored El Santo, the most famous Mexican professional wrestler ever. The name of the annual March event would later be shortened to just Homenaje a Dos Leyendas after CMLL had a falling out with El Santo's son El Hijo del Santo, with the event honoring a different wrestler along with Lutteroth. The event was also billed as Apocalypsis ("Apocalypse") with the "Homenaje a Dos Leyenda" serving more as a tag line to tie the event into the previous shows honoring Lutteroth and El Santo. The main event was a singles match between Gran Markus Jr. defeated Veneno contested under Lucha de Apuestas rules, which meant that Veneno bet his mask on the outcome and would have to unmask if he lost and Gran Markus Jr. bet his hair on the outcome of the match and would have to be shaved bald if he lost. The card featured five further matches, including a Six-man "Lucha Libre rules" tag team match for the vacant CMLL World Trios Championship, the finals of a tournament to crown new champions. The show featured three additional Six-man "Lucha Libre rules" tag team matches and a tag team match.
Contents
Background
Since 1996 the Mexican wrestling company Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (Spanish for "World Wrestling Council"; CMLL) has held a show in March each year to commemorate the passing of CMLL founder Salvador Lutteroth who died in March 1987. For the first three years the show paid homage to Lutteroth himself, from 1999 through 2004 the show paid homage to Lutteroth and El Santo, Mexico's most famous wrestler ever and from 2005 forward the show has paid homage to Lutteroth and a different leyenda ("Legend") each year, celebrating the career and accomplishments of past CMLL stars. Originally billed as Homenaje a Salvador Lutteroth, it has been held under the Homenaje a Dos Leyendas ("Homage to two legends") since 1999 and is the only show outside of CMLL's Anniversary shows that CMLL has presented every year since its inception. All Homenaje a Dos Leyendas shows have been held in Arena México in Mexico City, Mexico which is CMLL's main venue, its "home". Traditionally CMLL holds their major events on Friday Nights, which means the Homenaje a Dos Leyendas shows replace their regularly scheduled Super Viernes show. The 2002 show was the seventh overall Homenaje a Dos Leyendas 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 2002 Homenaje a Dos Leyendas show aired live on Sky PPV, which was the last CMLL show to do so for a number of years.
The driving storyline behind the 2002 Dos Leyendas show was Gran Markus Jr.'s split from Pierroth Jr.'s Los Boricuas rudo group only a few months prior to the show. His opponent, Veneno, was one of the younger members of Pierroth Jr.'s group, trying to make a name for himself by taking on the "traitor". The semi main event was the finals of a tournament to crown the next holders of the CMLL World Trios Championship. The title was Vacated when the previous title holders, Black Warrior, Dr. Wagner Jr. and Blue Panther broke up as Black Warrior turned tecnico. Each side chose new team mates to compete for the title. Wagner and Panther chose Fuerza Guerrera as their partner while Black Warrior aligned himself with Mr. Niebla and Antifaz del Norte.
Aftermath
After the main event Veneno was forced to unmask and state his birth name, Rafael Ernesto Medina Baeza, as is tradition in lucha libre. Gran Markus Jr.'s feud with Pierroth and the rest of Los Boricuas stretched into 2004 with Pierroth defeating Gran Markus Jr. in a Luchas de Apuestas match that was the main event of the 2003 Homenaje a Dos Leyendas: El Santo y Salvador Lutteroth show.