Homenaje a Dos Leyendas (2015)

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 2015 show was the 20th 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.

In late 2014 Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) began building the storyline that would eventually lead to a 10-man steel cage elimination match where the loser would be shaved bald. During the build Volador Jr., Máximo, Rey Bucanero and El Terrible started to interact on multiple occasions as they were four of the ten wrestlers involved in the cage match. As part of the build to the 2014 Infierno en el Ring event Rey Bucanero outlasted all other competitors to win a torneo cibernetico elimination match. At Infierno en el Ring El Terrible was one of the first wrestlers to leave the cage, Máximo escaped minutes later without much interaction with Bucanero. In the end Rey Bucanero defeated El Felino, forcing Felino to have his hair shaved off as dictated by the Lucha de Apuestas, or bet match, rules. In the weeks following the Infierno en el Ring show Rey Bucanero and Volador Jr. found themselves on opposite sides of the ring repeatedly developing a more personal in-ring rivalry between the two. At the same time Máximo started to make challenges against El Terrible, looking for Terrible to put the CMLL World Heavyweight Championship on the line against him. On January 30, 2015 Máximo finally got a championship match and ended El Terrible's 1,125 day long reign as champion when he pinned him during a CMLL Super Viernes match. In the weeks following the title change the two storylines converged as TRT team mates Rey Bucanero and El Terrible joined forces to combat the tecnico challenges of Máximo and Volador Jr. On February 10 CMLL held a press conference to announce the 2015 Homenaje a Dos Leyendas show as well as do the official contract signing for a tag team Luchas de Apuestas match where both members of the losing team would have their hair shaved off after the match. CMLL decided to team the rivals up for the 2015 Torneo Nacional de Parejas Increibles ("The National Incredible Pairs Tournament"), a tag team tournament where all teams were composed of rivals. In Block A Volador Jr. and Rey Bucanero defeated the teams of Titán and Bárbaro Cavernario, La Sombra and Negro Casas and finally La Máscara and Mephisto to qualify for the finals. For Block B of the tournament Máximo and El Terrible were teamed up and despite not getting along they defeated the teams of Dragón Rojo Jr. and Niebla Roja, Stuka Jr. and Gran Guerrero and Atlantis and Último Guerrero to earn their way to the finals, pairing the Dos Leyendas finalists against each other only a few weeks before the Dos Leyendas show. Only 2 days later Volador Jr. and Rey Bucanero outlasted Atlantis, Blue Panther, Dragón Rojo Jr., Ephesto, Misterioso Jr., Mr. Águila, Niebla Roja, Stuka Jr., Último Guerrero and Valiente to earn the right to compete for the vacant NWA World Historic Light Heavyweight Championship the following week. The tournament finals saw Máximo and El Terrible win in two straight falls as Volador Jr. and Rey Bucanero failed to get along for the match.

Dragon Lee, younger brother of CMLL wrestlers Místico and Rush made his in ring debut on January 1, 2014 competing in the 2014 La Copa Junior tournament. This marked the debut of the wrestler voted the 2014 Rookie of the Year in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards. A month later Japanese wrestler Hiromu Takahashi made his CMLL debut as the enmascarado (masked) character Kamaitachi. Takahashi was the most recent young wrestler from CMLL's partner promotion New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) to travel to CMLL to gain international experience as part of his development as a wrestler. Early on Takahashi, as Kamaitachi teamed up with Okumura under the team name La Fievre Amarilla ("The Yellow Fever"). In late 2014 Dragon Lee and Kamaitachi began to face off on opposite teams leading to the two meeting in a singles match. Kamaitachi won the match by pulling Dragon Lee's mask off and using the distraction to defeat him. Unmasking a Mexican wrestler is viewed as disrespective and signalled that the storyline between the two was not over. During the following month the patteren continued with Kamaitachi pulling Dragon Lee's mask on more than one occasion. Both men were present for a CMLL press confence on February 10 where it was announced that the two would put their masks on the line in a Luchas de Apuestas match as part of the Homenaje a Dos Leyendas show. During the press conference Kamaitachi pulled out one of Dragon Lee's masks that he had stolen, angering both his opponent and the fans in attendance over the disrespectful behavior. The two were forced to team up for the 2015 Parejas Increibles tournament but lost to La Máscara and Mephisto as the two were unable to get along for even one match.

Tribute to El Faraón

The 2015 Homenaje a Dos Leyendas show is set to honor not only CMLL founder Salvador Lutteroth as it always does but also pay homage to retired wrestler José Luis Barajas Fernández, better known under the ring name El Faraón ("the Phaero"). Barajas began wrestling in the 1960s as the enmascarado, or masked character, El Faraón an Egyptian inspired character. In 1973 He lost his mask in a match against Fishman but had a long and successful career after his mask loss. During his active career Barajas won a number of championships including the Mexican National Middleweight Championship, NWA Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship, NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship twice and the NWA World Middleweight Championship three times. After 1983 El Faraón's career did not focus on winning championships, instead it centered around a long-running, intense storyline feud against Sangre Chicana that saw the two face off in a series of very bloody matches. The brutal brawls between the two wrestlers drew high attendance figures all over Mexico and continued on and off for several years. Barejas retired in the mid 1990s due to injuries and age. In 2007 Barejas endorse a wrestler called El Hijo de Faraon ("The Son of the Phaero"), who was later revealed to be his god son.