Date established March 1, 1996 Date won October 10, 2014 Most reigns No multiple champions | Current champion(s) Máximo First champion(s) Emilio Charles Jr. | |
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Promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre | ||
The Mexican professional wrestling promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) has held the La Copa Junior ("The Junior Cup") tournament on an infrequent schedule since 1996. The tournament pays respect to the fact that wrestling is a family tradition in Lucha libre, with a large number of second or even third generation wrestlers following the footsteps of their relatives. So far CMLL has held seven tournaments starting in 1996 and then intermittently in 2005, 2006, 2010, 2012 and two tournaments in 2014. The seventh La Copa Junior tournament has been announced for January 2016. While most of the family relationships are real there are a few instances of the family relationship being a storylines family relationship, such as Dragón Rojo Jr. being billed as the grandson of Dragón Rojo, when in reality that is simply a storyline created by CMLL. As of the 2014 VIP tournament there has been seven La Copa Junior tournaments promoted by CMLL, a total of 60 wrestlers have competed in one or more tournaments with, Shocker and Volador Jr. having the record for most tournaments, five each.
Contents
- La Copa Junior Tournament 1996
- La Copa Junior Tournament 2005
- La Copa Junior Tournament 2006
- La Copa Junior Tournament 2010
- La Copa Junior Tournament 2012
- La Copa Junior Tournament 2014
- La Copa Junior VIP tournament 2014
- La Copa Junior Tournament 2016
- 2016 order of elimination
- References
The oldest tournament winner was Emilio Charles Jr., who was 39 years old when he won the 1996 tournament, while the oldest competitor ever was Brazo de Plata who was 51 years old when he wrestled in the 2014 VIP tournament. The youngest tournament winner was La Sombra, who won the 2012 tournament at 23 years of age. Cachorro or Mano Negra Jr. is the youngest wrestler to complete in the tournament, both were around 16 or 17 years old when they completed in the La Copa Junior tournament, but their actual birth date is not known, just birth year, making it impossible to determine who was the youngest entrant overall.
La Copa Junior Tournament (1996)
CMLL held their first La Copa Junior tournament in 1996, as a part of their weekly Friday night CMLL Super Viernes shows on February 23 March 1, 1996. The first show featured the opening round of the tournament, while the second show featured the Quarter finals, semi finals and the finals of the tournament. Emilio Charles Jr. defeated Héctor Garza in the final to win the La Copa Junior.
La Copa Junior Tournament (2005)
The La Copa Junior tournament did not return until 2005 when CMLL revived the concept and presented it as an annual recurring tournament. Like the 1996 version the 2005 tournament played out over 2 editions of CMLL's Super Viernes shows, on February 22, 2005 and March 1, 2005. Héctor Garza was originally supposed to work the tournament, but was unable to return to Mexico due to commitments in the United States of America and had to be replaced by Apolo Dantés. Olímpico was unable to compete due to a neck injury, forcing CMLL to replace him with Máscara Mágica and the 1996 winner Emilio Charles Jr. had to pull out of the tournament due to a hand injury, he was replaced by Brazo de Oro. The tournament came down to Dr. Wagner Jr. and Shocker facing off in the finals, with Shocker winning the whole tournament.
La Copa Junior Tournament (2006)
The La Copa Junior tournament returned in 2006, seemingly planned as an annual event, and took place on one night on March 21, 2006, during a CMLL Super Viernes show. Due to the fact that all 15 matches took place in one night all matches were under 10 minutes in length. The finals had Dos Caras Jr. defeat Héctor Garza in what was Garza's second La Copa Junior finale defeat.
La Copa Junior Tournament (2010)
After not being promoted for three years CMLL brought La Copa Junior back as a late in the year tournament. The tournament included 20 wrestlers, four more than the other tournaments. the tournament was split into 2 blocks of 10 wrestlers, with a seeding Battle royal, where the final two wrestlers in the ring would only have to win one match to get into the semi final, while everyone else in the block would have to win three. Block A, which took place on the December 10, 2010 Super Viernes show and had Dragón Rojo Jr. overcome the odds and defeat four wrestlers in a row to earn a spot in the final match. Rojo Jr. defeated Maximo, La Mascara, La Sombra and Volador Jr. Block B took place on the December 17, 2010 Super Viernes and saw Averno take advantage of the "short cut" as he defeated the other Battle royal survivor Hijo del Fantasma to advance to the semi final where he pinned longtime rival Místico to earn his spot in the tournament final.
The finals of the La Copa Junior tournament took place on a special Saturday night event on December 25, 2010. The end came after a distraction by Averno's cornerman Mephisto led Averno to land a low blow on Dragón Rojo Jr., only for the ruse to backfire on him as the referee saw the illegal move and disqualified Averno, making Dragón Rojo Jr. the 2010 La Copa Junior winner.
La Copa Junior Tournament (2012)
CMLL brought the La Copa Junior tournament back in late 2012, holding the tournament spread out over two CMLL Super Viernes shows and the finals as the main event of the 2012 Sin Piedad. The two qualifying rounds took place on the November 30, 2012 and the Super Viernes December 7, 2012. CMLL decided to change the tournament format for the 2012 version, instead adopting their normal tournament format, with two qualifying torneo cibernetico, multi-man elimination matches, with the winner of each match advancing to the finals. Each of the qualifying blocks consisted of 10 second generation wrestlers for a total of 20 competitors over all, the highest number of competitors in any of the La Copa Junior tournaments. The first qualifying block was won by La Sombra, lastly eliminating his longtime rival Volador Jr. to earn his spot in the finals. The second qualifying block was won by New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) representative Tama Tonga as he eliminated Shocker to earn his spot in the finals. The final match was the only match contested under two out of three falls that saw La Sombra defeat Tama Tonga two falls to one to win the 2012 La Copa Junior tournament.
La Copa Junior Tournament (2014)
The 2014 Copa Junior took place on January 1, 2014. The tournament took place as a single torneo cibernetico and saw Super Halcón Jr. emerge victorious over eleven other wrestlers.
La Copa Junior VIP tournament (2014)
The La Copa Junior VIP 2014 tournament is an ongoing lucha libre (professional wrestling) tournament held by the Mexican professional wrestling promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL). The tournament is the second La Copa Junior tournament held in 2014, with the second tournament being labelled as "V.I.P.". The tournament started on September 26, 2014 with half of the competitors facing off to determine the first finalist with Mephisto defeating Misterioso Jr., Shocker and finally Volador Jr. to earn a spot in the finals. Brazo de Plata was originally scheduled to take part in the tournament, but was replaced by Ángel de Oro without any official explanation. The second qualifying block took place on October 3 to determine the second finalist. In the second round Los Ingobernables team mates La Sombra and Rush faced off after both won their first round match. To the surprise of everyone, and contrary to statements made before the tournament, the two decided not to fight each other at all and Rush gave the win to La Sombra. La Sombra faced Máximo in the block finals after Máximo defeated Puma and Stuka Jr. on his way to the finals. In the finals La Sombra was disqualified for kicking Máximo in the groin, costing him the match and allowing Máximo to advance to the tournament finals. Euforia was the only competitor in the 2014 VIP tournament to have never competed in the La Copa Junior tournament before, despite it being openly acknowledge that he was the son of the original El Soberano, his son, the current Soberano, had not participated in a La Copa Junior tournament either at that point. On October 10 Máximo defeated Mephisto to win his first ever La Copa Junior tournament.
La Copa Junior Tournament (2016)
The 2016 La Copa Junior was a Lucha libre, or professional wrestling, tournament that took pace over three weeks from January 5, 2016 through January 19, 2016 The format of the 2016 tournament matched the 2012 version of the tournament and a number of CMLL's other annual tournaments. The 16 wrestlers were divided into two groups of eight that wrestle in a torneo cibernetico elimination match on January 5 and January 12, the survivor of each qualifying torneo cibernetico then faces off against each other in the finals on January 19, 2015. Puma won the first cibernetico and Esfinge won the second cibernetico to qualify for the finals. On January 19 Esfinge defeated Puma to win the 2016 La Copa Junior tournament