The Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre Anniversary Show, formerly known as the Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre Anniversary Show, is the biggest annual professional wrestling event promoted by Mexican lucha libre promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), typically held in September every year, commemorating the creation of CMLL, then known as Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre (EMLL), in 1933 by Salvador Lutteroth. Since the mid-1950s, the event has been held exclusively at Arena México in Mexico City (with the exception of the 1979 event); Arena México was built by CMLL's founder Lutteroth and is considered CMLL's home base and the "Cathedral of Lucha Libre". The first event promoted under the Anniversary Show banner was held in 1934 and since then 100 additional Anniversary Shows have been held, making it the longest-running annual wrestling event in history.^[1]

History

A year after the first event of Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre (EMLL), EMLL's founder Salvador Lutteroth held the EMLL 1st Anniversary Show on September 21, 1934. The Anniversary Show quickly emerged as the biggest event of EMLL's year. Since its creation, the Anniversary Show has been exclusively held in Mexico City — where EMLL was founded — and, since 1955, has been hosted solely in Mexico City's Arena México (with the exception of the 1979 event). When EMLL changed its name to Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) in 1991, the event was renamed to the Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre Anniversary Show but kept the numbering of the Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre Anniversary Show. CMLL promotes the event as the "Anniversary of Wrestling in Mexico" rather than just the anniversary of the promotion itself. This is solely a promotional statement — several promoters had run wrestling shows in Mexico prior to the formation of EMLL, but Lutteroth was the first to launch a large scale organized promotion and EMLL soon became Mexico's dominant promotion.^[2] CMLL remains the oldest active professional wrestling promotion in the world.^[1] The Anniversary Show is typically held on a Friday in mid to late September each year, though some editions of the event have been held in August and October.

The show often features high-profile Lucha de Apuestas where the competitors wager their mask or hair; the main event of at least 29 Anniversary Shows have been Apuesta matches. The Anniversary Shows have seen the high-profile mask losses of Mano Negra, Cien Caras, Universo 2000, Black Warrior, Blue Panther, Volador Jr. and Último Guerrero among other wrestlers. A large number of wrestlers have also lost their hair at the Anniversary Show – a notable example being Negro Casas who was shaved bald after losing an Apuesta match against Místico on the 76th Anniversary Show.^[3] The Anniversary Show often features guest appearances of wrestlers from CMLL's international partners, such as New Japan Pro-Wrestling, or appearances from other well known wrestlers from the United States, Canada or Puerto Rico.

Due to the long-running nature of the Anniversary Show event series, full results from many of the older events are not available.

Dates, venues and main events

There was no 52nd Anniversary event because of an earthquake that hit Mexico City a day before the September 20, 1985 bell time.

References