CMLL 65th Anniversary Show


The CMLL 65th Anniversary Show was a professional wrestling major show event produced by Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre in 1998. Different sources identify different shows in September as the actual Anniversary Show, either on September 11 or September 18, or possibly both as CMLL has held multiple shows to commemorate their anniversary in the past. Both shows took place in Arena Mexico in Mexico City, Mexico. The September 11th show consisted of five matches in total, with one of the featured bouts being a Best two-out-of-three falls Lucha de Apuesta mask vs. mask match between Último Guerrero and Mr. Águila, the first Luchas de Apuestas match of Último Guerrero's career. The September 18th show consisted of five matches, with the main event being a Six-man tag team match between the teams of Los Capos and Emilio Charles Jr. taking on three representatives of CMLL's main rúd group Los Boriquas, Kevin Quinn, El Boricua and Miguel Perez, Jr. The semi-main event was a Lucha de Apuestas, hair vs. hair match between Ricky Santana and Apolo Dantés. In addition the show also featured an additional six-man tag match, an eight-man Atomicos match and a tag team match. One or both of the evets commemorated the 65th anniversary of CMLL, the oldest professional wrestling promotion. in the world. The Anniversary show is CMLL's biggest show of the year, their Super Bowl event.

Production

Background

The 1998 CMLL Anniversary Shows commemorated the 65th anniversary of the Mexican professional wrestling company Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre holding their first show on September 22, 1933 by promoter and founder Salvador Lutteroth. CMLL, originally known as Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre it would change its name to Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre in 1992 to signal their departure from the National Wrestling Alliance. With the sales of the Jim Crockett Promotions to Ted Turner in 1988 CMLL became the oldest, still-operating wrestling promotion in the world. Over the years 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 CMLL's major events since the building was completed. Traditionally CMLL holds their major events on Friday Nights, replacing their regularly scheduled Super Viernes show.

Storylines

Both shows featured a number of professional wrestling matches with different wrestlers involved in pre-existing scripted feuds, plots and storylines. Wrestlers were portrayed as either heels or faces as they followed a series of tension-building events, which culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.

Results September 11, 1998

Results September 18, 1998