The CMLL 79th Anniversary Show was a professional wrestling event produced by Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre that took place on September 14, 2012, in CMLL's home arenaArena México in Mexico City, Mexico. The event commemorated the 79th anniversary of CMLL, the oldest professional wrestling promotion in the world. The Anniversary show is normally CMLL's biggest show of the year, their Super Bowl event. The 79th Anniversary show was also billed as Juicio Final, or "Final Justice"/"Doomsday", a title that CMLL has used at times either as a tag line for the tag line for an Anniversary show or as the name of a separate super show produced by CMLL marketed as CMLL Juicio Final. The show replaced CMLL's regular Friday night Super Viernes shows and was taped for later broadcast. This was the thirteenth time that CMLL used the name "Jucio Final" to promote one of their major shows and the first time it was used for an anniversary show. The main event of the show was a Lucha de Apuestas, or "bet match", where both El Terrible and Rush put their hair on the line, with the loser being shaved completely bald after the match. The show also featured an additional Lucha de Apuestas match on the undercard, this time with Puma King and Rey Cometa both putting their wrestling mask on the line, with the loser being forced to unmask afterward and reveal his birth name per lucha libre traditions. The show featured an additional four matches, all contested under Best two-out-of three-fallssix-man tag team rules, the most prevalent match format in CMLL and most Mexican wrestling shows.
Production
Background
The 2012 CMLL Anniversary Shows commemorated the 79th anniversary of the Mexican professional wrestling companyConsejo 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
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 or faces as they followed a series of tension-building events, which culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches. The main event of the 79th Anniversary Show was the highlight of a long running feud between the young tecnico Rush and the rudo' El Terrible that had been slowly building for almost a year leading up to the show. The first significant match between the two took place on November 13, 2011, as Rush successfully defended the CMLL World Light Heavyweight Championship against El Terrible. The following month on December 25, Rush and El Terrible were the two final survivors in a torneo cibernetico match used to determine who would fight for the vacant CMLL World Heavyweight Championship the following week. On January 1, 2012, El Terrible defeated Rush two falls to one to win the CMLL World Heavyweight Championship. In February, Rush was teamed with El Terrible in the 2012 Torneo Nacional de Parejas Increibles, a tag team tournament where all teams were made up of rivals. Rush and El Terrible eventually made it to the finals of the tournament on March 2, 2012 at Homenaje a Dos Leyendas, where they were defeated by the team of Atlantis and Mr. Niebla. Two days later, Rush successfully defended the CMLL World Light Heavyweight Championship against El Terrible. Over the summer of 2012 the feud between the two escalated until a Lucha de Apuestas, or bet match, between the two was agreed to. In the weeks before the 79th Anniversary Show held their annual 2012 Universal Championship tournament. Since both Rush and El Terrible held CMLL championships they entered the tournament and ended up facing off in the semi-finals of the tournament. El Terrible won the match over Rush, after which El Terrible and his stablemate Rey Bucanero attacked Rush. On September 9, only five days before the anniversary show, Rush defeated Rey Bucanero in a steel cage match to retain the CMLL World Light Heavyweight Championship.
Aftermath
While the Lucha de Apuestas match to some extent ended the feud between the two Rush and El Terrible would cross path following El Terrible's loss. On January 15, 2013, Rush gave up the CMLL World Light Heavyweight Championship to get another shot at El Terrible's CMLL World Heavyweight Championship. Ultimately he failed to win the championship from El Terrible, after being hit with a kick to the groin. In March, Rush and El Terrible teamed up for the 2013 Torneo Nacional de Parejas Increibles like they had for the 2012 tournament, but the team lost in the first round to Dragón Rojo Jr. and Niebla Roja. Two weeks later they were on opposite sides of a six-man tag team match at the 2013 Homenaje a Dos Leyendas show, where Rush, Rayo de Jalisco Jr. and Shocker defeated El Terrible, Mr. Niebla and Universo 2000 by disqualification.
Reception
Gerardo Cuéllar, a reporter for the Mexican "Deportivoros" Sports News website, wrote an article entitled "The 79th Anniversary, nothing new in CMLL", where he noted that while the main event match itself was a "good fight" it also displayed little imagination from the bookers of CMLL as they had the established rudo veteran wrestler lose to the young tecnico Rush, "sacrificing" El Terrible. He also noted that the rudo Puma King winning the mask of Rey Cometa earlier in the night signaled that the tecnico Rush would win the main event. Apolo Valdés who writes for MedioTiempo, a MSN published Mexican sports news site, described the main event as a match with "strong moves" and "Impressive punishment", noting that both Rush and El Terrible worked a very physical, hard hitting match, noting that the crowd was behind the supposed rudo El Terrible and booed the tecnico Rush. Mexican news website El Record stated that the main event was "an exciting fight".
