The 1987 Anniversary show commemorated the 54th anniversary of the Mexican professional wrestling companyEmpresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre holding their first show on September 22, 1933 by promoter and founder Salvador Lutteroth. EMLL was rebranded early in 1992 to become Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre signal their departure from the National Wrestling Alliance. With the sales of the Jim Crockett Promotions to Ted Turner in 1988 EMLL became the oldest, still-operating wrestling promotion in the world. Over the years EMLL/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 EMLL/CMLL's major events since the building was completed. Traditionally EMLL/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.
Event
The EMLL 54th Anniversary Show served the dual purpose of not only celebrating Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre 5th anniversary but also to commemorate the retirement of Gory Guerrero, one of the pioneers in Mexican wrestling. Guerrero had made his professional wrestling debut in 1937 and over the years been involved in a large number of memorable matches and story lines and innovated a number of wrestling moves, including two named after him: the Gory Special, a type of backbreaker and the Gory Bomb as well as being one of the first to use the La de a Caballo or Camel Clutch. To celebrate the event EMLL had all four of Gory Guerrero's children appear on the show, at the time only Gory's youngest sonEddy worked for EMLL full-time while Chavo, Mando and Hector worked primarily in the United States but were contracted for this show specifically. In the second match of the evening the young Eddy Guerrero teamed up with his regular partner El Hijo del Santo, a second generation wrestler like Eddy as he was the son of one of Lucha Libre most famous names El Santo. The two had formed a very successful tag team called La Pareja Atomica. The team took on and defeated the rudo team of Hijo del Gladiador and El Dandy. The rest of the Guerrero sons wrestled in the semi-main event, the second to last match of the evening as they defeated the team of Sangre Chicana, Gran Markus Jr. and Gran Markus, Sr., whose family relationship was a storyline relationship only, not father and son as their ring names would otherwise indicate. The 54th Anniversary show featured two Luchas de Apuestas, or "Bet Matches", which was rare even for EMLL's biggest show of the year. In the main event the tecnico Mogur and the rudo As Charro both put their masks on the line as they faced off in a best of three falls match. The show ended with Mogur being victorious and As Charro being forced to unmask and reveal his real name in front of the Arena México crowd. The second Luchas de Apuestas match saw Pirata Morgan defeated Tony Salazar not bet their masks since neither actually wore one, instead they put their hair on the line. The Rudo Pirata Morgan defeated the veteran Tony Salazar, forcing Salazar to have his head shaved bald in the middle of the ring. The show was rounded out by the 'father/son team of Rayo de Jalisco Jr. and Rayo de Jalisco, Sr. teaming up with Lizmark to defeat the team of Herodes, Blue Panther and Manuel Escobedo in the third match of the night. In the first match of the night Los Infernales, one of the most successful Trios of the time, represented by MS-1 and El Satánico, defeating the team of Kung Fu and Ray Mendoza, who is the father of the five Villanos, I, II, III, IV and V.
