The 1988 Anniversary show commemorated the 55th 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 at least three 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. Due to the nature of keeping mainly paper records of wrestling at the time no documentation has been found for the rest of the show. The main event storyline saw Mogur attacked repeatedly by rudo Máscara Año 2000 in the months following Mogur's Lucha de Apuesta, Mask vs. Mask match victory over As Charro at the previous year at the EMLL 54th Anniversary Show. EMLL built up the storyline tension between the two in a number of main event matches, often with Máscara Año 2000 teaming with his brothers Cien Caras and Universo 2000 while Mogur would team with various EMLL tecnicos. Bestia Salvaje won the Mexican National Welterweight Championship from Águila Solitaria on September 3, 1988, only four weeks before the Anniversary show. EMLL deemed El Hijo del Santo as the next challenger for the title, who at the time was six years into a career that would see him become one of the top names in Lucha Libre only a few years later. The AmericanKen Timbs, better known as Fabuloso Blondy when he worked in Mexico put his NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship on the line against one of EMLL's top names, Lizmark. Fabuloso Blondy had actually won the NWA Championship from Lizmark on March 20, 1988 and was embroiled in a long running feud with him at this point in time, where this championship match was simply the next stage of the storyline.
