Homenaje a Dos Leyendas 2012

Homenaje a Dos Leyendas 2012 (Spanish for "Homage to Two Legends") was an annual professional wrestling major event produced by Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), which took place on March 2, 2012 in Arena México, Mexico City, Mexico. The event paid tribute to CMLL founder Salvador Lutteroth who is always honored at Dos Leyendas and to Bobby Bonales, a major CMLL wrestler from the 1950s and former holder of the NWA World Welterweight Championship. The main event of the show was a Lucha de Apuesta match with both competitors wagering their hair on the outcome of the match as Blue Panther wrestled against Negro Casas. The semi-main event featured the finals of the 2012 National Parejas Incredíbles (Incredible Pairs) tournament as rivals El Terrible and Rush teamed together to face Atlantis and Mr. Niebla.

Background
The event featured six professional wrestling matches with different wrestlers involved in pre-existing scripted feuds or storylines. Wrestlers portray either villains (referred to as Rudos in Mexico) or fan favorites (Técnicos in Mexico) as they competed in wrestling matches with pre-determined outcomes.

The storyline culminating in the main event match between Blue Panther and not just Negro Casas but the entire Casas family stretched back to the middle of the previous year as they build towards the Lucha de Apuesta hair vs. hair match between the two. In Lucha Libre the Luchas de Apuestas match is the ultimate payoff to a storyline and more often than not results in the conclusion of the storyline between the two. In late 2011 Blue Panther faced Negro Casas' brother El Felino in a Luchas de Apuestas match as the main event of CMLL's 2011 Sin Piedad (Spanish for "No Mercy") event. The match resulted in El Felino being disqualified for using the Piledriver, a move that causes an immediate disqualification in Lucha Libre. The loss meant that El Felino had to have his hair shaved off as a result. Following the event Negro Casas stepped up to challenge Blue Panther, with the storyline explanation being that he wanted revenge from the "humiliation" of his brother at the hands of Blue Panther. Casas and Panther faced off extensively in the months prior to Homenaje a Dos Leyendas, most often on opposite sides of a six-man tag team match, the most common match form in CMLL. When the two finally wrestled in a one-on-one match the two went to a time limit draw with no clear winner of the match, giving neither man a clear advantage going into the Luchas de Apuestas match. As part of the build up to the event Panther and Casas engaged in a fight during the press conference for the contract signing, an event common in wrestling shows from the United States, but rare in Mexico.Blue Panther was rumored to have been injured during the press conference altercation, putting the main event in question, but ultimately the match took place as scheduled.

The fifth match on the card, filling the semi-main event position was the conclusion of the 2012 version of CMLL's annual Parejas Increíbles Tag Team tournament. The Preliminary rounds of the tournament too place in the weeks leading up to Homenaje a Dos Leyendas, during CMLL's Friday Night Super Viernes show. For the tournament CMLL paired up one Técnico and one Rudo, often times people who were in the middle of a storyline between the two, and have them compete in a Single-elimination tournament. The rivalry was especially a factor in the team of Rush and El Terrible as tension between the two had been building for months leading up to the event. El Terrible had defeated Rush in the finals of another tournament and had won the CMLL World Heavyweight Championship as a result of that victory. Tension was evident during their three qualification matches as they defeated the teams of Delta and Ephesto, Ángel de Oro and Psicosis and finally Marco Corleone and Último Guerrero. Their opponents, Mr. Niebla and Atlantis was in the middle of a series of matches, both six-man tag team matches as well as singles matches that featured both wrestlers at times tearing their opponent's masks apart as part of their heated rivalry. Atlantis had won the previous two tournaments while teaming with Máscara Dorada, but since he had switched to the Técnico side in late 2011 he could not team with Mascara Dorada again and instead had to team with Mr. Niebla much against his will. The due had to defeat the teams of Brazo de Plata and Kraneo, Averno and La Mascara and the team of La Sombra and Mr. Águila to earn their place in the finale.

Three of the remaining four under card matches did not directly stem from any specific ongoing storylines but was put together by the booking team with no real build behind them. Of the four under card matches only the non-title match between former CMLL World Women's Champion Marcela and the then champion Ayumi had a background in ongoing storylines. Ayumi had defeated Marcela to win the title during Marcela's tour of Japan and had come to Mexico to face various CMLL challengers for the title. At Homenaje a Dos Leyendas the current and the former champion would wrestle in a "Lighting Match", a one fall match with a 10 minute time limit. Leading up to the match Marcela commented that a victory would strengthen her claims for a title match.

The fourth match on the card featured the Arena Mexico debut of the wrestling character Diamante Azul ("Blue Diamond"), who up until briefly before the event had wrestled as "Metro" but was now being reintroduced as a new character complete with new name, new color scheme and new mask. The Metro character was a sponsored character, representing a Mexican news paper, which had previously been given to wrestlers before they develop a wrestling character for themselves. This was the 4th person to wrestle as Metro and then be given a new character. The Diamante Azul character was met with some criticism, both because CMLL already had a wrestler called Diamante and it might confuse the fans, but primarily because the mask, color scheme and tights design bore a striking similarity to the legendary Blue Demon and his son Blue Demon, Jr..

The opening match featured the first high profile CMLL show for Namajague, a Japanese wrestler sent to Mexico by New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) to gain exposure to other styles of wrestling as part of his development. Namajague's mask and character was created for his stint in CMLL, in Japan he wrestled under the name Kyosuke Mikami.

Aftermath
Despite comments from both Casas and Blue Panther that their draw was not the end of their rivalry no significant developments took place between the two in the months following Dos Leyendas. Following her non-title victory Marcela was given a CMLL World Women's Championship match a week later on March 9 where she defeated Ayumi to become a three time champion. The title match was Ayumi's last match in CMLL as she returned to Japan a few days later. After their infighting cost them the 2012 Parejas Increibles tournament Finals Rush and El Terrible kept escalating their storyline, clashing in several high profile matches including the 2012 Universal Championship tournament as well as a match for the CMLL World Light Heavyweight Championship that RUsh successfully defended and a meeting between the two in the 2012 CMLL Torneo Gran Alternativa tag team tournament. The rivalry escalated to the point where both parties agreed to wager their hair in a Lucha de Apuesta match in the main event of CMLL's 79th Anniversary Show. Rush defeated El Terrible in the main event of the show, ensuring that El Terrible was shaved bald after the match.

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