CMLL Universal Championship

The 'CMLL Universal Championship (Campeonato Universal in Spanish) is an annual lucha libre tournament held by the Mexican professional wrestling promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) since 2009. The tournament format is a "tournament of champions" with all All officially recognized male CMLL Champions at the time of the tournament participating. The Universal Championship is not defended throughout the year like a traditional tournament, but is a title akin to the FIFA World Cup that is held until the next tournament. The 2010 Universal Championship is scheduled to begin on July 30, 2010 at CMLL's Friday night Super Viernes show.

Tournament history
The Universal Championship tournament was created in 2009 to replace the Leyenda de Plata as CMLL's top tournament of the year. The Leyenda de Plata commemorated El Santo, a legend in lucha libre, but when CMLL and El Santo's son, El Hijo del Santo had a very public falling out in 2008 they decided to no longer run the annual Leyenda de Plata tournament. They came up with the concept of the Universal Championship tournament, a tournament exclusively for CMLL champions. The first Universal Championship tournament took place over three shows in June, with the June 5, 2009 Super Viernes and June 12, 2009 Super Viernes each hosting a three round block of the tournament and the June 19, 2009 Super Viernes featuring the finals as its main event. On June 19, 2009 CMLL World Heavyweight Champion, and one of the tournament favorites, Último Guerrero defeated El Texano, Jr. the reigning NWA World Light Heavyweight Champion.

CMLL has announced the 2010 Universal Championship, confirming that it will indeed be an annual event.