Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre

Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) (Spanish for Worldwide Wrestling Council) is a Lucha libre promotion based in Mexico City while running cards in Guadalajara, Puebla and elsewhere in central and southern Mexico. The promotion is also referred to by its previous name Empresa Mexicana de la Lucha Libre (EMLL) (Mexican Wrestling Enterprise). It is currently the oldest promotion still in existence.

History
The promotion was founded by "The Father of Lucha Libre" Salvador Lutteroth Gonzales when he ran a card under the banner of EMLL in 1933. The promotion flourished and quickly became the premier spot for workers. If wrestlers were big in Mexico City, they were considered stars throughout Mexico. With stars like El Santo, Bobby Bonales, Tarzán Lopez and Gory Guerrero (father of Eddie Guerrero), "La Empressa" was at the forefront of the Lucha Libre movement and for the next 50 years, EMLL would continue its place as the leader.

In the 1970s, Lutteroth left the company in the hands of his son Chavo, but the company weakened with Ray Mendoza along with a few promoters breaking off and forming the Universal Wrestling Association. UWA ran in Mexico City and in nearby Naucalpan against EMLL. UWA would be a tremendous force for 15 years but due to a weakening talent pool and affiliates, it died in the 1990s.

EMLL joined the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) as its Mexican affiliate as NWA-EMLL but it pulled out in the 1980's due to various promoters becoming more self-centered and the World Wrestling Federation's national expansion. At this time, it changed its name to Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre to make itself sound more international. At the start of the 1990s the company began appearing on Televisa. This led to a big boom in business due to national television exposure (before this, magazines were the sole medium of Lucha Libre). After the initial boom, long time booker Antonio Peña broke off and formed his own promotion, Asistencia Asesoría y Administración, taking many of the young talent with him. AAA took the lead for several years but when the Mexican economy went by the wayside in the mid-1990's, AAA scaled back and CMLL started rebuilding with the famous El Hijo del Santo vs. Negro Casas feud where Santo shocked the world by turning heel when he dressed up like Negro Casas' brother Felino and attacked him. CMLL followed this up by pushing younger stars, leading to another boom period.

Style and Television
Its weekly cards at the legendary Arena Mexico draw crowds of over 10,000 fans. Of all the major promotions in the world, CMLL is one of the most conservative. Matches with blood are not broadcast and, other than an annual cage match, gimmick matches such as ladder matches are never used. Over the past few years, many AAA wrestlers have jumped to CMLL but recently, some major wrestlers such as Vampiro and Shocker have jumped to AAA because CMLL has too many workers and does not run enough shows.

CMLL's main programming, hosted by Alfonso Morales, Leobardo Magadan and Miguel Linares, is broadcast regularly on Televisa in Mexico, Galavisión in the United States, and formerly on Telelatino in Canada and The Wrestling Channel in the United Kingdom. CMLL also had a syndicated show called "Sin Limite de Tiempo" ("with no time limit") which shows matches from Arena Coliseo shows and matches they could not fit onto the regular broadcast. It aired in Los Angeles on KWHY. This show was followed up by "Guerreros del Ring" on Canal 52MX. CMLL is affiliated with New Japan Pro Wrestling as part of "G-1 World." Also, Spanish-language American sports channel Fox Sports en Español recently started broadcasting CMLL programming.

Roster
See: Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre roster

Annual tournaments
CMLL conducts several annual tournaments which usually signify a big push or start off storylines. Tournaments have been left out of the schedule for unexplained reasons. Tournaments are conducted as torneo cibernéticos, a large multi-man tag team elimination match or a normal single elimination tournament.

Leyenda de Plata ("Silver Legend")- A tournament in honor of El Santo. This is the most prestigious of the CMLL tournaments and the tournament is usually made up of the best in-ring workers. It is done as a torneo cibernético with the last remaining members from both teams facing each other in a normal singles match on the next show. They must also defeat the previous year's winner to win the trophy, a plaque with Santo's mask on it. Previous winners: Scorpio, Jr., El Hijo del Santo, Negro Casas, Black Warrior, Felino, Perro Aguayo, Jr. Atlantis and Místico.

Leyenda de Azul ("Blue Legend")- A tournament in honor of Blue Demon. It is secondary to the Leyenda de Plata tournament but features most of the big name wrestlers in the promotion. It has been conducted as a normal torneo cibernético and as a one night tournament. Previous winners: Blue Panther, Tarzan Boy, Universo 2000 and Lizmark, Jr.

Gran Alternativa- A one night tag team tournament where an established star teams with a midcarder with the intent to give the younger wrestler more credibility as a star. Some stars such as Shocker and Místico used the win to build their status but more wrestlers who have won regressed back to their midcard roles.

Grand Prix International- This tournament was used in the mid 1990s as a single elimination tournament featuring several Mexican wrestlers as well as Japanese and Canadian wrestlers to give it more prestige. It was brought back in 2005 as a torneo cibernético in honor of El Santo's birthday.