CMLL World Welterweight Championship

CMLL World Welterweight Championship

Masked wrestler Mephisto wearing a mask with a skull motif and horns

Mephisto, the current champion, who's first reign from 2004 to 2007 lasted 1,141 days.
Details
Current champion(s) Mephisto[1]
Date won May 3, 2016[1]
Date established February 15, 1992[2]
Promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre

The CMLL World Welterweight Championship (Spanish: Campionato Mundial Peso Welter de CMLL) is a professional wrestling world championship in the Mexican professional wrestling promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL). The official definition of the welterweight division in Mexico is between 70 kg (150 lb) and 78 kg (172 lb) but the official weight limits are not always adhered to these days. As the championship is a professional wrestling championship, it is not won or lost competitively but instead by the decision of the bookers of a wrestling promotion. The title is awarded after the chosen wrestler "wins" a match to maintain the illusion that professional wrestling is a competitive sport.

Overall there have been a total of 32 official championship reigns, shared between 20 different wrestlers. Mephisto is the current and 32bd champion, having won the championship on May 3, 2016. Máscara Dorada is the the first and only wrestler to hold the championship four times. Mephisto's first reign was the the longest individual reign, 1,141 days between 2004 to 2007. The championship has been defended in Mexico and Japan, including three title changes in Japan. Over the lifetime of the championship was vacated twice and CMLL has held three different tournaments for the championship.

History

In the late 1980s CMLL left the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) to avoid the politics of the NWA. While they left the NWA they did retain control of the NWA World Welterweight Championship as their main championship of the welterweight division. They also promoted the Mexican National Welterweight Championship as a secondary title in the Welterweight division. In 1991 CMLL decided to create a series of CMLL Branded world championships, one of which was for the welterweight division. CMLL held a four-man tournament on February 15, 1992 to crown the first welterweight champion.[2] the participants were Fuerza Guerrera, El Felino, América and El Khalifa, the finals saw Fuerza Guerrera defeat El Khalifa to become the first Welterweight champion.[2] On July 16, 1992 then Mexican National Welterweight Champion defeated CMLL Welterweight Champion América, which led to the Mexican National Welterweight Championship being vacated.[2][7] In 1993 control of the Mexican National Welterweight Championship was transferred from CMLL to rival promotion Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA).[7]

In 1996 the championship was vacated after then-champion El Pantera lost the Championship to Super Delfin while on tour in Japan.[2] Pantera left CMLL for AAA after the tour, and he decided to give Super Delfin the championship by losing a match to him while in Japan. CMLL knew that Pantera was leaving and nullified the championship change, choosing to not recognize the title change at all, instead announcing that they had wikt:vacated the championship.[2] Subsequently CMLL put together a 16-man tournament crown a new champion, the tournament saw Máscara Mágica defeat El Felino in the tournament final to become the seventh official CMLL World Welterweight Champion. Máscara Mágica would later defeat Super Delfin to put an end to any questions about the lineage of the championship.[2] In 1998 the Mexican National Welterweight Championship was returned to CMLL, making it a tertiary title behind the CMLL and NWA branded world championships.[7] In 2010 CMLL returned the NWA World Welterweight Championship to the NWA, but immediately replaced it with the NWA World Historic Welterweight Championship.[8]

From the unrecognized title change on March 15, 1996, until January 2011, when Ryusuke Taguchi won the Championship in Tokyo, all championship matches took place in Mexico. In early 2015 it was announced that then-champion Máscara Dorada had signed a contract to work for New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) for a year, taking the championship with him to Japan.[9] During his tour of Japan Máscara Dorada lost the championship to Bushi, which was officially acknowledged by CMLL.[10]

Reigns

Close up of the masked wrestler Máscara Dorada during a wrestling mask
Máscara Dorada, record four-time CMLL World Welterweight Champion.

The Championship is designated as a welterweight title, which means that the championship can officially only be competed for by wrestlers weighing between 70 kg (150 lb) and 78 kg (172 lb).[11] In the 20th century Mexican wrestling enforced the weight divisions more strictly, but in the 21st century the rules have occasionally been ignored for the some weight divisions. The heaviest welterweight champion on record is Olímpico who was announced as weighing 92 kg (203 lb), 14 kg (31 lb) above the maximum weight limit.[12] While the heavyweight championship is traditionally considered the most prestigious weight division in professional wrestling, CMLL places more emphasis on the lower weight divisions.[13] All title matches promoted in Mexico take place under best two-out-of-three falls rules, while championship matches promoted in Japan followed the local custom and were only one fall matches.[14]

Mephisto is the current and two-time after defeating Máscara Dorada at a CMLL show in Arena Mexico May 3, 2016.[1] He is the 32nd overall champion. El Felino has the longest combined reigns overall with 1,186 days, divided over three separate reigns.[2] Mephisto has the longest individual reign of all champions at 1,141 days from 2004 to 2007.[3][4] The first champion, Fuerza Guerrera is also the person who's held the title the shortest time, 22 days but the possibility exists that Mascara Magica's second reign was shorter as no specific date for the start of the reign has be confirmed, which means his reign lasted between 6 days and 36 days.[2]

Tournaments

1992

On February 15, 1992 CMLL held a one-night, four-man tournament to crown the first ever CMLL World Welterweight Champion.[2] The welterweight championship was the fifth CMLL branded world championship created after the CMLL World Heavyweight, CMLL World Light Heavyweight, CMLL World Trios and CMLL World Middleweight Championship.[15][16][17][18] In the tournament finals Fuerza Guerrera defeated El Khalifa to win the championship.[2]

Semifinals Final
      
Fuerza Guerrera W
El Felino  
Fuerza Guerrera W
El Khalifa  
América  
El Khalifa W

1996

Wrestler Rey Bucanero on his way to the ring for a match.
Rey Bucanero who was eliminated in the second round.

In 1996 CMLL decided not to acknowledge that La Pantera had lost the CMLL World Welterweight Championship during a tour of Japan, declaring the title vacant instead. They held a 16-man tournament from May 7 to May 21, 1996, in order to crown a new champion.[2] In the finals Máscara Mágica defeated El Felino to become the seventh champion.[2]

Round of 16   Quarterfinals   Semifinals   Final
                           
 Rey Bucanero W  
 Fantastik        Rey Bucanero    
 Black Panther W    Black Panther W  
 Olimpico          Black Panther    
 Astro Rey, Jr. W        Máscara Mágica W  
 Atlantico        Astro Rey, Jr.  
 Máscara Mágica W    Máscara Mágica W  
 Guerrero Maya          Máscara Mágica W
 Karloff Lagarde, Jr. W        El Felino  
 Ultimatum        Karlof Lagarde, Jr.    
 Ciclón Ramírez W    Ciclón Ramírez W  
 Yone Genjin          Ciclón Ramírez  
 El Felino W        El Felino W  
 Alacran de Durango        El Felino W
 Ángel Azteca W    Ángel Azteca    
 Zumbido    

2014-2015

Masked wrestler Místico standing in a wrestling ring.
Místico, who was forced to vacate the championship in 2014

On May 2, 2015 then-reigning CMLL World Welterweight Champion Místico, crashed his motorcycle, breaking both the fibula and tibia in his right leg, forcing him to undergo surgery the following day.[19][20] Due to the injury the Welterweight championship became inactive for several months as Místico was unabel to compete. During a press conference on November 19, 2014 Místico announced that he was not ready to return to the ring, which led to the CMLL World Welterweight Championship being declared vacant.[21] On December 26, 2014 CMLL held a 10-man Torneo cibernetico elimination match to determine the next champion. Negro Casas and Máscara Dorada outlasted the other eight competitors; Delta, Fuego, Kamaitachi, Pólvora, Rey Cometa, Sangre Azteca, Titán and Tritón. A week later Máscara Dorada defeated Negro Casas to become the 29th CMLL World Heavyweight Championship.[22]

Torneo cibernetico order of elimination
# Eliminated Eliminated by
1 Sangre Azteca Tritón
2 Rey Cometa Pólvora
3 Tritón Delta
4 Fuego Kamaitachi
5 Delta Titán
6 Kamaitachi Negro Casas
7 Pólvora Máscara Dorada
8 Titán Negro Casas
9 Winner Negro Casas
9 Winner Máscara Dorada

References

  1. 1 2 3 López Peralta, Gonzalo (May 4, 2016). "Lucha Libre Arena México 03 de Mayo de 2016". Yahoo Deportes (in Spanish). Yahoo!. Retrieved May 4, 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2000). "MEXICO: EMLL CMLL Welterweight Title". Wrestling Title Histories. Archeus Communications. p. 396. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
  3. 1 2 "Número Especial – Lo mejr de la lucha ilbre mexicana durante el 2004". SuperLuchas (in Spanish). January 24, 2005. 91.
  4. 1 2 Manuel Rivera (April 24, 2007). "Difícil semana para Místico". SuperLuchas (Mexico). pp. 3–5. 202. Retrieved July 5, 2009.
  5. ↑ Manuel Flores and Manuel Rivera (March 23, 2009). "Cayó la máscara de Villano V". SuperLuchas (Mexico). pp. 3–7. 307.
  6. 1 2 Reducindo, Miguel (February 17, 2014). "Resultados - Domingo 16 de Febrero '14". Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (in Spanish). Archived from the original on February 17, 2014. Retrieved February 17, 2014.
  7. 1 2 3 Royal Duncan and Gary Will (2000). "Mexico: National Welterweight Title". Wrestling Title Histories. Archeus Communications. p. 392. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
  8. ↑ "2007 Lo Mejor de la Lucha Mexicana". SuperLuchas (in Spanish). December 26, 2007. 244. Retrieved July 11, 2009.
  9. ↑ "NJPW Presents CMLL Fantastica Mania 2015". New Japan Pro Wrestling (in Japanese). Retrieved January 19, 2015.
  10. ↑ "Road to Tokyo Dome". New Japan Pro Wrestling (in Japanese). Retrieved December 19, 2015.
  11. ↑ Arturo Montiel Rojas (2001-08-30). "Reglamento de Boy Y Lucha Libre Professional del Estado de Mexico" (PDF) (in Spanish). Comisión de Box y Lucha Libre Mexico D.F. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 30, 2006. Retrieved 2009-04-03. Welter77 kilos
  12. ↑ "Enciclopedia de las Mascaras". Olímpico (in Spanish) (Mexico City, Mexico). November 2007. p. 37. Tomo V.
  13. ↑ Madigan, Dan (2007). ""Okay... what is Lucha Libre?" and "El Médico Asasino"". Mondo Lucha a Go Go: the bizarre & honorable world of wild Mexican wrestling. HarperColins Publisher. pp. 29–40 and 114–118. ISBN 978-0-06-085583-3.
  14. ↑ "NJPW Presents CMLL Fantastica Mania 2016". New Japan Pro Wrestling (in Japanese). Retrieved January 22, 2016.
  15. ↑ Royal Duncan and Gary Will (2000). "Mexico: EMLL CMLL Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre heavyweight Title". Wrestling Title Histories. Archeus Communications. p. 395. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
  16. ↑ Royal Duncan and Gary Will (2000). "MEXICO: CMLL EMLL Light Heavyweight Title". Wrestling Title Histories. Archeus Communications. p. 395. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
  17. ↑ Royal Duncan and Gary Will (2000). "MEXICO: EMLL CMLL Trios Title". Wrestling Title Histories. Archeus Communications. p. 396. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
  18. ↑ Royal Duncan and Gary Will (2000). "MEXICO: EMLL CMLL Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre Middleweight Title". Wrestling Title Histories. Archeus Communications. p. 395. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
  19. ↑ Zellner, Kris (May 4, 2014). "Mistico breaks leg in motorcycle crash: The Lucha Report". Pro Wrestling Insider. Retrieved May 4, 2014.
  20. ↑ "Místico 'La Nueva Era' sufrió un accidente y fue operado". MedioTiempo (in Spanish). May 4, 2014. Retrieved May 5, 2014.
  21. ↑ Dark Angelita (November 19, 2014). "CMLL: Conferencia de prensa de Infierno en el Ring". Superluchas (in Spanish). Retrieved November 19, 2014.
  22. ↑ Reducindo, Miguel (January 3, 2015). "Resultados Arena México Viernes 2 de Enero '15". Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (in Spanish). Archived from the original on January 3, 2015. Retrieved January 3, 2015.

External links

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