CMLL Universal Championship (2016)
Official poster for Block A, mistakenly listing Cavernario as a participant.
PromotionConsejo Mundial de Lucha Libre
DateOctober 14, 2016 to October 28, 2016[1]
CityMexico City, Mexico[1]
VenueArena México[1]
Event chronology
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The CMLL Universal Championship (2016) (Spanish: Campeonato Universal) was a professional wrestling tournament produced and scripted by Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL). The tournament took place from October 14, 2016 and ran for three Super Viernes shows with the finals on October 28, 2016. The CMLL Universal Championship is an annual tournament exclusively for wrestlers holding CMLL-recognized champions; first held in 2009, making the 2016 version the eight overall tournament. Being a professional wrestling tournament, it is not won legitimately; it is instead won via predetermined outcomes to the matches that is kept secret from the general public.

The 2016 tournament saw CMLL World Trios Champion Valiente defeat his regular Trios partner Volador Jr. in the finals of the tournament to win his first Universal Championship tournament.

Background

The tournament featured 15 professional wrestling matches under single-elimination tournament rules, which means that wrestlers would be eliminated from the tournament when they lose a match. All male "non-regional" CMLL champions at the time of the tournament are eligible to participate in the tournament. The CMLL World Mini-Estrella Championship and Mexican National Lightweight Championship are both exclusively for CMLL's Mini-Estrella division and thus not eligible for the tournament. Regionally promoted championships such as the CMLL Arena Coliseo Tag Team Championship and the Occidente championships promoted in Guadalajara, Jalisco have not been included in the tournament in the past; only titles that have been defended in CMLL's main venue Arena Mexico are normally included, although exceptions have been made to allow New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) champions to compete if they were in Mexico at the time. For the 2016 version of the tournament only 15 out of the 16 participants had competed in at least one Universal Championship tournament before, only Rey Cometa (the Mexican National Welterweight Champion[2]) was a first time competitor. Atlantis (Mexican National Light Heavyweight Champion[3]) and Último Guerrero (NWA World Historic Middleweight Champion[4]) were the only former tournament winners to participate in the 2016 tournament.[5][6][7] Mephisto's (CMLL World Welterweight Champion[8] and Mexican National Trios Champion[9]) participation made him the only wrestler to participate in seven out of the eight Universal Championship tournaments up until that point. Negro Casas (CMLL World Tag Team Champion[10]), La Máscara (CMLL World Light Heavyweight Champion[11]), Último Guerrero and Volador Jr. (NWA World Historic Welterweight Champion and CMLL World Trios Champion) all marked their sixth Universal Championship tournament.[5][6][7][12][13][14][15] CMLL originally announced that Cavernario would be part of the tournament, despite having lost the Mexican National Welterweight Championship to Rey Cometa on June 10, 2016.[2] They later corrected the participant list, replacing Cavernario with Rey Cometa.[16]

Eligible champions

A picture of a masked professional wrestler wearing a blue mask with spikes on it.
Mephisto, double champion and the only 7 time tournament participant
Champion Championship held Block Ref(s)
Atlantis Mexican National Light Heavyweight Championship Block B [3]
Negro Casas CMLL World Tag Team Championship Block A [10]
Dragon Lee CMLL World Lightweight Championship Block B [17]
Dragón Rojo, Jr. CMLL World Middleweight Championship Block B [18]
Ephesto Mexican National Trios Championship Block B [9]
Lucifierno Mexican National Trios Championship Block B [9]
La Máscara CMLL World Light Heavyweight Championship Block B [11]
Máximo Sexy CMLL World Heavyweight Championship Block A [19]
Mephisto CMLL World Welterweight Championship
Mexican National Trios Championship 		Block A [8][9]
Místico CMLL World Trios Championship Block A [20]
Rey Cometa Mexican National Welterweight Championship Block A [2]
Rey Bucanero NWA World Historic Light Heavyweight Championship Block B [21]
Shocker CMLL World Tag Team Championship Block A [10]
Último Guerrero NWA World Historic Middleweight Championship Block A [4]
Valiente CMLL World Trios Championship Block A [20]
Volador Jr. CMLL World Trios Championship
NWA World Historic Welterweight Championship 		Block B [20][22]

Tournament

Volador Jr., double champion and tournament finalist
First round Second round Semifinals Finals
        
Máximo Sexy W
Rey Cometa [16][23]
Máximo Sexy [16][23]
Valiente W
Negro Casas [16][23]
Valiente W
Valiente W
Último Guerrero [16][23]
Último Guerrero W
Místico [16][23]
Último Guerrero W
Shocker [16][23]
Shocker W
Mephisto [16][23]
Valiente W
Volador Jr. [26][27]
Dragon Lee W
Luciferno [24][25]
Dragon Lee [24][25]
La Máscara W
Ephesto [24][25]
La Máscara W
La Máscara [24][25]
Volador Jr. W
Dragón Rojo Jr. [24][25]
Volador Jr. W
Volador Jr. W
Atlantis [24][25]
Rey Bucanero [24][25]
Atlantis W

References

  1. ^ a b c "Arena México Cartelera" (in Spanish). Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre. Retrieved October 8, 2016.
  2. ^ a b c "Rey Cometa, nuevo campeón nacional welter". MedioTiempo (in Spanish). MSN. June 11, 2016. Retrieved June 11, 2016.
  3. ^ a b "Atlantis, nuevo Campeón Nacional Semicompleto". Medio Tiempo (in Spanish). August 25, 2015. Retrieved August 25, 2015.
  4. ^ a b "Último Guerrero destronó a La Sombra". MedioTiempo (in Spanish). September 1, 2015. Retrieved September 1, 2015.
  5. ^ a b Rivera, Manuel (June 22, 2009). "Ultimo Guerrero, Campeon Universal". Super Luchas Magazine (in Spanish). Mexico City, Mexico: CAMSAN Impresores, S.A. de C.V. pp. 3–5. Issue 320. Retrieved May 3, 2010.
  6. ^ a b Reducindo, Miguel (August 30, 2014). "Resultados Arena México Viernes 29 de Agosto '14". Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (in Spanish). Archived from the original on July 2, 2014. Retrieved August 30, 2014.
  7. ^ a b "Atlantis se proclamó Campeón Universal 2015". MedioTiempo (in Spanish). October 17, 2015. Retrieved October 17, 2015.
  8. ^ a b López Peralta, Gonzalo (May 4, 2016). "Lucha Libre Arena México 03 de Mayo de 2016". Yahoo Deportes (in Spanish). Yahoo!. Retrieved May 4, 2016.
  9. ^ a b c d Vacah (August 10, 2015). "CMLL: Resultados 9/08/2015". SuperLuchas (in Spanish). Retrieved August 10, 2015.
  10. ^ a b c Salazar López, Alexis A. (June 14, 2014). "Resultados Arena México Viernes 13 de Junio '14". Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (in Spanish). Archived from the original on July 2, 2014. Retrieved June 14, 2014.
  11. ^ a b Salazar, Alexis (April 8, 2016). "Viernes 8 de Abril '16". Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (in Spanish). Archived from the original on April 4, 2016. Retrieved April 9, 2016.
  12. ^ Rivera, Manuel (August 14, 2010). "Resultados Arena México (13 agosto 2010): ¡Liger, Campeón Universal! ¿14 luchadores a la jaula del 3 de septiembre?" (in Spanish). Super Luchas Magazine. Retrieved September 16, 2011.
  13. ^ "La Sombra, Campeón Universal". Récord (in Spanish). September 16, 2011. Archived from the original on July 27, 2012. Retrieved September 16, 2011.
  14. ^ Salazar López, Alexis A. (September 1, 2012). "Viernes 31 de Agosto '12". Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (in Spanish). Archived from the original on July 2, 2014. Retrieved September 1, 2012.
  15. ^ Salazar López, Alexis A. (September 7, 2013). "Resultados Arena México Viernes 6 de Septiembre '13". Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (in Spanish). Archived from the original on July 2, 2014. Retrieved September 7, 2013.
  16. ^ a b c d e f g h López Peralta, Gonzalo (October 15, 2016). "El Valiente, primer finalista al Campeonato Universal 2016: La Victoria Absoluta". Yahoo Deportes (in Spanish). Yahoo!. Retrieved October 15, 2016.
  17. ^ "NJPW Presents CMLL Fantastica Mania 2016". New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Retrieved January 24, 2016.
  18. ^ González, Fernando (2011-11-19). "Dragón Rojo Jr., nuevo Campeón peso Medio del CMLL". Récord (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2013-10-19. Retrieved 2011-11-20.
  19. ^ Barradas, Bibiana (January 31, 2015). "Resultados Arena México® Viernes 30 de Enero '15". Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (in Spanish). Archived from the original on July 2, 2014. Retrieved January 31, 2015.
  20. ^ a b c "'Sky team', satisfechos por título de tercias". MedioTiempo (in Spanish). February 14, 2015. Retrieved February 14, 2015.
  21. ^ Barradas, Bibiana (March 9, 2015). "Resultados Arena México Domingo 8de Marzo '15". Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (in Spanish). Archived from the original on March 13, 2015. Retrieved March 9, 2015.
  22. ^ Salazar López, Alexis A. (August 2, 2014). "Resultados Arena México Viernes 1º de Agosto '14". Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (in Spanish). Archived from the original on July 2, 2014. Retrieved August 2, 2014.
  23. ^ a b c d e f g "Valiente sorprendió, va por el Campeonato Universal". MedioTiempo (in Spanish). MSN. October 15, 2015. Retrieved October 15, 2015.
  24. ^ a b c d e f g "Volador Jr. segundo finalista y favorito para ganar el Campeonato Universal 2016: La Victoria Absoluta". Yahoo! Deportes (in Spanish). Yahoo!. October 22, 2016. Retrieved October 23, 2016.
  25. ^ a b c d e f g "Volador, finalista por el Campeonato Universal del CMLL". MedioTiempo (in Spanish). MSN. October 21, 2016. Retrieved October 23, 2016.
  26. ^ Valdés, Apolo (October 29, 2016). "¡Gran sorpresa! Valiente campeón universal del CMLL". MedioTiempo (in Spanish). MSN. Retrieved October 29, 2016.
  27. ^ López Peralta, Gonzalo (October 29, 2016). "El Valiente se proclama como nuevo Campeón Universal 2016: La Verdad Absoluta". Yahoo Deportes (in Spanish). Yahoo!. Retrieved October 29, 2016.
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