Lucha Libre World Cup (2016)
Official poster for the tournament
PromotionLucha Libre AAA Worldwide
DateJune 3, 2016[1]
June 5, 2016[1]
CityMexico City, Mexico[1]
VenuePalacio de los Deportes[1]
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The Lucha Libre World Cup was a two-day professional wrestling event and tournament organized by Mexican professional wrestling promotion Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (AAA) with the financial backing of the Grupo Modelo brewery, with Victoria Beer as the official sponsor. The tournament included a number of three-man tag teams, referred to as trios in Lucha Libre, teams and wrestling promotions already announced are AAA, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), Lucha Underground and Pro Wrestling Noah among others. The tournament was announced as "Lucha Libre Victoria World Cup".

Production

Background

The Mexican lucha libre promotion Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (AAA), with the financial support of the Mexican brewing company Grupo Modelo organized the first ever Lucha Libre World Cup over the summer of 2015. The tournament itself was a one-night eight-team tournament for trios, or tag teams of three wrestlers. AAA reached out to several promotions both in Mexico and around the world and arranged for six of the eight teams to come from outside of AAA. Japanese wrestling promotions All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) and Pro Wrestling Noah.[2] Both Total Nonstop Action and Ring of Honor, based in the United States, also sent representatives to the tournament, in each case bolstered by representatives of Lucha Underground, an AAA joint-venture project based on Los Angeles.[3] The tournament took place on May 25, 2015, and had the AAA labelled "Dream Team" of Rey Mysterio Jr., El Patrón Alberto and Myzteziz win the tournament, defeating Team TNA/Lucha Underground (Matt Hardy, Mr. Anderson and Johnny Mundo) in the finals.[4]

Storylines

The event featured various professional wrestling matches with different wrestlers involved in pre-existing scripted feuds, plots and storylines. Wrestlers were portrayed as either heels (referred to as rudos in Mexico, those that portray the "bad guys") or faces (técnicos in Mexico, the "good guy" characters) as they followed a series of tension-building events, which culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.

Wrestlers and promotions from around the world, Pro Wrestling Noah, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), Lucha Underground, Pro Wrestling Wave and Oz Academy, were announced as being involved. The inclusion of Wave and Oz Academy meant that female wrestlers were going to be included too as they are all-female wrestling promotions.[1] On April 22, 2016, AAA made their first official press release confirming the 2016 version of the Lucha Libre World Cup. The statement confirmed that there would be two qualifying matches for the Cup during the April 29 show in Xalapa, Veracruz, but did not reveal a date for the tournament nor any other participants.[5] The first qualifier was a three-way match between Perros del Mal ("The Bad Dogs") teammates Joe Líder, Daga and Pentagón Jr., with the winner becoming part of a team representing AAA.[5] The other qualifier was announced as current AAA Mega Champion El Texano Jr. wrestling against Taurus and Garza Jr.[5] Of all the announced participants only Texano Jr. had participated in the previous year's Lucha Libre World Cup.[4] The third qualifying match for Team AAA took place during the May 14 show in Orizaba, Veracruz and it was originally a three-way match between Nicho el Millonario, Ricky Marvin and El Hijo del Pirata Morgan but later due to a request from Psycho Clown he was added to the match and eventually won.[6]

Tournament rules

AAA vice president Dorian Roldán explained the rules in a video uploaded to AAA's official YouTube channel last year. The tournament would consist of trios matches structured in quarterfinals, semi-finals and a final, plus an extra match to determine the third place. The bouts are slated to have a 15-minute time limit. If the time limit is reached without a clear winner, each of the participating teams selects one member, and the two picked wrestlers face off in a 5-minute sudden death in which the winning wrestler gets the victory for his team. There will be as many sudden deaths as necessary to determine a victor.

Teams

Men's Division
Team Team member Reference
Team AAA Pentagón Jr. [7]
El Texano Jr. [7]
Psycho Clown [8] 
Team Noah Taiji Ishimori [9]
Naomichi Marufuji [9]
Maybach Taniguchi [9]
Team Ōdō and Zero1 Masato Tanaka [10]
Akebono [10]
Ikuto Hidaka [10]
Team Mexico Leyendas Canek [8]
La Parka [8]
Blue Demon Jr. [11]
Team Mexico International Rey Mysterio Jr [8]
Dr. Wagner Jr. [12]
Dragon Azteca Jr [12]
Team TNA EC3 [13]
Eli Drake [13]
Tyrus [13]
Team Lucha Underground Chavo Guerrero Jr. [14]
Johnny Mundo [14]
Brian Cage [14]
Team Resto del Mundo Mil Muertes [15]
Rockstar Spud [15]
Apolo [15]
Women's Division
Team Team Member Reference
Team Mexico Faby Apache [8]
Mari Apache [8]
Lady Apache [16]
Team Japan Aja Kong [17]
Yuki Miyazaki [17]
Sumire Natsu [17]
Team Canada Taya [18]
Allie [18]
K. C. Spinelli [18]
Team USA Santana Garrett [19]
Sienna [19]
Cheerleader Melissa [19]

Tournament bracket

Men's Division

 
Quarter-finalsSemi-finalsFinal
 
          
 
 
 
 
Team AAAWin
 
 
 
Team Ōdō and Zero1[20]
 
Team AAAWin
 
 
 
Team Noah[21]
 
Team NoahWin
 
 
 
Team Resto del Mundo[20]
 
Team AAA[21]
 
 
 
Team Lucha UndergroundWin
 
Team Mexico Leyendas[20]
 
 
 
Team Lucha UndergroundWin
 
Team Lucha UndergroundWin
 
 
 
Team Mexico International[21] 3rd place match
 
Team Mexico InternationalWin
 
 
 
Team TNA[20]
 
Team Noah[21]
 
 
 Team Mexico InternationalWin
 

Women's Division

 
Semi-finalsFinal
 
      
 
 
 
 
Team MexicoWin
 
 
 
Team USA[22]
 
 Team MexicoWin
 
 
 
Team Japan[23]
 
Team JapanWin
 
 
Team Canada[22]
 
3rd place match
 
 
 
 
 
Team Canada Win
 
 
Team USA[23]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "Lucha Libre Victoria World Cup 2016 - Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide". Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (in European Spanish). April 29, 2016. Retrieved April 29, 2016.
  2. ^ "AAA: Se anuncian los integrantes de los Grupos AJPW y Noah para la Lucha Libre World Cup". Súper Luchas (in Spanish). April 23, 2015. Retrieved April 24, 2015.
  3. ^ "Equipo listo de TNA-LU para el Mundial de Lucha Libre". MedioTiempo (in Spanish). MSN. May 4, 2015. Retrieved May 5, 2015.
  4. ^ a b Boutwell, Josh (May 24, 2015). "AAA Lucha Libre World Cup Results - 5/24/15 (Live results)". Wrestleview. Retrieved May 24, 2015.
  5. ^ a b c Lucha Libre AAA Worldwiden (April 22, 2016). "En Xalalpa, Los Perros del Mal chocarán entre sí". The Gladiatores (in Spanish). Retrieved April 24, 2016.
  6. ^ "Fuego en Orizaba rumbo a #VdE2016 - Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide". Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (in European Spanish). 2016-05-15. Retrieved 2016-05-17.
  7. ^ a b "Locura la Arena Xalapa rumbo Verano Escandalo" (in Spanish). Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide. April 30, 2016. Retrieved May 1, 2016.
  8. ^ a b c d e f "Equipos y participantes de Lucha Libre Victoria World Cup 2016". Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (in European Spanish). 2016-05-12. Retrieved 2016-05-15.
  9. ^ a b c "Equipo Japón NOAH - Lucha Libre Victoria World Cup 2016". Lucha Libre AAA. 2016-05-11. Retrieved 2016-05-11.
  10. ^ a b c "Equipo Japón Oudou Zero1 - Lucha Libre Victoria World Cup 2016". Lucha Libre AAA. 2016-05-11. Retrieved 2016-05-11.
  11. ^ "VIDEO: #AAAenXalapa Parte 1 – Mayo 2016". Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (in European Spanish). 2016-05-14. Retrieved 2016-05-15.
  12. ^ a b "Equipo México Internacional - Lucha Libre Victoria World Cup 2016". Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (in European Spanish). 2016-05-21. Retrieved 2016-05-21.
  13. ^ a b c "Equipo USA-TNA - Lucha Libre Victoria World Cup 2016". Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (in European Spanish). 2016-05-19. Retrieved 2016-05-20.
  14. ^ a b c "Equipo USA Lucha Underground - Lucha Libre Victoria World Cup". Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (in European Spanish). 2016-05-22. Retrieved 2016-05-22.
  15. ^ a b c "Equipo Resto del Mundo - Lucha Libre Victoria World Cup 2016". Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (in European Spanish). 2016-05-20. Retrieved 2016-05-21.
  16. ^ +LuchaTV (2016-05-17), Lady Apache orgullosa de compartir ring con las Apache en el mundial de lucha, retrieved 2016-05-18
  17. ^ a b c "Equipo Japón femenil - Lucha Libre Victoria World Cup 2016". Lucha Libre AAA. 2016-05-11. Retrieved 2016-05-11.
  18. ^ a b c "Equipo Canadá femenil - Lucha Victoria World Cup 2016". Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (in European Spanish). 2016-05-17. Retrieved 2016-05-18.
  19. ^ a b c "Equipo USA femenil - Lucha Libre Victoria World Cup 2016". Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (in European Spanish). 2016-05-20. Retrieved 2016-05-21.
  20. ^ a b c d Valdés, Apolo (June 3, 2016). "Dos equipos mexicanos, a semis en Mundial de Lucha". MedioTiempo (in Spanish). MSN. Retrieved June 5, 2016.
  21. ^ a b c d Valdés, Apolo (June 5, 2016). "Estados Unidos, Campeón de Lucha Libre World Cup". MedioTiempo (in Spanish). MSN. Retrieved June 5, 2016.
  22. ^ a b Valdés, Apolo (June 3, 2016). "México y Japón, a final femenil de Mundial de lucha libre". MedioTiempo (in Spanish). MSN. Retrieved June 5, 2016.
  23. ^ a b Valdés, Apolo (June 5, 2016). "México, Campeón Mundial Femenil de Lucha Libre". MedioTiempo (in Spanish). MSN. Retrieved June 5, 2016.

External links

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