Homenaje a Dos Leyendas (2013)

Since 1996 the Mexican wrestling company Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (Spanish for "World Wrestling Council"; CMLL) has held a show in March each year to commemorate the passing of CMLL founder Salvador Lutteroth who died in March 1987.[3] For the first three years the show paid homage to Lutteroth himself, from 1999 through 2004 the show paid homage to Lutteroth and El Santo, Mexico's most famous wrestler ever[4] and from 2005 forward the show has paid homage to Lutteroth and a different leyenda ("Legend") each year, celebrating the career and accomplishments of past CMLL stars. Originally billed as Homenaje a Salvador Lutteroth, it has been held under the Homenaje a Dos Leyendas ("Homage to two legends") since 1999 and is the only show outside of CMLL's Anniversary shows that CMLL has presented every year since its inception. All Homenaje a Dos Leyendas shows have been held in Arena México in Mexico City, Mexico which is CMLL's main venue, its "home".[5] Traditionally CMLL holds their major events on Friday Nights, which means the Homenaje a Dos Leyendas shows replace their regularly scheduled Super Viernes show.[6] The 2013 show was the 18th overall Homenaje a Dos Leyendas show.

The Homenaje a Dos Leyendas show featured six 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.[7]

The main event for the 2013 Dos Leyenda show was a direct result of a long-running slowly building storyline between the Japanese duo of Namajague and Okumura, collectively known as La Fiebre Amarilla ("The Yellow Fever") and Mexican high-fliers Stuka Jr. and Rey Cometa. Namajague, the masked identity of New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) rookie Kyosuke Mikami, made his debut in CMLL a few weeks prior to the 2012 Homenaje a Dos Leyendas show as part of CMLL's working arrangement with NJPW.[8] He was immediately teamed up with Okumura, CMLL's resident Japanese wrestler who often acts both as a tag team partner, mentor, and translator for Japanese wrestlers touring with CMLL. In the year since Namajague's debut La Fievre Amarilla had several unsuccessful title matches against Stuka Jr. and Fuego for the latter's CMLL Arena Coliseo Tag Team Championship.[9] Through the series of Arena Coliseo Tag Team matches Namajague began targeting Stuka Jr. specifically, more intent on hurting and humiliating him including tearing Stuka Jr.'s mask open during the match. In late 2012 the two began facing off on opposite sides of Six-man tag team matches on various weekly Super Viernes shows, CMLL's main weekly show. In November Stuka Jr. often teamed with Rey Cometa to take on the Japanese team and Puma King, initially as a continuation of the storyline between Rey Cometa and Puma King, who had unmasked Rey Cometa at the CMLL 79th Anniversary Show,[10] but began to morph into focusing on the escalating issues between Stuka Jr./Rey Cometa and Fiebre Amarilla. On the November 2, 2012 Super Viernes the match started out with Rey Cometa and Puma King being the focal point of the match, but Okumura won the third and deciding fall for his team when he took advantage of a distracted referee to land an illegal low blow on Stuka Jr.[11] A few weeks later, on the November 23 Super Viernes La Fiebre was on the opposite side of Rey Cometa once again and Namajague tried once again to win the match by illegal means, only to be caught by the referee and disqualified as a result of his actions.[12] On the last Super Viernes of 2012 La Fiebre teamed up with Vangelis to defeat the team of Fuego, Rey Cometa and Stuka Jr.[13] The victory earned La Fiebre another match against the CMLL Arena Coloseo Tag Team Champions. During the title match Namajague, Namajague tried to trick Stuka Jr. into getting disqualified by pulling his own mask off and throwing it to Stuka Jr. to make it look like it was pulled off, which is a disqualification offense in Lucha Libre. Stuka Jr. reacted quickly before the referee noticed and put the mask back on Namajague and then pinned his surprised opponent. The January 4, 2013 Super Viernes saw the rivalry continue as Stuka Jr. and Okumura was on opposite sides of a six-man tag team match, won by Stuka Jr.'s team, while Rey Cometa defeated Namajague by disqualification when Namajague tried to use a low blow on his opponent.[14] Over the next several of weeks Stuka Jr. and Namajague found themselves on opposite sides of six-man tag team matches, teaming with a number of different partners which did not always include Rey Cometa or Okumura.[15][16] Both Rey Cometa and Namajague took part in the 2013 CMLL Reyes del Aire ("Kings of the Air") tournament on February 2, 2013 but due to their interaction and a mistimed move Namajague ended up landing wrong during a dive to the floor and had to be taken to the hospital, while moments later Rey Cometa also ended up hurt.[17] Both accidents looked so bad that it put their participation in the follow week's Super Viernes in question, but in the end Rey Cometa teamed with Stuka Jr. and El Hijo del Fantasma to take on and defeat Namajague, Okumura and Misterioso Jr.. Following the February 8 match Stuka Jr. challenged Namajague to put his mask on the line in a Lucha de Apuesta, or bet match, an offer that Okumura "in his role as leader of Fiebre Amarilla" declined the challenge, wanting to face Stuka Jr. himself. Rey Cometa responded to that challenge by issuing a team challenge, with himself and Stuka Jr. against La Fiebre Amarilla for the team's mask and hair to be on the line.[18][19] During the introductions to a six-man tag team match on February 15, 2013 Stuka Jr. and Namajague started to argue while still in the aisle to the ring, only for Stuka Jr. to be attacked from behind by another Namajague. The first Namajague was revealed as Okumura as the two beat Stuka Jr. down. The Japanese team lost the match by disqualification after unmasking Stuka Jr. in the second fall. Following the match Okumura said they accepted the tag team challenge.[20][21] On Thursday February 21, 2013 CMLL held a press conference announcing, among other things, that the match between the two teams would officially take place at the 2013 Homenaje a Dos Leyendas as the main event of the show.[22] On March 3, 2013 La Ola Amarilla defeated Stuka Jr. and Fuego to win the CMLL Arena Coliseo Tag Team Championship in a match that ended in controversy as Stuka Jr.'s shoulder was not on the mat during the count of three, something the referee did not see.[23]

Another featured match on the 2013 Homenaje a Dos Leyendas would be the finals of the 4th annual Torneo Nacional de Parejas Increibles ("National Incredible Pairs Tournament") that started with a qualifying block on the March 1st Super Viernes, followed by a second qualifying block on the March 8th Super Viernes show. The tournament is based on the Lucha Libre Parejas Increibles match type where two wrestlers of opposite allegiance, portraying either villains, referred to as "Rudos" in Lucha Libre wrestling terminology or fan favorites, or "tecnicos".[6] At times some of the team members were part of a pre-existing scripted feuds or storylines with each other.[6] In previous years the winning team has been given a trophy and general recognition while the storyline tension between one or more of the other teams has led to main event matches on major CMLL shows later in the year. The team of La Sombra and Volador Jr., former teammates and holders of the CMLL World Tag Team Championship, turned enemies defeated the team of Mr. Niebla and Shocker in the Block A semi-finals to earn a spot in the finals of the tournament.[24][25] Block B saw the odds on favorite team of rivals Atlantis and Último Guerrero qualify for the finals by defeating the teams of Valiente and Pólvora, and Diamante Azul and Euforia in the preliminary rounds and then defeated the team of Dragón Rojo Jr. and Niebla Roja to earn a spot in the finals. Despite being involved in a long running storyline between the two they worked together without problems, harking back to the time where both wrestlers were part of Los Guerreros de la Atlantida ("The Warriors of Atlantis")[26][27] The 2013 Torneo Nacional de Parejas Increibles would feature two teams that used to team up on a regular basis but had since then developed long running, heated rivalries.

On February 21, 2013 CMLL held a press conference to officially announce that the Homena a Dos Leyendas would pay tribute to Rayo de Jalisco ("The Lighting from Jalisco") and brought out Rayo's son, Rayo de Jalisco Jr., as part of the announcement. Rayo de Jalisco Jr. had not worked for CMLL since 2010 but made a special appearance due to the company honoring his father. During the press conference Rayo de Jalisco Jr.'s long time rival Universo 2000 interrupted Rayo de Jalisco Jr. and the two ended up challenging each other to a match that would take place at the 2013 Homenaje a Dos Leyendas, although the exact nature of the match was not announced at the time. The rivalry between the two wrestlers hailed back to at least 1997 where Universo 2000 defeated both Cien Caras and Rayo de Jalisco Jr. to win the CMLL World Heavyweight Championship.[28][29] Universo 2000 defended the title three times during his reign: against Brazo de Plata, Máscara Sagrada, and Rayo de Jalisco Jr., before losing the championship to Rayo de Jalisco Jr. on September 13, 1998.[28] Universo 2000 regained the title on December 10, 1999[29] Universo 2000's second reign became a recordbreaking reign in several areas, it was the longest to date as it lasted 1,225 days. He also became the champion with most successful title defenses in one reign including eight defenses against Rayo de Jalisco Jr. during their long running rivalry.[29] After being masked since his debut in 1985 Universo 2000 lost a Lucha de Apuesta match to El Canek in the main event of the 71st Anniversary Show, on September 17, 2004, the match also included Rayo de Jalisco Jr. and Dr. Wagner Jr. and originally came about due to the Universo 2000/Rayo de Jalisco Jr. rivalry.[30] Following his unmasking Universo 2000 won the 2004 Leyenda de Azul (Blue legend tournament).[31] In subsequent years both Universo 2000 and Rayo de Jalisco Jr. left CMLL. In 2005 Rayo de Jalisco Jr. suffered another serious injury, he injured both his knees in a match against Universo 2000's brother Máscara Año 2000, where his legs got caught on the ropes as he jumped out of the ring and he tore ligaments in both knees. The injury kept him out of the ring for almost half a year but in the end Rayo de Jalisco Jr. was able to make a full recovery and return to the ring.[32] The incident was used by several promoters as well as Rayo de Jalisco Jr. himself to create more interest in matches between himself and Universo 2000, Cien Caras and Máscara Año 2000. Rayo de Jalisco Jr. made his return to CMLL in May, 2010, siding with the CMLL loyalists in their feud with Los Invasores, especially Invasore members Universo 2000 and Máscara Año 2000, reigniting the long running storyline between them.[33] But Rayo, Universo and Cien Caras only worked a select few dates for CMLL before leaving again. The official match between the long time rivals saw each team up with participants of the 2013 Torneo Parejas Increibles, only in this case they were on opposite sides instead of teaming up. Rayo de Jalisco Jr. would team up with Shocker and Rush while Universo 2000 would team up with Shocker's rival Mr. Niebla and Rush's rival El Terrible. Shocker and Mr. Niebla had a long backstory between then, having actually worked together as a regular tag team in the late 1990s. In 1998 the two defeated Dr. Wagner Jr. and Emilio Charles Jr. to win the CMLL World Tag Team Championship and would subsequently defend the tag team championship against teams such as Blue Panther and Black Warrior, Bestia Salvaje and Scorpio Jr. and the Hermanas Dinamita (Cien Caras and Universo 2000). In October, 1998 Mr. Niebla suffered an injury during a match, an injury that was so severe that Mr. Niebla was forced to vacate the Tag Team title.[34] Upon his return Mr. Niebla continued to team with Shocker but the team were not able to win the Tag Team title back. On September 24, 1999, at the CMLL 66th Anniversary Show, the team of Nr. Niebla and Shocker faced Atlantis and Villano III in a Relevos suicida match, a match where the losing team would fight each other for their mask. In the main event match of CMLL's 66th Anniversary show, Atlantis and Villano III defeated the much less experienced team, afterwards Mr. Niebla defeated Shocker to unmask him.[35] In the years since Shocker's unmasking the two have wrestled each other on numerous occasions, both in CMLL and other promotions. The two teamed up for the Parejas Increibles tournament and made it to the semi-final but lost to La Sombra and Volador Jr. when the tension between the two became a distraction in the match.[24][25] The rivalry between Rush and El Terrible started when El Terrible defeated Rush in the finals of a tournament to determine a holder of the CMLL World Heavyweight Championship on January 1, 2012.[36] The two were also paired up for the 2012 Torneo Nacional de Parejas Increibles, and in the weeks leading up to the tournament Rush stated that he was willing to set aside his differences with El Terrible as he wanted to win the Parejas Increibles tournament, despite the two having developed a heated rivalry over the last number of months.[37] After getting along and qualifying for the final match Rush and El Terrible's miscommunication and dissension allowed their opponents to win the match and the tournament. Following the match Rush took a microphone and berated both El Terrible and the fans for their actions that night and then followed it up by challenging El Terrible to a Luchas de Apuestas, hair vs. hair match at a later date. El Terrible did not accept the challenge at that point in time.[38] The two faced off in the main event of the CMLL 79th Anniversary Show in a Lucha de Apuestas, hair vs. hair match that was won by Rush.[10] The storyline continued to develop in the months following the anniversary event and included El Terrible successfully defending the CMLL World Heavyweight Championship against Rush on January 22, 2013.[39][40] The two rivals were simply unable to get along from the beginning, causing them to be eliminated in the first round of the Parejas Increibles tournament by Dragón Rojo Jr. and Niebla Roja.[26][27]

The second Luchas de Apuestas match announced for the 2013 Homenaje a Dos Leyendas show would see two wrestlers from CMLL's female division both put their hair on the line in a one-on-one match between Estrellita and La Amapola. For years La Amapola had been the top ranked female wrestler in CMLL, including a record long run with the CMLL World Women's Championship. Before 2010 Estrellita worked for 10 years for CMLL's main Mexican rival AAA, but in September 2010 Estrellita appeared in CMLL as part of a group called Los Invasores, former AAA wrestlers playing off a storyline that they were "invading" CMLL. This marked the first time that Estrellita worked as ruda (Bad guy character).[41] She made her first appearance at a major CMLL show when she teamed up with Tiffany and Mima Shimoda only to lose to Dark Angel, Luna Mágica and Marcela as part of the 2010 Sin Piedad show.[42] A few months later she would split from Los Invasores as she had a falling out with Tiffany and returned to her tecnica ways. In the fall of 2012 Amapola and Estrellita began facing off more and more as part of six-man tag team matches, often with La Amapola attacking Estrellita before or after the match, targeting the "outsider" repeatedly. Estrellita defeated Princesa Blanca to win the Mexican National Women's Championship, CMLL's secondary female title, which made her a bigger target for La Amapola. In the weeks leading up to the announcement of the Luchas de Apuestas match Estrellita had made several challenges to her rival, trying to get La Amapola to put her hair on the line against Estrellita. Each time La Amapola refused, citing that she would not risk her hair unless she got a match for the Mexican Nation Women's Championship in return. The Championship match was not mentioned when the hair vs. hair match was announced for Homenaje a Dos Leyendas. In the days leading up to the event Estrellita stated during an interview that she had often been criticized for her wrestling skills which made her work harder and seek out the hardest opponents to beat and that win or lose she hoped her efforts in the match would silence some of these critics.[43]

The second match of the night saw long time rivals as captains of opposite teams as La Máscara teams with Máscara Dorada and Valiente and Averno leads the rest of his group Los Hijos del Averno ("The Sons of Hell"; Mephisto and Ephesto) against each other. The rivalry between the two dates back to early 2011 when the two began a long running, very high-profile storyline feud between the two. The highlight of the storyline came at the 2011 Juicio Final show where La Máscara defeated Averno in a Luchas de Apuestas match and forced Averno to unmask as a result.[44] The two clashed on multiple occasions after the mask match, with the tension being evident in almost all matches. The two were teamed up for both the 2012 and the 2013 Torneo Nacional de Parejas Increibles tournaments. During the 2012 tournament the team only coexisted long enough to defeat the team of Valiente and Olímpico in the first round, but the dissension between the two cost them their second-round match to eventual tournament winners Atlantis and Mr. Niebla.[45][46] In the 2013 tournament the duo defeated El Hijo de Fantasma and El Felino in the first round, but lost to La Sombra and Volador Jr. in the second round.[24][25] Máscara Dorada and Mephisto had also teamed up for the 2013 Torneo Nacional de Parejas Increibles, not so much out of any existing storyline reasons as perhaps more to develop a rivalry between the two. They defeated Máximo and Mr. Águila in the first round, but were defeated by Shocker and Mr. Niebla in the second round of the tournament.[24][25] The first match of the show featured a rare teaming of the father/sons team of El Felino teaming with Puma and Tiger, something that had only happened on rare occasions and never at a major CMLL event before. The Casas family (Felino and sons) would face off against two thirds of Los Reyes de la Atlantida ("The Kings of Atlantis") Delta and Guerrero Maya Jr., teaming up with Tritón for a match that had no real storyline behind it.

In September 1933 Salvador Lutteroth González founded Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre (EMLL), which would later be renamed Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre. Over time Lutteroth would become responsible for building both Arena Coliseo in Mexico City and Arena Mexico, which became known as "The Cathedral of Lucha Libre".[3][47] Over time EMLL became the oldest wrestling promotion in the world, with 2018 marking the 85th year of its existence.[48] Lutteroth has often been credited with being the "father of Lucha Libre", introducing the concept of masked wrestlers to Mexico as well as the Luchas de Apuestas match. Lutteroth died on September 5, 1987.[3] EMLL, late CMLL, remained under the ownership and control of the Lutteroth family as first Salvador's son Chavo Lutteroth and later his grandson Paco Alonso took over ownership of the company.[49]

In 2013 CMLL decided that their Homenaje a Dos Leyendas show would pay tribute to Máximino "Max" Linares Moreno, better known to the wrestling world as Rayo de Jalisco[2] Rayo de Jalisco's wrestling career spanned 49 years, from 1950 until his retirement in 1989, shortly after losing a high-profile Luchas de Apuestas to Blue Demon and was forced to unmask.[50] Over the years he formed highly successful duos with both Blue Demon and El Santo, Rayo and El Santo won the Mexican National Tag Team Championship on two occasions.[51] He also won the NWA World Middleweight Championship three times and the Occidente Welterweight Championship.[52][53] Linares, as Rayo de Jalisco, also starred in a number of Lucha films in the early 1970s including, Superzam el Invencible ("Superzam the invincible"), El Robo de las Momias de Guanajuato ("The Robbery of the Mummies of Guanajuato"), Vuelven Los Campeones Justicieros ("Becoming the Champions of Justice") and El Triunfo de los Campeones Justicieros ("The Triump of the Champions of Justice").[54] In 1996, he was inducted into the Wrestling Observer Hall of Fame. Linares' son made his professional wrestling debut in 1975 and has worked for most of his career as Rayo de Jalisco Jr. and is still an active wrestler.[55] His grandson currently wrestles under the ring name Rayman, after at one point working as "El Hijo de Rayo de Jalisco Jr." ("The Son of Rayo de Jalisco Jr."). Rayo de Jalisco Jr. had worked for CMLL as recent as 2010,[56]