Juicio Final (1968)
Juicio Final (1968) (Spanish for "Final Judgement" 1968) was a professional wrestling supercard show, scripted and produced by Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), which took place on December 13, 1968, in Arena México, Mexico City, Mexico. The show served as the year-end finale for CMLL before Arena México, CMLL's main venue, closed down for the winter for renovations and to host Circo Atayde. The shows replaced the regular Super Viernes ("Super Friday") shows held by CMLL since the mid-1930s.
| Juicio Final (1968) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Promotion | Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre | ||
| Date | December 13, 1968 | ||
| City | Mexico City, Mexico | ||
| Venue | Arena México | ||
| Event chronology | |||
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| Juicio Final chronology | |||
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The main event match was contested under Lucha de Apuestas rules, with El Solitario risking his wrestling mask|mask]] while Rey Mendoza risked his hair on the outcome of the match. During the first of a scheduled three falls, Mendoza was injured and was not able to compete any further. As a result, Mendoza did not have his hair shaved off after the fall. But would shave his own hair off at a subsequent show out of respect for the traditions of lucha libre. In the semi-main event El Santo defeated Rene Guajardo, supposedly to win the NWA World Middleweight Championship. Sources have not confirmed any of the other matches on the show.
Production
Background
For decades Arena México, the main venue of the Mexican professional wrestling promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), would close down in early December and remain closed into either January or February to allow for renovations as well as letting Circo Atayde occupy the space over the holidays. As a result, CMLL usually held a "end of the year" supercard show on the first or second Friday of December in lieu of their normal Super Viernes show. 1955 was the first year where CMLL used the name "El Juicio Final" ("The Final Judgement") for their year-end supershow.[1][2] It is no longer an annually recurring show, but instead held intermittently sometimes several years apart and not always in the same month of the year either. All Juicio Final shows have been held in Arena México in Mexico City, Mexico which is CMLL's main venue, its "home".[3]
Storylines
The 1968 Juicio Final show featured seven professional wrestling matches scripted by CMLL with some wrestlers involved in scripted feuds. The wrestlers portray either heels (referred to as rudos in Mexico, those that play the part of the "bad guys") or faces (técnicos in Mexico, the "good guy" characters) as they perform.[4]
Results
| No. | Results[5] | Stipulations | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | El Santo defeated Rene Guajardo (c) | Singles match (professional wrestling) | |
| 2 | El Solitario defeated Rey Mendoza | Best two-out-of-three falls Lucha de Apuestas, hair Vs. hair match[6] | |
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References
- "EMLL Super Viernes". Wrestling Data. December 2, 1955. Retrieved March 21, 2019.
- Salazar, Fernando (May 31, 2019). "Juicio Final nos ha regalado Luchas de Apuestas emblematicas" [Juicio Final has provided some emblematic bet matches]. Record (in Spanish). Retrieved June 1, 2019.
- Madigan, Dan (2007). "El nacimient de un sueño (the birth of a dream)". Mondo Lucha A Go-Go: the bizarre & honorable world of wild Mexican wrestling. HarperColins Publisher. pp. 41–50. ISBN 978-0-06-085583-3.
- Madigan, Dan (2007). ""Okay... what is Lucha Libre?"". Mondo Lucha a Go Go: the bizarre & honorable world of wild Mexican wrestling. New York, New York: HarperColins Publisher. p. 31. ISBN 978-0-06-085583-3.
featuring clearly distinguished good guys and bad guys, or técnicos and rudos
- "EMLL Super Viernes". CageMatch. December 13, 1968. Retrieved October 21, 2019.
- "Lucha Libre: Conoce la historia de las leyendas de cuadrilátero". Solitario (1946–1986) (in Spanish). Mexico. 2008. p. 57. Grandes Figuras de la Lucha Libre.