Prisión Fatal (January 2017)

In the 1960s, wrestler Adolfo "Pirata" Moreno began promoting wrestling shows in his native Naucalpan, State of Mexico, Mexico, bringing in wrestlers from Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre (EMLL) to Naucalpan to work shows with local wrestlers from the Mexican independent circuit.[2] Initially he ran sporadic shows, but later on began promoting regular shows at "Arena KO Al Gusto". In the 1970s he served as the local Universal Wrestling Association (UWA) promoter under the name Promociones Moreno efforts.[2] In 1977 Moreno bought Arena KO Al Gusto instead of renting it. After buying the old arena it was demolished to make way for a new arena, Arena Naucalpan, an arena designed specifically for wrestling shows, with a maximum capacity of 2,400 spectators. Arena Naucalpan became the permanent home for Promociones Moreno.[2]

In late 1995 Adolfo Moreno decided to create his own promotion, using a regular core roster supplemented with wrestlers from Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL, formerly EMLL), creating the International Wrestling Revolution Group (IWRG; sometimes referred to as Grupo Internacional Revolución in Spanish) on January 1, 1996.[3] From that point on Arena Naucalpan became the main venue for IWRG, hosting the majority of their weekly shows and all of their major shows as well.[4][5] The first IWRG Anniversary Show was held on January 1, 1997 with all subsequent shows being held on or right after January 1 each year, all at Arena Naucalpan.[4] Posters for the January 1 show mistakenly lists it as the 20th anniversary show, but also bills it as a Prisión Fatal ("Deadly Prison") show.

Starting as far back as at least 2000, the Mexican wrestling promotion International Wrestling Revolution Group (IWRG; Sometimes referred to as Grupo Internacional Revolución in Spanish) has held several annual events where the main event was a multi-man steel cage match where the last wrestler left in the cage would be forced to either remove their wrestling mask or have their hair shaved off under Lucha de Apuestas, or "bet match", rules. From 2012 IWRG has promoted a variation of the steel cage match under the moniker Prisión Fatal at least once a year since its inception. The Prisión Fatal has the added twist that each competitor is chained by the wrist to the cage with a long steel chain and to escape they fight have to get a key to unlock their chain before they are able to escape. The added chain helps to distinguish it from other Steel cage matches held throughout the year such as the IWRG Guerra del Golfo ("Gulf War"), IWRG Guerra de Sexos ("War of the Sexes") or IWRG El Castillo del Terror ("The Tower of Terror") shows. The Prisión Fatal shows, as well as the majority of the IWRG shows in general, are held in "Arena Naucalpan", owned by the promoters of IWRG and their main arena. The 2017 Prisión Fatal show was the seventh time that IWRG promoted a show under that name and the third time the loser would unmask as a result.[6][7][8][9][10][11]

The Prisión Fatal event featured five 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.[12]