Torneo Gran Alternativa (2001)

Starting in 1994 the Mexican professional wrestling promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) created a special tournament concept where they would team up a novato, or rookie, with a veteran for a single-elimination tag team tournament with the purpose of increasing the profile of the rookie wrestler.[3][4]

CMLL had used a similar concept in August 1994 where Novato Shocker teamed up with veterans Ringo Mendoza and Brazo de Plata to defeat novato Apolo Dantés and veterans Gran Markus Jr. and El Brazo in the finals of a six-man tag team tournament.[5] CMLL would later modified the concept to two-man tag teams instead, creating a tournament that would be known as El Torneo Gran Alternativa, or "The Great Alternative Tournament", which became a recurring event on the CMLL calendar. CMLL did not hold a Gran Alternativa tournament in 1997 and 2000 held on each year from 2001 through 2014, opting not to hold a tournament in 2015.[6]

Gran Alternativa participants

Sicodelico Jr., the son of professional wrestler Sicodelico and nephew of Dos Caras and Mil Máscaras, left CMLL in 2003 without achieving much of note in the promotion. He would later work on the independent circuit, and had a short stint in the WWE's developmental system using the names Aaron Rodrigues and El Espiral.[9]

Sangre Azteca would go on to become a co-leader of a group called Pandilla Guerrera ("Gang of Warriors") , which later became known as Los Guerreros Tuareg. Los Guerreras won the Mexican National Trios Championship once, as well as winning the Mexican National Welterweight Championship.[10][11][12] Sangre Azteca broke away from the group in 2008 to from Poder Mexica with Black Warrior and Dragón Rojo, Jr. as well as Misterioso, Jr. later on. The group also won the Mexican National Welterweight Championship once. The group disbanded in 2010, with Sanger Azteca working on the CMLL mid-card until leaving the promotion in 2019.[13]