The 57th Anniversary of Lucha Libre in Estadio de Mexico (Spanish: 57. Aniversario de la Lucha Libre en el Estadio de México) was celebrated by a professional wrestlingsupercard show produced and scripted by the Mexican lucha libre promotion International Wrestling Revolution Group (IWRG; sometimes referred to as Grupo Internacional Revolución in Mexico) which tookplace on December 15, 2019 in Arena Naucalpan, Naucalpan, State of Mexico. The event commemorated the sport of lucha libre becoming allowed in the State of Mexico, with the first lucha libre show held in the state taking place in December 1962. Over the years IWRG has on occasion celebrated the anniversary, although not consistently holding an anniversary show every year.
The history of lucha libre, or professional wrestling in Mexico goes all the way back to the early 1900s where individual promoters would hold shows on a local basis in various Mexican states. In 1933 Salvador Lutteroth created Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre (EMLL; Spanish for "Mexican Wrestling Enterprise") and in subsequent years took EMLL to a national level.[2][3] In the 1930s and 1940s various Mexican starts to create lucha libre commissions, often as an extension of the existing Boxing commissions, responsible for overview of lucha libre in each state, licensing wrestlers and ensuring the rules are being enforced.[4] In the State of Mexicolucha libre was not officially sanctioned in late 1962, with the first sanctioned lucha libre show in the State of Mexico being held in December of that year.[4]
The Mexican wrestling promotionInternational Wrestling Revolution Group (IWRG; Sometimes referred to as Grupo Internacional Revolución in Spanish) has on occasion held a major show in December to commemorate the "birth" of Lucha Libre in their home state. It is unclear exactly when IWRG started to mark the Anniversary, records confirm that they held a show to commemorate the event starting in 2010 commemorating the 48th Anniversary of Lucha Libre in Estadio de Mexico, possibly prior to that. The 2019 show will be the 57th anniversary and will be held on December XX, 2019 in Arena Naucalpan, Naucalpan, State of Mexico where IWRG holds all of their major lucha libre shows.[5]
Storylines
The 57th Anniversary of Lucha Libre in Estadio de Mexico show featured seven 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.[4]
^"Los Lutteroth / the Lutteroths". Lucha Libre: Masked Superstars of Mexican Wrestling. Distributed Art Publishers, Inc. 2005. pp. 20–27. ISBN968-6842-48-9.
^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. HarperCollins Publishers. pp. 41–50. ISBN978-0-06-085583-3.
^ abcMadigan, Dan (2007). "Okay... what is Lucha Libre?". Mondo Lucha a Go Go: the bizarre and honorable world of wild Mexican wrestling. HarperCollins Publishers. pp. 29–40. ISBN978-0-06-085583-3.
^Lizarraga, Alfonso (December 3, 2018). "Toscano sentencia a Máscara Año 2000 Jr" [Toscano passes judgement on Máscara Año 2000 Jr.]. The Gladiatores (in Spanish). Retrieved October 15, 2018.