CMLL Universal Championship

The CMLL Universal Championship (Campeonato Universal in Spanish) is an annual lucha libre tournament held by the Mexican professional wrestling promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) since 2009. The tournament format is a "tournament of champions" with sixteen male CMLL champions participating. With the 2019 tournament CMLL has held nine tournaments in total with only two repeat winners, Último Guerrero who won in both 2009 and 2014 and El Terrible who won in 2012 and 2019.

CMLL Universal Championship
The belt awarded to the tournament winner each year
Details
PromotionConsejo Mundial de Lucha Libre
Date establishedJune 22, 2009
Current champion(s)El Terrible
Date wonFebruary 15, 2019

Even though the tournament winner is given a title belt, it is not defended like a regular championship throughout the year.

Male tournament winners
Year Winner Championship held Date Ref(s)
2009 Último Guerrero CMLL World Heavyweight Championship June 22, 2009 [1]
2010 Jushin Thunder Liger CMLL World Middleweight Championship August 13, 2010 [2]
2011 La Sombra NWA World Historic Welterweight Championship September 16, 2011 [3]
2012 El Terrible CMLL World Heavyweight Championship August 31, 2012 [4]
2013 Tanahashi CMLL World Tag Team Championship September 6, 2013 [5]
2014 Último Guerrero (2) CMLL World Trios Championship August 29, 2014 [6]
2015 Atlantis Mexican National Light Heavyweight Championship October 16, 2015 [7]
2016 Valiente CMLL World Trios Championship October 28, 2016 [8][9]
2017 Volador Jr. NWA World Historic Welterweight Championship
CMLL World Trios Championship		 July 14, 2017 [10]
2019 El Terrible (2) Mexican National Heavyweight Championship February 15, 2019 [11]

Female tournament winners
Year Winner Date Ref(s)
2019 Dalys la Caribeña August 16, 2019 [12]

Tournament history
The 2013 Universal Champion Tanahashi wearing the championship belt

The Universal Championship tournament was created in 2009 to replace the Leyenda de Plata as CMLL's top tournament of the year. The Leyenda de Plata commemorated El Santo, a legend in lucha libre, but when CMLL and El Santo's son, El Hijo del Santo had a very public falling out in 2008 they decided to no longer run the annual Leyenda de Plata tournament. They came up with the concept of the Universal Championship tournament, a tournament exclusively for CMLL champions. The first Universal Championship tournament took place over three shows in June, with June 5, 2009, and June 12, 2009 CMLL Super Viernes shows each hosting a three-round block of the tournament and the June 19, 2009 Super Viernes featuring the finals as its main event. On June 19, 2009 CMLL World Heavyweight Champion, and one of the tournament favorites, Último Guerrero defeated El Texano Jr. the reigning NWA World Light Heavyweight Champion.[1][13][14] CMLL later announced the 2010 Universal Championship, confirming that it will indeed be an annual event.[15] The second annual Universal Championship tournament started on July 30, 2010, ended on August 13 and saw New Japan Pro Wrestling representative and CMLL World Middleweight Champion Jushin Thunder Liger defeat CMLL World Trios Champion La Sombra to become the 2010 Universal Champion.[2] The 2011 edition started on September 2, ended on September 16 and saw La Sombra, now the NWA World Historic Welterweight Champion, come back to defeat CMLL World Trios Champion Averno in the finals to win the tournament.[3] In 2012, CMLL World Heavyweight Champion El Terrible defeated New Japan Pro Wrestling's IWGP Heavyweight Champion Tanahashi to win the tournament.[4] The following year, Tanahashi, now the CMLL World Tag Team Champion, became the second Japanese winner of the tournament by defeating Mexican National Trios Champion Rush in the finals.[5] In 2014, CMLL World Trios Champion and the 2009 Universal Champion Último Guerrero defeated the NWA World Historic Middleweight Champion and 2011 Universal Champion La Sombra to become the first two-time Universal Champion.[6]

Último Guerrero, the first two-time champion (in 2009 and 2014)

40 individuals have competed in the six tournaments that have been held up to and including the 2014 Universal Championship tournament, with 13 wrestlers having appeared at only 1 tournament so far. Dragón Rojo Jr., La Máscara, La Sombra, Máscara Dorada and Mephisto have all participated in five of the six tournaments held so far. Diamante Azul previously competed in the tournament as "Metro" and is the only wrestler to compete under two different ring identities. Only one non-CMLL champion has participated in the tournament, Hiroshi Tanahashi, who held the IWGP Heavyweight Championship when he participated in 2012 and 2013, but held the CMLL World Tag Team Championship when participating in 2011. Despite holding the CMLL World Lightweight Championship Virus did not compete in the 2011 and 2012 tournaments but did participate in 2013 and 2014. Jushin Thunder Liger won the tournament in 2010 but did not compete in 2011 or 2012 despite holding CMLL championships at the time, the CMLL World Middleweight Championship and the CMLL World Tag Team Championship respectively. Prince Devitt did not participate in the 2012 tournament despite holding the NWA World Historic Middleweight Championship as he was in Japan at the time. Místico the holder of the CMLL World Welterweight Championship was unable to participate in the 2014 tournament due to an injury.

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References
  1. Rivera, Manuel (June 22, 2009). "Ultimo Guerrero, Campeon Universal". Súper Luchas Magazine (in Spanish). Mexico City, Mexico: CAMSAN Impresores, S.A. de C.V. pp. 3–5. Issue 320. Retrieved May 3, 2010.
  2. Rivera, Manuel (August 14, 2010). "Resultados Arena México (13 agosto 2010): ¡Liger, Campeón Universal! ¿14 luchadores a la jaula del 3 de septiembre?". Súper Luchas Magazine (in Spanish). Archived from the original on July 3, 2012. Retrieved September 16, 2011.
  3. "La Sombra, Campeón Universal". Récord (in Spanish). September 16, 2011. Archived from the original on July 27, 2012. Retrieved September 16, 2011.
  4. Salazar López, Alexis A. (September 1, 2012). "Viernes 31 de Agosto '12". Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (in Spanish). Archived from the original on September 1, 2012. Retrieved September 1, 2012.
  5. Salazar López, Alexis A. (September 7, 2013). "Resultados Arena México Viernes 6 de Septiembre '13". Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (in Spanish). Archived from the original on September 13, 2013. Retrieved September 7, 2013.
  6. Reducindo, Miguel (August 30, 2014). "Resultados Arena México Viernes 29 de Agosto '14". Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (in Spanish). Archived from the original on August 30, 2014. Retrieved August 30, 2014.
  7. "Atlantis se proclamó Campeón Universal 2015". MedioTiempo (in Spanish). October 17, 2015. Retrieved October 17, 2015.
  8. Valdés, Apolo (October 29, 2016). "¡Gran sorpresa! Valiente campeón universal del CMLL". MedioTiempo (in Spanish). MSN. Retrieved October 29, 2016.
  9. López Peralta, Gonzalo (October 29, 2016). "El Valiente se proclama como nuevo Campeón Universal 2016: La Verdad Absoluta". Yahoo Deportes (in Spanish). Yahoo!. Retrieved October 29, 2016.
  10. Dark Angeita (July 14, 2017). Ocampo, Ernesto (ed.). "CMLL: Resultados Viernes Espectacular 14/07/2017 Vangellys pelón, Volador Jr. es el Campeón Universal 2017" [CMLL: Friday Spectacular results 14/07/2017 Vangellys bald, Volador Jr. is the 2017 Universal Champion]. Súper Luchas. Mexico City, Mexico: Impresos Camsam, SA de CV. Retrieved July 15, 2017.
  11. "Terrible vence en caídas consecutivas y es el nuevo campeón universal del CMLL" [Terrible wins in two consecutive falls and is the new CMLL Universal Champion]. El Heraldo de Mexico (in Spanish). February 16, 2019. Retrieved February 16, 2019.
  12. Dark Angelita (August 19, 2019). "CMLL: Dalys se corona como la primer Campeona Universal de Amazonas". Súper Luchas (in Spanish). Retrieved August 30, 2019.
  13. Rivera, Manuel (June 20, 2009). "CMLL Arena Mexico resultados 19 Junio 2009 Ultimo Guerrero primer Campeon Universal CMLL Dark Angel gana el match relampago". Súper Luchas Magazine (in Spanish). Retrieved July 16, 2010.
  14. Rosas, Arturo Plata (June 20, 2009). "Sangre de campeón!". Ovaciones (in Spanish). Mexico, D.F.: Editorial Ovaciones, S. A. de C.V. p. 24. Número 21623 Año LXII. Archived from the original on March 7, 2012. Retrieved May 5, 2010.
  15. Zellner, Kris (July 18, 2010). "Lucha Report For 7/18/10". Lucha World. Retrieved July 19, 2010.
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