Wrestling / CMLL

Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL)^note Spanish for "World Wrestling Council," not to be confused with the World Wrestling Council in Puerto Rico is a Mexican Professional Wrestling, or, lucha libre, promotion and the oldest active wrestling promotion in the world. CMLL is also one of the premier promotions of the Americas, being only the second since the sport entered the region to draw a million dollars at the gate.

It was started in Mexico City in 1933 by Salvador Lutteroth, who ran the first show under the name Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre^note Mexican Wrestling Enterprise. Lutteroth, a tax inspector for the Mexican government, had seen an early American professional wrestling event in El Paso while stationed right across the border in Ciudad Juárez, and immediately realized the potential this entertainment would have in Mexico. EMLL later helped establish the legitimacy of then fledgling National Wrestling Alliance and has still interacted with it over the years, even after leaving the Alliance and crowning its own world champions. CMLL has also retained working relations with other former members such as New Japan Pro-Wrestling and TNA.

The biggest show of the year is the Anniversary Show.

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Tropes asociados con CMLL:

• Accuser of the Brethren: During the early nineteen nineties, when CMLL and it's biggest rival LLI were co promoting the occasional show, El Canek and Dr. Wagner Jr became the first CMLL World Tag Team er Campenato Parejas Del Mundo. Anyway, as LLI struggled following Vampiro's disastrous reign as UWA World Heavyweight Champion, El Canek abandoned CMLL and the belts to work for LLI full time. His efforts failed, LLI went out of business and UWA ceased to exist as a governing body, eventually leading to El Canek's much welcome return in 2004. Much welcome by everyone but Dr. Wagner Jr, who accused Canek of abandoning CMLL and more importantly, him.
• Acrofatic: LLI migrant El Pantera II was probably carrying more than II extra pounds but he did so with grace.
• Action Girl: Hosted a tournament to crown the first District Federal Women's champion in 1987. The longer established Mexican National Women's title was brought in during 1992, the same year the CMLL Women's Title was introduced. Also required if you want to hold one of the Reina Championship belts.
• Adaptational Context Change: Universal Studios managed to get the gimmick clause suspended for a November 6th 2008 B Show, where it convinced Rey Bucanero and Damián el Terrible to dress as The Incredible Hulk and The Abomination in a street fight, in mimicry of the movie.
• Affectionate Parody: Guapos University was a parody of competition based reality shows, and indirectly to Million dollar Tough Enough due to its similar "format", in which Shocker, Máscara Mágica and El Terrible held a competition for the prize of being the next member of Los Guapos.
• Afro Asskicker: Mr Niebla, starting in the Peste Negra stable.
• Amazonian Beauty: Dark Angel has won many of CMLL's body building contests and jumped ship from AAA on the offer to wrestle more matches, after she had done little more than carry signs there. She later formed "El Sexy Team" with Goya Kong and Estrellita.
• Ascended Extra: Marcela used to be a bigger star in Japan than she was in Mexico despite always being on CMLL's radar. Eight years after her debut in the promotion however, her loyalty was rewarded with a chance to stand atop their revived women's division, which she remained a mainstay of for a decade.
• Atlantis: He's in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. But he used to live in the city of his namesake.
• Author Avatar: Último Guerrero became part of the booking team in 2011
• Badass Biker: Love Machine was known for coming to arena on a motor bike. Héctor Garza even transported tag team partners and stablemates on his.
• Bad Santa: Mr Niebla literally had an evil Santa Claus gimmick where he carried a trashcan in place of a gift bag.
• Battle Strip: Tecnico! La Máscara tended to compete in a shirt, wrist tape and arm bands, stripping off more and more the longer his matches lasted.
• Big Fun: While Brazo De Plata was working in CMLL, his waist expanded tremendously, to the point fans started calling him "Super Porky". Rather than be insulted, he embraced the name and started adding a lot more comedy to his matches, becoming a special attraction.
• Big Red Devil
  • Mephisto sometimes wears red masks with horns and is put against wrestlers in smaller weight classes to enhance this image. His Los Sicarios del Ring partner Averno in turn could be a (not as)big blue devil.
  • Namajague from the first version of La Fiebre Amarilla is a smaller big red devil.
• Bloodier and Gorier: It wasn't particularly gory by pro wrestling/lucha libre standards, but it was still shocking to see Los Thundercats draw the collective blood of El Trio Fantasia considering all of them were based on series without blood at all(rather than those that just edit it out for the main TV broadcast)
• Bloodless Carnage: The promotion has a long standing practice of not airing (or editing) any matches where blood is spilled. That said, live crowds aren't deprived of blood, as the matches will go on regardless.
• Brainwashing: El Satánico turned Rencor Latino into Averno and Astro Rey Jr. into Mephisto, otherwise known as Los Sicarios del Ring. Averno and Mephisto would later turn on Satánico but remain rudos.
• Breakout Character: Besides famous cases such as El Santo, Forjando un Ídolo and En Busca de un Ídolo are tournaments put on to see if one can be found among that year's rookie wrestlers, while Torneo Sangre Nueva is one for young wrestlers in general and jobbers.
• Brought to You by the Letter "S": Or letter T, in the case of the mask of Talismán
• B Show: Many in conjunction with independent promotions such an LLQ title defense or using the storied Arena Olímpico Laguna. Also Sin Limite de Tiempo and SACCOMATS
• The Cameo: After their very public departure from CMLL in 2008, Dr. Wagner Jr. would cameo in 2013 promising revenge against Ultimo Guerrero and Atlantis while LA Park would cameo in 2014 as a vehicle for CMLL to promote the independent promotion 'Lucha Liga Elite'. Neither would return to the active roster until 2015.
• Carry a Big Stick: Bárbaro Cavernario carries a thick stick/thin log
• Captain Ersatz: Los Thundercats (Leono, Panthro, and Tigro) were three to, well, Thunder Cats. Las Tortugas Ninjas were four to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The various incarnations of El Trio Fantasia have been Disney Characters.
• Chairman of the Brawl: Chairs are almost inevitable in pro wrestling, especially in a lucha fed this long running but L.A. Park was known for subverting it sometimes by merely dancing on a chair. A dramatic straight example was Espanto Jr trying and eventually succeeding in jostling a fan in a crowd clearly against him of their chair during his mask vs mask match with Hijo Del Santo.
• Character Alignmentinvoked: While EMLL obviously did not invent the concept of baby faces and heels, they decided to be more open about the dynamic, treating tecnicos and rudos as representatives of two different philosophies in regards to lucha libre. Tecnicos compete to be the best technical performers, and rudos subscribe to all's fair so long as you're not caught. While fan response can still change one's alignment in a heart beat, they're not afraid of acknowledging that a rudo gets cheered, so long as the tecnico's cheers are still louder. And sometimes not even then, as Rush was officially billed as the most hated man in CMLL despite also officially being billed as tecnico. It's also rare to see a promotion openly acknowledge the broader alignments on the shows themselves unless it is aimed at a Spanish speaking market, as many in them followed EMLL's lead.
• Charles Atlas Superpower
  • El Canek, UWA's legendary powerhouse known for his kneeling Argentine Back breaker, who could still lift up men over twice his size while in his late forties. CMLL got more time with him after Lucha Libre Internacional(whom UWA acted as the sanctioning committee for) went under.
  • Diamante Azul has dead lifted multiple members of Los Ingobernables at once in his German suplexes.
  • Among the extranjera, Mike Elgin can lift a lot more than his frame would suggest.
• Comic-Book Adaptation: El Santo, Fray Tormenta, Místico and Dark Angel
• Contemporary Caveman: Bárbaro Cavernario, the well spoken but still stands out like a sore thumb variety.
• Crossover: Some, but by no means all...
  • Though LLI and UWA were founded by many key people who left EMLL, the splinter promotion and athletic commission would later come to working agreements with CMLL and even do joint shows.
  • Several with New Japan Pro Wrestling, they will even do commentary for each other's shows and host each other's title defenses. In particular, Místico hit it off big in Japan while CMLL helped Jushin Thunder Liger establish himself in Mexico, after he had been previously pulled out the country by New Japan. At the very least, the two companies will work together once a year since the establishment of Fantasticamania. CMLL later joined NJPW's cross promotional ventures with ROH.
  • In 2004, CMLL helped the Mexican version of the World Wrestling Association pull itself out of inactivity, in exchange for using it's talent and title belts of course.
  • The World Welterweight Title saw extensive time in Michinoku Pro Wrestling when Super Delfin was champion.
  • Before TNA dropped CMLL out of loyalty toward long rival AAA, the two had a good relationship, with Alex Shelley winning CMLL's 2008 International Grand Prix while Averno, Rey Bucanero, Último Guerrero and Volador, Jr. won TNA's 2008 World X Cup. The two have ended up back together, somewhat, when the World Wrestling League started up and AAA eventually opted out while CMLL and TNA remained affiliated.
  • The CMLL-Reina International title belt and the CMLL-Reina International Junior belt, for women who have been in the business less than ten years, are shared between CMLL and REINA, obviously.
• Dangerous Forbidden Technique: Piledrivers of all kinds have traditionally drawn disqualifications. However, some have managed to get a way with some variations, such as Universo Dos Mil's Black Hammer and Yoker's terrifying Martinete special.
• Disney Owns This Trope: In the 1970s EMLL had a dispute with a wrestler on the independent circuit over who used the Alacrán gimmick, EMLL's becoming Alacrán de Durango. In the 2000s, CMLL had another over who used Mistico gimmick first. CMLL won, causing that Mistico to become Incognito. When CMLL's Mistico then took an extended leave from Mexico, Dragon Lee got the gimmick, making that Mistico become Myzteziz when he came back.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: Prior to 1977, EMLL celebrated its birthday with multiple events, rather than having their signature Anniversary show in place of Súper Viernes. Prior to 1956, Arena México wasn't the designated location for the Anniversary show either.
• '80s Hair: Not even Mexico was free from it. Check out Irma Águilar and La Medusa during the decade.
• Enemy Mine:
  • El Texano Jr, El Terrible and Averno using the first Los Independientes attack on CMLL to blindside Brazo de Plata, Jon Strongman and Mistico as they ran out to try and stop the independent circuit trespassers.
  • Torneo Increibles de Parejas, Arena Puebla and Torneo Nacional de Parejas Increibles require a technico and a rudo to team up. Sometimes they may not have any particular relationship prior but more often, they do.
• Everything's Better with Samurai: Shiro Koshinaka took up a samurai gimmick when he came to EMLL while on excursion from All Japan. In Japan, Samurai TV shows CMLL events.
• Evil Counterpart
  • La Ola Azul and La Ola Blanca have La Ola Amarilla. Granted, La Ola Blanca themselves are evil, but in a more Light Is Not Good fashion, being composed of "angelic" figures and medical workers.
  • After Shocker took up the ways of a rudo, the mini estrella known as Shockercito became his good counterpart.
• Evil Is Cool: The intended reaction of Rudos del Ritmo. They can dance, and everyone thinks dancing is cool, right?
• Evil Makeover
  • Dalys la Caribeña started painting jaws and teeth on her face after becoming a ruda.
  • When Mistico started wearing ring gear that was half his own and half of former arch rival Averno, it wasn't a good sign.
• Evil Versus Evil: The feud between Los Infernales and Los Intocables, which probably only worked because Masakre of the latter group used to be a member of the former. Also when Rey Bucanero and Ultimo Guerrero kicked Satánico out of Los Nuevos Infernales, he went on to found a second Los Nuevos Infernales.
• Eye Catch: Scene of luchador "Regresamos!", scene of another, "Continuamos!", keep going through the roster until there are no more commercial breaks.
• Eye Patch Of Power: Pirata Morgan wears them sometimes. He actually lost an eye during a match.
• Face–Heel Turn: El Hijo del Santo seemingly joining with his long time enemy Negro Casas only to betray him is one of the most famous and is credited in shocking the audience that had largely left for AAA back out of sheer disbelief.
• Face/Heel Double-Turn: Fans turned on both La Sombra and Volador Jr at the 80th anniversary due to them not being the wrestlers they wanted to see in an apuestes but since Volador Jr was already a rudo it had little effect and he used the inherent sympathy that comes with losing a mask to become a tecnico while Sombra turned ruthless due to the booing, becoming a rudo(albeit, a rudo who didn't like other rudos)
• Fashionable Asymmetry: Sable's mask only had one eye hole and had a permanent smirk carved into it
• Final Battle: While those attending live usually get to see a few more events, to foreign viewers Sin Piedad marked the end of the year, excepting when Sin Silada was pushed back to December in 2009. Then this tradition seemingly ending in 2016, when CMLL opened the year with Sin Piedad instead.
• Fish People: Fishman and his son, Black Fish.
• Foreign Fanservice
  • Vampiro, who you'd think was some kind of Canadian rock star than a man with an "undead" gimmick.
  • La 5000% Guapa Raven Hiroka and Mima Shimoda
  • El Panameño Veneno teased people about his looks before his unmasking and then everyone got a look...then got to see him shaved bald.
  • Alex Koslov, Marco Corleone and Shocker, the trio better known as Los Guapos Internacional. Joined by Rey Bucanero to become High Society.
• Foreign Wrestling Heel:
  • El Legión de Puerto Rico, an evil Puerto Rican tag team. They were later replaced by evil stable Los Boricuas (not to be confused with Savio Vega's group from WWF and IWA) that joined up with La Nazi. After their initial defeat they would return even stronger under the leadership of Comandante Pierroth as Comando Caribeño, now a union of wrestlers from various Atlantic Islands and La Naz-we mean La Comandante, would be back with them soon.
  • La Ola Amarilla, an evil stable founded by Shigeo "Anti-Mexico" Okumura, Hajime Ohara and Kazuhiko Masada that would periodically come into CMLL with increasingly large numbers of wrestlers, primarily from New Japan, to cause trouble. In 2012, they were "succeeded" by Okumura's new tag team with Kyōsuke Mikami, "La Fibre Amarilla" but then La Ola returned to uphold the tradition of antagonizing CMLL and La Fibre joined up with them.
  • Subverted by another New Japan transplant group, as Tama Tonga is the only foreigner in the CMLL branch of Bullet Club.
• Genius Bruiser: Lizmark is known as El Geniecillo Azul. Blue Panther is a doctor outside of the ring.
• Gimmick Matches: Averted, the promotion is one of the most conservative in the world with a strict no gimmick format with an annual cage match being the only notable exception at Infierno en el Ring. At least gimmick in the sense of extraneous features. CMLL is more open to hosting matches that simply have different rules, such as the torneo cibernetico.
• Gratuitous Nazis: El Nazi and his later successor, La Nazi. Also, Sombra Nazi and Furia Nazi, who later went by Furia Roja but still had a swastika on his mask. Subverted by Lizmark, Stuka and their successors, who are named after war machines used by Nazi Germany but have rejected what the Nazis stand for.
• Greater-Scope Paragon: CMLL is one of the promotions that recognizes the authority of Comision de Box y Lucha Libre de Mexico, D.F, although they became increasingly relaxed over the decades as CMLL introduced its own title belts the athletic commission does not have direct control of.
• I Know Kung Fu: Kung Fu. Yes, that's his name and he knows it. Also Kato Kung Lee, whom Kung Fu formed a tag team with. With the kick boxer Satoru Sayama they became El Triangulo Oriental
• Immigrant Patriotism: Shigeo Okumura went from a most vocal Mexican hater to basically blending in with the crowds of Mexico City and representing Mexico abroad when leaving CMLL to work for foreign enterprises.
• Inter Generational Friendship: The hope of Torneo Gran Alternativa is to cultivate them by paring older wrestlers with younger ones in a tag team tournament. It's also a spot to see older and younger members of the same legacy team up.
• Kid-Appeal Character: Atlantis is called El idolo de los Niños. He kept the title even during his stints as a rudo, as he was still celebrated as hero by the children watching, even when booed by everyone else.
• Kingpin in His Gym: Any rudo in the body building contest can be said to be demonstrating a downplayed instance of this trope, since being threatening isn't the point in theory.
• Knight in Shining Armor: Steele's gimmick, with a mask that even looked like a shiny face guard.
• Last-Name Basis: Expect Japanese wrestlers to be billed and referred to exclusively by their last names. Averted when CMLL finds themselves touring Japan for Fantasticamania.
• Legacy Character
  • Though it predates the promotion by at least seven years, EMLL had one of the earliest and longest running legacies in the profession, the black leather masked Maravilla Enmascarada (specifically, Salvador Lutteroth named a new wrestler after an older Masked Marvel). There have been at least 26 unidentified men to use the gimmick. Several other legacy characters have followed in his wake, including Santo. Although the Masked Marvel traditionally existed to be eventually unmasked until another heel/rudo took up the identity, it was with Santo where the idea of never removing the mask took hold.
  • There have been several Pierroths, including Comandante Pierroths. There was also a Hijo del Pierroth and Pierrothito in Comando Caribeño. More than one man has worn El Boricua mask of El Legión de Puerto Rico
  • La Copa Junior is a tournament exclusively for people who took on the legacy of another wrestler and people who were the children of wrestlers.
• Let's Fight Like Gentlemen: Tend to have much fewer shenanigans going on compared to other "major" promotions such as AAA or Toryumon. Besides the 'cage of death', the only other time this is explicitly done away with is in 'super libre' matches.
• Masked Luchador: It's the Trope Maker.
• Mascot: The legacy luchador "Metro" serves as one to the Mexico City newspaper of the same name.
• Medusa: They've had at least two luchadoras with this gimmick over the years, at least one of whom was unmasked and shaved.
• Mini Mook: Antonio Peña got the idea to give minis to the masked wrestlers. Despite the name, not every Mini-Estrella is an example of this trope.
• Monster Clown: IWRG migrants Los Payasos Tricolor: Coco Rojo, Coco Blanco and Coco Verde. They've also been visited by a version of Los Payasos Diabolicos.
• Morally Ambiguous Doctorate: El Satánico Dr. No, or El Satánico for short.
• Mr. Fanservice
  • Vampiro, an unintentional invocation of vampires are sex gods.
  • El Elegido was considered a sex symbol and continued to be even after leaving CMLL(assuming it's the same man in AAA under the mask), even after turning 40.
  • When Flyer takes his shirt off, you know things are about to heat up, especially in the audience.
  • See where the camera's focus is at when Star Jr makes his entrance.
  • For some viewers, any of the men in the body building contests.
• Ms. Fanservice: A role taken by Las Diosas del Ring(who might be going by Las Reinas or Edecánes depending on the time period), who hold up cards signifying caídas instead of wrestle. But then many luchadoras might count during the body building contests, if that's your thing.
• Multilayer Façade: The secret identity of masked Legacy Character El Bronco was revealed to be Spider Man, another masked legacy character. Both Bronco and Spider Man would continue on as two different gimmicks that have been seen at the same time at the same place following the event.
• Multiple Head Case: Sangre Azteca's helmet is meant to invoke Coatlicue
• Mundane Made Awesome: Máscara Año Dos Mil's Finishing Move is clearly a small package.
• Nested Mouths: Guerrero Maya Jr's mask forms an open mouth with illustrated teeth, giving him this look
• Ninja: Ninja Sasuke and Mini Ninja. McNinja is also fairly common, with such examples as "El Ninja", El Hijo del Ninja, El Ninja Jr, Último Ninja and 'El Ídolo Oriental' Takeda all being Mexican.
• Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: Cyber Vikingo, a viking for the age of electronics!
• '90s Anti-Hero: Even as a técnico, Rush displays many rudo tendencies. Given that he debuted for CMLL in 2009, crowds tend to have little tolerance for this. There was an attempt to brand him and La Sombra as rudos after they, with La Máscara, ganged up on and beat down Volador Jr but they insisted they be called "técnicos diferentes".
• Non-Indicative Name: "TGR", Terriblemente Guapo el Rey, is not an individual but a trio. (El Terrible, Shocker and Rey Bucanero)
• Our Angels Are Different: Los Angeles del Inframundo: el pareja de Ángel del Mal y In Memoriam
• Our Ghosts Are Different: Fantasma de la Quebrada in the 1960s. A new luchador took up the gimmick in 1992 but spent more time in AAA.
• Out of Focus: The Mini-Estrella divisions and all female divisions tend to be left out of the CMLL Universal Championship. They also tend to be out of focus during Fantasticamania, due to New Japan almost never having anything comparable on their roster. At most they get to cameo as managers, valets or some other passive role.
• Paint It Black Jushin Thunder Liger and Místico when they became rudos.
• Pet the Dog: Okumura helps Japanese talent establish themselves in CMLL by acting as a translator, even those that openly embraced Mexicans during his "anti Mexico" phase.
• Pint Sized Power House
  • Due to the legacy of El Santo, as well as Gory Guerrero, Blue Demon, Huracán Ramírez, Arkangel de la Muerte and many other standouts(not all of whom wrestled for CMLL), the Welterweight Championship belts are more prestigious than the heavier weight variants.
  • If you want to be in the Mini-Estrella division, for dwarfs and other short people. Some "graduate" to wrestling larger opponents, either because they become popular enough for fans to demand they face a wider variety of competition or because a growth spurt makes them too tall to stay in the division.
• Playing with Fire: Hechicero literally does, using his wizardry to change the color of fire in a bowl, during his entrances.
• Popularity Power: After losing in three straight tournaments during 2011, including the prestigious En Busca de un Ídolo, Titán advanced to the finals of that very same En Busca de un Ídolo because that time advancement was based on fan votes rather than wins. Smartly, CMLL let the overwhelming fan favorite finally get a win.
• Power Trio: CMLL has title belts for trios on both a national and international level, so they attract quite a few. EMLL first got the idea from UWA though. The first UWA World Trios Champions Los Tres Fantásticos (Kung Fu, Kato Kung Lee, Black Man) ended up being the top draws in all of Mexico after all(and yes, CMLL ended up booking them too, further boosting their star).
• Prejudiced For Pecs: Defied. While the promotions North of the boarder were constantly searching out increasingly large wrestlers, EMLL, and by consequence, its imitators and breakaways, was developing an increasingly intricate system of weight classes, meaning Mexican audiences were not only used to seeing "small" wrestlers but had much less "trouble" believing a "small" one could take down a "large" one. While some cried foul at Ultimo Guerrero being well above the middle weight mark while competing in the division(the wrestle and box comision was becoming more relaxed about that kind of thing), Maximo being on the small end of light heavyweight but holding the world heavyweight title belt did not cause very much fuss.
• Produce Pelting: Seeing Cien Caras continue to attack Rayo De Jalisco Jr. while being pelted with garbage during a match in 1990 was novel.
• Random Power Ranking: cmllgaceta.net assigns stats to the luchadors it covers in five categories: Strength, agility, speed, experience and technical wrestling ability, the latter being independent of tecnico/rudo status, which is also marked.
• Real Men Wear Pink
  • Pink is tied with Green for the secondary color of Guerrero Maya Jr, behind black, which makes him standout among his tag team champion partners Delta, Atlantis and The Panther, who are black and blue.
  • Feel free to laugh at "The Wild Strawberry" Maximo for his stature, his exotico ways or his pink hair but remember that none of that stopped him from becoming world heavyweight champion.
• Religious Bruiser: Fray Tormenta, Mistico and Ayako Hamada are among the best known.
• Retired Badass: While he never wrestled himself, Lutteroth was a retired military captain and a veteran from the Mexican Revolution before founding the promotion.
• Rogues' Gallery Transplant: Black Tiger III started out antagonizing his contemporary Tiger Mask, as expected but when New Japan suddenly decided to phase out its masked luchadors, Black Tiger III became more heavily associated with CMLL and most known for feuding with Atlantis, Black Warrior and L.A. Par-K, when he wasn't teaming up with the later.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here
  • Happened a few times. Rey Mendoza and a few promoters broke away during the 1970s to form Lucha Libre International, which was overseen by the UWA (Universal Wrestling Association). Happened again in 1992, when Antonio Peña left to form AAA. Perro Aguayo, Jr was supposed to leave and form a promotion around Los Perros Del Mal in 2007 that would be tied to CMLL but by the time they had gotten started in 2008, PDM had disowned CMLL.
  • EMLL did this itself, rather than stay in the National Wrestling Alliance and go against the WWF though CMLL eventually reestablished connections with them to some extent, hosting the defenses of several NWA belts. The relationship was somewhat strained when Blue Demon Jr. claimed only he had the right to use the NWA name while he ran NWA Mexico but things seemed to have been worked out.
• Shout-Out: Averno and Mephisto have a move called "devil's wings" in reference to a certain fallen angel.
• Show With In A Show: The body building contest is the most frequent among them. Episodes of "Fitness con Dark Angel" were put on youtube.
• Sibling Team: Cien Caras, Máscara Año Dos Mil and Universo Dos Mil: Los Hermanos Dinamita. National Trios Champions for three years they were. They also won the 2003 Torneo de Trios.
• Sidekick: Rey Bucanero's "parrot" (a Mini-Estrella named Zacarias), although he was called a "mascot".
• Smash the Symbol: In 2004, Perro Aguayo Jr smashed the trophy that comes from winning the La Leyenda De Plata, in order to insult El Hijo Del Santo's father.
• Smug Snake: When CMLL made its deal with Ring of Honor official, the first wrestler they showcased was Matt Taven, even though he hadn't been in an ROH ring in eight months, possibly having something to do with him claiming to be the most decorated athlete in the company ^yes  more than Austin Aries, Eddie Edwards, Roderick Strong, Jay Lethal or The Briscoes! and his promises to bring the soon to be created ROH six man tag belts with his yet to be seen New Kingdom. Taven's Kingdom would win the belts but instead of bringing them Taven stayed on the other side of the border after failing to beat NWA World Historic Middleweight Champion Ultimo Guerrero and began using The Guerrero Special on ROH television, daring Guerrero to come to the US and do something about it. Guerrero and El Terrible would at Best In The World
• Spell My Name with a "The": Rare romance language example. Gran Hamada was known exclusively as El Gran Hamada while wrestling for EMLL.
• Spell My Name With An S: Ephesto is sometimes misprinted as Hefesto, as in the Greek god. And, as always, Princesa Sujei has many different variations-Sujei in particular being another mythological reference to a queen of stars.
• Tag Team: The tag part is often downplayed in pareja matches but there are many pairs. The torneo cibernetico matches, elimination tags large enough to be considered tournaments in their own right, sometimes are more strict about enforcing not only tags but also in what order people can tag out in to prevent Loophole Abuse.
• The Artifact: The various NWA titles the promotion still recognizes and defends, most notably the storied NWA National Welterweight Championship belt, created in 1934. It became a recognized NWA title during the two promotions' close ties during the 50s and 60s, but these days its no longer any promotions top brand, or even exclusive to any single Mexican promotion. The "NWA Historic" titles in particular are this, as they are actually owned by CMLL rather than the NWA, exist to ensure they will always be around since the end of said exclusivity and still have all the old title holders recognized in reference to them.
• The Bad Guy Wins In 2009 tradition was broken during the Torneo Gran Alternativa when Shigeo Okumura attacked veteran Camorra in protest of Yujiro Takahashi teaming with a Mexican, leading to Tetsuya Naito joining up with him as No Limit and winning the whole thing.
• The Caligula: Thankfully subverted, Caligula was just a low ranking soldier who isn't given much authority. He was still pretty rude and nasty though.
• The Chosen One: Hard as it is to believe it was subverted when El Elegido jumped ship to AAA. Later, Oro Negro would be known as "El Elegido Petrolero", and would claim at least the hair of Brazo de Platino while in CMLL.
• The Corrupter
  • Héctor Garza is the one who turned Perro Aguayo jr to evil and thus can be considered the real big bad of Los Perros del Mal, even though Aguayo ran the group.
  • Averno twice turned Mistico and Volador Jr against one another.
• The Fighting Narcissist: After pulling off a win out of the advanced category of the 2010 body building contest, people began calling Rush "Mr. CMLL", which ended up going to his head and saw him enter the light heavyweight division, a weight class technically beneath him, insisting that it was his youth and skill that allowed him take the belt off Ephesto.
• The Giant
  • The seven foot(2.23 meter) 360 lbs(163 kg) Butch Masters in the 1970s.
  • Gigante Singh, migrating from New Japan and Californian All Pro Wrestling. Incidentally, he moves a little better here than he would later as The Great Khali.
• The Movie: Octagón, Atlantis, Vampiro, Blue Demon, Mil Mascaras, Máscara Sagrada and of course El Santo. Atlantis, Octagón, and Máscara Sagrada even formed a team called "Los Movie Stars"
• The Smurfette Principle: Rudos del Ritmo. There was Kung Fu, Ari Romero, Gran Apache, Búfalo Salvaje, América(El Pantera), Halcón Negro, Mario Prado... and Estrellita
• The 'Verse
  • Besides the NWA, WWL and REINA, The Mexican National Championship Belts were created and sanctioned by Comisión de Box y Lucha Libre Mexico D.F and thus are not always exclusive to CMLL. Fuerza Mexicana de Lucha Libre(FMLL) has also enjoyed recognition, as they give CMLL some USA presence.
  • Gran Hamada's FULL and Pro Wrestling Revolution had on and off CMLL recognition, more on when a CMLL luchador held one of their belts. Dramatic Dream Team claims that it's KO-D tag team titles are "CMLL certified" because the first champions were crowned under CMLL's banner.
• Time to Unlock More True Potential: After becoming World Welterweight Champion, Místico traveled to China to study Qinna joint locking and shuaijiao wrestling. Clips of his training were shown in between the 2008 Summer Olympic events.
• Tournament Arc: They have several annual tournaments
• Traumatic Hair Cut: The concept really caught on after Bobby Segura put his hair on the line against the mask of El Enmascarado Rojo in on January 4th 1942 in the now storied Arena Modelo and lost.
• Trope Namer: The Wrestle Y Box Comision sanctioned wrestling titles as early as 1926 but they became the Comisión de Box y Lucha Libre Mexico D.F after EMLL was established.
• Trope Maker: The eldest of the NWA feds. A good decade before the foundation of the NWA, EMLL had already set up shop south of the border. There were organizations older than EMLL in the NWA, but they either went under or were not continuously active. And it's definitely the trope maker for lucha libre as we know it.
• Ur-Example: Arena Coliseo, the first arena built exclusively for Lucha Libre, was funded by EMLL, though Arena Coliseo can and has been modified to host boxing events. Another which is almost always exclusively lucha libre, Arena Mexico, would be constructed after Salvador Lutteroth won the lottery.
• Use Your Head: El Hijo Del Santo wasn't called "El Rey De Tope" for his reluctance to do this. Rayo De Jalisco Jr was also known for flurries of headbutts.
• Van in Black: During CMLL's mid spring 2010 tour, a group of luchadors from the independent circuit, mostly made up of former AAA stars, began showing up on their shows in a black SUV to deliver hit and run beat downs.
• Wearing a Flag on Your Head: Love Machine had a flag on his mask, and sometimes wore a flag as a cape.
• Wicked Weasel: "The sickle weasel" Kamaitachi of La Fiebre Amarilla and later in the lightweight division, at least until Dragón Lee took his mask.
• White Mask of Doom: El Galeno Del Mal, Dr. Wagner, his son and his grandson. Till the latter two switched to black anyway.
• Wrestling Doesn't Pay
  • Blue Panther runs an Acupuncture Clinic away from the ring.
  • Diana La Cazardora(de Noticias), the wrestling traffic reporter. Yes, she was actually seen on television reporting the traffic when not working for CMLL and at points took hiatuses from CMLL due to it not having work for her.
• Wrestling Family: The families of CMLL would probably need their own page, but here are a few...
  • Initially downplayed with the Guzmans, as Carlos went by the last name Moreno and would not team with his brother until they left EMLL. Nowadays though, the Guzmans are one of the most famous wrestling families in Mexico, due to the success of Black's brother Santo.
  • The Guerreros, starting with Gori and including Chavo, Mando, Hector, Eddie and Chavo Jr
  • Black and Tony Sugar, and their other brother, Rayo de Jalisco. Then El Tigre de Guanajuato, son of Black Sugar, Rayo Star and Ultra Rayo, sons of Tony and Rayo de Jalisco Jr, who married Mitzuki Wong and had Rayman with her. A distant relative to Rayo/Sugar family is Saruman, who mostly makes appearances on the "B shows" and independent collaborations.
  • The Brazos, starting with Shadito Cruz and including El Brazo, Brazo Cibernético, Brazo de Oro, Súper Brazo, Súper Brazo Jr. Brazo de Plata, Brazo de Platino, Muñeca de Plata, Alimaña, Aramís, Máximo and Goya Kong. The Apaches nearly joined by marriage.
  • The Hamadas, El Gran, Xóchitl and Ayako. Tiger Mask and Pentagón Black married into the family.
  • Atlantis and Atlántico are brothers.
  • Lizmark has two sons who have wrestled for CMLL.
  • Oso García and his sons, El Moro and Stuka. Stuka Jr is not Stuka's son but his much younger brother, El Espacial and Insolito being Jr's cousins.
  • The Wagners and The Morenos, who are connected through marriage.
  • Mistico/Caristico is the son of wrestler Dr. Karonte and the nephew of wrestler turned booker Tony Salazar. Mistico, his brother Argos and Salazar's son Magnus previously took turns working as Astro Boy, the original also being Mistico's brother and Salazar's other son worked on and off for CMLL as Ulises Jr.
  • Averno's father is referee Rodolfo Ruíz
  • Veneno and Dalys La Caribeña are siblings and part of a wrestling family in Panama. Dalys also married Negro Casas. Kato Kung Lee was also from Panama and his son wrestled for CMLL later.
  • Another wrestler turned booker, Franco Columbo, has seen his brother Toro Blanco and three nephews, Rush, Mistico II, and Dragon Lee II, come in behind him.
  • Blue Panther Jr has wrestled on the same cards as his father.