Blue Panther 40th Anniversary Show
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| Blue Panther 40th Anniversary Show | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Official poster for the event | |||
| Promotion | Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre | ||
| Date | October 19, 2018 | ||
| City | Mexico City, Mexico | ||
| Venue | Arena México | ||
| Pay-per-view chronology | |||
| |||
The Blue Panther 40th Anniversary Show, or more properly Funcion Homenaje Festejano los 40 Años de Blue Panther (Spanish for "Tribute and celebration of 40 years of Blue Panther") was a professional wrestling super card held on October 19, 2018. The show was produced and scripted by the Mexican professional wrestling promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL: Spanish for "World Wrestling Council") and took place at Arena México in Mexico City, Mexico. The special edition of CMLL's Super Viernes show honored CMLL wrestler Blue Panther for his 40th anniversary as a professional wrestler.
As part of the show Blue Panther himself helped book two of the matches on the show. Firstly a match between wrestlers who was trained in the Laguneros area (Blue Panther, Euforia, Black Warrior and Panterita del Ring and wrestlers from the Tapatía area (Máscara Año 2000, El Cuatrero, Forastero and Sansón), which was won by Blue Panther. The other featured match was the first-ever Copa Halcón Suriano torneo cibernetico elimination match. The Copa Halcón Suriano was won by Ángel de Oro who was presented with a trophy by Halcón Suriano Jr. who made his first appearance under that name, having previously worked under the name Stukita. In the main event Bárbaro Cavernario and Los Ingobernables (Rush and El Terrible) defeated Carístico, Penta el 0M, David Finlay
Background
Genaro Vazquez Nevarez, better known under the Ring name Blue Panther, made his professional wrestling debut on October 8, 1978.[1] His first break came working for the Universal Wrestling Association in the early 1980s. In the UWA he won the UWA World Welterweight Championship,[2] and the UWA World Junior Light Heavyweight Championship twice.[3] He later moved on to Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), the promotion he worked for, for most of his career. In CMLL he became involved in the storyline feud that would not only bring him to national and international attention but also helped cement his reputation as highly talented wrestler, a feud against "Love Machine" Art Barr, The feud spanned two promotions (CMLL and Asistencia Asesoría y Administración), included two high profile Lucha de Apuestas, or bet matches, where Blue Panther won the mask, and then the hair of Barr, as well as a long series of main event matches.[1][4] In CMLL Blue Panther's won the CMLL World Middleweight Championship,[5] the CMLL World Tag Team Championship with Atlantis,[6] CMLL World Trios Championship twice,[7][8] and the Mexican National Trios Championship twice.[9] In 2007 he won the mask of Lizmark Jr.,[1] but lost his own mask the following year to Villano V.[10] At his 35th Anniversary Show in 2013 Vazquez introduced two of his sons to the wrestling world, Blue Panther Jr. and Black Panther. For the 40th-anniversary show, Vazques was involved in booking two matches for the show, including creating the Copa Halcón Suriano in honor of his wrestling trainer.
Storylines
The Blue Panther 40th Anniversary Show 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.[11]
As part of the celebration, Blue Panther wanted to honor his trainer Halcón Suriano, who had had a hand in training many of the wrestlers from the Lagunero area. To that end, CMLL created the La Copa Halcón Suriano, a 10-man tournament where all the competitors came from the Lagunero area. As part of the celebration, CMLL announced that Stukita, the grandson of Halcón Suriano would from that point on be known as "Halcón Suriano Jr." and move from the Mini-Estrella to the regular division. Halcón Suriano Jr. would also present the trophy bearing the name of his grandfather.[12] Soberano Jr. was originally scheduled to be part of the match, but since he was committed to working in Japan at the time he was replaced by Templario. While Templario was not actually from the Lagunero area his trainer Último Guerrero explained that he had become "adopted" by the Laguneros, which was a storyline explanation to cover for the fact that CMLL needed a replacement for Sobereano Jr.[13]
