The Torneo Gran Alternativa (April 1999) (Spanish for "Great Alternative Tournament") was a professional wrestling tournament held by the Mexican professional wrestling promotionConsejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL; Spanish for "World Wrestling Council"). The tournament was held on April 2, 1999, in Mexico City, Mexico at CMLL's main venue, Arena México. The Gran Alternativa tournament features tag teams composed of a rookie, or novato, and a veteran wrestler for an elimination tournament. The idea is to feature the novato wrestlers higher on the card that they usually work and help elevate one or more up the ranks. CMLL made the Torneo Gran Alternativa an annual event in 1995, only skipping it four times between 1994 and 2017. since it is a professional wrestling tournament, it is not won or lost competitively but instead by the decisions of the bookers of a wrestling promotion that is not publicized prior to the shows to maintain the illusion that professional wrestling is a competitive sport.[1]
CMLL held the first of two Gran Alternativa tournaments of 1999 on April 2, 1999 in Mexico City, Mexico. In the first round two members of Los Nuevo Infernales fought each other as Rey Bucanero (teaming with Fuerza Guerrera) lost to Último Guerrero (teaming with Blue Panther). In the second round Guerrera and Panther defeated the previous year's winners Emilio Charles Jr. and Tony Rivera to earn a spot in the finals. Their opponents, Mr. Niebla and Atlantico earned their spot in the final by defeating Mr. Niebla and Atlantico as well as Shocker and Astro Rey Jr. In the finals Último Guerrero and Blue Panther defeated Mr. Niebla and Atlantico. Último Guerrero would go on to become one of the top Rudos of CMLL, forming Los Guerreros del Infierno.
History
Starting in 1994 the Mexican professional wrestling promotionConsejo 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.[2][3]
CMLL had used a similar concept in August 1994 where NovatoShocker teamed up with veterans Ringo Mendoza and Brazo de Plata to defeat novatoApolo Dantés and veterans Gran Markus Jr. and El Brazo in the finals of a six-man tag team tournament.[4] CMLL would later modify 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.[5]
The Gran Alternativa victory signaled the ascent of Último Guerrero through the ranks of CMLL. He became part of El Satánico's reformed Los Infernales group alongside Rey Bucanero.[9] The group later turned on Satánico to form Los Guerreros del Infierno (The Infernal Soldiers).[10] Guerrero and Bucaneroworked as a regular tag team throughout the 2000s, leading to them being voted the "Best Tag Team of the Decade" by the readers of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.[11]
Atlantico, the younger brother of Atlantis achieved little of note in CMLL, leaving the company in 1999 and retiring shortly afterwards.[20]
References
^Hornbaker, Tim (2016). "Statistical notes". Legends of Pro Wrestling - 150 years of headlocks, body slams, and piledrivers (Revised ed.). New York, New York: Sports Publishing. p. 550. ISBN978-1-61321-808-2. Professional wrestling is a sport in which match finishes are predetermined. Thus, win–loss records are not indicative of a wrestler's genuine success based on their legitimate abilities - but on now much, or how little they were pushed by promoters
