Homenaje a Dos Leyendas 1998

Homenaje a Salvador Lutteroth 1998 (Spanish for "Homage to Salvador Lutteroth") was a professional wrestling major show event produced by Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), which took place on March 20, 1998 in Arena México, Mexico City, Mexico. The event was to honor and remember CMLL founder Salvador Lutteroth who died in March 1987. The annual March event would later be renamed Homenaje a Dos Leyendas as CMLL honored both Lutteroth and another retired or deceased wrestler. The main event was a singles match between Emilio Charles, Jr. defeated El Satánico under Luchas de Apuesta, or "Bet match" rules. The rule meant that the losing wrestler would have all his hair shaved off after the match in full view of the crowd as per Lucha Libre traditions. The show also hosted a Torneo Salvador Lutteroth in honor of the CMLL founder, which was a one night eight-man single elimination tournament featuring some of CMLL's top competitors at the time, including the then reigning CMLL World Heavyweight Champion Universo 2000. The show also featured an additional Six-man "Lucha Libre rules" tag team match for a total of nine matches.
==Background==
The event featured nine professional wrestling matches with different wrestlers involved in pre-existing scripted feuds or storylines. Wrestlers portray either villains (referred to as Rudos in Mexico) or fan favorites (Técnicos in Mexico) as they compete in wrestling matches with pre-determined outcomes.
In early 1998 Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) announced that they were planning on holding a one night, single elimination tournament on a special show on March 20, 1999 dedicated to the memory of Salvador Lutteroth, the founder of CMLL. The tournament gathered eight of the top competitors in the promotion at the time including the then reigning CMLL World Heavyweight Champion Universo 2000 as well as Atlantis, Black Warrior, El Felino, Karloff Lagarde, Jr., Mr. Niebla, Shocker and Último Dragón. The main event was the planned culmination of a storyline feud between wrestlers Emilio Charles, Jr. defeated El Satánico, who up until a point had teamed on a regular basis including a stint holding the CMLL World Trios Championship (along with Rey Bucanero). Following their championship loss the two had a falling out that led to the two of them fighting each other over the proceeding months in a variety of matches as the storyline hatred between the two escalated to the point where both men agreed to bet their hair on the outcome of their Homenaje a Salvador Lutteroth match.
==Event==
In the opening match the rudo team of Gran Markus, Jr. and Los Hermanos Dinamita ("The Dynamite Brothers"; Cien Caras and Máscara Año 2000) defeated the tecnico team of veterans Brazo de Plata and Rayo de Jalisco, Jr. teaming up with relative newcomer Tigre Blanco. This was one of the first matches he worked under the ring name Tigre Blanco, having changed identities only a few months prior from Kid Guzmán.
The tournament started off with the rudo Black Warrior defeating El Felino followed by Japanese wrestler Último Dragón defeating the second generation wrestler Karloff Lagarde Jr. In the third match of the opening round Mr. Niebla defeated the then reigning CMLL World Heavyweight Champion Universo 2000 in a bit of a surprise and finally Atlantis defeated Shocker. In the second round Black Warrior eliminated Último Dragón, having to resort to cheating to defeated him and Mr. Niebla built on his momentum by defeating Atlantis. In the last round the Mr. Niebla defeated Black Warrior to win the entire tournament. The victory was quickly overshadowed by the actions that took place after the match was over. Universo 2000 ran to the ring and attacked both Mr. Niebla as well as Rayo de Jalisco, Sr. who was in the ring to present the trophy to Mr. Niebla. Moments later Rayo de Jalisco, Jr. came to the ring to help his father, but was attacked by Steel, making a surprise appearance and then attacked Rayo, Jr. He would pull Rayo, Jr.'s mask off, hang it on the ring post and then light the mask on fire in one of the ultimate signs of disrespect in Lucha Libre.
In the main event Emilio Charles, Jr. lost the first fall to El Satánico, but fought back to claim both the second and third fall for himself and celebrated as Satánico had all his hair shaved off afterwards.
==Aftermath==
The storyline between Emilio Charles, Jr. and El Satánico ended with their Luchas de Apuestas match. Satánico would go on to recreate Los Infernales and focus on tag team and trios work while Emilio Charles, Jr. moved on to other storylines. The Torneo Salvador Lutteroth tournament win was quickly overshadowed by the subsequent angle that involved Rayo de Jalisco, Jr. which lead to Rayo de Jalisoco, Jr. defeateding Universo 2000 to win the CMLL World Heavyweight Championship on September 18, 1998. Mr. Niebla would not win the heavyweight title until 2003. CMLL held another Torneo Salvador Lutteroth the following year as part of their annual Homenaje a Dos Leyendas: El Santo y Salvador Lutteroth event, this time it was a tag team tournament instead of a singles tournament.
==Results==
*Cien Caras, Gran Markus, Jr. and Máscara Año 2000 defeated Brazo de Plata, Rayo de Jalisco, Jr. and Tigre Blanco
*Black Warrior defeated El Felino in a Torneo Salvador Lutteroth Quarterfinal match
*Último Dragón defeated Karloff Lagarde, Jr. in a Torneo Salvador Lutteroth Quarterfinal match
*Mr. Niebla defeated Universo 2000 in a Torneo Salvador Lutteroth Quarterfinal match
*Atlantis defeated Shocker in a Torneo Salvador Lutteroth Quarterfinal match
*Black Warrior defeated Último Dragón in a Torneo Salvador Lutteroth Semifinal match
*Mr. Niebla defeated Atlantis in a Torneo Salvador Lutteroth Semifinal match
*Mr. Niebla defeated Black Warrior in the Torneo Salvador Lutteroth Final match
*Emilio Charles, Jr. defeated El Satánico in a Lucha de Apuesta Hair vs. Hair match
===Tournament bracket===
== External links ==
* Results
Category:1998 events
Category:Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre shows
Category:Homenaje a Dos Leyendas