CMLL Universal Championship
| CMLL Universal Championship | |||||||||||||||
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The 2013 Universal Champion Tanahashi wearing the title belt
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| Details | |||||||||||||||
| Promotion | Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre | ||||||||||||||
| Date established | June 22, 2009 | ||||||||||||||
| Current champion(s) | Valiente | ||||||||||||||
| Date won | October 28, 2016 | ||||||||||||||
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| Statistics | |
|---|---|
| First champion(s) | Último Guerrero |
| Most reigns | Último Guerrero (2 times) |
| Oldest winner | Atlantis (53 years, 18 days) |
| Youngest winner | La Sombra (22 years, 12 days) |
| Heaviest champion | El Terrible (106 kg (234 lb)) |
| Lightest champion | La Sombra (80 kg (180 lb)) |
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 2016 tournament CMLL has held seven tournaments in total with only one repeat winner, Último Guerrero who won in both 2009 and 2014.
Even though the tournament winner is given a title belt, it is not defended like a regular championship throughout the year. Being a professional wrestling tournament, it is not won legitimately; it is instead won via predetermined outcomes to the matches that is kept secret from the general public.
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 the 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. CMLL later announced the 2010 Universal Championship, confirming that it will indeed be an annual event. 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. 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. In 2012, CMLL World Heavyweight Champion El Terrible defeated New Japan Pro Wrestling's IWGP Heavyweight Champion Tanahashi to win the tournament. 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. 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.
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