Leyenda de Plata

The Leyenda de Plata is a tournament held in honor of El Santo by CMLL. It usually takes place over three weeks, and happens in the second half of the year. The winner is given a plaque with an original Santo mask, and is given the opportunity to defend their title the next tournament. Winning the title is a big honor. As the Leyenda de Azul match became a complimentary year tournament, the makeup of the tournaments were slightly skewed to create a difference between them. Leyenda de Plata has become the tournament of great wrestlers (which means including luchadores who are usually in lower card matches) as opposed to Leyenda de Azul's tournament of great stars.

The Leyenda de Plata has a unique set of stages. There's an initial 16 wrestler cibernetico (with a battle royal to determine the two sides). The final two survivors advancing to a singles match the next week, in a single fall match. The winner of that match faces the reigning Leyenda de Plata champion on the third week, also in a single fall match.

There was no tournament in 2003; El Hijo Del Santo did not work in CMLL during the year, so there may have been issues preventing running the tournament that year. They did run a Leyenda de Azul for the first time in a while. The current Leyenda de Plata champion is Atlantis, who won it on November 11, 2005.

1998

The first Leyenda de Plata tournament took place on July 24 and July 31, 1998. This tournament was slightly different than following ones, as there was no semifinal match and no reigning champion. As the son of the man being honored, El Hijo del Santo got the champion bye to the final round. Scorpio Jr. won the cibernetico, last eliminating Negro Casas. The other participants in the match were Atlantis, Blue Panther, Black Warrior, Dr. Wagner Jr., Felino, Karloff Lagarade Jr., La Fiera, Olimpico, Pantera, Satanico, Shocker, Tony Rivera, Ultimo Guerrero, Violencia.

On July 31, Scorpio Jr. beat El Hijo Del Santo by countout, when El Hijo Del Santo was unable to return to the ring after taking a Scorpio tope.

1999

The second Leyenda de Plata tournament started on November 26, with the qualifying cibernetico. El Hijo Del Santo won, beating Ultimo Guerrero to take the match. Other participants were Antifaz del Norte, Bestia Salvaje, Black Warrior, Blue Panther, Emilio Charles Jr., Felino, Fuerza Guerrera, Negro Casas, Olimpico, Rey Bucanero, Satanico, Tarzan Boy, Tony Rivera, Ultimo Guerrero, Zumbido. Similar to 1998, there was no semifinal match in 1999. In the final, on December 2 [CANZ recap], El Hijo Del Santo beat Scorpio Jr. with the camel clutch to win the trophy.

2000

The third Leyenda de Plata tournament started on September 22. This year was the first year where the final two survivors advanced to a semifinal. The two seminfinalists were Dr. Wagner Jr. and Negro Casas. The other particpants were Antifaz del Norte, Atlantis, Astro Rey Jr., Black Warrior, Blue Panther, Felino, Fuerza Guerrera, Olimpico, Rey Bucanero, Safari, Satanico, Scorpio Jr., Tarzan Boy, and Zumbido. The semifinal match on September 29. Negro Casas defeated Dr. Wagner Jr. The final was on October 6. Again, Negro Casas won, beating El Hijo Del Santo to win the tournament. [Canz Recap]

2001

The fourth Leyenda de Plata tournament begun on October 5. This year, the battle royal to determine sides was televised. Side A: Averno, Black Warrior, Black Tiger, Fuerza Guerrera, Juventud Guerrera, Dr. Wagner, Mephisto, Masacara Magica Side B: Antifaz, Atlantis, Blue Demon Jr., El Hijo Del Santo, Felino, Ricky Marvin, Safari, Virus The two finalists were Black Warrior and Black Tiger, both from the Side A. [thecubsfan recap]

On October 12, Black Warrior defeated Black Tiger in the semifinal. The story of this match, as played out thru the previous cibernetico, was a double turn; Black Tiger was becoming an evil foreigner, while long time rudo Black Warrior became a tecnico. [thecubsfan recap] On October 19, Black Warrior was able to defeat retaining champion Negro Casas to win the tournament. [thecubsfan recap]

2002

The fifth Leyenda de Plata tournament started on July 26. Once again, we have the list of each side. Side A: Atlantis, Averno, Blue Panther, Felino, Mephisto, Safari, Satanico, Virus Side B: Black Tiger, Fuerza Guerrera, Hombre Sin Nombre, Negro Casas, Olimpico, Tony Rivera, Violencia, Volador Jr. The two finalists were Black Tiger, for the second year in a row, and Felino. [thecubsfan recap] On August 2, Felino beat Black Tiger in the semifinal. [thecubsfan recap] On August 9, Felino triumphed over defending champion Black Warrior to win the tournament. [thecubsfan recap]

2004

The sixth Leyenda de Plata tournament began on July 16. The sides for the cibernetico were: Side A: Alan Stone, Atlantis, Averno, Mephisto, Misterioso II, Satanico, Tarzan Boy, Virus Side B: Black Warrior, El Hijo de Perro Aguayo, Emilio Charles Jr., Mascara Magica, Mistico, Negro Casas, Super Crazy, Volador Jr. The story of the match was the continuing rivalry between Negro Casas and Perro Perro snuck in a low blow on Negro, causing him to be the last man eliminated. The two semifinalists were Atlantis and El Hijo De Perro Aguayo. [thecubsfan recap]

On July 23, the semifinal was held. Unlike previous years, this was a standard three fall match. It is unknown at this time if this is a permanent change, or a one time variation. The match itself played off an earlier Perro/Atlantis match, from November 14, 2003, where Atlantis defended Michinoku Pro's Tohoku Junior Championship and the match actually went four falls due to a third fall draw (a double countout) and a rare order to continue to find a winner. That same set of events presented itself in the Leyenda de Plata semifinal (this time the third fall being thrown out due to faking a low blow), but El Hijo De Perro Aguayo was able to get the fourth fall win. [thecubsfan recap] On July 30, El Hijo De Perro Aguayo defeated defending champion Felino to win the tournament. Again, this was used to build his rivalry with Negro Casas, as he worked the corner for Felino, his brother.

After the match, Perro was awarded a plaque by El Hijo Del Santo, but broke the the plaque and eventually fought Santo, upset the Santos were considered the greatest family in lucha libre instead of the Aguayos. Perro's actions were later used to explain why he did not defend the championship the following year, despite being present at the shows.

2005

In a change, perhaps due to having no champion, the format of the tournament was changed. Instead of two winners advancing from one sixteen man cibernetico, there were two eight man ciberneticos with one winner each. The first cibernetico was held on October 28, with Hijo del Santo, Hombre Sin Nombre (believed to be Safari), La Mascara, Volador, Misterioso II, Jado, Averno and Negro Casas. Santo and Negro were the final two left, and actually pinned each other on a tapatia. The match was restarted, and Santo won with a camel clutch. In the second cibernetico, on November 4, Atlantis beat Mistico by faking a low blow. Other wrestlers in the match were Ultimo Dragon, Maximo, Sagrado, Mephisto, Hijo de Pierroth and Gedo.

The finals were held on November 11, Atlantis beat Hijo del Santo to win the tournament. Atlantis low blowed Mistico (as a cornerman for Santo), ref was distracted, Ultimo Guerrero pulled Santo's mask, Santo covered up, and Atlantis covered him for the win.

2006

The tournament was slightly changed again in 2006, with the champion again defending the title in the final match. This wasn't made clear in the opening rounds of the tournament, and may have not been decided until the tournament was already started. Reigning champion Atlantis was originally listed as participating in the second block, but was replaced before the match took place. Like 2005, the opening rounds were two eight man ciberneticos. The first cibernetico was held on August 25 and included Black Warrior, Heavy Metal, Rey Bucanero, Metro II, La Mascara, Ultimo Guerrero, Mephisto, and Misterioso II. In the finals, Warrior beat Bucanero. The second cibernetico was held on September 1. As he had feuded with Black Warrior all year, it was obvious that Mistico would win to face his rival, and he indeed beat Mr. Aguila to move on. Other particpants were Negro Casas, Sagrado, Volador Jr., Atlantis and Mr. Aguila, Averno and Alex Koslov (replaced Atlantis.)

The semifinals were held on September 8, and Mistico beat Black Warrior to move on to the finals. After the match, the two finally agreed on a mask match, to take place at the September 29 Anniversary show. The finals were held on September 15, with Mistico facing defending champion Atlantis. Despite interference from Black Warrior (acting as Atlantis' second), Mistico won the Leyenda de Plata. After the match, Black Warrior stole the Leyenda de Plata trophy and ran off with it, with Mistico chasing him backstage.

2007

The 2007 tournament was similar to the 2006 tournament in a common mistake; the defending champion (Mistico this year) was listed as participated in a qualifying cibernetico, only to be replaced in the week before the match. In this case, it seemed more due to a left shoulder injury for Mistico than a adhesion to the rules. The tournament format followed the previous year's set up: two blocks of ciberneticos to determine semifinalists, with the winner of that match facing the champion. The tournament was held much earlier in the year than recent years past, and was done without the approval of El Hijo del Santo, who'd had a falling out with CMLL in the months previous. CMLL claims ownership of "Leyenda de Plata tournament" and still gave the winner a plaque with a original Santo mask.

The first cibernetico took place on May 18th. The original tournament appeared to match up Perro Aguayo Jr. and Mistico (either as the cibernetico winners or in the final match.) Shortly before the cibernetico, Perro Aguayo Jr. suffered a knee injury and was unable to wrestle for a couple months. Mr. Aguila replaced him on the reality show and this tournament, and CMLL stuck with the original plan, Aguila just filling in for Perro Jr. Other wrestlers in this block were Negro Casas, Felino, Tarzan Boy, Mephisto, Maximo, Alex Koslov, Stuka Jr., Volador Jr. and Mictlán The second cibernetico took place on May 25th, also at Arena Mexico. As with the previous week, the presumed winner Mistico was taken out of this match (due to injury or someone recalling the rules), but CMLL appeared to keep with the original plan and pick his replacement, Sagrado, to win the cibernetico in his place. Other wrestlers in this match were Averno, Ephesto, Virus, Texano Jr., Leono, Loco Max, Valiente, Heavy Metal, and Black Warrior

The semifinal on was held on June 1st. By this point, it had been announced Mistico would meet the winner of the winners of the two ciberneticos, and so it was little surprise Mr. Aguila beat Sagrado in a disappointing match. The following week, June 8th, Mistico beat Mr. Aguila to become the first two time Leyenda de Plata champion. His celebration was interrupted by Perro Aguayo Jr., who vowed to return from injury and continue their feud soon.

2008

CMLL mostly kept with the current rules in 2008, with the singles matches being worked as three fall matches. All matches took place in Arena Mexico. The cibernetico outcomes were predictable, but set up two hotly anticipated singles matches.

The first cibernetico took place on July 4. Perro Aguayo Jr. won this round. Other particpants, in order of their elimination, were Ohara, Stuka Jr., Felino, Ephesto, Averno, La Mascara, Mephisto, and Volador Jr.

The following week, Dr. Wagner Jr. won the second cibernetico. In this match, the order of elimination was Loco Max, Sagrado, Mascara Purpura, Virus, Sangre Azteca, Hijo del Fantasma, La Sombra, Black Warrior and Heavy Metal.

This set up Perro vs Wagner, a big match between the top rudo and the co-top tecnico, as the semifinal match. During the week leading up to the match on July 18th, Dr. Wagner Jr. stated that he'd either beat Perro Aguayo Jr. or join his Perros del Mal faction. Perro won the first fall of their match, but Wagner tied it up in the second. In the third, Perros del Mal members Mr. Aguila, Texano Jr. and Damian 666 walked to the ring, which distracted the referees, the ring side commissioners, and the participants. Another man in a Wagner mask snuck in the ring and fouled Wagner while his attention was diverted, and Perro pinned the actual Wagner for the win. The second Wagner unmasked to reveal himself as Terrible. Wagner took back his earlier promise, saying that it had been voided by the Perros cheating to win the match.

The tournament ended with Perro vs the other co-top tecnico, two time Leyenda de Plata winner Mistico on July 25th. Perro took the first fall with some cheating and his trademark lanza. Mistico won the second with La Mistica. Perros allies tried to pull the same distraction trick in the third fall, but tecnicos Hector Garza and Dos Caras Jr. ran them off, and Mistico won with a double underhook piledriver. Mistico became the first three time Leyenda de Plata winner.

Mistico and Perro talked about as mask vs hair match after this one. It's believed, unlike most talk, this one was actually scheduled to happen at CMLL's anniversary show and would've been the most anticipated match of the year. However, both men were injured in separate incidents and were reduced to standing ringside for the Blue Panther vs Villano V mask match. When Perro was close to returning from injury, he announced his departure from CMLL to form the Perro del Mal promotion., making the proposed match unlikely for the time being.

Sources

• Pro Wrestling History