En Busca de un Ídolo
En Busca de un Idolo is a complicated CMLL tournament. It involves match results, judging scores, and fan voting.
Past winners
| Year | Winner |
| 2012 | Titan |
| 2013 | Vangellys |
| 2014 | Cavernario |
| 2015 | Bobby Z |
History
The tournament first was held in 2012, with the idea of a young luchador to becoming the new star of CMLL. Not all participants quite fit the ideal; Euforia more than a decade older than most of the rest of the field, and Polvora wasn't as much a new luchador. Titan won the tournament and did become a bigger star, but third place finisher Dragon Lee was given the Mistico character as soon as he was eliminated from the tournament and presented as the new star of CMLL as if he had been the winner. Euforia (second place), Niebla Roja and Puma King (both eliminated in round one) also received more prominent roles directly after the tournament. Polvora struggled greatly during the tournament, but rebounded later in the year and also ended up in a better position. Triton's position were largely unaffected, and Diamante left CMLL not long after failing.
The tournament returned in 2013, with a new theme: "Ahora or Nunca!" (Now or Never!) This tournament focused on giving long time midcarders a chance to break thru to the top. Again, not everyone actually fit: Tiger is a relative youngster who would've been a better fit in the previous year's tournament, while Valiente had recently been main eventing CMLL shows. Former AAA luchador Vangellys won the competition, in a small upset over Valiente in the final. This year, the final four all received spots on the following year's FantasticaMania show
The 2014 tournament returned to the original concept of promoting a new star. This year, a qualifying cibernetico was held to reduce the field of sixteen candidates down to eight finalist to participate in the main portion of the tournament. The 2014 tournament was universally declared the best in the history of the competition, with a deep and talented pool of participants. The final four of Cachorro, Dragon Lee, Hechicero and Barbaro Cavernario excelled and even also rans like Star Jr. & Soberano Jr. stood out in positive ways. Cavernario won a memorable final over Hechicero, with third place finisher Dragon Lee also receiving a higher profile the following year. Oro Jr. costing Metalico entry in the tournament during the cibernetico led to them feuding during the summer, with Oro eventually taking Metalico's mask.
The 2015 tournament is named El Desafio. Again, a cibernetico was used to determine the eight luchadors included in the tournament.
Format
Similar to 2011's Forjando un Idolo, En Busca de un Ídolo is a CMLL tournament for young wrestlers. Participating luchadors are grouped into 4 man tecnico & rudo teams, with an assigned mentor and trainer. Matches are held in a modified league format - only tecnico vs rudo matches in first round, then no restrictions later on, with points going to the winner. Four judges also grade the performance of each luchador, evaluating the quality of the matches and their ability to get reactions from the crowd. Finally, fans are allowed to vote for their favorite luchador, with points being handed out based on share of the votes.
Each luchador has four matches in the first round, one match versus everyone in the opposition group, taking place on either the Tuesday or Friday Arena Mexico show. All matches are limited to 10 minutes. The top four point totals, regardless of group affiliation, move on to a second round of matches. All remaining wrestlers face off against each other again under the same scoring system again, with the points being reset to zero. The top two point scores in the second round move onto a final match, and the winner of the match (no points in play) wins the tournament.
A non-tournament trios match with the two coaches and the four remaining luchadors is held after the first round. The final first round matches typically take place only 3 days before the trios match, so the teams and even the participants in the match are not known until a few days before the match.
The official website of the tournament is http://enbuscadeunidolo.com . Standings were only shown on the website thru the season.
All the matches from the tournament were not shown on CMLL's regular TV shows, despite being in the middle of their usual TV tapings. Matches were instead uploaded, with no commentary, to one of CMLL's YouTube channels. These videos tended to be highlight reels, not full matches. An accompanying season one reality show, covering both the in-arena portion of the tournaments and training sessions, aired later in 2012 and 2013 after the tournament had concluded.
The 2014 tournament was the first to use a sixteen man cibernetico to determine the final eight participants in the tournament, and this selection method was repeated in 2015. This match has been shown as part of the weekly CMLL on CadenaTres broadcast.
Points System
Matches
- 20 points for a win
- 10 points for a draw
- 0 points for a loss
Judging
- each judge can give 1 to 10 points for the performance
- each luchador can receive a maximum of 40 judging points per win
Polling
- the luchador win the most votes at the end of the week receive 40 points
- the other luchadors receive a portion of 40 points based on how close they came to the leader
- In Season 1, the voting totals were not reset between weeks, but were reset between rounds.
2012 Tournament
See En Busca de un Ídolo, 2012
2013 Tournament
See En Busca de un Ídolo, 2013
2014 Tournament
See En Busca de un Ídolo, 2014
2015 Tournament
See En Busca de un Ídolo, 2015
