CMLL Universal Championship (2012)
The CMLL Universal Championship 2012 (Campeonato Universal in Spanish) was a professional wrestling tournament produced by the Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) promotion, which took place over three shows between August 17 and August 31, 2012, in Arena México, Mexico City, Mexico. The CMLL Universal Championship is an annual tournament of CMLL Champions that was first held in 2009.
| CMLL Universal Championship (2012) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Hiroshi Tanahashi, defeated in the finals by El Terrible | |||
| Promotion | Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre | ||
| Date | August 17, 2012[1] August 24, 2012[2] August 31, 2012[3] | ||
| City | Mexico City, Mexico | ||
| Venue | Arena México | ||
| Event chronology | |||
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| CMLL Universal Championship tournaments chronology | |||
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Background
The tournament featured 15 professional wrestling matches under single-elimination tournament rules, which means that wrestlers were eliminated when they lose a match. There were no specific storylines that build to the tournament, which has been held annually since 2009. All male "non-regional" CMLL champions at the time of the tournament were involved in the tournament with the exception of the reigning CMLL World Mini-Estrella and Mexican National Lightweight Champions, who have never taken part in the tournament. Regionally promoted championships such as the CMLL Arena Coliseo Tag Team Championship and the Occidente championships promoted in Guadalajara, Jalisco were not included in the tournament; only titles that have been defended in CMLL's main venue Arena Mexico were included. The tournament was divided into two qualifying blocks, which took place on August 17 and August 24, while the finals took place on August 31, 2012.
2012 Universal Championship tournament
When CMLL announced the 2012 tournament the following champions were eligible to participate:
- Reigning NWA World Historic Middleweight Champion Prince Devitt and CMLL World Lightweight Champion Virus did not take part in the tournament. For the second year in a row, New Japan Pro-Wrestling representative and reigning IWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi entered the tournament as an outsider.[2]
- Block A
Block A took place on August 17, 2012, and featured eight champions wrestling for a place in the finals.[1][4]
| Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Finals | ||||||||||||
| Black Warrior | [1] | |||||||||||||
| Máscara Dorada | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Máscara Dorada | [1] | |||||||||||||
| El Terrible | Pin | |||||||||||||
| El Terrible | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Mr. Águila | [1] | |||||||||||||
| El Terrible | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Rush | [1] | |||||||||||||
| Rey Bucanero | [1] | |||||||||||||
| Rush | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Rush | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Atlantis | [1] | |||||||||||||
| Atlantis | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Negro Casas | [1] | |||||||||||||
- Block B
Block B took place on August 24, 2012, and featured eight champions wrestling for a place in the finals.[2][5]
| Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Finals | ||||||||||||
| Tanahashi | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Marco Corleone | [5] | |||||||||||||
| Tanahashi | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Diamante Azul | [5] | |||||||||||||
| Diamante Azul | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Pólvora | [5] | |||||||||||||
| Tanahashi | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Volador Jr. | [5] | |||||||||||||
| Dragón Rojo Jr. | [6] | |||||||||||||
| La Máscara | Pin | |||||||||||||
| La Máscara | [5] | |||||||||||||
| Volador Jr. | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Máximo | [5] | |||||||||||||
| Volador Jr. | Pin | |||||||||||||
- Finals
The finals of the tournament took place on August 31, 2012, and saw El Terrible defeat Tanahashi two falls to one to become the 2012 Universal Champion.[3][7]
References
- Mexicool, Rey (August 17, 2012). "CMLL (Resultados 17/Ago/12): Mr. Niebla vence a Volador Jr. – El Terrible, primer finalista al Campeonato Universal 2012 – Rey Cometa reta a Puma King por las máscaras". SuperLuchas (in Spanish). Retrieved August 18, 2012.
- Salazar López, Alexis A. (August 25, 2012). "Viernes 24 de Agosto '12". Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (in Spanish). Archived from the original on September 20, 2012. Retrieved August 25, 2012.
- Salazar López, Alexis A. (September 1, 2012). "Viernes 31 de Agosto '12". Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (in Spanish). Archived from the original on September 20, 2012. Retrieved September 1, 2012.
- Salazar López, Alexis A. (August 18, 2012). "Viernes 17 de Agosto '12". Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (in Spanish). Archived from the original on September 20, 2012. Retrieved August 18, 2012.
- "棚橋弘至、早くも絶好調!! CMLL版の『G1』、『トルネオ・カンペオン・ウニベルサル』で決勝進出!!". New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). August 27, 2012. Retrieved September 1, 2012.
- Lozano, Pablo (August 25, 2012). "Tahanashi vs Terrible por el Campeonato Universal". Kaiser Sports México (in Spanish). Retrieved August 26, 2012.
- Rodríguez, Alejandro (September 1, 2012). "El Terrible se convirtió en el Campeón Universal 2012". MedioTiempo (in Spanish). Retrieved September 1, 2012.