Guerra del Golfo (2008)

The 2008 Guerra del Golfo (Spanish for "Gulf War") was a major professional wrestling event produced and scripted by the Mexican professional wrestling promotion International Wrestling Revolution Group ("IWRG"; sometimes referred to as Grupo Internacional Revolución in Mexico) on January 10, 2008. The 2008 version of the IWRG Guerra del Golfo was the second time overall IWRG used the name, and the beginning of it becoming an annual IWRG show.

Guerra del Golfo (2008)
PromotionInternational Wrestling Revolution Group[1]
DateJanuary 10, 2008[1]
CityNaucalpan, State of Mexico
VenueArena Naucalpan[1]
Event chronology
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Guerra del Golfo chronology
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January 2009

The annual Guerra del Golfo main event consists of three matches in total, with two "qualifying matches", multi-man steel cage matches where the last person left in the cage advances to the main event of the night. The two losers would then be forced to wrestle inside the steel cage, with the loser of that match being forced to either take off their wrestling mask or have their hair shaved off under Lucha de Apuestas, or "bet match" rules, if they are unmasked. In the main event masked wrestler Oficial Fierro defeated Tortugillo Ninja I ("Ninja Turtle 1"), forcing him to unmask as a result. After the mask loss, he revealed that his birth name was Daniel Torres Ramírez. The show included three additional matches.

Production

Background

Starting as far back as 1997, the Mexican wrestling promotion International Wrestling Revolution Group (IWRG; Sometimes referred to as Grupo Internacional Revolución in Spanish) has held several annual events where the main event was a multi-man steel cage match where the last wrestler left in the cage would be forced to either remove their wrestling mask or have their hair shaved off under Lucha de Apuestas, or "bet match", rules.[2]

From 2005, IWRG has promoted a major show based on the steel cage match concept under the name Guerra del Golfo, or "Gulf War"—referring to the Gulf of Mexico, not the Gulf War in the Middle East. The Guerra del Golfo shows featured two "qualifying" steel cage matches, where the loser would later be forced to face off against each other in the main event of the show, a final cage match where the loser would be forced to either unmask or have his/her hair shaved off.[3]

The use of the steel cage in three matches distinguishes the Guerra del Golfo event from other steel cage matches held throughout the year such as the IWRG El Castillo del Terror ("The Tower of Terror"), IWRG Guerra de Sexos ("War of the Sexes") or IWRG Prison Fatal ("Deadly Prison") shows. The Guerra del Golfo shows, as well as the majority of the IWRG shows in general, are held at Arena Naucalpan, owned by the promoters of IWRG and their main arena. The 2008 Guerra del Golfo was the second overall event to use the name and was the start of the show becoming an annual event for IWRG.[4][5][6]

Storylines

The event featured seven professional wrestling matches with different wrestlers involved in pre-existing scripted feuds, plots and storylines. Wrestlers were portrayed as either heels (referred to as rudos in Mexico, those that portray the "bad guys") or faces (técnicos in Mexico, the "good guy" characters) as they followed a series of tension-building events, which culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.[7]

Event

In the first steel cage match of the night Los Oficiales member Oficial Fierro was the last wrestler in the cage as Capitán Muerte, Multifacético, Bogeman, Puma King and Coco Verde all climbed over the top to the floor.[7] In the second steel cage match of the night Tortugillo Ninja I lost to Oficial AK-47, Xibalva, Fantasma de la Ópera, Cocolores and Septiembre Negro II. The two wrestlers were then forced to wrestle inside the steel cage, both trying to defend their masks. In the end Oficial Fierro pinned Tortugillo Ninja I.[7] After unmasking Tortugillo Ninja I revealed that his birth name was Daniel Torres Ramírez, brother of Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre wrestlers Bengala, Artillero and Súper Comando.[8]

Aftermath

Los Tortugillos Ninja stopped working for IWRG on a regular basis shortly after Tortugillo Ninja I lost his mask in the Guerra del Golfo cage match, instead working on the Mexican independent circuit. Tortugillo Ninja I later changed his ring name to "Miguel Angel" while the other Tortugillos Ninja became known as Donatello and Leonardo.[9] In 2015 the Tortugillo Ninjas returned to IWRG for a couple of matches, facing off against IWRG's latest "Ninja Turtle" creation, Los Tortugas Ninjas (Leo, Mike, Rafy and Teelo).[10]

The Apuesta victory was one of the earliest successes of the Los Oficiales trio only months after the concept was introduced. Over the next couple of years Oficial Fierro, AK-47 and 911 would go on to win the Distrito Federal Trios Championship on two occasions,[11] the IWRG Intercontinental Trios Championship on one occasion,[12] and the IWRG Intercontinental Tag Team Championship.[13] Over the years Oficial Fierro would win the hair of Freelance,[14] before finally losing his mask to El Ángel at the 2012 El Castillo del Terror show ("The Tower of Terror") on November 1, 2012.[15] The other Oficiales would eventually also be unmasked, Oficial AK-47 lost his mask to rival Oficial Factor on March 15, 2012 at the 2012 version of the Guerra del Golfo.[16] Oficial 911 lost his mask to Golden Magic and El Hijo de Pirata Morgan in the main event of the Arena Naucalpan 36th Anniversary Show on December 19, 2013.[17]

Results
No.Results[7]Stipulations
1Comando Gama defeated AkumaBest two-out-of-three-falls match
2Halcón Salvaje and Tortuguillo Ninja II defeated Judas el Traidor and Rockero del DiabloBest two-out-of-three-falls tag team match
3Cyborg, El Hijo del Diablo and Némesis defeated Freelance and Los Gemelos Fantastico (Gemelo Fantastico I, Gemelo Fantastico II)Best two-out-of-three falls six-man tag team match
4El Hijo de Aníbal, Pantera and Veneno defeated Kai, Kaminari and YamatoBest two-out-of-three falls six-man tag team match
5Oficial Fierro lost to Capitán Muerte, Multifacético, Bogeman, Puma King and Coco VerdeLa Guerra del Golfo semi-finals – five-man steel cage match
6Tortugillo Ninja I lost to Oficial AK-47, Xibalva, Fantasma de la Ópera, Cocolores and Septiembre Negro IILa Guerra del Golfo semi-finals – six-man steel cage match
7Oficial Fierro defeated Tortugillo Ninja ILa Guerra del Golfo finals – steel cage, Luchas de Apuestas, hair vs. hair match

References
  1. "IWRG @ Naucalpan". Wrestling Data. January 10, 2008. Retrieved May 1, 2016.
  2. "1997 Especial!". Box y Lucha Magazine (in Spanish). January 7, 1998. pp. 2–28. issue 2332.
  3. "Número Especial – Lo mejor de la lucha libre mexicana durante el 2004". Súper Luchas (in Spanish). January 24, 2005. Issue 91.
  4. Lazaro Rodiguez, Jose (January 10, 2009). "Arena Naucalpan 1 de Enero". The Gladiatores (in Spanish). Retrieved August 10, 2015.
  5. Reyes Ruiz, Eduardo (March 1, 2010). "Chico Che victima del Hijo del Diablo en la Guerra del Golfo". Estrellas del Ring (in Spanish). Retrieved May 4, 2013.
  6. Redaccion (April 16, 2012). "AK-47 perdió la cabellera en Naucalpan". MedioTiempo (in Spanish). Retrieved January 30, 2013.
  7. "Lo Mejor de la Lucha Libre Mexicana 2008". Súper Luchas (in Spanish). January 6, 2009. 296. Retrieved July 11, 2009.
  8. Madigan, Dan (2007). "A family affair". Mondo Lucha A Go-Go: the bizarre & honorable world of wild Mexican wrestling. HarperCollins Publishers. pp. 128–132. ISBN 978-0-06-085583-3.
  9. "Lo Mejor de la Lucha Libre Mexicana 2009". Súper Luchas (in Spanish). January 8, 2010. 348.
  10. Mejía Eguiluz, Diego (May 4, 2015). "Hijo de Dos Caras se echa a los hermanos Wagner encima". The Gladiatores (in Spanish). Retrieved May 1, 2016.
  11. "2007 Lo Mejor de la Lucha Mexicana". Súper Luchas (in Spanish). December 26, 2007. issue 244. Retrieved April 21, 2010.
  12. Rivera, Manuel (April 13, 2009). "Oficiales y Traumas: Sangriente rivalidad". Súper Luchas (in Spanish). p. 10. issue 310.
  13. Lizárraga, Alfonso (June 16, 2014). "L.A. Park, Mascara Sagrada y Demon Clown acaban con Dr. Wagner". The Gladiatores (in Spanish). Retrieved June 17, 2014.
  14. Rivera, Luis Manuel (December 7, 2009). "35 años del Rayo de Jalisco Jr". Súper Luchas (in Spanish). pp. 18–19. issue 343.
  15. Alvin (November 2, 2012). "Oficial Fierro, víctima del Ángel en el Castillo del Terror". the Gladiatores (in Spanish). Retrieved November 2, 2012.
  16. "AK-47 perdió la cabellera en la Guerra del Golfo". The Gladiatores (in Spanish). April 16, 2012. Retrieved April 17, 2012.
  17. "Golden Magic dejó sin máscara al Oficial 911 y el Hijo del Pirata pelón al Mosco X Fly". Estrellas del Ring (in Spanish). December 20, 2013. Retrieved December 23, 2013.
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