Torneo Gran Alternativa (November 1996)

Starting in 1994 the Mexican professional wrestling promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) created a special tournament concept where they would team up a novato, or rookie, with a veteran for a single-elimination tag team tournament with the purpose of increasing the profile of the rookie wrestler.[2][3]

CMLL had used a similar concept in August 1994 where Novato Shocker teamed up with veterans Ringo Mendoza and Brazo de Plata to defeat novato Apolo Dantés and veterans Gran Markus Jr. and El Brazo in the finals of a six-man tag team tournament.[4] CMLL would later modify the concept to two-man tag teams instead, creating a tournament that would be known as El Torneo Gran Alternativa, or "The Great Alternative Tournament", which became a recurring event on the CMLL calendar. CMLL did not hold a Gran Alternativa tournament in 1997 and 2000 held on each year from 2001 through 2014, opting not to hold a tournament in 2015.[5]

For the November 1996 version of the Gran Alternativa, CMLL used a two-stage tournament, unlike any previous or future tournament.[5] For the first round 20 rookies faced off against each other in four blocks of a round-robin series of matches where the top two point earners would advance to the tag team portion of the tournament.[6]

Gran Alternativa participants

The Gran Alternativa victory signaled the beginning of Rey Bucanero's rise up the ranks of CMLL. In 1999 he became part of El Satánico's reformed Los Infernales group alongside Último Guerrero.[7] The group later turned on Satánico to form Los Guerreros del Infierno (The Infernal Soldiers).[8] Bucanero and Guerrero worked as a regular tag team throughout the 2000s, leading to them being voted the "Best Tag Team of the Decade" by the readers of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.[9] Over the years Rey Bucanero would hold a number of CMLL championships , including: CMLL World Light Heavyweight Championship,[10] CMLL World Tag Team Championship four times,[11][12][13][14][15] CMLL World Trios Championship,[16] and the NWA World Historic Light Heavyweight Championship.[17]

The other rookie finalist, Mr. Niebla, would also advance up the ranks of CMLL. A year after the Gran Alternativa tournament he won the mask of Shocker in the main event of the CMLL 66th Anniversary Show.[18] He would go on to work for a number of other Mexican wrestling promotions as well, such as AAA and International Wrestling Revolution Group.[19] Over the years he would go on to hold various championships in CMLL: CMLL World Heavyweight Championship,[20] CMLL World Tag Team Championship,[21] CMLL World Trios Championship twice,[22][23] Mexican National Trios Championship twice,[24] as well as winning the 2014 Gran Alternativa,[25] and the 2012 Torneo de Parejas Increibles.[26]