CMLL Universal Championship (2016)
{{short description|Mexican professional wrestling tournament}}
{{Infobox wrestling event
|name=CMLL Universal Championship (2016)
|image = CMLL Universal Championship 2016.png
|caption = Official poster for Block A, mistakenly listing Cavernario as a participant.
|promotion = Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre
|date=October 14, 2016 to October 28, 2016
|venue=Arena México
|city = Mexico City, Mexico{{cite web | url=http://cmll.com/?p=2976 | title=Arena México Cartelera | accessdate=October 8, 2016 | publisher=Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre | language=Spanish}}
|liveevent=Y
|lastevent=Reyes del Aire
|nextevent=Día de Muertos
|event=CMLL Universal Championship tournaments
|lastevent2=2015
|nextevent2=2017
}}
The CMLL Universal Championship (2016) ({{langx|es|Campeonato Universal}}) was a professional wrestling tournament produced and scripted by Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL). The tournament took place from October 14, 2016 and ran for three Super Viernes shows with the finals on October 28, 2016. The CMLL Universal Championship is an annual tournament exclusively for wrestlers holding CMLL-recognized champions; first held in 2009, making the 2016 version the eight overall tournament. Being a professional wrestling tournament, it is not won legitimately; it is instead won via predetermined outcomes to the matches that is kept secret from the general public.
The 2016 tournament saw CMLL World Trios Champion Valiente defeat his regular Trios partner Volador Jr. in the finals of the tournament to win his first Universal Championship tournament.
Background
The tournament featured 15 professional wrestling matches under single-elimination tournament rules, which means that wrestlers would be eliminated from the tournament when they lose a match. All male "non-regional" CMLL champions at the time of the tournament are eligible to participate in the tournament. The CMLL World Mini-Estrella Championship and Mexican National Lightweight Championship are both exclusively for CMLL's Mini-Estrella division and thus not eligible for the tournament. Regionally promoted championships such as the CMLL Arena Coliseo Tag Team Championship and the Occidente championships promoted in Guadalajara, Jalisco have not been included in the tournament in the past; only titles that have been defended in CMLL's main venue Arena Mexico are normally included, although exceptions have been made to allow New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) champions to compete if they were in Mexico at the time. For the 2016 version of the tournament only 15 out of the 16 participants had competed in at least one Universal Championship tournament before, only Rey Cometa (the Mexican National Welterweight Champion{{cite web | url=http://www.mediotiempo.com/lucha-libre/2016/06/11/rey-cometa-nuevo-campeon-nacional-welter | title=Rey Cometa, nuevo campeón nacional welter | work=MedioTiempo | publisher=MSN | language=Spanish | date=June 11, 2016 | accessdate=June 11, 2016}}) was a first time competitor. Atlantis (Mexican National Light Heavyweight Champion{{cite web | url= http://www.mediotiempo.com/mas-deportes/lucha-libre/noticias/2015/08/25/atlantis-nuevo-campeon-nacional-semicompleto | title=Atlantis, nuevo Campeón Nacional Semicompleto| date=August 25, 2015 | accessdate=August 25, 2015 | work=Medio Tiempo | language=Spanish}}) and Último Guerrero (NWA World Historic Middleweight Champion) were the only former tournament winners to participate in the 2016 tournament.{{cite news | author= Rivera, Manuel | title= Ultimo Guerrero, Campeon Universal | work= Super Luchas Magazine | pages= 3–5 | id = Issue 320 | date= June 22, 2009 | accessdate= May 3, 2010 | url= http://superluchas.com/super-luchas-320-22-junio-2009-ultimo-guerrero-campeon-universal-santo-rescata-aaa-doctor-wagner-jr-mega-campeon-dos-caras-jr-firmo-contrato-con-wwe/ | publisher= CAMSAN Impresores, S.A. de C.V. | location= Mexico City, Mexico | language=Spanish}}{{cite web|url=http://cmll.com/02_resultados/super_viernes/super_viernes_cmll.htm |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140702063843/http://cmll.com/02_resultados/super_viernes/super_viernes_cmll.htm |title=Resultados Arena México Viernes 29 de Agosto '14 |last=Reducindo |first=Miguel |archivedate=July 2, 2014 |date=August 30, 2014 |accessdate=August 30, 2014 |work=Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre |language=Spanish |url-status=dead }}{{cite web | url = http://www.mediotiempo.com/mas-deportes/lucha-libre/noticias/2015/10/17/atlantis-se-proclamo-campeon-universal-2015 | title = Atlantis se proclamó Campeón Universal 2015 | date=October 17, 2015 | accessdate=October 17, 2015 | work=MedioTiempo | language=Spanish}} Mephisto's (CMLL World Welterweight Champion and Mexican National Trios Champion) participation made him the only wrestler to participate in seven out of the eight Universal Championship tournaments up until that point. Negro Casas (CMLL World Tag Team Champion), La Máscara (CMLL World Light Heavyweight Champion), Último Guerrero and Volador Jr. (NWA World Historic Welterweight Champion and CMLL World Trios Champion) all marked their sixth Universal Championship tournament.{{cite web | url= http://superluchas.com/resultados-arena-mexico-13-agosto-2010-liger-campeon-universal-14-luchadores-a-la-jaula-del-3-de-septiembre/ | title= Resultados Arena México (13 agosto 2010): ¡Liger, Campeón Universal! ¿14 luchadores a la jaula del 3 de septiembre? | author= Rivera, Manuel | date= August 14, 2010 | accessdate= September 16, 2011 | publisher=Super Luchas Magazine | language= Spanish}}{{cite web | url= http://www.record.com.mx/luchalibre/2011-09-16/la-sombra-campeon-universal | title= La Sombra, Campeón Universal | date= September 16, 2011 | accessdate= September 16, 2011 | work= Récord | language= Spanish | url-status= dead | archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20120727024439/http://www.record.com.mx/luchalibre/2011-09-16/la-sombra-campeon-universal | archivedate= July 27, 2012 }}{{cite web|url=http://cmll.com/02_resultados/super_viernes/super_viernes_cmll.htm |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140702063843/http://cmll.com/02_resultados/super_viernes/super_viernes_cmll.htm |title=Viernes 31 de Agosto '12 |last=Salazar López |first=Alexis A. |archivedate=July 2, 2014 |date=September 1, 2012 |accessdate=September 1, 2012 |work=Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre |language=Spanish |url-status=dead }}{{cite web|url=http://cmll.com/02_resultados/super_viernes/super_viernes_cmll.htm |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140702063843/http://cmll.com/02_resultados/super_viernes/super_viernes_cmll.htm |title=Resultados Arena México Viernes 6 de Septiembre '13 |last=Salazar López |first=Alexis A. |archivedate=July 2, 2014 |date=September 7, 2013 |accessdate=September 7, 2013 |work=Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre |language=Spanish |url-status=dead }} CMLL originally announced that Cavernario would be part of the tournament, despite having lost the Mexican National Welterweight Championship to Rey Cometa on June 10, 2016. They later corrected the participant list, replacing Cavernario with Rey Cometa.
=Eligible champions=
File:Mephisto CMLL.jpg, double champion and the only 7 time tournament participant]]
Tournament
File:Volador Jr. 2016.jpg, double champion and tournament finalist]]
{{16TeamBracket-NoSeeds
|RD1-team01=Máximo Sexy
|RD1-score01=W
|RD1-team02=Rey Cometa
|RD1-score02={{cite web | url=https://es-us.deportes.yahoo.com/fotos/el-valiente-primer-finalista-al-campeonato-universal-2016-la-victoria-absoluta-slideshow/ | title=El Valiente, primer finalista al Campeonato Universal 2016: La Victoria Absoluta. | date=October 15, 2016 | accessdate=October 15, 2016 | publisher=Yahoo! | work=Yahoo Deportes | language=Spanish | first=Gonzalo | last=López Peralta}}{{cite web | url=http://www.mediotiempo.com/lucha-libre/2016/10/15/valiente-sorprendio-va-por-el-campeonato-universal | title=Valiente sorprendió, va por el Campeonato Universal | date=October 15, 2015 | accessdate=October 15, 2015 | work=MedioTiempo | publisher=MSN | language=Spanish}}
|RD1-team03=Negro Casas
|RD1-team04=Valiente
|RD1-score04=W
|RD1-team05=Último Guerrero
|RD1-score05=W
|RD1-team06=Místico
|RD1-team07=Shocker
|RD1-score07=W
|RD1-team08=Mephisto
|RD1-team09=Dragon Lee
|RD1-score09=W
|RD1-team10=Luciferno
|RD1-score10={{cite web | url=https://es-us.deportes.yahoo.com/fotos/volador-jr-segundo-finalista-y-favorito-para-ganar-el-campeonato-universal-2016-la-victoria-slideshow/ | title=Volador Jr. segundo finalista y favorito para ganar el Campeonato Universal 2016: La Victoria Absoluta. | date=October 22, 2016 | accessdate=October 23, 2016 | work=Yahoo! Deportes | publisher=Yahoo! | language=Spanish}}{{cite web | publisher=MSN | work=MedioTiempo | language=Spanish | date=October 21, 2016 | accessdate=October 23, 2016 | url=http://www.mediotiempo.com/lucha-libre/2016/10/21/volador-finalista-por-el-campeonato-universal-del-cmll | title=Volador, finalista por el Campeonato Universal del CMLL}}
|RD1-team11=Ephesto
|RD1-team12=La Máscara
|RD1-score12=W
|RD1-team13=Dragón Rojo Jr.
|RD1-team14=Volador Jr.
|RD1-score14=W
|RD1-team15=Rey Bucanero
|RD1-team16=Atlantis
|RD1-score16=W
|RD2-team01=Máximo Sexy
|RD2-team02=Valiente
|RD2-score02=W
|RD2-team03=Último Guerrero
|RD2-score03=W
|RD2-team04=Shocker
|RD2-team05=Dragon Lee
|RD2-team06=La Máscara
|RD2-score06=W
|RD2-team07=Volador Jr.
|RD2-score07=W
|RD2-team08=Atlantis
|RD3-team01=Valiente
|RD3-score01=W
|RD3-team02=Último Guerrero
|RD3-team03=La Máscara
|RD3-team04=Volador Jr.
|RD3-score04=W
|RD4-team01=Valiente
|RD4-score01=W
|RD4-team02=Volador Jr.
|RD4-score02={{cite web | url=http://www.mediotiempo.com/lucha-libre/2016/10/29/gran-sorpresa-valiente-campeon-universal-del-cmll | title=¡Gran sorpresa! Valiente campeón universal del CMLL | date=October 29, 2016 | accessdate=October 29, 2016 | work=MedioTiempo | publisher=MSN | language=Spanish | first=Apolo | last=Valdés}}{{cite web | url=https://es-us.deportes.yahoo.com/fotos/el-valiente-se-proclama-como-nuevo-campe%C3%B3n-universal-2016-la-verdad-absoluta-slideshow/ | title=El Valiente se proclama como nuevo Campeón Universal 2016: La Verdad Absoluta. | date=October 29, 2016 | accessdate=October 29, 2016 | work=Yahoo Deportes | publisher=Yahoo! | language=Spanish | first= Gonzalo | last= López Peralta}}
}}
References
{{reflist}}
{{2016 Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre events}}
{{CMLLShows|Universal Championship}}
{{CMLL Universal Championship}}
{{Portal bar|Mexico}}
Category:2016 in professional wrestling