The 1986 Anniversary show commemorated the 53rd anniversary of the Mexican professional wrestling companyEmpresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre holding their first show on September 22, 1933 by promoter and founder Salvador Lutteroth. EMLL was rebranded early in 1992 to become Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre signal their departure from the National Wrestling Alliance. With the sales of the Jim Crockett Promotions to Ted Turner in 1988 EMLL became the oldest, still-operating wrestling promotion in the world. Over the years EMLL/CMLL has on occasion held multiple shows to celebrate their anniversary but since 1977 the company has only held one annual show, which is considered the biggest show of the year, CMLL's equivalent of WWE's WrestleMania or their Super Bowl event. CMLL has held their Anniversary show at Arena México in Mexico City, Mexico since 1956, the year the building was completed, over time Arena México earned the nickname "The Cathedral of Lucha Libre" due to it hosting most of EMLL/CMLL's major events since the building was completed. Traditionally EMLL/CMLL holds their major events on Friday Nights, replacing their regularly scheduled Super Viernes show.
Storylines
The event featured at least three professional wrestling matches with different wrestlers involved in pre-existing scripted feuds, plots and storylines. Wrestlers were portrayed as either heels or faces as they followed a series of tension-building events, which culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches. Due to the nature of keeping mainly paper records of wrestling at the time no documentation has been found for the rest of the show. The 53rd Anniversary Show featured a number of inter-promotional matches between wrestlers from Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre and from Universal Wrestling Association. The UWA started out as a break off from EMLL in the 1970s but by 1986 the two promotions were able to cooperate on a series of shows throughout Mexico.
Event
While the Lucha de Apuestas or "Bet match" is not rare in Lucha Libre there are very few instances of a Trios Apuestas match where all three members of each team puts their masks or hair on the line, the main event of the 53rd Anniversary show was the only anniversary show to ever feature two Trios teams in a Lucha de Apuestas match. In this case Los Misioneros del Muerte faced off against the tecnico team of Américo Rocca, Tony Salazar and Ringo Mendoza. Los Misioneros were credited with popularizing the Trios match concept in Mexico to the point where in EMLL/CMLL today it is the most used match format. Since neither team was masked all six men bet their hair on the outcome of the match, with all three members of the losing team being forced to have their hair shaved off after the match. The storyline between the two teams that lead to the Luchas de Apuestas match played off the rivalry between professional wrestling promotions EMLL and UWA where Los Misioneros first became famous. The match ended with "Team EMLL" defeating Los Misioneros and thus all three rudos had to be shaved completely bald while still in the ring. In one of the few confirmed matches the brothers known collectively as Los Brazos, El Brazo, Brazo de Oro and Brazo de Plata defended the Mexican National Trios Championship against the young tecnico team of Rayo de Jalisco Jr., Atlantis and Ultraman. Los Brazos was only the second team to hold the championship, having defeated the inaugural champions Los Infernales nine months prior. The experienced rudo team successfully defended their championship, winning the match two falls to one by cheating their way to victory. Another match saw UWA representative Fishman put his UWA World Light Heavyweight Championship on the line against CMLL representative Pirata Morgan, successfully retaining the championship with a two-falls to one victory.
