Leyenda de Plata
The Leyenda de Plata is held in honor of El Santo by CMLL. It usually takes place over three weeks, and happens in the second half of the year.
The winner is given a plaque with an original Santo mask, and is given the opportunity to defend their title the next tournament. Winning the title is a big honor.
As the Leyenda de Azul match became a complimentary year tournament, the makeup of the tournaments were slightly skewed to create a difference between them. Leyenda de Plata has become the tournament of great wrestlers (which means including luchadores who are usually in lower card matches) as opposed to Leyenda de Azul's tournament of great stars.
The Leyenda de Plata has a unique set of stages. There's an initial 16 wrestler cibernetico (with a battle royal to determine the two sides). The final two survivors advancing to a singles match the next week, in a single fall match. The winner of that match faces the reigning Leyenda de Plata champion on the third week, also in a single fall match.
The current Leyenda de Plata champion is Atlantis, who won it on November 11, 2005.
1998
The first Leyenda de Plata tournament took place on July 24 and July 31, 1998. This tournament was slightly different than following ones, as there was no semifinal match and no reigning champion. As the son of the man being honored, El Hijo del Santo got the champion bye to the final round.
Scorpio Jr. won the cibernetico, last eliminating Negro Casas. The other participants in the match were Atlantis, Blue Panther, Black Warrior, Dr. Wagner Jr., Felino, Karloff Lagarade Jr., La Fiera, Olimpico, Pantera, Satanico, Shocker, Tony Rivera, Ultimo Guerrero, Violencia.
On July 31, Scorpio Jr. beat El Hijo Del Santo by countout, when El Hijo Del Santo was unable to return to the ring after taking a Scorpio tope.
1999
The second Leyenda de Plata tournament started on November 26, with the qualifying cibernetico. El Hijo Del Santo won, beating Ultimo Guerrero to take the match. Other participants were Antifaz del Norte, Bestia Salvaje, Black Warrior, Blue Panther, Emilio Charles Jr., Felino, Fuerza Guerrera, Negro Casas, Olimpico, Rey Bucanero, Satanico, Tarzan Boy, Tony Rivera, Ultimo Guerrero, Zumbido.
Like in 1998, there was no semifinal match in 1999.
In the final, on December 2 [CANZ recap], El Hijo Del Santo beat Scorpio Jr. with the camel clutch to win the trophy.
2000
The third Leyenda de Plata tournament started on September 22. This year was the first year where the final two survivors advanced to a semifinal. The two seminfinalists were Dr. Wagner Jr. and Negro Casas. The other particpants were Antifaz del Norte, Atlantis, Astro Rey Jr., Black Warrior, Blue Panther, Felino, Fuerza Guerrera, Olimpico, Rey Bucanero, Safari, Satanico, Scorpio Jr., Tarzan Boy, and Zumbido.
The semifinal match on September 29. Negro Casas defeated Dr. Wagner Jr.
The final was on October 6. Again, Negro Casas won, beating El Hijo Del Santo to win the tournament. [Canz Recap]
2001
The fourth Leyenda de Plata tournament begun on October 5. This year, the battle royal to determine sides was televised. Side A: Averno, Black Warrior, Black Tiger, Fuerza Guerrera, Juventud Guerrera, Dr. Wagner, Mephisto, Masacara Magica Side B: Antifaz, Atlantis, Blue Demon Jr., El Hijo Del Santo, Felino, Ricky Marvin, Safari, Virus The two finalists were Black Warrior and Black Tiger, both from the Side A. [thecubsfan recap]
On October 12, Black Warrior defeated Black Tiger in the semifinal. The story of this match, as played out thru the previous cibernetico, was a double turn; Black Tiger was becoming an evil foreigner, while long time rudo Black Warrior became a tecnico. [thecubsfan recap]
On October 19, Black Warrior was able to defeat retaining champion Negro Casas to win the tournament. [thecubsfan recap]
2002
The fifth Leyenda de Plata tournament started on July 26. Once again, we have the list of each side. Side A: Atlantis, Averno, Blue Panther, Felino, Mephisto, Safari, Satanico, Virus Side B: Black Tiger, Fuerza Guerrera, Hombre Sin Nombre, Negro Casas, Olimpico, Tony Rivera, Violencia, Volador Jr. The two finalists were Black Tiger, for the second year in a row, and Felino. [thecubsfan recap]
On August 2, Felino beat Black Tiger in the semifinal. [thecubsfan recap]
On August 9, Felino triumphed over defending champion Black Warrior to win the tournament. [thecubsfan recap]
2003
There was no tournament in 2003. El Hijo Del Santo did not work in CMLL during this year, so there may have been issues preventing running this tournament this year. They did run a Leyenda de Azul for the first time in a while.
2004
The sixth Leyenda de Plata tournament began on July 16. The sides for the cibernetico were: Side A: Alan Stone, Atlantis, Averno, Mephisto, Misterioso II, Satanico, Tarzan Boy, Virus Side B: Black Warrior, El Hijo de Perro Aguayo, Emilio Charles Jr., Mascara Magica, Mistico, Negro Casas, Super Crazy, Volador Jr. The story of the match was the continuing rivalry between Negro Casas and Perro Perro snuck in a low blow on Negro, causing him to be the last man eliminated. The two semifinalists were Atlantis and El Hijo De Perro Aguayo. [thecubsfan recap]
On July 23, the semifinal was held. Unlike previous years, this was a standard three fall match. It is unknown at this time if this is a permanent change, or a one time variation. The match itself played off an earlier Perro/Atlantis match, from November 14, 2003, where Atlantis defended Michinoku Pro's Tohoku Junior Championship and the match actually went four falls due to a third fall draw (a double countout) and a rare order to continue to find a winner. That same set of events presented itself in the Leyenda de Plata semifinal (this time the third fall being thrown out due to faking a low blow), but El Hijo De Perro Aguayo was able to get the fourth fall win. [thecubsfan recap]
On July 30, El Hijo De Perro Aguayo defeated defending champion Felino to win the tournament. Again, this was used to build his rivalry with Negro Casas, as he worked the corner for Felino, his brother.
After the match, Perro was awarded a plaque by El Hijo Del Santo, but broke the the plaque and eventually fought Santo, upset the Santos were considered the greatest family in lucha libre instead of the Aguayos. Perro's actions were later used to explain why he did not defend the championship the following year, despite being present at the shows.
2005
In a change, perhaps due to having no champion, the format of the tournament was changed. Instead of two winners advancing from one sixteen man cibernetico, there were two eight man ciberneticos with one winner each.
The first cibernetico was held on October 28, with Hijo del Santo, Hombre Sin Nombre (believed to be Safari), La Mascara, Volador, Misterioso II, Jado, Averno and Negro Casas. Santo and Negro were the final two left, and actually pinned each other on a tapatia. The match was restarted, and Santo won with a camel clutch.
In the second cibernetico, on November 4, Atlantis beat Mistico by faking a low blow. Other wrestlers in the match were Ultimo Dragon, Maximo, Sagrado, Mephisto, Hijo de Pierroth and Gedo.
The finals were held on November 11, Atlantis beat Hijo del Santo to win the tournament. Atlantis low blowed Mistico (as a cornerman for Santo), ref was distracted, Ultimo Guerrero pulled Santo's mask, Santo covered up, and Atlantis covered him for the win.
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