CMLL World Micro-Estrellas Championship
The CMLL World Micro-Estrellas Championship (Campeonato Mundial Micro-Estrellas de CMLL in Spanish) is a professional wrestling championship promoted by the Mexican lucha libre wrestling-based promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL; Spanish for "World Wrestling Council"). The championship is exclusively competed for in the Micro-Estrellas, or Micros, division where all competitors have dwarfism.
| CMLL World Micro-Estrellas Championship | |
|---|---|
The Micro-Estrellas championship belt | |
| Details | |
| Promotion | Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre |
| Date established | December 11, 2019 |
| Current champion(s) | Micro Gemelo Diablo I |
| Date won | October 30, 2022 |
The championship was revealed on December 11, 2019. It is the first Mexican-based championship solely for wrestlers with dwarfism. As it is a professional wrestling championship, it is not won legitimately; it is instead won via a scripted ending to a match or awarded to a wrestler because of a storyline. Chamuel was the inaugural champion. He won a six-man torneo cibernetico elimination match on December 25, 2019.
Background
The origins of the Micro-Estrella division lies in midget wrestling, which in Mexico was popularized in the 1970s when promoters used the American concept and had a number of Mexicans with dwarfism, individuals with an adult height of less than 147 centimetres (4 ft 10 in), perform as a "special attraction" on lucha libre shows. In the early days, popular wrestlers included Gran Nikolai, Pequeno Goliath and Arturito.[1] By the 1980s midget wrestling was less popular in Mexico, especially since few new wrestlers had joined the division.[a] In the early 1990s Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), created a new concept, the Mini-Estrella division. The division was created by Antonio Peña, who worked for CMLL at the time; he came up with the idea of using both wrestlers with dwarfism and wrestlers who were simply very short, and to have those Mini-Estrellas work as smaller versions of popular wrestlers of the time. Peña and CMLL created the CMLL World Mini-Estrella Championship in 1992, which is considered the official birth of the division.[2] CMLL's Mini-Estrellas division featured a number of skilled, high-flying wrestlers, which helped make the concept an immediate success, replacing midget wrestling with the Mini-Estrellas division in Mexico.[a]
On April 30, 2017, CMLL began promoting a series of matches for the Micro-Estrellas ("Micro Stars") division, with all competitors being people with dwarfism. In the first match in the new division, Microman and Gallito defeated the team of Mije and Zacarías el Perico.[4] The match even had a micro referee, as would the Micro-Estrella matches going forward.[5] Prior to the match Gallito, Mije and Zacarías had worked as mascotas for various CMLL wrestlers and got physically involved in matches, but they hardly ever wrestled.[6] In subsequent years the Micro-Estrellas became a regular feature on CMLL shows, leading to the first Micro-Estrellas lucha de apuestas, mask vs. mask match between Microman and Chamuel at the CMLL 86th Anniversary Show. In that match, Chamuel lost and was forced to unmask.[7] On the December 11, 2019, Informa show CMLL introduced the CMLL World Micro-Estrellas Championship and unveiled the size-appropriate championship belt.[8] Chamuel was the first CMLL World Micro-Estrellas Champion, having won a six-man torneo cibernetico elimination match on December 25, 2019, to become the inaugural champion.[9][10]
As with all professional wrestling championships, matches for the CMLL World Micro-Estrellas Championship are not won or lost competitively, but by a pre-planned ending to a match, with the outcome determined by the CMLL bookers and match makers.[b] On occasion the promotion declares a championship vacant, which means there is no champion at that time. This can either be due to a storyline[c] or real-life issues such as a champion suffering an injury[d] or leaving the company.[e] The championship is the first exclusively for people with dwarfism in Mexico. Similar championships have been promoted in the United States, such as the NWA World Midget's Championship,[f] and Mini-Estrella championships have been promoted in Mexico since 1992, but those are not exclusively for wrestlers with dwarfism.[2]
Title history
| No. | Overall reign number |
|---|---|
| Reign | Reign number for the specific champion |
| Days | Number of days held |
| No. | Champion | Championship change | Reign statistics | Notes | Ref. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Event | Location | Reign | Days | ||||
| 1 | Chamuel | December 25, 2019 | CMLL Navidad | Mexico City, Mexico | 1 | 1,040 | Defeated Microman, El Gallito, Zacarías el Perico, Guapito, and Átomo | [9][10] |
| 2 | Micro Gemelo Diablo I | October 30, 2022 | CMLL Domingos Arena Mexico | Mexico City, Mexico | 1 | 118+ | [16] | |
Tournaments
2019
CMLL held a six-man torneo cibernetico elimination match featuring Microman, Chamuel El Gallito, Zacarías el Perico, Guapito, and Átomo on December 25, 2019 to determine the first CMLL World Micro-Estrellas Champion. The first wrestler eliminated was Átomo, pinned by Zacarías. Eliminations two through four were: Guapito (by El Gallito), Zacarías (by Microman) and El Gallito (by Chamuel). In the end Chamuel pinned longtime rival Microman to win the match and the championship.[9][10][17]
| # | Eliminated[9][10][17] | Eliminated by[9][10][17] |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Átomo | Zacarías el Perico |
| 2 | Guapito | El Gallito |
| 3 | Zacarías el Perico | Microman |
| 4 | El Gallito | Chamuel |
| 5 | Microman | Chamuel |
| 6 | Chamuel – Winner | |
Bibliography
- Duncan, Royal; Will, Gary (2000). Wrestling title histories: professional wrestling champions around the world from the 19th century to the present. Waterloo, ON: Archeus Communications. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
- Hornbaker, Tim (2016). "Statistical notes". Legends of Pro Wrestling - 150 years of headlocks, body slams, and piledrivers (Revised ed.). New York, New York: Sports Publishing. p. 550. ISBN 978-1-61321-808-2.
- Madigan, Dan (2007). Mondo Lucha a Go Go: the bizarre & honorable world of wild Mexican wrestling. New York, New York: HarperCollins Publishers. ISBN 978-0-06-085583-3.
Footnotes
- ^ a b Chapter You ain't seen nothing yet: the minis[3]
- ^ Hornbaker (2016) p. 550: "Professional wrestling is a sport in which match finishes are predetermined. Thus, win–loss records are not indicative of a wrestler's genuine success based on their legitimate abilities – but on now much, or how little they were pushed by promoters"[11]
- ^ Duncan & Will (2000) p. 271, Chapter: Texas: NWA American Tag Team Title [World Class, Adkisson] "Championship held up and rematch ordered because of the interference of manager Gary Hart"[12]
- ^ Duncan & Will (2000) p. 20, Chapter: (United States: 19th Century & widely defended titles – NWA, WWF, AWA, IW, ECW, NWA) NWA/WCW TV Title "Rhodes stripped on 85/10/19 for not defending the belt after having his leg broken by Ric Flair and Ole & Arn Anderson"[13]
- ^ Duncan & Will (2000) p. 201, Chapter: (Memphis, Nashville) Memphis: USWA Tag Team Title "Vacant on 93/01/18 when Spike leaves the USWA."[14]
- ^ Duncan & Will (2000) p. 397, chapter North America: NWA World Midget's title.[15]
References
- ^ "La Pequeña Escala / On a small scale". Lucha Libre: Masked Superstars of Mexican Wrestling. Distributed Art Publishers, Inc. 2005. pp. 80–86. ISBN 968-6842-48-9.
- ^ a b Ocampo, Ernesto (October 7, 2006). "El fin de una era: Adiós a Antonio Peña" [The end of an era: goodbye to Antonio Peña]. Súper Luchas (in Spanish). issue 182. Retrieved October 14, 2009.
- ^ Madigan 2007, pp. 209–212.
- ^ "CMLL Domingos Arena Mexico". CageMatch. April 30, 2017. Retrieved December 11, 2019.
Gallito & Microman defeat Mije & Zacarias (13:00)
- ^ Ocampo, Ernesto (May 1, 2017). "Micromán, un gran acierto del CMLL — Recordamos la historia de las luchas de personas pequeñas" [Micromán, a great success of the CMLL - We remember the history of the struggles of little people]. Súper Luchas (in Spanish). Retrieved December 11, 2019.
- ^ Beltran, William (February 27, 2011). "El Perico... Mascota de La Peste Negra ya tiene nombre.... ¡Zacarías!" [The parrot... Mascot of the Black Plague gets a name.... ¡Zacarías!]. Súper Luchas (in Spanish). Retrieved November 4, 2012.
- ^ Ocampo, Ernesto (September 27, 2019). "CMLL Aniversario 86 (27 de septiembre 2019) | Resultados en vivo | 7 cabelleras en juego" [CMLL 86th Anniversary (September 27, 2019) | Live results | 7 scalps at play]. Súper Luchas (in Spanish). Retrieved September 28, 2019.
- ^ VideosOficialesCMLL (December 11, 2019). "CMLL informa 11 de diciembre de 2019" [CMLL Informa December 11, 2019] (in Spanish). YouTube. Retrieved December 11, 2019.
- ^ a b c d e Cardoso, Javier (December 25, 2019). "Marcela y Chamuel los triunfadores en la gran función de Navidad en el CMLL" [Marcela and Chamuel are triumphant at CMLL's great christmas event]. Marca (in Spanish). Retrieved January 4, 2020.
- ^ a b c d e Dark Angelita (December 25, 2019). "CMLL: Chamuel, primer monarca mundial de Micro Estrellas" [CMLL: Chamuel, first king of the Micro Stars]. Súper Luchas (in Spanish). Retrieved January 4, 2020.
- ^ Hornbaker 2016, p. 550.
- ^ Duncan & Will 2000, p. 271.
- ^ Duncan & Will 2000, p. 20.
- ^ Duncan & Will 2000, p. 201.
- ^ Duncan & Will 2000, p. 37.
- ^ . Súper Luchas. October 31, 2022. Archived from the original on October 31, 2022./
- ^ a b c Lizarranga, Alfonso (December 26, 2019). "El más Buscado la medicina del Último de su Estirpe" [The most wanted medicine for the last of his race]. The Gladiatores (in Spanish). Retrieved January 4, 2020.