Prior to 1933,
lucha libre shows in Mexico were primarily promoted by foreign promoters doing the occasional match through Mexico or a few scattered local promoters, especially along the U.S. border, who brought in American professional wrestlers as their main attractions. Four years later, Lutteroth, along with his financial backer Francisco Ahumada, chartered (EMLL; literally "Mexican Wrestling Enterprise"), the first Mexican-owned wrestling promotion in the country. EMLL held their first show on September 21, 1933, considered the "birth of Lucha libre", and which led to Lutteroth being known as "the father of Lucha Libre". EMLL initially tried to book Arena Nacional, the premier boxing venue in
Mexico City, but the promoters would not let him rent it, forcing Lutteroth and EMLL to take up residence in
Arena Modelo, an abandoned and run-down facility that Lutteroth was able to use as his home base. The concept of Lucha Libre quickly became very popular, so much so that the
EMLL 1st Anniversary Show drew a sold-out crowd of 5,000 paying fans. In 1934, an American wrestler debuted in Mexico under a
black leather mask, and Lutteroth dubbed him
La Maravilla Enmascarada or "The Masked Marvel". In the United States the concept of the masked wrestler was more of a mid-level attraction, but the reaction to La Maravilla Enmascarada led to Lutteroth and EMLL officials to introduce more masks, starting with a wrestler known simply as El Enmascarado ("The Masked Wrestler"), and later
El Murciélago Enmascarado ("The Masked Bat"). Through the use of the masks and ring characters EMLL helped create the sacred position of the mask in
Lucha libre, making it the ultimate status symbol for
luchadors. With the popularity of El Santo as well as other Mexican stars such as
Bobby Bonales,
Tarzán López,
Cavernario Galindo and
Gory Guerrero Arena Modelo eventually became too small to accommodate the demand for tickets. To solve the problem Lutteroth financed the construction of
Arena Coliseo in Mexico City, the first arena in Mexico built specifically for professional wrestling and the first sports building in Mexico to have built in air conditioning. The arena, nicknamed the "Lagunilla Funnel" due to its interior shape would hold over 8,800 spectators when configured for
Lucha libre or boxing. Arena Coliseo began hosting EMLL's annual
Anniversary shows starting with the
10th Anniversary show. In 1953, Salvador Lutteroth joined the US based
National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), becoming the official
NWA territory for all of Mexico, known as "NWA-EMLL" outside Mexico. By joining the NWA, Lutteroth and EMLL gained control of the
NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship. They were also able to re-brand their "World Middleweight Championship" to become the
NWA World Middleweight Championship and their "World Welterweight Championship" became the
NWA World Welterweight Championship. In the early 1950s television became as a viable entertainment medium in Mexico which was set to bolster the popularity of EMLL, but Arena Coliseo was not equipped properly for television transmissions. As it turns out luck was on Lutteroth and EMLL's side as Lutteroth and the personnel at Arena Coliseo bought a lottery ticket worth 5 million
Pesos. Lutteroth used his portion of the winnings to finance the construction of
Arena México, on the location where Arena Modelo used to sit. Arena México enabled EMLL to broadcast their weekly wrestling shows across Mexico, yielding a popularity explosion for the sport.
Becoming CMLL In the mid-1980s, Chavo Lutteroth II retired, allowing his nephew
Paco Alonso, grandson of
Chavo Lutteroth I, to take control of EMLL. In the late 1980s, EMLL decided to leave the NWA, seeking to distance themselves from the political wrestling in the National Wrestling Alliance. At that time, EMLL, with the consent of
Paco Alonso, the booker
Antonio Peña and the Monterrey promoter Carlos Humberto Elizondo, devised the creation of the '''' (CMLL; "World Wrestling Council") to establish a new identity after the NWA split, in order to have their own titles and organize promoters who wanted to join, in addition to sounding more international. From 1991 through 1993 CMLL created eight "CMLL World" titles in addition to the three NWA branded titles they retained and a slew of other championships. At the start of the 1990s the company began appearing on the national
Televisa network, which led to a second big boom in business due to the renewed national television exposure, in the mid-1970s through the 1980s, magazines and newspapers were the sole medium of Lucha Libre for most Mexicans.
AAA split and rivalry In the mid-1980s, retired wrestler
Antonio Peña became one of the main bookers for EMLL, helping determine who would win matches, what storylines to use and so on, he was also a driving force behind the name change to
Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre. Peña would often clash with Juan Herrera, the other main booker for CMLL at the time. Herrera wanted to maintain the old style of booking with heavyweights such as
Atlantis,
El Dandy and
El Satánico, while Peña wanted to feature younger, faster moving wrestlers such as
Konnan,
Octagón or
Máscara Sagrada. In the end CMLL owner
Paco Alonso decided to go with Juan Herrera's booking style. After
Paco Alonso chose to ignore Peña's booking ideas, Peña began negotiations with
Televisa television channel to fund a new wrestling promotion that would provide
Televisa with weekly wrestling shows. In 1992 Peña started a booking agency, providing wrestlers and matches for the
Televisa owned
Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA) promotion. While Peña technically owned the promotion
Televisa owns the rights to the AAA name.
CMLL in the 21st century have toured Mexico. From 2007 to 2009, CMLL had a working relationship with American promotion
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, which saw CMLL's
Averno,
Rey Bucanero,
Último Guerrero and
Volador Jr. winning the
2008 TNA World X Cup and TNA worker
Alex Shelley winning the
2008 CMLL International Grand Prix. In 2008, CMLL established a working relationship with
New Japan Pro-Wrestling as part of "G-1 World", several wrestlers have since toured between the two companies winning titles, including
Místico winning the
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship and
Jushin Thunder Liger winning the
CMLL Universal Championship tournament. Since 2011, the two promotions have annually co-promoted events in Japan, under the name
Fantastica Mania. In 2011, CMLL established a working relationship with Japanese women's promotion Universal Woman's Pro Wrestling Reina and announced that the two promotions would create a new championship for women who have been in the professional wrestling industry for less than ten years, called the
CMLL-Reina International Junior Championship. This was followed by the establishment of the
CMLL-Reina International Championship one year later. On March 16, 2010, a video was posted on YouTube featuring an interview David Marquez had with NWA Executive Director and Legal Counsel
Robert Trobich. Trobich announced that CMLL did not have permission to use the NWA trademark. The rights to usage of the NWA trademark in Mexico is now held by NWA Mexico, represented by
Blue Demon, Jr. CMLL replaced the three championships with the
NWA World Historic Light Heavyweight Championship,
NWA World Historic Middleweight Championship and the
NWA World Historic Welterweight Championship. On September 19, 2014, CMLL became only the second promotion in the Americas, after
WWE, to draw a $1 million gate with their
81st Anniversary Show, headlined by a
Mask vs. Mask match between
Atlantis and Último Guerrero. On November 6, 2014, the promotion made an alliance with the Mexican independent group
Lucha Libre Elite to help bring independent wrestlers into CMLL which ended in early 2018. On July 6, 2016, NJPW announced that they would broadcast CMLL Friday shows in their video-streaming service,
NJPW World. On August 10, CMLL announced a working relationship with American promotion
Ring of Honor (ROH). The two promotions were linked through their separate relationships with NJPW. The alliance with ROH ended on April 27, 2021. On July 7, 2019, CMLL announced the death of the president of the company
Paco Alonso (who died a day before, on July 6). On July 10, CMLL appointed Sofía Alonso, Paco's daughter, as the president of the company. On August 26, it was revealed that Sofía had been relieved of her position, with Salvador "Chavo" Lutteroth III becoming the chairman and CEO of PROMECOR-CMLL. In September 2021, president of
Ice Ribbon Hajime Sato appeared alongside Kounosuke Izui, promoter of Lady's Ring, on an episode of
CMLL Informa to announce the establishment of a working relationship between the two promotions and the Mexican-based Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL). On July 5, 2023, CMLL announced an alliance with the Arena Coliseo Tony Arellano de Torreón, who at a press conference announced this merger in which they will work on several very ambitious projects. Edgar "güero" Noriega, referee and promoter of this company, attended the press conference directly from the CMLL, for several good news, the first being the merger in which this Tony Arellano Arena will be part of the company's programming as it does with the Coliseo de Guadalajara, Puebla, Arena México and Arena Coliseo and now La Laguna is already the headquarters and has been certified. On August 3, 2023, the CMLL and
Revolution Pro Wrestling announced their alliance beginning with their first joint event, Fantastica Mania UK. On October 13, 2023,
All Elite Wrestling announced a working relationship with CMLL. On September 23, 2025,
World Wonder Ring Stardom president Taro Okada appeared alongside Lady's Ring promoter Kounosuke Izui and Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) president Salvador Lutteroth Lomelí on an episode of CMLL Informa to announce the establishment of a working relationship between World Wonder Ring Stardom promotion and the Mexico-based Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL). ==Style and television==