La Copa Junior (2016) (Spanish for "The Junior Cup") was a professional wrestling tournament produced and scripted by the Mexican wrestling promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLLl; Spanish "World Wrestling Council"). The tournament ran from January 5, 2016 to January 19, 2016 in Arena México in Mexico City, Mexico. CMLL's recurring La Copa Junior tournament featured second, third or fourth generation wrestlers completing against each other. The 2016 version of the La Copa Junior was the eight tournament held by CMLL.
The format of the 2016 tournament matched the 2012 version of the tournament and a number of CMLL's other annual tournaments. The 16 wrestlers were divided into two groups of eight that wrestle in a torneo cibernetico elimination match on January 5 and January 12, the survivor of each qualifying torneo cibernetico then faces off against each other in the finals on January 19, 2015. Puma won the first cibernetico and Esfinge won the second cibernetico to qualify for the finals. On January 19 Esfinge defeated Puma to win the 2016 La Copa Junior tournament
Production
Background
Starting in 1996 the Mexican professional wrestling promotionConsejo Mundial de Lucha Libre ("World Wrestling Council"; CMLL) held their first ever La Copa Junior tournament. CMLL held the tournament to celebrate the fact that lucha libre in Mexico is often a family tradition, with a large number of second, third, or even fourth generation wrestlers following the footsteps of their relatives.[2] The premise of the tournament is that all participants are second-generation or more, although at times the family relationship is a storylines family relationship and not an actual one. One example of this is Dragón Rojo Jr. being billed as the grandson of Dragón Rojo, when in reality that is simply a storyline created by CMLL.[3] The original La Copa Junior was won by Héctor Garza.[4]
The tournament featured a number of professional wrestling matches with different wrestlers involved in pre-existing scripted feuds, plots and storylines. Wrestlers were portrayed as either heels (referred to as rudos in Mexico, those that portray the "bad guys") or faces (técnicos in Mexico, the "good guy" characters) as they followed a series of tension-building events, which culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.[14]
^ abMadigan, Dan (2007). "A family affair". Mondo Lucha A Go-Go: the bizarre and honorable world of wild Mexican wrestling. HarperColins Publisher. pp. 128–132. ISBN978-0-06-085583-3.
^Madigan, Dan (2007). ""Okay... what is Lucha Libre?"". Mondo Lucha a Go Go: the bizarre & honorable world of wild Mexican wrestling. New York, New York: HarperColins Publisher. p. 31. ISBN978-0-06-085583-3. featuring clearly distinguished good guys and bad guys, or técnicos and rudos