The Leyenda de Plata (Spanish for "the Silver Legend") is an annual lucha libretournament held by the Mexicanprofessional wrestling promotionConsejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) since 1998. The tournament honors El Santo, Enmáscarado de Plata (the Silver mask) and has been held every year since 1998 except for 2003 when El Hijo del Santo (El Santo's son) did not work for CMLL.[3] CMLL still holds the annual tournament despite El Hijo del Santo no longer works for CMLL. It is the most prestigious of all of CMLL's annual tournaments. The original format of the tournament was the Torneo cibernetico to qualify for a semi-final. The winner of the semi-final faces the winner of the previous year's tournament in the final. Since 2005 CMLL has held two cibernetico matches and the winner of each then meet in the semi-final. In 2011, the tournament was modified to eliminate the final stage. The winner is given a plaque with a solid silver El Santo mask on it. Only two wrestlers have won Leyend de Plata more than once, Místico won it in 2006, 2007 and 2008 and Negro Casas in 2000, 2014 and 2015. After a two-year hiatus, the tournament returned in 2011.
The 2001 Leyenda de Plata was the fourth annual tournament and the first tournament to feature a Battle Royal to determine the two teams for the cibernetico. The first eight men eliminated from the battle royal would be one team and the remaining eight wrestlers would form the other team in the cibernetico match that followed immediately after the battle royal. Team "A" consisted of Averno, Black Warrior, Black Tiger, Fuerza Guerrera, Juventud Guerrera, Dr. Wagner Jr., Mephisto and Másacara Mágica. Team "B" consisted of Antifaz, Atlantis, Blue Demon Jr., El Hijo del Santo, El Felino, Ricky Marvin, Safari and Virus. The last two survivors were Black Warrior and Black Tiger III, both from Team "A". On October 12, 2001, Black Warrior and BlacK Tiger III faced off in a singles match that Black Warrior won. The storyline of the match was Black Tiger III turning Rudo (heel or "bad guy") while Black Warrior was turning Tecnico (face or "good guy") during the course of the match. The following week Black Warrior's momentum helped him gain the victory over Negro Casas to win the 2001 Leyenda de Plata.[3][6][17][20]
The cibernetico qualifier for the 2002 Leyenda de Plata took place on July 26, 2002 and once again saw two teams of eight face off to determine the semi-finalists. Team "A" consisted of Atlantis, Averno, Blue Panther, El Felino, Mephisto, Safari, Satánico and Virus. Team "B" was Black Tiger, Fuerza Guerrera, Hombre Sin Nombre, Negro Casas, Olímpico, Tony Rivera, Violencia and Volador Jr.. The two semi-finalsts were El Felino and Black Tiger III, making Black Tiger the first wrestler to qualify for the semi-final more than once. On August 2, 2002 El Felino defeated Black Tiger in the semi-final and a week later he defeated Black Warrior to win the tournament.[3][7][17][21]
After not holding a Leyenda de Plata tournament in 2003, it returned in 2004 with the qualifying cibernetico being held on July 16, 2004.[3] the teams were: "A", Alan Stone, Atlantis, Averno, Mephisto, Misterioso Jr., Satánico, Tarzan Boy and Virus. Team "B", Black Warrior, Perro Aguayo Jr., Emilio Charles Jr., Másacara Mágica, Místico, Negro Casas, Super Crazy and Volador Jr.. The main storyline of the cibernetico was the building rivalry between Negro Casas and the recently rudo-turned Perro Aguayo Jr. Aguayo cheated to eliminate Negro Casas and along with Atlantis were the last two surviving wrestlers. On July 23, 2004 Aguayo and Atlantis wrestled in a singles match, which unlike previous years was a "best of three falls" match, that actually went to four falls before Perro Aguayo Jr. won. A week later Perro Aguayo Jr. defeated El Felino, using the victory to further the storyline with Negro Casas, Felino's brother and corner-man for the night. Following his victory Perro Aguayo Jr. broke the plaque with El Santo's mask on it, claiming that the Aguayo's were the greatest family in wrestling, refusing to accept a trophy with El Santo's name on it.[3][8][17][22]
The 2005 Leyenda de Plata is the only tournament to not feature the previous year's champion defending the trophy, playing off Aguayo's breaking of the trophy the previous year.[3] The lack of defending champion forced CMLL to change the format of the Leyenda de Plata as they held two eight-man ciberneticos instead of one 16-man, with the winner of each cibernetico facing each other the following week. The two cibernetico format has been the standard tournament format for the Leyenda de Plata ever since 2005. The first cibernetico took place on October 28, 2005 and featured El Hijo del Santo, Hombre Sin Nombre, La Máscara, Volador Jr., Misterioso Jr., Jado, Averno and Negro Casas. The match came down to Hijo del Santo and Casas and initially ended in a double pin. After the match was restarted El Hijo del Santo won by submission. The second cibernetico took place on November 4 and saw Atlantis outlast a field that also included Místico, Último Dragón, Máxmio, El Sagrado, Mephisto, Hijo de Pierroth and Gedo. On November 11, 2005, Atlantis defeated El Hijo del Santo with help from his corner-man Último Guerrero to win the seventh Leyenda de Plata.[3][9][17][23]
The 2006 Leyenda de Plata started on August 25, 2006 with the first of two eight-man cibernetico qualifying matches. The cibernetico saw Black Warrior eliminate Rey Bucanero as the last man in a match that also included Heavy Metal, Metro II, La Máscara, Último Guerrero, Mephisto and Misterioso Jr.. With Black Warrior winning the first cibernetico it was not too surprising that Místico won the second cibernetico as the two had been involved with a long-running storyline feud throughout 2006. Místico outlasted Mr. Águila, Negro Casas, El Sagrado, Volador Jr., Averno and Alex Koslov. The semi-final on September 8, 2006, saw Místico defeat Black Warrior, followed by a "mask vs. mask", Luchas de Apuesta challenge from Black Warrior that Místico accepted for the CMLL 73rd Anniversary Show. On September 15, 2006 Místico defeated Atlantis to win the Leyeda de Plata, overcoming interference from Atlantis' corner-man Black Warrior. After the match Black Warrior stole the Leyenda de Plata trophy and ran off with it, furthering their feud.[3][10][17][24]
The ninth Leyenda de Plata was held between May 18 and June 8, 2007. This was the first year that Leyenda de Plata was held without El Hijo del Santo working for CMLL, CMLL claimed that they owned the rights to promote the Leyenda de Plata and has promoted it without Hijo del Santo working for CMLL since then. The first Cibernetico took place on May 18, Perro Aguayo Jr. was originally scheduled to be part of the match, hinting at a very anticipated Aguayo vs. Místico match that had been building for a while. In the weeks leading up to the first cibernetico Perro Aguayo Jr. was injured and had to pull out of the match, he was replaced by fellow Los Perros del Mal member Mr. Águila, who'd go on to win the qualifier over Negro Casas, El Felino, Tarzan Boy, Mephisto, Máximo, Alex Koslov, Stuka Jr., Volador Jr. and Mictlán. On May 25, 2007 El Sagrado qualified for his first ever Leyenda semi-final as he outlasted Averno, Ephesto, virus, El Texano Jr., Leono, Loco Max, Valiente, Heavy Metal and BlacK Warrior.[25] On June 1, 2007 Mr. Águila defeated El Sagrado to earn a spot in the final.[25] On June 8, 2007 Místico became the first wrestler to not only win the tournament twice but also in back to back years as he defeated Mr. Águila. Following his victory Perro Aguayo Jr. attacked Místico furthering the storyline between the top tecnico and top rudo of the promotion.[3][11][17][26]
After a two-year hiatus the Leyenda de Plata tournament returned in late 2013 with two qualifying Torneo ciberneticos and a final match between each elimination match winner. The first match took place on December 20, 2013, as part of CMLL's Super Viernes show and was won by Titán. The second torneo was won by Negro Casas a week later. On January 3, Casas defeated Titán to win the tournament.[14]
The 2016 Leyenda de Plata (Spanish for "Silver Legend") was anannual professional wrestling tournament held by the Mexican Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre ("World Wrestling Council" in English; CMLL) that is slated to start on July 15, 2016. The Leyenda de Plata tournament honors lucha libre legend El Santo and has been held on an almost-annual schedule since 1998. The tournament consists of a torneo cibernetico elimination match as the first round and the winner of that match would face the previous' year's winner in the finals. For the 2016 tournament CMLL originally announced that the 2015 tournament winner, Negro Casas, was part of the initial field, but later replaced him with Dragon Lee to keep the original format intact.
The torneo cibernetic competitors included: Bárbaro Cavernario, Dragon Lee, Guerrero Maya Jr., La Máscara, Mephisto, Místico, the Panther, Ripper, Titán, Tritón, Virus and Volador Jr.[36] During the final moments of the torneo cibernetico La Máscara applied the La Campana submission hold on Dragon Lee, when Lee's older brother Rush ran to the ring and attacked La Máscara to cause a disqualification. After the match, Dragon Lee challenged La Máscara to a Lucha de Apuestas match, but La Máscara did not accept the match at the time. After the challenge, La Máscara attacked Dragon Lee and stole Dragon Lee's mask.[36][37][38] The following week La Máscara defeated Negro Casas after interference from Casas' corner man Tiger hit Casas instead.[1]