Mexican National Middleweight Championship

The Mexican National Middleweight Championship (Campeonato Nacional de Peso Medio) is a professional wrestling championship controlled by the Comisión de Box y Lucha Libre Mexico D.F. (Mexico City Boxing and Wrestling Commission). The official weight definition of the middleweight division in Mexico is from 82 to 87 kg (181 to 192 lb).^[a] The championship was created in 1933 and was promoted regularly until December 8, 2008. Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre (EMLL) had control of the championship from its creation until 1992,^[b] at which point it was transferred to Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (AAA).^[c] The championship's history between 1933 and 1937 is only partially known; for some periods it is unclear who held the championship. The first champion was Yaqui Joe; records of the identity of his opponent for the championship are unclear. In early 2009, AAA stopped promoting all Mexican National Championships, opting to focus on its AAA-branded championships instead.^[2] In 2021, the championship was reactivated by Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre, with Templario defeating Dragón Rojo Jr. to win the vacant title.^[3]

Mexican National Middleweight Championship
Details
Promotion	Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre (1933–1992) Asistencia Asesoría y Administración/AAA (1991–2008) Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (2021–present)
Date established	1933
Current champion(s)	Guerrero Maya, Jr.
Date won	June 2, 2023
Statistics First champion(s) Yaqui Joe Most reigns El Santo, Octagón (4 reigns) Longest reign El Santo (1,758 days, disputed) Shortest reign Perro Aguayo (11 days)

There have been at least 63 championship reigns, and 38 wrestlers have held the championship. El Santo and Octagón both held it four times, the most for any wrestler. The longest confirmed reign belongs to El Santo. His third reign lasted 1,758 days from May 31, 1956, to March 24, 1961.^[d] The shortest reign lasted 11 days; Perro Aguayo held it from February 28 to March 11, 1977. As with all professional wrestling championships, matches for the Mexican National Tag Team Championship were not won or lost competitively but by a pre-planned ending to the match, the outcome of which was determined by the CMLL bookers and match makers.^[e] Occasionally, organizers of a promotion declared the championship vacant, which meant there was no champion for a period. This was either due to a storyline,^[f] or real-life problems such as an injured champion being unable to defend the championship^[g] or they had left the company.^[h] All title matches took place under two out of three falls rules.^[i]

Title history

Key

No.	Overall reign number
Reign	Reign number for the specific champion
Days	Number of days held
N/A	Unknown information
(NLT)	Championship change took place "no later than" the date listed

No.	Champion	Championship change			Reign statistics		Notes	Ref.
		Date	Event	Location	Reign	Days
	Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre
1	Yaqui Joe	1933	Live event	N/A	1	N/A
	Championship history is unrecorded from 1933 to 1937.
2	Octavio Gaona	February 6, 1938	Live event	Mexico City	1	208	Defeated Black Guzmán
3	Firpo Segura	September 2, 1938	Live event	Mexico City	1	N/A
4	Octavio Gaona	January 1, 19391938/1939	Live event	N/A	2	N/A
5	Tarzán López	February 9, 1939	Live event	Mexico City	1	823
6	Black Guzmán	May 12, 1941	Live event	Mexico City	1	218
—	Vacated	December 16, 1941	—	—	—	—	Championship vacated after Guzman won the NWA World Middleweight Championship, defeating Tarzán López in Mexico City
7	Murciélago Velázquez	May 24, 1942	Live event	Mexico City	1	299	Defeated Octavio Gaona to win the championship
8	El Santo	March 19, 1943	Live event	Mexico City	1	84
9	Bobby Bonales	June 11, 1943	Live event	Mexico City	1	119		[9]
10	El Santo	October 8, 1943	Live event	Mexico City	2	176
11	Tarzán López	April 1, 1944	Live event	Mexico City	2	7
—	Vacated	April 8, 1944	—	—	—	—	Vacated the championship as he already held the NWA World Middleweight Championship
12	El Santo	May 31, 1944	Live event	Mexico City	3	366	Defeated Tuffy Truesdale to win the vacant championship
13	Bobby Bonales	June 1, 1945	Live event	Mexico City	2	116
14	Gory Guerrero	September 25, 1945	EMLL 12th Anniversary Show	Mexico City	1	151		[10]
—	Vacated	February 23, 1946	—	—	—	—	Championship vacated after Guerrero won the NWA World Middleweight Championship
15	Tarzán López	April 12, 1946	Live event	N/A	3	11
—	Vacated	April 23, 1946	—	—	—	—	López won the NWA World Middleweight Championship
16	El Santo	May 31, 1956	Live event	Mexico City	4	1,758
17	Karloff Lagarde	March 24, 1961	Live event	Pachuca	1	826	Won a tournament for the vacant championship
18	El Santo	June 28, 1963	Live event	Mexico City	5	1,455
19	René Guajardo	June 22, 1967	Live event	Mexico City	1	37
—	Vacated	July 29, 1967	—	—	—	—
20	Karloff Lagarde	December 15, 1967	Live event	Mexico City	2	72
21	Humberto Gárza	February 25, 1968	Live event	Monterrey, Nuevo León	2	238
22	Alberto Muñoz	October 20, 1968	Live event	Guadalajara, Jalisco	1	396
23	Rene Guajardo	November 20, 1969	Live event	Aguascalientes, Aguascalientes	2	174
24	Humberto Gárza	May 13, 1970	Live event	Monterrey, Nuevo León	2	328
25	Ciclón Veloz Jr.	April 6, 1971	Live event	Monterrey, Nuevo León	1	983
26	Adorable Rubí	December 14, 1973	Live event	Mexico City	1	196
27	Aníbal	June 28, 1974	Live event	Mexico City	1	84
—	Vacated	September 20, 1974	—	—	—	—	Anibal won the NWA World Middleweight Championship
28	Ringo Mendoza	November 29, 1974	Live event	Mexico City	1	812	Won a tournament for the vacant championship
29	Perro Aguayo	February 18, 1977	Live event	Mexico City	1	21
—	Vacated	March 11, 1977	—	—	—	—	Championship vacated after Perro Aguayo won the NWA World Middleweight Championship, defeating El Faraón in Mexico City
30	José Luis Mendieta	April 15, 1977	Live event	Mexico City	1	218
31	Sangre Chicana	November 19, 1977	Live event	Mexico City	1	467-497
—	Vacated	March 1979	—	—	—	—	Championship vacated for undocumented reasons
32	Cachorro Mendoza	June 8, 1979	Live event	Mexico City	1	133
33	El Satánico	October 19, 1979	Live event	Mexico City	1	231
34	Ringo Mendoza	June 6, 1980	Live event	Mexico City	2	182
35	El Faraón	December 5, 1980	Live event	Mexico City	1	N/A
—	Vacated	1980/1981	—	—	—	—	Championship vacated for undocumented reasons
36	El Solar	May 29, 1981	Live event	Mexico City	1	147	Defeated Cachorro Mendoza
37	El Satánico	October 23, 1981	Live event	Mexico City	2	119
38	Lizmark	February 19, 1982	Live event	Mexico City	1	377
39	Espectro Jr. (II)	March 3, 1983	Live event	Cuernavaca, Morelos	1	86		[11]
40	Lizmark	May 28, 1983	Live event	Puebla, Puebla	2	6
—	Vacated	June 3, 1983	—	—	—	—	Championship vacated when Lizmark won the NWA World Middleweight Championship
41	Ultraman	August 12, 1983	Live event	Mexico City	1	205	Defeated Águila Solitaria in a tournament final
42	Jerry Estrada	March 4, 1984	Live event	Mexico City	1	271
43	Atlantis	November 30, 1984	Live event	Mexico City	1	457
44	El Talismán	March 2, 1986	Live event	Mexico City	1	273
45	Mogur	November 30, 1986	Live event	Mexico City	1	427
46	El Satánico	January 31, 1988	Live event	Mexico City	3	N/A
47	El Dandy	1989	Live event	Mexico City	1	N/A
48	Javier Cruz	July 26, 1990	Live event	Cuernavaca, Morelos	1	35
49	Emilio Charles Jr.	August 30, 1990	Live event	Cuernavaca, Morelos	1	82
50	Octagón	November 20, 1990	Live event	Mexico City	1	612
	Asistencia Asesoría y Administración/AAA
51	Blue Panther	July 24, 1992	Live event	León, Guanajuato	1	665
52	Octagón	April 30, 1994	AAA Show	Veracruz, Veracruz	2	27
53	Blue Panther	May 27, 1994	AAA Show	Tijuana, Baja California	2	609	Awarded the title by default when Octagón was unable to defend it because of injury
54	El Hijo del Santo	January 26, 1996	AAA Show	Tijuana, Baja California	1	233
55	Fuerza Guerrera	September 15, 1996	AAA Show	Saltillo, Coahuila	1	867
56	Octagón	January 29, 1997	AAA Show	Naucalpan, State of Mexico	3	58
57	Pentagón (II)	March 28, 1997	AAA Show	Nezahualcóyotl, State of Mexico	1	417
58	Abismo Negro	May 19, 1998	AAA Show	Tlalnepantla de Baz	1	253
59	Espectro Jr. (II)	January 27, 1999	AAA Show	Ecatepec de Morelos, State of Mexico	2	141
60	Máscara Sagrada Jr.	June 17, 1999	AAA Show	Toluca, State of Mexico	1	21
61	Espectro Jr. (II)	July 8, 1999	AAA Show	Toluca, State of Mexico	3	659
62	Pimpinela Escarlata	April 27, 2001	AAA Show	Querétaro, Querétaro	1	473
63	Psicosis II	August 13, 2002	AAA Show	Huamantla, Tlaxcala	1	1,086
—	Vacated	August 3, 2005	—	—	—	—	Psicosis was stripped of the title for defending the title in a hardcore match against Histeria.	[12]
64	Zumbido	January 29, 2006	AAA Show	Salamanca, Guanajuato	1	167	Defeated Histeria in a tournament final to win the championship.	[13]
65	Octagón	July 15, 2006	AAA Show	Torreón, Coahuila	4	877		[14]
—	Deactivated	December 8, 2008	—	—	—	—	AAA stopped using all of the Mexican National championships around this time, focusing on AAA-branded championships instead.
	Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre
66	Templario	September 24, 2021	Aniversario 88	Mexico City	1	616	In 2021, CMLL (formerly Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre; EMLL) reactivated the title. Templario defeated Dragón Rojo Jr. to win the vacant title.
67	Guerrero Maya, Jr.	June 2, 2023	Super Viernes	Mexico City	1	541+	Guerrero Maya, Jr. defeated Rugido to win the vacant title.

List of championship reigns by combined length

Championships without a specific start or end date are not included as it is not possible to calculate the specific number of dates for a reign.

Rank	Wrestler	# Of Reigns	Combined Days
1	El Santo	5	3,839 ¤
2	Lizmark	1	2,204
3	Octagón	4	1,574
4	Blue Panther	2	1,274
5	Psicosis (II)	1	1,086
6	Ringo Mendoza	2	1,004
7	Ciclón Veloz Jr.	1	983
8	Espectro Jr. (II)	3	886
9	Fuerza Guerrera	1	867
10	Karloff Lagarde	1	826
11	Tarzán López	1	823
12	Alberto Muñoz	1	621
13	Octavio Gaona	1	573
14	Pimpinela Escarlata	1	473
15	Atlantis	1	457
16	René Guajardo	2	435
17	Mogur	1	427
18	Pentagón (II)	1	417
19	Satánico	2	350
20	Humberto Gárza	1	328
21	Murciélago Velázquez	1	299
22	Talismán	1	273
23	Jerry Estrada	1	271
24	Abismo Negro	1	253
25	El Hijo del Santo	1	233
26	José Luis Mendieta	1	219
27	Black Guzmán	1	218
28	Ultraman	1	205
29	Adorable Rubí	1	196
30	Zumbido	1	167
31	Aníbal	1	154
32	El Solar	1	147
33	Cachorro Mendoza	1	133
34	Emilio Charles Jr.	1	82
35	Javier Cruz	1	35
36	Templario	1	1,157+
37	Máscara Sagrada Jr.	1	21
38	Perro Aguayo	1	11

Championship tournaments

1977

Perro Aguayo won the NWA World Middleweight Championship on March 11, 1977, while being the reigning Mexican National Middleweight Champion. As a result, Aguayo relinquished the Mexican National title so that the EMLL could hold an eight-man tournament to determine the next champion. The first round was held on March 25, the semi-finals on April 8 and the tournament's finals on April 15. In the finals, Jose Luis Mendieta defeated Rubí Ruvalcaba to win the championship.

March 25

April 8

April 15

1

Demonio Blanco

W

8

As Charro

[15]

Demonio Blanco

[16]

Jose Luis Mendieta

W

4

Jose Luis Mendieta

W

5

Spirit

[15]

Jose Luis Mendieta

W

Rubí Ruvalcaba

[17]

2

Rubí Ruvalcaba

W

7

Tony Salazar

[15]

Rubí Ruvalcaba

W

El Faraón

[16]

3

El Faraón

W

6

Ringo Mendoza

[15]

2005–2006

The tournament ran from October 14, 2005 – January 9, 2006. Records are unclear as to who Histeria and Psicosis II defeated to qualify for the semi-finals.^[18]

First Round

Second Round

Semi-Final

Finals

1

El Ángel

W

16

Gran Apache

L

El Ángel

L

El Hijo del Fantasma

W

8

El Hijo del Fantasma

W

9

Hator

L

El Hijo del Fantasma

L

Zumbido

W

5

Audaz II Jr.

L

12

Charly Manson

W

Charly Manson

L

Zumbido

W

4

El Oriental

L

13

Zumbido

W

Zumbido

W

Psicosis II

L

6

bye

n/a

11

bye

n/a

bye

n/a

bye

n/a

3

bye

n/a

14

bye

n/a

Histeria

L

Psicosis II

W

7

bye

n/a

10

bye

n/a

bye

n/a

bye

n/a

2

bye

n/a

15

bye

n/a

Footnotes

1. Comisión de Box y Lucha Libre (2001): "Articulo 242: Super Welter 82 kilos / Medio 87 kilos" ("Article 242: Super Welter 82 kilos / Middleweight 87 kilos")^[1]
2. EMLL was renamed Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) in late 1991
3. In this, "control" refers to the everyday use of the title, determination of storylines in which the title is being used, selection of wrestlers who challenge the title, and use the championship's name for public relations.
4. Due to gaps in the title's history, it is not clear if there was a longer reign.
5. 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."^[4]
6. 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"^[5]
7. 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"^[6]
8. Duncan & Will (2000) p. 201, Chapter: (Memphis, Nashville) Memphis: USWA Tag Team Title "Vacant on 93/01/18 when Spike leaves the USWA."^[7]
9. Comisión de Box y Lucha Libre p. 44 "Articulo 258.- Cada combate de lucha libre tendrá como limite tres caídas; cada caída será sin limite de tiempo, ganará quien obtenga dos caídas de las tres en disputa" ("Article 258.- Each wrestling match shall have as limit three falls; Each fall will be without time limit. The winner will be the one to first obtain two of the three falls in the match")^[8]

References

• Duncan, Royal; Will, Gary (2000). "Mexico: National Middleweight Championship". Wrestling Title Histories. Archeus Communications. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
• "Los Reyes de Mexico: La Historia de Los Campeonatos Nacionales". Lucha 2000 (in Spanish). 2004-12-20. Especial 21.
• 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. ISBN 978-1-61321-808-2.

1. Rojas, Arturo Montiel (August 30, 2001). "Reglamento de Box y Lucha Libre Professional del Estado de Mexico" (PDF) (in Spanish). Comisión de Box y Lucha Libre Mexico D.F. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 30, 2006. Retrieved April 3, 2009.
2. "¿AAA dejará de contar campeonatos de terceros?" [Will AAA stop recognizing third-party championships?]. SuperLuchas (in Spanish). Archived from the original on February 24, 2019. Retrieved February 22, 2009.
3. thecubsfan (September 25, 2021). "CMLL 88TH ANNIVERSARY: La Jarochita & Lluvia vs. Dark Silueta & Reyna Isis". POST Wrestling. Retrieved October 18, 2021.
4. Hornbaker 2016, p. 550.
5. Duncan & Will 2000, p. 271.
6. Duncan & Will 2000, p. 20.
7. Duncan & Will 2000, p. 201.
8. Arturo Montiel Rojas (August 30, 2001). "Reglamento de Box y Lucha Libre Professional del Estado de Mexico" (PDF) (in Spanish). Comisión de Box y Lucha Libre Mexico D.F. p. 24. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 30, 2006. Retrieved April 3, 2009.
9. Hoops, Brian (June 1, 2015). "On this day in pro wrestling history (June 1): Rogers beats Gomez, Gordman & Goliath, Baba loses PWF Title, Flair Vs. KVE, Lawler Vs. Son, Undertaker Vs. Edge". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Archived from the original on February 13, 2017. Retrieved February 11, 2017.
10. Ruiz Glez, Alex (September 7, 2010). "CMLL: 79 historias, 79 Aniversario, las 79 luchas estelares". SuperLuchas (in Spanish). Archived from the original on July 1, 2015. Retrieved October 20, 2012.
11. Hoops, Brian (March 3, 2019). "Daily pro wrestling history (03/03): Sting wins TNA World Title". Figure Four Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Archived from the original on March 6, 2019. Retrieved March 3, 2019.
12. "2005 Lo Mejor de la Lucha Mexicana". SuperLuchas (in Spanish). January 3, 2006. issue 140.
13. "Lo Mejor de la Lucha Libre Mexicana duranted el 2006". SuperLuchas (in Spanish). December 23, 2006. issue 192. Archived from the original on November 8, 2020. Retrieved May 19, 2020.
14. "2007 Lo Mejor de la Lucha Mexicana". SuperLuchas (in Spanish). December 26, 2007. issue 244. Archived from the original on December 27, 2007. Retrieved May 19, 2020.
15. "EMLL Super Viernes". CageMatch. March 25, 1977. Archived from the original on November 8, 2020. Retrieved August 20, 2020.
16. "EMLL Super Viernes". CageMatch. April 8, 1977. Archived from the original on November 8, 2020. Retrieved August 20, 2020.
17. "EMLL Super Viernes". CageMatch. April 15, 1977. Archived from the original on November 8, 2020. Retrieved August 20, 2020.
18. "AAA Title Tournaments". Pro Wrestling History. Archived from the original on 2007-09-22. Retrieved 2007-10-15.