''La Copa Junior'' (2012) (Spanish for "The Junior Cup") was a

professional wrestling Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

tournament produced and scripted by the Mexican wrestling promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLLl; Spanish "World Wrestling Council"). The tournament ran from November 30, 2012 to December 14, 2012, in

Arena México Arena México is an indoor arena in Mexico City, Mexico, located in the Colonia Doctores neighborhood in the Cuauhtémoc borough. The arena is primarily used for professional wrestling, or ''lucha libre'', shows promoted by Consejo Mundial de Luc ...

in Mexico City, Mexico. CMLL's recurring ''

La Copa Junior The Mexican professional wrestling promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) has held the La Copa Junior ("The Junior Cup") tournament on an infrequent schedule since 1996. The tournament pays respect to the fact that wrestling is a family ...

'' tournament featured second, third or fourth generation wrestlers completing against each other. The 2012 version of the ''La Copa Junior'' was the fifth tournament held by CMLL. For the 2012 ''La Copa Junior'' tournament, CMLL chose to hold two qualifying 10-man ''

torneo cibernetico A ''torneo cibernetico'' is a multi-man professional wrestling elimination match that was created and primarily used in Mexican ''lucha libre'' professional wrestling promotions, especially in Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL). The match format ...

'' elimination matches to determine the finalists.

La Sombra La Sombra de Chicago or La Sombra de Tony Guerrero or even the Windy City Boys is a Tejano band founded by Tony Guerrero. Originally from the Chicago suburb of Aurora, Illinois, the group gained national acclaim and success after moving to Corp ...

won Block A by lastly eliminating Volador Jr., while

Tama Tonga Alipate Aloisio Leone (born October 15, 1982) is a Tongan-American professional wrestler better known by the ring name Tama Tonga (タマ・トンガ　''Tama Tonga''). He is currently signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). He is also known a ...

won Block B by eliminating Shocker to qualify for the finals. The finals of the tournament was the main event of the 2012 ''

Sin Piedad ''Sin Piedad'' (Spanish for "No Mercy" or "No Pity", not to be confused with a similarly-titled series of PPV's hosted by WWE) is the collective name of a series of annual '' lucha libre'', or professional wrestling major show promoted by Mexican ...

supercard In sports, a card lists the matches taking place in a title match combat-sport event. Cards include a main event match and the undercard listing the rest of the matches. The undercard may be divided into a midcard and a lower card, according to ...

show and was won by La Sombra, two falls to one.

Production

Background

Starting in 1996 the Mexican professional wrestling promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre ("World Wrestling Council"; CMLL) held their first ever ''

'' 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. 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. The original ''La Copa Junior'' was won by

Héctor Garza Héctor Solano Segura (June 12, 1969 – May 26, 2013) was a Mexican professional wrestler, better known by the ring name Héctor Garza. During his career he worked for various major Mexican professional wrestling promotions such as Consejo Mu ...

. CMLL would not hold another ''La Copa Junior'' until the 2005 tournament (won by Shocker), followed by a 2006 tournament won by

Dos Caras Jr. José Alberto Rodríguez Chucuan (born 25 May 1977) is a Mexican-American professional wrestler, professional wrestling promoter, sports commentator, and mixed martial artist, currently signed to the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) as a c ...

The tournament did not return until 2010 where Dragón Rojo Jr. won the 2010 version. In 2012 third-generation ''luchador''

won the Junior cup In 2014, CMLL held two ''La Copa Junior'' tournaments, first a

tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

on January 1, won by Super Halcón Jr., followed by a VIP tournament, featuring higher card wrestlers than the usual tournaments, which was won by Máximo The semi-regular tournament returned in

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

, won by

Esfinge Esfinge (born June 14, 1993 in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico) is the ring name of a Mexican ''Lucha libre, Luchador wrestling mask, enmascarado'', or masked professional wrestler, currently working for the Mexican Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CM ...

In 2017,

Soberano Jr. El Soberano or Soberano Jr. (born August 12, 1993 in Torreón, Coahuila, Mexico) is a Mexican ''luchador enmascarado'', or masked professional wrestler currently working for the Mexican professional wrestling promotion Consejo Mundial de Luch ...

won the '' La Copa Junior Nuevos Valores''

Storylines

The tournament featured a number of

professional wrestling matches Many types of wrestling matches, sometimes called "concept" or "gimmick matches" in the jargon of the business, are performed in professional wrestling. Some gimmick matches are more common than others and are often used to advance or conclude a ...

with different wrestlers involved in pre-existing

scripted ''Scripted'' is the debut studio album by American rock band Icon for Hire. It was released on Tooth & Nail Records on August 23, 2011, and went on to break the label's new artist record for albums sold during the first week of release. Back ...

feuds, plots and storylines. Wrestlers were portrayed as either

heels The heel is the prominence at the posterior end of the foot. It is based on the projection of one bone, the calcaneus or heel bone, behind the articulation of the bones of the lower leg. Structure To distribute the compressive forces exert ...

(referred to as ''rudos'' in Mexico, those that portray the "bad guys") or

faces The face is the front of an animal's head that features the eyes, nose and mouth, and through which animals express many of their emotions. The face is crucial for human identity, and damage such as scarring or developmental deformities may affe ...

(''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.

Family relationship

Tournament

CMLL brought the La Copa Junior tournament back in late 2012, holding the tournament spread out over two ''

CMLL Super Viernes CMLL Super Viernes (Spanish for "CMLL Super Friday") is the Mexican professional wrestling promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre's banner event that takes place every Friday in Arena México in Mexico City, Mexico. The shows take place every Fr ...

'' shows and the finals as the main event of the 2012 ''

''. The two qualifying rounds took place on the November 30, 2012 and the Super Viernes December 7, 2012. CMLL decided to change the tournament format for the 2012 version, instead adopting their normal tournament format, with two qualifying ''

'', multi-man elimination matches, with the winner of each match advancing to the finals. Each of the qualifying blocks consisted of 10 second-generation wrestlers for a total of 20 competitors over all, the highest number of competitors in any of the ''La Copa Junior'' tournaments. The first qualifying block was won by

, lastly eliminating his longtime rival Volador Jr. to earn his spot in the finals. The second qualifying block was won by

New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) is a Puroresu, Japanese professional wrestling Professional wrestling promotion, promotion based in Nakano, Tokyo. Founded on January 13, 1972, by Antonio Inoki, the promotion was sold to Yuke's, who later sold it to Bushiroad in 2012. TV ...

(NJPW) representative

as he eliminated Shocker to earn his spot in the finals. The final match was the only match contested under two out of three falls that saw La Sombra defeat Tama Tonga two falls to one to win the 2012 ''La Copa Junior'' tournament.

Order of elimination

Results

November 30

December 7

December 14

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Copa Junior, La 2012 2012 in professional wrestling 2012 in Mexico CMLL La Copa Junior December 2012 events in Mexico