El Protector is an annual lucha libre tournament held by the Mexican professional wrestling promotion International Wrestling Revolution Group (IWRG) in January of each year. The El Protector tournament started in 2012 but was preceded in 2010 and 2011 by the Torneo Relampago de Proyeccion a Nuevas Promesas de la Lucha Libre ("Projecting a new promise lightning tournament"), a tournament with the same format and concept. The concept of the tournament is to team a young up-and-comer with a veteran and use the tournament to help showcase the younger talent, the young winner is often someone IWRG has plans for, although at times it has not always had the desired result. The tournament has always been held in Arena Naucalpan in Naucalpan, State of Mexico , the main arena of IWRG. A total of 66 different wrestlers have competed in the seven tournaments held so far with Veneno being the only wrestler to compete in all seven. Alan Extreme , Eterno and Trauma I are the only three wrestlers to compete both as a rookie and as a veteran in the tournament. X-Fly is the only wrestler to win the tournament twice, winning the 2012 tournament and the 2013 tournament as a veteran.
List of El Protector winners
edit
Year
Winners
Date
Note
Rookie
Veteran
2010
El Hijo del Signo
Dr. Cerebro
January 1, 2010
[ 1]
2011
Comando Negro
Scorpio, Jr.
January 13, 2011
[ 2]
2012
Imposible
X-Fly
January 12, 2012
[ 3]
2013
Carta Brava, Jr.
X-Fly (2)
January 17, 2013
[ 4]
2014
Electro Boy
Super Nova
February 2, 2014
[ 5]
2015
Metaleon
Negro Navarro
February 15, 2015
[ 6]
2016
Atomic Star
Herodes Jr.
January 31, 2016
[ 7]
2017
Diablo Jr.
Negro Navarro
February 19, 2017
[ 8]
2018
Villano V Jr.
Rokambole Jr.
February 25, 2018
[ 9]
Dates, venues and main events
edit
Event
Date
Venue
City
Main event
2010
January 1, 2010
Arena Naucalpan
Naucalpan, State of Mexico
El Hijo del Signo and Dr. Cerebro vs. Comando Negro and Oficial 911 – 2010 Proyeccion a Nuevas Promesas tournament final
[ 1]
2011
January 13, 2011
Arena Naucalpan
Naucalpan, State of Mexico
Comando Negro and Scorpio, Jr. vs. Multifacetico IV and Trauma I – 2011 Proyeccion a Nuevas Promesas tournament final
[ 2]
2012
January 12, 2012
Arena Naucalpan
Naucalpan, State of Mexico
Imposible and X-Fly vs. Centvrión and Negro Navarro – 2012 El Protector tournament final
[ 3]
2013
January 17, 2013
Arena Naucalpan
Naucalpan, State of Mexico
Carta Brava, Jr. and X-Fly vs. Eita and Negro Navarro – 2013 El Protector tournament final
[ 4]
2014
February 2, 2014
Arena Naucalpan
Naucalpan, State of Mexico
Electro Boy and Súper Nova vs. Atomic Star and Eterno – 2014 El Protector tournament final
[ 5]
2015
February 15, 2015
Arena Naucalpan
Naucalpan, State of Mexico
Chicano and Danny Casas defended the IWRG Intercontinental Tag Team Championship against Los Primos Dinamita (Hijo de Máscara Año 2000 and Universo 2000 Jr. )
[ 6]
2016
January 31, 2016
Arena Naucalpan
Naucalpan, State of Mexico
Atomic Star and Herodes Jr. vs. Dragón Fly and El Hijo de Dos Caras - 2016 El Protector tournament final
[ 7]
2017
February 19, 2017
Arena Naucalpan
Naucalpan, State of Mexico
Imposible and Black Terry vs. Demonio Infernal and Negro Navarro - 2017 El Protector tournament final
[ 8]
2018
February 25, 2018
Arena Naucalpan
Naucalpan, State of Mexico
Villano V Jr. and Rokambole Jr. vs. Ram El Carnero and Trauma I - 2018 El Protector tournament final
[ 9]
^ a b Ruiz Glez, Alex (January 1, 2010). "IWRG (1 de enero 2010): Torneo relámpago "Proyección a nuevas promesas de la lucha libre" " . Súper Luchas Magazine (in Spanish). Archived from the original on February 22, 2013. Retrieved January 23, 2013 .
^ a b Reyes Ruiz, Eduardo (January 13, 2011). "Scorpio Jr y Comando Negro se llevan el Torneo de Proyección a Nuevas Promesas" . Estrellas del Ring (in Spanish). Retrieved January 27, 2013 .
^ a b "IWRG (Resultados 12 de enero): "El Protector" fue para X-Fly e Imposible" . Súper Luchas Magazine. Retrieved January 13, 2012 .
^ a b "Carta Brava júnior y X-Fly, ganadores del Protector 2013" . The Gladiatores (in Spanish). January 18, 2013. Retrieved January 24, 2013 .
^ a b Lázaro Rodríguez, José (February 3, 2014). "Súper Nova y Electro Boy, ganadores del Protector 2014" . The Gladiatores (in Spanish). Retrieved February 4, 2014 .
^ a b Mejía Eguiluz, Diego (February 16, 2015). "Chicano y Dany Casas, firmes en el trono de parejas" . The Gladiatores (in Spanish). Retrieved August 3, 2015 .
^ a b Mejía Eguiluz, Diego (February 1, 2016). "Atomic Star y Herodes Jr. se llevaron el Protector" . The Gladiatores (in Spanish). Retrieved February 1, 2016 .
^ a b Lazaro Rodriguez, Jose (February 20, 2017). "Diablo Jr. I y Black Terry ganan El Protector 2017" . The Gladiatores (in Spanish). Retrieved October 7, 2018 .
^ a b Lizarraga, Alfonso (February 26, 2018). "Los Warrior tienen retadores al campeonato intercontinental de parejas" . The Gladiatores (in Spanish). Retrieved September 22, 2018 .