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

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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

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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]

References

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  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ 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.
  3. ^ a b "IWRG (Resultados 12 de enero): "El Protector" fue para X-Fly e Imposible". Súper Luchas Magazine. Retrieved January 13, 2012.
  4. ^ a b "Carta Brava júnior y X-Fly, ganadores del Protector 2013". The Gladiatores (in Spanish). January 18, 2013. Retrieved January 24, 2013.
  5. ^ 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.
  6. ^ 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.
  7. ^ 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.
  8. ^ 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.
  9. ^ a b Lizarraga, Alfonso (February 26, 2018). "Los Warrior tienen retadores al campeonato intercontinental de parejas". The Gladiatores (in Spanish). Retrieved September 22, 2018.
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