Infierno en el Ring is the name of an annual professional wrestling super show or pay-per-view (PPV) event held by the Mexican professional wrestling promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) since 2008. The term Infierno en el Ring is also the "brand name" used by CMLL for a multi-man steel cage match where the last man in the cage is either forced to unmask or have his hair shaved off. Before 2008 the Infierno en el Ring match was the main event of other shows such as the Entre Torre Infernal show in 2000 and the CMLL 74th Anniversary Show in 2007. 19 matches have taken place so far with the most recent being the 2016 Infierno en el Ring, which took place on December 25, 2016.
Match type
The Infierno en el Ring match is a steel cage match where all the competitors are locked in the cage during the match. After a certain time interval, between three and eight minutes traditionally, the wrestlers are allowed to escape the cage by climbing over the top and to the floor. The last two wrestlers remaining in the cage then wrestled against each other under Lucha de Apuestas (bet match) rules inside the steel cage. Whoever loses the match is forced to either unmask or have their hair shaved off per Lucha Libre traditions.
History
The very first Infierno en el Ring was actually promoted as Torre Infernal, Spanish for "Infernal Tower" and was the main event of CMLL's Entre Torre Infernal ("In the Infernal Tower") pay-per-view (PPV) and featured four wrestlers who all put their hair on the line in the match. Máscara Año 2000 lost when Perro Aguayo pinned him. Subsequently, CMLL began promoting all multi-man Steel cage matches that had Lucha de Apuesta (bet match) rules as Infierno en el Ring. CMLL would use the Infierno en el Ring concept the following year as the main event of the CMLL 69th Anniversary Show where 7 wrestlers risked either their hair or their mask on the outcome of the match. In addition the winning side would earn the rights to the name Los Infernales as well. So far the match at the 69th Anniversary Show is the only match to feature a mixture of hair or masks being bet as well as an additional stipulation. In the end El Satánico pinned Máscara Mágica, forcing him to unmask as well as earning his team the rights to be known as Los Infernales.
The next Infierno en el Ring match took place three years after the Anniversary event, on July 18, 2004 and featured six unmasked, main event level wrestlers risking their hair. The finals came down to Perro Aguayo Jr. and his mentor Negro Casas and saw Aguayo Jr. betray Casas, leaving his mentor to have his hair shaved off after the match. This turn was the catalyst to Perro Aguayo Jr. forming the Perros del Mal stable. CMLL repeated the event the following year on June 17 as the main event of a CMLL Super Viernes show. The match featured 9 men in total as the storyline between Los Perros del Mal and other CMLL rudos (bad guys) heated up, with CMLL's top fan favorite Místico added to the match. In the end Damián 666 escaped the cage, leaving Máscara Magica to lose his second Infierno en el Ring match and had his hair shaved off.
The 2006 Infierno en el Ring match was the first to carry the stipulation that the last two wrestlers would have to wrestle in a regular match instead of escaping the cage. The match took place on July 14, 2006 and featured only masked wrestlers, mainly mid-card level wrestlers all risking their masks in the match. In the end the young Misterioso II defeated the experienced Pantera to unmask him.
The Infierno en el Ring concept was used instead of the traditional big singles match CMLL usually books for their Anniversary shows as they booked an eight-man Infierno en el Ring match as the main event of the CMLL 74th Anniversary Show in 2007. The main event saw all eight men put their masks on the line in the cage, ending with Blue Panther pinning Lizmark Jr. to win the match. The following year CMLL introduced an event called Infierno en el Ring, dedicating an entire event to the cage match. That year's cage match saw 10 wrestlers risk their hair in the match. The finals saw El Texano Jr. defeat Heavy Metal, costing him all his hair.