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, shows promoted by the promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL).
- Venue
- Arena México
- Town
- Colonia Doctores, MX
- Capacity
- 16,500
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, shows promoted by the promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL). The building is called the "cathedral of lucha libre mexicana". Arena México has a seating capacity of 16,500 when configured for professional wrestling or boxing events. The current building was completed in 1956, built by Salvador Lutteroth, owner of CMLL at the time and is the largest arena built specifically for wrestling. The building was used as the venue for the boxing competition at the 1968 Summer Olympics, and throughout the last half of the 20th century hosted several large boxing events. The arena also serves as the headquarters for CMLL. The location was originally a general-purpose arena called Arena Modelo. Arena Modelo was built in the 1910s or 1920s for boxing events. By the early 1930s the arena was abandoned until professional wrestling promoter Salvador Lutteroth began promoting wrestling, or Lucha libre events in Arena Modelo on September 21, 1933. For the next ten years it served as the main venue for Lutteroth's promotion Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre (EMLL) until Lutteroth commissioned the construction of Arena Coliseo in Mexico City. After Arena Coliseo opened in 1943, Arena Model served as the location for EMLL's wrestling school. By 1953 even Arena Coliseo was too small for the crowds EMLL's shows were attracting, Lutteroth promised to "build the largest wrestling arena in the world" on the site of Arena Modelo and construction started not long after. Arena México, as it was renamed, stood complete in 1956 and is still the largest arena built specifically for professional wrestling. From 1956 and forward Arena México has been the main venue for EMLL and all of their Anniversary shows. In 1968 it was selected to be the location of the boxing competition at the 1968 Summer Olympics that wa