"lucha libre" has a tradition for a tournament where a rookie, or "novato", would be teamed up with an experienced veteran wrestler for a tag team tournament in the hopes of giving the "novato" a chance to show case their talent and move up the ranks. consejo mundial de lucha libre has held a "torneo gran alternativa" ("great alternative tournament") almost every year since 1994, but the concept predates the creation of the "gran alternativa". the mexican professional wrestling company international wrestling revolution group (iwrg; at times referred to as "grupo internacional revolución" in mexico) started their own annual rookie/veteran tournament in 2010. the first two tournaments were called "torneo relampago de proyeccion a nuevas promesas de la lucha libre" (spanish for "projecting a new promise lightning tournament") but would be renamed the "el protector" tournament in 2012. the "proyeccion a nuevas promesas" shows, as well as the majority of the iwrg shows in general, are held in "arena naucalpan", owned by the promoters of iwrg and their main arena. the 2010 "proyeccion a nuevas promesas" show was the first time that iwrg promoted a show around the rookie/veteran tournament, with the name changing to "el protector" in 2012 and onwards.