Starting in 1994 the Mexican professional wrestling promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) created a special tournament concept where they would team up a "novato", or rookie, with a veteran for a single-elimination tag team tournament. The tournament was called "El Torneo Gran Alternativa", or "The Great Alternative Tournament" and became a recurring event on the CMLL calendar. In 1996 and 1999 CMLL held two tournaments, but since then has held one a year at most. CMLL did not hold a "Gran Alternativa" tournament in 1997 and 2000 held on each year from 2001 through 2014, opting not to hold a tournament in 2015. The 2017 "Torneo Gran Alternativa" was the 22nd version of the tournament.