Starting as far back as at least 1997, the Mexican wrestling promotion International Wrestling Revolution Group has held several annual events where the main event was a multi-man steel cage match where the last wrestler left in the cage would be forced to either remove their wrestling mask or have their hair shaved off under Luchas de Apuestas, or "bet match", rules. In late 2000 IWRG promoted a variation of the steel cage match under the moniker Prisión Fatal, the first such event to ever bear the name. The Prisión Fatal name would not officially be used for 12 years before the 2012 Prisión Fatal show and then used at intermittent times over the subsequent years, some times twice a year, other time not having a Prisión Fatal show at all. The Prisión Fatal match often has the added stipulation that each competitor is chained by the wrist to the cage with a long steel chain and to escape they fight have to get a key to unlock their chain before they are able to climb out of the cage. The added chain helps to distinguish it from other Steel cage matches held throughout the year such as the IWRG Guerra del Golfo, IWRG Guerra de Sexos or IWRG El Castillo del Terror shows. The Prisión Fatal 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. So far IWRG has promoted a Prisión Fatal show a total of five times. A total of 33 wrestlers have competed in a Prisión Fatal match, with only Dr. Cerebro, Oficial Factor, El Hijo de Pirata Morgan and X-Fly have competed in multiple Prisión Fatal matches and X-Fly being the only wrestler to lose two such matches. Factor competed in the 2000 version of the Prisión Fatal show as Súper Mega and later on as Oficial Factor. Rody and Oficial Factor are the only wrestlers to be forced to unmask while Pirata Morgan, X-Fly and Alan Extreme have had their hair shaved off as a result of the match. The six Prisión Fatal shows have hosted more than 27 matches in total, including 4 championship matches. The IWRG Intercontinental Welterweight Championship, IWRG Intercontinental Middleweight Championship and Distrito Federal Trios Championship were all successfully defended while the AIWA Argentinean National Cruiserweight Championship changed hands on the August 2014 version of the Prisión Fatal show.
