The main event of the show was the eponymous Gran Cruzada tournament, a 20-man Battle Royal with the winner earning a championship match for the division he competes in.

In 2011 the Mexican wrestling promotion International Wrestling Revolution Group (IWRG; Sometimes referred to as Grupo Internacional Revolución in Spanish) started to award a championship belt to the winner of their annual Rey del Ring ("King of the Ring") tournament that could be defended between the annual tournaments.

The winner of the Gran Cruzada tournament would become the number one contender for the Rey del Ring Championship with a title match at a later date.

The Gran Cruzada event featured a number of professional wrestling matches with different wrestlers involved in pre-existing scripted feuds, plots and storylines.

Wrestlers portrayed themselves as either heels (referred to as rudos in Mexico, those that portray the "bad guys") or faces (técnicos in Mexico, the "good guy" characters) as they followed a series of tension-building events, which culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.