Brazo de Plata & El Brazo vs. Verdugo & Hombre Bala, hair vs. hair, 11/17/89
This was from the same show as the Pirata Morgan/Oro title match.
It was a simple match that even a guy with a headcold could figure out. It didn't live up to their trios match, and they were happy to walk around doing stuff, but the publico loved it and Hombre Bala continues to be my hero. The finish was cool, as El Brazo went 2 on 1 against the Bucaneros and when he scored the winning fall the crowd
Eddy Guerrero/El Hijo Del Santo vs. Espanto Jr./Jerry Estrada (AAA; 1/31/93)
This opened with a lengthy mat exchange between Santo and Espanto. It wasn't as perfect as I would've liked, but it was an extended mat exchange between two of my favourite luchadores, so I should thank heaven for small mercies. You can turn if off after that, though, because the rest of the match was bad. Bad matches tend to lead to a lot of sweeping generalisations, but I haven't seen a lot of evidence that Eddi
Brazo de Oro vs. Pirata Morgan, NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship, 11/17/89
This was a long match with a slower rhythm than usual. I had to watch it twice to catch all the subtleties, and in the end I decided it was a match I had to think about too much.
Sometimes a slower rhythm is beguiling, but here it was a little too much. As a match, it was like watching the game of human chess. Oro was weary of Morgan's illegal holds, which frustrated Morgan into using illegal holds, unt
El Dandy vs. Javier Llanes, CMLL Middleweight Championship, 3/11/94
This was the toughest thing I've seen in ages... If people think lucha isn't real wrestling, they need to watch this match. Never before have I see two guys wrestle with such ferocity. It takes practice to make this look believable, and an even greater commitment to go out there and do it as a work, and the close-ups of both guys were more than just selling, they showed effort and bloody-minded determination.
In many
Blue Panther vs. Ángel Azteca, Mexican National Middleweight Champion, AAA 9/4/92
It's good to revisit things every once in a while.
This was one of the first lucha tapes I ever bought, and while I could swear the version I had was complete, I could only find a clipped version of this floating around. Obviously that breaks the rhythm of a match, and can make it seem better than it really is, but despite the cut this was vintage Blue Panther.
They only showed the finish to each f
From 9/6/92 TV:
Super Astro/Solar I/Angel Azteca vs. Blue Panther/El Indomito/El Cobarde
This was really good.
It had a lot of stalling to begin with, so you knew you weren't gojng to see a mat classic, but once they locked up we got some good, older style exchanges. I was impressed with Panther as the main rudo. He's not a guy I see as a strong rudo worker, but they were playing to a red hot crowd in Tijuana, and the public were for the technicos like a lucha crowd should be. He
Octagon/Rey Misterio Jr./El Hijo Del Santo vs. Jerry Estrada/Psicosis/Espanto Jr. (AAA; 1/14/94 Tulancingo)
This was another chance to see Santo wrestle Espanto, but despite Espanto having a fucking awesome moustache and the two of them poised to grapple, there was precious little matwork to speak of. Why? Because AAA is the nadir of lucha libre professional wrestling. It's OK if you like flash in the pan stuff, but there's no rhythm to it. They spend an eternity stalling and blow half the
Los Brazos vs. Los Bucaneros (Pirata Morgan/Hombre Bala/El Verdugo), CMLL Oct/Nov 1989
This started off as a joke about Super Porky's gut and ended in a bloody mess.
Porky was feeling it from the start, going through his warm-ups (!) before the bell had even sounded. There's nothing quite as devastating as that man's gut and this time the recipient was Pirata Morgan.
Morgan was lavish with his over-selling and it led to some really great spots where the Bucaneros were afraid of
Blue Panther vs. Averno, Arena Mexico 11/04/08
This was Panther's 30th Anniversary match, so he got to wrestle his kind of match. A lot of grappling and pin attempts and the usual matwork and submissions. It didn't matter that he was without his mask; work-wise he looked like his old self.
I actually watched a handheld of this, which is probably more satisfying than watching it taped. The guy had good seats; a few rows in, with all the action on his side. Great line of sight, especiall
Gran Cochisse vs. Satanico, NWA World Middleweight Championship, Arena Mexico 9/14/84
This is one of the great lucha matches; a "Greco-Roman" classic with a dramatic shift in paradigm from rudo challenger to numero uno.
People often make the mistake of thinking Gran Cochisse was at the end of his career here, but he'd go on to compete for and hold this title for a few more years, as well as capturing the UWA World Junior Light Heavyweight Championship four years later, so he was a form
Eddy, Chavo y Mando Guerrero vs. El Satanico, MS1 y Masakre (8/23/91)
Every time I've seen Chavo Guerrero work Mexico he's been awesome and this was no exception. I'm fairly confident that he could've been one of the great luchadores had his father stayed put.
Here he squared off with Satanico and we were treated to a real arm wrestle between the two. Towards the end they gave a master class in how to work a lucha exchange. I watched it several times to see how skillfully they caught
Los Oficiales vs. Freelance, Pegasso Xtreme, Rey Cometa, 10/9/08
Los Oficiales vs. Freelance, Pegasso Xtreme, Rey Cometa, Distrito Federal Trios Titles, 10/17/08
Some of the best trios wrestling to come out of Mexico this year.
I actually preferred the title match, largely because Los Oficiales are better at mano a mano exchanges than working as a trios. What their "Los Destructores" act lacks are the comeuppance spots, where the double and triple teaming breaks down and they end up
Time to check in on the minis...
Bam Bam vs. Pequeño Damian 666, CMLL World Minis Championship, 7/27/08
Bam Bam vs. Pequeño Damian 666, hair vs. hair, 8/17/08
Y'know, I like Pequeño Damian. He might be a modern sort of rudo, but he looks like the bastard love child of Damián 666, so he's alright.
And he argued with his second in a title match, something I've never seen before. Loco Max was urging him not to take risks, but Damian got sick of Loco opening his trap and kicked hi
Black Terry vs. Negro Navarro, Americas Title, NWA Mexico 11/1/08
This is available in various forms on youtube, including one set to Metallica. None of them are complete, but what's shown is EPIC. I kid you not, this is fucking incredible --
xxhttp://nz.youtube.com/watch?v=tFl5O7MYbWg
xxhttp://nz.youtube.com/watch?v=4Nnt_hetpYA
xxhttp://nz.youtube.com/watch?v=fZcFHAYYoNg
Blue Panther vs. Villano V, Arena Puebla, 9/29/08
Revenge match in front of a pretty small crowd and my first look at Panther without the mask.
It takes a bit of getting used to, and looks a hell of a lot like old man brawling, but like I said Panther was never the greatest brawler. At one point he threw a pretty decent right hand, but it hardly matters since Villano won't bump.
This was a lot stiffer than their mask match, with Villano dishing out some nasty shots and not givin
IWRG 10/3/08
Lucha Azteca La Nueva Era
1. Black Terry, Negro Navarro, Hijo de Pierroth vs. Pendulo, Freelance, Fenix
2. Campeones Vs Campeones:
Escuadron del Muerte: Xibalva, Cyborg, Capitan Muerte vs. Los Oficiales: Oficial 911, Oficial Ak 47, Oficial Fierro
This was closer to the type of lucha I like. Guys taking their time, working the mat and getting into a rhythm. The young guys were balls of nervous energy, ready to explode in a shower of highspots, but even when t
Blue Panther vs. Villano V, mask vs. mask, CMLL 75th Anniversary show 9/19/08
Panther losing wasn't the worst thing in the world. It's happened to plenty of workers. Some of them were big names, some small. Some went on to fame, others never got a doggone thing. But this wasn't a great match. It was the same dumbed down shit that makes it difficult to enjoy pro-wrestling these days. I was hoping for something special, and I got it in Panther's topes, but the rest of the match was bullshit.
El Hijo del Santo vs. Negro Casas, UWA 1/12/92
This is the famous "no sound" match that was wrestled almost completely on the mat. (Well, famous to me.)
The more UWA Santo I see, the more I feel like I'm watching a completely different wrestler. This was the absolute peak of Santo's work and the closest he came to wrestling like his father. It's becoming harder to watch latter day Santo knowing he was once like this. The creativity and inventiveness in this match is staggering, such as
Bestia Salvaje vs. Kato Kung Lee, hair vs. hair, 3/13/92
I can't get over what a good worker Bestia Salvaje was in 1992.
This was a minor match, a veteran losing their hair to continue Bestia's push as a top rudo, but it's hard to imagine anyone getting a better match out of Kato Kung Lee this late in the game.
Without the mask Kato looked like a regular Joe. He reminded me of a bit part actor in an old movie, the kinda guy you could cast as a newspaper man in one film and a heav
Sangre Chicana vs. La Fiera, hair vs. hair, CMLL 7/2/93
Ah, 1993 CMLL.
AAA was doing big business at the time, and if this was CMLL's way of rolling with the punches, I have no idea why they ran such slow, plodding matches.
Not that I'm complaining. Sangre Chicana is just about my favourite wrestler for doing absolutely fucking nothing and getting heat for it. He spent the entire match measuring La Fiera with punches & walking off into the crowd to jaw with the public. He had
Fuerza Guerrera vs. Gallo Tapado, hair vs. hair, 3/8/91
Gallo Tapado was a character wrestler from the 70s whose mask was "a rooster's spur around the eyes and a line crossing the mouth to feign a belt from the charro's hat whom made roosters fight in los palenques, making him an excellent character, since sometimes in the ring [he] jumped joining his ankles like sharping his knives as roosters do in a fight." (Credit: lucha wiki)
He was 48 years old here and practically a 30 year vet,
Pierroth vs. El Supremo, mask vs. mask, 12/08/92
This was a return to greatness for PIERROTH.
I fucking loved this.
-- I should note that the version I watched was letterboxed (which it made it seem like a rare piece of lucha footage) and for some reason the sound quality was better than usual. Arena Mexico never sounded so good.
At some point in 1992, Pierroth turned technico and was a huge hit with the crowd.
Supremo was an older luchador with a classic look -- huge
Pirata Morgan vs. Masakre, hair vs. hair, 2/28/92
When I first saw this match I was in awe of Pirata Morgan.
Like most people I saw it as a big time performance from the best wrestler in the world.
This time I'm not so sure.
As awesome as Pirata was, he could've worked the match with one arm tied behind his back. Watching Los Intocables, it's clear that Masakre lacked focus. When you're facing a guy who isn't a great brawler, you've gotta have him fight. You've gotta make h
1. Los Destructores: Tony Arce/Vulcano/Rocco Valente vs. Love Machine (Art Barr)/America/Mano Negra
Los Destructores were really good in this. It's a bit difficult to tell one from the other, but they worked well as a trios. Plenty of good "routine", particularly their two and three man bumping act. The highlight was Mano Negra taking all three on at once in a beautifully coordinated sequence. Los Destructores have a neat trick they do where they sit on someone's lap to dissuade the techni
1. Los Brazos vs. Pierroth Jr./Masakre/Jaque Mate
This was a rehash of their January match. If you were expecting them to kick on and ratchet it up a notch like I was, you'd be greatly disappointed. There was some amusing stuff, like Masakre and Jaque Mate pin pointing the pressure points on Porky's gut, but it was too low on the card to deliver.
2. Ultimo Dragon vs. Blue Panther - Non-Title match
It sucks how much of Blue Panther's prime was wasted on being a fall guy for shitt
