Satanico vs. Super Astro, mano a mano, 1984

Satanico's hair was awesome in this.

I wasn't digging his work to begin with. It was good, but not the genius you'd expect from Satanico. And I thought they made a mistake giving the first fall to Super Astro, especially since he turned on a dime to make his comeback, instead of fighting his way out of a corner. They went straight back to the beatdown, which isn't the overlap you'd expect, but the third fall was really good. Super Astro made a brawling comeback, and as we all know, brawling comebacks are where Lopez kicks it up a gear. Super Astro bit his forehead open and the maestro was incensed. That's when the genius began to emerge -- they dropped the cliched story of the technico not being big enough and fought it out.

I always thought Super Astro was a worker who couldn't use his fists, but he pelted Satanico a couple of times and turned his tope into an awesome headbutt. They did this really cool spot where they were trading blows on their knees and Super Astro bent all the way back, touched the mat with his head and popped back up with a headbutt.

The finish wasn't the greatest, but the lead-in was vintage Satanico. There was a great visual of him pulling on a hold -- blood pouring from his head, spit flying from his mouth. Just a fantastic image of the effort needed to win a match. He's a guy who put so much into his finishes. You watch a Satanico match and his selling tells the whole story. It doesn't matter whether you're in the front row, back row or sitting at home, the guy was just a genius at selling. And he understood structure and the need for an arch. He'd clue you to why he lost, then bullshit himself and everyone else.

Just a hell of a performer.