El Hijo del Santo vs. Blue Panther, University of Essex, 10/8/04

Y'know when see a band play and the second night is better than the first? Didn't happen here.

This was a mess of the highest order.

The ring set-up meant that they couldn't dive into the crowd, so they threw in an "over the top" rule as a means of beating your opponent. In the first match, Santo tossed in a dive whenever he needed a highspot; here they tried eliminating each other.

That's a fucked situation.

If you can't dive, and you can't use the ropes, you grapple, right?

When Santo was asked what London could expect from Lucha Libre, he answered: "You will see a contact sport but a great part of it is close to art. This is because in lucha we wrestle close to the canvas where you will see a lot of movement with ‘castigos’, holds and locks, it becomes harmonious and this beautiful skill converts into art."

Whoever came up with the "Battle Royal" idea didn't have much faith in the art of lucha libre.

Then again, neither did the workers.

Santo dominated this match for long stretches at a time, but it wasn't what you'd call lucha matwork. He worked from dominant clinch positions, such as a front headlock or waistlock. Now I like matwork, but those are stationary holds. The longer you keep them applied, the longer you're stalling for time. There wasn't a lot of movement from Panther and not a lot of countering. Not once was there a flurry of holds, a rolling bump, or even a proper submission. I realise they had a turd for a ring, but these guys are supposed to be maestros: two of the greatest mat workers of all time. If this was your first time to see Panther, you'd have to wonder what the fuss was all about.

Without the two-out-of-three falls format, they couldn't find a rhythm. Santo kept going back to clinch positions and there wasn't a whole lot going on. Far be it from me to suggest the Emperor had no clothes, but it certainly seemed that way.

The other day I watched a UWA trios where Casas was running around like madman, pulling some guy's hat over his eyes. Santo was so pissed that he started brawling with Casas on the outside, and while all this was happening, Solar was leading a green as shit Dr. Wagner Jr. through classic lucha exchanges. Yeah, they were working in the trios format, and yeah, they had the benefit of shortened falls, but this UK match was dead. They didn't vary the pace enough and there was no energy to the performance. The final stanza was a disaster. Their timing was awful and they blew an extraordinary number of spots. Hell, even the spots they made they had no business doing in a third caida.

I can't understand what Santo and Panther were thinking here. These appearances were organised by a University, an Arts Council and the Mexican Embassy, which ought to have given them a license to wrestle any way they liked. This was a chance for Panther and Santo to show us lucha the way it ought to be; the way it's meant to be. The way they're always telling us it should be wrestled.

Forget these matches ever happened. If you want the real thing, I recommend their matches from Monterrey.