La Fiera v. Jerry Estrada, chain match, Monterrey, early 90s

This is the first time I can remember seeing a chain match in lucha. I've got to say it's one of the better borrowed gimmicks I've seen in Mexican wrestling. The thing I liked about this most was how random the match-up was. One of the great things about lucha is that when you think of a chain match in Monterrey, there's probably a hundred different match-ups it would suit, but you look at the billing -- Jerry Estrada and La Fiera in a chain match -- and you think, "yeah, that works." Totally random, totally great. I can't think of another style of wrestling where there's so many match-ups you have to watch in case the match is great. This is a case in point, as long time readers will know how I feel about Jerry Estrada, but there's no way a sane man can resist watching this. I'll give Estrada his props now -- he was badass in this. They both were, really. It was basically a mano a mano match with a prop, but they did a lot of cool things with that prop and there was all of the blood and violence and selling that you'd expect. Brutality aside, I don't know if I'd call it a truly great match as it lacked the type of big finish that kicks the nearfalls into overdrive, but I kind of liked the finish they came up with for the sheer goofiness of it. After the tope and big spill to the outside, the idea was basically that the match was too violent to have any sort of resolution so they threw down the chain and did a double clothesline spot. Estrada barely connected with his clothesline, but it was one of those "only in lucha" moments where throwing down the chain and doing a double clothesline seems like a good idea. Yeah, it would've been better if one of them had tortured the other into submission but the match ran out of gas as a whole. Still, these matches are about atmosphere more than anything else and this definitely had its share, from the torn canvas to the workers bringing extra objects to the fight (for no other reason than they were scheduled to fight that night.) Plenty to dig even if it's incomplete.