El Ninja, Hector Garza y Ruben Juarez Jr vs. Blue Fish, Charles Lucero y Gato del Ring, Monterrey 11/11/92

Yep, early 90s Charles Lucero is awesome. You knew that it would be, but here's the confirmation.

This was a fun Monterrey trios that took place a few months after Garza's debut. Lucero was about as close to his prime as we have on tape, Gato del Ring was one of those awesome Monterrey style journeymen who usually do all the wacky gimmicks, and Blue Fish is a legendary Monterrey rudo. This was my first time to see Blue Fish and he didn't disappoint. His sparring with "El Ninja" Mario Segura and the way he orchestrated his team's attack showed all the hallmarks of a great rudo worker. Garza and Juarez were fresh faced kids here. They wore these matching shorts that made them look like outcasts from a Japanese shoot fed. Juarez looked the better of the two and had a fun opening exchange with Gato del Ring, but their best contribution to the match was a neat two-man variation on a gori special that I would totally pinch if I were a modern day trio. Segura did all of Stuka and Super Astro's signature spots and worked a nice pace, but this was all about the rudos and getting to see Lucero work. His bumping and selling had that extra bit of snap to it, and he looked like the complete worker from his rolling bumps through to his double teams with Blue Fish.

Cuadrangular Copa Lugman 2014 (Panthro, Charles Lucero, Silver Star, Tigre Universitario), ACM 1/19/14

Only in Monterrey could an unmasked Panthro still be wrestling in 2014. This was a four way elimination match to decide the winner of a tiny little cup called the "Lugman." I don't usually care for these type of three or four way bouts, but hey when you're wrestling for the Lugman that's different. Actually, it was more like a straight tag as they worked one on one most of the time. Lucero's opening mat exchange was about as good a mat exchange as I've seen in lucha this year, and certainly the best maestro stuff. Silver Star and Tigre Universitario know a few holds, but their exchanges tend to come unstuck compared to Lucero's work. We got to see a bit more of Silver Star and Lucero here. Nothing they did was quite as good as their title match, but it was still an interesting series of exchanges. A double pin cleared them out of the way and then Panthro showed some maestro skills of his own to take out the Lugman. The audience, which was a lot healthier than the anemic title match crowd, seemed to like the dives and threw money in the ring. I dunno if it was worth coin, but it was definitely watchable.

Charles Lucero y Silver Star vs. Tigre Universitario y Panthro, Arena Gladiadores, January 2014

Arena Gladiadores, looks more like a loading bay than a wrestling arena. This was a handheld shot from ringside, reminding me of the old Black Terry Jr days. Like the Black Terry crew, these four have been wrestling this match for the past decade or so, and it was very much the Monterrey version of those Naucalpan bouts. I don't know what was wrong with the ring here, but the mat wasn't stretched all the way over the canvas and it looked like they were wrestling on a duvet at times. For that reason, they kept the exchanges pretty simple and mostly went through their stock exchanges. The version I watched was missing the opening Lucero/Panthro mat work, but a different upload provided the action. I'm enjoying their work together, and I've got to give props to Panthro. Twenty three years after he unmasked and he's still wearing Panthro-style Thundercat costumes. Either he can't afford any new duds or that's some serious dedication to your gimmick. Not worth going out of your way to see, but it fills a gap that the IWRG guys once did.

Alberto Dos Rios y Charles Lucero vs. Androide y Diluvio Negro I, ACM 2/16/14

Lucha tournament wrestling. You all know the drill. Albert Dos Rios and Diluvio Negro I got most of the ring time, and went too long with too little purpose, but Lucero continues to look like Black Terry and Negro Navarro rolled into one.