Mocho Cota/Silver King vs. Negro Casas/El Dandy, CMLL 3/18/94

When Cota was released from prison in '93, he went to work for Pena in AAA, and became embroiled in a feud with Latin Lover that was a hell of a lot better than it sounds. The matches were the typical rhythmless AAA affairs, but the brawling beteen Cota and Lover was fairly engaging and there was even a smattering of colour. A week before their hair match, Cota jumped to CMLL, leaving Latin Lover high and dry. In CMLL, he continued his habit of starting shit wherever he went and royally pissed off Casas during this relevos increíbles match.

Forty years old at the time, Cota was mostly viewed as a joke by hardcore fans. There wasn't the same appreciation for maestros in 1994 that there is twenty years later let alone workers who relied on charisma more than workrate. 1994 was the Age of Workrate and a guy like Cota didn't fit the mould. People weren't familiar with his 80s work the way we are and nobody was clamouring for more. He always had a strange body type, and as he aged his skinny torso and chicken legs became even more outstanding the wilder his afro grew. Watching this match with 2015 eyes, firmly believing that Cota was a Machiavellian genius in the 80s, of course I want 90s Cota to be one of the great revelations; but I find myself leaning towards a more even handed view. He wasn't the decrepit, hopeless foggy he was made out to be at the time, but he wasn't exactly Emilio Charles Jr. either. Either prison took something out of him, or we weren't given the chance to familiarise ourselves with the slow, gradual change that time inflicts, making the contrast between the cool, slick Cota that seconded Sangre Chicana and the older ex-con that feuded with Casas too strong to comprehend. Any way you slice it, good but not great sums up my feelings on mid-90s Cota.

This match was in effect an angle. Dandy looked even weirder than ex-con Cota. Knee high boots and a pair of trunks made it look like he was auditioning for a part in UWF-i. The way the match broke down, Cota had a problem tagging with Silver King while Casas simply had a problem with Cota in general. Spanish speakers may be able to understand why Casas disliked Cota. The rest of us will have to fill in the narrative ourselves, not that it's difficult to surmise why someone might dislike Cota. Dandy and Silver King had this whole Los Cowboys Explode workrate thing going on, but the main thrust of the match was Cota not giving a fuck if this was Casas' CMLL or not. After being dropkicked by all three men in the ring (inadvertently), Cota headed to the back and returned with a pair of plastic knuckles. He gave Dandy a shot to the ribs then hit Silver King flush in the jaw. Casas managed to wrest the knuckles from Cota, but the refs saw him wallop Mocho with them and awarded Cota the bout. Casas snapped and attacked the bloodied Cota further, and the refs weren't spared from his wrath either. It wasn't Casas' finest hour in terms of selling or acting, and to be honest the Cota/Lover brawling was stronger, but this was the beginning of several weeks of Casas switching between the tecnico and rudo sides, sometimes tagging with Cota and sometimes opposing him, in the lead up to a hair match pitting afro vs. greasy curls. I have no idea whether the hair match is any good since I've never heard a single soul speak of it. It's one of the great unknowns of the CMLL Lost Years, and though the build hasn't been classic, how can you not look forward to it as VIntage Negro Casas of the Day continues.