cad

Hacks wouldn't have imitated him if he did it unsuccessfully.

Are these really the two biggest problems with today's wrestling? Are they in the top ten? One of the biggest issues with present day wrestling is that no one is willing to buy into it. Matches are performances and wrestlers are performers playing a character. Obviously that was a natural progression of things to some extent, but that's something I think you really could say that goes back to Foley. I'm sure the funny stuff like him showing up in the hospital with a sock helped get him over, but he was one of the first to really embrace his fans cheering for the man behind the mask, so to speak. That's what made his title reign so emotional, the fact that it was Mick Foley finally achieving the dream after over ten years of hard work and sacrifice, more than just Mankind avenging a couple of screwjobs pulled by Vince and Rock. Compare that to Austin in the same era. He was getting cheered for being a badass, not because he overcame Bischoff and Hogan holding him down to finally get a push at the top of the card. Now Foley stories are commonplace, maybe even the template for a truly successful connection with the fans. Cody Rhodes and Daniel Bryan have a lot more in common with him than they do with Austin.

Wow, that's a really impressive list of Mexican legends, and Volador Jr. is on it too.

NWA World Heavyweight: Ricky Steamboat vs Ric Flair, May 7 1989 NWA World Lightheavyweight: El Dandy vs Black Warrior, October 15 1996 NWA World Middleweight: Angel Azteca vs El Dandy, June 1 1990 NWA World Welterweight: Americo Rocca vs Mocho Cota, January 27 1984 CMLL World Heavyweight: Silver King vs Apolo Dantes, June 23 1995 CMLL World Lightheavyweight: Pierroth Jr. vs Satanico, 1993 or so CMLL World Middleweight: El Dandy vs Negro Casas, July 3 1992 CMLL World Welterweight: Mascara Magica vs El Felino, May 21 1996 CMLL World Mini: Damiancito el Guerrero vs Cicloncito Ramirez, January 7 1997 CMLL World Trios: Dr. Wagner Jr./Blue Panther/Black Warrior vs Atlantis/Emilio Charles Jr./El Felino, January 22 1999 UWA World Heavyweight: Canek vs Dos Caras, February 2 1992 UWA World Lightheavyweight: El Signo vs El Texano, January 12 1992 UWA World Middleweight: Negro Casas vs Ultimo Dragon, March 26 1993 UWA World Welterweight: El Hijo del Santo vs Espanto Jr., May 14 1992 UWA World Lightweight: Espanto Jr. vs El Hijo del Santo, 1988 WWA World Middleweight: Super Astro vs Leon Chino, 1990 WWA World Welterweight: El Hijo del Santo vs Blue Panther, April 9 2000 National Lightheavyweight: Lizmark vs Jerry Estrada, June 18 1993 National Middleweight: Atlantis vs El Faraon, March 22 1985 National Welterweight: Heavy Metal vs El Hijo del Santo, October 29 1993 National Parejas: Atlantis/Angel Azteca vs El Dandy/El Texano, March 31 1989 National Trios: Los Arqueros del Espacio vs Los Thundercats, August 17 1990

Arena Coliseo Guadalajara in the early 1990s reused a lot of older, somewhat famous gimmicks. They had updated versions of Los Gemelos Diablo, El Jalisco, Torbellino Negro and probably plenty of others. The Ciclon Mackey in this match is probably one such character, as the original wrestled in the 1930s and supposedly hailed from Ireland, whereas this one does not appear to be in his eighties or nineties and is called a local by the announcers. With four guys I knew were good and one who'd been fine in the few matches I'd seen from him, it was Mackey, who I knew nothing of and lacks even a Luchawiki page, who I guessed might be a weak link in this. Instead this was a match that was about him and he made it count. He beat the hell of out his fellow Ciclon with some of the best headbutts I've ever seen as rudo offense, and then when it was time to turn the tables he was up for some big bumps in return. The star of the match was Ramirez, though. I know he was featured in a big feud with Felino around this time, but talk about an underused talent. His selling consisted of these amazing contortions, both on his bumps and while writhing around on the mat, that I doubt anyone could match except possibly Emilio Charles. It turned a simple head to the turnbuckle spot into a devastating blow. Later on he gave everything back, actually went further than Mackey did, throwing a row of chairs on him and smashing the man's face into the ringpost. In the third fall they slugged it out before dropping to their knees to exchange headbutts. I watched pretty much all of the Ramirez vs Felino stuff from 1993 and I can tell you that nothing that awesome happened in any of those matches. Only Javier Cruz managed to tap into this side of Ciclon Ramirez in Arena Mexico. He probably was best suited for small arena brawls like this, but was too talented for that and ended up getting signed by a company that ensured that fans decades later would get to know who he was. Fiera contributed some crazy bumps that he didn't really need to do on a show like this in a match that wasn't even about him, and Espectro had maybe my favorite sell of a quebradora ever. It's interesting to me that this went back to back with a bloody rudos vs rudos match that had a lot of the same elements, like guys picking up the chairs. You'd think the booker wouldn't want that, because then the crowd wouldn't react as strongly for the main event, but it didn't stop the fans in the front row from giddily offering their seats as a potential landing spot for Mackey. I know Ciclon Ramirez is a bit of a cult figure, so his fans might be pleased to know that this was actually part of an extended feud between the two Ciclones, and a rare chance to see Ramirez as a central figure in anything outside of the neverending Felino feud. They were in six mans on the two shows after this, but either that was it or the final showdown wasn't on TV. Even the Youtube comments (well, one Youtube comment) wondered where the blowoff was. Oh well. Ciclon doesn't fly, and I can't imagine anyone getting tired of watching that man do his dive, but after a fight like that I didn't even feel cheated.

This got four stars from whatever kind of crazy person rated Arena Coliseo Guadalajara matches back in 1992. Knowing nothing of any of these six men I expected some kind of crazy flying display with everyone wanting the match to steal the show. It was not that. Poseidon is not a tecnico with a flashy costume, he is just some guy. He's got a black singlet on and he blasts people with elbows and digs his foot into the torn eyehole of his opponent's mask. La Araña Atomica was a Spiderman ripoff long ago (or he might have been the son of the Spiderman ripoff actually) but in 1992 he was dropping chairs on Torbellino Negro. This was rudos vs rudos with blood, a DQ for some kind of metal spike, and nonstop violence up until the end from a bunch of guys I'd never seen before. It wasn't the most focused match, because there wasn't one major matchup, so you didn't have one specific guy or pairing to pay attention to, but they compensated by having something interesting/violent on screen at all times. I didn't like them finishing with dives, though. Not very befitting of rudos vs rudos. To whatever moderator approves these, I guessed with the formatting of the Gemelos' names, but I don't know what they were individually called. The date could be wrong too, as this supposedly aired on a Wednesday, September 2 1992 was a Wednesday, and wrestling shows didn't usually air live or a full week behind, but I figured I'd just stick with the luchadb date.

He kind of had the problem of being a similar wrestler to Atlantis and wrestling in the same promotion as Atlantis but not really being better at anything than Atlantis, who was an established star beforehand. Then he tried his hand in AAA but didn't fit in with the style like he did in the CMLL. Highlights from AAA include a feud and title match with Blue Panther, and a career ending injury at the hands of Los Payasos. Never fear though, for mysterious newcomer Charro would hit the scene shortly thereafter, doing all of Angel Azteca's signature armdrags.

Oh yeah, Rey Mysterio putting his mask back on. The unmasked years were probably the low point of his career. Then right when he joined WWE people started talking about him as one of the best in the world again.

Negro Navarro was a star in the 1980s as part of the Misioneros de la Muerte, but by the late 1990s he was basically just a name from the past. He overhauled his working style into something new, basically inventing maestro wrestling, and made himself a consistent presence on the indies for years afterward.

Ever see La Parka before he got the Parka gimmick? Principe Island/Super Angel v. Climax/Master Astro Boy & Guerrero Samurai vs. Los Invasores Del Norte A talented wrestler to be sure, but nothing in those two videos would make you think he had it in him to become one of the most charismatic workers of the past 25+ years. (This comes with a couple of caveats: he was never an EMLL regular, so maybe he had more connection with the Monterrey crowds, and that second video is just a few brief highlights. For the record, he's the guy in the blue pants in the first one and the guy in the blue outfit and white boots in the second.)

El Dandy vs Emilio Charles Jr. had been a hot feud during the summer, but it had cooled off, at least on TV, after their inconclusive hair match. Heading into the last shows of the year at Arena Mexico, the promotion decided to revive it in order to settle things between the two men. This match was what made their rivalry an issue again. It's not a display of classic three on three wrestling full of athleticism and doubleteaming, and it's not a crazy brawl all over the arena. It's more of a one on one with four other wrestlers involved, and a captivating performance by Emilio Charles. Dandy was on his game for this one. TVF cheapshotted Atlantis early on, and Dandy just charged straight at him and slugged him out of the ring, no finesse needed. Of course then Emilio came in from behind to get Dandy out of there. He prolonged the attack a bit, but he was making sure that his team kept the advantage, and he's a rudo so it's his nature. Dandy wasn't the type to let that slide, though, and after the rudos had their way with Mascara Sagrada he stepped right back in and called Emilio into the ring. Charles wasn't having it, with MS-1 instead offering himself as an opponent, but Dandy knew how to work around that. A sucker right hand sent Emilio bouncing off the apron and rolling into the aisle. Just like that the momentum swung towards the tecnico team, and Atlantis whizzed through an exchange with TVF, culminating with a dropkick that sent the gangly rudo outside of the ring... where you could see Charles still back in the aisle, yet to have recovered from that shot to the face. After that he pretty much had to get into the ring the next time Dandy entered. That was what Dandy had wanted to begin with, and he won that exchange handily to kick off the winning pinfalls for his team. As the referees counted the falls, Dandy and Charles missed each other with some wild punches, at which point Emilio threw up his hands and backed off. Dandy followed him outside the ring, but Gato Montini got between them. Any further fighting would have to wait until the next fall. Strangely, the replay they showed was actually action from the second fall, a pretty big gaffe on Televisa's part. Emilio looked ready for a change of pace. He got into the ring to face his old rival Atlantis at the sound of the whistle, but Atlantis immediately went over and tagged in Dandy. Emilio had this great annoyed look on his face as he stepped right back onto the apron. That's when Dandy charged in and spat in his face. Well then. Emilio stood frozen in shock for a moment before heading up the aisle and out the door. Getting outwrestled and even embarrassed was one thing, but Emilio wasn't going to stick around for this kind of treatment. The crowd was cheering and even the grand old commentator Pedro Septien was cracking jokes about it, saying that, haha, clearly baseball is not the only sport that has a spitball. Back in the ring MS-1 was livid, demanding Emilio get his ass back there and explaining to the ref that a match could not possibly be expected to continue three on two (which was a bit rich coming from a man who based his entire career on the three on one beatdown, but then that's why I love MS-1). Obviously Emilio couldn't go out like that. He sheepishly headed back to the ring and from that point on they may as well have just kept the camera trained on him. Atlantis and MS-1 were squaring off in the ring, a matchup that was (half of) the main event at the anniversary show, and the fans were ignoring them to heckle Charles. Finally Dandy scared TVF out of the ring, and once again Emilio had to come in if he wanted to leave with any of his pride that night. He was still hesitant to engage Dandy, but all it took was one quick cheapshot from MS-1 to give Emilio the opening he needed. He tore into his foe with right hands, stomps, slams, his teeth, whatever he could think of, and now Dandy was bleeding badly and the match had been turned on its head. Septien was great in calling this, explaining that Dandy had brought this upon himself by spitting in the face of a man who had been world champion, and now he was paying the consequences. Wrestling is better when being a world champion makes you dangerous. There was this great shot, probably unintentional, as the rudos were wrapping things up at the end of the fall. Emilio walked across the ring almost in a daze, unaware of anything around him but El Dandy. While MS-1 steadied himself on the top rope, Emilio stood in the foreground, and as the crowd started to chant at him again you could feel all eyes on him instead of the guys in the background who were actually doing wrestling moves. Infuriated, Charles leapt outside to kick Dandy while he was down, but Dandy wouldn't let him have even that and started kicking back. Charles had to run him into the post to put him out. The third fall started with Charles all over his tormentor. Dandy was reeling around the ring, his neon tights now largely reddish brown on the front, as Charles pounded him at will. Eventually Emilio went for an Irish whip for some reason, and soon he was sliding across the arena floor on his ass with Dandy in pursuit. Now Charles was bleeding and Dandy was giving back every bit of punishment he'd received over the last fall. They started slugging it out in the center of the ring, and Emilio actually won that with a hard kick, only to immediately catch a dropkick to the face from Mascara Sagrada. There were, you might remember, four other wrestlers in the match, and they were ready to wrap things up. Mascara Sagrada dove/fell onto MS-1 from the top rope, and Atlantis tied up TVF in a tirabuzon, signalling the end for the rudos, but Dandy knocked Atlantis and TVF outside with a dropkick intended for Charles. The crowd roared in anticipation when Emilio realized that his quick thinking had left him alone in the ring with Dandy. They went at it long enough for the others to recover, but everyone seemed to realize that this was something more important than just this match and held back to cheer on their guy. It took a little bit for Emilio to fully regain his senses. Soon enough all was right, and he was yelling back at the crowd and gesturing that he was coming for Dandy's national middleweight belt. He got that shot the next week, and he lost that match, but for one night he was on the verge of utter humiliation, being laughed right out of Arena Mexico, and he came back not only to get revenge but to win perfectly cleanly against the man who had embarrassed him. That's not a title belt but that's certainly something to remember, and as far as quick setups for a one on one match go this was done about as well as it could have been.

Some guy just uploaded a few episodes of TV from Arena Coliseo Guadalajara in 1992. One of the matches uploaded was a Dandy vs Bestia Salvaje mano a mano that is listed at 4.5 stars on thecubsfan's site (from Lucha Libre Weekly?), a listing that has always jumped out at me. It's not a 4.5 star match, but I'd never have guessed that was something that would see the light of day. I've seen only one other guy who had '90s Guadalajara TV and that was just a few episodes from 1997.

Have you ever wished for an alternate universe in which Vince McMahon decides that this Triple H shit just doesn't cut it and turns instead to Fuerza Guerrera to carry the federation into the new millennium as his top heel? Okay, maybe not, that's pretty specific, but this was like Fuerza auditioning for a WWF spot with the crowd brawling, interference, low blows, ref shenanigans, use of props, blood...it was even a onefall match, none of that outdated NWA crap. Segura nullified Fuerza's early beatdown pretty quickly, and soon Fuerza had to yank his mask down just to keep it over his face while reeling around the ring. He was in serious trouble early. His forehead was bleeding and he was taking some big shots, and when he was able to regain some semblance of control over things Segura started claiming he was fouled. The old trick! Fuerza hadn't even done anything, but the crowd was calling for the DQ just because of who he was. Even Segura's second got into the act with a cheapshot. You know that Fuerza's going to put up a fight when it comes to his mask, though. He and his second tried this complex interference spot that bamboozled the ref but didn't fool Segura. Maybe he missed the spot, but regardless it added to the idea that this wasn't Fuerza's night and instead he had to break the scorpion on his own. As the match went on you got to see just what it took to win the mask of Fuerza Guerrera. He started breaking up pinfalls with low blows (hey, if Segura's going to accuse him anyway, he might as well give him the real thing). He busted Segura open and worked him over on the outside just like Segura had done to him. He crushed Segura with a massive senton off the top. Okay, no, he actually missed when he tried that. Even so, the whole thing seemed to wear on Segura, who faded a bit down the stretch. Fuerza stumbling over to the ropes after big moves was almost certainly intentional, but some of Segura's sloppiness might have been legitimate slipups. Either way it was clear that his hot run from the first five minutes was long in the past. The finish could have been more dramatic, but I liked Fuerza holding down Segura by his hair during the winning threecount. Hey Mike, at least that's not a problem you'll have in your next match. I liked how this went from Fuerza having everything working against him early on to willing his way back into the match. It gave the appearance of a guy who really should have lost but simply refused to give up his mask like that, and ended up surviving thanks to his experience, resourcefulness, and grittiness. This was the assend of a relevos suicidas that didn't make the Youtube video, but just from what's there this is my favorite thing I've seen from 1999 Mexico.

Satomura vs Ray (or Lee Ray) was a strong match. The holds and counters they did at the start were really good. The commentators way oversold it, and the wrestlers sort of just stopped and jumped into the next part of the match, but I like seeing a 2018 match with smooth, skillful technical wrestling that could have taken place in 1991. Anyway, this reminded me a bit of the Taue vs Kobashi match I watched for this, in that it was a good, exciting fight that I'd have liked more if the final stretch hadn't been all about two moves. Finisher vs finisher is just a pat, uncreative way to wrestle, IMO. The first ten or so minutes were more interesting to me. The crowd was into the Death Valley bomb vs Gori bomb, but they were also receptive to the stuff from before the wrestlers whittled down what they were doing. Another thing that struck me was how this felt like something that could have been wrestled between WWE men. I don't watch enough modern stuff to have an opinion on the homogenization of wrestling but this would be a point in favor of that. That's not good or bad, just an observation. I was amused by the ring announcer doubling as a ringside photographer.

Ha, that review actually made me think more highly of Volador, just because I remember thinking when he slipped that a real rudo would have played it for laughs. But if he wasn't a rudo then there was no reason for him to do that.

Volador vs Mascara Dorada was a onenote match and a firm reminder of why I don't try to keep up with modern CMLL. It was like the third fall of a regular match, but instead of a climax it was the entire match and stretched out to fifteen minutes. Fifteen minutes of two counts, that's too much for me. Volador spent most of the match grinning like a dumbass. Hey, I like guys with charisma but the guy was wrestling fifty-fifty, not working MD over. Either he's an idiot or he's trying too hard, because nothing about the match made that make sense. Mascara Dorada's daredevil charisma appealed to me more. The spots were genuinely good and hit well, even if there wasn't much to the match other than the spots, but it was noticeable how they tried to start with a simple headlock into run the ropes spot and couldn't execute that properly. The crowd and the commentators were into it, so the stuff I'm focusing on says more about me than it does about the match. I'm sure that other than that toprope spot when Volador slipped and he had to climb back up to try it again (instead of improvising), everything about this match went exactly as the wrestlers would have liked. Fuck knows I'm not the intended audience for it.

For Grimmas, Lola Gonzalez vs Pantera Sureña, December 9 1988 (part two)

I'll take the week off, so instead of me being a middleman the two people I was trading with can just trade with each other.

Was Lethal doing an impression of somebody for his match with Carlitos? He came down to the ring looking like every guy from the early to mid 2000s who tried to be charismatic. Carlitos was just a guy who had a picture of himself on his pants. Those Flair chop spots in the corner looked awful, with Lethal simply moving over so that Carlitos could start hitting him. Then they did that neverending suplex reversal spot and I was like, "oh, they're going for comedy, I shouldn't be so hard on them," but everything after that just felt like a generic indy match. I liked that clothesline Carlitos did where he landed on the apron, and the ref rolling over to emphasize the closeness of a two count was neat. Lethal bumped well for that crossbody. Headcheese can have the same match I gave him a month ago.

I want to play. Austin taught them that they need to have a heel making the matches and acting as the top face's enemy, even for guys it doesn't fit (Rock, Cena). Hogan taught them that being the good guy means whatever you do is by definition right and fair. Fifteen years later he taught them that fans want to see the stars of the past treated like they're just as good as if not better than the stars of today. Mysterio taught them that you gotta have a Mexican around, all times.

EDIT: No, I think I'll choose something different for Tim Evans. How about Panterita del Ring vs Megatron, 1990s? If that's too long or the video quality is too bad for you, then you can go with Negro Casas/Cien Caras/Arandu vs Panterita del Ring/Black Magic/Centurion Negro (also 1990s).

Colon vs Ayala was one hell of a war. I liked Colon's splitlegged selling of punches but what really surprised me was how well Ayala sold. Writhing in pain in a figure four and tumbling to the floor in exhaustion aren't really what I expect from a big muscleman. The figure four section in general was really smart. I had no idea how Ayala would get out, especially with the commentary team talking about how Colon didn't have to break, and then they made it a fall, with the ref not starting his count until Colon let go of the hold. Colon came up with a cool escape too. The last few minutes were a bit repetitive, with Ayala punching over and over, but I guess that was sort of the point. Colon had nothing to fight back with at that stage, so the beating could theoretically have gone on until he was injured permanently. My biggest complaint was that the brass knuckles spot would have worked better in a match in which disqualification was an option, but no big deal. Badass match.

I've been trying to watch these a couple times before commenting on them, but I'm so far behind that I'm just gonna share my initial thoughts on Taue vs Kobashi. It was more complex than Hansen vs Williams, which was basically just a back and forth part, a Hansen sells while Williams beats him up part and a finishing run. Here Kobashi was making a spirited comeback at like four minutes into a twenty one minute video (although apparently that would make it the thirteen minute mark of the match, because of the clipping). I'd read about how Kobashi was a ham and he really was making some exaggerated faces, but you can't deny that the crowd was behind him. There weren't a whole lot of neat ideas here, in the sense that they didn't try anything creative physically. In spite of that, I was liking this the most of the three matches I've seen for this so far, just because I thought they were working a better match. The homestretch felt like a finisher heavy WWE match. Chokeslam, kickout, chokeslam countered, chokeslam countered into a move that gets countered into a chokeslam, kickout... it was too repetitive and convenient. I say that but I was still interested in seeing if Taue was going to blow a match that he really should have won, just from how dominant he was throughout, so even though stylistically I didn't like that part it managed to keep my attention. For Boss Rock: Ciclon Ramirez vs Javier Cruz, June 10 1994 (Youku was giving me issues when I tried to watch it there, so I ripped it and put it on Youtube)

For Headcheese, El Brazo/Brazo de Oro/Brazo de Plata vs Anibal/Ringo Mendoza/La Fiera, February 1 1991

Two big lugs seeing who can hit each other the hardest is a long way off from my aesthetic preferences for wrestling, so I can't say I went in expecting to enjoy Williams vs Hansen. Now I imagine the average human being would say that two big lugs seeing who can hit each other the hardest is an exact description of professional wrestling, and I don't really have any counter to that, but whatever. The first six minutes or so of them just slugging it out bored the hell out of me the first time I watched this. I was looking for some kind of story to follow and instead it was just a slow back and forth brawl. Watching it again I liked it more as I sort of got a feel for how each guy was waiting for the other to finally crack, but it still went on awhile and didn't have anything that stood out other than Williams putting Hansen in a wristlock and headbutting him. When Hansen started to sell this got really good. Williams' specific attacks didn't even matter that much, Hansen just bled, fell over, struggled to get up, did whatever it took. I liked when he flopped over the railing and the fans looked at him like beachgoers gawking at some creature that washed ashore. He kept fighting back like he had in the first part, but now Williams was responding immediately and refusing to let him get back in the match. Got right in Hansen's face and taunted him too. The final third was fine. I'd have liked the finish more had Hansen not done that exact counter a couple of minutes earlier. Good match that overcame the doubts I had going in.