elliott

I don't even know where to begin. It's not racism, it just an environment where racists frequently say and do racist things. Some of WWE's best friends are black.

DISC 3 Satanico vs. Shiro Koshinaka (Hair vs. Hair) (7/30/84) Hair vs Hair match. I remember seeing this years and years ago on Lynch’s tape list and never picking it up even though I liked both guys at the time. What a mistake that was because this is a fucking awesome match. Koshinaka attacks Satanico as he’s getting into the ring before he can even get his jacket off. Crowd is going nuts as he’s stomping the crap out of Satanico. Koshinaka starts this match firmly in control. Satanico is one of the great sellers in history so that is fine with me. Koshinaka dominates with arm work mostly. Working an arm wringer before slipping into some other submissions. Satanico is such a great mat worker that he’s able to work a few near counters in spite of the damage he’s taken. When none of that works he kicks his way out in a great show of frustration. Koshinaka hits his flying butt attack which is a move I’ve always liked and then he does the shittiest rolling cradle. Satanico gets some nice near reversals before Koshinaka puts him away with a backslide to take the first fall. Satanico is great selling the damage between falls and walking around ringside trying to regain his strength. Koshinaa takes back over right away when Satanico finally comes in to start the 2nd fall. Continuing to beat the horse, Satanico’s selling is tremendous in this. Especially his attempts to transition onto offense. He sneaks in elbows and knees to the gut where he can but he just can’t totally capitalize enough to take over. Koshinaka hits a great flying knee drop for a good near fall and follows it up with a double arm suplex for another. Koshinaka goes for another move off the top but Satanico manages to stumble over and toss him off. This finally gives Satanico the opening he needs. Koshinaka rolls to the floor and Satanico limps after him (still selling the brief legwork Koshinaka just attempted) and throws some great knees before posting Koshinaka repeatedly and busting him open. Satanico puts Koshinaka away with a roll up following a great suplex and splash to take the 2nd fall. Satanico talks shit and stomps and bites the bloody Koshinaka between falls. Satanico is awesome here firmly in control. Strutting around the ring and antagonizing the crowd while still selling the beating he’s taken already. 3rd fall starts with Satanico knocking Koshinaka from the ring and not letting him back in. Satanico dominates the start of the fall punching and biting the cut. Koshinaka manages to get Satanico outside the ring for some payback postings. Koshianaka takes back over with punching and biting of his own. Koshinaka hits a pretty nice piledriver and follow it up with some JYD headbutts. Satanico’s face is a bloody mess at this point but he manages to fight back with wild punches and knees. Great nearfall on a sunset flip by Koshinaka. Koshinaka tries a boston crab but Satanico has really had an answer for most of Koshinaka’s submission attempts in this so he manages to reverse out of it. Another great nearfall when Satanico misses his senton after a slam. Both guys are just trading near fall attempts at the end and they are all terrific. Koshinaka ends up fouling Satanico on a body slam attempt in it looks like a mistake but the ref calls the match for Satanico anyway. It was the 3rd straight attempt of a body slam off an Irish Whip for Satanico so maybe Koshinaka was going for a reversal and just happened to slam Satanico in the balls. Either way the finish didn’t hurt the match at all. This is absolutely a classic match that has a phenomenal Satanico performance. Definitely a contender for the top 10 matches on the set. El Satanico y Espectro Jr. v. El Faraón y La Fiera (8/12/84) Infernales jump Faraon and Fiera from the start. Fiera gets taken out and the Infernales isolate and just destroy Faraon before he can even get his jacket off. They’re throwing tandem knees and punches and biting the shit out of him. Finally Fiera is able to run in and they turn the tide in their favor. Satanico gets isolated and busted wide open. Fiera and Faraon refuse to let up on Satanico and beat him to the point where they get disqualified. Fiera hasn’t even taken his jacket off yet. In between falls they continue working over Satanico just taking turns biting the shit out of him. His face is totally covered in blood. 2nd fall is more of the same with Satanico just getting killed by Faraon. Espectro Jr tries to come in and make a save but Fiera takes him out and posts him. More double teaming of Satanico continues. Great spot where Faraon has Satanico in an ab stretch and Fiera rams Espectro’s head into Satanico’s stomach. Satanico avoids a dropkick on a double team attempt and manages to break free right as Espectro Jr is making a comeback in the ring. Infernales get some payback with brawling and biting of their own. But Faraon manages to nail a charging Satanico with a big boot on a double team event. I assume their some slight clipping in this because next we see Faraon basically hitting a ganso bomb on Espectro Jr to take the 2nd fall as Fiera is putting away Satanico. I’m stunned Espectro Jr didn’t great his neck. 3rd fall is Faraon and Fiera continuing to beat the shit out of the Infernales. They take out Satanico and focus their attention on ripping away at Espectro’s mask. Including putting him in a brutal tandem submission while tugging at the mask for more leverage. They try another which opens to door for Satanico to sneak in and grab the advantage. Faraon takes an insane bump over the top rope. Satanico goes over to work on Fiera next. Infernales are pretty firmly in control finally. Satanico hits some terrific uppercuts on Fiera who is awesome selling and bumping around. Faraon is able to break free of Espectro Jr’s attack and helps out Fiera allowing them to take back over again. Jeez. Satanico goes all Jerry Lawler and makes a 2 on 1 comeback throwing these great punches and buying himself some time until Espectro Jr makes it back in. Espectro Jr tends to get taken out pretty easily over and over in this leaving Satanico fighting back against two guys. He’s awesome selling and finding ways to make realistic comebacks at a moments notice before getting cut off again. It is eventually too much though as he ends up getting put away. Espectro is able to make a brief comeback at this point actually. He dodges a Fiera tope attempt and Fiera takes a nasty bump. But Faraon nails Espectro with a tope of his own. Faraon drags himself and Fiera back in the ring as Espectro Jr is counted out. This was basically an extended squash but it was really enjoyable because of another tremendous performance by Satanico. Speaking of… Gran Cochise vs. Satanico (9/14/84) This is a title match so it is worked completely differently from the match against Koshinaka earlier on this disc. This is a contender for #1 on the set. Both guys are cautious to start but it gets straight into the mat work you’ve come to know and love in Lucha title matches. The way that Cota/Rocca reminds me of Han/Tamura and Chicana/MS-1 makes me think of Lawler/Dundee, this match has me thinking of Flair vs Steamboat from 89. I always loved Satanico’s flying headscissors. It seems more violent than graceful. It’s like the Tenryu Enzugiri of flying headscissors. If the great matches metric is important to you for the GOAT talk, this match is a great building block for Satanico’s candidacy. He is probably thought of as a brawler by most people, but here he is in a title match as good as any match you’ll ever see. He has the great brawling matches in singles and trios and tags. He’s a terrific seller. But this is best example of Satanico is world class mat worker. His selling in this is fantastic. He’s able to sell limbwork and it be great but he’s also one of the best at selling the general overall exhaustion of a big epic match. He is as great at expressive over the top movements as he is at being subtle and understated. If you value peak, longevity, versatility, selling, working the crowd, etc etc etc you would love Satanico. Sangre Chicana vs. MS-1 (Hair vs. Hair) (9/21/84) I love that they did this as a rematch on the Anniversary Show after having the best match probably ever the year before. It’s like the 80s Lucha version of the Undertaker vs Michaels WM matches only much much much better. This starts with MS-1 jumping Sangre Chicana at the bell. At least Sangre made it through the introductions without bleeding this year. I could watch Sangre Chicana get fake beaten up all day long. He is so expressive. I love anytime he starts a comeback with dodging a strike and firing back a punch. Sangre Chicana dodging a punch or kick and punching back is the single most exciting move in wrestling history. Chicana wins a quick but fun first fall. Every ref treats Sangre Chicana like Joey Crawford treats Tim Duncan. Only it doesn’t piss me off as much because it leads to Sangre Chicana getting beat up which is always a good thing. MS-1 is great in this too bringing the hate and being a smug prick. I feel like this match is climbing an uphill battle in a lot of ways overall. There was no way they could outdo the match from the year before we had all seen before this set. It didn’t really have the same hate or violence as the last years match and it was definitely missing the blood. Through 2 1/3 discs, I would comfortably put it behind their first match, Satanico vs Cochise, the two Cota/Rocca matches, Satanico vs Atlantis, Sangre vs Ringo, Satanico vs Koshinaka, and Herodes vs Salazar. And that’s just the singles matches. There are some trios I like more as well. And I know for a fact that by the end of this disc I wouldn’t rank this in my top 10 singles matches so far. But I really think that speaks to the great quality of the set more than it does the low quality of the match, because I thought this match was great. The fact that this would struggle to make my top 50 is a testament to the depth of great matches Will and Co put together on this. Atlantis, Ringo Mendoza y Tony Salazar vs. El Satanico, MS-1 y Espectro Jr. (9/28/84) This starts with Satanico vs Atlantis so I’m immediately a fan. MS-1 uses a bunch of hip tosses to dominate Salazar and Mendoza before Espectro Jr comes in to face Mendoza. I really like Mendoza a lot so I’m excited for any chance to see him work. This is pretty fast paced back and forth rope running arm draggy stuff to start with everyone looking very good. Satanico slows the pace down when he and Atlantis get back in and waits for Atlantis to turn his head before jumping him. Salazar and Ringo have a lot more success against MS-1 and Espectro Jr than Atlantis does against Satanico which is a really cool way to layout the first fall. 2nd fall starts with Satanico in control of Atlantis. Allowing the tag to Salazar then dragging Atlantis back into the rudo corner. Ringo gets some double and triple team treatment as well when he comes in. I think the spot where the rudos take turns back dropping Salazar from their knees is cool. They follow it up by all hitting him with sentons for the pin. Satanico gets Ringo to submit while Atlantis is still out selling on the floor. The rudo’s turn their attention to him and do a little more damage between falls. 3rd fall starts with rudo’s still in control but Tony Salazar valiantly fighting back and trying to make something happen for his team. As soon as he does, Satanico comes in for a sneak attack and puts a stop to it. He gets Salazar in a submission but it is finally time for Atlantis’ comeback. He comes in and starts punching Satanico, whipping him into the turnbuckle, then hits a backbreaker before locking in a submission. Unfortunately, his back is turned and MS-1 comes in for a cheap shot allowing Satanico to take back over control of Atlantis. Satanico tries to tie him up and unask him and does some mask ripping. Ringo tries to make a superman comeback for his team but ends up locking in a submission with his back to the Infernales and gets cheapshotted. Satanico locks in a submission which gives Atlantis the opening to come in and take a shot at Satanico. Technico’s take the fall with a great triple sunset flip spot that ends up in a two pinfalls when Satanico reaches up and rips off Atlantis’ mask. This was a good match. Certainly an enjoyable match with everyone looking good but it isn’t really memorable. Villano III vs. Perro Aguayo (10/7/84) God bless the Japanese film crew. This is a title match. Perro immediately starts talking trash to what looks like an enormous crowd. This starts with both guys struggling to get the advantage and apply a hold. Perro moves around on the mat much better than you would ever expect and he’s yet another guy known for being a great brawler that shows he knows how to work the mat in a traditional title match. Villano III blasts Perro with some awesome dropkicks This is the first look at 80s Villano III and he looks terrific in this. He’s pretty clearly a great mat worker and super charismatic. Perro’s reversal of a ddt and senton was awesome. Perro also nails Villano with some great clotheslines and hits a great tope. They really moved out of the early mat work phase and into the dropping bombs phase quicker than a lot of other title matches. But they definitely provided a good base. Perro puts Villano away with a nasty looking top rope foot stomp. I’m a huge fan of Perro’s foot stomp offense and his top rope one is always great. 2nd fall starts with more double foot stomps. I loved when Villano tried to roll out of the ring to get away but Perro runs and jumps over him blocking his escape. It’s the sort of thing I have done to every puppy I’ve ever had. Perro has a great moveset if that’s your thing. He hits a beautiful doulb earm suplex. Perro yells at the ref which gives Villano an opening to hit a backdrop. Villano hits a ddt and Perro’s selling of it is awesome. Villano hits some beautiful running topes and ties Perro up to take the 2nd fall. I love the way Perro is always running and charging at his opponent at every opportunity. Perro starts to get cocky and pull Villano up at the 2 count after a senton. So he slams Villano and goes for a top rope foot stomp. But Villano moves of course and just goes to town on Perro’s leg. Perro selling of the missed foot stomp is fucking awesome but it doesn’t last too long. Both guys start going for roll up pin attempts for a nice series of near falls. After eating probably 4 or 5 sentons throughout the match, Villano gets some payback by flattening Perro with a second rope senton. But he misses on his top rope flipping senton attempt allowing Perro to take over. Perro hits a brutal looking tombstone piledriver before missing a top rope flipping senton of his own. Great nearfall with Villano reversing a gori special into a victory roll. Perro hits Villano with another tope and Villano does a fantastic job selling he’s out on his feet and might teeter over and get counted out. Match ends with a double pin. Perro is pissed at the finish which leads to a crazy brawl with him beating the shit out of Villano, repeatedly fouling him and trying to rip his mask off. This was fucking awesome. It was much more aggressive than the other title matches on the set so far. They did some nice back and forth mat work briefly to start and then this turned into more of a bombfest with great selling and dramatic near falls. This was a fucking awesome match. I remembered liking it when I watched it originally but it blew me away this time. This is probably a top 10 contender for the entire set. Javier Cruz, Impacto y Solar II vs. El Dandy, Franco Colombo y Panico (10/84) The first look at El Dandy on the set who will be one of the best workers in the world by the end of this thing. The first thing we see from him is taking an enormous bump over the top rope. Javier Cruz hits a beautiful cross body block and thwarts a double team attempt by Panico and Colombo. Some really fun rudo miscommunication spots in this with both Cruz and Impacto. Dandy takes over by punching Solar II and opening him up for double teams. He also finds the time to sneak in a killer shot on Javier Cruz. Dandy throws some really nasty looking punches in this. He also absolutely kills Solar II and Javier Cruz with top rope sentons to take the first fall. Rudos continue to dominate the 2nd fall by sneaking up on Javier Cruz as soon as he turns his back. Dandy really goes after Cruz. Punching, stomping, kneeing, and just straight up slamming his face into the mat. Theres a great spot where Colombo is holding Cruz up and dangling him over the apron and Dandy jumps up off the apron and just kills him with a knee to the back of the head which also drives Cruz’s face right into the side of the ring. Technico’s get a slight advantage and it looks like Cruz is about to get some revenge but Dandy refuses to renter the ring pissing off the crowd. Dandy is able to maintain control but Solar II has had enough and he comes in to bring the pain to El Dandy. Impacto II comes in and gives Colombo some spinebusters. Everytime Dandy tries to come in Cruz comes in as well, much to the chagrin of Dandy and the delight of the crowd. They exchanges some great punches before Dandy takes another huge backdrop out of the ring. Solar hits an enormous tope. We’re left with Dandy and Cruz and Cruz is able to put him away and the crowd goes crazy. Technicos take the match. This was either clipped and I didn’t notice or just the 2nd two falls. Either way it was very good. Not great but it does have me excited for the Dandy vs Cruz singles match. This was a lot of fun but not really memorable especially on this disc. Perro Aguayo vs. Sangre Chicana vs. El Faraón vs. Villano III (Elimination Match) (10/84) I love the crowd surrounding the ring. This starts with Perro and Faraon trying to get at each other as they enter the ring. Then Perro and Villano go after each other as Faraon is throwing these monster knees as Sangre Chicana. So I love this match right away. I’m excited for every possible match up in this. Just great punching all around from everyone. Everyone seems to take delight in beating up Sangre Chicana. The Perro vs Faraon portion of this is very good. They move and bump around so much faster than you would expect. Faraon in particular since he seems like such a big dude. Villano trips Faraon on a rope running spot and Perro hits a senton putting Faraon away. We get some shenanigans on the outside with Chicana and Perro. Now we get Chicana vs Villano III and the crowd is going crazy chanting for Chicana who offers to shake Villano’s hand and then kicks him in the knee. Tremendous. Perro attacks Villano at ringside and as Villano is stumbling around selling it Sangre hits a fucking spectacular tope which leads to Villano getting counted out. Now we get Sangre vs Perro which works well for me. Perro kicks the crap out of Sangre outside the ring and battering rams him into the ringside. Perro climbs back in the ring and Villano takes this chance to run over and lay some shots in on Chicana and post him. Chicana makes it back in but Perro puts him away quickly to take the fall. Perro attacks Sangre in between falls and starts biting him. The next look we get at Chicana’s face and he is covered in blood. Perro fires some brutal looking punches at Sangre’s cut. It looks like Perro is just killing him. Sangre is fantastic as usual selling this brutal ass kicking. He finally gets an opening when Perro tries to ram his head into the post but Chicana reverses sening Perro into the post instead. Sangre starts to get his payback throwing his great punches and biting Perro. We get the best high spot in wrestling when Sangre ducks a Perro punch and throws a right hand. Perro appears to be busted open now as well. Oh, Sangre Chicana has a really great dropkick. I don’t think I’ve mentioned that yet. Sangre takes the 2nd fall tying Perro up in a knot for the submission. Sangre gets some shots in on Perro in between falls on the outside of the ring. Back inside and Chicana continues to dominate with punches and tries another submission. Perro counters with punching and a submission of his own. Sangre manages to hit another crazy tope for a nearfall by countout but both guys manage to make it back into the ring. The selling is off the charts great. Sangre teases ANOTHER tope but he’s so out of it stumbling he can’t pull it off in a great spot. Perro seizes the opportunity and manages to take over throwing some knees and a clothesline before knocking Sangre out and hitting a huge tope of his own. Both guys barely make it back in and it looks like Sangre is about done. He’s really out on his feat but he manages to fire a punch to pop the crowd. Perro misses a 2nd rope flipping senton and maybe Sangre has a chance. It looks like Perro goes for a foul but Sangre catches the foot and seems surprised that Perro would try this and he just blasts Perro in the nuts with his own foul. He doesn’t seem to care at all that he’s DQd and just stands there watching Perro roll around in pain while the crowd rushing the ringside and chants his name. Phenomenal. I loved this match. It was definitely a little confusing at first with all the single falls that then lead to the Chicana/Perro 2/3 falls match but its pretty easy to figure out. And all the work is great. Lots of violence, great punching, an awesome crowd, the tremendous Chicana vs Perro matchup. I loved this and it could easily end up in my top 15. Satanico vs. Super Astro (10/26/84) Satanico matches on disc 3 have been something else so my expectations are quite high for this. I remember liking it the first time but not being blown away by it so we’ll see. This starts off with Satanico talking shit about Super Astro being so short and miming for the crowd that he’s going to squash Astro like a bug. Then he tries to get Super Astro to shake his hand. Astro doesn’t so Satanico blasts him with some running knees. Satanico mostly dominates this to start with sick looking knees to the gut and face as well as some really good punches. He also does the classic heel spot of picking his opponent up after a two count. He kicks Astro out of the ring and walks around gloating. Astro is really good bumping for everything and taking a beating. Satanico starts biting Astro so you know we’re going to get some blood eventually. Satanico is excellent as the bully in this gloating whenever he can. So when Astro hits him with a flying cross body and some running topes the crowd just loves it. Astro ends up taking the first fall with a beautiful top rope reverse tope. 2nd fall starts again with Satanico trying to shake Astro’s hand and then jumping him as soon as he turns his back. Satanico is back in control after Astro’s spectacular flurry at the end of the 1st fall. We’re back to kicking, punching, biting, and choking. Great spot with Astro lying face down on the mat and Satanico just repeatedly slams his face into the bottom turnbuckle then tries to tie him up and unmask him. Satanico literally drags Astro’s body across the ring by the mask and continues trying to rip it off and bite Astro’s face. Astro finally gets busted open as Satanico continues to bite and punch the shit out of Astro. Satanico puts Astro away with a submission and continues to attack Astro after the fall eventually knocking him from the ring so he can gloat and tell the crowd he’s #1 and he’s the champ. 3rd fall starts like many of these matches with Satanico kicking and knocking Astro down everytime he ties to enter the ring. Finally Astro is able to dodge an attack when Satanico starts his charge from a little too far away and Astro is out for some revenge. Punching and biting Satanico and busting him wide open. Satanico takes a nasty bump into the turnbuckle. One thing about Satanico is that when it’s his turn to bleed, he bleeds like a motherfucker and his face is always instantly covered in blood. He is also great at reacting to getting busted open. It makes him fight back with even more fury and rage. He’s done gloating, now its time to get your ass kicked. There’s an awesome spot where both guys are down on their knees selling, Satanico punches Astro, Astro falls all the way back, bounces up and hits a headbutt. Then they repeat it a second time. It was awesome. Like Undertakers sit up from the knees into a headbutt. The second one gets a great nearfall. Astro complains to the ref ,which allows Satanico to take back over. He continues to bite and punch and tires slapping on a submission. Astro hits some running topes and a senton for a nearfall then puts Satanico in a submission which leads to some awesome facials by Satanico. Lots of really great near falls down the stretch before Astro takes this with a surprise rana. Satanico is pissed. I don’t know why this didn’t hit me before, but I thought this was a great match. Another brilliant Satanico performance and I thought Astro (who is a guy I’ve never been as big on as most people are) looked great and more than held up his end of the bargain in what I assume was a huge win for him. I didn’t like this as much as the last match or Satanico vs Atlantis, but this was an excellent match. El Canek vs Andre the Giant Clips 2/84 ANDRE! Woooo! Andre takes a freaking arm drag in this and it is ridiculous. It also looks like he takes a backdrop. Canek definitely gets a nice body slam on him as well. Pretty amazing spectacle and it is cool to have it on tape as this is something I’d always heard about. Not really good and nowhere near complete and the handheld camera is pretty crappy. But a very cool 8 minutes to have. Disc 3 Overall Thoughts This is going to be a hard disc to top. Several all time classic matches including a #1 overall contender and 3 more top 10 contenders. Fucking incredible. The “lows” on this match were really good matches that weren’t super memorable. This was definitely Satanico’s disc with 3 great singles matches and two really good multi man matches. He showed tremendous versatility in all of his matches. The Cochise match obviously is an all time classic mat based match. The Koshinaka and Astro matches were both wild bloody brawls that were both great and both worked completely differently. Sangre Chicana continues to be one of the most impressive guys on the set with two more great matches and unbelieveable performances. This disc also has me looking forward to what is to come with El Dandy making his first appearance and the Cruz match coming up.

Just started this and I'm laughing my ass off. Dylan it is very probable that you sold me cigarettes 20ish years ago.

Really entertaining show, guys! Looking forward to part 2!

Been pretty busy the last few days but I managed to watch the first 4 matches of Disc 2. I will come back and edit in the rest of them. I couldn't possibly give the Cota vs Rocca matches the reviews they deserve so I just gave some general thoughts. Mostly that Mocho Cota is the spiritual brother of Volk Han. Also, my grammar and spelling suck. When I do this I'm typing as I watch and not looking at the computer screen or proof reading afterwards. Sorry for that. DISC 2 Atlantis vs. El Satanico (1984) Two of my favorites. Satanico charges before the bell but Atlantis leapfrogs the top rope with a drop kick, hits a few more then armdrags Satanico out of the ring. So Satanico slows it down. Fakes a handshake and takes over punching but it doesn’t last long. Atlantis hits a couple of spinebusters which Satanico sells like crazy. Satanico breaks a hold by biting Atlantis. But Atlantis is always one step ahead. He hits a beautiful cross body block off the top and puts Satanico away with a see-saw submission. Satanico is great selling the damage. Second fall starts with Satanico still selling the damage but taking his time getting back in the ring gathering his strength. He goes for a handshake but cheapshots Atlantis to take over. But everytime he goes for an irish whip Atlantis has a counter or an answer for it. Satanico just can’t get it going. Ab stretch by Atlantis that looks great and Satanico counters with a subtle foul. Crowd is going crazy. Satanico has a decided advantage now; Punching, stomping, kneeing, slamming Atlantis’ head into the ringside boards. Satanico has damaged Atlantis enough that he can start hitting moves off the ropes comfortably without Atlantis countering them. Satanico hits some backdrops, his running senton and finally puts Atlantis away with a roll up. In between falls Satanico stands over Atlantis and throws some more stomps and kicks but mostly just stands over Atlantis who is selling his ass off on the ground. Satanico even does some mask ripping to add further insult to injury. Eventually Satanico just kicks him out of the ring so he can gloat. Then he prevents Atlantis from getting back in the ring to start the 3rd fall. 3rd fall starts with Satanico biting the shit out of Atlantis and busting him wide open. Satanico continues to dominate with knees to the face and punches and more biting and mask ripping. Satanico does the spot where he spits Atlantis’ blood up in the air, which is as awesome as it is totally fucking gross. Atlantis is phenomenal selling his ass off and he is just covered in blood. At this point the picture turns to black and white due to “transmission problems” but it adds to the match because Atlantis is bleeding all over the place and it makes you think “maybe this was too gory even for 1984.” When Atlantis makes his comeback and starts biting Satanico and playing to the crowd, they are going absolutely insane and Satanico gets busted open as well. Atllantis is returning the brawling favors punching, kicking, biting and slamming Satanico’s head into the turnbuckle Color picture eventually comes back right as Satanico wipes the blood off his face and looks at his hands just furious. These guys are just blasting each other with punches. Both of them are terrific selling all the damage and blood loss here. Atlantis hits a great plancha. Satanico whips Atlantis into the ropes but Atlantis reverses it into an ab stretch. Super dramatic. Satanico finally puts Atlantis away with a submission of his own. This is a really great match. It’s crazy watching this and knowing that it isn’t a top 10 match on the set because it fucking rocks. Match was about 20 minutes total but easily could have gone 10 more. Both guys are tremendous here. Mocho Cota vs. Americo Rocca (1/27/84) Title match. The mat work in this is mindblowing. All of the counters and holds and the struggle for them are so fluid and natural. This is incredible. If Volk Han was an 80s Luchador he would be Mocha Cota. Some of the best back and forth exchanges leading to a standoff you’ll ever see. Mocho Cota looks like one of the most interesting wrestlers ever with his brawling in the trios on disc 1 and then this match being some of the most beautiful back and forth mat work you’ll ever see and some totally wacky submissions. Oh and his hand. And the fact that he looks like Seth Rogan after gastric bypass surgery. Mocho does so many great little things in this like pulling his own hair to move himself into better position for a reversal or driving his shoulder into Rocca’s shoulder on an arm wringer takedown. Rocca is great in this too but it’s impossible not to focus all your energy watching Cota. This is terrific. Mocho Cota vs. Americo Rocca (2/3/84) I imagine if Volk Han and Kiyoshi Tamura were 80s Luchadores, they would work like this. It isn’t super realistic mind you. But it is so fluid and so natural. Like they know all the tricks, all the ins and outs, all the counters make me think “it makes perfect sense that that is the way to counter that move based on how their bodies are positioned.” I don’t know if this makes sense or if I’m able to even clearly explain it, but these guys working together makes me think of Han and Tamura. This needed to be at least 10 minutes longer. Atlantis y Lizmark vs. El Egipcio y El Faraón (2/17/84) This starts and it is just Faraon and Egipcio brawling with the Infernales. And man I want that shit to happen. And later on in the set it does! And I remember it rocking. So Atlantis and Lizmark run out and immediately get attacked. Faraon is awesome in this throwing huge punches and kicks to the face. Some nice fast pace back and forth exchanges with Atlantis and Lizmark coming out on top. Faraon uses some great looking forearms to take back over. Some great heel miscommunication spots with Atlantis coming out on top. Great timing on everything by Faraon and Egipcio. First fall has one of my favorite lucha finishes where one rudo is pinned or submitting in the corner while a technico flies over them with a cross body block and pins the other rudo. When it looks good it looks fucking awesome. Rudos take over the second fall using some double teams and short cuts. It’s good stuff. Not Infernales level mind blowing but good enough to keep the short 2nd fall moving along. Faraon’s posing and playing to the crowd is really entertaining. He throws some really good knees. 2nd rope senton is another great finish I think. 3rd fall starts to get personal with some mask ripping and the technicos finally fighting back with wild punches to the face and postings. I liked the finish with Atlantis and Egipcio getting pinned and Faraon and LIzmark going at it for a couple of minutes. Lizmark gets some really hot near falls off of roll ups and a flying cross body block before Faraon has had enough of that, fouls him and rips his mask off. This isn’t particularly great or memorable but it is good. El Faraón, Herodes y Mocho Cota vs. Lizmark, Ringo Mendoza y Tony Salazar (2/24/84) This starts with the rudo’s in control dominating with punching, kicks, and double teams. Cota hits some great dropkick. He and Faraon put away Ringo and Lizmark while Herodes beats up on Salazar on the outside. 2nd fall starts with Salazar getting isolated and triple teamed and busted open. Salazar is bleeding profusely pretty much immediately. Herodes slams Salazar face first into the turnbuckle and starts choking him on the rope and we get some awesome camera work. Salazar just takes an absolute beating from the rudo’s and Ringo literally attempts to drag Salazar to safety. El Faraon throws some really awesome knee’s to the gut. Rudo’s are really dominating the match and the ring in this. Usually keeping Ringo and LIzmark on the outside so they can triple team Salazar. Finally Lizmark and Ringo are able to take the advantage and the crowd does totally nuts. Ringo gets Herodes in a precarious situation and calls Salazar to come in and get some revenge. Salazar immediately starts biting the shit out of Herodes and beating him in the corner. Herodes takes a really awesome bump in the corner. Almost a combo of the Flair Flip and Flair Flop. We get a good shot of Herodes stumbling around ringside with his face now covered in blood as Salazar continues to go after him. Now the technico’s are fully in control with Lizmark and Ringo keeping Faraon and Cota outside the ring so Salazar can get is revenge. Eventually Salazar just gets pissed and kicks Herodes right in the nuts in front of the ref. Technico’s get DQ’d giving the rudo’s the match. Really good ass kicking brawl that gets you stoked for the hair match between Salazar and Herodes. Solar, Ultraman y Super Astro vs. Sergio El Hermoso, Bello Greco y Rudy Reyna (2/26/84) This starts off with back and forth slick mat exchanges as each guy pairs off. Everyone looks really good but I thought Solar sand Greco’s pairing stood out the most. Though Ultraman and Hermoso’s was cut short by clipping. Ruodo’s end up taking the first fall in this. Rudy Renya does some really fun comedy spots including failing on a nipup after Astro did it several times and then literally running away from the technico’s before running into the ringo to find all the Space Cadets waiting for him. Greco takes a crazy backdrop to the outside. Super Astro has some really fun comedy spots as well. Dive train at the end of the 2nd fall is awesome in this particularly Super Astro’s getting backdropped over the top by Ultraman into a HUGE tope. Terrific spot. Crowd is loving it. Great spot in the 3rd fall that has Reyna running away from Astro around the ring so Astro turns around, runs the opposite direction and nails him. 3rd fall is really exciting with some good comedy and good wrestling. I liked this a lot and wonder how much was clipped. Super Astro really looked good in this and I have never really liked Astro before. Enrique Vera vs. Dos Caras (2/26/84) Title match so we get the back and forth exchanging of holds you would expect. It is definitely not Cota vs Rocca level stuff but it is still good. Slow paced. Some good struggles over wacky submissions. Some minor clipping in this match but it doesn’t really bum me out like it does in the Space Cadets match. Vera hits a fucking awesome Billy Robinson side backbreaker. 2nd fall is clipped again and super quick. Caras takes it with a small package from a suplex attempt. 3rd fall has some dramatic submission attempts and some really nice counters. Vera uses the side backbreaker again that helped him win the first fall but he can’t put Caras away. They continue with nearfalls off of rollups and submissions. Vera looks quite good in this actually. Just an enormous pop when Caras finally puts him away. This was a good match but really doesn’t stand out for me. It is worth watching for sure but it isn’t one I’m going to rush to rewatch. Jerry Estrada vs. Ultraman (3/2/84) Another title match. Starts with Estrada trying to get Ultraman to shake his hand. Ultraman kinda slaps it away after much consideration and we’re off. This is your typical title match back and forth mat work. Ultraman does a little bit of arm work that Estrada nicely sells an appropriate length of time. Ultraman mostly controls this early. It isn’t really spectacular but it is good back and forth work. It feels pretty basic compared to some of the stuff we’ve seen before and what we’ll see later on the set. But it is still very good. Ultraman hits a couple of neck breakers that Estrada is great selling. Estrada actually takes the first fall off of what looks like a clumsy side Russian leg sweep into a submission. Estrada starts the 2nd fall in control keeping Ultraman grounded with armdrags and armbars. Some nice hope spots by Ultraman trying to take over with more flashy offense before Estrada is able to regain control with his armbars. Finally ULtraman is able to put him away with a spinebuster and wacky submission. 3rd fall starts with Estrada selling the back of his head. So Ultraman takes over with some enzugiri’s neckbreakers, and suplexes. He’s throwing everything at Estrada. Estrada gets dominated in the 3rd fall but is able to mount enough of a comeback to hit a few dropkicks and a tope. But Ultraman is able to respond with a tope of his own. They get back in and Estrada just destroys Ultraman’s shoulder and they have to stop the match. That was weird. This was definitely a good match. Some sloppy parts throughout the match but nothing too awful. I didn’t like the finish and it really seemed to come out of nowhere. I liked the match overall as I generally like Lucha Title match format and there was more than enough good in this to outweigh the flaws. Tony Salazar vs. Herodes (3/2/84) Hair vs Hair match. Starts with Herodes jumping Salazar before he can get into the ring. But it doesn’t last long as Salazar gets in and Herodes bumps around nicely for him. That doesn’t last long either as Salazar catches a knee to the gut and ends up back outside. Herodes posts Salazar as he tries to get back in the ring. He tries it a second time but Salazar is able to counter and hits a beautiful flying cross body block and is able to put Herodes away with an in ring reverse tope and a senton. Short 3 minture first fall but it fucking rocks already. 2nd fall starts with Salazar still in control. He hits a backbreaker which sends Herodes outside. Salazar looks on for the crowd’s approval and then posts Herodes for revenge for the first fall posting. Herodes cautiously gets back in the ring and waits for the split second that Salazar has turned his back before jumping him. Herodes takes over with some arm work. Salazar is terrific selling. Crowd loves it when Salazar does a few arm wringer drops to get some payback. But Herodes maintains control. He even hits a senton on Salazar’s arm leading to a submission and the fall. Herodes continues to work over Salazar’s arm for a bit in between falls. 3rd fall starts with Herodes posting Salazar and Salazar getting busted wide open. Herodes works over the cut with more bites and another posting. Herodes is fully in control at this point. He takes it back in the ring and continues to work the cut with punching and bites all while trying to choke Salazar out. Salazar is a fucking mess at this point, his face and hands just covered in blood. He finally gets an opening and is able to return fire with some punches of his own but is too weakened from the blood loss to really take control. He finally gets some punches and biting of his own in and when Herodes tumbles outside, Salazar follows him out and posts him and then nails a bulldog and posts Herodes again before hitting another bulldog. Salazar gets back in the ring and is celebrating meanwhile, Herodes is stumbling around outside the ring. We finally get a closeup on Herodes and he is pouring blood out of his face. His selling and stumbling blood loss bumping on the outside is amazing. We get both guys back in the ring trading punches with Salazar mostly having the advantage. Herodes hits an unbelieveable tope on Salazar. This is so fucking awesome. Both guys barely beat the count back inside. Salazar hits a dropkick on Herodes as someone fires a cannon or something inside the arena and then follows it up with a plancha. Both guys barely beat the count back in again. Herodes hits a seonton but can’t get the win. The ring is covered in blood. INSANE near fall from a reversal of a body slam with a small package. Seriously the best nearfall from a small package ever. Crowd collectively shits their pants. Herodes bumps into the ref and fouls Salazar. Ref starts to count the pin but realizes something was up. He declares Salazar the winner right as the video cuts out. Really wash we got the full post match as this was fucking tremendous. Classic match. Hijo del Santo, Ringo Mendoza y Chamaco Valaguez vs. Jerry Estrada, Fuerza Guerrera y Talisman (3/9/84) This starts with Santo going after Fuerza on the outside before the match. Ringo Mendoza starts the actual match off with Talisman. Some decent back and forth arm draggy work. Best part is Ringo hitting a side kick and Talisman claiming foul. Fuerza gets in against Valaguez and bails out as soon as Santo comes in after him. Estrada jumps in and tells Santo he has to fight him. Santo tries to drag Fuerza in which allows Estrada to attack Santo. So Fuerza takes this as the time to come in and attack Santo. Awesome. Fuerza is so great. Rudo’s easily dominate Santo with double and triple teams. Ringo finall comes in to save Santo. Santo goes right after Fuerza and hits some great knees before Fuerza bails out and sprints away. Ringo and Talisman come in to have some more nice back and forth exchanges. Estrada comes in as well but Ringo is able to outwrestle both of them. Valaguez gets in and falls for a Feruza handshake and hug. Idiot. Valaguez bails out and Santo immediately comes in for another shot at Fuerza. They have some spectacular back and forth’s with Fuerza making Santo look like a king. Really great. Tremendous finish to the first fall with dives and submissions galore. Fucking awesome. 2nd fall starts with Ringo vs Estrada and they have more good back and forth work before Estrada takes a backdrop to the outside for a tremendous bump. Talisman and Valaguez come in and the good work continues before Talisman takes a bump to the outside. Santo comes in but Fuerza refuses to gt in the ring slowing the pace down. Talisman comes in and Fuerza kinda sneaks in behind him but keeps finding himself in the way. Great heel miscommunication and comedy spots with Talisman and Fuerza with Santo coming out looking great. So Estrada comes in and in jumps Ringo. Estrada is able to take over with punches and it looks like the rudos might finall take over double and triple teaming Ringo. Estrada is just running around kicking and punching dudes. Talisman and Fuerza also come in to join in the fun. Fuerza drags Santo around by the mask talking shit and setting up Santo to get kicked in the face. Talisman and Estrada put Valaguez and Ringo away inside the ring as Fuerza continues to beat on and talk shit to Santo on the outside. Rudo beat down continues in between falls with Santo getting isolated and beat down. The rudo’s do their damndest to get Santo’s mask off. Finally Valaguez is able to break through and get to Santo to help him out. Santo goes after Fuerza with a vengeance punching and kneeing the crap out of Fuerza while tearing and ripping the mask. Ringo and Valaguez but away Talisman and Estrada with rana’s and Santo tries to put Fuerza away but Fuerza flies by and rips Santo’s mask right off. Santo immediately it’s the ground covering his face and Valaguez dives on top of him so no one can see him. They get a shirt to cover Santo’s face and the rudo’s continue to try and get at it. This was all fucking great. Santo eventually get a loner mask and goes after Fuerza. Beating the crap out of him and ripping his mask off. Crowd goes totally insane. Santo gets his mask back. This was all kinds of awesome. Great great great match and really fun post match. Lizmark vs. El Satanico (April 1984) Title match. Great heat from the start with the crowd chanting for Lizmark and Satanico talking crap back to them saying he’s #1. This starts as you expect Lucha title matches to start. Back and forth mat work. Struggling over the application and countering of holds. It is really good as Lizmark brings some flash and Satanico brings some bullying. Both bring a great knowledge of lucha mat work. Satanico’s arm drags and hip tosses are awesome as they look more like throws than drags or tosses. Both guys are fairly cautious in this to start which makes it more dramatic when Lizmark hits a dropkick. Satanico is great stalling and slowing the pace in between locking up while still keeping the match interesting with his sellig, facial expressions or crowd interactions. It makes it so much more meaningful when they do lock up and makes the nearfalls that much more dramatic. But when it is time to pick the pace up and go, Satanico can bump and move as fast as anyone. Lizmark takes the first fall with a doublearm suplex and the crowd goes crazy. Satanico is awesome selling the damage in between falls and at the start of the 2nd. Lizmark takes advantage of Satanico’s sore neck at the start of the fall. He focuses on that and even does the Curt Hennig neck whip move. Satanico is really great selling and interacting with his second. Lizmark hits a piedriver which Satanico sells like crazy for flopping all around. He’s really good at going back and forth between subtle understated selling and wild over the top selling. Lizmark hits a couple of dropkicks and goes for a rana but Satanico just plants him with a desperation powerbomb and takes the fall. Lizmark does a great job getting it over as a devastating move in between falls while Satanico is trying to recover as well. Satanico charges Lizmark full speed at the start of the fall but misses a knee and hits the turnbuckle. Lizmark is pretty solidly back in control really, reversing a Satanico hip toss into an ab stretch. Satanico finally gets the hip toss and nails a senton for a good near fall. Lizmark hits a few running topes in the ring for a near fall. Lizmark is selling as though he is as beat up as Satanico in spite of controlling most of the match which is a little werid but I guess that powerbomb was great. Really dramatic 3rd fall with lots of pinning combinations and great near falls. Lizmark hits some beautiful flying cross body blocks in from the top rope both in the ring and to the floor. Just tremendous selling by Satanico after the one to the floor. Match actually ends with a double pin so Satanico escapes with his title. This was interesting. Lizmark really dominated the vast majority of the match. It was good and Satanico is really great selling and putting over Lizmark. But he really got outwrestled for 30 minutes and barely escaped with his title. Which is great for a heel title holder in a title defense, but you really wanted to see Satanico take more of the match. He nailed the powerbomb as a reversal and lucked into Lizmark pinning himself. Really good but weird. I liked the Atlantis mach more. Disc 2 Overall Thoughts Another tremendous disc. Starts and ends with great Satanico performances. Mocha Cota was really the standout worker on the set though. The first match with Rocca is an all time classic and the 2nd one was just too short to get there but on its way there. Just amazing mat work. This also had some really great bloody brawls and exciting multi man matches. Caras vs Vera was ok but not great. The Faraon Egipcio tag was good but not memorable. Everything else is on the very good to all time classic rang.

I think Final Conflict is the best US Tag match I've ever seen title or no title. So, I would say it's pretty strong. It might be my favorite cage match ever as well. Agreed that he's not as important as those other guy's to WarGames 92 actually. And while he was definitely great in the match I'm not going to argue he was the main reason that match was a classic. It was more of an example of "here's Steamboat popping up again in another match you could argue as the best....something....ever." He's obviously a key player in all the other matches I listed. I don't really think I'm reaching on the Luger or Rude matches. I guess when WCW became WCW is important because of the Flair/Steamboat and Flair/Funk series in 89. So I would amend that to say Steamboat vs Rude is arguably the Best WCW Singles Match of the 90s (I don't think it's better than WarGames 92). I freaking love Steamboat vs Luger too. Really great match with both guys looking awesome. Also, just saw Parv's post pop up while I was about to hit send. I was absolutely going to mention that Flair vs Steamboat probably had the best US title match back in the late 70s but I haven't seen a complete one. Although the clips I have seen are incredible.

I was thinking about this earlier. You could argue that Steamboat was in 1. The best WWE IC title match ever (vs Savage) 2. The best NWA Heavyweight Title match ever (vs Flair, pick one) 3. The best NWA Tag Title Match (Final Conflict) 4. The best WCW Tag Title Match (w/ Dustin vs Enforcers 11/91) 5. The best War Games Match (1992) In a world where Magnum vs Tully didn't happen, the Steamboat vs Luger Clash match would be a good candidate for best US Title match ever. The Iron Man Match vs Rude is a strong candidate for best WCW match ever. The tag with Tito vs The Dream Team is a strong candidate for the best WWF tag match ever. Not really sure that I have a point but I thought it was pretty interesting. Initially I was thinking he'd be somewhere in my upper 30s or low 40s. But I could actually see him sneaking into my top 25.

That was really great, Will. Lawler is someone I can't imagine outside of my top 5 which is basically the 5 guys I'm considering for #1 overall (Flair, Hansen, Satanico, and Jumbo being the others).

That's the crazy things about this set. This is my second time running through it. The first time I watched it when I first picked it up, I got to probably midway through Disc 3 and was just exasperated trying to figure out how to rank the matches. There are just so many great matches on the set. I liked the Canek matches more this time around and KVE was less trainwrecky than I remembered. The only matches I'm not actively looking forward to are the Siglo XX match and the Kato Kung Lee vs Kung Fu match. I thought Sangre vs Ringo was a great match but it probably isn't one of the 70 best matches on the set. Incredible.

I forgot about Herodes and I loved that match with Salazar! Now I'm imagining Jimmy Hart bringing in a stable of luchadores to send after Lawler.

Lawler vs Satanico, Chicana, Perro, and Mocha Cota are my all time 4 "I wish this had happened and we had it on tape" matches. I could see Lawler and Cota working a match around Cota trying to poke Lawler in the eyes with his mangled hand and Lawler continually blocking it.

I will come back to this thread at some point. This was all the post 1990 Satanico I could find online. I'm in the midst of rewatching the Lucha set and will comment on younger Satanico as well as his 1990 work as I make my way through the lucha set. This was a lot of fun watching old man Satanico. He had some truly great performances from his mid 40s all the way up through the El Dandy singles matches from this year. If you're someone who values the post-peak of a great worker in the context of a GOAT topic, Satanico is someone who you should watch. He ages very well. His athleticism is obviously not what it was in the 80s, but he paces himself and shows great bursts of energy in brawling matches. He also has some terrific performances taking it to the mat. (Someone needs to watch that Pierroth match). I wish more of the feud with Ultimo Guerrero, Bucanero and friends from 2001 is online because from what I was able to rewatch it looks as great as I remembered it being when I watched it 12-13 years ago. The cage match really stands out as a tremendous storytelling match. He is great in trios matches either as the focus of the match or as a background player adding little touches to the match to keep things moving along. Watching the 80s set, I always looked at Satanico as the Jerry Lawler of Mexico. Maybe not the most athletic guy around, but he can still wow you at times with some insane bumps and would actually bring a shit load of stuff to the table. Watching him post 1990 reminded me even more of Lawler. He may have slowed down a bit but he doesn't let that get in the way of his ability to have great matches because he knows more about wrestling and working the crowd than just about anyone. Even before going through all the 80s stuff for a second time, Satanico is pretty comfortably battling Hansen, Flair, and Lawler for my #1 spot.

I totally forgot I started this thread. I'm rewatching the lucha set to help prepare myself for the GWE poll. Here are my thoughts for Disc 1. Satoru Sayama y Gran Hamada vs. Perro Aguayo y Baby Face (4/13/80) Good first fall with rudo’s bum rushing Sayama and Hamada at the bell and taking over with brawling. Lot’s of double teams by the rudo’s to maintain control throughout with the technico’s using flashy moves to come back. Sayama looks good before blowing the roll up at the end. 2nd fall starts with Hamada doing some amazing armdrag exchanges with Baby Face. Really beautiful stuff. Sayama comes in and does some flashy stuff that is also pretty awesome. It’s really smooth and really fast. Rudo’s take over eventually with brawling tactics. Perro hits a really great top rope senton to put away Hamada who was just busted open. Perro continues to beat up Hamada in between falls. 3rd fall starts with rudo’s dominating Sayama with punches, kicks, stomps, and double teams. Everytime Hamada tries to pull himself up on the apron Perro runs over to attack him. Sayama is able to mount a comeback on Baby Face with some kicks of his own. Hamada ges back in against Perro but Perro pretty easily takes control with boots and knees to the face. Hamada makes his comeback and rams Perro into the ring post as payback for an early spot while Sayama spin kicks at Baby Face in the ring. Perro blades (big shock) and stumbles all the way around ringside so all the fans can see his bloody face. He makes his way back in against Hamada and is pissed but Hamada just kills him with some headbutts. They brawl back to the outside so Sayama and Baby Face can come back in. Baby knocks Sayama outside and hits a plancha. Perro and Hamada get back in and start punching each other. Hamada flips his way out of a back drop and hits a dropkick. He goes for another but Perro gets out of the way and says “FUCK THIS SHIT” and kicks Hamada in the balls. He’s disqualified but he continues to kick and choke Hamada after the match. This was a really good match to start the set. Perro vs Hamada was an awesome match up and Baby Face did a great job working as a base for Sayama’s super fast and flashy offense. And Sayama looked good excluding the finish of the first fall. Good stuff overall. Andre the Giant & Cien Caras vs. Alfonso Dantes, Herodes y Sangre Chicana (1981) This is awesome before it even starts. Sangre Chicana casually strolls up to Andre with his hands on his hips, chewing gum and looking Andre up and down like he’s totally unimpressed. But as soon as Andre starts to approach him, Chicana backs up out of the ring. Crowd is already going crazy for this. First fall starts with Caras getting out of the ring and Dantes and Herodes casually getting out. Sangre realizes what has happened and looks at his team like “Wait, I’m starting against this guy?” So he goes in for a single leg and can’t do anything. Herodes runs in and grabs one as well. Andre just shrugs them both off. Dantes comes in and goes for a bearhug. Which again doesn’t work. This is all built around comedy and Andre strength spots. Chicana is jst amazing in this. Sneaking up behind Andre and jumping up on his back like Cary Elwes in The Princess Bride. Putting Andre in a top wristlock and wildly gesticulating when Andre picks him up of the ground. At one point Chicana has Caras in a wristlock and Andre tags in and Chicana keeps moving around while holding Caras’ arm to keep Andre away from him. Finally Andre just reaches over Caras and grabs Chicana. Fuck I wish there were 1000 Andre in Mexico matches on tape. 2nd fall is a little more rudo dominated because they isolate Caras and try to take him out with double and triple teams. But it’s Andre the Giant. He’s just too much. Technico’s take two straight. This isn’t one of the best matches on the set by any means but it is a total blast. It is impossible for Andre not to stand out in a match just because of his size and who he is but he looked really good here. This is an awesome Sangre Chicana performance and one that is very different from the later awesome Chicana performances that we’ll see. Cool to see him in this setting. I’m so glad this exists on tape. Centurion Negro vs. Gran Hamada (2/14/82) Title match. Starts off on the mat as you’d expect. I’ve never seen Centurion Negro before but he looks quite good stretching Hamada. First fall was good mat work with Negro mostly controlling before taking the first fall with a double arm suplex and a backdrop. 2nd fall is more of the same only with Hamada mostly controlling on the mat with holds. The second fall is a lot less interesting with Hamada in control. The holds are more headlocks and the Riki Choshu head scissors as opposed to the flashier holds Centurion Negro was applying. This makes the struggle for escapes a lot less interesting than in the first fall. This definitely picks up when Hamada brings it off the mat and hits some arm drags and cross body’s before taking it with a backdrop suplex. Third fall starts with Centurion Negro taking back over and so we get some more cool submissions and crazy roll up pin attempts that Hamada has to figure a way out of. They eventually pick it up off the mat for some rope running spots, back drops, topes, and dives out of the ring. Hamada hits a beautiful rana and gets the win with a really great sunset flip off the top. This was definitely a good match and worth watching. I didn’t like it as much as the first two matches even if it is probably better than the Andre match overall. Centurion Negro looked really good tying Hamada up in knots. When Hamada was trying to get out of submissions or doing rope running spots or flying around he looked great. Just as smooth and dynamic as you would expect. I was not impressed with him controlling the second call on the mat though as it was not nearly as interesting as the rest of the match. El Canek vs. Don Corleone (2/14/82) Another title match. Canek is fucking ripped. This starts with the back and forth exchanging of holds that you’d expect from a lucha title match. It isn’t as fast or quite as stretchy as it was in the last match but it is still good stuff although it did kind of drag at times. Corleone just can’t get Canek to give up and he yells at Lou Thesz who threatens a punch. Corleone decides he needs a new strategy and tries to punch and kick but he quickly eats a Baba style Running Neck Breaker and an elbow drop and loses the fall. Canek pretty easily dominates Corleone for much of the second fall with submission before Corleone comes back with punches to the face and taking the fall with a double arm suplex. Canek starts the 3rd fall selling the suplex like death which lets Corleone take control with knees to the back, punches, and submissions. He uses some pretty awesome submissions that Canek struggles to find a way out of. Corleone realizes he can’t get Canek to submit so he tries something different. He slams Canek then goes for a running flipping senton that misses and gives Canek the opportunity to take over. He immediately hits a gorilla press slam, drop kick sending Corleone outside and then a tope. He goes for something else off the ropes as Corleone is climbing in but Don ducks and backdrops Canek out of the ring. Corleone tries a press slam and a back drop suplex for near falls. Neither works. He goes for a second backdrop suplex but Canek flips out of it, hits one of his own and takes the win. This was better than I expected going in. Not a great title match and not the sort of match I’m going to watch multiple times. But I’m glad I watched it. Good submission work and drama. Pretty exciting 3rd fall. I didn’t like this as much as the Hamada/Negro Centurion match actually but this was still good. Tatsumi Fujinami vs. El Canek (6/12/83) FUJINAMI! Similar to the last 2 matches, this starts with back and forth mat work in the first fall. This is paced faster than the Corleone match but maintains a lot of the struggle to escape the more intricate submissions applied in the first fall. Nothing as wacky as some of the holds we saw in the Centurion Negro match. Canek takes the fall with jumping elbow drops which the crowd just loves. Canek maintains control in the 2nd fall hitting a drop kick from a test of strength position and then hitting the Baba neck breaker drop. Fujinami eventually takes over hitting a dropkick, enzugiri, suplex, and backdrop suplex to take the fall. Short 2nd fall but exciting. 3rd fall again starts with a test of strength but with Fujinami taking control out of it with kicks. They go back to the test of strength with Canek taking control with a backwards roll and double wristlock before locking in an ab stretch. Fujinami tries to fight back with punches and kicks but Canek tends to come back pretty easily always having an answer for what Fujinami tries. Canek puts Fujinami in the figure 4 and Fujinami rolls to the outside sending them both tumbling down but Canek either refuses to break the hold or can’t so the ref has to pry them apart. I love that spot whenever and wherever it happens. Ref ends up taking a dropkick from Fujinami. Canek knocks Fujinami out and he tries to help the ref back up but it leaves him unprepared and Canek nails him with a tope. They crawl back into the ring and start to fight but the ref runs in and breaks it up and declares Canek the winner. Fujinami is pissed and he takes the fight to Canek and they start brawling around ringside. I liked this. It wasn’t great but definitely a good match. Kevin von Erich, Mascara Ano 2000 y Halcon Ortiz v. Coloso Colosetti, Pirata Morgan y Herodes (9/23/83) This is another match that I’m just happy exists on tape. I actually really like this as you’ve got a bunch of dudes working these super slick back and forth mat exchanges and then you’ve got super awkward Kevin von Erich. I actually love Kevin von Erich. He’s one of my favorite hot tags where he just comes in and fucking blasts people. He’s not doing that here. But he’s showing off his athleticism. Getting great height on all his drop kicks and elbow drops and what not. But compared to everyone else having this gorgeous match around him, Kevin comes across as awkward. He’s clearly working his ass off but stands out as not being super comfortable. When this turns into more of a brawl in the 2nd and 3rd falls, Kevin looks much better. Pirata Morgan is absolutely tremendous in this working super fast exchanges and bumping like the psycho he is. Mascara Ano 2000 also really stood out in this. He looked like a great technico worker. Kevin hits an incredible cross body block off the top rope to win the match. 3rd fall was really short but overall I liked this match a lot. MS-1 vs. Sangre Chicana (9/23/83) Sangre Chicana ducking a punch and hitting one of his own for the first time in this is my favorite spot in the history of wrestling. I’m sure everyone has either seen or heard of this match. It is incredible. There are enough reviews of it out there that I feel like there’s nothing I can add. I will say it is my favorite match ever. Incredible performances. Espectro Jr., Satanico y MS-1 vs. Mocho Cota, Sangre Chicana y La Fiera (9/30/83) I fucking love this match. Total war with a bunch of guys I love as workers. MS-1 goes right after Chicana and tries to kill him. Satanico helps take out Chicana before they move on to take out Fiera. Infernales are controlling the ring before the match not even letting the technico’s get in the ring. Crowd is crazy hot for this match from the start. Chicana keeps getting back in the ring and getting triple teamed. MS-1 really goes after Chicana as Satanico and Espectro keep everyone at bay. Satanico is amazing in this just sprinting around the ring punching people in the face; keeping it clear so Chicana can get pounded into submission. Infernales just rotate through double and triple teaming the technico side. Chicana and Cota both end up getting busted open. The Infernales are just crazy intense in this. When the technico’s come back they dish it out with just as they got it and the crowd goes absolutely bat shit. Satanico ends up getting triple teamed like the technico’s in the first fall and he gets beaten into submission. Chicana drags MS-1 into the ring and just fishhooks the shit out of him. It was actually pretty brutal looking. The payback is almost as great as the initial rudo domination. The match ends with Chicana fouling Satanico behind the ref’s back. While he’s rolling around the ground all three technico’s are trying to rip off Espectro Jr’s mask. Finally Satanico recovers enough to run up behing Chicana and foul him which gets his team disqualified. This was a fucking awesome match that is a great companion match with the MS-1 vs Sangre match from the week before. It is definitely not on that level but this is a total blast. Everybody looked incredible in this. Sangre Chicana vs. Ringo Mendoza (10/28/83) Crowd is nuts before this match even starts. I love how everyone crowds up around the ring apron. Chicana always comes across like a major star to me and him standing there wearing a title signing autographs isn’t all that surprising. Starts off as you’d expect with some good back and forth mat work. I like the spot where they get locked in the arm drag position and are just dragging each other around the ring and to the floor. They get back in the ring and have an awesome back and forth exchange that ends in a handshake. Really great tease by Chicana for a tope. Ringo teases a tope as well but it isn’t as great. But he kicks Chicana back down and hits a great looking plancha. Ringo takes the first fall by tying Chicana up in a totally ridiculous and awesome submission. 2nd fall starts with Ringo maintaining control of the match. He hits a couple of neckbreakers and a slam before missing a dive off the top. Chicana’s selling in this is really great. Chicana takes advantage of Ringo’s missed splash from the top by locking him in a submission for the win. 3rd fall starts with both guys still selling the damage they’ve taken. Sangre is able to dominate the beginning of the fall but his selling is phenomenal. He hits a top rope knee drop and puts Ringo up in a Gori Special before Ringo is able to turn it into a roll up. Crowd is going crazy for all of this. They start trading submissions but neither guy can put the other one away. The struggle over all the counters and applications of the holds in the third fall is tremendous and these guys are selling their asses off making this last fall really dramatic and heated. Match ends with a double pin, which I know probably rubs some people the wrong way but I like it in a match like this that is so even and with such great selling. End of the match has these guys shaking hands and the fans throwing money in the ring. Sangre picks up pretty much all of it before finally stopping and shaking hands and celebrating with fans. This isn’t the best title match ever by any means but it is a really great match. I know I mostly talked about Chicana in this, but I don’t mean to sell Ringo short. I have really liked him in all the matches of his that I’ve seen. He was terrific in this as well. His mat work and selling were great. Tremendous match from both guys. Sangre fucking Chicana man. Atlantis y El Hijo del Santo vs. Fuerza Guerrera y Lobo Rubio (11/25/83) Another match that is so cool to have footage of; Santo Jr’s Arena Mexico debut. He’s so skinny! Also cool to see young Fuerza and Atlantis who are two of my favorites. Pretty cool to see Santo was building a lot of matches around a head scissors in 1983. Formula’s work. Santo and Lobo Rubio have a nice back and forth opening exchange. Nothing mind blowing and pretty basic. But it is good. Atlantis and Fuerza come in and the mat work immediately gets a little more fast paced, intricate and wonky. These two already look tremendous and have a really awesome back and forth exchange that ends with Fuerza in someone’s lap in the front row. Rubio comes in and the good work continues. Atlantis is just so smooth and spectacular here. Santo comes in against Fuerza. Fuerza slows the pace a little. They’re still hitting moves quickly and smoothly but Fuerza is pausing in between them to put over the fact that he’s getting “outworked” by Santo Jr. Santo is really spectacular hitting a lot of spots fans of his 90s and 00’s work will recognize. They aren’t as smooth or as fast as they will be in the future as he gains experience. But it is cool to see the beginnings of Santo Jr. Fuerza is incredible in this as a base for Santo Jr to hit his spots and mixing in some great comedy spots. Rudo’s try some double teams on Atlantis at the start of the 2nd fall but since Fuerza is involved they backfire in a really great extended comedy spot. Rudo’s finally gain the advantage by isolating Atlantis. Fuerza tries his handshake trick on Santo Jr but he doesn’t fall for it. Santo takes a slap to the face anyway. Rubio picks Santo up and throws him out of the ring and Santo lands really awkwardly and looks like he could have easily blown out a knee. 2nd fall was good with the rudo’s mostly controlling. 3rd fall has a great spot where Fuerza is nailing the crap out of Santo and Santo finally fires back and the crowd goes ballistic. He regains the advantage for his team briefly before getting double teamed. Santo Jr and Atlantis hit some absolutely spectacular dives in the third fall to win by countout. A result that I didn’t mind because the dives were enormous. This was a really great match. Because Santo is using a lot of the same spots and sequences he would use later in his career, you can see that he is green here. But you can see he’ll be great. Lobo Rubio looks really good here leading Santo through some nice exchanges and eating all of Santo’s spots really well. Fuerza and Atlantis look out of this fucking world good in this. Atlantis is a guy I never think about when I think about my favorite or the best workers but whenever I watch him, I love the guy. I could see him placing as high as my top 25 or 30 in the GWE ever. Terrific match. Disc 1 Overall Thoughts You get your money’s worth after one disc. Seriously. The other 9 are gravy. MS-1 vs Chicana is one of the best matches ever and the 6 man tag the following week is a total fucking blast. This has a great comedy match with Andre the Giant. A terrific title match. A historic tag match featuring the son of the greatest star in the history of Lucha that happens to also be a great match. Kevin von Erich sharing a ring with Pirata Morgan and Mascara Ano 2000. You get to see Perro Aguayo in his prime. El Canek. Gran Hamada. Tatsumi Fujinami. Espectro Jr's Mask. Lou Thesz even refs some matches. This disc is so good even Tiger Mask looks great. Sangre Chicana was definitely the standout worker on a disc full of great performances. If I felt comfortable calling someone the greatest wrestler ever after 4 matches, Sangre would be my #1. He is only in 4 matches and two of them are all out brawls. However one of those brawls is arguably the best match ever. He is tremendous and the definite standout working comedy spots against Andre the Giant in a match that while maybe not great overall but has Sangre putting on a great performance in a totally different way from the MS-1 match and the trios. And then he has the title match with Ringo which is a great match which is again worked in a totally different fashion from the previous matches. Sangre is one of the single greatest sellers I have ever seen. Anyone reading this has probably at least seen the MS-1 match so you know he can sell his ass off, brawl like a motherfucker, and milk the big moments for all theyre worth (seriously Sangre ducking a punch in returning fire in the 2nd fall of the MS-1 match is the single most spectacular spot ever and it is a fucking duck and a punch). In the other matches he shows an ability to build heat in totally different ways. Sangre fucking Chicana.

There are at least 6 trios matches from 1990 with them teaming up. So there is that

This is awesome!

Satanico vs Jerry Estrada Hair vs Hair 3/23/90 Wildly disappointing match. There were some things about this that I did like. Estrada took the insane bumps you would expect from him and did some nice dives. Satanico's selling was excellent as usual. But this felt really flat overall. Especially the first fall. It really lacked the violence and hatred of the great hair matches. I'm not a total vampire, but I do think some blood would have helped this. Satanico seems to realize the match isn't as good as it could be and he turns up the intensity. There's a great spot where they're both on the ground, almost in the guard position and Satanico just dives forward and starts throwing punches and headbutting. Satanico actually hit an awesome tope which really surprised me. In all of these matches I've watched the only "dives" Satanico has done are his 2nd rope senton and his senton from the apron to the floor. He usually gets really good elevation on them and them usually look devastating. But I can't remember ever seeing him dive through the ropes before. 3rd fall picks up and there are some good near falls, but there are some moments I absolutely hated. At one point Estrada is going to the outside to go to the top rope. He collapses before he even reaches the turnbuckle because he's so spent. So he goes up top and goes for an enormous senton but Satanico gets out of the way. Considering Estrada could barely stand 5 seconds before, this should have killed him. But he kicks out at 2. Survives some more punishment, and is soon back going for high risk stuff. I may revisit this later because there are a lot of positive comments about it in the yearbook thread and Loss actually ranked it 18th overall for 1990. This didn't do it for me overall even if I did like pieces of it. Not in the same universe as the Pierroth match or the Lizmark match from 93. Satanico vs Pirata Morgan 11/19/93 Hair vs Hair I love when Satanico punches Pirata in the face and then shakes his hand because he hurt it on Pirata's face. Great spot whenever anyone does it. I also really like when Satanico has Morgan in a backslide and Satanico runs in place to create more leverage and ensure the pinfall. I love that Pirata blades basically immediately. I love that Satanico keeps biting the cut until blood is covering his own face. Seriously he looks like Kathy Bates at the beginning of American Horror Story The Coven. I love Satanico trying to win this quickly and cheaply by claiming foul on a kick that clearly hits him in the chest. I love Satanico putting on an armbar and then punching Morgan in the armpit. I love that when Pirata makes his comeback's in the 2nd fall he's still selling his ass off and getting cut off because he's weakened from the blood loss. I love that Pirata's comebacks are surprise out of nowhere dropkicks coming off rope running spots. Satanico has been able to take back over any time Pirata tries to come back with punches prior to this. I love the figure 4 as a finish. I love that Jake Roberts has a front row seat. I love that Pirata finally gets to do some damage on Satanico and bust him open while brawling in the crowd between the 2nd and 3rd falls. I love when they're both on the ground selling and bleeding and Pirata attempts to put the figure 4 on from his knees. Satanico punches his way free before Pirata can get it on. So Pirata pulls him back up, hits a spinebuster and then reapplies the figure 4 trying to beat Satanico with it again. I love the camera angle and the facial expressions on Satanico as he inches his way toward the ropes. I love that he gets there and Pirata say "fuck this" and scoots back, pulling Satanico from the ropes. I love that Satanico had to drag himself to the ropes a second time before PIrata let him up. I love that Pirata follows this up by using submission after submission which forces Satanico to have to crawl to the ropes or try and break the hold by reversing it or sticking his hand in Pirata's cut/eye socket or slyly fouling Pirata out of sight of the ref (Seriously that low blow was done perfectly for the ref to miss it from 8 inches away). I love that Satanico is now weakened to the point where he can't full capitalize on the foul and can't get Pirata over for a sunset flip. I love that Pirata comes back right back and hits his own sunset flip. I love that in the 3rd fall PIrata is able to cut off all of Satanico's comebacks and Satanico is unable to regain control until Pirata takes too long to climb to the top rope (bc of all the damage he's taken) and misses a huge dive. I love that Pirata had to take that risk because all the submissions and MOVES he's trying still aren't able to put Satanico away so he has to try something desperate. I love that Satanico doesn't immediately take over on offense but slowly drags himself over to Pirata to cover him with one arm Hokuto/Kandori style. I love that both men recover at around the same time but Satanico has just the opening he needs and Pirata is hurt enough from missing the bomb that one ferocious punch is all he needs to take back control. I love that Satanico pretty much immediately gets too cocky and starts pandering to the crowd which gives Pirata the opening to hit an enzugiri. I love that Pirata tries to follow it up with a rana but Satanico plants him with a powerbomb. I love that as they're trading bombs down the stretch they're continuing their tremendous selling. I love Satanico. I love Pirata Morgan. I love this match. This isn't just one of the best Lucha matches ever, it is one of the best matches ever. Loss had this #4 overall in 1993. Only behind Hansen/Kobashi, Hokuto/Kandori, and Misawa/Kobashi vs Kawada/Taue and ahead of things like Thunderqueen and Hansen/Kawada. That is tremendous company. Everyone should watch this.

Satanico vs Lizmark 7/17/92 This was a really weird match. Definitely disappointing considering who it is. There are parts of it that are really good. The mat work in the first fall is really good. Lizmark hits his stuff really well when it picks up. Satanico is excellent selling and hits two of his awesome 2nd rope sentons. But this really felt like an extended Lizmark squash. He dominates the majority of the match and escapes/counters Satanico way way to easily throughout this. I typically like Lizmark but I just wasn't into this. This isn't nearly as good as the Pierroth match. Satanico vs Lizmark 9/17/93 I have lowered my expectations big time for this based on the last match between the two. This is another title match between the two. First fall is the typical back and forth mat work and like in the previous match, it is very good. Satanico spends a lot more time in control and keeping Lizmark grounded. There is much more of a struggle in applying and countering submissions. Satanico has typically great facial expressions in this. The used the finish of the last match as the finish of the first fall in this one and it works much better than it did there because Satanico hasn't spent the prior 25 minutes getting dominated. Second fall is more good back and forth mat work with Satanico mostly dominating. I love the fact that he wrestles so cleanly in these title matches. He's such an excellent mat worker. It really gets over the importance of the title matches because he's also such a great brawler and excels as the biggest rudo in the game. His selling in this fall is typically great stuff. Lizmark uses his athleticism to take this second fall. 3rd fall is Lizmark doing any and everything he can to put Satanico away. Suplexes, submissions, roll ups, huge dives, anything. Satanico has some really nice counters into submissions or pinning combos in the 3rd fall for near falls and hits his great 2nd rope senton. But in the end Lizmark's athleticism is too much. This is so so so so much better than the first match because it is so much more even. Satanico mostly controls the match when theyre on the mat and Lizmark uses his superior athleticism to come back. Terrific match. Definitely worth watching.

I haven't done this and I figured I should. I hate talking about myself so I'm going to be brief. I"m Elliott and I've lurked here for a lonnnng time. I got really excited about the GOAT Project and dove back in. I've always really enjoyed this board and think it has been the most interesting wrestling board in...forever? There are a lot of familiar names here that I used to trade with/buy from/or just interact with back on the old a1wrestling Kawada Fan Zone, toa and dvdvr boards. The devastating combination of HHH and College drove me away from really hardcore wrestling fandom but this board helped bring me back. I started off as a typical douchey smart mark who cared about things like execution and moves and nearfalls and any match that ended with a dq was a rip off, etc etc etc. I started to get more into 70s and territorial wrestling in the last 2 years or so before college. With the help of jdw and co I had an awesome Destroyer comp made that I circulated. That comp, a later Johnny Saint one (I seriously emailed Jeff Lynch and asked him to fill a 2hr 40min tape with random Johnny Saint matches and just let me know what the match list was), and BostonIdol's 70s Japan tapes helped me gain a real appreciation for mat work. I've also always really loved lucha. Tapes were expensive obviously but I kind of found a way around it. Any money I made would go to wrestling tapes obviously, but I also had a deal with my mom. Anytime I got an A on a test at school, she would get me a wrestling tape. I had always been an average student who never "lived up to my potential," until that deal. By the end of high school I was an honor roll student who received several academic scholarships and had 100s and 100s of wrestling tapes with everything from Rings to Joshi to 80s Memphis to 90s All Japan etc.

Satanico, La Fiera, Emilio Charles Jr vs El Dandy, Atlantis, Pierroth 11/13/92 This is another new upload from 9/17/14 with 150ish views. Everybody should watch it because it fucking rocks. Total brawling match. Satanico isn't on screen much in the rudo dominated first fall. Whenever we see him he's throwing his great punches/kicks or ripping at Pierroth's mask. When we see more of him in the 2nd and 3rd fall he is mostly bumping or brawling with Pierroth. He looks good and I'm excited for the singles match with Pierroth, but this match was about El Dandy vs La Fiera and it was great. FIera attacks Dandy in the back while Dandy is giving an interview and beats him up for Pierroth and Atlantis make the save. It continues in the first fall with Fiera and Dandy brawling all over ringside and in the ring. Dandy's selling is excellent. 2nd fall picks up even more when the technico's take over and Dandy beats the crap out of Fiera. Fiera blades and the crowd is loving it. 3rd fall is more of the same with everyone fighting all over the place. It ends in a DQ after Fiera brings the chain in the ring to try and beat up Dandy but Dandy gets it and hangs Fiera with it over the top rope. El Dandy is in peak form here. Everything he does is great in this. I wanted to also mention how much I love Atlantis. Everyone took a backseat to Dandy/Fiera in this and let the focus be on them. But in the brief moments Atlantis was in there he was just on fire moving so smoothly and quickly. He was a truly spectacular high flyer. Satanico vs Pierroth 1992 or 93 This is a title match. I really like the little things Satanico does. When he's pushing Pierroth back into the corner and has his forearm on Pierroth's face, Satanico takes his other hand and pushes on his wrist to get more force behind the forearm he has shoved in Pierroth's face. Or when he has Pierroth on the ground in an armbar, Satanico takes his free hand and shoves it in Pierroth's armpit. It is the type of stuff Regal would do. Also stuff like rocking back and forth on the camel clutch. This is a really tremendous match that I hope everyone watches. The best match Ive watched for this project so far. Fantastic back and forth mat work in the first fall. Second fall has Satanico roughing Pierroth up a little bit trying to take two straight. But of course Pierroth comes back. Third fall is full of great near falls and near submissions. Really dramatic final fall. I wish you could hear the crowd better because they seemed to be really hot. This is an awesome match. If you are a fan of lucha title matches, you will love this match.

I've seen probably less than 15 AJ Styles matches in my life and I've never seen an Abyss match. So I figured I would give that a shot. I agree it is a terrific performance from AJ. It seemed like every bump he took (even more basic ones like off a boot or a clothesline) was totally insane. His offense also looked really good. I usually like Big Guy vs Little Guy matches, so it would be cool to see AJ against a really good monster. This was more of a great one man show. My favorite spot was when Abyss whipped AJ towards the guardrail and AJ slid underneath it and then hit a flying elbow. Really creative spot that looked better than I would have ever imagined. There were some things I didn't like in the match but honestly they came from Abyss or the commentators. I didn't like the finish or anything Abyss did with the chain. Just wrap it around your fist and hit the guy in the face. But AJ's performance was impressive enough to overcome those things that bugged me. Why the hell did WWE never pick him up? I want to see AJ vs Mark Henry.

I just watched La Momia vs Martin Kardagian And it was so much fucking fun. This is quite the spectacle with little kids looking absolutely petrified by La Momia. The way La Momia is walking to the ring and breathing is really creepy. This starts off like Don Frye vs Takayama with these guys just blasting each other in the head and face. La Momia keeps trying to choke Kardagian and the camera keeps showing little kids who look like they're about to burst into tears because Kardagian is probably about to get killed in front of them. La Momia takes a few backdrops. Insanely hot crowd This is awesome and was posted to youtube in late August. Everyone should watch it. It only took 4 minutes but clearly La Momia is the #1 greatest of all time. I will watch everything I can find from Titanes en el Ring.

Has anyone ever revisited the brief period of time Rey worked in Mexico post WCW and before WWE picked him up? This seems like a dead period for his career that no one ever talked about. I remember liking that stuff at the time. Unfortunately not much of that is online.

Satanico, Fuerza Guerrera, Emilio Charles vs Kato Kung Lee, Octagon, Atlantis 5/31/91 This had some really good moments but overall I think it dragged on a little too long. This could have given 10 minutes to the 3/13/92 match and the world would be a better place. Still, this had some good stuff like I said. I'm not really a fan of the ninja gimmick guys, but Satanico and Fuerza are great bases for Lee and Octagon to do their spinny kicky offense around. This has some good comedy spots which isn't surprising considering Fuerza is in there. The crowd is really hot for this as usual. Worth watching and a good match but just a touch to long I thought. Satanico vs Kato Kung Lee Hair vs Hair luchawiki says 6/21/91 Based on some pretty good work together in the previous 6 man, I went from low expectations for this to "maybe it'll be ok" expectations. Awesome spot early on where Satanico has Lee in a wristlock and starts biting his hand. From there this falls off a cliff. The first fall is Satanico dominating with punches, stomps, and chokes. There's a lot of Lee slumped down in the corner and Satanico stepping on his throat or Lee draped over the top rope and Satanico choking him until the ref pulls him off. Finally Lee gets away just long enough to hit Satanico with a 2nd rope tope and a dropkick before rolling Satanico up for the pin. Satanico is pissed and gets in the refs face. Second fall is really more of the same with Satanico mostly dominating with punches and kicks. He turns it up a notch by taking Lee outside the ring and whipping him into the ring post over and over again and we get a little blood. Lee takes a terrible bump for Satanico's bulldog. Lee takes over briefly with some flashy ninja kicks then takes Satanico outside for some face into steel ring post payback. And then the video craps out and goes to black for a solid minute. When it comes back they're still outside and Satanico has taken back over. The video continues to be really shaky but we do get a nice shot of Satanico hitting his awesome apron to the floor senton. Lee hits a superkick then tries the roll-up that he used to be Satanico in the first fall but Satanico kicks out. Lee goes up top for a flying kneedrop but misses it. Satanico punches him twice and then puts an armbar on Lee and Lee submits. Um...ok. Other than that godawful 6 man with Joe Lider, this was probably the worst match I've watched with Satanico. Kato Kung Lee looks really bad in this. Boring work from both guys. Satanico had a pretty easy time controlling this and countering Lee's offense and Lee's selling was really spotty so this lacked the drama of a great hair vs hair match. I do not recommend this unless you want to watch a great worker have a bad match against a bad opponent. So maybe I recommend this to Matt D

Satanico vs Hector Garza 4/25/95 Title match. This really did nothing to grab my attention. Back and forth mat work for most of the match and it is really uninteresting to me. Nothing they do is bad exactly, this just seems really average and dull to me. I was hoping this would at least be on the level of the Tarzan Boy match from 2000, but it isn't even all that close. I might comeback to this match later and give it another shot. But this is definitely something people can skip. Satanico, Pirata Morgan, MS-1 vs Atlantis, Lizmark, Mascara Sagrada 3/13/92 My one complaint is that this match had to end because if it had lasted for the last 22 years I would still watch it all. So much fun. Great match with everyone looking incredible (Sagrada mostly stayed outside the ring). Rudo's control most of the first fall and a half with brawling triple teaming etc. They take particular pleasure in beating up Lizmark. Satanico always comes across as the leader of the Infernales but it isn't necessarily because he looks way better than the other two. In every match that those 3 guys have together they all look like fantastic workers. They have a real chemistry that puts them in the conversation with any great tag team in history from a working perspective. Atlantis and LIzmark are so smooth when they take over and start hitting their major spots and dives. The crowd is insanely hot for this. Fucking awesome match that everyone should watch asap.

I keep saying I'm "running out of old man Satanico" and in a way that's not entirely true. When I think of "old man Satanico" I'm mostly thinking of 2001 and on Satanico. Probably because the first time I saw him was in 2001. I've seen all of his work on the 80s Lucha set and the 1990 El Dandy feud, but anything between 1990 and 2001 is new to me and anything post 2003 has also been new. So when I watch him as a 64 year old in 2014, he doesn't seem quite as ancient in 1994. But realistically he is still 44 years old in 1994. Which is old for (most) wrestlers. Since we have nothing before 1983, and the vast majority of Satanico footage comes from post 1990, I figured it might help to look at how old some other relevant wrestlers are compared to Satanico. Satanico born 10/26/49 Ric Flair 2/25/49 8 months older than Satanico Yoshiaki Fujiwara 4/27/49 6 months older than Satanico Bob Backlund 8/14/49 2 months older than Satanico Stan Hansen 8/29/49 2 months older than Satanico Lizmark 9/18/94 1 month older than Satanico Jerry Lawler 11/29/49 1 month younger than Satanico Before moving on, I separated all the 1949 birth years because holy shit 1949 was the best year for pro wrestlers being born ever! If someone had a top 5 with Satanico, Flair, Hansen, Lawler, and Fujiwara, I wouldn't argue it for a second. Anyway here's a group of wrestlers within 5 years age of Satanico Terry Funk 6/30/44 5 years older than Satanico Perro Aguayo 1/18/46 basically 4 years older than Satanico Andre the Giant 5/19/46 3 years older than Satanico Dick Murdoch 8/16/46 3 years older than Satanico I'm actually really surprised at how close Perro and Satanico are in age. Genichiro Tenryu 2/2/50 basically 3 months younger than Satanico Jumbo Tsuruta 3/25/51 two years younger than Satanico Greg Valentine 9/20/51 two years younger than Satanico Sangre Chicana 11/30/51 two years younger than Satanico Riki Choshu 12/3/51 two years younger than Satanico Villano III 3/23/52 or 1/21/53 (luchawiki had both) 3 or 4 years younger than Satanico Randy Savage 11/15/52 3 years younger than Satanico Buddy Rose 11/15/52 3 years younger than Satanico Best single day for wrestler births ever. Ricky Steamboat 2/28/53 4 years younger than Satanico Hulk Hogan 8/11/53 4 years younger than Satanico Tatsumi Fujinami 11/28/53 4 years younger than Satanico Tully Blanchard 1/22/54 basically 4 years younger than Satanico Ted Dibiase 1/18/54 basically 4 years younger than Satanico So those are the people I would consider his peers.