-
Posts
9321 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Blogs
Everything posted by ohtani's jacket
-
The Beginner's Guide To British Wrestling
ohtani's jacket replied to ohtani's jacket's topic in Megathread archive
Dave Bond vs. Tony St. Clair (9/13/78) Soul Brother Dave Bond was wearing his Bobby Womack hat here. And your friend, Annie May, tell you all she see. Did you ever think she was trying to get close to me? This was a year removed from the Caribbean Sunshine Boys controversy and showed their chemistry together was no fluke. St. Clair had one of the most kick ass passages of babyface offence in this bout and this was ruling as much as their '77 stuff when they decided to do this cutesy finish where Bond tricked St. Clair into inadvertently DQ'ing himself, which the ring announcer managed to get overturned. That forced the match to continue and St. Clair quickly won with a flash pin. Pretty lame considering how good the match was. Mike Marino vs. Dave Bond (3/23/77) This was the beginning of the Dave Bond heel turn or at least that's the way Walton called it. Marino was an easy bleeder over his left eye and Bond went all out to try and get him to bleed. Marino took exception to that and knocked Bond the fuck out with some of the best looking punches I can remember seeing. After the match, Bond shoved Marino from behind and the look on Marino's face was priceless. He looked exactly like an old guy does when he's pissed at some young punk. He was just seething. It could have been a shoot it was that good. Really fun match. -
1980s Lucha Wrestling Party #3
ohtani's jacket replied to goodhelmet's topic in Publications and Podcasts
I also mentioned that Cota looks like the Master, but only post hair match. I don't think you've seen his giant afro yet. That was his normal look between hair matches. -
I had a dream last night that I found a really up tempo, workrate Brody tag on youtube and posted it in this thread. Of all the threads in all the land my dreams had to walk into this one.
-
We're not really talking about episodic content, though. We're talking about subtle details that may take years to pick up on, such as why this no-DQ match was a clever play on the stip. For me Portland takes a bit of getting used to. With the Piper/Martel tag, Piper playing the FIP in the first fall and then Martel in the second kind of threw me. Because of the break between falls, it almost felt as though there was a reset and I was watching two different matches. I liked the match a lot, but I dunno how much of a contextual thing this and how much it has to do with form and structure.
-
It's pro-wrestling. You should be able to take a date to the Portland Arena and have her understand the context of a non-disqualification match. They could have wrestled that same match under DQ rules and it wouldn't have made an iota of difference. I just watched the Piper/Martel vs. Rose/Wiskowski match that disintegrates into a brawl and I don't think folks need context to understand that. It's not for me to say whether there's subtle usages of the stip or not as I've barely watched any Portland, but in the context of no-DQ matches in other territories around the world that was not the type of match I'd expect. But it was still really good.
-
The Beginner's Guide To British Wrestling
ohtani's jacket replied to ohtani's jacket's topic in Megathread archive
Brian Maxine vs. Clayton Thomson (5/11/77) I wish Walton had never pointed out Maxine's nose to me. It's kind of gross seeing a guy who has no cartilage. This was another odd Thomson comeback match. Walton was trying to put a hard sell on us that Thomson was as good as George Kidd, the oft talked about, never seen, light heavyweight champion of the world. Thomson was undoubtedly better in his young days (he's better in the earlier WoS footage we have of him), but not so flash in this comeback. What made the match odd was that Maxine attacked Thomson from behind before the start of round two and as they were scrapping Max Ward caught a back elbow in the face. Ward called for a DQ, got out his little book from his back pocket and gave Maxine a booking football style. The whole thing lasted about a round and a half, maybe a quarter, though Maxine got tremendous heat for it as usual. I love the spot he does where he backs the ring announcer into the corner and then climbs the turnbuckle to prevent him from announcing the result. Some guy leapt out of the crowd and tried to pull him off Mike Judd, the ring announcer. Then Maxine got on the mic and cut a promo while everyone booed him. So you see WoS isn't always like hushed tones at the cricket. Speaking of which... Tony St. Clair vs. Dave Bond (12/6/77) I absolutely love this feud. This was during the Caribbean Sunshine Boys run where both Bond and Kincaid took shots at British Heavyweight champion Tony St. Clair. The first Bond/St. Clair match is fantastic and this picks up where they left off. Bond is much slimmer here than he was in the 80s and was at the peak of his powers as a performer. He uses every trick in the book and a couple of new ones to antagonise St. Clair, who ends up with two public warnings and the risk of disqualification out of sheer frustration at Bond's inside moves. The babyfaces are always allowed a bit of retaliation from the refs in WoS, but St. Clair takes matters into his own hands here. If you've ever thought Tony St. Clair is boring you need to watch this feud as both his open handed and closed fisted strikes are awesome in this and he smacks the shit out of Bond at times. The heat is tremendous all the way through and this is just a great brawl. Even the over the rope countout finish is good and those are almost never good in WoS. This time St. Clair slingshots Bond over the top rope and Bond can't make the count of 10. It's a really aggressive move to get the COR victory. Afterwards, St. Clair lays the belt down on the mat and challenges Kincaid who's jawing with him at ringside. Tony was up for this feud and this is another of my recommended matches. -
Promos about the round or something else?
-
Where do they go between rounds in Portland? It really bugs me how they return to the ring for the next fall. I thought the Rose/Martel DQ match was good, but not a great use of the stip. The things Rose did any heel worth their salt would do in a non-DQ match and Martel's fired up babyface schtick wasn't exactly crossing the line, but I agree that the match had a lot of good offence.
-
The Beginner's Guide To British Wrestling
ohtani's jacket replied to ohtani's jacket's topic in Megathread archive
John Elijah vs. Roy St. Clair (6/1/77) This was exactly what I expected from these two: Elijah's power vs. St. Clair's speed. These are two of the more underrated/unknown WoS workers, though St. Clair was no great shakes in the charisma department. WoS tends to be like lucha in that the heavyweights are often overlooked in favour of the lighter weight classes, but WoS had the best heavyweights in the world in the 1970s. I'm no fan of the "best in the world" tag, but I can't think of another territory were the heavyweights were as technically gifted as they were in the UK. The finishing stretch of this match was tremendous with a series of fast paced nearfalls to rival anything that the light weights were capable of. Mike Marino vs. Roy St. Clair (2/13/75) This was one of the better Marino matches on tape, though the fact that they were both wearing black trunks and it was slow paced, technical contest made it a match that required a fair bit of concentration. There was reward in the detail, however. It does strike me as kind of odd that Marino was so heavily protected. Even Walton mentioned that no-one was capable of beating him. I wonder how many times he jobbed on television. Clive Myers vs. Clayton Thomson (3/23/77) Kind of an odd match. Thomson was making his return to television after a couple of years out of the game with a back injury. The whole match as built around Thomson's back not being right, which seemed like a strange way to re-introduce a guy. You don't have someone job in their comeback match to the injury that put them on the shelf and sure enough Myers suddenly missed a couple of moves and it was his back that was in trouble allowing Thomson to get his comeback victory. Oddly booked. Myers went from looking a sure bet to losing in the space of 30 seconds. -
Americo Rocca vs. El Talisman (3/29/85) This was a nice little title match. Nothing fancy just solid lucha. It didn't have a huge arc in terms of dramatic structure, but the narrative was decent enough. Rocca and Talisman were frequent rivals in the welterweight class and ended up having a hair match a few years later. This date was Rocca's chance at reclaiming the title Talisman had taken from him months earlier, and more or less pit Talisman's strength against Rocca's skill. I liked that it built to a key dive in the third caida and the final submission was one of the best on the set. I'm so used to the workers submitting straight away that it was a real surprise to see someone hold on. You could sense the crowd willing Rocca on and they waited the perfect number of beats before Talisman gave in. Rocca continues to be one of the better babyfaces on the set, partially because of his wrestling ability, but also because of his babyface charisma. It's a difficult thing to describe, babyface charisma. With rudos you can write screeds about why they're so great, but what makes a babyface likeable? For some it may be their ability to play the underdog, for others it may be their take no bullshit attitude, but Rocca was neither. What struck me about him in the Cota matches was that he never let Cota get under his skin. Cota talked an amazing amount of trash in those matches and Rocca just smirked as though he enjoyed it. He was obviously a guy with a lot of confidence in his ability. He didn't have the greatest foil here as Talisman wasn't an overly skilled worker and not the most charismatic of the rudos, but my interest in Rocca as a babyface was enough to overcome all that. This probably would've been better if they'd worked more dives and nearfalls into the third fall, but it still did the trick.
-
Americo Rocca vs. El Talisman (3/29/85) This was a nice little title match. Nothing fancy just solid lucha. It didn't have a huge arc in terms of dramatic structure, but the narrative was decent enough. Rocca and Talisman were frequent rivals in the welterweight class and ended up having a hair match a few years later. This date was Rocca's chance at reclaiming the title Talisman had taken from him months earlier, and more or less pit Talisman's strength against Rocca's skill. I liked that it built to a key dive in the third caida and the final submission was one of the best on the set. I'm so used to the workers submitting straight away that it was a real surprise to see someone hold on. You could sense the crowd willing Rocca on and they waited the perfect number of beats before Talisman gave in. Rocca continues to be one of the better babyfaces on the set, partially because of his wrestling ability, but also because of his babyface charisma. It's a difficult thing to describe, babyface charisma. With rudos you can write screeds about why they're so great, but what makes a babyface likeable? For some it may be their ability to play the underdog, for others it may be their take no bullshit attitude, but Rocca was neither. What struck me about him in the Cota matches was that he never let Cota get under his skin. Cota talked an amazing amount of trash in those matches and Rocca just smirked as though he enjoyed it. He was obviously a guy with a lot of confidence in his ability. He didn't have the greatest foil here as Talisman wasn't an overly skilled worker and not the most charismatic of the rudos, but my interest in Rocca as a babyface was enough to overcome all that. This probably would've been better if they'd worked more dives and nearfalls into the third fall, but it still did the trick.
-
I liked the early Attitude era stuff. The WWF up until and including Summerslam '98 was reasonably well booked. It's not something I'd ever want to revisit, but skits like Mankind visiting Mr. McMahon in the hospital were entertaining. I hated the early Radicals stuff. It turned me right off the WWF. Benoit and Guerrero didn't get good until after I quit watching.
-
This post cannot be displayed because it is in a password protected forum. Enter Password
-
C&P from Luchawiki:
-
Enrique Vera vs. Dos Caras (2/26/84) I usually take for granted that Dos Caras is a gran maestro despite the fact that there's really not that much Dos Caras out there. Recently I was watching a tag match of his from his 1980 All Japan tour where he teamed with Jumbo Tsuruta against Dr. Wagner Sr. and Caribs Hurricane. Caribs Hurricane wasn't a luchador but rather Texas draw Ciclon Negro. The match was the usual watered down shit with the Japanese not really getting the lucha spots. To illustrate just how little they understood, the ring boys kindly taped together Wagner's mask after he did the lucha mask ripping spot. But what really stood out was that the matwork between Caras and Wagner wasn't that good. Which got me thinking, is there a mythology we've built up around Caras? I was anxious to see this again, and y'know what, I was pleased with it. The first thing that's obvious is that Caras was very much a heavyweight worker. He doesn't work the same as the other lighter weight workers on the set. His style is very much in the mold of 1970s NWA heavyweight wrestling, at least in this title bout, and there was little of the surreal expressionism that Caras is often associated with. It's almost as though there was exhibition Caras and serious heavyweight wrestler Caras. I'm a bit iffy on whether I like El Toreo as a venue as I think the outdoor ring set-up looks a bit cheap and there's not the same atmosphere that you get with Arena Mexico where kids flood the ring trying to pocket the coins that people throw. This got good heat and no doubt El Toreo was the site of some legendary bouts, but I wonder if the action might've been better in one of their indoor arenas. The third caida didn't work that well for me. The dives were predictable and always seem to the same dives on the same side at El Toreo, but the match itself quelled my doubts over Caras.
-
Enrique Vera vs. Dos Caras (2/26/84) I usually take for granted that Dos Caras is a gran maestro despite the fact that there's really not that much Dos Caras out there. Recently I was watching a tag match of his from his 1980 All Japan tour where he teamed with Jumbo Tsuruta against Dr. Wagner Sr. and Caribs Hurricane. Caribs Hurricane wasn't a luchador but rather Texas draw Ciclon Negro. The match was the usual watered down shit with the Japanese not really getting the lucha spots. To illustrate just how little they understood, the ring boys kindly taped together Wagner's mask after he did the lucha mask ripping spot. But what really stood out was that the matwork between Caras and Wagner wasn't that good. Which got me thinking, is there a mythology we've built up around Caras? I was anxious to see this again, and y'know what, I was pleased with it. The first thing that's obvious is that Caras was very much a heavyweight worker. He doesn't work the same as the other lighter weight workers on the set. His style is very much in the mold of 1970s NWA heavyweight wrestling, at least in this title bout, and there was little of the surreal expressionism that Caras is often associated with. It's almost as though there was exhibition Caras and serious heavyweight wrestler Caras. I'm a bit iffy on whether I like El Toreo as a venue as I think the outdoor ring set-up looks a bit cheap and there's not the same atmosphere that you get with Arena Mexico where kids flood the ring trying to pocket the coins that people throw. This got good heat and no doubt El Toreo was the site of some legendary bouts, but I wonder if the action might've been better in one of their indoor arenas. The third caida didn't work that well for me. The dives were predictable and always seem to the same dives on the same side at El Toreo, but the match itself quelled my doubts over Caras.
-
Tony Salazar vs. Herodes (3/2/84) This was the first time for me to see Herodes in a single match let alone a mano a mano grudge match. For those of you who don't know, Herodes is considered one of the great forgotten workers of the 80s. This recent discovery sheds some light on that claim and is set up on the disc by a classic brawling trios similar to other blood feuds over the years. Herodes and Salazar bleed heavily in that match, giving the audience a taste for the gore to come. This wasn't a luchas de apuestas match as far as I'm aware, but that didn't abate the hatred. Salazar was a former lucha golden boy who was a twenty year vet at this point and Herodes was equally well established having worked a "Tijera de Oro" gimmick on his way up, a "golden scissors" shtick where he claimed to have taken the hair of numerous men. The two had crossed paths the previous Autumn with Salazar taking Herodes' hair, so there was bad blood between them. The opening falls where okay. I can see people possibly having a problem with their length, but as a relatively long time lucha fan, the length of the falls isn't as important to me as the rhythm and timing and what they actually do in those falls. Here they were going for a "technico gets off to a hot start" take on the opening caida with Herodes having to work his way back into the match. They didn't quite pull it off as neither man was the most polished performer, but Salazar busting a gut in the opening fall set the tone for a high stakes grudge match. First impressions of Herodes are similar to what others have said: he looks like a shorter, stockier version of Harley Race, especially with that beard. I'm not sure his strikes were really that good as there were a lot of lunges and he didn't lay in his shit as much as I would've liked, but for a heavyweight he was a super fun bumper and this match really turns on Salazar's bulldogs on the outside. The blood in this match is gruesome. Seriously. Salazar looks like he's been shot in the face. They do this long close-up of him trying to stop the bleeding with the palm of his hand and it looks like something out of a Peckinpah film. When Herodes blades, there's so much blood on his hand that he could coat the ring with it. Herodes was attracted to bullfighting in his childhood; the pair of them look like they've been gored. With all the bleeding and the heavyweight tope and planchas and sentons this match got seriously good. I thought they went a beat or two too far with the nearfalls at least in terms of how I was feeling the rhythm, but that may be because the crowds are so poorly mic'ed that I wasn't sure if the crowd was still with them. It's not the first time on this set that I've felt a fall could've ended at a better point, but I was cool with the finish. It's true that you don't often see a ref take the crowd's word for a DQ, but since this was a mano a mano it didn't demand a proper payoff and since Salazar had lost the trios for the technico side with the same foul it was cheeky of Herodes to think he could make Salazar pay from the irony of it all. So, this got hot in the third and ended up being pretty great. Herodes' not really a Cota or a Satanico and I thought for large stretches of this that because he was the one selling that he was out on his feet, Salazar was more responsible for the match being good, but still this was a cool find.
-
Tony Salazar vs. Herodes (3/2/84) This was the first time for me to see Herodes in a single match let alone a mano a mano grudge match. For those of you who don't know, Herodes is considered one of the great forgotten workers of the 80s. This recent discovery sheds some light on that claim and is set up on the disc by a classic brawling trios similar to other blood feuds over the years. Herodes and Salazar bleed heavily in that match, giving the audience a taste for the gore to come. This wasn't a luchas de apuestas match as far as I'm aware, but that didn't abate the hatred. Salazar was a former lucha golden boy who was a twenty year vet at this point and Herodes was equally well established having worked a "Tijera de Oro" gimmick on his way up, a "golden scissors" shtick where he claimed to have taken the hair of numerous men. The two had crossed paths the previous Autumn with Salazar taking Herodes' hair, so there was bad blood between them. The opening falls where okay. I can see people possibly having a problem with their length, but as a relatively long time lucha fan, the length of the falls isn't as important to me as the rhythm and timing and what they actually do in those falls. Here they were going for a "technico gets off to a hot start" take on the opening caida with Herodes having to work his way back into the match. They didn't quite pull it off as neither man was the most polished performer, but Salazar busting a gut in the opening fall set the tone for a high stakes grudge match. First impressions of Herodes are similar to what others have said: he looks like a shorter, stockier version of Harley Race, especially with that beard. I'm not sure his strikes were really that good as there were a lot of lunges and he didn't lay in his shit as much as I would've liked, but for a heavyweight he was a super fun bumper and this match really turns on Salazar's bulldogs on the outside. The blood in this match is gruesome. Seriously. Salazar looks like he's been shot in the face. They do this long close-up of him trying to stop the bleeding with the palm of his hand and it looks like something out of a Peckinpah film. When Herodes blades, there's so much blood on his hand that he could coat the ring with it. Herodes was attracted to bullfighting in his childhood; the pair of them look like they've been gored. With all the bleeding and the heavyweight tope and planchas and sentons this match got seriously good. I thought they went a beat or two too far with the nearfalls at least in terms of how I was feeling the rhythm, but that may be because the crowds are so poorly mic'ed that I wasn't sure if the crowd was still with them. It's not the first time on this set that I've felt a fall could've ended at a better point, but I was cool with the finish. It's true that you don't often see a ref take the crowd's word for a DQ, but since this was a mano a mano it didn't demand a proper payoff and since Salazar had lost the trios for the technico side with the same foul it was cheeky of Herodes to think he could make Salazar pay from the irony of it all. So, this got hot in the third and ended up being pretty great. Herodes' not really a Cota or a Satanico and I thought for large stretches of this that because he was the one selling that he was out on his feet, Salazar was more responsible for the match being good, but still this was a cool find.
-
Crowd sourcing: Dusty Rhodes interview
ohtani's jacket replied to evilclown's topic in Pro Wrestling
Recently, I was prepping someone for red carpet interviews. Most performers don't want to be interviewed let alone asked tough questions, which is why most interviews in general are PR exercises where the interviewer tries to not upset the interviewee. The interviews that most of us would like to read are dream interviews for the most part. -
Greatest Non Main Event Feuds/Matches
ohtani's jacket replied to awesomemiz's topic in Pro Wrestling
Jake cut some killer promos in that feud like his interview at Survivor Series '91 and his post-match interview at This Tuesday in Texas. Savage's promos were a continuous stream of "Elizabit" and "blame myself" with Randy slapping himself a lot. Not quite as good. Great angle though and a great way to reinstate Savage. The ringwork wasn't that bad. It was definitely watchable from a storyline point of view. -
A lot of the lucha being recommended you're not going to find anymore as it's Black Terry Jr stuff and you have to pay for it now.
-
I watched their '88 match again where Grey is a middleweight. The magic wasn't the same. Walton annoyed me by saying it was the first time Grey had beaten Myers even though he beat Myers in half the matches I watched recently and Walton said the same thing each time. I can't find their '85 wager match online, but I can't imagine it being as good as the two draws and the '83 showcase. I make it three matches from the 70s worth seeing and three matches from the 80s. Pretty good going and definitely one of the key match-ups in British wrestling.
-
From ze blog: Mocho Cota vs. Americo Rocca (1/27/84) Mocho Cota vs. Americo Rocca (2/3/84) Mocho Cota is such a compelling worker. On one hand, he looks like an evil genius like the Master from Dr. Who. On the other hand, he's so hyper with his pre-match taunting that when you hear the Bihari relayed stories about how he lost his fingers he may just be a maniac who's on something. Maybe with his "deformity" he's got a whole "if I cannot prove a lover, I'm determined to prove a villain" Richard III thing going on. Whatever the case, he laughs like a madman. Like all of the truly great workers, he puts an amazing amount of detail into his work. Whether he's working from the top or bottom, he's constantly selling. If it's a hold he's applying, he's always moving, shifting, trying to gain more leverage, selling the effort in his face. You've heard all the cliches about it being a game of human chess and having to think two or three moves ahead. It sounds like Larry Z on an episode of Worldwide, but Cota is that type of worker. The matwork in these matches isn't for show or to undo each other, it's a step-by-step effort at dismantling the opposition, and behind that veneer of maniacal laughter is a great wrestling mind. One of the best on the set. I didn't pay enough attention to the January match the first time I watched it. It really is a veritable masterpiece. Some of the best matwork in the history of lucha on tape. The rematch is beautiful and the matwork in the first caida may be even better than the January match. Americo Rocca deserves a ton of credit for the matches being good as he was a more than capable mat worker who shone in the more difficult role of technico, and his selling was every bit as careful and measured as Cota's. They should be commended for working two different mat classics only days apart, but for me it was Cota who really stood out. This was the first time I really saw him being on the level of a Satanico and elevated him to that tier of lucha workers. Watch his reactions in these matches. The way he sells the "strangleholds" that Rocca applies after they've been broken. The way he pounds his fist into his hand when a well planned sequence doesn't pay dividends, or the cocky strut when he knows Rocca has submitted even before the bell. The seriousness with which he wrestles the second caida of the rematch and his selling when he loses a fall demonstrate his range. There's never a point where he isn't selling. I loved the part after the second match where the kids are heckling him at ringside and he scares the shit out of them like a one handed Boogie Monster. These are also great matches for rudo fans as the old adage of "cheat to win" has never been so boldly played out in a lucha libre title match. Cheating of this magnitude usually doesn't occur in a lucha libre match, but Cota's genius makes all things permissible. The wonderful thing about the rematch is that I found myself wanting Rocca to win. They probably went a beat or two beyond what they needed in that second caida, as I thought Cota could have ended it sooner and added the remainder onto the third caida, but still I was pulling for Cota to knock off the bastard. The fact he lost in such screwy circumstances without Cota actually cheating was poetic and Cota rubbing it in to all in sundry was deliriously good. The part where he openly mocks Rocca by laughing at him is such poor sportsmanship for a title match and so removed from Satanico's near face turn in the Gran Cochise fight that it almost blew my mind. I am really high on Mocho Cota.
-
Mocho Cota vs. Americo Rocca (1/27/84) Mocho Cota vs. Americo Rocca (2/3/84) Mocho Cota is such a compelling worker. On one hand, he looks like an evil genius like the Master from Dr. Who. On the other hand, he's so hyper with his pre-match taunting that when you hear the Bihari relayed stories about how he lost his fingers he may just be a maniac who's on something. Maybe with his "deformity" he's got a whole "if I cannot prove a lover, I'm determined to prove a villain" Richard III thing going on. Whatever the case, he laughs like a madman. Like all of the truly great workers, he puts an amazing amount of detail into his work. Whether he's working from the top or bottom, he's constantly selling. If it's a hold he's applying, he's always moving, shifting, trying to gain more leverage, selling the effort in his face. You've heard all the cliches about it being a game of human chess and having to think two or three moves ahead. It sounds like Larry Z on an episode of Worldwide, but Cota is that type of worker. The matwork in these matches isn't for show or to undo each other, it's a step-by-step effort at dismantling the opposition, and behind that veneer of maniacal laughter is a great wrestling mind. One of the best on the set. I didn't pay enough attention to the January match the first time I watched it. It really is a veritable masterpiece. Some of the best matwork in the history of lucha on tape. The rematch is beautiful and the matwork in the first caida may be even better than the January match. Americo Rocca deserves a ton of credit for the matches being good as he was a more than capable mat worker who shone in the more difficult role of technico, and his selling was every bit as careful and measured as Cota's. They should be commended for working two different mat classics only days apart, but for me it was Cota who really stood out. This was the first time I really saw him being on the level of a Satanico and elevated him to that tier of lucha workers. Watch his reactions in these matches. The way he sells the "strangleholds" that Rocca applies after they've been broken. The way he pounds his fist into his hand when a well planned sequence doesn't pay dividends, or the cocky strut when he knows Rocca has submitted even before the bell. The seriousness with which he wrestles the second caida of the rematch and his selling when he loses a fall demonstrate his range. There's never a point where he isn't selling. I loved the part after the second match where the kids are heckling him at ringside and he scares the shit out of them like a one handed Boogie Monster. These are also great matches for rudo fans as the old adage of "cheat to win" has never been so boldly played out in a lucha libre title match. Cheating of this magnitude usually doesn't occur in a lucha libre match, but Cota's genius makes all things permissible. The wonderful thing about the rematch is that I found myself wanting Rocca to win. They probably went a beat or two beyond what they needed in that second caida, as I thought Cota could have ended it sooner and added the remainder onto the third caida, but still I was pulling for Cota to knock off the bastard. The fact he lost in such screwy circumstances without Cota actually cheating was poetic and Cota rubbing it in to all in sundry was deliriously good. The part where he openly mocks Rocca by laughing at him is such poor sportsmanship for a title match and so removed from Satanico's near face turn in the Gran Cochisse fight that it almost blew my mind. I am really high on Mocho Cota.