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ohtani's jacket

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  1. ohtani's jacket
    El Dandy/Piloto Suicida/El Brazo vs. Negro Casas/Loverboy/Kung Fu (Los Angeles, CA 9/19/92)
     
    Vintage Casas of the Day gets requests!
     
    This WWA handheld was a request from Pro Wrestling Only poster Gregor. Gregor doesn't post much, but I've always admired his taste in lucha and his penchant for seeking out the hidden gems like we do on the Great Lucha blog, so I was rapt to get a message from him.
     
    Lucha house show matches are no different from other promotion's house shows. They're basically a stripped down version of what you see on TV. You get a bit of shtick, a few exchanges, a rudo beatdown segment and a couple of dives at the end, but they're generally more heat orientated and less physically demanding.
     
    This match was hurt by the fact that apart from Casas and Dandy none of the other participants were very good, including El Brazo who mailed his performance in from Mexico City. I was a bit disappointed that El Brazo wasn't that third good worker a trios match needs, like Mano Negra in that recent Dandy vs. Llanes trios match I reviewed, but I was probably confusing him with Brazo de Oro as El Brazo was always the least of the brothers. Though to be fair, Dandy wasn't up for much in this bout. He seemed more interested in emulating the fighting stance of whatever third or fourth generation UWF bootlegs he was getting and throwing open handed palm strikes.
     
    The match was meant to be a bit of fun so I don't want to be too critical, but it would have been better if they'd built it around the Casas vs. Dandy rivalry. Instead, it was an opportunity for the technicos to shine with some build for Lover Boy vs. Piloto Suicida tacked on at the end. They ended up having a mask vs. mask match at some point where Lover Boy was castrated, but it was quite literally an afterthought here.
     
    What I did like about this is that we got to see on a house show just how amazingly charismatic Casas was in his prime. The guy simply exuded charisma in a way few wrestlers do. And he was constantly busy working in small details and riffs. I'm now convinced that he was better than Dandy during this time period. What set him apart here were the bumps he was prepared to take on an LA house show. They weren't huge bumps but they raised the level of the match and the standard of the performances. Plus it's fun to hear a tape trader from '92 gushing over how good he is. So it's definitely vintage Casas of the day.
     
  2. ohtani's jacket
    El Dandy y Negro Casas vs. Corazon De Leon y Ultimo Dragon, CMLL 7/16/93
     
    Whose bright idea was it to give this 40 minutes?
     
    People often complain about how short and meaningless the first two falls in lucha are, but three falls of equal length makes for really dull matches.
     
    When Jericho was in it was wrestled like an American match. When Ultimo was in it was wrestled like a Japanese match. Dandy was a technico and Casas a rudo, but the match wasn't remotely story driven. It was a workrate match through and through despite Felino giving Casas stick for teaming with a technico in the segment which Raging Noodles translated.
     
    When it was over, the crowd threw money in the ring to show their appreciation. Being a tightwad, I probably wouldn't have thrown any money, but I can see why the crowd did as the bout was different from what they were used to.
     
    (Actually, I probably would have gotten into it live as I generally don't care how good the matches are during live wrestling.)
     
    Jericho couldn't mat wrestle to save his life so he and Dandy went with a side headlock. It was cool, but can you imagine Doobie in your funk?
     
    Casas attacked the leg and looked like he was imitating his hero Choshu. He was really at his athletic peak here. Ultimo showed phenomenal speed between the ropes and Casas almost matched it with his running dropkick. It was a shame he entered CMLL just as the Televisa shit was about to go down with Pena. Can you imagine what he could have contributed in 1990? Then again, someone else may have missed out like Azteca or Satanico or Emilio. Plus he was able to rule the roost a bit with everyone defecting to AAA.
     
    Casas managed to make Jericho's strikes halfway decent, which was the only good thing Jericho contributed, and Dandy was slightly disappointing against Ultimo, so I'd have to say Casas looked better than his rival here. It did help that he had natural charisma with Ultimo, but Dandy was going through a pudgy stage where his work began to suffer.
     
    Aside from the match not really being lucha, the two other problems I had with it were that the finishes to each fall were weak and there were too many submissions that felt like restholds. If you're going to wrestle long falls, you better make the finish to each spectacular so that the momentum carries through to the next caida, but they fell short of that here. There was no intrinsic reason for it go go long; it just did.
     
    In fairness, it wasn't as bad as it could have been, and in the 1993 CMLL landscape it probably stands out as one of the better bouts, or at least one of the more ambitious ones. But I'd rather watch lucha.
  3. ohtani's jacket
    El Dandy/Pierroth Jr./Chamaco Valaguez vs. Negro Casas/Mogur/Black Magic, CMLL 7/30/93
     
    This was a fun Arena Coliseo style match. You won't find too many guys at their best at Arena Coliseo as it was very much the secondary show to the main Arena Mexico cards, and the matches were more about heat than great work, but when the crowd get behind a match as they do here, it makes for a fun environment where the charismatic workers can really shine.
     
    Smiley was in his element here really lapping up the heat and bumping around like a gazelle. As long time readers will know, I've never been a fan of foreigners in lucha (aside from the Puerto Rican guys), but this was a spirited performance from Smiley, who took to Mexico like a duck to water. From a Casas perspective, the match was slightly disappointing as it was one of those bouts where he's in no mood to lock-up, robbing us of quality Casas/Dandy exchanges; but it was full of the character work and audaciousness that made him so popular.
     
    There were several story lines going on at once, the primary one being a feud between Mogur and Chamaco Valaguez that never really went anywhere. The mental image I have of Valaguez is from his luchawiki profile where he's the picture of youth, so it was odd seeing him look middle-aged when he was only in his mid-30s. I have a soft spot for post pushed-to-the-moon Mogur, so I enjoyed the Valaguez exchanges, but to highlight the vagaries of CMLL booking, Valaguez wound up losing his hair to Cachorro Mendoza instead of the grudge match they were building to here. As well as the ongoing Smiley vs. Pierroth feud, there was the faint hint of a Casas/Dandy hair match, which was a giant missed opportunity during the lost years. They also teased a Casas technico turn, but in true lucha fashion it took more than a year to materialise.
     
    Initially, Casas preferred to let Smiley and Mogur lock-up with Dandy so he could deliver cheap shots at his rival. When Dandy finally retaliated, Casas took a spell on the outside wandering into the crowd and blowing kisses to his adoring public. He didn't want a piece of the Valaguez inspired comeback and played janken with Smiley to decide who would brace the onslaught. Smiley had scissors and Casas paper, but still Negro refused to enter the ring. Pushing and shoving ensued and Casas gave Smiley a chop before getting in the ring. A painful exchange with Pierroth followed and Casas decided to knock Smiley silly with a forearm smash. In most cultures that would be a full blown face turn, but in Mexico passions run deep. An argument broke out on the outside with Casas using Dandy as a shield to keep Smiley at bay. This led to an inexplicable moment where Casas and Dandy were needling each other and Casas hugged him to make peace. Dandy gave him this classic WTF look, and if you can lip read Spanish had a few choice words for Negro. Casas had a bee in his bonnet after that. Again he wouldn't lock up with Dandy (much to Smiley's disgust), and not only did he encourage the crowd to taunt Smiley with Mexico chants, he publicly reprimanded him for faking a foul, which is rich coming from Casas. I think the gist of all this was that Casas took objection to Smiley calling the shots as a foreigner and thought he and Dandy should band together as brothers, but it was wonderfully unclear as he continued to beat on Valaguez. The great thing about all this was that Dandy didn't give a fuck and drop kicked Casas off the turnbuckle all the same. Afterwards they had a post match scuffle where Casas scored a bunch of headlock takedowns before bailing on the fight. That seemed to turn Casas rudo again, or at least ended his little play acting, and the rudos were back tagging with each other in no time at all.
     
    The incongruities of lucha libre can be difficult to understand at times, but sometimes you've got to bask in the inexplicablity of it all and enjoy the moment. It certainly wasn't dull and was an interesting back drop to the Mogur/Valaguez narrative.
  4. ohtani's jacket
    Negro Casas/El Satanico/Bestia Salvaje vs. El Dandy/Ultimo Dragon/Apolo Dantes, CMLL 8/14/92
     
    I mistakenly thought this was part of the Casas vs. Dandy feud, but it was actually part of the build to the Bestia/Dandy title match, the Anniversary Show hair match, and the Casas vs. Dragon title fight.
     
    Dandy was such a stud he had issues with all three rudos here, but the match has got to rank as a disappointment given the talent involved. The footage was joined in progress during a lackadaisical fall where the rudos did nothing but pose, and there were no little moments where the lucha was brilliant and the workers were gods. Dandy was lugging around a pot belly and Satanico was on the heavy side himself. In retrospect, you could see that the Anniversary match wouldn't be good as Satanico looked out of form and they just weren't clicking.
     
    As for Casas' performance, his deal here was that he was afraid of getting in the ring with Ultimo. He tried getting the upperhand with some kicks of his own, but when that didn't work out he did his best to avoid any one-on-one confrontations. A couple of times they wound up on the outside and Casas would scamper away at the first sign of trouble, even if it meant defending himself with a camera cable. When the technicos made their comeback in the segunda caida, Casas refused to enter the ring, and when he finally did square off with Ultimo in the third, he ate a german suplex. The rudos tried to bum rush the show and steal the tercera, but Ultimo broke up their pinning combinations with a flurry of kicks and looked to be cleaning house when Casas fouled him. Which to Casas' mind was the only kick that mattered. Their exchanges weren't as good as in the '93 trios, but they still meshed fairly well given Casas' peculiar way of selling Japanese offense.
     
  5. ohtani's jacket
    If you ask me, people watch too much maestro Casas and not enough of his vintage work, so here's a new feature on the Great Lucha blog that will hopefully encourage people to check out his glory years.
     
    Ciclon Ramirez, Oro, Ultimo Dragon vs. Bestia Salvaje, Felino, Negro Casas, CMLL 3/12/93
     
    This was part of the three-week build to the 3/26 UWA World Middleweight Championship bout between Casas and El Ultimo Dragon. Casas vs. Ultimo Dragon isn't the first match up that springs to mind when you think of guys who click, but this was some seriously great TV. Ultimo is a guy who I've always said wasn't very good in his early Mexico runs, but I need to take a good look at what I wrote and apologise to my parents because this was shit hot.
     
    The match started off with a series of lucha exchanges between Ultimo Dragon and Casas, Bestia and Oro and Felino and Ciclon Ramirez. None of the match ups were show stealing, but deliberately so, as they were really giving folks a tease of how good these match ups could be. And as teases go, this was the desert before you've had the main. Just decadent. Halfway through the primera caida, they teased the dissension between Casas and Felino that would eventually lead to the great towel throwing angle, but here they attacked the technicos instead and I was reminded of how inventive rudo beat downs used to be. Casas went after Ultimo on the outside and split his legs like a wishbone. As the rudos came up with new ways to work over Oro, Dragon had his leg stretched out over the front row seats receiving attention. He was in no mood to head to the back and instead hobbled over to the technico corner. The second fall technico comeback ended up being Ultimo hooking Casas' leg, dragging him through the ropes and kicking the shit out of him until he would up with his leg stuck between the front row seats. It was a tremendous fiery comeback from the technicos, which of course the rudos claimed was too violent. The finish was the most fired up three way moonsault/hurricanrana/enzuigiri pinfall combination you'll ever see; and while Casas' enzuigiri bump probably wouldn't fly in Ultimo's homeland, his face plant was done with all the panache of Ric Flair in the Royal Rumble.
     
    A schmoz seemed on the cards when Casas faked a foul in the final caida. It was touch and go for a second as the refs gave serious thought to disqualifying Ultimo, but sanity prevailed and we got to see Ciclon's tope and Oro's top rope plancha; the tope alone being worth the price of admission. Finally, it came down to Ultimo v. Negro, and they worked a classic sudden death exchange. The speed with which Casas moved and the height he got on each bump was breathtaking. The match could have swung either way, but Ultimo came up trumps on a dragon suplex and Arena Mexico lost its collective shit.
     
    Like I said, Casas vs. Dragon -- not a natural match-up -- but this was sensational and Vintage Casas of the Day is off to a very good start.
  6. ohtani's jacket
    Virus vs. Fuego, CMLL World Super Lightweight Championship, 6/15/14
     
    This was a tremendous match and my working MOTY at this point. Virus was outstanding and showed once again why he is without peer not only in CMLL but in the whole of Mexico really. Fuego deserves credit for his part in the match as well. It would be easy to put all the focus on Virus & Kid, but Fuego put in about as assured a performance as you can expect from a kid.
     
    The opening exchange saw them work from a tie-up into a series of arm and leg locks without a single reset, When they did break, they worked a neat exchange where Fuego began to realise he had the height to trouble Virus. There was a hip toss takedown that really seemed to bother Virus as it came after a series of counters from Fuego, so he popped up and struck Fuego across the chest. This was the set-up for them to run the ropes and close out the fall, but it was also a concession from Virus that he couldn't beat him straight up on the mat. At least not in the first caida. One of the things I love about Virus is that despite his height he can lay in his strikes. The elbow he gave Fuego off the ropes caught him flush. He went for a lariat and Fuego countered with a short arm clothesline of his own that had an extra bit of oomph to it. The finishing stretch was awesome as Fuego monkey flipped Virus onto the apron, Virus caught him with a headbutt, missed a senton attempt and rolled through to catch Fuego with an armdrag. Just awesome shit. The ref had no idea whether the finish was a submission or a pinfall, but it couldn't sour a sublime opening fall.
     
    You'll see better lucha matwork elsewhere, but as far as the modern style goes, the fall had purpose, it had a narrative, and a minimum of resets. Fuego had a chance when Virus was back to canvas, but he couldn't pry the opportunity open and Virus outsmarted him in the rope exchanges.
     
    The second fall began with VIrus working over Fuego's leg and looking to force another submission in quick succession. This is another area that Virus excels. Nobody works a body part quite like him. It's like a beat down and classic body part psychology all in one. Fuego's selling might bug a few people as he decided to hobble and then blow it off, but he scored points with me for his urgency and for keeping Virus honest. It looked like he didn't hit his pinning combination cleanly, but the little shimmy across Virus' body to slide into position was enough of a break dance type move for me to give it a pass.
     
    The third caida was a little rough around the edges to begin with since it was Fuego in control, but it got going as soon as he hit his topes. Fuego has a really beautiful tope. Great technique, lovely looking flight through the air and his his opponent square on. Virus also took the tope beautifully not to mention the bump through the ropes to set up the dive and the bump as Fuego threw him to the ground to set up tope number two. Back in the ring and I loved Virus' big wind up punch to take back control of the match. The nearfalls he created in this match were fantastic. For a guy who's not exactly a noted flyer, his top rope maneuvers have tremendous impact. The flying elbow is a personal fave of mine. I just love seeing the little guy drop the elbow like that. Uncorking the Samoan backdrop with the bridge was sweet as well, but he got a lot of pay off a sunset flip. The guy is a bona fide legend. His selling in terms of both desperation and fatigue is yet another thing he's unparalleled at.
     
    Things were pretty tense at the end, as they should be in a world title match. The moment where I thought Virus had it was when Fuego went back to the pinning combo that had won him the second fall. It was at that point that he seemed bereft of ideas whereas Virus was able to pull out the "La Motocicleta." That highlighted the difference between the two as Fuego simply didn't have a move like that up his sleeve when he needed one, but boy, Virus celebrated that one with more than a little relief mixed in with the elation.
     
    Great match from a great wrestler. An all-time great really. They deserved the money that was thrown at them and the match itself deserves more accolades. It wasn't perfect, but it was consistently excellent and fundamentally stronger than the Virus/Titan match. I see that they had a match a few years ago that somehow slipped through the cracks. I'm going to check that out and see how it compares. In the meantime, I hope more people seek this out and enjoy it.
     
     
  7. ohtani's jacket
    Silver Star vs. Charles Lucero, UWA World Middleweight Championship, 6/22/14
     
    This was a beautiful match. The type of match you could easily imagine Lucero having in his prime. Really authentic lucha maestros wrestling; the type of title match wrestling you don't see much of these days. To be fair, it probably wouldn't go over too well at Arena Mexico, but it's great to see two practitioners carrying on the art form as there aren't too many connections to old school Monterrey left anymore. The first fall was a classic lucha fall with all of the takedowns, reversals and castigos you'd expect from a title match. Lucero's work wasn't all that smooth, and he mistimed a couple of spots like the finish to the second caida, which he almost failed to hook, but like the momentum in a great title fight, I thought his missteps added to the drama. Silver Star has slowed down a lot over the years, but he wrestled a smart fight here. I would have given it to him on points if he hadn't forced a result. I actually thought it was a much more assured performance from Star than their previous fight. The only negative thing I'll say about these two is that they don't make much contact on their topes. It's fair enough that they're protecting themselves, but they don't look good and I have a hard time rationalising them as part of the narrative.
     
    Silver Star vs. Charles Lucero, Terraza Elma, Monterrey, 6/29/14
     
    This was a mano a mano bout from an afternoon LLN spot show. Later on, they worked an evening show where they tagged against each other. The smaller venue meant they wrestled a tighter match with a lot of close quarters action. Lucero's execution was better in this match, but a mano a mano this isn't really comparable with the to's and fro's of a title match. It was a nice companion piece, but I'll take an old school title match over this.
     
    Arkángel de la Muerte vs. Gallo, FULL World Championship, CMLL 6/21/14
     
    Arkangel de la Muerte is a favourite of the Segunda Caida boys so they were pretty excited about this one. I don't have any special attachment to Arkangel, so my reaction was a bit more subdued. In fact, with Gallo being a Guadalajara local doing a rooster gimmick and the pair feuding over some belt from a Chilean promotion, it struck me as more of a novelty that the match-up made it all the way to Mexico City than a great singles opportunity for a lucha maestro. I appreciate that Arkangel is a great base for young flyers, but I'm not that a fan of his style. He reminds me of more of a 'puro' worker than a classic luchador. That's useful in this day and age, and probably the reason why he works so well with the up and comers, but I like my lucha to be distinctly "lucha" and not a homogenized form of borderless indy wrestling. I don't want to say that Arkangel is the antithesis of Charlie Lucero, but if you enjoy the modern style you'll get more out of this than I did. Arkangel has great execution as well as being a real details guy, and there were some cool spots like the the slingshot Tapitia the Segunda guys talked about.
     
    Dragon Lee vs. Hechicero, CMLL 5/20/14
     
    This started off pretty well with Hechicero using his wrestling skills to ground Dragon Lee, but soon unraveled when Lee was given too much leeway on offence. Three times was too many for the story they were telling. Tensions were supposed to be boiling over. Hechicero almost connected on a soccer kick, which Lee took exception to, but they needed to do a better job with the niggly aspects. The pull apart at the end was far from convincing and should have been built to better. The dives should have been cut and Lee left frustrated that he couldn't hit one. That's how I would have played it, but as critical as I'm being it's hard not to be in awe of Lee's dives. He may be the most exciting guy since Freelance.
     
    Dragon Lee vs. Cavernario, CMLL 4/29/14
     
    This didn't have the highs of the Hechicero/Lee match, but it was a good example of how much better Cavernario is at building his matches. Really simple stuff with Cavernario controlling the early going before Lee makes a comeback and the two start trading nearfalls, but it's straightforward and easy to follow and the kind of coaxing rhythm that's familiar to long time lucha fans. It could have done with a few highs from the Hechicero match to top it off, and I wish Cavernario would think of a better way to set-up his finisher, but I definitely came out of this tournament with a higher opinion of Cavernario than Hechicero.
  8. ohtani's jacket
    First up, let me just say that I LOVE the new colour scheme on the Arena Mexico ring. I think it looks fantastic and makes good matches seem even better.
     
    Barbaro Cavernario vs. Cachorro, CMLL 4/18/14
     
    I thought this was an excellent lightning match; much better than the Cavernario v. Hechicero workrate sprint where they tried to hit all the highs of a 20 minute lucha match in 7 minutes or less. Here we got a straightforward build from pure lucha exchanges to high risk moves and nearfalls. Cachorro may not be a great mat worker yet, but working from a standing base he looked a lot like his father. I was impressed with his transitions in the opening exchanges, like the spot where he held onto the ropes to stop his momentum and dropped the elbow onto Cavernario. You don't always associate lucha with transitions like that yet they were done in a way that wasn't horribly telegraphed. Cavernario sidestepping Cachorro's tope and sending him crashing into the barricade was a great midpoint for the match, and Cavernario's offence looked fantastic as he tried to rub Cachorro out.
     
    The only thing that bothered me were the constant cutaways to Casas and the judges and the clock. Each time they'd do it, they'd edit a bit more out of the match until finally we lost about two minutes worth of footage. I also thought the finish was poorly edited and lacked the impact that the armbar usually has, but it wasn't clear from the way they put it together whether it was in rhythm with the rest of the nearfalls. Cavernario's timing seemed a bit off with the way he walked into it and it wasn't applied so well. Still, this was a strong match that gave a real boost to my opinion of Cachorro.
     
    Hechicero vs. Cachorro, CMLL 6/13/14
     
    Watching this so soon after the last bout wasn't a great idea as it didn't have anywhere near the depth of the Cavernario fixture. Rey Hechicero is a great worker -- we've known that for quite some time -- but he hasn't really impressed me so far in CMLL. There was a lot of telegraphed stuff in this like Hechicero avoiding Cachorro's tope attempt only for Cachorro to catch him unawares with a hurricanrana. That's a standard sort of opening -- tease 'em with one dive and pop 'em with another -- but the set up like was like something out of a cartoon with Hechicero turning his back on Cachorro to pose. Eventually, Hechicero was able to ground Cachorro and overpower him, which is about as believable a situation as they could have worked with Hechicero's size and strength advantage, but the dominance felt superficial. Cachorro wasn't given enough opportunities to sell, and they didn't milk any drama from what they were doing. I don't want to say they were going through the motions as they looked like they were working hard, but the end result was the same.
     
    Dragon Lee vs. Hechicero, CMLL 6/6/14
     
    The editing in these matches is awful. There's too many cuts and the shots don't match. I don't know what's happened to CMLL's production values, but I've seen college students do a better job of editing footage than these folks. The unnecessary reaction shots from the judges, the constant jump cuts with the clock, and the overuse of different camera angles left me feeling dizzy at times. I don't need to see the clock every 15 seconds, especially if the workers aren't selling that they're running out of time. The work here was pretty anemic. I'm starting to wonder if Hechicero just isn't that good as a rudo. I've yet to see him lay out a match where he looks the goods. Dragon Lee hits at least one jaw dropping spot per match -- in this case a brutal 'flying' stomp to the back of Hechicero's head -- but his man strength at this point appears to be hurtling his body as a projectile.
     
    Hechicero vs. Cavernario, CMLL 6/20/14
     
    This was a good match and a worthy conclusion to the tournament. I don't think these two match up quite as well as other people do, and I've enjoyed Cavernario more against both Virus and Cachorro in recent weeks, but it was a good match.Too much was made of the botched tope. That's a move with a high degree of difficulty and it's believable within the context of the match that he might miss it. Hechicero did a fantastic job in covering for the botch and following the old lucha adage of laying in a beating when it's been blown, but as far as botched spots go it actually looked pretty good as it was a complete wipe out. By the same token, I thought the beating Hechicero dished out was overplayed. The action after the botch was 50/50, the same as it was before the spot and the same as it would have been without the botch. I don't think they worked the match any differently than they would have done if Cavernario had hit the spot clean. Both guys have a ton of good looking offence, and although they burn through it a bit it's fun to watch. The finish didn't really work for me as I thought it was a beat or two too soon, but I was glad to see a competitive bout with no time limit, proper production values and no annoying cuts. Hechicero's getting a lot of talk about being the best guy in the world, which makes me an outlier as usual, but I honestly think Cavernario is the better of the two when it comes to using offence in a straight forward way to lay out a match and tell a story.
  9. ohtani's jacket
    Satanico vs. Pierroth Jr, CMLL World Light Heavyweight Championship, '92/93
     
    This was from sometime during Pierroth's year long reign as CMLL World Light Heavyweight champion, which began in March of '92 and ended in April of '93. Pierroth's Los Intocables group feuded extensively with the Infernales during this period. Pierroth had several title defences against Pirata Morgan, a match against MS-1 in Puebla, and this match which appears to have been broadcast on some sort of local Tijuana television station. The match is a far cry from some of the classics from this era, but it's an interesting look at a title match outside of the usual TV arenas. The grainy washed out footage and single camera shoot make it look like it could have taken place in the 80s, and there's a definite house show feel to it.
     
    Satanico is unashamedly my favourite lucha worker. As regular readers will know, I put a lot of stock in the intros. Most of my favourite workers are 'details guys;' workers who put effort into things like ring introductions. What set Satanico apart was a commitment to characterisation. The ref is going through the pre-match formalities, and Satanico walks around like he owns the place. He issues all sorts of warnings to the champion and goes through his pre-match stretch routines as though he's primed to take the title. There's a natural cockiness to Satanico that comes from supreme confidence in his abilities, but with that confidence comes vanity. When the ring announcer calls his name, you can see him bask in his greatness before the bell has even sounded.
     
    The match is slower than you might expect. It's worked as a heavyweight mat contest. There's a traditional lock-up to start and most of the opening fall involves Satanico putting Pierroth in simple holds. As entertaining as Pierroth could be, he wasn't much of a mat worker and so the bout lacks the brilliant counters you'd see in a high-end match. It's psychologically sound, but Pierroth's counters are a touch sloppy. Satanico continues to the be the aggressor in the second fall. Perhaps too much so, but a worker like Satanico can't help working like the champion even when he's not the champion. Pierroth finally uses his strength to good effect. He also starts getting under Satanico's skin by using open handed strikes to batter Lopez' nose, but they don't really go anywhere with it as it's not a match that's heavily built on narrative.
     
    The third caida lacks the urgency you'd expect from a title match and is a slow burner. It's not bad per se, but it doesn't take you to the kind of places that a championship deciding fall ought to. And it ends in the dreaded double pin, which keys you in to the amount of energy they were willing to expend on this one. Still, it's not a bad match and like I said it gives you a taste of what title matches where like on the different circuits around Mexico. Just lower your expectations to "house show expectations" and you'l be fine.
     
  10. ohtani's jacket
    Atlantis/Ringo Mendoza/El Dandy vs. Mano Negra/Javier Llanes/Black Magic, CMLL 2/15/94
     
    My buddy Raging Noodles once had a prank played on him that there was a trios match leading into the El Dandy/Javier Llanes singles match where Llanes worked over Dandy's fingers or something to that effect. It was a neat prank, but Noodles my boy, here's that trios you always wanted to see.
     
    As with most gems, we get a great set of intros. I never realised what an ugly blighter Llanes was. He had this pockmarked face that made his shit-eating grin all the more aggravating, and sauntered around the ring in the cheapest of robes. He got in Dandy's face early before backing away and letting his man Negra step in. Negro got lippy, so Dandy fish hooked him and the two had a small standoff. Negra looked awesome in this match. His mane was untameable and he had a killer Mexican mustache. And then there was Ringo. Completely out of place, but still rocking his Ritchie Valens hair.
     
    Llanes attacked Dandy while the green eyed one's graphic was still on the screen, and the rudos gave him a working over. Smiley was especially keen to get involved, and this was probably the best rudo performance I've seen from him. Llanes was eager to work the arm and the dropkick became an early theme. Atlantis wanted Negra, and I swear Negra looked like a Mexican Fit Finlay. Negra hit a sweet looking flying clothesline, which was awesome for two reasons: a. you don't see that sort of move in lucha too often, and b. he adjusted his glove before entering the ring. Atlantis then hit his signature back breaker, which Negra sold beautifully. Dandy wanted another shot at Llanes, but every time he'd get the upper hand the rudos would dish out a cheap shot. Llanes' movement wasn't the greatest, but he took Dandy apart methodically and between falls he bust him open. It wasn't so common to see blood at Arena Coliseo during this era, which made the juice seem special.
     
    The second caida was like an apuesta match. Llanes rubbed Dandy's cut against the bottom rope and flicked the blood off his fingers. Then he moved Dandy into the corner where he gave him a going-over; the aggression increasing with every blow. Smiley got in the act next and was an absolute dick to Ringo. He mocked Ringo's heritage with a little Indian dance then the rudos beat the shit out of Mendoza and Atlantis. By this point, I was loving this rudos trio. Llanes had Dandy in the corner again and was working over his cut; really channeling Cien Caras and every other bastard. Of course, this all lead to an awesome comeback from Dandy where Llanes feigned a low blow, but Dandy didn't give a shit and just kept attacking him. Even the rudos' cheap shots couldn't deter Dandy this time and Smiley got some pay back. Atlantis showed us flashes of his underrated brawling skills with a headbutt to Negra and great use of the double axehandle (hey, if it works, it works.) He also hit a sweet senton to help the technicos take the second caida. He was only in a supporting role here, but in fine form. During the finish he dropped the most ridiculously smooth knee on Negra. Great worker.
     
    The third fall began with Dandy hunched over struggling with his cut. Llanes pounced and the ring soon cleared for a mano a mano contest where Llanes kept peppering Dandy with body shots. Dandy went down hard and they really put over Llanes' punching strength. Llanes noticed somewhere along the way a weakness in Dandy's chest area and he went after the same spot pummeling it. Dandy fought back with chops and headbutts, but he missed a flying headbutt from the turnbuckle and Llanes must have thought he had him. One cool thing they did was keep going for the submission finish. Despite their brawling, it was a title match that would be decided the following week and nothing sends a message quite like making your man submit the week before a big title fight. There was a great moment when Dandy was trying to put the figure four on Llanes and Negra interfered. Dandy let go of the leg, stepped through the ropes and punched Negra out cold on the apron. Man, was Negra great in this.
     
    Dandy and Llanes teased a couple of nearfalls then Llanes managed to catch Dandy out when he was going for the magistral cradle, catching the leg and leaning back on him. That was just enough leverage for the pin, and a great win for the rudos. And didn't Smiley love it? He had quite the victory shuffle.
     
    This was a real gem. The kind of lucha that was the inspiration for this blog in the first place. If there's any more Dandy vs. Llanes trios on tape we need to seek them out. He was the least athletically gifted of Dandy's major opponents, but he more than made up for it with his smarts and their work together is quality. I strongly suggest people watch this a-sap.
  11. ohtani's jacket
    Virus, Cachorro & Hechicero vs. Negro Casas, Cavernario & Dragon Lee, CMLL 5/23/14
     
    Everybody's talking about this as a Match of the Year Candidate, but for a trios with four good workers in it, I thought it was pretty disappointing. The only parts that were exciting or genuinely engaging were during the finishing stretches, and the work in between was clumsy and unfocused.
     
    The opening fall was a perfect example. Dragon Lee is a young guy and can't mat wrestle. If you have him work an opening mat exchange with Virus, he'll be scrambling. Virus has got to carry him for the mat work to be effective let alone good, but that requires slowing the bout down and working a different tone. Here, they wanted to work a fast paced bout, so they did a classic "mirroring" exchange where they wrestle each other to a stand still. Which would've been okay if Dragon Lee had been in any way convincing, but he doesn't have the quickness that those spots require. You could almost feel him thinking them through as though they're a series of steps. The exchange didn't look terrible as Virus is still the best wrestler in the company and everything he does looks great, but the stand still didn't ring true and was a waste of a match-up.
     
    You accept that and move on, but Casas vs. Cachorro was more of the same. Cachorro is another young guy, so we'll give him the benefit of the doubt, but Casas should be looking to be get more out of an exchange than this. As we all know, match-ups make trios, and it's the story threads that make those match-ups compelling. You could argue that this was just a workrate trios, but if that's the case, the work wasn't very inspiring. Cavernario and Hechicero tried to inject a bit of stiffness and physicality, but their exchange-cum-brawl was muddled and confused. That was a trend that continued throughout the bout, as Hechicero was well off his game. The fall picked up as Virus did his senton to the outside and the finishing stretch kicked into high gear, but as the dust settled on the opening fall, I couldn't help but wonder why they stray so far from the tried and true.
     
    If you want to do a high tempo opening fall, the pattern has always been to square off once with individual pairs, switch partners and dance one more time, then run the ropes for the turning point and first fall climax. It's a simple formula but works so well. Ideally, you'd build the first fall crescendo to the heights the En Busca de un Idolo has been reaching, but Cavernario and Hechicero didn't pull out the stops and the fall was a table setter at best.
     
    It would be disingenuous of me to pretend that I like their match-up as much as everyone else (in fact, I thought the Cavernario/Virus match-up was vastly superior throughout, but then I think Virus is vastly superior to anyone else in the match), but in a match like this you want the action to culminate with a key match-up, and I thought Cavernario/Hechicero from the En Busca de un Idolo would've been swinging.
     
    The second fall at least had a decent sense of urgency to it. The work wasn't outstanding, but they powered through it. Cavernario looked all at sea during his big comeback in the three-on-one sequence, and I have my doubts about whether he's a polished worker, but his plancha is gorgeous, and along with Dragon Lee's insane dive, they hit the high notes the crowd was looking for. But Virus and Casas... if you're going to do a mano-a-mano standoff to end a fall, you might want to do something a bit more exciting than that. For seasoned vets that was weak. Everybody knows I think Negro Casas is overrated these days (except for when he wrestles Rush), but c'mon, work a few more beats before you celebrate and do the parrot shit.
     
    Casas and Hechicero then worked a muddled exchange to open the closing fall. It actually started off pretty well with Hechicero working rough with Casas, and Casas seemingly giving him a receipt with some great looking knees, but Casas started looking tired and his strikes loosened up. For some reason, their exchange went beyond a reasonable length for this sort of opening exchange and Hechicero went for a nearfall too early in the fall. Dragon Lee and Cachorro's work was earnest without being particularly good, but I remember what the Traumas were like when they first started making tape, so I'm not going to rag on the young guys. The hip toss spot was impressive and Cachorro's tope was spectacular, but again it came too early in the fall to have an impact. Virus vs. Cavernario was great and the one match-up coming out of this that I'd want to see again. Virus is so great at working strike exchanges (both throwing and selling), and his positioning for Cavernario's moves was exemplary. It was notable how much better Cavernario's nearfall came across despite their exchange being much shorter than Casas/Hechicero.
     
    The rest of the fall was about dropping bombs and was a mix of the good, the bad and the ugly. The Virus/Cavernario exchange where Virus was trying to get a submission on Cavernario was awesome, and Virus' muscle flex pose when he finally got it hooked was a genuine mark out moment for me, but Hechicero/Lee was an absolute mess and after three falls (good or bad) to finish on a piece of cheating wasn't cool. Satanico could have made it work. Sangre Chicana too. Perro Aguayo. Cien Caras. But Hechicero's not in that ball park as rudo.
     
    It's worth point out that everybody who's seen this bout has liked it. The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. I wanted to like it since it's not every day you have four good workers in a trios. I gave it a second chance, and even a third as I was writing this up, but despite some good points it just didn't move me like good trios wrestling should. Virus is absolutely awesome, though.
     
  12. ohtani's jacket
    El Dandy/La Fiera/Ultimo Dragon vs. Negro Casas/Black Magic/Jaque Mate (5/17/94)
     
    This was just a 15 minute, straight falls win for the technicos, with a bit of dissension among the rudos, but man were the Casas/Dandy exchanges good. They had an opening mat exchange that was very reminiscent of their work from '92; where the purpose of each hold was to show who's boss. Casas would take Dandy down face first to canvas and slap him in the back of the head or pull his hair, and Dandy would use his athleticism to escape, flaunting his machismo while slowly getting ticked off. I often mention how Dandy lost a lot of his athleticism after '91, but he was trimmer here than in a lot of his post-prime work and moving extremely well. Eventually he got frustrated with Casas, and they had a slapping contest that let to some feisty headlock take downs; but when everyone flooded the ring, Dandy shook Casas' hand to calm things down, showing that their rivalry was built on mutual respect as much as contempt. Then as an added bonus, we got a surprisingly good mat exchange between Norman Smiley and Ultimo Dragon with a lot of quick movement and jockeying for position before the necessities of the story line took over. It's a shame Casas and Dandy didn't have more singles matches together as they were clearly one of the best pairings of all-time, but kudos to the guy who found and uploaded this as it was one of the better lucha exchanges I've seen in a while.
     
    Tony Arce/Vulcano/Bestia Salvaje vs. Apolo Dantes/Cesar Dantes/El Antifaz (3/29/91)
     
    This started off a bit low key, but picked up as they did more crowd pleasing spots. It was during a somewhat aimless period for Los Destructores where they were without a regular partner and had a different rudo fill in most nights. Bestia was the man here and was having a whale of a time, bumping like a fool and letting out huge cackles. He was a fantastic wrestler at this point and in the prime of his life. The form on his flog splash was beautiful. Cesar Dantes also impressed me here. He's not a guy I've seen a lot of, but he was a compact sort of worker who brought some neat offensive touches to the match, kind of like Javier Cruz.
     
    Lizmark vs. La Parka, National Light Heavyweight Championship match (9/9/94)
     
    As a title match, this was a joke: Lizmark spent more time fighting La Parka's second, Vulcano, than Parka, Parka won two falls with fouls, and most of what they did wouldn't fly in an apuesta match let alone a title bout. As a spectacle, it was worth watching just to see how far they would go. There were a couple of amusing moments, like someone in the crowd putting their hat on Lizmark while he sold a beat down and Parka gyrating with the belt around his waist, but in the main they just shat on lucha title match wrestling; which is a real kick in the balls, Parka style, as I was pumped to discover there was a trilogy of these matches.
     
    El Satanico/MS-1/Pirata Morgan vs. El Dandy/Konnan/Octagon (11/15/91)
     
    Short semi-final for the World Trios title tournament that was neither here nor there. Konnan was terrible, but Dandy and Octagon spared their side any blushes by having some awesome ring-clearing exchanges with the Infernales. None of the rudos were at their best, though, which made this a bit more uneventful than it could have been.
     
    El Dandy/El Satanico/El Texano vs. Angel Azteca/Atlantis/Xavier Cruz (4/13/90)
     
    1990 may be my favourite year in lucha, but I haven't watched much of the Azteca stuff in a while. This was a rare case of all six guys in the match being good, so what we got was a spotfest of sorts where the rudos tried to show their technique was superior or equal to the technicos. Folks looking for swings in momentum or any sort of storytelling will be disappointed, but for rapid fire exchanges this one is tough to beat. As per usual, it's the singles matches that could have come out of this that was the most enticing part. Texano was amazingly athletic in this and his exchanges with Azteca made him look like a much better dance partner for Angel than Emilio was, and the Dandy/Atlantis exchange at the end is so beautiful and intricate that they were surely the best possible match-up of 1990, making it a damn shame that their only recorded bout wasn't a proper match.
     
    Perro Aguayo vs. Sangre Chicana, cage match (Monterrey 1991)
     
    This had the usual amount of blood and violence from Chicana vs. Aguayo, but there was too much bullshit with the ref for it to be considered good and it was painfully slow at times. The crowd got a kick out of the ref being stripped to his underwear, but even though Aguayo used the ref's shirt sleeve to choke the life out of Chicana, shit like that did nothing to spark my enthusiasm. The best thing about this was a television ad where a pizza guy hopped into the ring and delivered right to the apron. That had a lot more action than the endless low blows and wandering about.
  13. ohtani's jacket
    Charles Lucero vs. Blue Panther, WWA World Middleweight Championship, Lucha Libre Azteca 5/9/2004
     
    This was a good match, but not a great one.
     
    Much of that boils down to expectations. When I first heard there was a Panther vs. Lucero singles match, I started wondering what it looked like and how they worked it. I practically booked the thing in my head. I had fantasies of a match that resembled the 1992 title match between Santo and Espanto Jr, forgetting that these two workers are well past their primes and that Panther is a questionable singles worker in my view. At first the bout was a disappointment, then I watched it a second and a third time, each time shedding my expectations and trying to find a way into the match. Unfortunately, that hook never really came, but the more I watched it and the less I cared about it being one of the greatest matches of all time, the more I began to appreciate some of the smaller touches.
     
    The match opened with a ten minute fall, which is a variation on the natural rhythm of a lucha libre title match. An extended mat work fall is more common in trios than in singles matches; ordinarily, ten minutes of mat work would be a mat lover's dream, but while I appreciated that they were able to work a mat fall with an escalating sense of jeopardy, I couldn't really mask my disappointment with the quality of the work. The holds weren't bad, but there was a lot of dressing and undressing of holds, and not a tremendous amount of struggle even if they did perspire a lot from the length of the fall. There was one sequence in particular that really took me out of the match. It was a full nelson sequence where Lucero tried to counter it by breaking the hold and dropping to the mat, where he'd roll backwards and try to catch Panther in a body scissors. Now I like funk in my lucha, but Panther reapplied the nelson and Lucero ended up doing a standard switch, which was really boring and made the whole sequence flat. That may seem like a small gripe, but I didn't like it.
     
    Panther caught Lucero with the Fujiwara arm bar then they did a segunda caida where Lucero took a gamble and started running the ropes. There's always a risk when you go to the ropes as a missed move is all it takes to lose the fall, but it paid off for Charles. Then we got a neat opening to the third fall where Panther was aggressively working towards a second submission with Lucero hanging on by his teeth. Lucero's selling of his leg was excellent and his submission counters were well timed. There was a headlock submission where he kept wrenching at it that could have easily won the bout, and I would have rather seen them go with a straight submission win than the surprise small package Lucero scored after Panther had all but submitted him in the ropes.
     
    I guess my problem with this was that Panther took too much of the bout and Lucero's win came across as a fluke. It almost felt like Panther coming up to Nuevo Leon to lead some local by the nose instead of the maestro vs. maestro bout it should have been. I don't think it's any coincidence that I've preferred the bouts where Lucero's the vet and takes that lead role. Still, it was Panther vs. Lucero, and well worth your time (and possibly more than that) depending on your take on it.
  14. ohtani's jacket
    Rush vs. Shocker, hair vs. hair, CMLL 3/21/14
     
    This wasn't your papa's hair vs. hair match, but then what is these days? I was ready to write this off as another CMLL apuesta match that fails to keep the traditions alive, but they actually won me over with their physicality. It wasn't as measured as an old-school hair match where they flail about selling, but they hit each other hard and there was even a bit of hard way blood. They rushed through it even quicker on TV, but at least there was no let up. Rush is like a modern, super athletic version of Perro Aguayo, and Shocker is this fat, middle-aged Guapo, who's rediscovered his admiration for the craftsmanship of lucha through regular brawls. This was spotty, but it was good spotty, and even though it was Shocker's first hair loss they didn't beat you over the head with those cinematic narratives that everyone's so fond of these days. There was just a lot of stomping.
     
    Rush, Marco Corleone y La Mascara vs. Negro Casas, Shocker y Ripper, CMLL 3/28/14
     
    This continued the whole Perro Aguayo/Sangre Chicana/Faraon thing that Rush, Casas and Shocker have going on, but was otherwise worthless.
     
    Magno vs. Cassandro, Arena Kalaka 3/23/14
     
    I dig Cassandro's indy-fied version of lucha and it was cool to see it in a Mexican setting. This may be the most pleasing one fall lucha possible, and Cassandro's bumping was beyond the call of duty for a tiny gig in Ciudad Juarez, but that's Cassandro for you I suppose. Few wrestlers show the same attention to detail and commitment to selling night in, night out and certainly not after so many years of performing. A fabulous worker who doesn't get enough of the spotlight.
     
    Villano IV vs. Chessman, AAA Latin American Championship, AAA 3/16/14
     
    This would have made a good mano a mano bout if it hadn't been a title match, but eh, it's the closest thing to an old-school Villanos brawl in the old Monterrey bullring we'll get to see, if you can excuse the bright blue, six-sided ring. There was plenty of Villanos style "technical brawling" along with punching, and of course blood. Chessman didn't bother me, even if he can only really work by setting up and executing high spots rather than any sort of fluid sequences. The only erroneous thing he did was the obvious blade job. Some people complained about the finish, and while the execution wasn't that great, I thought it was a great way to knock the stuffing out of an old warrior like Villano IV.
     
    Atlantis vs. Negro Casas, CMLL 1/27/14
     
    There was a time when this would have been a dream match. Obviously, that time is not now, but curiosity got the better of me on this one and I was pleasantly surprised. It was a short brawl and inconsequential, but Atlantis' selling was excellent and his comebacks made this feel more complete than any of the short lucha matches of the past few years. For what it's worth, I thought this was better than the Virus/Panther or Panther/Casas lightning matches. Definitely sensed the potential for an apuesta match between the two if CMLL ever head down that route.
     
    Hechicero vs. Barbero Cavernerio, CMLL 4/8/14
     
    This was a bit over-hyped. Hechicero has long been the best wrestler in Mexico not working for either CMLL or AAA and Barbero Cavernerio is fun in Puebla under card matches, but they didn't exactly set the world on fire here. When Hechicero was in control it felt like he was working a regular match on fast forward, trying to hit the same points you would in a two-out-of-three falls match in tournament wrestling, and when Cavernerio was in control it slowed down without a proper heat segment on Hechicero, who had just taken a big spill on a missed dive. Hechicero's comeback wasn't one to get the blood flowing and the whole thing felt like a series of spots between two wrestlers you're supposed to like.
  15. ohtani's jacket
    Galactar y Rico Rodriguez vs. Alberto Dos Rios y Charles Lucero, ACM 3/9/14
     
    I didn't pay too much attention to what the other guys were doing, but when Lucero was in, he showed he could still work rapid fire lucha sequences, at least with the younger guys. So, I guess the slower exchanges in the title match had more to do with Silver Star's bumping than Lucero's timing. These one fall Monterrey tags are completely unnoteworthy, but it's good to see Lucero is an even more complete worker than I thought.
     
    Diluvio Negro I, Diluvio Negro II y Silver Star vs. Antifaz del Norte, Charles Lucero y Sergio Romo Jr., ACM 1/24/10
     
    This was really fun. It was like those early 90s Monterrey trios matches only in 2010. Monterrey is famous for its bloody brawls and wacky gimmicks, but it also has its own style of trios matches. If I were to have a go at describing them, I'd call them free spirited affairs with plenty of fun exchanges. Everyone stepped in and had the kind of pure lucha exchanges you go out of your way to see. Silver Star was a whole lot better four years ago and had some crisp exchanges with Lucero, but they were basically all good, and this was blissfully uncomplicated.
     
    Chucho Mar Jr., Stuka Jr. y Sombra de Plata vs. Charles Lucero, Caifan I, y Super Comando, Gimnasio Nuevo Leon 1/18/04
     
    Decent mat opening with Lucero and Chucho Mar. Not a blow-away pairing, but they spent plenty of time on the mat. After that, it was mostly rope running and dives. Stuka's spots were fun if you haven't seen them in a while.
     
    Hijo Del Centurion Negro, Rey Hechicero y Símbolo vs. Black Spirit, Charles Lucero y Golden Boy, ACM 7/21/13
     
    This was worth watching for the Hechicero/Lucero exchanges, but was a bit of a mess otherwise. Lucero was really off on his double teaming spots, which is the first time I've seen Lucero look weak in any area, but his exchanges with Hechicero were too good to label it a weak performance overall. I wouldn't say any of the exchanges added to the singles matches they had, but since we're unlikely to see this match-up again any time soon it's worth flicking on if you're looking for more of their work.
  16. ohtani's jacket
    El Ninja, Hector Garza y Ruben Juarez Jr vs. Blue Fish, Charles Lucero y Gato del Ring, Monterrey 11/11/92
     
    Yep, early 90s Charles Lucero is awesome. You knew that it would be, but here's the confirmation.
     
    This was a fun Monterrey trios that took place a few months after Garza's debut. Lucero was about as close to his prime as we have on tape, Gato del Ring was one of those awesome Monterrey style journeymen who usually do all the wacky gimmicks, and Blue Fish is a legendary Monterrey rudo. This was my first time to see Blue Fish and he didn't disappoint. His sparring with "El Ninja" Mario Segura and the way he orchestrated his team's attack showed all the hallmarks of a great rudo worker. Garza and Juarez were fresh faced kids here. They wore these matching shorts that made them look like outcasts from a Japanese shoot fed. Juarez looked the better of the two and had a fun opening exchange with Gato del Ring, but their best contribution to the match was a neat two-man variation on a gori special that I would totally pinch if I were a modern day trio. Segura did all of Stuka and Super Astro's signature spots and worked a nice pace, but this was all about the rudos and getting to see Lucero work. His bumping and selling had that extra bit of snap to it, and he looked like the complete worker from his rolling bumps through to his double teams with Blue Fish.
     
    Cuadrangular Copa Lugman 2014 (Panthro, Charles Lucero, Silver Star, Tigre Universitario), ACM 1/19/14
     
    Only in Monterrey could an unmasked Panthro still be wrestling in 2014. This was a four way elimination match to decide the winner of a tiny little cup called the "Lugman." I don't usually care for these type of three or four way bouts, but hey when you're wrestling for the Lugman that's different. Actually, it was more like a straight tag as they worked one on one most of the time. Lucero's opening mat exchange was about as good a mat exchange as I've seen in lucha this year, and certainly the best maestro stuff. Silver Star and Tigre Universitario know a few holds, but their exchanges tend to come unstuck compared to Lucero's work. We got to see a bit more of Silver Star and Lucero here. Nothing they did was quite as good as their title match, but it was still an interesting series of exchanges. A double pin cleared them out of the way and then Panthro showed some maestro skills of his own to take out the Lugman. The audience, which was a lot healthier than the anemic title match crowd, seemed to like the dives and threw money in the ring. I dunno if it was worth coin, but it was definitely watchable.
     
    Charles Lucero y Silver Star vs. Tigre Universitario y Panthro, Arena Gladiadores, January 2014
     
    Arena Gladiadores, looks more like a loading bay than a wrestling arena. This was a handheld shot from ringside, reminding me of the old Black Terry Jr days. Like the Black Terry crew, these four have been wrestling this match for the past decade or so, and it was very much the Monterrey version of those Naucalpan bouts. I don't know what was wrong with the ring here, but the mat wasn't stretched all the way over the canvas and it looked like they were wrestling on a duvet at times. For that reason, they kept the exchanges pretty simple and mostly went through their stock exchanges. The version I watched was missing the opening Lucero/Panthro mat work, but a different upload provided the action. I'm enjoying their work together, and I've got to give props to Panthro. Twenty three years after he unmasked and he's still wearing Panthro-style Thundercat costumes. Either he can't afford any new duds or that's some serious dedication to your gimmick. Not worth going out of your way to see, but it fills a gap that the IWRG guys once did.
     
    Alberto Dos Rios y Charles Lucero vs. Androide y Diluvio Negro I, ACM 2/16/14
     
    Lucha tournament wrestling. You all know the drill. Albert Dos Rios and Diluvio Negro I got most of the ring time, and went too long with too little purpose, but Lucero continues to look like Black Terry and Negro Navarro rolled into one.
  17. ohtani's jacket
    Silver Star vs. Charles Lucero, WWA World Middleweight Championship, ACM 3/2/14
     
    Charles Lucero is quickly becoming a must-see worker for me. At present, I'd rate him as the second best maestro in the country behind Virus.
     
    This was a really old-school style title match worked on a stained and faded canvas in front of a tiny Monterrey crowd, and carried all of the traditions of UWA style Monterrey title matches. Watching this, it was easy to imagine what it must have been like to watch Lucero work the Northern circuit during the 80s and early 90s. The first fall was an exhibition in pure lucha libre. It reminded me of how Blue Panther used to wrestle back when he actually wrestled, and how he still sometimes does when he works ACM. Lucero's opponent, Silver Star, worked a type of early BIg Van Vader gimmick; and while it looked like Lucero was feeding him everything, Star did just enough to make it seem like he knew his way around the ring. It was obvious on the slow mo of the finishing sequence (which looked like a slow mo of footage already in slow motion) that Lucero used to be a lot quicker with these elaborate sequences, but the beauty of these old school maestro matches is about the form and not so much the execution.
     
    Lucero had the class to win two-nil and very nearly did if not for a slick arm drag counter from Silver Star that fed into a torture rack submission. It was a short fall that allowed the champ to strike back immediately, but Lucero's bumping style and the way he sold the torture rack was classical lucha libre.
     
    The third fall was your archetypal tercera caida with the action going backwards and forwards as both men tried to win it. I don't know if they went to the end of the line, but they went about as far as you can in front of such a small audience. Dives gave way to submissions, which gave way to suplex attempts. Silver Star looked like he might have the power to win, while Lucero looked like he had all the nous. Both men missed moves from the top rope, as the bout began to slow, then the turning point came when Silver Star missed a big running senton off the apron and suffered a heavy landing on the floor. Lucero was banged up himself, which put a neat twist into the final minutes, but he had just enough to get the big man back to canvas and deliver a second rope senton. A short elbow followed and was clear that Lucero had some pretty bad ass offence, while all the while selling beautifully. He went to the well again from the top and was caught in the torture rack for a second time, but managed to evade it this time and tie the champion in an absolute knot to cap off an extremely good match.
     
    If you like old-school lucha then Lucero is a name you need to start punching into internet search engines.
  18. ohtani's jacket
    Lizmark vs. Ulises, NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship match (CMLL 4/13/90)
     
    Solid albeit unspectacular title match between Lizmark and a then masked Tony Salazar. The opening matwork was built around a number of Lizmark takedowns, as he worked toward the submission he was looking for. Both workers played around with an armbar theme before promptly dropping it, no doubt displeasing those looking for some sort of continuity in their wrestling. Salazar brought back the armbar during the passage where he was overpowering Lizmark, and drove him shoulder first into the turnbuckle a couple of times from a hammerlock position, but targeting a body part isn't a common trope in lucha and it came across as a transition more than anything else. The match cut off after a tope left both men sprawled on the floor; a fitting end to a match I didn't desperately need to see the finish to.
     
    Lizmark vs. Satanico, NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship match (CMLL 7/17/92)
     
    In theory, these two should have been the Flair vs. Steamboat of Mexico, but they never seem to put it all together. This match is a case in point. Lizmark wrestles a beautiful opening caida. His takedowns are quick and aggressive and frustrate Satanico to no end, to the point where Satanico starts grabbing at Lizmark's face and then feigns that he's not really aggravated. Lizmark then uses his athleticism to keep his distance from Satanico and peppers him with dropkicks and headbutts and back breakers. When they do engage in more close quarters grappling, Satanico can't make much headway, and the only hint of an advantage is for him to overpower Lizmark through brawling. Lizmark prevails, however, and in the end it's quite a dominant fall from the challenger. It's by no means a bad fall of wrestling, but for such a long caida there was little in the way of counter wrestling from Satanico. You can chalk that up to excellent strategy from the challenger, but to make that narrative work you need a payoff and that's something which was sorely lacking from the second caida.
     
    Lizmark dominated the early going as he should, which had me waiting for the genius Satanico transition that would tip the match on its head. But that transition was simply a missed headbutt into the corner. A couple of power moves later, and a submission, was all it took for Satanico to even up the bout even though Lizmark had enjoyed probably three quarters of the offence. Yes it's lucha, but I'm used to better than that from Satanico, who's one of the smartest wrestlers around when it comes to the big turning points in matches. The third caida began with some fairly intense submission work and the repeated motif of the back breaker, but their attempts to make it seem "even stevens" lacked conviction, and Lizmark continually seemed like the fresher, more dominant wrestler. Satanico's selling throughout the third fall was excellent, but why Lizmark was made to look like such an incredibly strong challenger is a mystery. He absolutely dominated this match on points. Worst of all was the booking of the finish. Perhaps they'd backed themselves into a corner where the finish was always going to be against the run of play, but a contentious and fluky counter pin from a surfboard was just about the worst way for Satanico to retain his title. Satanico is one of the all-time great wrestlers, and rudo or not, didn't need parlour tricks to beat his rivals. All told it was a bad showing from him, and even though the match itself wasn't bad, Lizmark got far too much of the offence, denying us an all-time classic.
     
    Lizmark vs. Jerry Estrada, National Light Heavyweight Championship match (AAA 7/9/95)
     
    They fucked around at the beginning getting rid of Tirantes, which rid us of his bullshit, then ended the match with a DQ when the seconds Rey Mysterio, Jr. and Psicosis began fighting with each other. Is it any wonder why I hate this promotion? In between there was some decent action, but it was very much Lizmark vs. Estrada by the numbers.
     
    Lizmark vs. La Parka, National Light Heavyweight Championship match (AAA 7/18/94)
     
    This took a long time to get going. The action wasn't bad, but it was the single longest feeling out period I've seen in lucha. In fact, it was kind of strange compared to the lucha I'm used to. Of course this being AAA, they couldn't help themselves and made the finish to each fall screwy, and there was some completely non-traditional mask ripping in the third fall that would have had Louis Spota, the long time president of the Comisión de Box y Lucha Libre, spinning in his grave. Parka actually bladed, which is even more sacrilegious. Despite all this, the action was very good, with Lizmark having to increasingly bust out his bigger offence to put Parka away. Come to think of it, it was quite Americanised in that respect. I was a little disappointed that we didn't see the explosive Parka matwork and striking game that the '93 match brought us, but for a match that circled around some pretty bullshit booking, this was more than passable.
  19. ohtani's jacket

    90s... Lucha!

    By ohtani's jacket,

    Atlantis/Lizmark/Ultimo Dragon vs. Emilio Charles Jr./Bestia Salvaje/Negro Casas (7/31/92)
     
    Standard rudo brawling followed by a standard technico comeback, but it all looked fairly good. Emilio and Atlantis continued to brawl, which explains the extra edge to their '92 title match.
     
    Espectro Jr./Espectro de Ultratumba/Ponzona vs. Angel Azteca/Apolo Dantes/Eddy Guerrero (9/13/91)
     
    Not good. Not much of anything really. The clip began with a lengthy vignette of Angel Azteca and some ladies pretending to be either statutes or figures from an Aztec relief. Ponzona and the Espectros may have had fun gimmicks, but they didn't do anything in the ring to take advantage of their get-ups in the way that Pena did when he wrestled as Kahoz. Match was pretty much an excuse for Apolo Dantes and Eddy Guerrero to gallivant around being second generation superstars and jocks.
     
    Blue Panther vs. Octagon, National Middleweight Championship match (8/4/94)
     
    The first time I saw these two wrestle I called it one of the worst title matches in history. This wasn't that bad, but it was still rubbish. What a colossal waste of Panther in his prime. Only AAA could produce matches that are worse than Panther's modern bouts. I'd almost call them a blight on Panther's career, but it was obvious that the booking was the millstone here.
     
    Felino vs. Ciclon Ramirez, CMLL World Welterweight Championship match (5/21/93)
     
    This had everything going for it -- Felino interrupting a Ciclon Ramirez interview in the gym and brawling with him, a contract signing with both men wearing three-piece suits, Ciclon wearing a beautiful boxing robe to the ring and Felino clinging to the oversized welterweight championship like a cat staking out his territory. Even Casas was swanning around with his butt cheeks hanging out of his baby blue trunks. Given all that, the match was a hefty disappointment. The matwork was only decent when Ramirez was in control, which is fairly typical of Felino's early title matches. He didn't really improve at title match matwork until he started working with Santo in '96. Beyond that it was mostly dives before the Casas/Felino angle. Casas does a really good job of selling his bewilderment at Felino pushing him around before throwing in the towel. The angle wasn't as hot as it could have been, but that's 1993 CMLL for you. It was still a beautifully dickish move on Casas' part. It's too bad they didn't give us the full title match before running the angle, and I still think it was a dumb move to unmask Ramirez.
     
    Atlantis/Satanico/Angel Azteca vs. Pirata Morgan/Emilio Charles Jr./Jerry Estrada (4/20/90)
     
    This was a real "fall out of bed" trios. It was good, but nothing I wouldn't expect from these workers. The novelty of Satanico being on the technico side wasn't lost on anyone and he had some fun exchanges with all three of the rudos. The best match-up was Emilio Charles v. Angel Azteca, as they built to their title match. There was a lengthy brawl at ringside after the bout was over, and it looked like someone through some trash at Emilio and got a receipt for it. Satanico and Morgan put on a bit of a show in front of Doña Vicky, who seemed to enjoy it. I recently saw the finish to their 1986 hair match, which looked wildly disappointing as there appeared to be a lack of blood and an abundance of juniors moves (plus they had an exceptional whiff on a missile dropkick from the top rope.) Their brawling here was much better, but this still a bit of a throwaway bout all the same.
     
  20. ohtani's jacket
    Pierroth Jr./MS-1/Ulises vs. Mogur/El Dandy/Popitekus (1/5/90)
     
    A week before their title match, it's the match-up the internet never told you about, Mogur vs. Pierroth Jr. Their exchanges here may have been even better than during their title fight, as they really slapped the shit out of each other. At one point, Mogur was lying prone on the canvas and Pierroth went all romper stomper on him, kicking him in the back until he had finally cleared the ring of him. Another outstanding match-up here was El Dandy vs. MS-1, which was every bit as good as you'd imagine it to be. MS-1 was fantastic around this time. I remember when I first got into lucha thinking that MS-1 was almost like a Mexican Jumbo Tsuruta. Like Jumbo, he got old fast, and when I think about that Infernales/Dinamitas match I watched the other day, his decline sticks out even more. Dandy also slipped from this level really quickly, which makes this an in-ring encounter to savour. Popitekus was a wee bit disappointing here, but Salazar under the hood and MS-1 mostly went the comedy route with him. There was a nice violent rudo control segment in the bout and Pierroth was in fine form. I always thought he took a while to come into his own, but this feud was a nice showcase for him. Match of the night as far as my viewing goes.
     
    El Dandy/Ringo Mendoza/Sangre Chicana vs. El Satanico/Fabuloso Blondy/MS-1 (11/16/90)
     
    I wouldn't call this weak, but there weren't really any special moments. Dandy and Satanico brawled and there was double juice, but that's nothing we haven't seen before. Everybody else just sort of chipped in without shining.
     
    Mascara Sagrada/Octagon/Atlantis vs. Pierroth Jr./Fuerza Guerrera/Kung Fu (1/25/91)
     
    Before the match we got a lengthy vignette of Pierroth working out in tight blue bicycle shorts while some up tempo smooth jazz played over the top. If you'd told me that would be the highlight I would've stopped the clip right there. This meandered. A lot. I was so bored that I became overly fascinated by the size difference between Fuerza and Pierroth. I often don't click about things like that until my mind starts to wander. One thing I'll say for this match is it shows how easily these pre-singles match brawling trios can descend into complete bores. The next time you see a really good one remember that.
     
    Jerry Estrada/El Satanico/La Parka vs. Lizmark/Octagon/Mascara Sagrada (6/4/93)
     
    This started off with a decent effort by Satanico to make Mascara Sagrada look competent on the mat, and some decent enough exchanges between Lizmark and Estrada, but aimless pre-singles match brawling trios were almost AAA's forte, and this dragged on and on without any spectacular moments.
     
    Jerry Estrada/El Satanico/La Parka vs. Lizmark/Octagon/Mascara Sagrada (6/11/93)
     
    This was also a dull rudo dominated trios. For some reason, Satanico vs. Octagon was one of the least compelling match-ups of the early 90s. It's not like Satanico didn't bump or sell for him, or try any of his bag of tricks; it was just interesting. I was begging for a hot babyface comeback here with the kind of dive train you know AAA is good for, but it never came. These are the kind of matches which have long soured me on AAA, and the fact this was worse than the previous week makes things even worse. Lizmark should have been up against it here against three of his major foes, but they couldn't even thread the Lizmark/Estrada issue through properly and the narratives were pretty pathetic in general.
     
    Not a great night for lucha libre watching.
  21. ohtani's jacket

    90s Lucha

    By ohtani's jacket,

    Atlantis/Apolo Dantes/Octagon vs. Blue Panther/Javier Cruz/Emilio Charles Jr. (8/2/91)
     
    It's always exciting when you see a rudo line-up like that. I don't know if they cranked up the pace or it was just edited that way, but this was one lively trios. Under ordinary circumstances, they might have meandered along setting up the Cruz vs. Dantes hair match and Panther vs. Atlantis title match, but in this case there was always something interesting going on. Dantes wore a purple wrestling leotard that made him look like an exotico (lilac even, for those of you who get the reference.) I'm sure his dad could have pulled it off, as dad wasn't the sort you messed with. Still, it's not the colour of your leotard that counts but how hard you pack a punch, and Dantes' fists caused Cruz to blade here. Cruz was good value here as the annoying little jackass alter-ego to his awesome fired up babyface act of 1990. Interesting enough, Atlantis v. Panther brought the violence during the technico's comeback. Their title match may have been a breathtaking display of pure lucha libre, but they beat the tar out of each other here. The finishing stretch was wild with everyone going for broke. Octagon, who I'll defend until the day I sign off from this blog, pulled off a big dive which he sold beautifully, and Panther caught Atlantis in no man's land for the submission finish. As soon as he got the call, he dropped Atlantis like a sack of potatoes and motioned for the title around his waist. I was pumped to say the least. Fun trios.
     
    Pierroth Jr. vs. Mogur, National Light Heavyweight Championship match (1/12/90)
     
    This was surprisingly good. I almost passed up the opportunity to watch it as it didn't seem that interesting, but by the first fall I was hooked. It was a lengthy Arena Coliseo match with a heavy focus on (light) heavyweight style mat work. There was a lot of selling, which gave it a slightly different feel stylistically. One really cool thing they did was sell the impact of such heavy bodies being thrown about and slammed into the canvas. They'd do an armdrag, for example, and sell both the impact and the strain on the person's shoulder. It was probably took long for what these guys are capable of, and being a traditionalist I didn't particularly care for Pierroth cheating during a title match, but there was a lot to like here in terms of details. It's also a side of Pierroth that he didn't show a lot of later on, particularly his mat game. Worth checking out as a match that's well under the radar.
     
    Atlantis/Lizmark/Ultimo Dragon vs. Emilio Charles Jr./Bestia Salvaje/Felino (7/24/92)
     
    I don't know who runs the channel that I'm getting this stuff from, but whoever it is he's a Godsend. I'm hauled up inside with a stuffy nose and my second bout of influenza in a month and this stuff is the perfect tonic. I continue to change my tune on Ultimo Dragon. Sometimes when a guy is flashy it's easy to go off him, but flashy works well in trios matches and his exchanges here were lightning quick. This had a cracking pace. I just sat back and enjoyed this one. I need to reel myself in before I start comparing it to my recent obsession with New York disco funk. What was really cool here was that Atlantis started brawling with Emilio, which is the closest we're ever going to get to an Altantis vs. Emilio apuesta match, and it was awesome. It's a shame that Atlantis didn't work more mask matches in places like Monterrey as he looked as good a brawler as Santo.
     
    Cien Caras/Mascara Ano 2000/Pirata Morgan vs. MS-1/Satanico/Pirata Morgan (7/9/93)
     
    Not as awesome as I imagine some of those rudos contra rudos bouts from the early 80s to be, but still a pretty fun trios. It's debatable how well the Infernales fit with what AAA was going for, but I get the feeling that Pena was like Eric Bischoff with Turner's checkbook just buying up everyone from the competition. The Infernales were still a polished act and had a number of fun moments, but Los Hermanos Dinamita weren't so cohesive and their control segment lacked imagination. Mascara Ano 2000 bled, but having just lost his mask his selling was a little weak. Caras, looking suave with an almost Richard Gere-like hairdo, slipped in here and there to have a neat exchange with MS-1, but it was all too fleeting. Regardless of all that, Satanico looked good with his punch exchanges, and it was still a dream match of sorts.
     
    Espectro Jr./Espectro de Ultratumba/Bestia Salvaje vs. El Dandy/Angel Azteca/El Jalisco (5/1/92)
     
    Ha, Bestia was with his boys the Espectros. This wasn't as smooth as some of the other trios I watched since the workers weren't as good, but Dandy was oozing with confidence and his mat exchange with Espectro de Ultratumba (of all people) is a must-see if you're a Dandy fan. Azteca continued to look like the next in the Lizmark/Atlantis lineage, and I still regret that his rise to that top babyface worker level evaporated after his super push. I dug the rudo comeback here, and I loved the way it continued through to the beginning of the third fall. Trios were so fluid in this era and the action seemed so close to the crowd, not like the current sterile Arena Mexico set-up. Nice babyface ending here. Dandy would've looked cocky if he was anyone but El Dandy.This is a wonderful YouTube channel.
  22. ohtani's jacket
    Perro Aguayo vs. Sangre Chicana vs. El Faraón vs. Villano III (Elimination Match) (10/84)
     
    Skip all the stuff at the beginning and head straight to the Chicana tope on Villano III. That has to be one of the best topes I've seen. An absolute bullet that was made even better by the camera being fixed on Villano III on the outside, and Chicana rocketing into frame at a million miles an hour. For a guy who's mostly known for brawling and selling, Chicana had an awesome tope and the big gamble on a tope suicida is something that really fit his character.
     
    This was a four way elimination match featuring Perro Aguayo against three of his biggest rivals at the time. It came down to Perro vs. Chicana, one of the best match-ups in lucha history if not all of wrestling. Watching these two work is fantastic, even in a match like this where they're essentially holding back. I love the theatrical spin they put on every bump and every bit of selling.They get so much mileage out of the kick-punch style that typifies 80s lucha brawling. The nuts and bolts of what they're doing couldn't be simpler, in fact it's very Memphis-like the way they're able to weave a compelling narrative around knocking each other to canvas. I also love how the highspots are missed or teased more often than they're hit. The message is clear on the big tope bailout and the DQ finish: nothing's settled here, but if the crowd's lucky they'll get that hair match sooner or later.
  23. ohtani's jacket

    Virus vs. Titan

    By ohtani's jacket,

    Virus vs. Titan, Mexican National Welterweight Championship, CMLL 1/28/14
     
    Of all the older maestros in CMLL who regularly take on young guys, Virus is by far the best at putting young guys over. This was a title defence for Titan, and given the disparity in skill levels, Virus could have eaten him alive on the mat and just about everywhere else, but you never get the feeling that Virus needs to prove himself. He's not busting his workrate chops to prove he can still hang, he's just guiding a young guy through the closest he'll come to an old school lucha title match.
     
    The first fall is a classic lucha title match opening caida, featuring parity on the mat followed by some rope running and a submission maneuver. A mat section in a lucha title match shouldn't be a welcome sight, but too often even maestros forgo mat work against workers they know aren't technically proficient enough. When they do work the mat, they either spend too much time with back to canvas or put the young guy through a labyrinth of holds where the only way out is for the maestro to feed them an arm. Virus, respecting the old school traditions, went hold-for-hold, and while to the trained eye it was obvious that Titan isn't much of a mat wrestler, they successfully created the illusion that he was good enough to be a champion. Virus had the edge because he's a maestro, but he didn't flaunt it.
     
    After opening his account, the challenger did what he does best in working a methodical, slower paced fall where he kept the young flier grounded and stirred the pot for the champion's eventual comeback. Much has been made of Titan "popping up" after so much legwork, but the pop up didn't bother me as he couldn't follow through on his celebration and collapsed to one knee, making it obvious that adrenaline had propelled his pop up. What made me despair was the cartwheel he's added to his hurricanrana. I understand that he's young and concerned with what he can do to stand out and get noticed, but cut that shit out.
     
    The third fall was beautifully laid out and further proof that Virus is the best third caida guy in the business. Titan started to over power Virus on the strike exchanges and wouldn't bite on any of Virus' counters. A monkey flip off the apron led to Titan following up Virus' big bump with a gorgeous moonsault plancha that the crowd had been waiting for. Third caidas are traditionally 50/50 when it comes to offence, but Virus gave the champion a large part of the fall to put over the rising star. A spectacular somersault plancha was a crowd pleaser, with a shot of a little boy getting positively giddy over it. Virus rolled with the punches and drew on all his experience to put up a fight, but the young champion was moving from strength to strength and almost powerbombed the challenger out of his boots. The great thing about all this was that it wasn't rushed. The pace was measured, the camera work picked up on the selling and the crowd were into it. Virus had one last throw of the dice on an insane springboard senton to the concrete below, which led to a somewhat sloppy finishing stretch that unfortunately hurt the quality of the match, but the crowd didn't care and there was a genuine outpouring of emotion as the young champion proved his mettle by submitting Virus in the middle of the ring. Regardless of how I feel about the new breed, it's always great to see them earn a reaction like that, and I'd like to think it was because of the way the match built. Titan's second did a tremendous job of putting the victory over and his enthusiasm was palpable. I don't think this was as good as the Guerrero Maya Jr. match, which was my MOTY for 2013, but it's the best thing in 2014 by a fair distance, and an example of how you can do the modern style well while still retaining some old school sensibilities. Virus is the best singles worker in the company and it's odd that he's still so underrated even by hardcores.
  24. ohtani's jacket
    Emilio Charles Jr., Negro Casas & Bestia Salvaje vs. Atlantis, La Fiera & Apolo Dantes, 6/3/94
     
    Fantastic looking match-up on paper that was just some bullshit excuse to turn Casas technico. CMLL became hopeless at turning people once the TV boom began. In the 80s when rudos turned on each other, it would lead to these incredibly heated matches where the rudos would ratchet up the violence and turn Arena Mexico into a madhouse. Rudos would have these ongoing feuds with each other that wouldn't be settled until there was a wager match and even then the bad blood would continue. Here, Casas whimpered and cowered while his rudo partners flogged him. Instead of fighting back and starting a blood feud, he looked meeker than at any point in his career. Casas had done the same thing to other rudos in the past and knew the rules that the rudo fraternity abide by, but the stupid thing about these matches is that it's not like you get the hot match and then the angle. There's no Good God Almighties in CMLL; they suck dry whatever dramatic potential there is in these turns with the shittiest of execution. The commercials you see on old lucha tapes for Mexican soap operas and B films look like brilliantly penned dramas compared to the amount of effort CMLL puts into its television angles. Not something you want to watch if you're one of those guys who believe all wrestling is story; but hey, you get a bit of Casas vs. Atlantis, which isn't a match-up you see a lot of.
     
    Hayabusa, Pantera & Ciclon Ramirez vs. Mogur, Cachorro Mendoza & Javier Cruz, 6/3/94
     
    What was the point in turning Cachorro Mendoza heel? He ambles to ringside like a technico, patting kids on the head, looking to get a legend pop from the one or two guys who can remember when he was a big deal. In the ring he does a reasonable facsimile of a rudo, but it's not like his heart's in it. And then there's poor Mogur, the failed "next big thing." In case you didn't realise he's rudo, he's wearing a black leather jacket. And what about Ciclon Ramirez? Of all the bad ideas floating around CMLL at this time, his unmasking may have been the worst. So, okay, maybe I'm the biggest Ciclon Ramirez fan I know, but compare the masked guy with the best looking tope in lucha history with the goofy looking bugger who unmasked. And the faux pas of wearing the high top lucha tights without the mask. There was no way this unmasking was doing for him what it did for pretty boys like Faraon and MS-1. This was right before his hair match with Cruz and they both did these small bladejobs that were like trickles down the bridge of their nose. Nobody told Hayabusa what you're supposed to do in a trios where the wrestlers are brawling around ringside, so he just stayed in the ring and watched. Yip.
     
    Cachorro Mendoza, Mocho Cota & Jaque Mate vs. Hayabusa, Blue Demon Jr & Hijo del Solitario, 7/15/94
     
    About as bad as it looks on paper. Didn't do the "Cota was never as bad as we thought in the 90s" bandwagon any favours.
     
    Emilio Charles Jr, El Satanico & Negro Casas vs. El Hijo del Santo, Corazon de Leon & Ultimo Dragon, 9/15/95
     
    Someone forgot to tell Santo and Casas that this was a trios match and a mano a mano broke out. This was pretty badass, actually.
     
    Rayo de Jalisco, Atlantis & Pegasus Kid vs. Pierroth Jr, Emilio Charles Jr & Bestia Salvaje, 7/15/94
     
    This wasn't the most spectacular trios you'll ever seen, but it was pretty comfortably the best of this week's batch. The action was carried by Atlantis and Emilio Charles, who had lost none of their chemistry in 1994. Even their brawling was good. Atlantis doesn't have much of a rep as a brawler, but I reckon he can throw a pretty good right hand and he delivers a pretty solid looking posting too. Pierroth vs. Rayo is almost like a dream match as far as I'm concerned and was every bit as dopey as I could have hoped for. Bestia was solid, but if anyone ever writes the Bestia Salvaje story they better acknowledge how quickly he fell from his '92 heights. Benoit was better than most foreigners. Only two falls here, but Atlantis vs. Emilio stuff is always worth seeing.
     
    Pierroth Jr. vs. El Boricua, mask vs. mask, 9/29/95
     
    On one hand, this is the kind of big, cumbersome main event I love in lucha. I'm a sucker for Pierroth and he had his mask ripped here with a big dark crimson stain everywhere. And the crowd were heavily into the Mexico vs. Puerto Rico theme with people bringing full size Mexican flags to the area and fans running around on camera with huge Pierroth signs. On the other hand, it's pretty sad that this was the main event of the Anniversary show. It probably would have been better in Puerto Rico where they would have been able to bleed far more than at Arena Mexico, but when you look at the past apuestas on Anniversary shows this kind of sums up where the promotion was at. I'm not a huge of the Santo vs. Casas feud, but it sure did turn things around, and I have a new appreciation for it in that sense. At least Pierroth got to be the man here and score the winning goal for Mexico. That was cool to watch as a Pierroth mark.
  25. ohtani's jacket
    CMLL "The Lost Years" (1993-95)
     
    Mocho Cota, Felino & Kahoz vs. Silver King, El Texano & La Fiera, 8/22/95
     
    Is it time to re-evaluate old man Cota?
     
    He was pretty damn good here. He didn't move as well as the 1984 version we've been watching, but he brought a little mat work, a little brawling and some great trios bumping. It helped that he was working against world class workers in the shape of Silver King and Texano, but long time fans of the blog will know that I've never been the biggest fan of Los Cowboys and yet here they looked like absolute world beaters. It may have just been the occasion as even La Fiera looked surprisingly athletic for this point in his career and was doing all his old spots with gusto. This had a little bit of everything and was given enough time to be one of those neat Arena Coliseo matches that pop up from time to time. Felino and Silver King had a mat exchange to begin with where Silver King looked like the most exciting guy in Mexico, and then Cota and Texano had themselves a good old fashioned contest on the mat. The finish to the first fall was really cool as Cota was resisting a sunset flip attempt by Texano and Silver King nailed him with his super kick. Between falls, they tried lifting Cota from the mat and he fell straight back to canvas. Later on, he sold one of Fiera's kicks by taking an amusing bump to the outside where he signaled that he'd had enough of Fiera and stumbled into his corner. Back in the ring, he had Texano in a suspect choke hold, which led to a punch exchange between the two of them where Texano kept delivering jabs to the face. Basically, everybody was ruling it here. Not to be outdone, Felino took a bump off Fiera's spinning high kick that looked like it could have easily decapitated him. The only weak link was Kahoz, who was a fairly average worker, but had been in a thousand career trios and at least knew what to do. The big talking point, though, is whether Cota was some sort of 90s maestro. It's too early to say whether this is the start of a reappraisal, but if I were scything through '95 looking for the good stuff this would definitely be a keeper.
     
    Dr. Wagner Jr., Gran Markus Jr. & El Hijo del Gladiador vs. El Dandy, Silver King & El Texano, 7/15/94
     
    On one hand this version of La Ola Blanca were better than I expected as El Hijo del Gladiador (Talisman) served as the the workhorse and Gran Markus Jr.'s involvement was kept to a minimum. On the other hand, they weren't that good. Talisman was a decade past his best, and while Wagner did plenty of his father's mannerisms, he wouldn't really get how to work until he went to Japan. This was a title match for the CMLL Trios titles, but you wouldn't have been able to tell that by watching the match as it wasn't treated as special. Having said that, for as important as trios matches have been in Mexico in the past 30 years, the various trios championships have never been accorded the same prestige as the national and world singles titles, and you'd be hard pressed to recall too many classics for the trios titles. The trio of El Dandy, Silver King and El Texano should be a dream trio, but something about them felt a bit off. Their opponents weren't ideal, but to be honest I don't think this was the best period of El Dandy's career. He'd get a lot better when he started working for WCW, ironically, as whenever the WCW luchadores worked Mexico dates they tended to blow the cobwebs out of their working boots.
     
    Dr. Wagner Jr., Gran Markus Jr. & El Hijo del Gladiador vs. El Dandy, Silver King & El Texano, Arena Coliseo 7/94
     
    This was an earlier match that set-up the trios shot. I'm not sure of the date as cubsfan didn't have anything listed for Arena Coliseo. I suppose they were holding something back for the title match, but both the match and the post-match challenges lacked conviction.
     
    Samson Fuyuki, Pierroth & Emilio Charles Jr. vs. Ultimo Dragon, Vampiro Canadiense & Atlantis, 6/10/94
     
    This was a decent enough match for what it was. There are times during this period where Atlantis feels a bit stale as he'd been going at it with the same gimmick for a decade, but he ran through his classic exchanges with Emilio and no matter how many times I've seen them they always warm the cockles. In the past, I've tended to be down on Ultimo Dragon's early years in Mexico, but he's been serviceable in these past couple of matches. And God help me, I kind of dug the Pierroth/Vampiro kick-punch exchanges. Mind you, I'm an unabashed Pierroth mark. He could kick and punch the corner ring post and I'd dig it. The finish here was kind of weird as Vampiro went to the top rope, slipped and took a bad spill. Emilio pounced on the opportunity by entering the ring and pinning him, and on the replay Vampiro could be seen selling it as though he'd blown out his knee. I couldn't really figure out whether they were covering for the blown spot or it was real, but either way the match ended on a flat note. For those WAR enthusiasts out there, Fuyuki didn't do much, just stereotypical East Asian heel stuff.
     
    El Dandy, Negro Casas & Ultimo Dragon vs. Ray Gonzalez, Bestia Salvaje & Felino, 8/11/95
     
    Disappointing given the talent involved. There was a lot of focus on El Dandy vs. Gonzalez as they were scheduled to meet for an NWA World Light Heavyweight title match in a fortnight. Gonzalez wasn't the most talented of the Puerto Ricans they brought in around this time so I wasn't really feeling this as much as I would have if it had been say Miguel Perez Jr.
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