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ohtani's jacket

DVDVR 80s Project
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  1. ohtani's jacket
    Perro Aguayo vs. Gran Hamada, WWF Light Heavyweight Title (UWF 4/17/84 handheld)
     
    When Hisashi Shinma broke away from New Japan with a group of workers to form the original UWF, he really had no idea how to promote it other than christening it as a mini version of New Japan. So on the first tour, he brought in UWA guys Perro Aquayo, Mano Negra, Negro Navarro, El Signo and Texano, Los Misioneros de la Muerte. The idea was to create a juniors division with Gran Hamada as the lynchpin.
     
    Some people will be familiar with the match Perro Aguayo and Gran Hamada had on the UWF's debut show in Omiya, a mano a mano brawl where Gran Hamada bled a bucket. That match was on the DVDVR Other Japan set. This is a handheld of what is essentially the blow-off match from the final night of the April tour. To the best of my knowledge, it has not been widely circulated. It took place at Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo, otherwise known as Sumo Hall.
     
    This wasn't your typical lucha libre title match. I'd classify it as a junior workrate sprint with some super libre brawling.
     
    Gran Hamada was a small guy, probably a good inch or two shorter than he was billed, but what he lacked in stature he over-compensated for by developing his body. He had gigantic legs for a guy his size, but they enabled him to have a powerful springing action whenever he got up from the canvas. I don't think I've ever seen anyone spring into action quite like Gran Hamada. Perro Aguayo was a tremendous brawler in his time. His style was simple and direct, but he knew how to get heat, and he was just about the perfect rudo. Gran Hamada never short changed a bump once, going the whole hog on all of them, so the two of them had good working chemistry.
     
    The match started off with Perro ruling the roost. He could've legitimately won the first fall by overpowering the smaller Hamada, but it didn't take long for him to whip out his folk, or some other type of foreign object, and get himself unashamedly DQ'ed.
     
    The stage was set for Hamada to brace the odds like all true babyfaces, and while I wasn't enamoured with the sudden drop kick he used to fight his way back onto offence, after a rather glorious "pocket rocket" style tope, he became one of the only guys I've seen sell a tope like it took more out of him than his opponent. A lot of guys stagger around after a tope, waiting to transition into the next offensive stretch, but Hamada climbed back into the ring, used the top rope for support, staggered past the ref and collapsed into the ropes on the opposite side. The ref checked whether he could keeping going, and the whole sequence was good pro-wrestling drama.
     
    What followed was a neat "juniors" period where they traded moves and pinfall attempts. If I felt like quibbling, I'd mention that this is the part where Aguayo showed why he was never a truly great worker as the order he rolled his spots out in, and his inconsistent selling, meant that it was a little shaky, but for the live audience it was an exciting sequence of nearfalls. My favourite part where the forearm exchanges, where Hamada knocked Aquayo to the canvas, but his roll-up moves were also slick. Hamada also did a great job selling Aquayo's kicks and the famous big boot, dropping to one knee before heading straight to canvas.
     
    Aside from the junior exchanges where "if your move doesn't beat me, I'll get up and do mine" comes into play, the only real problem with the match was the submission attempts. The heat was good, but they dropped them after a certain number of beats and the follow-up work after dropping the holds wasn't as good as it could've been. Nevertheless, the stretch run was peppered with a few solid transitions (like Hamada flooring Aquayo with a strong looking punch), and Hamada's big impact stuff looked great since he either bounced with the impact to accentuate the force or rolled over onto his face to show he was throwing everything into the fight.
     
    The finish came after an Aquayo tope, when he tried to suplex Hamada back into the ring and Hamada flipped over the top and hit a huge (and awesome looking) backdrop driver. For some reason, the ref did a fast count and the crowd became all talkative about how fast it was. Nevertheless, Hamada was their new champion.
     
    Good match. There wasn't a hell of a lot of substance, but it was a good match nonetheless. Hamada's selling and execution were the highlights, and Perro showed that while he wasn't a perfect worker, he was plenty good in the 80s. The crowd were into it, too, which is something I remember from my own experience of going to a live show in Japan. Japanese fans are enthusiastic about nearfalls and get sucked into each "chance," as they say in Japan. There was a lot of coaching for Hamada to "cover, cover, cover," and the match worked, which is what it's all about.
  2. ohtani's jacket
    Cassandro/Rudy Reyna vs. El Matemático/Ninja Sasuke (UWA 1992)
     
    This was from the tour to Mexico where Murakawa Masanori first donned the Great Sasuke ring attire; going by the name Ninja Sasuke.
     
    For a Japanese wrestler in Mexico, he certainly looked the part. It helped that he looked like Octagon or one of the Fantásticos (Blackman, Kung Fu, Kendo, and later Avispón Negro), but he had the agility and suppleness to do similar speed work, and he was working Cassandro, who at just 22 years of age was a brash young worker full of confidence.
     
    Reyna, on the other hand, looked like a washed up transvestite trying to turn a trick. He spent more time fixing his outfit than doing any serious grappling, though he did have one amusing spot where he used the martial arts to poke Matemático in the eyes. El Matemático was probably the most impressive guy in the match from a nuts and bolts perspective. Just a solid vet, who did the sort of things that would make him top five if he were around today.
     
    The match was your breezy, all-action undercard filler that was common in UWA at this time. There was nothing remotely outstanding about it. The only difference between this sort of match and the modern style is that the timing was slightly better. It was several notches down from the up-tempo, all-action midcard bouts of the 80s, but an easy watch. The way UWA used to edit these matches for TV is that they'd cram the entire thing into a fifteen minute slot, so there's never any time to let it all soak in. Still, I'd sooner watch Sasuke in Mexico than Ultimo Dragon, so it's not a complete waste of your time, provided you don't have too many other things to watch, which is always the case I guess.
  3. ohtani's jacket

    Classic Infernales

    By ohtani's jacket,

    Lizmark/Kung Fu/Siglo XX (The Killer) vs. Los Infernales (El Satanico/MS-1/Masakre), CMLL 1987
     
    I've been in a funk lately and haven't liked anything I've watched. I can't be bothered writing about any of that stuff, since this blog is negative enough as it is, so here's something I know and trust -- Classic Infernales.
     
    At first glance it seemed like the Infernales were taking the night off, but I should've known better. The Infernales knew exactly how to pace a fall. They were masters at the "change-up:" switching from a slower, methodical pace to sudden bursts of action. They knew how to put over a "rudo" fall, and never skipped a beat.
     
    The match started off with a bit of comedy as Masakre picked Kung Fu up with one arm and placed him back in his corner. Masakre was clearly the least of the Infernales, but he had this shit eating grin on his face, and it's always a great rev up when the least talented member does the most amount of shit talking. The technicos tried a bit of matwork, and Siglo impressed with some of his armlock work, which just goes to show you can never underestimate anyone's technical prowess, but the Infernales took over and won with the ease of their shitting eating grins.
     
    What the match needed next was a technico comeback, but I liked the way the Infernales cut off the technico's first drive. When the technicos stormed back into the match, there was plenty to enjoy. I dislike karate gimmicks immensely, but Los Fantásticos have always been an exception. Kung Fun had put on some beef since his Toreo days, but his schtick was still top notch, and I doubt readers out there will have too much difficulty imaging Satanico or MS-1 bumping for it. There were a lot of great sight gags in this bout. My favourite was Siglo suggesting that Satanico was too short for him. Satanico run to the turnbuckle and backed up onto the second rope to make himself taller than The Killer. Naturally, the great one started charging in like a bull terrier and anytime Satanico gets a full head of speed up the results are hilarious.
     
    In fact, anytime they get the ball rolling like this, you're guaranteed a laugh or two. Lizmark was on hand to provide some actual quality as the rudos bumbled one, and a good time was had by all as the rudos were kicked in the ass repeatedly. This wasn't a classic, but most nights the workers don't go out there to have a classic. Instead, it was perfectly entertaining and more than enough to pull me out of my rut.
  4. ohtani's jacket
    El Hijo Del Santo vs. Negro Casas, NWA World Welterweight Championship, 12/1/95
     
    This was the final of a 16-man tournament for the vacant World Welterweight title.
     
    It wasn't a particularly long match (about 10-12 minutes), but felt longer due to how slow it was. I guess the most striking thing about the match was how different it was from the style Santo worked in AAA. Whether that was a conscious decision on the part of the workers or a Japanese influence, I'm not sure. There was a definite hybrid feel to it, but it would be wrong to say it was new since they were leaning that way in their January '92 match.
     
    Anyway, I didn't like this at all. Maybe it's because I've been up to my eyeballs in mat wrestling lately, but I found it completely uninteresting. It wasn't that the holds were uninteresting, more the way they applied them. And I thought they completely effed up the hybrid elements. There was a lot of worked shoot stuff that they didn't know how to sell, and the ref had no idea what they were doing half the time. Mat wrestling has never been Casas' forte. He's more of an "all-action" worker, to quote the legendary Kent Walton, and I guess I've been overrating Santo's mat prowess on the basis of some pretty limited footage. That doesn't mean I think they're poor mat workers all of a sudden, I just think as an "all-matwork" match this was a colossal failure and somewhat ill-advised. The crowd was pro-Casas, and I don't think they wanted to see a third rate shoot hybrid.
     
    Or perhaps I don't want to see that in my lucha?
     
    The best thing about mat wrestling, when it's done well, is that both guys look like tough motherfuckers. Neither guy looked tough here. There wasn't enough struggle, nor was there any kind of maestro wrestling.
  5. ohtani's jacket

    August IWRG

    By ohtani's jacket,

    August IWRG
     
    Avisman vs. Trauma II, IWRG Intercontinental Lightweight Championship, 8/16/09
     
    This was OK.
     
    They put each other in interesting holds, and the selling was good, particularly from Avisman, who reminds me of this angry little kid I went to school with. The problem with these guys is that every time they work the mat, they put each other in submission holds. When they can't get a submission, they release the hold without being told to break. It doesn't make sense to give up position in a wrestling match. They'd be better off countering their way out of a hold, or better yet, countering the hold before it can be hooked into a submission. The annoying thing about all the resets is that you know that every single time they return to the neutral position that they're going to swap positions on the mat. So what you get is a bunch of highspots on the mat and some weak transitions.
     
    You almost get the feeling that these guys want to be maestros before their time. The difference between these younger guys and Terry and Navarro is that Terry and Navarro are looking to hurt each other. When Terry or Navarro release a hold, their selling tells the story. They're bastards, who've mastered the art of hurting each other. The second fall was better in this respect, as Avisman went after Trauma's injured shoulder, but the other thing I couldn't understand about this match is why Avisman went over. Trauma had a kayfabe reason for losing the belt, but he'd only just won it. IWRG booking just doesn't make sense. The finish was awful as they threw in a couple of unnecessary topes and Avisman wrenched the arm about twenty times before Trauma would submit. Was that supposed to make Trauma look tough? That was ridiculous.
     
    IWRG - Festival de Máscaras - 8/20/09
     
    Cerebro Negro Dr. Cerebro
    Vs
    Orito El Panterita
     
    This was a tidy match, but I was expecting at least one spectacular sequence. Freelance was strangely subdued.
     
    Los Misioneros de la Muerte
    El Signo Negro Navarro
    Vs
    Los Temerarios
    Black Terry Shu el Guerrero
     
    This won't be to everyone's tastes, but I was really enjoying it until IWRG decided they'd had enough and blinded me with white light.
     
    The Terry vs. Navarro feud has morphed into Bill Dundee vs. Jerry Lawler. Both guys have developed amazing punches, adding another dimension to the best feud in wrestling. It's a shame that lucha doesn't do loser leaves town matches, as that would be the match of the decade. Terry lost his hair to Chico Che on the 16th, so now he truly looks as craggy and windswept as the great Western films and the directors who made them. He had a cut above his eye, which Signo did an expert job of reopening. Signo can't move like he used to, but he's still pretty useful with his mitts.
     
    The match itself was bare and minimalistic, just the way it ought to be. The match wasn't about matwork as much as it was about hurting people. Signo had his old mask on, where the mouthpiece makes it look like he's grinning the whole time. Shu worked an arm injury, so naturally Terry tried evening the score, but he had a tough time dealing with Signo's wrist strength. With some of the reverse holds they did, it looked like Signo was laughing at him. Navarro, as usual, was on another level. The finish was bullshit, like it usually is in Terry/Navarro matches, but Navarro is untouchable. I've seen some unbeatable workers in my time, guys who only ever lose because it's a work, but Navarro is on a whole nutha level. Now that he can throw rights and lefts equally well, he's just untouchable.
     
    Be warned: this was a slow match. There was a time when Signo and Shu el Guerrero would've torn it up in their opening mat exchange, but not anymore. Still, if you like selling and killer holds, here's this week's recommendation.
     
    Homenaje al Matemático
     
    This was a trophy presentation to honour Matemático's 40th year in wrestling. Very cool. You're better off watching this than the main event.
  6. ohtani's jacket

    IWRG 8/10/09

    By ohtani's jacket,

    IWRG 8/10/09 (taped 8/6)
     
    We have a new benefactor on youtube!
     
    Los Piratas
    Barba Roja - Pirata Morgan Jr - Hijo del Pirata Morgan
    vs
    Los Terribles Cerebros
    Cerebro Negro - Dr. Cerebro - Black Terry
     
    This was the first time I've bothered to watch Los Piratas, and I must say I approve. They've got matching outfits, matching masks, can wrestle on the mat, brawl when they need to, and more importantly, they've got the right build. Thick and stocky, none of this skinny abs crap.
     
    Los Terribles Cerebros have been by far and away the best trios in Mexico this year. Black Terry isn't the worker he was in 2007 or 2008, but the two Cerebros have stepped up to the point where Terry doesn't have to be the workhorse for the team and thus they've become a slick unit. If fact, if it wasn't for Hijo del Pirata Morgan tossing his mask at Terry, Los Terribles Cerebros would've won this in straight falls. That allowed Terry to do some brilliant pleading with the ref and a bunch of awesome finger pointing once the Piratas were awarded the fall, and it's those performance aspects which are really Terry's forte these days. Don't get me wrong, he can still work the mat and still throw a punch, but he's not in the kind of shape he was a few years back.
     
    What I liked about the Cerebros' team work here were the finishes. They were classic trios finishes, similar to how lucha was worked back in the days of Los Temerarios. Considering Terry wears the same jacket as his Temerarios days, it's only fitting that his present side work the same way. Classy team work is something that's missing from a lot of trios matches today, not to mention finishes that carry an idea. Watch how well they work the second fall DQ finish. The Piratas were all set to take the second fall, but the Cerebros pushed past the point where the Piratas would usually win the fall. Negro and the Doctor hit topes on the outside, leaving Morgan's kid all alone with Terry. The timing of Morgan's unmasking was perfect, and the look on Terry's face when he realised what had been flung at him was one of those moments that only happen in Black Terry matches.
     
    Strong match. I'm looking forward to the revancha.
     
    Los Oficiales
    Oficial 911 - Oficial Fierro - Oficial AK-47
    vs
    La Dinastia de la Muerte
    Trauma I - Trauma II - Negro Navarro
     
    Haven't seen the Oficiales in a while, and more to the point, haven't seen a good Oficiales match since last year.
     
    This was a brawl, which was understandable since the semi-final was a long, traditional style match, but the first two falls bored the shit out of me. It was noticeable, however, how much better La Dinastia de la Muerte were at taking the reigns. The Oficiales don't brawl with enough intensity and haven't added anything new to their routine. Fortunately, the match came to life in the third fall when Navarro unleashed an ass kicking on Fierro -- lefts and rights, knees to the head, kicks to the face and head stomps... those Oficial caps were made for head stomps. 911 is clearly the best of the Oficiales and did a cool brawling takedown in this match, but the Oficiales will need to strike a little harder if they're going to make this feud interesting. And when will luchadores realise that you don't go mano a mano with Negro Navarro when the match is on the line? Another awesome submission finish.
     
    One pleasing note from this show -- the card was well attended and the crowd were vocal. Good shit.
  7. ohtani's jacket

    Random matches

    By ohtani's jacket,

    Sergio El Hermoso & El Bello Greco vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Kengo Kimura, New Japan 2/3/89
     
    Oh, man. I'm a huge fan of Fujiwara, so there was no way I could resist watching him work against exoticos.
     
    This got over with the crowd better than I thought it would, since there were nowhere near as many gay entertainers in Japan twenty years ago as there are now. There were a couple of genuine laugh out loud moments, and Sergio El Hermoso in particular was fantastic. They worked a pretty simple match around Fujiwara's old New Japan gimmick of having a harder head than the ringpost or the steel behind it. His weakness, as it turns out, is that he doesn't particularly like being kissed by transvestites. I've got to admit that I actually expected Fujiwara to be funnier than he really was, but the exoticos made up for it by being gold. Poor Kengo didn't have much of a personality, though. Jesus.
     
    The highlight of the match were the spectacular bumps Sergio took off Fujiwara arm whips. Man were they good. His performance here totally made up for how shitty he was in that WWA tag against Solar and Super Astro. Sergio El Hermoso, you are back in the good books.
     
    Sangre Chicana, La Fiera y Mocho Cota vs. Los Infernales (MS-1/Satanico/Espectro Jr.), EMLL 9/30/83
     
    This was a revenge match a week after the famous MS-1/Sangre Chicana hair match, and I don't think I've ever seen a more fired up group of rudos in all my life. Their whole purpose seemed to be to keep the other technicos out of the ring so they could beat the shit out of Chicana. Cota tried making a save one too many times, and the Infernales got stuck into him, giving him a nasty cut over the eye.
     
    The cool thing about all this was that MS-1 was staggering around the ring looking for someone to punch, which I don't think he was doing on purpose but made it seem like has having a difficult time controlling himself. The editing and dark picture made this difficult to follow, but this was one of the hottest crowds I've ever heard at Arena Mexico. It may have been the loudest support I've ever heard for a technico comeback, and what I liked about the comeback was that these weren't technicos who point to the crowd and signal they're going to use a closed fist. Guys like Chicana and Cota were at one time or another absolute cunts as rudos, so there was a viciousness to their comeback that you wouldn't ordinarily see from technicos. There were no real winners here, however, and no spoils despite Cota claiming Espectro's mask as a trophy. The post-match scene resembled a battlefield with both sides tending to their fallen. Unfortunately, the match was too short to be anything other than heated. It would've made a good first two falls, but the rudos never got a look in once their ass stomping began and there was never any sort of showdown between MS-1 and Chicana. It felt like their feud had been aborted, and along with it, the entire reason for having such a match.
     
    Martín Karadagián vs. La Momia, Titanes en el Ring 1972
     
    OK, so technically this isn't lucha libre, but it's in Spanish so we'll pass it off as a cousin.
     
    The only reason I'm writing about this match is because I've never seen a guy play a gimmick better than the guy who played La Momia. Seriously, the guy was incredible. He moved and fought exactly as a mummy should. He even got up like a mummy should whenever he fell over. According to Kurt Brown, Martín Karadagián was the Vince McMahon and Hulk Hogan of Titanes en el Ring all rolled into one. He looked a like Rip Rogers if Rip Rogers were Argentinian and had a ginormous nose. He pounded away at La Momia with right hands, but the mummy kept walking into him with big open handed strikes until he could get close enough for a chokehold. This was from a movie, so there were countless inserts of bewildered children. I couldn't really figure out what happened at the end, but there were countless inserts of happy children so I'm guessing Karadagián was the victor.
  8. ohtani's jacket

    1992 UWA

    By ohtani's jacket,

    Dr. Wagner Jr. y Espanto Jr. vs. Celestial y Coloso
     
    Man, Espanto Jr. was good.
     
    This match confirms what we already knew from the Santo title match -- Espanto Jr. was in the top handful of workers in 1992. Sadly, this match, a couple of other tags, and the two Santo matches, are the only footage that exists of his UWA work, but there's enough evidence to suggest that he's one of the lost workers of the 80s. I know there's people who point to his AAA work, but I don't think he was anywhere near as good in that promotion (an argument I'd make rather strongly about El Hijo del Santo as well.)
     
    Wagner, on the other hand, had been in the business since '86, and yet nothing, not even that piece of information, could persuade you from thinking it was his very first match. As far as sons of famous luchadores go, Wagner was one of the all-time worst at this point.
     
    Celestial was actually Black Man of Los Fantásticos fame, but you wouldn't know it to look at him, since he did none of his signature spots. In fact, the only good thing he did was a pescado off a Coloso lift. Coloso had the type of build all the technicos want these days and the moveset to match. He did herd Wagner through a cool rope exchange, where he leapt over the top of him and did an awesome mid-air snapmere. That's a move the young guys should crib, since it's such a virtuoso looking throw.
     
    The match itself was only really good when Espanto Jr. was in the ring, which is unforunate since it went a good twenty minutes. One guy, no matter how talented he is, can't carry a tag match by himself, so this was another of those half-pie UWA matches that make up most of the existing footage.
     
    Can't say the same about this match, however:
     
    Espantos IV y V vs. Las Estrellas Blancas
     
    This was very good, and a sure fire recommendation for lucha enthusiasts.
     
    Traditional tag wrestling is by far the weakest match format in lucha libre, largely because they always try to work a trios style match instead of a Southern style match, but this had all the elements of a good lucha match -- matwork, rope exchanges, bumps, brawling, awesome lucha style submissions, you name it. The heel ref even put one of the Blancas in a wristlock. I'm not sure if the Estrella Blanca here was the original, since luchawiki puts his birth date as 1938 and he kicked so much ass it would make him the greatest 54 year-old technico ever. What I can tell you is that judging by this, the entire Espanto "family" was talented, as these guys smoked a lot of what the other trios combinations were doing in 1992, and that includes the Missioneros, the Brazos, the Villanos and even the Infernales.
     
    The third fall was too short for this to truly be great, but they jam packed more well-paced action into five minutes than you'd see in a year's worth of trios matches these days. The execution was a bit sluggish, since most of these guys were over 40, but the spots were glorious by design. They did this awesome tope sequence, where Estrella Blanca II and Espanto IV did topes on opposite sides of the ring. When Espanto IV looked up, he did these fantastic headshakes as the crowd told each other that the other Blancha was heading their way. With both Espantos tope'd out of their boots, the finish was unusually thoughtful for this type of midcard tag. Espanto IV rolled forward in a sunset flip, and held the legs to save the brothers from losing, which set-up a nice mano a mano finish where Estrella Blanca II took a committed face plant off a no-look moonsault.
     
    Definitely worth checking out if you're a lucha fan.
  9. ohtani's jacket
    El Dandy vs. Emilio Charles Jr., hair vs. hair, CMLL 10/23/93
     
    The most obvious thing about this match is that it's a hair match without any blood. Normally, I'd go on a spiel about how you can't have a hair match without any blood, but I never promised to be fair or consistent with these reviews.
     
    This was a great fight and one that carried a bit of extra meaning for me.
     
    The great thing about getting into lucha libre is that you have to want to get into lucha libre. There's not that many people who can tell you what to watch, so you have to figure it out for yourself. Everyone has a different entry point and for me it was 1989 CMLL.
     
    1989 was a great year for CMLL and one of the highlights of that year was a lengthy feud between El Dandy and a rudo named Emilio Charles Jr. Emilio was a guy I'd never heard of before, since to this very day he doesn't have a big rep as a worker, but watching those '89 tapes it struck me that Emilio was every bit the worker that Dandy was. Guys like Steve Sims or Kurt Brown, who were lucky enough to watch CMLL in the 80s, point to Pirata Morgan, La Fiera, Negro Casas or Jerry Estrada as workrate guys, but if you watch something like Emilio Charles Jr. vs. Atlantis from '84, you'll see that Emilio was pushing the envelope as much as any of those guys. According to Jose, he was put into Los Destructores to learn the ropes, but if you ask me, CMLL had a diamond in the rough.
     
    Dandy's star continued to rise in 1990 and Emilio settled back into trios wrestling. This wasn't that uncommon in the late 80s/early 90s. A guy like Satanico would bide his time in trios until the bookers were ready to use him for another mainevent run. This was how CMLL were able to book so many different hair and title matches, and for the most part it was a successful formula. Somewhere along the way, however, Emilio's body began to break down. I don't know the full story, or if there's even a story, but he was a huge bumper in trios and had a fondness for that high arcing bump over the top rope that Pirata Morgan was so famous for.
     
    What I didn't realise until recently is that CMLL brought back the Dandy vs. Emilio feud in a down year. The chance to see a competitive Emilio Charles Jr. match in 1993 was a complete bonus for me.
     
    Dandy came to the ring to a remix of I'm Too Sexy by Right Said Fred that had the lyrics "soy un sexy luchador." Sometimes the down years are greater than the boom years. Emilio had his Andre the Giant hair going on here. His ability to grow his hair out was rivaled only by Mocho Cota. Cota was unbelievable at preparing for hair matches. Seriously, the guy would go from looking like like Shakespearean villain to Dr J in a matter of weeks.
     
    The opening fall was pretty standard. There were a number of spots where usually the blood would flow, but for whatever reason Dandy didn't blade. There was plenty of niggle, however. Emilio pulled Dandy's hair in the ropes and straight out of the break Dandy fingered him in the eyes. Emilio won the first fall with the type of simple move that I know bothers a lot of people about lucha, but you have to get into Emilio taunting the crowd to appreciate these type of matches. His fist pumping, chest beating, fnger pointing taunt told the crowd in no uncertain terms who the man was in that fall.
     
    The second fall was likewise nothing special, with Dandy taking the most direct approach available to him, which mostly consisted of punching and kneeing Emilio in the face. Dandy did a good job of selling the work Emilio had done on his back, but there was nothing in it in the first two falls. Dandy's crucifix pin to win the fall was beautiful (especially on the replay), and the tone was set a winner takes all third fall.
     
    The third fall wasn't the greatest contest I've seen in lucha, but you have to remember how broken down Emilio was by this point. The best parts of this fall came across as a high-end title match and Emilio's selling was fantastic. There was one stretch where Dandy had Emilio in a headlock and it truly looked like Emilio was struggling to breath. The vicious elbow he gave Dandy to break the hold complemented the vibe he was giving off and his selling of Dandy's figure four leglock bordered on the sublime. It didn't matter how slow Emilio had become, he was one tough bastard and the match kicked into high gear when he tope'd Dandy into the second row. The transitions were rough as guts, but so was CMLL in 1993. What I loved about this fall is that both guys wanted the win and they fought to the bitter end.
     
    And Emilio fucking won!!
     
    I wasn't expecting that at all. How awesome is that?
     
    Dandy went for La magistral and Emilio low blowed him while he was in the armbar. He clotheslined Dandy from behind and applied a crucifix pin of his own. Such a brilliant finish. The instant he low blowed Dandy the crowd were aghast. There was a rudo fan sitting in the front row and on the replay you could see that photographers were blocking his view. He sat forward as the ref began to count, and as soon as that hand came down for a third time, he lept into the air and rang his bell for all the arena to hear. Other fans looked like they wanted to rip their tickets up.
     
    So there you have it. A competitive Emilio Charles Jr. match in 1993. Maybe not worth its weight in gold, but there really aren't that many great Dandy matches after the Casas feud, so like I said at the top -- it's a bonus.
  10. ohtani's jacket
    Los Infernales (El Satanico/MS-1/Masakre) vs. Rayo de Jalisco Jr./La Fiera/Tony Salazar, CMLL 1987
     
    When I say "Classic Infernales," I really mean older footage of the Infernales in action, since Pirata Morgan had already left the group by this stage. Nevertheless, the Masakre version was a good team in its own right, and this was an awesome Southern style tag match.
     
    The Infernales were fantastic as Southern heels -- backing into the ref when the technicos wanted to duke it out, attacking from behind when the technicos turned their backs. Each of the technicos took turns playing FIP, and there were long stretches of two-on-one brawling, but not once did I feel like I was watching a sluggish opening fall. A lot of modern brawling relies on video editing to prevent it from being static, but the Infernales had an endless array of shit they could do to to keep a match ticking over. La Fiera was the best of the technicos here, but he was carrying a leg injury into the match. This was back when Fiera used a lot of high kicks. Needless to say, the Infernales saw an opportunity. The Little Master was in his element here. Some of the holds he put Fiera in, and Fiera's selling, made this worth including on a Best of the 80s set.
     
    After a fall and a half of rudo treatment, Rayo snapped into a babyface pose. There was a tremendous pop for Rayo, but unfortunately most of the workers were scattered at ringside. Rayo had to go to the floor to dish out his haymakers, which kind of killed things for the audience on the far side, but Satanico flung himself head first into the ring post for those of us at home.
     
    Back in the ring, the technicos cut loose. The Infernales did the most awesome punch drunk selling off whips into the turnbuckle. The contest was on to see who could collapse in the most entertaining fashion, and MS-1 may have been the winner. His unicycle act was incredible. Exaggerated bumps were a big part of 80s lucha, but looked awful when technicos did them. Kurt Brown told a great story the other day about how Dusty Rhodes flipped out the first time he saw Pimpinela Escarlata live. I think Big Dust would've lost it over most lucha if he'd had the opportunity to see it more often. If you think Arn Anderson was good at comic stooge bumping, the Infernales made an art form out of it. Fiera's offence was hot on the heels of The Karate Kid, Part II and straight-to-video kickboxing movies, but fuck me, you HAVE TO SEE his KO of Masakre on the outside.
     
    Really good match. Could've used a third fall, but it had a nice mano a mano finish between the captains MS-1 and Rayo de Jalisco Jr. I'd put it on the level of the trios leading into Satanico/Dandy, Dandy/Casas and Santo/Casas despite Rayo vs. MS-1 being a lesser feud.
  11. ohtani's jacket
    Enrique Vera vs. Dos Caras, UWA World Heavyweight Championship, 2/26/84 (slightly clipped)
     
    Dos Caras is a great wrestler. One of the finest to ever step foot inside a squared circle. But this isn't a great example of his work.
     
    The difference between Caras and workers like Lizmark and Solar is that Caras was a heavyweight, which meant he had to work from a dominant or standing position. Guys like Lizmark could zip around, but Caras had to maintain the illusion that he was difficult to take off his feet.
     
    He also worked the 70s NWA heavyweight style -- a style UWA honoured until the very end. This was similar to the 1992 heavyweight match between Caras and Canek; a slow building match, where matwork gives way to increasingly dangerous moves. There's a certain charm in watching wrestling where a carefully executed piledriver can put people out of commission, but there wasn't enough artistry here. It started off with the usual armlocks and grapevines, holds that peg your opponent to the mat and let him know he's not going anywhere; but the thing about Caras is that once he got into his mat sequences, there's never been a worker in the history of lucha libre with as many mindblowing holds as Dos Caras. He worked a few holds here -- holds that would blow away most workers' repertoire -- but as great as they were, they just seemed like standard fare from a guy as legendary as Dos Caras.
     
    It wasn't clear from watching this whether Vera was ever a good worker. He made his debut in '68 and was still quite young here (35), but his knees were taped and he didn't appear to be moving well. He wasn't as clumsy as Alfonso Dantés in his All Japan match against Mil Máscaras, but he was pretty ordinary. He looked as though he was cut from the same cloth as Ray Mendonza; big, strong, wearing wrestling tights and a pair of boots, but showed almost nothing on the mat, which is unusual for a Diablo Velazco student. He may have been a brawler turned technical wrestler, or perhaps he was better in the 70s, but in any event he was a disappointment.
     
    The other problem with the match is that it was technico vs. technico, which oftentimes is too polite. Caras was somewhat aggressive with the title in his sights, but for the most part this was pretty spineless. I do, however, recommend the Caras brothers' fight against Wahoo McDaniel and Frank Hill from 1979, which is anything but spineless! It's on youtube. Check out the chops.
  12. ohtani's jacket
    Negro Navarro, Trauma I, Trauma II vs. Black Terry, Cerebro Negro, Fantasma de la Opera, 7/9/09
     
    I dunno what's been going on with IWRG lately, but there hasn't been any TV available and this is the first match I've seen in almost a month.
     
    Things got off to the worst start possible really, when Navarro called Fuerza out on the house mic. This led to some group conference over an angle I haven't been following, while the match time became shorter and shorter. Fuerza said his piece, the Cerebros + Fantasma got the jump on Dinasta Navarro, and we were away! Talk about your false starts -- the ref and the timekeeper ought to have called them back because this was the worst caida I've seen all year and that's covering an awful lot of territory. At this point, I was kinda worried that this angle -- whatever the fuck it is -- had ruined the only promotion I give a damn about these days, but something SENSATIONAL happened in the second fall.
     
    It happened towards the end of the fall when Navarro said "fuck this shit" and started throwing punches. The mark of a great worker is whether he can stem the tide, and this match was going nowhere until Navarro brought it to life. Terry's selling was fantastic -- everything you'd want from a 56 year-old guy selling like a 56 year-old guy, and the Traumas got stuck in with knee strikes. The refs tried lecturing the Navarros over their tactics, but Negro was so pissed that he had one of them flinching in the corner. We don't usually think of Navarro as a great actor, but he looked like every member of the Dirty Dozen rolled into one.
     
    Terry's blood pressure was soaring in the third fall and he had a chippy little exchange with Trauma II that left IWRG with no alternative but to book them in a singles match. Trauma I finally looked convincing in his role as the one who got all of Negro's size, and while strikes and submission attempts aren't to everyone's taste, but this was manly. The only way it could've been more manly is if Terry had told Trauma II to keep his lovin' brother happy.
     
    Watching this again, it wasn't quite as exciting as I'm making out, but it's pulp drama. The kind of rag you read once and throw away. But mark my words, one of these days Terry and Navarro are gonna have the showdown to end all showdowns.
  13. ohtani's jacket
    El Hijo del Santo vs. Blue Panther, University of Essex, 10/8/04
     
    Y'know when see a band play and the second night is better than the first? Didn't happen here.
     
    This was a mess of the highest order.
     
    The ring set-up meant that they couldn't dive into the crowd, so they threw in an "over the top" rule as a means of beating your opponent. In the first match, Santo tossed in a dive whenever he needed a highspot; here they tried eliminating each other.
     
    That's a fucked situation.
     
    If you can't dive, and you can't use the ropes, you grapple, right?
     
    When Santo was asked what London could expect from Lucha Libre, he answered: "You will see a contact sport but a great part of it is close to art. This is because in lucha we wrestle close to the canvas where you will see a lot of movement with ‘castigos’, holds and locks, it becomes harmonious and this beautiful skill converts into art."
     
    Whoever came up with the "Battle Royal" idea didn't have much faith in the art of lucha libre.
     
    Then again, neither did the workers.
     
    Santo dominated this match for long stretches at a time, but it wasn't what you'd call lucha matwork. He worked from dominant clinch positions, such as a front headlock or waistlock. Now I like matwork, but those are stationary holds. The longer you keep them applied, the longer you're stalling for time. There wasn't a lot of movement from Panther and not a lot of countering. Not once was there a flurry of holds, a rolling bump, or even a proper submission. I realise they had a turd for a ring, but these guys are supposed to be maestros: two of the greatest mat workers of all time. If this was your first time to see Panther, you'd have to wonder what the fuss was all about.
     
    Without the two-out-of-three falls format, they couldn't find a rhythm. Santo kept going back to clinch positions and there wasn't a whole lot going on. Far be it from me to suggest the Emperor had no clothes, but it certainly seemed that way.
     
    The other day I watched a UWA trios where Casas was running around like madman, pulling some guy's hat over his eyes. Santo was so pissed that he started brawling with Casas on the outside, and while all this was happening, Solar was leading a green as shit Dr. Wagner Jr. through classic lucha exchanges. Yeah, they were working in the trios format, and yeah, they had the benefit of shortened falls, but this UK match was dead. They didn't vary the pace enough and there was no energy to the performance. The final stanza was a disaster. Their timing was awful and they blew an extraordinary number of spots. Hell, even the spots they made they had no business doing in a third caida.
     
    I can't understand what Santo and Panther were thinking here. These appearances were organised by a University, an Arts Council and the Mexican Embassy, which ought to have given them a license to wrestle any way they liked. This was a chance for Panther and Santo to show us lucha the way it ought to be; the way it's meant to be. The way they're always telling us it should be wrestled.
     
    Forget these matches ever happened. If you want the real thing, I recommend their matches from Monterrey.
  14. ohtani's jacket
    Atlantis vs. El Faraón, Mexican National Middleweight Championship, 3/22/85
     
    A villainous El Faraón!
     
    I hadn't seen Faraón's rudo work, in fact I've never really seen him in his prime. He was a hell of a vet during the Dandy run, but this was another echelon altogether.
     
    I've always put a great deal of importance in how a guy moves in the ring, since I don't think it's something that can be taught. You can change the way you bump and sell, but movement can only really be aided by the right body position.
     
    Faraón was tall for a luchador (5'11") and his shoulders were slightly hunched, which made him seem slower than he really was. Watch how he trapped Atlantis in this match. Atlantis couldn't match Faraón for strength, so his aim was to avoid the lock-up. He was probably expecting Faraón to have a clumbersome first step, but Faraón swooped in, using the full length of his reach to overpower Atlantis to the mat. Once they were on the mat, they did a fall's worth of wristlock work. Faraón showed great agility with his reversals, but technique is for the birds.
     
    If Faraón had continued to dominate the matwork like he was capable of, it would've made a mockery of Atlantis' standing as middleweight champ, so little by little he gave away the ascendency. He did this by gradually selling pain, until he had an excuse to opt out of the matwork. Most workers ditch matwork in favour of the ropes, but Faraón didn't just settle for a pin fall. No sir.
     
    He used the ropes to dismantle his opponent.
     
    Atlantis became his whipping boy, literally. It was fantastic stuff from the rudo, because it was rough-housing, and the crowd knew it. He tread the thinnest of lines between legitimate strength and unsportsmanlike behaviour, which would've been perfect if Atlantis hadn't sold with all the enthusiasm of an amateur. His theatrics didn't hurt the match; Faraón had provided too excellent a platform for that. Instead, it was one of those WTF moments that leave you thinking, "shit, he was only 22!"
     
    Actually, Atlantis' age played something of a part in this match.
     
    Faraón won the first fall by submission, but held on for longer than necessary to rub in his gamesmanship. Faraón knew he was on to a good thing and began measuring Atlantis with short arm lariats. A few of them slipped too high and the crowd ripped into him for ungentlemanly conduct. Like a rudo great, Faraón protested that he was being villified. The ref started to issue a stern warning, but Atlantis was pissed. He tore into Faraón with an armbreaker, which Faraón sold in Murdochian fashion. It was impetuous stuff from the technico and hardly becoming of a middleweight champion. Faraón made sure the heat stayed on him, however, by rolling under the ropes. There's no time outs in wrestling! Jim Ross tells us that ad nauseam. Faraón was more brazen with his lariats after that and his selling was brilliant. Watch how he sells Atlantis' backbreaker. The cry he lets out gives you a full sense of how much weight Atlantis lifted.
     
    This seemed to exorcise the bloodlust from the technico, and once he got his revenged, he settled into more of a composed game plan. He tried to get the jump on Faraón in the third fall by flying at him with topes. This was a clever ploy from Atlantis, who realised he had to do something to negate Faraón's reach, but the rudo was too quick footed and soon he was on the offensive. Faraón began picking his opponent apart piece by piece, which is not that common a style for a luchador. It's not often that they work as methodically as Faraón did here.
     
    The problem was that Atlantis was still too green to edge ahead with more dazzling technique. Relatively speaking, he was the same as a 22 year-old middleweight in a modern lucha match. There was no way he was the "best in his class" at this point in time; he was a popular young technico holding one of the middleweight straps as part of his push. To "beat" an opponent like Faraón, you have to make it seem like you can actually beat him. Faraón jobbed for Atlantis here. It was plain to see and for that reason the third fall was flatter than I would've liked. There was some king sized selling from Faraón, who took each dive like the walls of Jerusalem were falling down, but the finish was a surprise rana, which was straight out of the playbook in 1985.
     
    I loved the Flair-like selling at the end, though, with Faraón scrambling and falling on his ass. More Faraón, please!
  15. ohtani's jacket
    El Hijo del Santo vs. Blue Panther, Colchester Arts Centre, 10/06/04
     
    This was first of two matches Panther and Santo worked in England, as part of an exhibition of prints by Mexican artist Demián Flores Cortés.
     
    'Flores Cortés' work, which is inspired by Mexican pop culture and in particular lucha libre, was described by the Gallery Director as "full of the raw energy, movement, and the staged drama of the wrestling world." Santo and Panther were invited to "animate" that work and did so in front of a packed Arts Centre.
     
    Can you imagine Panther and Santo coming to your town? Me neither, but I've gotta tell you -- it wasn't that good.
     
    I won't beat around the bush here. I was expecting them to work like maestros, and in a way, I was hoping for something to remember Panther by. He doesn't have a lot of great singles matches and this had to be one.
     
    But instead of them working like maestros, we got a "lucha" exhibition with Panther working rudo.
     
    Lucha is never really lucha when you take it out of Mexico, for the simple reason that the fans view it as a work. We've all seen Mexican fans who were caught up the drama and allowed themselves to be worked; women who chastised rudos, men who were escorted back to their seats, rudos who were so hated they had to be out of their mind to incite the fans further.
     
    What ends up happening in a match like this is that Panther becomes the worker "in the corner of the bad guy" and Santo becomes the worker "in the corner of the good guys." The crowd cheer the technico on, urging him to take over and run through his offence. Usually, but the crowd know it's a work and keep on with their rallying cries. It's difficult to take heat away from the technico, because there's never any sense of the laws that govern lucha libre. Never any sense that the rudo has caused an indignity and that the technico must defend his honour. The rudo winds up being the token villain "in the corner of the bad guy." No one gets worked and no one gets suckered in.
     
    I have no interest in a match where the workers chase pops, which is why I would've preferred a straight technico contest. The only way to get around the "rudo problem" on an exhibition match is to go the London/Delaware route and work in a charismatic manner. There's no point trying to fool a crowd who know it's a work, so you might as well be self-referential and have some fun with it.
     
    The catch with that is that Panther's not a charismatic worker. The only charisma he's ever had is that he's Blue Panther, which to us means he's a maestro. His approach here was to work stiffer than usual, but the ref didn't admonish him enough, and Santo showed him up by throwing better punches. The end result was that he played second fiddle.
     
    That's surprising for pros like Santo and Panther, but a lot of these issues stemmed from the match structure. For some reason, they chose to work the match as a single fall over 30 minutes, which surprised me, since anyone who's ever watched All Star Promotions would be familar with a rounds system and a strong heel/face dynamic for that matter. They also tried working the same shifts in momentum that you'd find in a two-out-of-three falls match, but without the overlapping falls it's difficult to create the same sense of rhythm. The ring was too small to use the ropes like they usually would, so Santo tended to throw in a signature dive when he might usually do a rope exchange, and while it was cool to see him hit topes and planchas in such a confined area, they occurred at the most inopportune times.
     
    This did give us the chance to see the "real" Santo, however. I call this Santo the "UWA" Santo, because aside from the summer of '97 he never wrestled this way on TV, which makes me wonder why people care about him making TV appearances at all.
     
    His matwork was nothing you haven't seen before, but as usual it was his execution that stood out. Sims describes lucha as "the age-old fight between good and evil", where "good tries to overcome evil by superior work rate and abilities", and since there can be no greater technico than the son of the most famous luchador, this has always been an area where Santo Jr. has strived for perfection. In that sense, the hero's welcome he received in Colchester was fitting; it's just a shame that they forgot about the rudo's role in all this.
     
    Watch the "second caida" that wasn't and you'll see what I mean. The second caida is where the rudo begins to pummel the technico. If the technico's smart, he sells it like he's down and out. If the rudo's smart, he plots his own demise through pride or through avarice. Santo and Panther botched a surfboard and Panther laid in a stiff kick that was more of a slap on the thigh. This led to a brawling that was about as effective as the last time I watched CMLL television.
     
    If I were to sum up my disappointment with the match, I'd say it lacked the "raw energy, movement, and the staged drama of the wrestling world." It seemed like the print version to me.
     
    It has to be said that the crowd loved the match. They really did. It was a rare opportunity to see lucha libre workers in the flesh and there was a chant of "Santo! Santo! Santo!" from a kid who couldn't have been older than four or five. It may have come across better live than it did on tape or perhaps I'm living in an ivory tower of Satanico matches and Negro Navarro matwork.
     
    If I ever have a kid, I'm taking him to a show before the magic wears off.
  16. ohtani's jacket
    Zatura vs. Trauma II, IWRG Intercontinental Lightweight Championship, 6/18/09
     
    Somehow we ended up skipping an episode of IWRG. It must've been an eventful one, since this week was all about singles matches and recriminations.
     
    I haven't been as high on Trauma II as other people who watch and write about IWRG on a weekly basis, but I figured this match would showcase one way or another whether the kid's any good. And I'll say it up front -- the kid blew me away.
     
    There were a few things they could've done better, but I feel churlish just typing that. This was an excellent title match for this type of weight class. None of the criticisms I've had of Trauma II as a submission grappler applied here. Both guys were quick with their takedowns and there was enough movement on the mat that it seemed like they were going for a straight pinfall submission with every hold. I've mentioned before that Trauma II ain't no chip off the old block, but judging by his strikes, I've been far too harsh on the kid.
     
    I guess I've been beating the drum too hard, because Trauma wasn't alone in impressing me.
     
    A few weeks ago, Zatura showed he could hang with Cerebro Negro and here he took that one step further with some nice counter wrestling to take the first fall. He opened up the second caida working from the top and it was a nicely weighted fall. It's not very often that the second fall is a turning point in a lucha title match, but it was very much the case here.
     
    Both of these guys came into the match with taped shoulders, but Trauma was the first to aggravate his injury when Zatura caught him with the counter submission. And he made no bones about going after the arm in round two. That rocked me a bit, as I didn't know he had it in him. Previously, he'd seemed like a guy who could only grapple from the defensive position, but he scored an early takedown here and was Satanico-like in seizing control. So often these guys relinquish holds and give up position, but there was nothing easy here. Trauma had to fight every inch of the way to get an early break and slumped into his corner clutching his shoulder.
     
    What followed was a piece of grappling that was well beyond Trauma's years.
     
    Realising he had a bum shoulder, he opted to attack off the ropes and did the most spectacular leg takedown into a shoulder submission. It was a fantastic move that really underlined his championship credentials.
     
    Having saved match point, we headed into a third and deciding fall with both guys looking like they belonged in a lucha libre title match. Trauma's selling was fantastic throughout and even Zatura's dives seemed nastier than usual. I loved the spot where they started throwing body punches and Zatura drove him into the mat with a double leg takedown. I guess the highest compliment I can pay a match like this is that even though I knew the result beforehand, I was genuinely excited by the outcome. It's rare for young guys to pull off this kind of finish. They timed it to perfection and the finish came on exactly the right beat.
     
    I would've never picked these guys to have a match this good. I dunno if it's a sign of things to come, but I sure as hell sat up and took notice. Probably the most positive and exciting thing to happen in Mexico all year.
     
    On a parting note, Trauma's outfit was class. I swear it made him look like a better worker. I can't really justify that comment, but as a wrestling fan, you know it makes a difference.
  17. ohtani's jacket
    Arena Puebla 6/15/09
     
    Ares, Espíritu Maligno, Siki Osama vs. Black Tiger, Blue Center, Centella de Oro
     
    This was the Puebla boys at their best.
     
    The opening matwork wasn't just good by Puebla standards, it was arguably the best matwork to come out of Mexico this year, but what really made the match were the follow-up falls. Usually, the Puebla guys lose their way after the first caida, but here the rudos did a good job of pushing the action. They kept changing the point of attack, which kept things interesting and went a long way toward maintaining a rhythm. The finishes were ambitious and didn't flow all that well, but it was cool to see them grandstanding. If not for the ending, it would've been the best of the local trios matches, but it was a bit of a swing and miss. The rudos almost had the technicos on the rack, and it was very nearly last ditch stuff, but they couldn't pull it off. They went for the three-pronged dive attack and it was all a bit uncoordinated.
     
    Nevertheless, it was more of a ride than most Puebla openers. Blue Center came up limping, which put a cool spin on the usual post match celebrations. I dug how they chased the rudos out of town. Endings are tough to do. We see that all the time in Westerns and in comic books, but the local matches are always about the thought outstripping the execution and this was just behind the two other Puebla trios I've pimped.
     
    Tzuki, Bam Bam, Pequino Olímpico vs. Pequino Universo 2000, Pequino Black Warrior, Pierrothito
     
    I was under the impression that this was the best minis trios since Bracito De Oro/Cicloncito Ramirez/Mascarita Magica vs Damiancito El Guerrero/El Fierito/Pierrothito, and while it was heading that way with the early matwork, it wasn't meant to be. It was a good match, and I'd definitely like to see the minis as a regular fixture on Puebla cards, but the technicos couldn't match the rudos' performance here. It was fantastic stuff from the rudo mini veterans, Universo 2000 and Pierrothito; the kind of rudo beatdown you don't see much of any more, even from good workers. I won't win any points with Rob here, but I thought Tzuki dragged this down with his performance. Bam Bam carried his side somewhat with some pretty slick rope work, but this was a night where the rudos outclassed the technicos and left me wondering where the heroes have gone.
     
    Rudos should lay down the groundwork, but there's not enough technique on the technico sides these days.
  18. ohtani's jacket
    CMLL en la ARENA PUEBLA 6/1/09 Siki Osama, Espíritu Maligno VS Iron, Blue Center
     
    Espíritu Maligno and Siki Osama! I like both these guys, so I got a kick out of this.
     
    The first caida had a real old school feel to it. Blue Center is such a classical thinker. He may not have the athleticism of a Lizmark or Solar, but he thinks like a technico and has all the right ideas. There were a lot of neat exchanges in the first fall and they were nicely spaced; the way lucha used to be before it lost its sense of fun and adventure.
     
    Espíritu Maligno continues to be the incarnation of Espectro Jr and his ilk and Siki Osama is probably my favourite big man at the moment. I adore everything about him from his gimmick and ring attire to the way he works. I was impressed with his matwork here. For a big guy, I thought he did a superb job of leading from the top.
     
    The rest of the match wasn't that crash hot, but my boys won. For some reason, I've been on a Jack Kirby kick lately, and I dunno if it's because of all the primary colours, but the Puebla locals have a real Kirby feel to them. Lucha libre isn't really a style, and it's wrong to say there's only one way of doing it; but the more it looks like a Jack Kirby splash page, the more I dig it.
     
    IWRG 6/4/09 Black Terry, Cerebro Negro, Dr. Cerebro VS Trauma I, Trauma II, Zatura
     
    I dug the Traumas' hoodies here, as well as the Cerebros' matching tights. They also posed in their masks, which was pretty cool.
     
    This was another vaguely interesting IWRG trios. It started off with some stalling from Cerebro Negro, before a mat sequence where he really put the brakes on Zatura. That's something we haven't seen for a while and was somewhat refreshing. Trauma II and the Doc followed that up with some submission grappling. It wasn't the prettiest of matwork, but they managed to stay on the mat and keep the breaks to a minimum.
     
    Next up were Terry and Trauma I, which presented an interesting mismatch. Terry took over in the maestro role and it was a return to the more pain inducing holds of recent months. Trauma I, who's being made out as bruiser, caught Terry in a leg lock and there was a fantastic reaction shot from Dr. Cerebro. The move spelled trouble and sure enough the technicos took the first fall.
     
    Terry spent the rest of the match looking to get even and he did something of a number on the Trauma's arm. Trauma basically fought with one arm the rest of the way and was almost too consistent with his selling. I'm not sure if he tweaked something, but he hasn't been a noted seller to date. Cerebro Negro, on the other hand, did appear to tweak his neck from a Trauma II hold. He was attended to by the ring doctor while guys stood around brawling, and the match pretty much lost its shape, which must be the upteenth time I've written that about an IWRG trios.
     
    Anyway, the upshot of all this to-ing and fro-ing was some miscommunication between the technicos and Zatura copped an earful afterwards. I'm starting to lose track of all the beefs in IWRG and God knows if any of them will ever be resolved. If the Trauma arm mangling was an angle, I'm assuming the return of Poppa Bear can't be too far off, but the tag against the Guerreras was on the show after this, so stay tuned kiddies!
  19. ohtani's jacket
    Fuerza Chicana, Mr. Rafaga, Sauron vs Asturiano, Centella de Oro, Tigre Rojo, Arena Puebla, 5/25/09
     
    Ah, the Puebla locals.
     
    What I like about these guys is that they come in all shapes and sizes. A real mix of odds and ends. Centella de Oro was the only worker here, but there was no shirking from the match-ups and no hiding in the trios. They all took their turn here and were all rolling with an 80s bent. It was standard fare from these guys, but more praise worthy than anything from last week.
     
    IWRG 5/28
     
    Angelico, Chico Che, Freelance vs. Capitan Muerte, Durango Kid, Tetsuya Bushi
     
    This was an abomination of a match, but Freelance is on a tear right now. Valiente's been earning the plaudits, but Freelance is taking them back. The pleasing thing about this run is that he's cut back on the number of dives. Watch his exchange with Capitan Muerte and you'll see where he's improving. If I had my way, Freelance would blow up into something huge in Mexico.
     
    Oficial 911, Oficial AK47, Oficial Fierro vs. Trauma I, Trauma II, Zatura, IWRG Intercontinental Trios Championship
     
    This started off with a lengthy mat sequence between Trauma II and Oficial 911, with every exchange ending in a submission attempt. They weren't bad holds, but the set-up was poor. They released holds, gave up position and were far too slow. When it was over, Trauma fronted him, but the Oficial hadn't been anywhere near aggressive enough for that to be the story. I kinda dig Trauma II as a skinny guy who's dangerous from the guard position, but if they go down that route there needs to be better takedown work from 911.
     
    In came Trauma II, who was looking to establish himself as the enforcer, but again the execution was poor. The Oficiales took over, and as with much of their wrestling this year, they were short of ideas. They kinda pulled it together in the end and Zatura did a cool dive, but it was a pretty average effort. I'm not sure what's happened to them this year, but they've gone right off the boil. The Traumas are kids and you expect them to struggle , but what's up with the Oficiales?
  20. ohtani's jacket
    Mike Quackenbush/Kendo/Solar v Negro Navarro/Mr. Ferrari/Claudio Castegnoli, Invasion Azteca, 3/08/09
     
    Well, for the second year running, it looks like my match of the year will come from outside Mexico.
     
    Perhaps this wouldn't have been a MOTY in years gone by, but these days you have to search every nook and cranny. It's a bit like diggin' in the crates.
    I won't deny that finding lucha in Delaware is half the fun, but the important thing is that it was lucha through and through.
     
    There's a certain aesthetic that says this match is cool: the crowd, the building, the colour of the mat, two all-time greats in a scaled back trios. But I'll tell you what this match had: it had charisma.
     
    If I were to describe trios wrestling, I'd say it's one or two good workers, a guy with some shtick and a couple of apron warmers. The workers do the bulk of the wrestling, the comedy guy does his schtick and the apron warmers pick their spots. These days it doesn't take much imagination to work a trios match. The only guys who do it well are the Puebla locals, but here you had Navarro/Solar, Navarro/Quackenbush, a little bit of comedy and a bunch of guys working around the edges. So when I'm talking about charisma, I'm talking about that real shit from back in the day.
     
    You had three guys nowhere near the level of the others and the match was better for it.
     
    Watching Navarro here, I had no doubts I was watching an all-time great worker. How many wrestlers revent themselves at Navarro's age? How many guys are better in their early 50s than they were in their youth? And how many guys get better year after year from the age of 45? It just doesn't happen. I thought Solar had one of his better outings in recent times, but I'd go so far as to say this is THE Negro Navarro match: the match that encapsulates why he's the man right now.
     
    I don't think I've ever seen Solar and Navarro go at each other like this, with amazingly quick go-behinds and strong takedowns. but what really impressed me was Navarro and Quackenbush. Quackenbush doesn't look like much of a wrestler, but in the past six months I've seen him wrestle Johnny Saint, Cassandro and Negro Navarro, and I've gotta give the guy his dues. Navarro was lording it here, trashing talking in Spanish throughout their exchanges; but every time Quackenbush hooked a limb, he did not disappoint. In all honesty, he was one of the better sparring partners Navarro's had. I don't know how he did it, but he did it and fair play to him.
     
    So what you had was a bit of clowning around, some killer match-ups and an awesome setting. What more could you ask for? The imperfections are what really made it: the scrappy finishes, the ref's mistakes, the looseness at times. You know they're working when they're ad-libbing comedy between matwork. You can't do that without some personality and a whole lot of confidence in your mat skills. Navarro's takedowns are like Ray Mendoza's. Everytime he slams someone to the mat, you expect him to come back up with his arm raised. He's a killer. I don't think anyone could take him in a fight. But he's seen it all, done it all and has a sense of humour about it.
     
    A lot of indie matches strike me as the sincerest form of flattery, but this was the real deal. Hell, Solar even sold the low blow like a pro. He was stretching that thing at the end and there was no aggravating it. What a champ.
  21. ohtani's jacket
    Blue Panther vs. Averno, CMLL World Middleweight Championship, 5/29/09 (clipped)
     
    This was a difficult match to judge since it was clipped, but it made me wanna throw in the towel.
     
    The opening matwork was there or thereabouts, with Panther making it look more spectacular than it really was. Averno is an average worker, but he at least brought his A game and Panther has enough credibility to work an opening caida along traditional lines.
     
    The third fall is where my apathy grew, especially when they reprised that shitty mask match from last year. Where others see Panther cutting this sympathetic figure, I just see a guy who can't salvage the third caida. What's the point of going for three topes if they're not sold? Why can't they space their moves properly? The Chicana/Aguayo topes put this shit to shame.
     
    This is what lucha has become: shit basically. I've tried finding new ways to enjoy it, but it's a losing battle. When you have one of the most respected workers of the past 30 years towing the company line, it's a difficult pill to swallow.
     
    I'll say this much -- it was better than the Mistico/Casas matches and probably better than Averno/Santo from 2004, but still not enough. The decade's almost over and there's no relief in sight. The 2010s are gonna be bad.
  22. ohtani's jacket
    El Dandy vs. Javier Cruz, hair vs. hair, 10/26/84
     
    This was just a bad match.
     
    Way too much offence for a hair match and not enough selling. That should come as no surprise. Dandy was only 22 here and Cruz 25. Collectively, they didn't know shit yet. It kind of reminded me of Kiyoshi Tamura's early fights, where he's all limbs and no control. Sadly, we'll probably never seen their '86 feud and won't be able to pinpoint when Dandy entered his prime or if Cruz was ever a good singles worker.
     
    Felino vs. Pantera, CMLL World Welterweight Championship, 12/27/94
     
    I like Felino, I really do, but this was a piss poor performance with the most atrocious matwork I've seen in a lucha title match. In lucha, there's certain things you accept -- the first two falls are academic: the loser of the first fall will win the next and winning is as easy as a few simple moves. After awhile, you take it for granted. Occasionally, you're surprised. But they've got to be good, even if you're half stepping. 90s Felino had the same workrate tendencies as a Chris Benoit or Eddy Guerrero, but here, in a lucha title match, the only matwork was a foul. Pantera's not the most impressive worker, probably serviceable at best, but all he could do was sell and Felino gave him fuck all to work with. The third fall had multiple dives, but who gives a shit after being short changed? This was disturbingly close to modern CMLL. They should've nipped it in the bud in 1994.
     
    Apolo Dantes vs. Miguel Pérez Jr., hair vs. hair, 10/13/95
     
    This wasn't a bad match per se, but it was excessive and once again there were too many moves for a hair match. This was rudo contra rudo and Mexico contra Pérez; a revenge match for Pérez taking Silver King's hair (in another workrate hair match.) Pérez was one of the better workers to come through Mexico in the 90s; perhaps the best, unless I'm forgetting someone obvious. He's a guy who could clearly brawl, but he also had a lot of spots, and I mean a lot of spots. In 1995, if there were two guys who could work the semi-universal 'Best of the Super Juniors' style, Apolo Dantes and Silver King were those guys., so it's no surprise that they booked these matches, and the publico absolutely LOVED it. The third fall went on too long for mine, but there were all sorts of crowd shots (shot from a classic documentary angle), and while those inserts are easy to manipulate the assorted reactions were the most interesting thing about the match. Especially the guy with a hook for an arm.
     
    Hair matches should always be brawls in my view, but if you're a Dantes fan this was a solid performance.
  23. ohtani's jacket
    IWRG 5/21/09
     
    Freelance, Miss Gaviota & Diva Salvaje vs. Xibalba, Carta Brava & Avisman
     
    Usually I'd skip a match like this, since you have to sit through so much crap to get to the Freelance parts, but it was worth it this week. From the opening matwork with Avisman to all of his rope work and bumps, it was a really solid outing from the world's foremost technico. There were a few hiccups on the mat, but they worked through it and I liked how pissed Avisman was at himself.
     
    The exoticos tried hard, but they're not very good. The crowd seemed to enjoy their schtick, but I've seen better. One of the problems with Freelance is that despite being a great technico, there's really no-one for him to feud with. And since there's no rhyme nor reason to IWRG, he's stuck in these random trios matches.
     
    Negro Navarro, Durango Kid & Capitán Muerte vs. Black Terry, Dr. Cerebro, Cerebro Negro
     
    This was the match of the week.
     
    It started off with some solid matwork between Dr. Cerebro and Durango Kid and then Cerebro Negro and Capitán Muerte, before Terry and Navarro took over. Over the past few weeks, Terry's conceded that he can't beat Navarro on the mat, so Negro put him away in style. Nobody but nobody fucks with Navarro on the mat and Terry's selling was vintage as usual.
     
    The second fall was a nice change of pace. The Cerebros looked to push a three on two or three on one advantage for the quick fall, but Navarro's boys had a fall in hand, which led to some good exchanges. The third fall opened with more of the same, which made sense from the Cerebros' perspective, since they're the champs. They're making a push for trios of the year; in part because they're getting all the opportunities, but Navarro just can't be fucked with. He'd take on all three guys at once if he had to, and threw the best punch combos I've seen him do.
     
    The finish saw Terry faking a low blow and so it continues. You have to think Navarro is getting the belts. The question is who his partners will be. The matwork was considerably better without his kids involved, but I can't imagine them not being involved.
     
    Traumas I y II & Zatura vs. Oficiales AK-47, Fierro y 911
     
    Crap. Gave up watching it. The Oficiales have been pretty average this year.
     
    CMLL
     
    Blue Panther, La Sombra & Volador Jr. vs El Averno, El Mephisto & Efesto, 5/22/09
     
    I only watched this to see the Averno/Panther matwork, since I hear they're having a singles match soon. I approve of CMLL pushing Panther as an authentic lucha maestro and I also liked the Navarro style tights. Anything to move away from the image of a maskless Blue Panther. The matwork was good and their singles match should at least be as good as Panther's anniversary match last year, provided there's no bullshit.
     
    The rest of the match was a heated spotfest and of no interest to me.
  24. ohtani's jacket
    Black Terry vs. Fantasma de la Ópera, IWRG Intercontinental Welterweight Championship, 7/19/07
     
    Black Terry is a guy who's more or less had a second career in IWRG, and you'd have to say 2007 was the peak of that career.
     
    He was tearing shit up in this feud. In one trios, they did a huge old school bladejob, where both guys worked the cut until Fantasma looked like something out of a Dario Argento film. Terry's brawling was fantastic. It wasn't the strikes or the DQ for excessive rudoing or even the way he put over Fantasma's headbutts, it was the way he sold the entire thing.
     
    The secret to wrestling is to be quick with your holds and not show any daylight, but Terry does more than that. He's one of those rare workers who seem to be "in character" the entire time, so that when the camera is fixed on him, it's almost like a character study.
     
    The other trios I watched was more notable for his matwork with Freelance, but he did show that you can beat up a guy like Multifacético and make it interesting, provided you treat him like a complete and utter whipping boy.
     
    I think it's fair to say that Terry has slipped in recent months, which is understandable given that he's entering his late 50s, but there were a number of other interesting contrasts between then and now. The crowds were much better then than the are now and the style was different too.
     
    This was a small scale title match, and I knew it wouldn't be some kind of epic due to the match length, but I figured that if the matwork was solid it would be pretty good. What I didn't expect is that Terry would work a style somewhat closer to his roots. There's been a tendency in recent IWRG matwork to isolate each hold and make them seem painful instead of showy, which is how lucha holds used to be, but here Terry worked some classic first caida matwork. And it was cool. Aside from the lower weight classes in World of Sport, where else can you see guys wrap each other up like this?
     
    Fantasma de la Ópera isn't the most mobile guy, and he's not particularly smooth either, but his ring sense is solid enough. He relies on the ropes a bit too much for my liking and his suplexes are wildly out of place, but he's earnest and Black Terry singles matches are rarer than hen's teeth, so I enjoyed this. The feud kinda devolved into RAW vs. Smackdown booking with a "fatal three-way" that had all sorts of questionable offence, but I like it whenever Terry goes "small", whether it's against Freelance, Turbo or in this case Fantasma.
  25. ohtani's jacket
    Perro Aguayo vs. Sangre Chicana, 3/20/92
     
    Ha, this was awesome!
     
    Easily the best Perro Aguayo match I've seen and probably the best thing Konnan's ever been involved in. There was so much bullshit going on in this match and it all worked beautifully. They couldn't have booked or executed it any better.
     
    It started off on the perfect note with Chicana beating Aguayo over the head with the charro hat he wore to the ring, and was filled with hokey shit from La Fiera, Konnan and the heel ref Gato Montini. Perro Aguayo has some of the deepest blade lines of any wrestler you'll ever see and it doesn't take much for him to bleed, but once it started flowing Chicana went into overdrive. He cleared some front row seats, stood up on them and dared the crowd to do something about it. They say Jake Roberts is a master of psychology, but I've got this little theory that Sangre Chicana is more Jake Roberts than Jake Roberts. Just fantastic shit. At one point, he was jawing with a technico fan and he was OUT OF HIS GODDAMN MIND.
     
    Konnan and Aguayo did this mindblowingly awesome spot where Konnan was willing Aguayo on, telling him to get up and jog it off, which he did. That was borderline Apollo Creed/Rocky Balboa stuff. Konnan ended up being escorted to the back for some reason and then Pena came out and personally removed Montini. He signaled a timeout and brought out this wiry old ref who was either badass or a cunt. Some fan tried to embrace him on his way to the ring and he gave him the big fuck off. The final flurry saw some awesome topes, with Chicana crumpled under the chairs and an awesome shot of La Fiera's smooth ass wrestling boots under his awesome civvies.
     
    The finish was glorious, as the old man came charging off the ropes and caught Chicana in a signature cradle. Aguayo ran around in a half circle and jumped up and down. Then he went and pat the head of the world's oldest living lucha libre fan, who was a little concerned when her program fell out of her lap. God bless you, honey.
     
    Just a marvelous piece of bullshit. Chicana is the king of doing nothing and getting heat for it. I'd put this in my top 10 for 1992, it was that entertaining.
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