Mr JMML
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Los Brazos vs. Los Infernales (CMLL - 11/22/1991) What’s left to say about one of the most talked about matches in all of lucha and among the most discussed trios matches of all time, 1991 was packed full of 6-man tags all over the world. AJPW had the famous Super Generation Army vs Tsuruta-gun that are widely regarded as some of the best matches of the year, the April 20th match made the 27th spot on my 2023 GME ballot and I’m pretty sure I wasn’t the high vote so it’s fair to say that 1991 was in many ways a year marked by this match type. The fun isn’t over either there’s still one remarkable match of this kind left in the year for us to enjoy. This is the final of a tournament to decide who was going to be the inaugural CMLL World Trios champion and the two teams left were Los Brazos (Super Porky, Brazo de Oro and El Brazo) and Los Infernales (El Satánico, MS-1 and Pirata Morgan) by far the most decorated teams available considering that Los Bucaneros disbanded a few years earlier. These two teams had something in common, they’re both rudos so an occasion like this was perfect for them to face each other. They work particularly well together because the crowd didn’t care that Los Brazos were heels, they were treated like babyfaces, in fact, the announcers are really aware of it and they commented on it at some point. The match itself is surprisingly clean with both teams going (mostly) by the rulebook except for a few select instances, it shaped my taste on lucha significantly. I have a soft spot for this one in particular because it was my introduction to mexican tag team wrestling as a whole and it works perfectly as that. I’d highly recommend it to anyone with an interest in the style that hasn’t watched it yet and for the uninitiated too, it’s worth your time unless you can’t stand Los Brazos.
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Fuerza Guerrera vs Octagón (CMLL - 11/1/1991) I hadn’t forgotten this project, I still plan on reviewing the best matches México ever produced and I can confidently say this is one of them, at the very least one of the greatest individual performances in lucha libre history. Fuerza Guerrera put on an insane heel performance that made the crowd root fiercely for the underdog. Octagón benefited massively from his rival’s brilliance, he had probably the best of his entire career and that’s saying something considering his status as one of lucha libre’s most remarkable técnicos, he was a part of the famous apuesta tag match from When Worlds Collide 1994 his résumé is full of bangers but this one tops them all. His legacy trascends beyond the realm of pro wrestling, he also participated in many films with his mask on like ‘‘Octagón y Atlantis La Revancha’’ none of them come close to being good ( not that it matters). He was liked by the fans and it shows, the people love him and want to see him overcome the many challenges he had to go through to beat Fuerza Guerrera. Like most matches that took place in México around this time it’s best of two out of three falls with the first one going for the heel and the rest going for the babyface but not without suffering many trials and tribulations. If you know spanish you will get even more out of this match, the announcers are genuinely hilarious and I don’t think their commentary can be translated completely to english or any other language, I’m a native speaker and I can barely understand them. This match is without a doubt one of the best of the year but if I remember correctly the best is yet to come. Los Brazos vs Los Infernales still in November. Two of the best trios in lucha libre history face each other in a match that most of you must have seen before.
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Atlantis vs Blue Panther (EMLL - 8/9/1991) Another technical classic featuring two of the greatest luchadores to ever do it, it’s a great title match mainly because of its runtime, 25 minutes of awesome action while other matches of that kind go for longer (around 30 minutes) but most of them can’t make a match like that work however these two made the most out of their encounter. We all know Atlantis ‘‘El ídolo de los niños’’ literally the children’s idol was the main babyface of the company (EMLL/CMLL) for many years and the 1990’s were his best years although he was their brightest prospect during the 1980’s so his jump in in-ring ability didn’t surprise anyone and his longevity is also worth highlighting considering that he had fantastic matches during the 2010’s against Último Guerrero or La Sombra. His mask is probably the most valuable in lucha along with El Hijo del Santo’s, he was the face of CMLL for many years so his treatment is understandable and logical as a way to thank his contribution to wrestling as a whole for thirty years. Now the NWA Middleweight championship is on the line, Atlantis is defending his title against Blue Panther ‘‘El Maestro Lagunero’’, the match is as good as you could expect from them the hold to hold action is superb from beginning to end, no restholds here, every move has a purpose and helps to move the action forward something not many matches actually achieve, this is direct and focused the way mat wrestling should be. Atlantis came out of that match on top but Blue Panther lost honourably, no cheapshots or anything that might be considered dirty. This is worse than the last match but I’d still recommend this match to anyone who calls himself lucha fan.
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El Hijo del Santo vs Negro Casas (WWA - 5/17/1991) The second chapter of the greatest rivalry in the history of lucha completely delivered, a fantastic mat-based bout capable of holding any lucha fan to their sit for the entirety of their runtime even though it’s an apuesta involving the son of one of the most protected characters (if not the most) in the history of lucha. I know that’s a big compliment but this match absolutely deserves it for everything that these two were capable to achieve in that ring, the hold to hold action was always engaging and genuinely fun to watch it’s a match that more than lived up to expectations. Negro Casas has always been a favourite among the fans of the style (me included) for his ability to make matches like this one work in a way that most luchadores can’t. I’ve already reviewed two matches involving him here, the first apuesta between him and Santito and a tag team match in the same year (1987) but it’s obvious that he has grown as a wrestler since then and he had become a force to be reckoned with during that time. Santito also improved as a wrestler in that time span making this matchup pretty even (ignoring the history of his mask) so this match played out as expected with both men having their respective moments to shine however history repeated itself once again and ‘‘El enmascarado de plata’’ retained his mask after a memorable showing everyone should at least take a look at. The match itself is absolutely worth your time but I must tell you that this apuesta is different to many others I’ve covered this one is mostly technical so you won’t see chairshot or blood like you’d in those.
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La Fiera vs Jerry Estrada (Monterrey - 1991) We don’t have an exact date for this one but it ultimately doesn’t matter, this brawl is so unique and chaotic that I think not having a date plays with the nature of this bout in a genuinely fun way if there’s a date I don’t want to know I’ll live happily in ignorance because it actually makes this match better. Lucha isn’t well-preserved at all but that’s even more apparent when you are searching for match that didn’t happen in any of the two most recognized promotions and that’s what happened here. Monterrey is one of those promotions whose matches we should be grateful for having on tape especially when they are this good. As I mentioned earlier this is one of those crazy lucha brawls I love and I know for a fact that I’m not the only one who feels this way about this particular style, in fact, I think the best way to introduce someone to lucha libre is telling them to watch this match or Sangre Chicana vs MS-1. This is very easy to introduce just by telling you that one of the competitors is called La Fiera (literally The Beast in spanish) you should know what these two men are about to do in that ring (Jerry Estrada is a very cool name too, I love lucha). Jerry Estrada plays the heel as he always does and La Fiera has the whole crowd on his side for the entirety of the match. He enters the ring with a chain and he uses it to whip his opponent to oblivion just fantastic stuff and the whole match is like this too, a back and forth between two of the fiercest personalities in lucha history in front of a crowd that’s just loving every minute of it, a classic that everyone should watch I’m sure this match is universally loved but it isn’t as good as Sangre Chicana vs El Satánico from 1986 for example but I think that if you got 20 minutes to spare you should give this a go. I forgot to mention that this match isn’t two out of three falls, it’s just one fall but what a fall it was.
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La Fiera vs Jerry Estrada (Monterrey - 1991) We don’t have an exact date for this one but it ultimately doesn’t matter, this brawl is so unique and chaotic that I think not having a date plays with the nature of this bout in a genuinely fun way if there’s a date I don’t want to know I’ll live happily in ignorance because it actually makes this match better. Lucha isn’t well-preserved at all but that’s even more apparent when you are searching for match that didn’t happen in any of the two most recognized promotions and that’s what happened here. Monterrey is one of those promotions whose matches we should be grateful for having on tape especially when they are this good. As I mentioned earlier this is one of those crazy lucha brawls I love and I know for a fact that I’m not the only one who feels this way about this particular style, in fact, I think the best way to introduce someone to lucha libre is telling them to watch this match or Sangre Chicana vs MS-1. This is very easy to introduce just by telling you that one of the competitors is called La Fiera (literally The Beast in spanish) you should know what these two men are about to do in that ring (Jerry Estrada is a very cool name too, I love lucha). Jerry Estrada plays the heel as he always does and La Fiera has the whole crowd on his side for the entirety of the match. He enters the ring with a chain and he uses it to whip his opponent to oblivion just fantastic stuff and the whole match is like this too, a back and forth between two of the fiercest personalities in lucha history in front of a crowd that’s just loving every minute of it, a classic that everyone should watch I’m sure this match is universally loved but it isn’t as good as Sangre Chicana vs El Satánico from 1986 for example but I think that if you got 20 minutes to spare you should give this a go. I forgot to mention that this match isn’t two out of three falls, it’s just one fall but what a fall it was.
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Brazo de Oro vs El Hijo del Santo (Mask vs Hair - UWA - 1/13/1991) This apuesta was great, the last Toreo de 4 Caminos classic. AAA was the next company that called this venue home but it just wasn’t the same (at least that’s the popular opinion among lucha fans especially in Mexico). All apuestas involving El Hijo del Santo have the same problem, you already know the result before the match even starts his mask is way too valuable for him to lose it against anyone except someone with the same name value as him someone like Atlantis maybe. Brazo de Oro isn’t only an underdog, his mission is doomed from the start but the crowd really didn’t care about that they just wanted to witness El Hijo del Santo live and that’s perfectly understandable. Brazo de Oro was always a heel and a fan favourite but today he’s an actual heel thanks to his opponent’s popularity. If you weren’t aware already this matches are two out of three falls with Santito’s mask and Brazo’s hair on the line. I love how weak Santito looks during the first fall if he was any other wrestler I would think that he’s about to lose the match, the crowd also noticed that so they started to chant: ‘‘ Santo, Santo!’’. Santo was the key to the heart of the Toreo 4 Caminos’ crowd so his son was going to receive the same treatment. Remember how was the crowd during El Santo’s retirement match, they weren’t that good today but to be fair that’s really hard to top, in fact, I think that very few crowds in wrestling history can be compared with that, Brazo de Oro won the first fall without much trouble but the last two were another story completely, the second fall consisted of Santito’s comeback and eventual win and the last one while a bit more contested was won easily by El Enmascarado de Plata.
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AJPW 1983 04 14 Stan Hansen vs Terry Funk This what comes to mind when someone says great brawling, the intensity here is rarely seen, Stan Hansen is one of the greatest brawlers in professional wrestling, Terry Funk is one of the greatest sellers so we are here for a treat, gaijins hitting each other very hard is one of All Japan’s greatest acts and that’s what happened here, fantastic brawling all around and almost no downtime whatsoever, Hansen was just savage, Terry Funk had an amazing selling performance that I don’t think can be replicated, the fear in his eyes is priceless, Hansen looked like the scariest wrestler in the world, his offense is as stiff as it gets, the roughness in this match can be felt, it’s a great representation of what 80’s AJPW was about, Terry had no chance of winning but he endured through the pain and agony until Dory came in to save him, to be honest the bell alone wasn’t going to stop Stan’s rage and blood thirst, Terry was beaten up badly, he never even hit Hansen throughout what we have of the match, it was cut for tv but I think it’s fair to assume that he didn’t hit Hansen during that commercial break, Terry’s selling masterpiece is legendary, I think this match is one of the greatest brawls I’ve ever seen, it’s got everything I love in wrestling done to perfection, I highly recommend this match to everyone interested in this era of the company, AJPW in the 1980’s it’s so underrated by the greater wrestling community, the main reason for that is the popularity of their 1990’s run that pretty much overshadowed it, no pillar could have replicated what these two did here, this match is that special, Terry Funk had an innate ability to make every brawl memorable and this one is no exception.
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The Shield vs. Ryback and Team Hell No (WWE - 12/16/2012) The Shield’s in-ring debut was as great as it gets, they come to this match as the favorites even tough they haven’t wrestled together yet, that’s because their impact in the wrestling landscape was so huge WWE wasn’t going to waste the opportunity to push this new phenomenon to the moon, that’s what they did in a masterclass of WWE style car crash brawling, this match was the beginning of the great run WWE had as company that lasted around two years, their most acclaimed work during the last decade came in this two year span, it includes matches like CM Punk vs Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam 2013, John Cena vs Daniel Bryan at the same event and the most famous of them Daniel Bryan’s crowning as WWE champion at Wrestlemania XXX, as I said before all those things that happened in that span can be traced back to this match, The Shield had heel performance for the ages, every member of the stable had time to shine, each and everyone of the wrestlers involved tried their best to make this match unforgettable and they succeeded, The Shield had potential, I think they could have been the greatest trio in wrestling history if they were given a chance to make that happen, this is a match I couldn’t look away from, there’s always something happening at all times in a compelling way (this isn’t PWG), it all made sense in the context of a TLC 6-man tag team match, it’s a crazy premise but it somehow works, the WWE fanbase also got their first proper taste of The Shield’s offense and they loved it, the crowd is completely into the match and chanting ‘‘ This is awesome!’’ as a way to show their appreciation for what they were doing, just a very special night for the company. -
Mariko Yoshida vs Megumi Fujii (ARSION, 2003-05-24) I’m pretty familiar with Megumi Fuiji’s MMA career, in fact, against popular opinion I think she is the women’s MMA GOAT, his wrestling career on the other hand is a mystery to me, I didn’t know she had a stint in pro wrestling, not only in ARSION, her run in the more obscure japanese indie scene is also remarkable, Mariko Yoshida’s wrestling career started in 1988, the year she graduated in the AJW dojo, if you’ve heard of this promotion’s training habits you’ll know it was no easy task especially during the 1980’s considering just how many women competed for a few roster spots, her most acclaimed work came as a part of the ARSION roster from the late 1990’s to the early 2000’s, this match took place in 2003 so we can assume she was in her prime at that time, ARSION is a shoot style promotion but it wasn’t like RINGS, UWF-I or PWFG this one was a joshi promotion that adapted their style to the rules of women’s MMA at that time, this means that the matches consisted of 3 rounds each lasting 3 minutes, if you want to know what was the state of women’s MMA at that time I highly recommend Megumi Fuiji vs Erica Montoya, Megumi dominated her in a grappling masterclass but now let’s go to the wrestling match, Mariko Yoshida was the ace of the company while Fuiji was making her pro wrestling debut, it’s evident she was held at a high regard but it’s still surprising nonetheless, Mariko Yoshida was right, Fuiji looked like the real deal even with the annoying clipping involved (an annoying feature of many ARSION matches), that aside this match was a great experience, it was the kind of match whose predictable ending didn’t take away any enjoyment whatsoever.
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[1990-10-25-UWF-Atlantis] Akira Maeda vs Masakatsu Funaki
Mr JMML replied to Loss's topic in October 1990
Akira Maeda vs Masakatsu Funaki (UWF - 10/25/1990) If the date sounds familiar is because it happened in the same show as the legendary Yoshiaki Fujiwara vs Nobuhiko Takada, this match was actually the main event of that show, in hindsight it wasn’t the right choice but who could blame them having the ace of the company facing off against a young up and coming Masakatsu Funaki, both matches were very good, in fact, I feel like this match is overlooked even by the most hardcore shootstyle fans, Akira Maeda has the ability to look like a jerk in every match he’s in mainly because he is in real life so it’s easier for him, Funaki in the other hand is the outmatched underdog the crowd is rallying behind and he performed pretty well in that circumstance, he’s a striker so Maeda targeted his left leg to limit his movement and efectiveness, that gameplan worked well for him during almost the entirety of the bout there were times where Funaki threatened an armbar but Maeda escaped unscaved every time, Maeda had the counter for everyone of Funaki’s moves, Maeda looked like the most intimidating figure in the UWF roster after such a win, his opponent was helpless, it gave me the impression that the match lasted 18 minutes because Maeda wanted it to last that long, you leave the match thinking that it could have lasted way less time if Maeda just wanted to win but he had higher aspirations he wanted to give everyone in the company a lesson and he did exactly that in a way very few wrestlers can or could ever replicate, Funaki was like one of those Lou Thesz opponents that had no chance of winning but won a fall, Funaki here is basically what Cyclone Anaya was in 1950, a victim of an unstoppable force nobody knows how to stop. -
Damon Scythe vs Robby Lance - Ironman Match - ECCW 06/29/02 Are you familiar with these wrestlers? Me neither, they put together a performance for the ages, as compelling and intense as any other Ironman out there, I had heard many people praising this match but I didn’t expect it being this good which is impressive considering that I couldn’t even tell who was who until the halfway point so this match really deserved its status among hardcore wrestling fans, the way the match was filmed was also a big reason why I liked it so much, it feels like we aren’t supposed to be watching it, it’s like one of those found footage movies like Cannibal Holocaust but instead of watching five jerks in the jungle you come across a grappling masterpiece, the only thing that I genuinely dislike of this match is the crowd especifically their lack of engagement, you get the impression that they didn’t know what they were looking at, if the people that were there had any idea about professional wrestling they would’ve cheered throughout the whole match but I guess it wasn’t anyone’s fault certainly not the wrestlers’, the intensity shown and dexterity because having a 30 minute wrestling match is hard and at the pace they were going it’s even harder, I just couldn’t look away from the match, there was no point where they lost my attention, very few wrestlers can do what these two ‘‘no names’’ did that day, both of them surely earned my respect and the respect of the wrestling community as a whole, there was also very little downtime, this match truly deserved the Ironman name, their grappling skills were at full display, they showed how mat wrestling should work, this particular match has a rare quality nowadays, every move really felt like it could result in a fall and that’s so difficult to accomplish.
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Tadao Yasuda vs Tatsumi Fujinami (NJPW - 7/19/2002) We’re getting closer to the end of Tatsumi Fujinami’s career, the match I‘m going to write about today is a far cry from 70’s Fujinami but as I said in previous reviews it isn’t necessarily a bad thing, this match is pure Inokism, the MMA-like presentations and the structure of the match itself looks like something out of an early PRIDE main event, in pro wrestling it works, it’s a short match, in fact, it’s the shortest match I’ll review in this project, it hardly goes 5 minutes considering that one and a half minutes are spent convincing Tatsumi Fujinami to put on his MMA gloves, you know his match against Inoki in 1988 the opposite, in this match Fujinami looks like an old man that has no idea how a shoot style bout works and that’s amazing, he’s from another generation and playing with that was a very intelligent choice made by NJPW creatives, I think it’s the first time I praise them in this project, as you could expect they went at it hard, they didn’t waste a second both wrestlers did a great job selling the sense of urgency, they are trying to finish each other as quickly as possible, no sportsmanship either, I love how Yasuda looks an asshole heel the whole way through, he had a better performance than Fujinami, he had the night of his life against one of the greatest wrestlers in the company’s history, he should be proud of this match, he looked like a million bucks, this is without a doubt my MOTY of 2002 just for it’s uniqueness alone, probably the match that resembles this one the most is Daisuke Ikeda vs Takeshi Ono (Futen - 9/26/2010) but that one was just two dudes hitting each other very hard, in this one there’s a clear narrative with Fujinami not being able to keep up with younger talent, the word I’d use to describe this match is necessary, time passes for everyone.
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Shinya Hashimoto vs. Tatsumi Fujinami (NJPW - 6/5/1998) In the last match I wrote about Fujinami was brutal, working with someone like Genichiro Tenryu may have inspired such a violent contest but this match is different, this time his opponent is the best NJPW musketeer Shinya Hashimoto, his career isn’t short of matches like the one I covered yesterday but this time Fujinami got him in uncharted territory, Tatsumi tried to make this one a strictly technical contest and he pretty much succeeded, Hashimoto is famous for his stiff striking, his greatest matches came against wrestlers with a similar style like Vader, Genichiro Tenryu or Nobuhiko Takada, I’d say this match is the exception to the rule, Fujinami and Hashimoto are like night and day but that was what made it particularly interesting, the premise of this match was enticing to say the least, how a striker will adapt to submission specialist, it was a common situation in early MMA history when most of the fighters were pretty much one dimensional, the strikers had no idea of what to do in top mount while a submission specialist would do everything in his power to take you down to avoid striking exchanges and that’s what happened here, Fujinami took the striker and tried to submit him for around 25 minutes, it’s quite a spectacule if you’re a Pancrase or Pride fan, to be fair it resembles more a Pancrase fight than a Pride one but we aren’t talking about MMA, this is pro wrestling and in pro wrestling the underdogs prevail, in pro wrestling people chant out of passion and excitement, Fujinami had the crowd on their feet throughout the match, if you’ve been reading my Fujinami retrospective you’ll know he’s one of the greatest babyfaces Japan has ever produced, he always draws a reaction out of the people in the stands, his age doesn’t really matter, he never fails to surprise me and exceed my expectations he’s that special.
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[1996-04-29-NJPW-Battle Formation] Genichiro Tenryu vs Tatsumi Fujinami
Mr JMML replied to Loss's topic in April 1996
Tatsumi Fujinami vs Genichiro Tenryu (NJPW - 4/29/1996) A match as packed as you’ll ever see, Fujinami and Tenryu go back and forth in an absolute classic with iconic images that will last in your brain forever, this match is spectacular in every sense of the word, it’s incredibly violent as well, I personally think it’s the most violent match Fujinami has had so far in his career, considering I’ve covered almost 20 years that’s quite a feat, Fujinami isn’t known for being especially violent but the last five matches of his I covered have been pretty rough, not what I expected going into this, I came here for his technical skill but I won’t complain because violent Fujinami is as good as technical Fujinami and he isn’t young anymore so losing some of his quickness on the mat is perfectly understandable, the change from the late 70’s to 1996 is very impressive he never fails to surprise me and this match is no exception, the WAR vs NJPW feud is over but there’s still some resentment left in both Tatsumi and Tenryu, around this time Tenryu was involved in a feud with the ace of UWF-I Nobuhiko Takada, they had a legendary trilogy in 1996 spanning two promotions (WAR and UWF-I) but I’d say this match is better than any Tenryu vs Takada, Tenryu’s specialty is beating people without showing any emotion whatsoever while Fujinami’s is his facial expressions and they shine even brighter in brawls like this one, this match is famous for an especific moment, Tenryu busted Fujinami’s nose for real in one of their heated exchanges which resulted in Fujinami having a bloodied nose for the rest of the match, absolutely worth watching, a masterpiece, two veterans beating each other up, it can’t get better than this. -
Genichiro Tenryu & Takashi Ishikawa vs. Hiroshi Hase & Tatsumi Fujinami WAR Great History 02.14.1993 We start Fujinami’s 1993 with a banger the kind of match you’d expect out of these four, they delivered an amazing bombfest but I have to say that the match lacks a clear structure instead we got a lot of violent exchanges between these four, I don’t think it balances out, Tenryu is made for these kind of matches and his performance alone makes the match a lot more enjoyable but everyone else while not being bad they weren’t convincing either, I still appreciate Fujinami’s effort to keep his character fresh, he’s still a technical wizard but in matches like this one he proved he is way more than that, the role of Ishikawa and Hase during the match was very simple it’s a master and apprentice relationship with their partners and it works, Fujinami and Tenryu were always the focus of the action with the other two trying to steal the show, it’s clear that both WAR and NJPW were slowly preparing for a passing of the torch, their rivalry during this time is legendary and a lot of people love it and this match is one of the greatest the whole feud had to offer, the other great contest its known for is the elimination match two days later I’ll probably write about tomorrow, as I said before this match doesn’t have a clear structure, if you’ve read my Rock ‘n’ Roll Express reviews you’ll know that for me the most important part of a tag team match is its structure so I’m not the biggest fan of this match, it just isn’t for me, if you are into japanese indy bombfests you’ll enjoy it, everyone did their job pretty well, I don’t have any problems with the individual performances but the result was disappointing. Fujinami proved he could keep up with the best wrestlers in the world once again.
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El Satánico vs. El Dandy (Hair vs Hair) 2/3 Falls (Arena Mexico, 12/14/1990) EMLL This is the best match of one of the most revered rivalries in all of lucha, some people think it's better than 1/9/90 or 6/8/90 Jumbo Tsuruta vs Mitsuharu Misawa but I'm not one of them, don't get me wrong the bout is great from start to finish although it isn't as good if you ask me because the final stretch is fun but nothing more than that. El Satánico is a veteran member of Los Infernales and he had been in many apuestas before and he had never lost his hair but this is about to change, the first hair vs hair apuesta that he won was against Mocho Cota in the year 1980 and he never looked back. This match isn't the main event of the show, the main event was a triple threat mask vs mask vs mask match: Ciclón Ramírez, Octagón and Fuerza Guerrera put their masks on the line in an average apuesta match that saw Ciclón Ramírez being unmasked after losing against Octagón. El Dandy had already lost his hair in 1986 in a bout with Negro Navarro, El Signo and El Texano that we can't see because lucha isn't the best preserved style in wrestling and this problem is sometimes difficult to work around but let's get into the match. The match begins before the bell rang with Satánico crushing El Dandy's skull straight to the post making him bleed in the process then the bell rang, and Dandy found himself having an opportunity after like 5 minutes with a victory roll for the 3 count and the first fall is over with a great babyface performance which is surprising because he is usually the heel. After a one minute break the match resumed, Satánico had the fall in control and he capitalized with some kind of strange abdominal stretch to tie it one a piece. The last fall was dominated by El Satánico until the referee somehow slipped out of the ring, El Dandy faked being hit by a low blow and the referee believed him so he won by disqualification.
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Satánico & Atlantis vs MS-1 & Tierra Viento y Fuego (Hair & Mask vs Hair & Mask ) 9/22/89 EMLL What a match, three of the best mexican wrestlers ever face each other, Tierra, Viento y Fuego is just one of the dumbest names in wrestling history, he’s outmatched by every other wrestler in that ring, I just love the dynamic of this particular match Satánico is an underrated babyface, he’s truly a legend, if you’ve been reading my lucha reviews you may be aware of it already, when I wrote about 1984 his name was unavoidable, at that time he was a heel and the leader of the legendary trio Los Infernales, MS-1 was his partner at that time but they eventually split up, that’s why this feud came to be, Satánico turned face and now he’s teaming up with Atlantis, you may remember the match between them of 1984 if not it’s here, a very young Atlantis faced off against prime Satánico, a lucha classic I recommend but that was 5 years ago now they have a common enemy MS-1 and Tierra, Viento y Fuego, both the masks and the hair are at risk in this match because it’s the 56th anniversary of EMLL, the main event deserved its spot in the card, it was great despite of Tierra, Viento y Fuego having no business being there, he just isn’t nearly as good as the other three but to be honest those three are lucha gods so I can’t blame him, it’s extraordinarily difficult to be at that level, anyway the match started with a pretty cool control segment by the heel team that ended when they eventually won the fall, the second fall was another story entirely, Sátanico and Atlantis rallied back and got the fall but not without suffering, Sátanico was almost submitted by MS-1, the third and final fall was completely dominated by the heels but Sátanico came clutch with a package for the win. This is not wrestling related but I just wish Pecco Bagnaia a great recovery after what happened in Montmeló.
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Satánico & Atlantis vs MS-1 & Tierra Viento y Fuego (Hair & Mask vs Hair & Mask ) 9/22/89 EMLL What a match, three of the best mexican wrestlers ever face each other, Tierra, Viento y Fuego is just one of the dumbest names in wrestling history, he’s outmatched by every other wrestler in that ring, I just love the dynamic of this particular match Satánico is an underrated babyface, he’s truly a legend, if you’ve been reading my lucha reviews you may be aware of it already, when I wrote about 1984 his name was unavoidable, at that time he was a heel and the leader of the legendary trio Los Infernales, MS-1 was his partner at that time but they eventually split up, that’s why this feud came to be, Satánico turned face and now he’s teaming up with Atlantis, you may remember the match between them of 1984 if not it’s here, a very young Atlantis faced off against prime Satánico, a lucha classic I recommend but that was 5 years ago now they have a common enemy MS-1 and Tierra, Viento y Fuego, both the masks and the hair are at risk in this match because it’s the 56th anniversary of EMLL, the main event deserved its spot in the card, it was great despite of Tierra, Viento y Fuego having no business being there, he just isn’t nearly as good as the other three but to be honest those three are lucha gods so I can’t blame him, it’s extraordinarily difficult to be at that level, anyway the match started with a pretty cool control segment by the heel team that ended when they eventually won the fall, the second fall was another story entirely, Sátanico and Atlantis rallied back and got the fall but not without suffering, Sátanico was almost submitted by MS-1, the third and final fall was completely dominated by the heels but Sátanico came clutch with a package for the win. This is not wrestling related but I just wish Pecco Bagnaia a great recovery after what happened in Montmeló.
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Rick & Scott Steiner vs Tatsumi Fujinami & Tayayuki Iizuka (WCW Wrestle War - 5/17/92) It’s the first time I write about a regular tag team match in my Fujinami retrospective, I talked about tags and gauntlets but there were many people involved in those, this match is a 2v2 instead of the 4v4s or 5v5s like the famous multi-man matches of 80’s NJPW, if you want to watch a multi-man this show had Wargames in their main event, a match that I love so much that I included it in my GME list of 2023, Sting's Squadron (Sting, Ricky Steamboat, Barry Windham, Dustin Rhodes & Nikita Koloff) vs The Dangerous Alliance (Rick Rude, Steve Austin, Arn Anderson, Larry Zbyszko & Bobby Eaton) watch it if you haven’t it already, I think this match overshadowed the main event in the violence department, I have to give credit to Jesse Ventura and Tony Schiavone for how they treated Lizuka and Fujinami here, they are completely aware of how the average american would react when watching japanese guys that he has never heard about ( it applies more for Lizuka, Fujinami had appeared in other WCW shows at that point), they praised them for their effort in a way I didn’t expect, specially Jesse Ventura considering how he behaved in the commentary box, the match isn’t only violent is also well structured, the Steiners were the better team but Fujinami and Lizuka struck back in multiple occasions, their comebacks were convincing enough to have the WCW crowd chanting USA at some point but the result was clear from the beginning to be fair the japanese team had no business winning but they proved their worth to the american crowd that’s for sure, Lizuka nose bleeding and overall a great match full of hard hitting action throughout, highly recommended.
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Great Muta vs Tatsumi Fujinami (9-23-1991) NJPW We start September with an old friend, Tatsumi Fujinami, working as an old man against younger talent, now his job is to make stars and he delivered this time facing off against one of the most frustratingly inconsistent wrestlers of the 1990’s along with Manami Toyota, Keiji Mutoh more specifically his alter ego The Great Muta, he makes the most out of Mutoh’s strengths and he hid his weaknesses in a very convincing way, Mutoh looks like a million bucks, charismatic, intense and blood thirsty all at the same time, the thing that struck me the most in this match was that Keiji’s offense didn’t change, what changed was the way his offense was presented, here all his moves felt justified, some of his later matches are so driven by his moves that end up feeling completely directionless, Fujinami put his opponent in an interesting spot, Mutoh had to face a veteran, an amazing general and look better than him, brawling was the only way out of that situation, the most memorable parts of this match happen when they are outside the ring, it was clear from the get go that Mutoh was going to get his hand raised at the end but he earned it in the process, Mutoh has always been in a strange spot for me because he’s clearly inferior to Shinya Hashimoto but he’s way better than Chono, there was a very famous match between Hashimoto and Nobuhiko Takada in April 29th 1996, that match is considered the peak of the NJPW vs UWF-I rivalry, it happened after Mutoh lost to Takada in the event NJPW Wrestling World of that year (the equivalent of today’s Wrestle Kingdom), Mutoh will always be overshadowed by Shinya Hashimoto but to be honest who isn’t.