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This was a pleasant surprise, as I'd actually listed this match in a thread about videos you hope surface some day. It's nice when your hopes get answered but even better when what you hoped for more than lives up to your expectations for it. El Felino and Mascara Magica got over thirty minutes at Arena Coliseo to have a great match. That was it--no clipping, no rushing, and the promotion actually gave them a bit of controversy to help the match feel bigger. It was one of those title fights where they actually set out to hurt each other. The holds in the first fall were tough and hard fought, in addition to being technically very good, but it was afterwards that they turned things up. Fans of working a body part even got the kind of payoff they love when Mascara tried to catch Felino in the same hold he'd won the first fall with and couldn't lock it in because of the damage inflicted on his arm. Eventually Mascara wiped out Felino with a somersault tope and just barely made it in the ring before the ref got to twenty, but he got counted out on the most technical of technicalities: he didn't get his foot back in under the rope. It was a brilliant screwjob. Mascara threw a tantrum (and continued to complain even after the match had ended and it was well past the point of being inappropriate), and the commissioner decided to settle things with a fourth fall. This brought out the big Felino spots that I'd been dreading--they're a lot like what you hear about Kurt Angle's big spots--but after twenty plus minutes of intense technical wrestling, they were tolerable and maybe even kind of good as the finale to a contest like this one. The Youtube description calls this the best performance of Mascara Magica's career, and I have no dispute with that (although I do think he's pretty underrated), but this is the most I've ever liked Felino, too. Usually he annoys me, but he was great as the veteran of the match. He was better than usual working holds and he seemed so poised. Even the cheating, which often feels like cheap heat when in a title match or coming from Felino, felt like desperate moves that he had to sneak in. Top five match for 1996 CMLL, in my opinion.
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Long, quality lucha that told a story. Early on Emilio Charles Jr. gets the better of Azteca during a wrestling exchange. Of course Angel takes great offense to this and immediately goes after Emilio. Azteca going out of his way to ram into Emilio with a huge forearm while in the middle of a rope running exchange with Espectro was straight out of the AJPW playbook. Of course Emilio Jr. makes him pay dearly later when he slaps the hell out of him during the beatdown. That along may have been the highlight of the match along with Aztecas bumping, including flying with his back into the edge of the ring apron. Of course Super Astro and Kung Fu also do lots of fun wrestling. Astro is such a trip to watch with the insane height on all flying moves, while Kung Fu manages to not suck doing his faux martial arts stuff and hitting weird/cool kicks, punches and leg trips. We also get the awesome and devastating tope to the floor from Super Astro aswell as Emilio Charles Jr. not falling for The Star. -
Arena Coliseo Guadalajara in the early 1990s reused a lot of older, somewhat famous gimmicks. They had updated versions of Los Gemelos Diablo, El Jalisco, Torbellino Negro and probably plenty of others. The Ciclon Mackey in this match is probably one such character, as the original wrestled in the 1930s and supposedly hailed from Ireland, whereas this one does not appear to be in his eighties or nineties and is called a local by the announcers. With four guys I knew were good and one who'd been fine in the few matches I'd seen from him, it was Mackey, who I knew nothing of and lacks even a Luchawiki page, who I guessed might be a weak link in this. Instead this was a match that was about him and he made it count. He beat the hell of out his fellow Ciclon with some of the best headbutts I've ever seen as rudo offense, and then when it was time to turn the tables he was up for some big bumps in return. The star of the match was Ramirez, though. I know he was featured in a big feud with Felino around this time, but talk about an underused talent. His selling consisted of these amazing contortions, both on his bumps and while writhing around on the mat, that I doubt anyone could match except possibly Emilio Charles. It turned a simple head to the turnbuckle spot into a devastating blow. Later on he gave everything back, actually went further than Mackey did, throwing a row of chairs on him and smashing the man's face into the ringpost. In the third fall they slugged it out before dropping to their knees to exchange headbutts. I watched pretty much all of the Ramirez vs Felino stuff from 1993 and I can tell you that nothing that awesome happened in any of those matches. Only Javier Cruz managed to tap into this side of Ciclon Ramirez in Arena Mexico. He probably was best suited for small arena brawls like this, but was too talented for that and ended up getting signed by a company that ensured that fans decades later would get to know who he was. Fiera contributed some crazy bumps that he didn't really need to do on a show like this in a match that wasn't even about him, and Espectro had maybe my favorite sell of a quebradora ever. It's interesting to me that this went back to back with a bloody rudos vs rudos match that had a lot of the same elements, like guys picking up the chairs. You'd think the booker wouldn't want that, because then the crowd wouldn't react as strongly for the main event, but it didn't stop the fans in the front row from giddily offering their seats as a potential landing spot for Mackey. I know Ciclon Ramirez is a bit of a cult figure, so his fans might be pleased to know that this was actually part of an extended feud between the two Ciclones, and a rare chance to see Ramirez as a central figure in anything outside of the neverending Felino feud. They were in six mans on the two shows after this, but either that was it or the final showdown wasn't on TV. Even the Youtube comments (well, one Youtube comment) wondered where the blowoff was. Oh well. Ciclon doesn't fly, and I can't imagine anyone getting tired of watching that man do his dive, but after a fight like that I didn't even feel cheated. -
This got four stars from whatever kind of crazy person rated Arena Coliseo Guadalajara matches back in 1992. Knowing nothing of any of these six men I expected some kind of crazy flying display with everyone wanting the match to steal the show. It was not that. Poseidon is not a tecnico with a flashy costume, he is just some guy. He's got a black singlet on and he blasts people with elbows and digs his foot into the torn eyehole of his opponent's mask. La Araña Atomica was a Spiderman ripoff long ago (or he might have been the son of the Spiderman ripoff actually) but in 1992 he was dropping chairs on Torbellino Negro. This was rudos vs rudos with blood, a DQ for some kind of metal spike, and nonstop violence up until the end from a bunch of guys I'd never seen before. It wasn't the most focused match, because there wasn't one major matchup, so you didn't have one specific guy or pairing to pay attention to, but they compensated by having something interesting/violent on screen at all times. I didn't like them finishing with dives, though. Not very befitting of rudos vs rudos. To whatever moderator approves these, I guessed with the formatting of the Gemelos' names, but I don't know what they were individually called. The date could be wrong too, as this supposedly aired on a Wednesday, September 2 1992 was a Wednesday, and wrestling shows didn't usually air live or a full week behind, but I figured I'd just stick with the luchadb date.
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[1999-01-22-CMLL] Atlantis & Emilio Charles Jr & Felino vs Black Warrior & Blue Panther & Dr Wagner Jr
Charles (Loss) posted a topic in January 1999
Talk about it here. -
I didn't expect to see a solid Match of the Decade contender at this point, but this was it. Just an incredible match, if CMLL did this kind of story based intense pro wrestling more often there would be no stopping the company. The psychology was sharp as a knife, early Virus working over Metalico with shots to the head followed by a control switching dive sequence felt straight out of 90s AJPW. The struggle and nearfall sequences where top tier and as good as it gets in lucha. I realize I'm sounding a little generic here, but they worked so many fine details into the back and forth, combined with a determined Metalico giving it all to take down the trickiest wrestler in the world. I haven't seen as much Metalico as I probably should have but he was great here as the aging gunslinger who would throw fists and fight tooth and nail. Even his sloppiness added to the match. Virus was as classy as usual. Every counter was incredibly well executed and perfectly timed, with some great struggle over holds and pins thrown in. Loved the constant punch outs which gave the match a feel like somebody would have to be KOd for it to end. Gotta love the fact they made suicide dive feel this epic in 2019.
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Classy lucha title match. Faraon is such a great but rarely seen grappler, and this was one of those matches where you just sit back and watch a master work his magic. Not only did he always know what to do, he was transitioning seamlessly between his holds like shootstyle grappler. Also check out the way he would create space and defend himself when Atlantis tried working over his arm. Atlantis held up his end and provided some nice dives so I wouldn't say he was luggage here, altough it's pretty clear who is leading the dance here.
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[1998-05-22-CMLL] The Headhunters & Brazo de Plata vs Gran Markus Jr & Cien Caras & The Steele
Jetlag posted a topic in May 1998
Brazo de Plata, baby. This is not a match people would seek out on paper. Well, if YOU would seek this match out on paper, then I want to shake your hand and call you friend. If YOU, as a wrestling fan, can't get excited about a violent brawl with this many fat guys in it, shame on you. Or shame on me. Porky and Markus Jr. are killing eachother and it's awesome. Steele is a canadian guy with abs who has a solid enough punch and a funny bump over the top rope to entertain, and he gets slapped around plenty by Headhunter. He tries to speak spanish, and just gets walloped in the mouth. Still, you want this for the awesome Markus Jr. punch combos, blood, biting, Plata's fat guy fire and dive and general porky asskicking going on. Shit finish, but they were setting up an apuestas, baby. -
[1997-01-07-CMLL] Cicloncito Ramirez vs Damiancito El Guerrero
Charles (Loss) posted a topic in January 1997
Talk about it here. -
On 1/5 we got a couple very good trios matches, and one week later we get the singles matches we want to see most coming out of each. Booking can be so easy. And this was a great little match between two overlooked workers. We start in great simplistic fashion with both guys really cranking a side headlock and a wastelock each. The whole match they did a great job working around simple moves. Pierroth Jr. works over Mogurs shoulder using repeated armdrags, really whipping him into the mat and Mogur wincing. Later Mogur gets some nice revenge by locking in ultra tight headscissors, he has a brutal looking armwringer too that drives Pierroths shoulder into the mat. They do some more swanky lucha moves aswell such as a cool sequence where they move from a pin attempt into tombstone reversals, and Pierroth has a few cool submissions including a sweet crucifix lock. There is some cheating – after all Pierroth Jr. had reduced Mogur to a bloody pulp the week before – and he hits one of the sneakier low blows you'll see here - but they deliver a great sheninangless 3rd fall. Pierroth Jr. destroying Mogur by picking him up and ramming him into the posts repeatedly ruled. Mogur builds a nice comeback out of that and we get a classic lucha third fall with crazy dives, desperation selling for an attempted surfboard etc. I bit on the nearfall for the crucixion hold and I really liked how they would take short breathers to how how spent they were. Finish was a simple move and worked. Not the most epic lucha title match, no top rope moves or big bumps, but they made everything they did count and built a great match. Classy stuff, maybe a hidden gem (does it count as hidden if it was on OJ's blog?).
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Minis get to stretch out for 3 long falls and do their thing and the result is accordingly good. Lots of fun matwork and armdrags ensue. Pequeno Goliath carries himself with some amazing swagger. The standout was obviously Mascarita Sagrada who just does amazing stuff. Lots of complex sequences built around whacky armdrag variations. I liked how the rudos would continue with their tactics throughout the 3rd fall, building to another great technico comeback. They tease a big Espectrito/Mascarita showdown which is the hottest matchup here but end the match a little prematurely. Still, nothing to complain when you get 20+ minutes of quality lucha.
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[1990-01-05-EMLL] El Dandy & Mogur & Popitekus vs Pierroth Jr & MS-1 & Ulises
Jetlag posted a topic in January 1990
Quality main event. There are some rudo interference shenanigans early on, but we get a long 1st fall with everyone wrestling. You know it's gonna be good when El Dandy is in his Kazuo Yamazaki tights and UWF kickpads. I especially liked the Dandy/MS-1 matchup. MS-1 is a trickier grappler than he looks like and they play up the size difference. Popitekus is an awesome big tubby luchador and also way brave as he bumps bigger and more often than a guy his size should. Pierroth Jr. deciding to work over Mogur with stiff kicks to the spine was quite unexpected and things took a harsh turn when Mogur decided to fight fire with fire and also rip his mask. Pierroth cracks him open and we got ourselves a heated third fall with a bloody and beaten Mogur trying to stand up to him. At one point El Dandy was hitting these fast enzuigiris and spin wheel kicks before Mogur clocked Pierroth Jr. with a desperation lariat for a big nearfall and it's like this is NJPW now or something. Cool finish which reminds the fans every move is important. I think the match didn't even have a dive so reminder that lucha can be cutting edge and economic too. -
Well this was just a classic lucha romp with that rudo/technico dynamics. Tons of highly entertaining technicos one upping the clumsy bad guys sequences. The rudo trio is pretty dedicated – Hijo de Gladiador takes a front flip bump when he misses a punch, and Herodes is just gleeful about his own evilness, while El Supremo has a very different presence. I liked how the rudo beatdown started with Supremo basically having enough and clocking Pantera with a stiff elbow. Of the technicos I'd say I liked Pantera II the best who has such beautiful armdrags and his trademark rope running spot altough everyone did something cool. The 3rd fall had some really amusing chase spots. I was surprised how easily the rudos won this one.
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Ah, 2002, when Shocker was a great worker. I really liked the brief opening matwork, with Shocker flipping around and Guerrero catching him in a great flash Fujiwara Armbar. 2nd fall was short but had UG working Shockers arm over with hurty wristlocks and takedowns. Then Shocker made this great comeback and trying to boot his head off. Shocker looked damn good here, even throwing a great punch combo. The 3rd fall was your typical UG end run where they exchange big dramatic kickouts. Not my favourite thing but it was awesome to watch these two crush eachother with huge chunky guy highspots.
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[1992-04-17-CMLL] Octagoncito & Misteriocito & Mascarita Sagrada vs Espectrito & Piratita Morgan & Pequene Pierroth
Charles (Loss) posted a topic in April 1992
Talk about it here. -
[2012-03-02-CMLL] Negro Casas vs Blue Panther (Hair vs Hair)
Charles (Loss) posted a topic in March 2012
Talk about it here. -
This may be the case of an apuestas not QUITE delivering on the promise of the buildup trios. These two were fighting like mad everytime they squared off, and there are shades of that in this match – Guerrero starts with an awesome punch combo in the corner, and there are scrappy moments throughout the match. In total this was a big match with big moves where both guys worked hard – it didn't quite have the epic transitions or savage feeling I want from a legendary mask match, but rather huge bumps and dives. I'm probably unfairly harsh here because of how annoying bloodless mask matches got in the 2000s, while this was a far better match than any of these.
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[1992-04-03-CMLL] Blue Panther vs Love Machine (Mask vs Mask)
Charles (Loss) posted a topic in April 1992
Talk about it here. -
Talk about it here.
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This is the predecessor to their match a week later. I had no idea this match even happened, gotta love the internet. This wasn't a classic like the rematch but still really good technical lucha action. Dandy choking out Azteca in the opening fall was a really cool way to start. Then, we get the usual classy exchanges throughout. Man I love old school lucha with the focus on simple hip throws, fireman carries and leg trips. Everyone is almost offended when Azteca throws a punch. Then, Chavo Sr. Proceeds to get heel heat for complaining about forearms. Great finish to the 2nd fall. 3rd was really good with Dandy almost knocking out Azteca with a dropkick and Texano hitting a brutal powerbomb. Loved the big Chavo suplex, too.
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Another of those really good matches CMLL would produce multiple times a week. We get some quality Virus matwork aswell as unusually heated exchanges between Halcon Negro and Olimpico. It's also really nice to see Kendo doing his awesome thing in Mexico.
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Lots of good stuff in this Cibernetico with the opening exchange between Ultimo Guerrero and Olimpico being especially good. Really fast and intricate knucklelock work. Lots of great athleticism on display throughout. Unfortunately there were quite a few botches, including Bucanero hitting an accidental(?) avalanche Powerbomb on Sendero and then just killing him with an avalanche brainbuster that seemed to have knocked him out cold. It kind of killed the crowd too because everyone was thinking that poor guy might be dead. Buccanero eliminating a bunch of guys added some intensity and the finish was good.
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[1998-01-09-CMLL] Blue Panther & Fishman vs Atlantis & Lizmark
Jetlag posted a topic in January 1998
Really fun little match with everyone hitting the mat. It's always fun to see Fishman with his working boots on and Atlantis having something to work with. The Panther/Lizmark sections were especially wonderful and it's pure crazy that these two never had a singles match. Nifty finish. It's hard to think CMLL didn't have the best TV in 1998. -
Talk about it here.
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Talk about it here.