[1996-02-10-CMLL] El Dandy & El Hijo del Santo & Silver King vs Negro Casas & Apolo Dantes & El Satanico

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Beautiful match, and a legitimate MOTYC. These guys seem to be having a blast, and Casas getting a cheap pin over Santo is outstanding! More than that, Silver King may be the best guy in this match. He pairs well with Casas, with Dantes, with Satanico, and he is the standout guy. Lots of legitimately great heat building, teasing of specific pairings leading to big heated altercations later in the match. I'll probably come back to this at some point and do a more detailed review, but it's the second best match I've seen of the year so far (behind only Otani/Samurai).

[Tim Evans]

MOTYC? I gotta disagree with you Loss. I thought the match was ok but really disappointing. Santo and the Dandy/Satanico mat work to open the match was good but only going two falls and my dislike for Apolo Dantes hurt the match.

[KB8]

I'm somewhere between Tim and Loss on this (although it seems Loss liked this less after a re-watch). I was kind of bummed it only went two falls, but the ending to the second fall was unexpected and pretty great. Loved Dantes putting the boots to Santo while Santo was lying on the mat showing the ref' how his shoulder was up. The Dandy/Satanico pairing was really good here, building from the sportsmanlike exchanges in the first fall to them both agreeing to get back in the ring so they can punch each other in the face some more in the third.

 

Didn't think this was spectacular or anything, but I still dug it a lot.

[Kevin Ridge]

Well, well. Check out this line up. Satanico with a much different look. Him and Dandy doing their same good mat work. Santo and Casas look so good together in the ring. Wasn’t as good as I would expect with the talent but did enjoy seeing Casas getting the straight up pin over Santo in the second fall.

[Zenjo]

Sure enough Satanico had recently lost a hair match. Having a short haircut has disadvantages for a Luchador.

 

The individual matchups here were all strong. Dandy vs Satan on the mat. Heated between Dantes and King. Then the ever great Santo vs Casas feud. Impressive action all around in the primera. It cooled off as the rudos controlled the segunda. But then we had a smartly done finish. Santo's shoulder was up but the ref was unsighted. Two-Zip is a pleasant surprise to bust out occasionally.

[PeteF3]

Ah, it's been too long since we've seen a lot of these guys. Really good first fall, with Dandy and Satanico tearing it up on the mat and a terrific long finishing sequence, including a false finish which isn't always common in the primera caida. The second fall sadly isn't nearly as good, as we get a lot of meandering brawling that doesn't seem to mean much. Things pick up with another hot closing stretch, when Casas catches Santo with a small package to allow the rudos to sweep this 2-0, despite Santo's shoulder being up. I approve of more build to more Casas-Santo. It may well be the #2 match of the year but I really can't see this finishing in the top 10 or 15 by year's end.

[soup23]

I will take any Satanico and Dandy we get so I was delighted to see that here. I thought this overall was extremely strong and one of the better matches we have seen. The match certainly felt like one that was building to something more down the line but all of the pairings were strong and the sequences were extremely smooth. For a shitty lucha finish, this was in the upper end with some conceivable misunderstanding. ****

[tim]

Man this ruled; it had been too long since I saw a great lucha trios. Silver King and Apolo Dantes confront each other before the match, but El Dandy and Satanico start it off with some nice traditional matwork. Dantes and King are in next and have a very aggressive exchange, setting the tone for the rest of the match. Rudos take the first fall and the second fall is a free for all. Loved the spot in the beginning of the second fall when the rudos are beating on Silver King and Santito is fighting to pull him out. Some really awesome sequences where guys are hitting move after move with the teams switching who has the momentum. Santo is pretty spectacular is some of his moves here, and hits a really nasty slide through the ropes dropkick to the back of Casas' head. Casas grabs a quick small package on Santo and the rudos take it 2-0 in an unexpected ending. Post-match angle is that Santo's shoulders were up, he protests and they replay the angle a couple times. Definitely #2 match of the year so far.