[1993-08-13-AAA-Sin Limite] El Hijo del Santo vs Heavy Metal

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Good match. But it's not at the level of the May match. I did enjoy this, but it's greatly dumbed down from May, where they worked the mat and did some really cool stuff. There's some of that here too, but the offense is a lot more with the times. It's good, but the other match stood out more because it was more unique. The falls are spread out in kind of an odd way and there's a lot more chicanery in the booking. Not at all a bad match, but too much of a departure from the May match for me to really get into it. The pop over Santo's victory is pretty significant.

[Zenjo]

This feud was pretty much Santo vs Broom. Metal was so average in ability, but was crucially good enough to be carried by the great tecnico. Compared with the May match there was less matwork and more flying. It wasn't like Metal was captivating on the mat so I enjoyed both about the same. Some fun action here and the crowd were really behind Santo. The tercera went to a double pin, but was thankfully restarted for the feelgood ending. The restart didn't help or hurt the match really, making it kind of pointless. Overall I was entertained and cheering for Santo like a mark in the audience. He's my hero too!

[Kevin Ridge]

They were teasing so many count outs following dives during the match that I was expecting it be part of the finish. Felt like a last man standing type match.

[PeteF3]

I was a fan of the countout teases in some earlier lucha matches but here they felt excessive and killed the flow of the match. I think it was a case of "fool me once..." here. I actually liked Heavy Metal more here than in the May match, as he showed some nice athletic moves, but this was more of a my-turn, your-turn bout without much in the way of a story. I did get taken in by the double-pin finish--they stall for a bit, then re-start the match, then it looks like Heavy Metal is going to bail, then he reconsiders and continues the match until Santo gets a decisive victory. Overall good, but not a high-end lucha singles match. I couldn't help but notice that Metal had essentially run out of things to do by the time they'd gotten to the restart--lots of repeated moves and sequences and not in a "learned psychology" way.

[soup23]

Will be the high vote here as I thought this was a good entry into this feud even if I still had it below the May match. I think the fact that Santo is able to mix in great wrestling, submission, and beautiful dives together is what made it so effective overall. I also did like some of the AAA crackpot booking here with the restart and stalls within the match. Very good effort and I look forward to more between the two. ***3/4

[garretta]

This didn't seem to be as good as the May match, from what I remember about that one. Santo was superb as always, and Metal was still decent, but there were two many double countout teases for my taste. One or two is fine, but they pulled it at least five or six times, which killed the impact for me. The referee gets credit for making a double countout seem possible by his quick count, though.

 

All three decisions happened too fast. Metal didn't last five seconds in either of Santo's submission holds, and the entire second fall didb't last more than a minute, so Metal's pinfall felt like a bigger fluke than it should have. The way most lucha matches are booked, you can eliminate the first and second falls anyway. I also didn't care for the extended countout tease after the restart. What wrestler in his right mind is going to pass up a chance to beat El Hijo del Santo clean in the middle of the ring twice? I liked the idea of the restart itself, but it's a spot that shouldn't be used too often.

 

Truth be told, the most impressive thing about this match was the fireworks shooting from all the cornerposts during the postmatch celebration. Not only was it a great pyrotechnic feat in itself, but it really made Santo's win feel big. I wish more American promotions used fireworks and similar effects that way today instead of making them part of every card whether they're needed or not.