[1994-10-14-CMLL] Emilio Charles Jr vs Miguel Perez Jr (Hair vs Hair)

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Kevin Ridge]

I was unfairly comparing this match to the June hair versus hair match the whole time. This is not anywhere near the level of that match. First two falls is pedestrian stuff in my eyes. Perez wins the first fall but gets stupidly disqualified in the second fall. Felt like match needed more aggression with hair on the line.

 

Third fall they finally get going and it’s back and forth action. Charles reverses a suplex attempt with a small package and gets the win. They don’t even show Perez getting his head shaved. It gets clipped ahead to him with no hair. They shake hands after the match too. Was there a lot of heat in this feud to set up a hair match? I’m just not seeing it for this stipulation.

[Loss]

Agreed that this is too calm and doesn't really fit the usual violent style of a hair match, but it's hard to dislike a match where all of their stuff looks so good. Miguel's boxing style punches throughout this are awesome, and I love Emilio's bumping, especially when he falls backward through the middle rope off of a back elbow. Good match.

[Exposer]

This was very good. It needed that violent edge that all great hair matches have but Emilio Charles is awesome so I was happy with this.

[soup23]

Couldn't get into this at all. Moves looked nice but the three things I look in lucha are great brawling, mat wrestling, or highspots and this didn't have any of those. Perez does throw great punches but everything else he does doesn't connect for me and his facial expressions are so passive and stoic.

[PeteF3]

Squint and you'd swear this was Rusev against Terry Gordy. I don't know if Charles was a technico at this point or is just a default babyface against the Evil Puerto Rican, but it works. This is worked more like a lucha title match than an apuestas match, and the layout is almost totally American-style with a long heel control segment punctuated by hope spots and a babyface comeback. Perez seems like a lost worker--he was never going to get any smart-fan respect working in Puerto Rico or the deathmatch promotions, and by the time he got to the big stage it was well too late, with a WWF that had no real use for him. He does have a wide array of nice crunchy offense and good heeling skills after working as a babyface earlier on. Another clever screwjob finish to end the second fall as Perez seemingly believes the referee is counting Charles out as he has him locked in a cobra clutch, when he's actually counting for Perez to break a chokehold, which leads to a DQ. Charles trying to escape the clutch again becomes the focal point of the third fall before we run through some false finishes leading to a Charles win. With the familiar layout and pace I almost think this could serve as a gateway lucha match, but lucha novices would probably be disappointed at the lack of big dives and speed, so I'm not sure what audience this would be intended for. But I liked it, and the crowd certainly ate up the nationalistic bent of all of this.

 

There was money to be made in a rematch with Perez putting the rest of his body hair on the line. Locks of Love could have been bankrolled for the next ten years.