[1990-03-02-EMLL] Angel Azteca & El Dandy & El Texano vs Fuerza Guerrera & Jerry Estrada & Pierroth

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

This match takes a few minutes to really get going, and then a restart is needed when the ropes slip, and Pierroth ends up taking a nasty accidental fall on the floor. They improvise by brawling around the ringside area. The match suffers a little bit because the rudos are outnumbered, so the dynamic is off. Who is going to have sympathy for Fuerza Guerrera? I laugh that Fuerza isn't hitting the ropes for shit after what happened to Pierroth, while Estrada has no problems standing on them, and bumping all over the place. Even if that was Fuerza's real reaction, it fits him perfectly. Not as good of a match as I remembered, but I'm still glad it made the yearbook, and there is way better EMLL to come.

[PeteF3]

I was pretty lost as to what was going on for a lot of this. Match is slow to start, though it's fun seeing Pierroth work some pretty athletic spots and Azteca (about whom I know absolutely nothing) looks really good. Then Pierroth takes a sick fall to the floor when the ropes break and the match grinds to a halt. We get a LOOONG argument on the technicos side after the second fall, I believe because Los Cowboys want to continue the match 2-on-2 and Azteca wants to keep competing. Then El Texano levels Estrada with a martinete for...what I guess is the DQ, except one referee counts a pinfall on Estrada anyway. This never really got out of first gear and then went off the rails with the (unplanned? shoot angle?) injury to Pierroth. I get the whole technico ref/rudo ref aspect of lucha but the officiating was all over the place. Aside from the finish, at one point the refs act like Azteca can't compete because it's supposed to be 2-on-2 now, but then don't make any real effort to break things up when the rudos move in to attack him.

 

Hopefully the next lucha 6-man is just 6 guys wrestling.

[soup23]

Azteca and Dandy on the same team.... hmmm. Estrada continues to bump like a loon in every match I watch him in by doing a nestea plunge spot to the outside. Then Pierroth takes a horrific bump when the rope breaks. Match gets real disjointed from there but the action was still good and we got the first piece of a big feud in EMLL in 1990.

[Cox]

I had trouble following this. I enjoyed the antics of Fuerza Guerrera and Jerry Estrada, but I just couldn't get into it. Probably wasn't helped by the ropes breaking, which threw off the whole dynamic, but still.

[Kevin Ridge]

I like how their video cards list either tecnico or rudo for each guy. Good mat work early. The tecnicos are very weary of the rudos and keep going over to their corner to keep things in order. Top rope breaks on an irish whip and Pierroth spills to the outside! This all leads to tecnicos winning first fall.

 

Pierroth didn’t look too good there and he’s not out there for second fall so handicap match now. Estrada almost landed on his face/neck all wrong when he fell off the second rope. There is some arguing on the technico side and I’m kind of confused what brought this on.

 

Third fall. I thought the tombstone was illegal in lucha? Match seemed to fall apart after Pierroth getting hurt. Seemed like they were trying to play up the tecnico issues but I would have called an audible and had the tecnicos win on two straight falls since they had the numbers advantage.

[Laney]

This match seemed to be a bit of mess and I had some trouble following what was going on with the 3rd fall. There were moments where the wrestling was good, but for the most part this was a mess. I think this would have been a much better match if the rope didn't break.

[garretta]

This match actually put the 3/23 Dandy/Azteca bout (which I'd watched first) into perspective a bit.

 

I'm not sure who the booker was, but if the boys did this on the fly, it shows their improvisational genius. Azteca not only feels slighted because Texano and Dandy want him to step out of the match, but then has to watch Dandy blow the whole thing by tombstoning Estrada, which he knows perfectly well is illegal. I'm sure they've done this angle in the States at some point somewhere, but not off of an unplanned bump. The action was pretty good, especially since the wrestlers had to compose themselves in order to continue with the match after Pierroth almost killed himself, but the booking overshadowed it, at least for me. This easily beats Flair/Luger for Best Booking Save In The Face of Potential Disaster so far in 1990. Excellent job by all.

[goc]

I really wish I knew whether the rope breaking was part of an intentional angle to start an issue with El Dandy & Angel Azteca. If this WAS intentional this is one of the smartest angles I've ever seen. If it wasn't intentional then these guys did an amazing job of turning an accident into something that ended up being an overall good. I really liked how the "hey which one of us should bow out of the match?" thing escalated especially after Angel Azteca got beat in the 2nd fall after Texano & Dandy had agreed he should go.

[drew wardlaw]

Once again, I have no idea what's going on here. I was very confused. I'm not sure why these lucha matches are so difficult for me, but they really are. I just don't get it.

[dawho5]

I tried following this thing pretty close. Here's what I got...

 

First fall goes fine until Pierroth hurts himself in a really bad ring malfunction. Looks like Estrada is avoiding Texano throughout.

 

Rudos lose first fall off-camera and then the tecnicos cover for the unmasking of Pierroth while he is attended to.

 

Dandy and Texano, being tag partners, try to convince Azteca to leave. He won't. Fuerza tries to help by just tossing Azteca out every chance he gets.

 

Rudos take second fall anyway with Estrada halways wasting time on Azteca before he realizes Azteca should be gone, so then Estrada just stops and goes back to doing anything else.

 

Azteca refuses to leave between falls despite both of his partners and the refs trying to get him out. Fuerza again puts him on his ass outside. Azteca comes back in and more arguing, Fuerza goes with it for a bit before legit slamming Azteca and pinning him so he can't get out of the count.

 

Azteca is still in the way so Texano just tombstones Estrada, keeping with the Cowboys rivalry with Estrada from the start but just...backwards? DQ ensues. Azteca is still arguing with Dandy about why Texano didn't leave. Seems pretty obvious Azteca was the right choice, to everyone but Azteca.

 

I thought Azteca was easily the weakest guy in the match also, despite his amazing headgear coming in. These guys having a legitimate argument over who should leave throughout falls 2 and 3 is mind-blowing to me. I dug Fuerza being scared shitless of going to the ropes as well, and Estrada doing that Buddy Rose floor bump was incredible. Estrada is a guy I need to see a lot more of. Angel Azteca seems like a real asshole.