[1991-08-16-CMLL] Blue Panther & Javier Cruz & Pierroth Jr vs El Dandy & Apolo Dantes & Black Magic

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

This was a fantastic trios match given lots of time. It was mostly based on matwork and exchanges, which was pretty cool. El Dandy still has it, which makes me wonder why he's not a centerpiece of 1991 booking like he was in 1990. I also appreciated that each team tried to wrestle as a unit instead of just as a collection of singles wrestlers. That paid off in small moments like Smiley standing off their opponents when Dandy locked in the figure four. Excellent!

[PeteF3]

Great match, possibly the best trios match of these two years. Everyone gets a chance to shine and while this is basically wrestled clean there's some jarring stiffness and hate here too, particularly when Cruz is in. Pierroth is a long way away from the big lumbering oaf I know him as--he works some pretty smooth exchanges here and shows off some agility as well. He and Dandy work a fine closing stretch in the third fall that sees Dandy get a pin, and then things peter out as the other two rudos bail for the COR.

[Kevin Ridge]

Pretty good match and nice to see Dandy again as he hasn't been featured much in 91 yearbook. He had pretty good exchanges with both Panther and Pierroth. Smiley was the one that impressed me though as outside of the little of WCW work I've seen this is probably the best I've seen him. He fit in good.

[soup23]

This was an awesome match. I really liked the Dandy/Panther sequence and am so depressed they didn't have an extended singles series that made tape. The pierroth vs. Dandy stuff was very good too. I liked how each fall here felt like a self contained story within the match. My top trios so far in the year.

[garretta]

This one must have hit me oddly, then. It was a good, solid match on the mat, but not much else. It was probably too clean; I wasn't exactly falling asleep, but I was definitely wondering when these guys were going to let loose, and for the most part, they didn't. By "let loose", I don't mean blood and violence, but I expected more flying and striking than I ended up getting. If I was going back through to rewatch these (which I'm not, at least not now), I'd probably appreciate this match more now that I know what I'd be in for.

 

Thanks for identifying Black Magic as Norman Smiley. I knew that I should know him from somewhere, but I couldn't place him for the life of me.

[dawho5]

I also thought that Smiley vs. Blue Panther on the mat was a really good exchange in addition to the above mentioned match-ups. Cruz avoiding Dantes right away made me think they'd do more with those two. Did Smiley legit hurt his arm when it got tied up in the ropes like that? Good action all the way through and some superb exchanges. I am still partial to the los Brazos matches, mainly due to Super Porky, but I'd put this at that level for 6 mans.