[1997-02-21-Promo Azteca] Rey Misterio Jr vs El Hijo del Santo

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Childs]

I had always found this a bit underwhelming in the past but liked it a lot on this viewing. It took them awhile to get going because of all the shenanigans with the seconds. Once they did, the technical display was as smooth and impressive as you'd expect from these guys. I liked the way Santo ramped up the physicality when he needed to seize the advantage and the fight Rey showed to avoid the camel clutch. I was surprised how heavily the crowd favored Santo down the stretch. In the end, probably just a notch below a lucha MOTYC.

[Loss]

This was an excellent match that could have been better, despite some really great moments. It took far too long to get past the opening distractions. I also thought it was a weird layout choice for Rey to dominate most of this and even to win the first fall. Based on the handshake and crowd support, I'm guessing that Santo was not a rudo outside of CMLL, but this match might have been better if he was. Rey's camel clutch escapes were a highlight, and I thought it was cool that Santo treated Rey as an equal instead of playing up the size difference. As much as I did enjoy this, I think there was some lost potential in this match too.

[jdw]

Live... this was fucking awesome. We all worried that Konnan would do something stupid like having Rey go over and some total bullshit finish. Instead it was an awesome finish with the "right finish" and the crowd going batshit.

[soup23]

Honestly was pretty disappointed in this. Good match is as far as I will go. I am a fan of stalling and a bigger fan than most of Larry Z but this match wouldn't fucking start. When it did we got some good wrestling but it felt to abrupt. I did love the second caida with Rey having Santo reeling but he makes one big mistake that santo makes him pay with. Santo opening the third fall the same way as Rey in the second was also a nice touch. The third fall finishing stretch is good and Santo winning gets a huge pop but Rey being on top for so long in this match derailed it for me. Rey was obviously amazingly talented athletically around this time but I still think he needs someone to fill in the lines of the matches he is in especially with him on top. I think Santo's execution was good here but the story and layout of the match had too many peaks and valleys overall for it to be one of the better matches of the year in my eyes.

[Kevin Ridge]

Slow at the beginning but Rey picks up the win in the first fall. Did not like Santo winning the second fall so quickly after. I did like the finish with Santo blocking a springboard dive with the knees. He rolls it over into the Camel Clutch for the win. Disappointing with the guys involved though.

[PeteF3]

Slow start with Misterioso making a nuisance of himself outside--and not in a heat-gathering way, a "go the fuck away and let these guys wrestle before I hit the Next Chapter button" way. Eventually he's dealt with and these two get to wrestling. The start was too slow for this to be a true high-end Match of the Year contender but it definitely got better as it went along, and avoided most of the usual Konnan bullshit. The only remnant of that would be that contrived "wrestler hangs horizontally on the ropes while the opponent climbs up and legdrops him" spot that I hate, but was all the rage in the late '90s. Really good finishes to all 3 falls and I really liked how they spaced out the big kickouts in the 3rd caida. That gave the match a bit of an epic feel, but they were kept few enough that it didn't feel like an overblown faux-epic. A good--really good--match, that doesn't quite live up to the dream match that it was on paper.

[JKWebb]

http://placetobenation.com/countdown-top-500-matches-of-the-90s-450-401/2/

 

#423

 

I was a little underwhelmed by the first two falls. I thought the the third fall was good and entertaining. I really didn't like the spot where Santo was hanging on the ropes waiting for Rey to pummel him with a leg drop. That kind of stuff will suck me right out of a match. It's really cool to see these two go, and the majority of the third fall makes this a match worth your time if you are a fan of these two. **3/4

[ohtani's jacket]

#423

 

"Underwhelming" is probably the best description for this match, but it's pretty clear from watching it that they didn't set out to reinvent the wheel. It's very much a house show title match, and I'm pretty convinced these days that a lot of the great looking lucha from title records and lucha mags was house show quality.

[KB8]

Yeah, underwhelming is about right. I actually watched this years ago and didn't get into it at all, though this time I did like the primera way more once it got going. The Misterioso stuff got long in the tooth, though. I'm all for some decent stalling and horse shit, but this wasn't particularly compelling and went on forever. Rey fighting out of the camel clutch was good stuff, at least. Decent match, but not really at the level you'd expect from two of the twenty best wrestlers in history.