[1997-06-06-CMLL] El Hijo del Santo & Scorpio Jr & Dr Wagner Jr vs Negro Casas & El Fiero & Ultimo Dragon

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

A fun, storyline-driven match. Ultimo is taken out, leaving poor Casas to get decimated by Santo's team. They stretch this out for a long time just because they can. I enjoy Wagner as the Bull Nakano to Santo's Dump Matsumoto -- this insane second lieutenant who is having a little too much fun carrying this out. The rudos can't be beaten; they can only beat themselves -- as Wagner shoving the ref to the mat is the only thing that costs them the second fall. I like the moment where Casas is lying on his back on the floor getting beat up where the referee raises his hand. Some winner. Ultimo makes his big triumphant comeback in the last few minutes and the crowd goes crazy. Santo takes his receipt like a champ. Ultimo even gets a pin on Santo, which seems like a pretty big deal. Santo and company will face Casas and company again in a week, and I'm looking forward to seeing all of this play out more.

[Kevin Ridge]

Santo has Casas in the Camel Clutch and Dragon whacks him in the back with a kick. Santo lets go and smacks Dragon around a few times. Dragon looks to be frozen in place about upsetting Santo so much. He must have too big of a heart or something. He might not have a fully working arm though as he ends up getting taken out of match. Rudos beat the crap of Casas at end of first fall but their aggressiveness costs them a DQ in the second. Rudos continue to kick ass until Dragon returns! He beats Santo too! Really fun that wanted me to watch the rematch right away.

[soup23]

I really enjoyed this as a first match of things to come as they really ratcheted up the hate for each other. The match starts well enough with all the big pairings looking good against each other. I really liked the slip under that Santo did in their sequence. Things intensify when Ultimo gets taken out and this leaves the rudo side to go to a dark place as they waylay on Fiera and Casas. The bump Casas takes into the chairs is nutty. Ultimo comes back for his triumphant comeback and I was surprised to see him get the pin on Santo but it felt like a deserved and feel good moment.

[PeteF3]

I had trouble getting into this, at least until Dragon went down. It felt like a LOT of scene-setting but not much actually happening. There's slow burn and then there's stuff that causes me to drift out. Fiera also looks like he's aged ten years since the last time we saw him--he does the requisite back body drop bump and a few nice strikes but not a ton else. This did ramp up in intensity when Dragon got hurt, and Casas takes a royal shitkicking on the outside, including a nasty headfirst bodyslam into a row of seats. There's no pretense of "tweenerness" here--Casas is a full-fledged tecnico and Santo is a heel all the way. Dragon makes a surprise return just when it looks like all is lost, and he and Casas team up to superbomb Santo into defeat.

[GOTNW]

I had this listed as a classic and couldn't remember it at all, so I decided to give it a re-watch after what has to have been almost a decade. Well, maybe classic was a bit too much, but I would safely put this in the 9 out of 10/near-classic category, it's definitely one of my favourite trios matches. Opening fall starts ok, some fun Ultimo junior mat-sequences and more intensity than you'd expect from a random La Fiera-Wagner interaction, and even when they switch from doing charismatic lock-ups and staredowns to actual work it's still really good, Fiera hit Wagner with one of the most beautiful Bulldogs I remember ever seeing and his Snapmare and Armdrag also looked very good. Still, Santo vs Casas is the real story here, any time they even lock-up it's just magical, they bring an unmatched intensity to even the most mundane opening tropes of prowres. Match really kicks into a higher gear once Ultimo Dragon gets taken out after getting Hammerlock driven into the ringpost and starts selling his shoulder like it broke, that's a perfect example of a spot you'd look at and think "that probably hurts like hell it doesn't really make sense for you to do stuff like that all the time and just treat it like nothing". Once it's 3 vs 2 Santo and Wagner just go berserk, they beat on Casas like he owes them money and suddenly you get an even clearer reminder of what an all time great rivalry Santo vs Casas is and what it was all about in its best incarnation, which is what you're getting here. Seriously, they don't let him catch a break. Casas does an amazing sell job for the massive beatdown, and when it looks like the rudos are fully in control Ultimo Dragon magically appears and just goes over. Huh. Maybe Mexico is crazy and random things just happen. This is what you're thinking? Well wrong because the new Ultimo Dragon has different offense and movements and everything because it's not really Ultimo Dragon it's Felino in Ultimo Dragon's gear. I always make sure to watch the post-match for matches like these so I don't miss more action, and here it turned out very useful because they basically retroactively explained the entire angle by doing close-ups of how Ultimo looked before he went to the back and after he returned. But with all due respect to storytelling, what you really don't wanna miss is the moment when rudos are pissed off, going off cutting their mad promo and Casas and Fiera wack them one after another as they are moving past them on the ramp. Poetic justice! Cinema! Great match and a wonderful example of a well done mix of creative booking and intense action which purposefully moved forward a great rivalry in Lucha.