DISC 8

[goodhelmet]

DISC 8

Pirata Morgan vs. El Dandy (Hair vs. Hair) (9/23/88)

Mogur vs. Mascara Ano 2000 (Mask vs. Mask) (9/23/88)

Blue Demon, Blue Demon Jr. y Ringo Mendoza vs. Emilio Charles Jr., Pirata Morgan y Satanico (11/25/88)

Super Halcon, Satanico y Masakre vs. El Texano, Lizmark y Rayo De Jalisco Jr. (3/19/89)

Angel Azteca, Atlantis y Blue Demon Jr. vs. El Dandy, Super Muneco y El Texano (3/24/89)

Sangre Chicana vs. Satanico (5/26/89)

Atlantis, El Dandy y Popitekus vs. Gran Markus Jr., Pirata Morgan y Ulises (5/26/89)

Popitekus, Angel Azteca y Steve Nelson vs. Emilio Charles Jr., Gran Markus Jr. y Masakre (6/9/89)

Javier Cruz vs. Hombre Bala (Hair vs. Hair) (7/2/89)

Emilio Charles, Fabuloso Blondy y Pirata Morgan vs. El Dandy, Atlantis & El Faraón (7/21/89)

Emilio Charles vs. El Dandy (Hair v. Hair) (7/28/89)

[Graham Crackers]

Pirata Morgan vs. El Dandy (Hair vs. Hair) (9/23/88)

Blood. So much blood. Pirata Morgan is the master of pro wrestling as Grand Guignol spectacle. Those terrifying images I associate with Pirata Morgan like spitting out a mist of blood or licking his opponent's blood off his hand are all here. The strikes are brutal too. I never really thought about it before now but Morgan probably works extra stiff to compensate for a lack of depth perception, kind of like Hansen being blind as a bat. Well, there are some really cringe inducing strikes in this one. Then there is El Dandy. He takes a huge beating in the early portions of this match and if Morgan doesn't cut him off the referee does. When he finally makes his comeback he gives Morgan a taste of his own medicine and Morgan becomes a pretty gruesome sight on his own. The finishing stretch is weird. They hit some huge moves and have a ton of nearfalls which is tricky territory for me when I'm watching lucha. This probably would have been just as good without as many nearfalls but they were sold well and they do feel unique in the context of this set so it worked for me.

 

Mogur vs. Mascara Ano 2000 (Mask vs. Mask) (9/23/88)

This is another fun heavyweight match but probably not at the same level as Rayo vs 2000 or even Cien Caras vs Siglo. Mogur is really good at working the mask ripping. I love how he tears 2000's mask and proceeds to hit him with brutal crossfaces. I thought Dos Mil was the third best member of Los Hermanos Dinamitas but he has impressed me on this set so I may have to reassess that opinion.

 

Blue Demon, Blue Demon Jr. y Ringo Mendoza vs. Emilio Charles Jr., Pirata Morgan y Satanico (11/25/88)

I thought this was really enjoyable but I'm a sucker for younger guys working really hard to put over a legend. These guys took such big bumps for every Blue Demon armdrag and headscissors takedown. That is a great rudo trio and with those guys holding down the fort this couldn't be that bad, even with a wrestler as lame as Blue Demon Jr. standing right there. This may be a bottom half match but I don't think it's a bottom 10 match.

[Graham Crackers]

Super Halcon, Satanico y Masakre vs. El Texano, Lizmark y Rayo De Jalisco Jr. (3/19/89)

This got better and better as it went along. Rayo vs Halcon was a major thread throughout this match as they were building to an apuestas match. Rayo can be such a charismatic and enjoyable performer that the brawling between those two, while not as spectacular as the best brawling on this set, was still really fun. Los Infernales are obviously the most fun guys to watch in this match. They both worked really well with El Texano who looked like a great brawling babyface although most of those moments happened opposite Satanico who I honestly think could make anyone look like a great babyface. Lizmark had some of the most impressive flashes in this match. Every time I see him he has such good timing and is as good throwing hands as he is flying around. He looks like an all time great but I keep feeling like we are only getting brief glimpses of how great he is as he hasn't been the main focus of any of any top tier trios matches and the Satanico vs Lizmark match was a bit of a disappointment to me. He's an incredible supporting actor but I'm still waiting for that great Lizmark starring role and I really want to believe it's out there.

 

Angel Azteca, Atlantis y Blue Demon Jr. vs. El Dandy, Super Muneco y El Texano (3/24/89)

A conversation that totally could have happened (but probably didn't):

 

"Hey Texano, it's me, El Dandy. I just got some New Japan tapes from Jeff Lynch and there's a fucking awesome Choshu vs Fujiwara match. We'll watch it after we drink and fuck some rats. Did you hear Fujiwara is going back to UWF? Maybe we'll get another Fujiwara vs Yamazaki match!"

 

So Atlantis vs Texano was pretty cool. Their matwork was a little more UWF-ish than some of the other matwork on the set. Outside of a couple flashy Atlantis counters this was more about attempting armbars and cool amateur wrestling. As a guy with a Super Muñeco avatar and signature I'm obligated to say that he's not as bad as tim says but I'll admit that his exchanges with Azteca weren't anything special. Blue Demon Jr. is pretty shitty though. he's pretty much only capable of a decent match when Hijo Del Santo is in the ring. Dandy tries really hard though and that's gotta be entertaining. Dandy vs Azteca is much better (that ends up being MOTY just a year later so that's no surprise). This is bottom half stuff but it has it's moments.

Sangre Chicana vs. Satanico (5/26/89)

Wow, this is incredible. It's an interesting match on paper before we even get to the ring. Sangre Chicana is an artist who paints in broad strokes while Satanico brings little details to his best matches and that's part of what makes them so memorable. This is some of the best standup fighting I've ever seen in a wrestling match. First of all, they throw some brutal punches. Not only are these punches nasty looking but even with the poor sound quality there are still a few punches that are really really loud. Satanico, being more of a grappler than Sangre Chicana controls the first moments of the match with clinches but shit gets real when Sangre Chicana is backed into the ropes and resorts to using a headbutt to defend himself. Both wrestlers throw a variety of punches as well as some varied defense. They make great use of bobbing, weaving, and blocking. I especially liked when Chicana used the ringpost to evade a few strikes. Neither man is afraid of fighting dirty either. I love Satanico coming back with a chop block followed by biting his opponent's forehead. Satanico is the master of those nasty bar fight techniques as he also hooks Sangre Chicana's eye to control his movements. Chicana's dirty techniques are a bit more psychological. He slowly approaches Satanico with his arms up as if comes in peace before throwing a cheap shot. This all comes to an end with the best double count out ever. Obviously, if there is a double count out both guys better be fighting around ringside or else I will be pretty pissed off. This isn't a wild brawl causing a double count out but it is a really intense showdown where neither man is willing to give up. This is the kind of match that could only have a decisive finish with their hair and their pride on the line and unfortunately we never got to see that. As it stands this is one of the best matches in one of the best years in wrestling history. It's one of the best matches on the set and I could see it as a dark horse number 1 pick.

Atlantis, El Dandy y Popitekus vs. Gran Markus Jr., Pirata Morgan y Ulises (5/26/89)

This match has two big fat fucks doing athletic lucha spots so it's definitely staying in the top half. You rarely get to see David vs Goliath stuff in lucha so watching the smaller guys taking down the big boys with all kinds of cool armdrags and flying techniques (including Morgan hitting the best tope en reversa) was pretty cool. One of the most fun matches on the set.

 

Popitekus, Angel Azteca y Steve Nelson vs. Emilio Charles Jr., Gran Markus Jr. y Masakre (6/9/89)

The Charles vs Nelson matwork was interesting but kind of dry. Masakre was pretty great in this, especially when selling for Popitekus or working with Angel Azteca. Azteca hits a fantastic tope with so much momentum that he bounces off of Masakre and lands 10 feet away. The Popitekus vs Gran Markus stuff was fun again but was based more around tecnico vs rudo stuff as opposed to the athletic exchanges of the last match. I think I'd like to see them in a singles match. The second two falls were pretty fast. This was nothing special but it had some entertaining moments.

 

Javier Cruz vs. Hombre Bala (Hair vs. Hair) (7/2/89)

Y'know, I've liked Javier Cruz in the other matches on this set but this is his breakout performance to this point. He had some tremendous selling that pushed this match over the top. He was so fired up and seemed so determined to win this match. This looked like the fight of his life. This was also a match with a lot of workrate and a lot of cool spots and Hombre Bala kind of shines in that sort of match. The big bombs and huge bumps were paced very nicely during the third fall and gave this an epic finishing run. This isn't an amazing upper tier match but this feels like it isn't too far outside of that spectrum. Maybe top 40?

 

Emilio Charles, Fabuloso Blondy y Pirata Morgan vs. El Dandy, Atlantis & El Faraón (7/21/89)

This might just be a top 5 match right now. I even like it better than the Satanico vs Sangre Chicana match I was just raving about. This match is all about building the El Dandy vs Emilio Charles Jr. feud and it does a better job of setting up that feud than any other trios match on this set has done setting up any other feud. It's not just that I want to see these two square off, I'm worried my expectations are now too high. They are intense when they are going after each other but those athletic spots tell me that as much as they may hate each other they are still both determined to be the best. At this point El Dandy has really put everything together. He showed flashes before and had some interesting ideas but now he really looks like the best. In this match he has that perfect balance of great execution, great timing, and great selling. I'm mainly familiar with El Dandy's 90s output which is incredible but in this match I really feel like I've seen the turning point in his career.

Emilio Charles vs. El Dandy (Hair v. Hair) (7/28/89)

I'm fucking loving this feud and I'm pretty excited just knowing that it ain't over yet. This was a step below that last trios match but still incredible. They redid the finish of the Dandy vs Cruz match but this was executed so much better as we had a few really great false finishes just before the brawl on the floor which also looked much more out of control in this match. tim really hit the nail on the head about how this felt like both guys had unleashed everything they had and they still couldn't finish their opponent off. I wasn't bothered by the ref stuff in the first fall all that much and I'm not sure if that was a rudo ref as much as it was the ref distracting Dandy and Charles taking advantage.