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El Dandy


Grimmas

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I like that there's a dissenting opinion on Dandy, but I think you're allowing your enjoyment of the rudos to cloud your judgement a bit. The rudos are easy to identify with because they're naturally charismatic, but the tecnico role is harder to play, so when you have a guy who plays it well, it makes a tremendous difference to the overall quality of the match, feud or rivalry. Given you don't like the workrate stuff (i.e. the technical style), I'd recommend following one of his apuesta feuds in chronological order from the trios matches up until the apuesta bout. I think that's better than jumping around and watching random matches from a guy you don't really identify with yet. If you don't enjoy the Satanico vs. Dandy feud from 1990 in its entirety, I would write Dandy off.

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I did write in the microscope thread that I'm gonna get into the Satanico feud soon. Any time I see them matched up against each other in a trios setting, it seems like it brings the best out of Dandy. There are still tecnicos that I like in lucha such as Hijo del Santo, Super Astro, Atlantis, Brazo de Plata, hell I found myself really digging Tony Salazar on the lucha set so it's not just a thing where I only like rudos, although I do tend to enjoy them more.

 

I did watch the Dandy/Emilio Charles Jr. series from 89 that was on the lucha set and seemed to like it less than most everyone else. I just didn't bring any of that stuff over from DVDVR to put in the Microscope thread.

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A fair chunk of it was included on the 1990 Yearbook so you might want to go through that. I would recommend watching as much of the lead in as possible, but I can't tell you off the too of my head if any of them are must sees. Dandy's feud with Emilio is probably one of his four major feuds on tape so if you didn't like that then the Satancio stuff is probably a last resort.

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I'm just gonna go through all the 1990 I have on the El Dandy comp since I am really digging the Angel Azteca feud so far.

 

This is what I have left on DVD to go through for 1990, I guess I'll check this against the Yearbook to see if there's anything else to add:

 

El Dandy, El Satanico y Atlantis vs. Ulises, MS1 y Emilio Charles Jr. (EMLL 5/4/90)
El Dandy, El Satanico y Emilio Charles Jr. vs. Atlantis, Angel Azteca y Javier Cruz (EMLL 5/18/90)
El Dandy y Angel Azteca vs. Javier Cruz y Emilio Charles Jr. (EMLL 5/25/90)
El Dandy vs. Angel Azteca (EMLL 6/1/90)
EL Dandy y El Satanico vs. Angel Azteca y Atlantis (EMLL 6/15/90)
El Dandy, Javier Cruz y El Satanico vs. Ringo Mendoza, Masakre y MS1 (EMLL 7/27/90)
El Dandy, Rayo De Jalisco Jr. y Satanico vs. Cien Caras, Mascara Ano 2000 y MS-1 (EMLL 8/17/90)
El Dandy vs. El Satanico (EMLL 10/26/90)
El Dandy, Sangre Chicana y Lizmark vs. El Satanico, Emilio Charles Jr. y Jerry Estrada (EMLL 11/9/90)
El Dandy vs. El Satanico (Hair Match) (EMLL 12/14/90)

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  • 1 month later...

Dandy and Satanico looked great as recently as last year, in two very strong singles matches. He's sort of in that Hashimoto/Steamboat/Kawada/Santito category of being held up as an all-time great while simultaneously leaving the spotlight, which leaves this situation where you have to go back and remember why he was great rather than just hearing it as status quo gospel. His peak was 25 years ago, and the footage isn't as well preserved/readily accessible online as it should be. But at his best he is the ultimate hybrid of technico who would get it done on the mat, but who could also brawl with the best of him if the situation required him to go catapult Casas into a row of chairs.

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  • 5 months later...

Surprised at the lack of discussion about him. He is Mr. Versatility to me and most probably Top 10 . I understand the consistency criticisms (he is certainty no Casas in terms of that) but he has been great in 2000s stuff I have seen, great in the 1980s and great in everything in between. His 1990 was ridiculously good as observed by many. Could work any style, play any role and sell terrifically.

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I even love WCW El Dandy. The dude is one of the more well rounded wrestlers ever. He does have some footage issues, but man what we have is mostly pretty damn great. 90 Dandy alone is a contender for my top 100. Add in a decent portion of other good to great stuff and he's solidified a spot. Guy can sell, bump, work the mat, and throw a mean punch.

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  • 2 months later...

So I got to more Dandy and he feels like a top half guy for me. He might be the best blowoff match worker in the history of lucha libre. He might also be the best mat worker I've ever seen in lucha, which is saying something. Just incredible timing, great punches, great fire, he's the guy who has blown up my original idea for this list. Probably the biggest variant of the entire project for me so far, either him or Kandori.

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  • 4 years later...

He was top 20 for me last time and he'll be right around there in 2026. A bunch of trios with him involved that I'd never seen before have popped up on YouTube over the last five years, and I imagine that'll be the case over the next five years as well (the lucha libre corner of YouTube really is a treasure trove that keeps on giving).

He had a fairly short peak, but we have a better picture of what he was like now in those lean CMLL years of the mid-90s. The Llanes match from '94 was always praised and we now have some of the lead-in work to go with it, including an awesome trios match (that might've actually been out there before 2016, but I only saw it after the last vote). Random trios from '95 where he and Ray Gonzalez try to mutilate each other. More footage certainly doesn't dent his case, is what I'm saying.

And even if that peak was short, holy shit what a peak it was. 

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10 minutes ago, KB8 said:

He was top 20 for me last time and he'll be right around there in 2026. A bunch of trios with him involved that I'd never seen before have popped up on YouTube over the last five years, and I imagine that'll be the case over the next five years as well (the lucha libre corner of YouTube really is a treasure trove that keeps on giving).

He had a fairly short peak, but we have a better picture of what he was like now in those lean CMLL years of the mid-90s. The Llanes match from '94 was always praised and we now have some of the lead-in work to go with it, including an awesome trios match (that might've actually been out there before 2016, but I only saw it after the last vote). Random trios from '95 where he and Ray Gonzalez try to mutilate each other. More footage certainly doesn't dent his case, is what I'm saying.

And even if that peak was short, holy shit what a peak it was. 

There's another trios match and a singles match between El Dandy and Ray Gonzalez that've turned up fairly recently. 

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