Blue Panther

[Luna_Bourke]

On 7/21/2025 at 11:12 AM, El McKell said:

He wants to and when he's wrestling outside of Mexico he can do it no problem, he apparently had to get special permission from the commission to wear it for the Danielson/BCC matches.

Good thing that hero Chris Ridgeway ripped his mask off on route to his victory over him.

 

But yeah, I really like him, he made the bottom end of my list, I have watched some of his stuff when he was more in his prime, and I think thats great, but also big into his current stuff, which is nuts to say given his age, and part of the appeal is his age, but obviously he still needs to work hard to do that, and only so many people can do that, like Mike Jackson who does it worse but kinda has a similar appeal. 

[Control21]

Blue Panther was one of the first wrestlers I fell in love with as a kid. I wish I still had the Blue Panther mask I got when I was younger. It was primarily the name and his cool mask, but I think what really struck me at the time was just how smooth he was as a wrestler. He is probably the foundation for my love of technical wrestling. If my memory is right, my first exposure to professional wrestling was through CMLL/AAA tapes that I got from swap meets. He stood out because he had a presence and command that was unique. 

Revisiting his matches today, I appreciate his matwork and versatility even more. I don't think he ever lost his quality as a maestro, and it seems to age like fine wine. The fact that he has been able to have matches with the likes of Danielson and Hechicero has been a tremendous gift to the wrestling world, and the recent match with Ultimo Guerrero was just tremendous. His 90s bouts with Atlantis are still some of the best examples of Lucha matwork out here. He was a no-brainer for the #3 spot on my ballot. 

[cad]

I haven't always been nice to Panther, so let me say that this takedown of Kato Kung Lee and the followup onslaught of headbutts was one of the coolest and most memorable things I've ever seen him do.