Hombre Bala

[Grimmas]

Discuss here.

[Graham Crackers]

Hombre Bala is someone I was very interested in after finishing the 80s lucha set. Los Bucaneros were my favorite unit and while he wasn't the elite level worker that Pirata Morgan was, he was still right there pushing those matches forward. The hair match against Javier Cruz was a standout performance for both men and played to Hombre Bala's strengths when it comes to brawling, timing, and high workrate exchanges.

 

I'm know that he wrestled as Monsther in AAA after the turn of the century but unsurprisingly I don't remember anything about him wrestling there nor do I really remember much of anything he did during that Invasion angle in CMLL. Alebrije stood out as a much more impressive bizarre looking former AAA guy.

 

cubsfan's matchfinder makes it seem like he was at least an EMLL regular for a few more years in the early 90s. If those late 80s matches are his peak then he was a very very strong trios worker and if he can maintain some of that standard into the 90s then he'd have a good shot.

[cad]

Excellent journeyman type worker. He had the skills to make a feud or a 1 vs 1 match work, but where he really shone was with a team. If you wanted him to be a caveman he could be a caveman, and if you wanted him to be a pirate he could be a pirate. That's the flip side to not having much star power. You can fit in with whatever. Los Bucaneros were like the EMLL version of Los Brazos except geared more toward workrate, and he took some of those three man comedy routines with him to Los Cavernicolas, getting something fun out of an undercard act featuring three heavy guys in their late thirties. If you value tag team wrestling, and not just the ability to have great multiman matches but to actually fit in as part of a team, give this guy a look.

Matches:
HB, Pirata Morgan and Emilio Charles Jr. vs Super Muñeco, Ciclon Ramirez and Huracan Ramirez (Sevilla)
Hombre Bala vs Javier Cruz
Los Bucaneros vs Los Brazos
Los Cavernicolas vs Los Metalicos (not their most famous match, but this is online and that one isn't, and this one's pretty good too)

A-H rankings (partial):

Spoiler

El Hijo del Santo
Fuerza Guerrera
El Dandy
Atlantis
Espanto Jr.
Dr. Cerebro
Emilio Charles Jr.
Black Terry
El Satanico
Ciclon Ramirez
Felino
Blue Panther
El Texano
El Faraon
Dos Caras
Angel Azteca
Brazo de Oro
Hombre Bala
Bestia Salvaje
Cien Caras
Herodes
El Brazo
Arkangel de la Muerte
Canek

Fuerza vs Dandy is a hard choice. Dandy has more matches that I really like, but Fuerza made his bones against worse workers and with a much more singular style. Two greats.

Espanto Jr. has a lot of the same strengths as Dr. Cerebro. I think he has the better series with Hijo del Santo, and some of those were with a very young, less self assured and less legendary version than the one Cerebro got to wrestle. He had the skills to have wrestled like Cerebro, if that had been an option in his era.

The greatness of El Satanico is undeniable, which is why he slots in between Black Terry and Ciclon Ramirez. I've also finally admitted that Felino was a great worker, but putting him above Ciclon also would be too much. He got Ciclon's mask. I'll let Ciclon win this one.

Texano and Faraon now represent my dividing line for greatness. I don't think there's enough out there for me to know if either was truly great, but maybe. Dos Caras, my old dividing line, has a lot of matches in which he doesn't do much.