Thoughts on various lucha matches

[alexoblivion]

Just thought I would start a thread for thoughts on various lucha matches from any time period, and for matches that perhaps don’t belong on the worth watching section of the yearbook project. Would encourage anyone to participate or contribute as it’s always interesting to read other’s thoughts on a match they do or don’t like. Thought I would start this off with a match that I really like, but one that may not belong on a yearbook:

 

(Pierroth Jr. and Vampiro vs Jaque Mate and Masakre 3/5/93) This started with some solid matwork between Mate and Pierroth that had an edge to it as Mate was trying to prove himself as Pierroth’s equal. Pierroth tries to keep on good terms with his teammates but also prevent them for teaming up on Vampiro, which Mate and Masakre take offense to. Vampiro and Masakre have decent chemistry and Vampiro lets Masakre do his thing to take him out of the first fall. By the second fall, Mate decides to burn bridges with Pierroth, with it becoming clear that he doesn’t care about winning, but destroying Pierroth, which he does. The beat down goes on for some time, and never ceases to being engaging. Mate works over Pierroth with plenty of intensity and contempt, with Pierroth on the receiving end of a lot of nasty head butts and biting, never letting up on Pierroth. Masakre joins in when Mate is finally restrained; delivering with the same contempt that almost equaled Mate’s. Credit should be given to Pierroth for this as well; his selling, bleeding, and charisma kept this engaging.

 

(Ringo Mendoza vs. Javier Cruz vs. Mogur 3/2/93 Triangle Hair Match) Not terrible, but disappointing. The only one who wrestled with any urgency or animosity in this was Ringo. Ringo was posting dudes, throwing good punches, biting, and working over the small cuts on both Javier and Morgur. I thought Javier would have done more with this opportunity, as it’s clearly a match designed to build him up, but Ringo, and even Mogur on a lesser level, really out shined Javier’s pedestrian performance. Should also mention that there were a lot of empty seats visible in Arena Coliseo.

 

(Dos Caras/Lizmark/El Dandy vs Negro Casas/Bestia Salvaje/Chicago Express 5/31/1996) Worth watching for the interactions between Dandy and Casas. From the beginning Casas went out of his way to make it personal with Dandy. What little matwork Casas does with Dandy in this have a little extra physicality from Casas, and his kicks and punches in this looked great. Dandy eventually blades after some of those aforementioned kicks to the face from Casas, losing his resolve and opening up Casas in return. Favorite moment of this was Casas ripping at Dandy’s eye before the finish, as besides kicking someone in the face, simple things like that go a long way in conveying the hatred.

[Tim Evans]

Felino/Octagon/Heavy Metal/Pathfinder vs. Jaque Mate/Abismo Negro/Electroshock/Pentagon 7/12/1999 This was from Felino's short run in AAA in 1999.He was there from April to October and only had a handful of matches before going back to CMLL. This match was built around the Tropicasas vs Tirantes feud as Tirantes lost his hair in June due to Felino. Tirantes is kicked out of the match early one but comes back with the Kickboxers that Pena had a fixation on during the time. They destroy Felino and Heavy Metal and it turns into a big brawl where the Vatos Locos get involved. Rest of the guys don't do much but it's nice to see Pathfinder in a main event.

 

LA Park vs Dr. Wagner Jr. Monterrey 4/7/2002 If you liked the feud these guys had but can take rudo ref, I say this would be worth watching. It's Monterrey wrestling to a Tee with the refs fighting the wrestlers and even doing dives. A brawl that goes all over the building and Park gets his mask ripped to shreads. Lots of weapons shots.

[alexoblivion]

Jerry Estrada vs Rey Misterio Sr. 7/8/94 Started off promising as the first fall was worked at a pretty fast rate that featured some good brawling and bumping between Rey Sr and Estrada, with some cool moments such as Estrada kicking Rey Jr. while putting his bandana back on and Estrada licking Senior’s blood was just as disgusting as intended. Towards the end of the second fall the booking in this really started to drag the match down, which is unfortunate as the work between the two was still good. 3^rd fall ends before it even gets started as interference ends the match. Rey Sr. looked great in this, as his bumping, selling, and offense were tremendous. I thought Estrada was good in this as well, but one thing that bugged me was that he just came off as spaced out when selling sometimes, more so towards the end.

 

Perro Aguayo vs Fishman 6/23/92 Pretty much what I was hoping it would be. Plenty of nastiness in this with stiff headbutts, punches, chops, kicking, and ripping at each other’s faces. Shit, even their drop kicks had quite a bit of force. Some visceral stuff throughout; the pin by Perro on Fishman with him sticking his knee in Fishman’s throat, Perro gouging at Fishman’s eye to get out of an abdominal stretch, and both kicking at each other while they were down, which pretty much summarized the tone of the match as they did not let up on each other. Even without a finish this was still a pretty satisfying watch.

[goc]

I watched this a while ago so it's not 100% fresh in my mind but I feel like people need to seek this out:

 

Perro Aguayo vs. Sangre Chicana - Cage Match Monterrey Early 90s - I do not know the exact date on this. This is a Cage match which seems to not be that common in Mexico especially from this time period. There is really nothing fancy here just two dudes beating on each other with punches and trying to climb out of the cage but with great selling and drama. Eventually they get tired of the referee trying to stop them from beating on each other so they attack him, and rip his clothes off and send him out of the cage! Then they wrap his tattered clothes around their fists and go back to beating on each other. There is no finish as eventually the ref comes back with new pants and throws out the match but it's a really fun spectacle.

 

 

 

The original uploader's account disappeared but luckily I had the presence of mind to grab this when I first saw it and was able to reupload it onto my own account

 

 

 

[kingliam]

These were written for my blog, so a bit more detailed/chatty in nature, but thought I might as well share them.

 

Rush/La Sombra/Tetsuya Naito vs Euforia/Ultimo Guerrero/Thunder

Having caught wind of the fact that Tetsuya Naito would be at a UK show I'm attending in October, I thought that I needed to see him in his most recent guise as a heel. Marrying this with my general desire to expose myself to more Lucha, and I chose this match as my starting point.

 

It helps that the name 'Rush' was in the tagline. Arguably, there isn't a better heel in wrestling - and from my understanding, the type of things he says in promos only adds to the easy hatred. Any chance to see him is always worth my time. Los Ingobernables as a stable and overarching storyline are just brilliant, taking the expected divide between rudo and tecnico and ripping it to shreds.

 

The first fall of this match is fine, as Los Ingobernables attack before the bell, blasting through their opposition in three minutes to pick up the primera caida. La Sombra hits double knees to the face of a seated Euforia for one pin, whilst Rush follows up a corner seated dropkick with the laziest pin going for the 'tecnicos' to go 1-0 up.

 

The second fall is where the match begins to fall apart for me. The storyline running through the second and third fall is the dissension between the 'rudos', especially Thunder and Ultimo Guerrero. The issue here becomes that Los Ingobernables are basically the uber-rudos in the match, making a wrestler such as Ultimo Guerrero comes across more like a tecnico - although he isn't. The skewing of face/heel lines makes it hard to reason out the story - is Thunder falling out with Ultimo Guerrero giving us a reason to like or dislike Thunder? Or like or dislike Ultimo Guerrero, for that matter? Do we just read it as one rudo who doesn't like another rudo?

 

This confusion, along with the bitty nature of the altercations in the segunda caida, makes the second fall less interesting than the shortened first fall. After La Sombra submits to Euforia, Thunder pulls Rush out of the way of an Ultimo Guerrero corner seated dropkick, pinning him with his own suplex into a pin. The best part of the second fall is Naito's decision to mock Ultimo Guerrero's roof-raising celebration, and Thunder's pretty brutal looking knees to Rush at ringside - possibly a receipt for some of the less than delicate ways that Rush interacted in the first fall.

 

Thunder threatens walking out, but comes back into the ring for the tercera caida. In this fall, we get to see Naito's top-rope ability as he lands a twisting press to the outside. The finish sees Rush nailed by a Thunder clothesline, only for Ultimo Guerrero to push him out of the way and lock Rush in a submission for the submission victory. It may be the way the match is edited, but the third fall only seems to go about a minute and a half to two minutes, which is just not long enough.

 

Following the match, Los Ingovernables get their heat back by beating up Thunder at ringside, but it is not enough to save what was generally a bit of a confusing mess in places.

 

Atlantis/Rayo De Jalisco Jr./El Dandy vs Satanico/Emilio Charles Jr./Kamala

When I initially conceived this column back in the day, this was the type of match I was looking to cover. In 1991, Kamala went to Mexico and stood across the ring from some of the biggest names in Mexican wrestling history. As a wrestling fan, if that doesn't at least pique your interest, I think you might be broken - it is Kamala versus luchadors, it can only be an interesting way to spend your time!

 

That is not to downplay the other wrestlers in the match. When in the ring with each other, the action is crisp, and is often centred around the good face/heel trope of the faces outwitting the heels, with the heels often only getting the upper hand through the use of underhanded tactics or the big, hired gun: Kamala.

 

What might have otherwise been an entertaining match becomes one that is eminently more interesting by the introduction of Kamala and, more importantly, the way he chooses to present his character. We effectively get cowardly heel Kamala, with stooging off away from Jalisco Jr. early on, handshakes being offered twice (Jalisco Jr. not learning his lesson from the first one and getting hit both times) and general appealing to the crowd, not something you associate with Kamala. It takes Atlantis stomping on his bare feet to really phase the big guy at all.

 

After the tecnicos take the first fall (El Dandy cradling Satanico whilst Atlantis has a modified leglock/pin on Charles Jr.), we see more of this bizarro Kamala, as he shadow boxes upon entering the ring, before playing a round of 'catch the pigeon' as luchadors escape him by sliding through his legs. Eventually, the rudos are able to take control in this fall, squaring the match up following Charles Jr. hitting Dandy with an Alabama Slam and Satanico submitting Atlantis. Adding insult to injury, Kamala then splashes the guys who have just lost! Great heel tactics there.

 

Unfortunately, the match falls apart a little in the final stretch, as there are prolonged periods where it feels like not a lot is happening. There is a fun spot where we see Kamala being chopped down like a tree by the three tecnicos, only for him to instantly tag out, losing the effectiveness of the attack. Similarly, the ending feels a little strange, as the tecnicos finally have begun to rock Kamala, only for Atlantis and El Dandy to slide under Kamala and out of the ring. This leaves Jalisco Jr. on his own against the three rudos, with Kamala giving him a big splash to pick up the three count.

 

A complete fish out of water set-up really, and very entertaining for it. If the idea of Kamala playing every cowardly heel you've ever clapped eyes sounds interesting, you owe it to yourself to watch this match. Very good match overall - shame about the finish.

[ohtani's jacket]

Going through the '93-95 stuff is invaluable. I strongly considered picking up all of the 1994 CMLL at one point, but now somebody else can wade their way through it. Please keep it up.

 

Oh, and btw, there are two Negro Casas' listed in the third match review from your first post.

[goc]

I watched the Atlantis/Rayo De Jalisco Jr./El Dandy vs Satanico/Emilio Charles Jr./Kamala match a few months ago and absolutely loved it. Kamala doing Rayo's taunt was the best thing ever.

[Tim Evans]

Mentioned these matches in the What are you watching thread but I"ll put them here:

 

El Dandy, Mr. Niebla and Tony Rivera vs Scorpio Jr., Crazy 33 and El Enterrador 1/25/01

El Dandy, Felino, Super Parka vs Scorpio Jr, Rambo and Mr. NIebla 2/1/01

 

Dandy and Scorpio Jr were feuding leading up to a IWRG IC heavyweight title match. First match had both guys just bloody and ripping the masks of the other guys. Second match told more of a story. Dandy/Scorpio continued to rip each other to shreds. Dandy won to set up the title match. Rambo turned technico after some miscommunication spots with Scorpio. Super Parka is such a underrated gimmick. Way better than Volador and at times I like him better than LA Park.

 

El Dandy vs Scorpio Jr. 2/8/2001

 

Title match lucha is tough sometimes. It can be real good but when it's done shitty, it can be bad. Sadly, this was the latter. Very disappointing as I was expecting a bloodbath but it was mostly one the mat. Now Dandy was one of the best mat guys around but not so much in early 2000. Crazy 33 and Rambo are the seconds. They don't add much except for the finish which was really weak. For some reason, this had like a 9 minute second fall and real short 3rd fall.

[alexoblivion]

Negro Casas/El Dandy/Mascara Magic vs Mano Negra/Mocho Cota/Bestia Salvaje 1/17/95 Tricky edit in this as the match starts with Dandy in a headlock by Cota, which I guess was done by CMLL and not whoever recorded this on their VCR. Disappointing, as their second exchange is brief but intense. They work a sequence after a good Mano Negra and Casas exchange(more so because of the former) with a fired up Cota shaking Dandy’s hand on the outside that made me really want to see more between the two. Coliseo fans had an interesting reaction to Cota and Casas paring off in the third fall that I would like to interpret as some type of buzz, but I can’t figure out whether it was positive or negative. This was ok but needed more. Everyone was fine in this, but Mano and Cota, and to a lesser extent Dandy and Casas, really exerted the most effort and both showed that they had more to offer at the time than random ass trios matches.

[alexoblivion]

El Dandy & Olimpico vs Bestia/Damian el Gerrero 7/30/96 This was cool. Nothing earth shattering, but it was a fun watch. It was brief, but it turned out heated with the crowd being into the match from the start. The Olimpico/Damian feud was the focus of the match, so Dandy and Bestia made sure their respective partners were able to inflect damage upon the other while keeping each other at bay. Damien bloodies Olimpico, which was pretty entertaining to watch,and Olimpico gets his revenge. By the end of this Olimpico was able to match some of Damian’s tenacity and viciousness. There are other moments worth singling out, but Dandy’s sign of the cross before his corner tope on Bestia was a cool moment.

[Tim Evans]

Octagon/Alebrije/Hator/Perro Aguayo Jr. vs. Sangre Chicana/El Texano/Jaque Mate/Mocho Cota 8/16/1999 This was just wild. Not a particularly good match as it was 1999 AAA and only went about 10 minutes but the heat was insane. The big feud was Octagon/Mate as Mate was about ready to drop his mask. It was weird seeing Hator as a Latin Lover type babyface who Texano destroyed. Cota was great as usual with his rudo antics. The main event of this show was a cage match with Jerry Estrada/Sanguinario vs Panther/Latin Lover and this being Monterrey, the crowd was throwing drinks at the rudos. Especially Texano. Cujie's antics with Cota was funny.

[Tim Evans]

Abismo Negro/Paranoia/Nikozuna vs. Shocker/La Parka (AAA)/Vampiro Canadiense AAA October 2005 This took place in front of a rabid crowd in what looked like a concert place in Mexicali. Nikozuna is the former Tonga Kid doing a Rikishi gimmick mixed with Yokozuna. He had to be about 350 pounds here. Even bigger than Rikishi when he was around in 2004. Paranoia is a big jacked foreigner guy who I thought was Strongman Anderson but he had a hideous back tat so it wasn't him. The match was disappointing as it was all rudos going after Parka as Shocker turned on Vamp about 2 minutes into the match. Konnan who had interfered in every match up to this point comes down and the place goes nuts throwing shit at him. Funny moment happens as Gran Apache channels Jerry Lawler by doing a run in wearing only a towel and soap all over him.

[alexoblivion]

Mascara Magica vs Karloff Lagarde Jr. (2/6/98) This was solid as Mascara and Karloff meshed well together, and even though I wouldn’t consider this too memorable in the long run, I could see placing this in the lower half of the top 100 matches of 1998 as it was well structured and both guys put in a good performance. Stylistically, I appreciate that they saved any pin attempts or near falls for the 3^rd fall, and because of the structure and selling, they really got the most out of their offense.

 

Bestia Salvaje/El Brazo/Emilio Charles Jr. vs Negro Casas/La Fiera/ Hector Garza (7/21/95) The focus of this was the El Brazo/Hector Garaza feud, and because there are so many talented individuals involved, this had some entertaining moments, though it was really too short and incomplete to be anything more than that. Worth watching for EL Brazo though, as he walked the line between coward and psychopath. Guessing because he didn’t blade himself, Garza ends up bleeding a ridiculous amount. Not much to add in regards to Casas, as besides a brief exchange with Bestia, he wasn't much of a presence in this.

 

Lizmark/Volador/Super Muneco vs Los Payasos (11/94) Really fun watch and a good showcase for those involved. Los Payasos bump and feed, Lizmark hits some really slick shit, Volador does some cool highspots, and Muneco provides a good reason to watch this. Munceo and the Clowns apparently hate each other so you get some pretty violent moments when Muneco is involved. Like unexpectedly violent moments as poor Munceo eats some really nasty headbutts and posting in this. Quality of the Muneco/Payasos match up only leads me to questioning how the other Muneco and Los Payasos matches were.

 

Satanico/Emilio Charles Jr vs Pierroth Jr/Dr. Wagner Jr (12/2/94) Much more offense driven than I was expecting as they start working near falls and submission attempts pretty early on, and because a majority of the pins and submission attempts are interrupted, you get to see the wrestlers run through their offense pretty quickly. Booking wise there are some interesting things, as the first fall ends with a count out and double pinfall, while the second fall had Emilio single handily coming back from behind and winning the match for his team. While Satanico and Wagner had their moments, I really enjoyed Pierroth and Emilio in this. Both just really brought a lot of energy and physicality, as well as matching up well against each other.

 

Felino vs Karloff Lagarde Jr (4/21/98) Not a great match by any means, but I did find it to be worth watching. Not that Lagarde is some great lost worker, but I do enjoy watching him as he is the complete opposite of his peers at the time and there are some aspects to his career that I don’t fully understand…aspects like how he was able to amass so many high profile trainers, and if in fact his LuchaWiki information is to be believed in regards to his trainers. He also does some simple, but nifty things that appeal to me, like stepping on someone’s ankle/foot and pushing them down, which I promise is a lot cooler than I’m making it sound. Match was mostly made up of really simple uncooperative stuff throughout that could be deceivingly nasty at times, with some slick exchanges mixed in. The matwork between Felino and Lagarde came off as pretty uncooperative and physical, and both were active when working or trying to escape from a hold. Second fall was interesting as they continue to do a lot of takedowns and matwork, except Felino stiffens up and clamps his hands down when Lagarde takes him down, making it difficult for Lagarde to grab a hold. They also continue a lot of the simple amateur style pinfall attempts that come off pretty energy exerting, as they are both are just constantly trying to gain the advantage, and as an added bonus will do things like stick their elbow in the other guy’s face or throat. What really takes this match down a level is how short the third fall is and how abruptly it ends. The problems with the third fall seem to be more on Felino’s shoulders, as Lagarde seemed game when it came time to turn it up a notch.

[alexoblivion]

Lizmark vs. Emilio Charles 5/30/97

While this didn’t live up to my to unrealistically high expectations, I still thought this was good. Unfortunately though,this does feel incomplete as the finish was a double count out and was too short for a title match. Strange thing to write, but I did enjoy the one-sided nature to this match as Lizmark was immediately the more aggressive of the two, really pushing the pace early and trying to put Emilio away at every opportunity. Because of this, Emilio was forced to be defensive, and came across as pretty crafty and resourceful, as he was always trying to find a counter to stay in this.

[alexoblivion]

Fuerza Guerrera vs Olimpico (2/16/99) Twitter told me that PWO was horrible and dead, so it is my obligation to further this perception and make sure to continue to post my scrambled opinions in this thread. This benefited immensely from the great atmosphere provided by the fans at Arena Coliseo as they were feeling this one. I loved the rudo cheering section at ringside that worships Fuerza and Olimpico’s father, who is a former wrestler, nervously smoking cigarettes in the audience. Too bad the work in the ring couldn’t match that atmosphere. Fuerza kept things simple in the first fall as he guided Olimpico through obligatory title match matwork, with Olimpico always able to find a flashy counter to stay one step ahead. Because of this, Fuerza immediately switches gear and becomes more aggressive. This catches Olimpico off guard and allows Fuerza to maintain control up until the end of the second fall. Even though he hadn’t really taken that much damage, I loved the start of the third fall with Fuerza laying in the corner and refusing to start the match. The 3^rd fall was exciting as it was back and forth with both digging deep to try and win, and Olimpico and Fuerza trading near falls. Olimpico of course gets the win and his celebration with his dad was cool. This wasn’t great, but it was good and the 3^rd fall was genuinely exciting.