soup23 Posted April 9, 2017 Report Share Posted April 9, 2017 A breathtaking wrestling match. These two are absolute masters and built a brilliant match that worked on layering and having amazing mat work leading to the final caida and the climax of Santo’s insanely great dive and Panther taking the cheap way out to win. Too many amazing moves to call them out but both guys were like glue with each other on the matwork and I was especially impressed with the amount of work that was done with each individual on their head. The finish sets up the rematch perfectly and I can’t wait to watch it. One of the better matwork matches I have ever seen. ****1/2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted April 14, 2017 Report Share Posted April 14, 2017 Absolutely beautiful wrestling match, and probably the best pure title match-style lucha libre I've seen since the early 90s. Panther has always been talked up as a brilliant mat worker, and while I have seen him in some great matches for sure, this is the first time that I think his work actually matched his reputation. I don't mean that from a quality standpoint as much as a style standpoint, since I'm used to seeing Panther in trios matches where he doesn't get the chance to work the mat really. There is some amazing *wrestling* in this match, and a classic face-heel dynamic to drive it forward. Hard to ask for much more out of wrestling than this match provides. ****1/2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cad Posted April 14, 2017 Report Share Posted April 14, 2017 I thought this was the best I've seen Panther wrestle too. The best part for me was when he started focusing on Santo's arm. Then he wasn't just a master wrestler who could go tit for tat with any of the tecnicos, he was a wrestler whose technical expertise and ring generalship could put his opponent in serious physical danger. Him making Santo back off out of fear of his skills was the most badass Panther's ever looked. Santo, for his part, wrestled a classic match that didn't fit his formula at all. He did his dives, and that was about it for stuff you get in every one of his matches. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Evans Posted May 27, 2017 Report Share Posted May 27, 2017 Just a great match. Panther can go on the mat when he wants to and santo is santo. Santo's dives were beautiful especially the one in the second fall that went into the crowd. This being Monterrey, you know a cheap finish is coming. My favorite thing about this match was how much the kids were into it. Only In Monterrey will you get kids coming into the rind during the match. Great performance by both guys. 2000 was a peak year for Monterrey wrestling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AstroBoy Posted June 22, 2017 Report Share Posted June 22, 2017 Lucha is still somewhat of a more recent undertaking for me and lucha title matches built largely around matwork are a subsection of that that I'm even more unfamiliar with. I absolutely loved this. The gradual build, the graceful and beautiful matwork that was very easy to appreciate and follow. I was surprised to see some focused limbwork and the attack on the arm by Panther as well as the selling by Santo were both pretty sublime. The build to the final fall is really a fun ride with the couple of occasions along the way where the referee takes issue with Santo and gets physical. This builds to the controversial and dirty ending to a brilliant match. Great divide between the characters of the two. Masterful matwork. A burner of a story that peaks and concludes with juice left for more. Fantastic. ****1/4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tenese Sarwieh Posted July 18, 2017 Report Share Posted July 18, 2017 This was a thing of beauty. The match had a great flow to it with both Panther and Santo being so crisp, smooth, and clean with their mat work building to each fall. They also threw in some awesome limb work with Panther going after Santo’s shoulder. Didn’t mind the cheap finish cause Panther wasn’t gonna be fooled by no more roll ups. Great stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonsault Marvin Posted August 26, 2017 Report Share Posted August 26, 2017 Blue Panther put on a great performance in this one. He was masterful at transferring from one hold to the next on the mat. I really liked the finish as I didn't know where the storyline was going with Santo not breaking the hold when Panther grabbed the ropes, and the finish played off of that with Panther finally getting the ropes to play to his advantage. The only thing pulling the match down for me was Santo's lack of intensity in places, like softly hitting the turnbuckle. I've also seen dives from him that have a lot more ferocity. Definitely a match worth watching though for their superior lucha matwork. **** Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drew wardlaw Posted December 20, 2017 Report Share Posted December 20, 2017 This was incredible. This might be one to show people who dont like lucha. This didnt even fully feel like a lucha match to me, just an absolutely great wrestling match, regardless of the style. The submission that Blue Panther wins the first fall with was so cool, Ive never seen that one before. He was the standout here for me. Just wringing Santos arm, constantly working like a real son of a gun, tight matwork, and getting the cheap win. I love the way this built through the falls and the dives were perfectly placed. Santo was a great babyface here, selling, going for the rollup pins, etc. awesome stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superkix Posted December 29, 2017 Report Share Posted December 29, 2017 Not a big lucha fan but this was pretty awesome, with real crisp takedowns and counter wrestling through the first fall and Panther picking up the submission in the second fall with a swanky arm trap. Loved the third fall, with Santo selling the arm and Panther going after it. Santo's submission work was neat and I liked that he kept grabbing Panther's arm off the ropes to the point that the ref's had enough and shoves him off. The nearfalls off the roll-up pin attempts were great and they built to the big dives really well. Fans were pissed with the cheap finish but it worked in the context of all the quick back-and-forth pin attempts. But man, lucha refs count so slow... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohtani's jacket Posted August 19, 2018 Report Share Posted August 19, 2018 Originally, I didn't intend to re-watch this as it was already cemented in my mind as an all-time lucha classic. But since I've watched so much footage from the year I thought I would cap things off with the two Monterrey matches. What a beautiful wrestling match. This is exactly the type of match that folks should watch when they're first getting into lucha. For longtime fans, it's a gem. A payoff to all those tag matches and trios matches where Panther and Santo squared off and showed us just how beautiful lucha libre can be. In the past, people found it unfortunate that the match ends cheaply but by Monterrey standards it was clean. If not for Villano and Atlantis, this would have been the lucha MOTY for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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