[2000-05-21-Monterrey] Shocker vs Tarzan Boy

[soup23]

This is a big test for Shocker. Strong mat work to start. Zumbido is a prickly second as he punched TB while in a submission. He tries is again and Antifaz goes to break it up. The referee admonishes him and Zumbido has a shit eating grin on his face. Shocker in the first fall was absolutely outstanding. Mat work and speed mixing in his wonderful charisma. He was someone that had potential in January from what we saw but now has realized it and is elite. He gains the first pinfall when TB goes for a rana that he turns into a powerbomb. The onslaught continues in the second fall and Shocker is just a cocky bastard hitting his elbow drop and even pulling TB up on pinfall attempts. We get an advertisement for a Panther vs Santo match at Arena Coliseo. Sign me up. TB fights out of a STF to reach the ropes. There was a good sense of peril here given how dominant Shocker has been overall. TB finally blocks a kick and fires up enough to run through his offense. TB character work and execution here is better than in the Satanico apuestas. TB secures the second fall and we are all tied up. Third fall is a great back and forth with both guys selling fatigue and capitalizing on the others mistakes. The referee gets bumped and Zumbido attempts to double team TB but Antifaz hits a missile dropkick first and TB does his lifting pedigree type finish for the win to a huge pop. Holy hell, both of these guys passed the test but Shocker was outstanding. Excellent match. I love lucha. ****1/4

[Tim Evans]

Tarzan has had a hell of a year between this and the Satanico feud. Great stuff in this match with both guys working the mat early and then brawling later. Only bad thing about this match was the camera missing highspots because they are focusing on the crowd too much. Really good match.

[ohtani's jacket]

This was an excellent match. It was easily the best that Tarzan Boy has looked all year and better than anything he produced in the Satanico feud. Ordinarily, there would be the potential for him to look pretty lame doing a Hulk up but in this instance, it felt like he'd finally had enough of all the shit he'd endured. I don't know if this is a step beyond his maligned pretty boy phase or not, but he looked like a real gladiador here and that's something I would never have imagined heading into the bout. And how smart was Shocker? The counter to win the opening fall, the sneak attack after Tarzan Boy was celebrating his dive... everything that Shocker did felt measured like he was in perfect control of the bout. I honestly felt like it was a "next level up" performance from him. Some of the footage was lost at the beginning of the third fall and the editing was poor with the editor preferring to focus on crowd reactions than highspots. It may be the only time I've seen an editor cut away from a highspot to show the crowd. I didn't love the finish either but it was fairly typical for Monterrey. I thought Tarzan Boy could have won clean for an even bigger pop but it was still a career match for him and a breakout performance if he manages things right.

[Laney]

This was a technically sound match, but damn was the camera work awful in this. This match was at it's best when Shocker was in control because the camera wasn't focused on the reactions of women in the crowd. You completely miss Tarzan's comeback in the third fall because of this. There was also horrible use of replays in this as they would play them during nearfalls so you would completely miss the count.

 

This is still a very solid match with Shocker hitting a big powerbomb to win the first fall and Tarzan Boy fighting from the bottom for most of the 2nd fall before making a comeback. The third fall had more highspots, back and forth action, and drama from outside interference. A very good match, but the distracting editing elements take this down a notch.

 

****