[2000-08-26-GWAS-Zona de Muerte] Mascara Sagrada & La Parka vs Fishman & Shu El Guerrero (Apuestas)

[soup23]

This had a lo to live up to after the prior match and suceeded. It starts as a revelos sucidas match and the two losers face off one on one. Parka turns on Sagrada midway through and he gets pinned not long afterwards. However, Parka is still isolated against the two rudos. Parka is able to avoid a kick from Guerrero that fouls Fishman and he pins him. I was relatively sure who was losing the mask here but not 100% and as a result, I got real caught up in the finale between Fishman and Sagrada. it was old man, maestro style lucha but was well done and they laid it out on the line with some big dives. The nearfalls and submissions in the finish were well timed and Sagrada working towards and obtaining the figure four for the victory was a nice moment. Fishman unmasks by his son which was an emotional moment and this is for all intents and purposes his retirement so he did go off on a high note of a match even if the show overall bombed. **** (8.1)

[Tim Evans]

Once this got down to the final two, it was pretty good. Fishman is old and can't really go but he gives his all here and has a good last wrestling performance. He even does a dive. Sagrada bleeds heavily. So bad that his white mask turns red.

[ohtani's jacket]

This was pretty good. I'm sure there have been dozens of matches in the record books of similar quality to this so I would call this standard quality for a mask match. The elimination period was a bit too long but once the final pair were decided this was old-school mask vs. mask wrestling with plenty of great visuals and some nice dramatic moments. There was a time when Fishman's mask was one of the most valued in all of lucha. He probably waited a bit too long to drop it but those are the choices people make in life. I was surprised by how bald he was, to be honest. He looked like he could have snuck down to the local supermarket without anyone guessing he was a famous luchador. A really "quiet" unmasking compared to VIllano III given that they were contemporaries in the UWA but at least the action was worthy of a mask vs. mask match and carried the tradition into the new century.