Lucha Matches From 1983

[Loss]

This was recently added to my blog, as I'm doing LUCHA LIBRE WEEK there, but I wanted to include it here as well to make sure everyone saw it.

 

MS1 v Sangre Chicana - CMLL 09/23/83 - Hair Match

 

This may very well be the greatest singles match of all time. It certainly takes the best elements from other great matches -- the fire and underdog spirit of Hokuto/Kandori from Dreamslam I, the hatred of Flair/Funk from Bash '89 and the nuclear heat and emotion of a typical Hulk Hogan match in the 1980s -- and puts them all in one place. Where this match ultimately succeeds, however, is in creating its own identity through the participants. The match starts with MS1 arrogantly taunting the crowd and attacking Chicana prior to the bell. Chicana is still wearing his gear and he's punching and kicking the hell out of him and smashing his head on the ring mat from outside and just generally torturing him however possible. The referee's attempts at restraining MS1 are in vain.

 

MS1 hits the ring to celebrate and we finally get intros as Chicana is bloodied outside. Every time Chicana is close to getting in the ring on his own power, MS1 cuts him off. He only finally lets him in the ring when he carries him, symbolizing that this match is going to take place under his terms. A bodyslam and top rope splash later and we finally have the first *pinfall* decision of the match. Up until this point, the match has been a brutal, effective squash (I THINK MS1 was DQ'd for attacking Chicana early, but I'm not sure about that.)

 

Things really change as we enter the third fall. MS1 attacks Chicana yet again and catches him with a NASTY kick ot the face. The crowd is now chanting Chicana's name and Chicana's selling here is amazing, and up until this point there has been no babyface comeback even teased. MS1 is still cutting him off with headbutts, stomps and punches that get the job done but Chicana finally gets in his own punch and the place erupts, and MS1, hypocrite that he is, immediately begs off. We get the first floor dive of the match from Chicana at this point and the crowd continues to chant his name. This really shows how far booking one guy to be stronger than another before flipping the situation will go to get a match over. They could have gone back and forth without building any heat and the match would have lost something. This part of the match -- MS1 brutalizing Chicana for what seems like an eternity before Chicana finally gets the strength to fight back -- is probably the best build for a babyface comeback I have ever seen in any wrestling match. Chicana is now doing the Hogan-esque finger shake and pointing to MS1, and the crowd erupts again, knowing that they're about to see what they came to see.

 

It's time for revenge! What's great about this is that Chicana sets out to attack MS1 in almost exactly the same way he was attacked up until this point. The punches and stmops, the head being smashed into the ring mat, the punch ducking -- this is a receipt in every way possible. MS1 is now bleeding in the same way he made Chicana bleed. Showing that he's not done yet, MS1 cuts off this change in momentum with a knee to the gut and now does his own tope suicida to the floor. The match has now become a case of each guy getting an idea of how he wants to beat the shit out of the other guy saying, "Fuck that! Two can play at that game!" and trying to beat his opponent using the exact same tactics. It's that pride and sense of ownership over the destiny of each wrestler's own destiny and his opponent's destiny that mirrors Funk/Flair in a rivalry, but at the same also easily exceeds it. MS1 makes the first pin attempt of the final fall, showing his goal since the beginning was always to start and finish the match on his own terms, but Chicana will have none of it and kicks out. Desperation sets in as MS1 makes the first real attempt at a wrestling move in the match and tries to cradle Chicana, but he kicks out again! So he tries a butterly suplex into a bridge and adds a third tope suicida tot he floor to try to win that little battle of wills. They're back in and the tope battle continues with Chicana taking MS1 outside and setting him up for the move yet again. Not to be outdone in the battle of who can be more stubborn, MS1 tries another top rope splash, but it costs him as Chicana moves and we have a *very* close nearfall with MS1 kicking out at the last millisecond. One of the better false finishes you'll ever see in a match. After they both fight to their feet, MS1 takes him down again and this time tries a senton bomb from the top rope but misses yet again, leaving him prone to a submission and defeat. Showing that the hate between these two will never die, Chicana can't help but take shots at MS1 while he's having his head shaved.

 

This sounds like a giveaway statement, but it's one that should be made nonetheless. There were two things in place that made this match such a success -- MS1 and Sangre Chicana. I know, obvious, but had either guy not been able to fully deliver on his side of the match, the match would have felt lopsided and wouldn't be viewed 24 years later as the classic it is. Chicana displays some really brilliant selling that would have been meaningless had MS1 not been able to deliver a really ruthless attack. It's chemistry, and it's something that is sometimes hard to find in pro wrestling, even among great workers. Some wrestlers, like Flair and Steamboat, or Jumbo and Tenryu, or Misawa and Kawada, seem like they were born to wrestle each other. MS1 and Sangre Chicana should be talked about in that same category.

 

This is an unbelievable match. It works well as a lucha libre introduction in some ways, with a catch. It works in that it's going to challenge the conventions of anyone who thinks Mexican wrestling is all highspots and WCW Monday Nitro-style specials. I think it's a great first lucha experience for a fan to have, and will definitely leave them wanting to see more. At the very least, the curiosity of the viewer will be piqued. The catch is that there are numerous styles within Mexican pro wrestling -- as you watch more, you'll notice there's a little of everything, such as heated brawls like MS1/Chicana, but also elements of the style that will remind you of everything from Stampede to All Japan to Memphis to Mid South to the NWA to Joshi. It's all here, and it's mostly beautiful. A wise man once told me to look at lucha libre not as a style, but as a description of wrestling from Mexico. It was good advice. MS1/Chicana is a classic rivalry, a rivalry that deserves to be talked about alongside any feud ever. It would be great to see more matches between the two to see what led them to this great moment, but even without that, this is pitifully easy to watch and enjoy, and I think any wrestling fan owes it to himself to see this.

 

*****

[Loss]

Sangre Chicana, La Fiera & Mocho Cota v MS1, El Satanico & Espectro Jr - EMLL 09/30/83

 

A companion of sorts to the MS1/Chicana match a week earlier. This is a really good, intense match, but it's more of a quick brawl to get over all the top feuds in EMLL at the time than it is a great match. Still, worth watching to put everything in context with the time. The story is that the rudos are trying to isolate each of the technicos individually and destroy them while keeping the teammates at bay. It works for the majority of the match, until the technicos finally come back and the roof blows off the place when all six are brawling. Definitely worth watching, and tons of fun. More very good in the sense that it's a terrific TV show main event, but not great in the grand epic sense like the hair match. Still, see this.

 

***1/2

[Loss]

Lizmark v El Satanico - EMLL 12/02/83

 

There are many good things you can say about this match. The first, and most obvious, is that some of the matwork and exchanges are really awesome. Both guys are very skilled on the mat and do all sorts of cool things that are much better seen than described. Where the match disappoints is in giving both guys plenty of time to show what they can do. This match is almost entirely Lizmark and suffers from being too one-sided much of the time. Aside from ending up on the favorable side of a few mat exchanges early on and getting a dumb luck win at the end, Satanico, who walks out of this match with the NWA Middleweight title, gets almost nothing. He doesn't look like much of a champ when it's over. Even the second caida, which was catching Lizmark in a quick powerbomb out of a huracanrana attempt after getting no offense at all to build to it, and the finish, which was Lizmark pinning himself on a surfboard pinning combo, did pretty much nothing for him. This may have been meant to be the early stages of a feud, and for all I know the idea was to make Satanico look like he didn't deserve to hold the belt. There are lots of things you'll enjoy about this match, but the layout keeps it from not being more than just a very good match.

 

***1/2