[1989-11-24-EMLL] Atlantis & El Dandy & Mascara Sagrada vs Emilio Charles Jr & MS-1 & Tierra Viento y Fuego

[cad]

El Dandy vs Emilio Charles Jr. had been a hot feud during the summer, but it had cooled off, at least on TV, after their inconclusive hair match. Heading into the last shows of the year at Arena Mexico, the promotion decided to revive it in order to settle things between the two men. This match was what made their rivalry an issue again. It's not a display of classic three on three wrestling full of athleticism and doubleteaming, and it's not a crazy brawl all over the arena. It's more of a one on one with four other wrestlers involved, and a captivating performance by Emilio Charles.

Dandy was on his game for this one. TVF cheapshotted Atlantis early on, and Dandy just charged straight at him and slugged him out of the ring, no finesse needed. Of course then Emilio came in from behind to get Dandy out of there. He prolonged the attack a bit, but he was making sure that his team kept the advantage, and he's a rudo so it's his nature. Dandy wasn't the type to let that slide, though, and after the rudos had their way with Mascara Sagrada he stepped right back in and called Emilio into the ring. Charles wasn't having it, with MS-1 instead offering himself as an opponent, but Dandy knew how to work around that. A sucker right hand sent Emilio bouncing off the apron and rolling into the aisle. Just like that the momentum swung towards the tecnico team, and Atlantis whizzed through an exchange with TVF, culminating with a dropkick that sent the gangly rudo outside of the ring... where you could see Charles still back in the aisle, yet to have recovered from that shot to the face. After that he pretty much had to get into the ring the next time Dandy entered. That was what Dandy had wanted to begin with, and he won that exchange handily to kick off the winning pinfalls for his team. As the referees counted the falls, Dandy and Charles missed each other with some wild punches, at which point Emilio threw up his hands and backed off. Dandy followed him outside the ring, but Gato Montini got between them. Any further fighting would have to wait until the next fall. Strangely, the replay they showed was actually action from the second fall, a pretty big gaffe on Televisa's part.

Emilio looked ready for a change of pace. He got into the ring to face his old rival Atlantis at the sound of the whistle, but Atlantis immediately went over and tagged in Dandy. Emilio had this great annoyed look on his face as he stepped right back onto the apron. That's when Dandy charged in and spat in his face.

Well then. Emilio stood frozen in shock for a moment before heading up the aisle and out the door. Getting outwrestled and even embarrassed was one thing, but Emilio wasn't going to stick around for this kind of treatment. The crowd was cheering and even the grand old commentator Pedro Septien was cracking jokes about it, saying that, haha, clearly baseball is not the only sport that has a spitball. Back in the ring MS-1 was livid, demanding Emilio get his ass back there and explaining to the ref that a match could not possibly be expected to continue three on two (which was a bit rich coming from a man who based his entire career on the three on one beatdown, but then that's why I love MS-1).

Obviously Emilio couldn't go out like that. He sheepishly headed back to the ring and from that point on they may as well have just kept the camera trained on him. Atlantis and MS-1 were squaring off in the ring, a matchup that was (half of) the main event at the anniversary show, and the fans were ignoring them to heckle Charles. Finally Dandy scared TVF out of the ring, and once again Emilio had to come in if he wanted to leave with any of his pride that night. He was still hesitant to engage Dandy, but all it took was one quick cheapshot from MS-1 to give Emilio the opening he needed. He tore into his foe with right hands, stomps, slams, his teeth, whatever he could think of, and now Dandy was bleeding badly and the match had been turned on its head. Septien was great in calling this, explaining that Dandy had brought this upon himself by spitting in the face of a man who had been world champion, and now he was paying the consequences. Wrestling is better when being a world champion makes you dangerous. There was this great shot, probably unintentional, as the rudos were wrapping things up at the end of the fall. Emilio walked across the ring almost in a daze, unaware of anything around him but El Dandy. While MS-1 steadied himself on the top rope, Emilio stood in the foreground, and as the crowd started to chant at him again you could feel all eyes on him instead of the guys in the background who were actually doing wrestling moves. Infuriated, Charles leapt outside to kick Dandy while he was down, but Dandy wouldn't let him have even that and started kicking back. Charles had to run him into the post to put him out.

The third fall started with Charles all over his tormentor. Dandy was reeling around the ring, his neon tights now largely reddish brown on the front, as Charles pounded him at will. Eventually Emilio went for an Irish whip for some reason, and soon he was sliding across the arena floor on his ass with Dandy in pursuit. Now Charles was bleeding and Dandy was giving back every bit of punishment he'd received over the last fall. They started slugging it out in the center of the ring, and Emilio actually won that with a hard kick, only to immediately catch a dropkick to the face from Mascara Sagrada. There were, you might remember, four other wrestlers in the match, and they were ready to wrap things up. Mascara Sagrada dove/fell onto MS-1 from the top rope, and Atlantis tied up TVF in a tirabuzon, signalling the end for the rudos, but Dandy knocked Atlantis and TVF outside with a dropkick intended for Charles. The crowd roared in anticipation when Emilio realized that his quick thinking had left him alone in the ring with Dandy. They went at it long enough for the others to recover, but everyone seemed to realize that this was something more important than just this match and held back to cheer on their guy.

It took a little bit for Emilio to fully regain his senses. Soon enough all was right, and he was yelling back at the crowd and gesturing that he was coming for Dandy's national middleweight belt. He got that shot the next week, and he lost that match, but for one night he was on the verge of utter humiliation, being laughed right out of Arena Mexico, and he came back not only to get revenge but to win perfectly cleanly against the man who had embarrassed him. That's not a title belt but that's certainly something to remember, and as far as quick setups for a one on one match go this was done about as well as it could have been.