Lucha catch-all thread

[ohtani's jacket]

Blue Panther vs. Gran Hamada (UWF 11/13/90)

Good match. Neat hybrid between Hamada's UWA work and what Panther might have wrestled like if he'd been a junior.

Blue Panther & Guerrero Negro vs. Huracan Sevilla & Gran Hamada (Monterrey 1991)

You won't find too many bigger fans of Huracan Sevilla than me. I dig his run as Huracan Sevilla, and I think his hair match with Bestia is a low key classic. He's not really that good, but he sure as hell thinks he is, which is fun to watch. Very good tag match by lucha standards. Starts off on the mat and ends with a bunch of challenges being made. And in this case, Sevilla and Guerrero Negro made good on the challenge. Gran Hamada was a great luchador. Arguably, the best run by a Japanese worker in an overseas environment. Panther is Panther. Sevilla's tope is a big highlight. 

 Villano III vs. Fishman (Monterrey 1991)

Cool little title match that never reaches any great heights. I have a nagging feeling that a lot of Villano III single matches were like this. Decent tercera caida, and some cool looking holds throughout thanks to the masked luchador aesthetic. 

[ohtani's jacket]

CMLL TV (December 3rd, 1994)

Apolo Dantes/Brazo de Plata/Rayo de Jalisco, Jr. vs. Bestia Salvaje/El Brazo/Gran Markus Jr (11/26/94)

Slowass Arena Coliseo match. Porky is feuding with his brother, but it's not entertaining. El Brazo keeps shouting in people's faces and is really annoying. Bestia tries to do some quality stooging, but this kind of made me realize that 95% of his career was spent in matches like these. Weird seeing Apolo Dantes with a full head of hair and in prime shape. He never really catapulted to stardom, did he? I mean he had a long career, so he was successful in that sense, but I'm sure somebody, somewhere, at some point, had higher hopes for him. You forget how athletic Porky was before all of the heart attacks.

Atlantis/El Texano/Silver King vs. Corazon de Leon/Dos Caras/Negro Casas (12/2/94)

Great match. Man, I haven't seen a Texano match in years. He worked the mat with Casas to begin with. Now normally folks think of lucha matwork as being choreographed and cooperative, but this was the complete opposite. It was almost entirely defensive with both guys blocking each other's moves. It was an amazing and unique thing to see in a CMLL ring, and then Atlantis and Dos Caras followed it up with a traditional lucha exchange that was just as beautiful. There were so many great match-ups in this match. I usually hate Jericho in Mexico, but he had his ribs strapped here and mostly sold other guy's moves, so he wasn't a problem. Casas wound up having individual match-ups with all three opponents and each of them as tremendous, including a forehead to forehead standoff with Atlantis which really got me pumped. Silver King and Texano had some tremendous teamwork in this bout, but you know what the best thing about this was? When everyone entered the ring to end the falls, they flew into the ring at a million miles an hour and took guys out with phenomenal looking dropkicks or topes. This may be the best example of the transition to pinfall phase I've seen in a lucha libre match. Silver King, in particular, was lightning quick. And it fucking had Dos Caras in it. C'mon, who's dream isn't to see more great Dos Caras performances? He's always a bit disappointing with the heavyweights, but in a catchweight contest he is an absolute legend. Do yourself a favor and watch this. 

El Satanico/Emilio Charles, Jr. vs. Dr. Wagner, Jr./Pierroth, Jr. (CMLL Tag Team (Parejas) Tournament Finals Contender Match) (12/2/94)

This was weak. I'm a fan of all four of these guys, but this was completely half-arsed. 

[ohtani's jacket]

Atlantis/Corazon de Leon/Dos Caras vs. Satanico/Dr. Wagner, Jr./Emilio Charles, Jr. (CMLL 12/9/94)

This paled in comparison to the trios match from the week before, but it still had a lot of interesting match-ups. You had Satanico, and his stupidly long hair, vs. Jericho, which is interesting enough by itself, Emilio and Atlantis reprising their career rivalry, and Caras working an absolutely breathtaking exchange with Wagner that was the highlight of the bout. The fact that Caras had wrestled Wagner's father made it all the better, but he also gave us an amazing tease of what a Caras vs. Satanico match might look like. Worth watching if you want to see more of Dos Caras in CMLL.

[ohtani's jacket]

CMLL TV (October 16th, 1994) (61st Anniversary Show Week 2)

Javier Cruz/Gran Markus, Jr./Hijo del Gladiador vs. El Brazo/Hayabusa/Pantera (CMLL 9/27/94)

Started off with a neat exchange between Pantera and the criminally underrated Javier Cruz, but was largely forgettable after that. Another slow Coliseo bout. El Brazo teased a rudo turn. He sure sucks. When did he become the worst Brazo? Cruz and Pantera worked hard throughout, but you can skip this. 

Scorpio vs Silver King (hair vs hair) (CMLL 9/30/94)

This was fun. They filmed a vignette where Scorpio surprised Silver King in the gym and mocked him for working out so much. Scorpio's pants and shoes were a riot. He was an ugly brute. Silver King came to the ring dressed like a male stripper. You can probably guess how the match unfolded. Scorpio ran through some fun old man lucha stuff. It looked like Silver King was afraid to gig himself so Scorpio did it for him. SK looked nervous. Pretty basic, but I have a high level of tolerance for this type of lucha. 

Apolo Dantes/Brazo de Oro/Brazo de Plata vs. El Brazo/The Headhunters (clip) (CMLL 9/30/94)
Emilio Charles, Jr./Negro Casas vs. El Satanico/Miguel Perez, Jr. (clip) (CMLL 9/30/94)

I doubt that tag was any good, but I wanted to see how Casas matched up with his opponents.

El Texano vs. Ricky Santana (hair vs hair) (CMLL 9/30/94)

Decent match. It felt like a generic match that they could have had in any promotion in the world in 1994 rather than a classic apuestas match, but it was cool to see Texano have a big singles match. 

[KB8]

What are we thinking about Espectro Jr? He's not nominated for the GWE, but I watched the 1/4/84 mano a mano against Atlantis last night and my main takeaway is that I almost always find him fun and the original Infernales were a hoot and his mask is killer. I think his bump off an Atlantis tope took a block of fixed seats clean out the ground and he clocked Atlantis with a punch right at the start that about decapitated him. I guess his career is short, especially by lucha standards, but there's fun stuff there and I'm wondering if he has that one standout singles match. 

[Rah]

Not sure about 'stand out' but that match against Demon where he lost his mask was better than it had any right to be (if you take it as a car crash Attitude Era apuesta, anyway).

[ohtani's jacket]

10 hours ago, KB8 said:

What are we thinking about Espectro Jr? He's not nominated for the GWE, but I watched the 1/4/84 mano a mano against Atlantis last night and my main takeaway is that I almost always find him fun and the original Infernales were a hoot and his mask is killer. I think his bump off an Atlantis tope took a block of fixed seats clean out the ground and he clocked Atlantis with a punch right at the start that about decapitated him. I guess his career is short, especially by lucha standards, but there's fun stuff there and I'm wondering if he has that one standout singles match. 

I don't think he has a lot of televised singles matches. Here's a tournament match against Wagner:

 

[ohtani's jacket]

Roy Lucier getting hold of Mike Tenay's tape collection is exciting news. It looks like we now have a complete run of 1993 CMLL. That ought to start shedding some light on CMLL's dark years. 

Felino/Kahoz/Sultan Gargola vs. Blue Demon Jr/Ciclon Ramirez/Lasser Tron (CMLL 1/15/93)

I watched this on the off chance that Felino squared off with Ciclon Ramirez and got far more than I bargained for. Not only did they square off, they were already beefing. Ramirez went right after him! This was 'no fucks given' wrestling from the tecnicos, and I loved every second of it. Felino was awesome as the rudo in peril and seemed to spend the entire match on the back foot. I thought Lasser Tron was some bum, and I was loving how involved he was getting (shoot for the stars, Lasser Tron!), but apparently it was Hector Guerrero. I kind of wish it had been a random bum instead. Love the Evel Knievel get-up. This had a nice flow to it and the crowd was hot. Ciclon Ramirez' tope! Jesus, Mary and Joseph. Clearly, I need to watch every second of Felino vs. Ramirez from '93. 

El Satanico/Mano Negra/Negro Casas vs. El Brazo/El Dandy/Ultimo Dragon (CMLL 1/15/93)

This had a few exciting exchanges -- Casas and Dandy locked up and reminded me why they're one of the all-time great pairings, Ultimo was excellent throughout with his lightning quick ringwork, and Dandy and Satanico played off their history of hair matches -- but the main focus was Mano Negra and El Brazo, which was the worst pairing. I love me some Mano Negra, but I prefer him after he unmasked and not as the main guy in a trios match. Not that I can blame him too much. El Brazo kind of stinks as a singles wrestler. This had a lot of stalling and they weren't really putting forth their best effort. It was one of those matches that looks better on paper. The Felino/Ciclon trios match eclipsed it by a large margin. Still, you might want to check out a few of those exchanges I mentioned if you're a fan of those guys. 

[ohtani's jacket]

Black Magic/Fabuloso Blondy/Pirata Morgan vs. Brazo de Oro/Brazo de Plata/El Brazo (CMLL 1/29/93)

If you like Ken Timbs, he is all over TV at this point. Personally, I watched this for Pirata Morgan, but he didn't do much. I was kind of hoping he would tear it up with Brazo de Oro, but it didn't come to fruition. Some fun exchanges between Porky and Smiley, as you can imagine, but the focus is mostly on Timbs vs. Brazo, and some standard looking Pirata Morgan bumps hardly makes for a watchable trios match.

Bestia Salvaje/Mano Negra/Titan vs. Apolo Dantes/Lasser Tron/Oro (CMLL 2/5/93)

Short match dominated by the rudos, but it reminded me of the things I like about older CMLL. Mano Negra was feuding with Oro, who was carrying a shoulder injury that must have occurred in an earlier match, and Dantes was feuding with Titan. So, you had those two storylines being progressed while Salvaje complemented the main feuds by beating the shit out of Lasser Tron. The storylines in play both end in singles matches. so we get story progression and a payoff. Wow, CMLL.

El Brazo/El Dandy/Pierroth, Jr. vs. Emilio Charles, Jr./Fabuloso Blondy/Kahoz (CMLL 2/5/93)

This was a much better match than the week before. Blondy went after Brazo with a foreign object and bust him open in the opening minutes, then the rest of the bout was built around Brazo slowing getting some revenge, If Brazo worked like this all the time, he wouldn't be the shittiest Brazo. I wonder if they can maintain this intensity in their hair match. At least my interest is piqued. Dandy instantly made this a better match than it would have been without him. He didn't even do that much. He simply knew how to react to the main storyline and put over the damage Blondy was doing to Brazo. He cut lose with Emilio during one stretch (another of his old rivals), and looked like 1990 Dandy for a second. Perhaps it's my imagination, but Dandy's fitness and conditioning seems to vary from week to week. Pierroth is great as well, though he doesn't have any signature moment. 

BTW, I love cinema, and I love classic Mexican cinema, but some of the films they advertise during the breaks are atrocious looking. 

 

[KB8]

On 5/2/2021 at 12:42 AM, ohtani's jacket said:

I don't think he has a lot of televised singles matches. Here's a tournament match against Wagner:

 

This was pretty nifty. I watched it late last night when I was half asleep, but for 6 minutes they got to look slick and it was nice to see Espectro in that sort of match. No shithousery, no nonsense. I dug it. 

[ohtani's jacket]

Damn, we're missing the episode with Apolo Dantes vs. Titan and Blondy vs. Brazo. But no crying over lost footage.

Atlantis/Mascara Magica/Pierroth, Jr. vs. Kahoz/Mano Negra/Negro Casas (CMLL 2/19/93)

This was part of the Mano Negra vs. Atlantis feud, which built to one of the most disappointing matches in Atlantis' career. We'll see where the build-up takes us. It's not bad here. The highlight is a spectacular, Santo-esque dive from Atlantis in the deciding fall. But we're not here to talk about Atlantis/Negra. This match has an absolutely phenomenal, tour de force performance from Negro Casas. You really need to see it for yourselves, but basically he pairs off with Mascara Magica at the start of the match, and he's a really dick to Magica. He treats him like a joke and after he throws him a couple of times, he waves him off and tags out. Magica is insulted and doesn't want to leave the ring, but Casas refuses to come back in. Then Pierroth steps in and heads over to the apron and slaps Casas. Casas leaps back into the ring and Magica outwrestles him badly. That doesn't sit well with Casas who spends the second fall beating the shit out of Magica. Pierroth is pissed and decides to take matters into his own hands. You have to remember that Pierroth was a heavyweight at this stage and much larger than Casas. He starts bitch slapping Casas like you wouldn't believe. Casas does the fake foul jumping on your knees spot that Satanico is so fond of, and Pierroth, who's not afraid of being rude, bitch slaps Casas so hard he goes flying out of the ring. Pierroth gets a tissue or some cloth from the crowd and rubs Casas' face with it, and Casas is getting manhandled at this point. He ends up get outworked by Magica in their tercera exchange and disappears into the crowd where he ends up shoving a fan. Magica forces him to submit at the end, and if you watch the replay you can see how Casas tries to fight it instead of submitting limply. Wow. This is why I'm always telling people that Casas wasn't as good in his older age as he was in his prime. It's also the reason why I've tried to explain that the early 00s are a down point for him. This match was Casas at the peak of his powers. A pure and unadulterated wrestling genius. Oh yeah, and Kahoz is also in this match.

[ohtani's jacket]

King Haku/Rayo de Jalisco, Jr./Vampiro vs. Black Magic/Pirata Morgan/Sangre Chicana (CMLL 2/19/93)

No, Mike Tenay didn't get his WAR and CMLL tapes mixed up, this is an actual CMLL main event from 1993. Vampiro gets a music video before the match. Isn't he special. Haku is the captain of his team. Does he even know the rules? This is a long, boring match. Some people might get a kick out of Pirata and Chicana eating Haku's offense, but I zoned out. 

[ohtani's jacket]

CMLL TV (March 7th, 1993)

Mogur vs. Javier Cruz vs. Ringo Mendoza (hair vs. hair, CMLL 3/2/93)

This was a fun match. I thought Mogur was great in this. First during a cool little rudo vs. rudo match with Cruz and then selling for Ringo. Now I feel the need to watch every Mogur performance from '93. Cruz continues to be a revelation as well. I knew he was great as a tecnico, but I don't remember being this impressed by his rudo run. I've always had a soft spot for Ringo, so I dug all three guys in this. The result was a bit of a shock, though.

Spoiler

I didn't think the barber had a pair of clippers that could cut through the product in Ringo's hair. 

Cicloncito Ramirez/Ultimo Dragoncito vs. Felinito/Piratita Morgan (CMLL 3/5/93)

Ha, Felino and Ramirez' minis hate each other too! Brilliant! This was good stuff. Pirata's mini is probably better than him at this point. 

Atlantis/Brazo de Plata/Rayo de Jalisco, Jr. vs. Black Magic/El Satanico/Mano Negra (CMLL 3/5/93)

This had some decent brawling between Atlantis and Mano Negra, but not at that red hot level where you have to see everything from their feud. In fact, I thought Satanico was noticeably better than Mano Negra when he stepped in to help. That had a lot to do with how Satanico sold the beating he was dishing out. People tend to think of selling was the work guys do from underneath taking a beating, but the way you deliver the blows is just as important. Satanico had his best showing so far and worked some fun stuff with Porky that was probably cribbed from the Infernales long run of matches with the Brazos, but I can't remember of that so it felt fresh to me. The rest of the match was built around the sucky Black Magic/Rayo feud, so there was a ceiling on how good this could be.

Vampiro Canadiense/Pierroth, Jr. vs Jaque Mate/Masakre (CMLL Tag Team semi-final, CMLL 3/5/93)

This started off as a chummy show of respect between former trio mates and turned into a hate-filled brawl with Pierroth taking a king-sized beating. I dug the throughline here of Pierroth vs. Jaque Mate, and thankfully Vampiro stayed out of the way for the most part, hobbling around selling the beating, and being kayfabe useless. I always loved Los Intocables, so it was fun to see the Intocables explode. 

[cad]

The thing I love about Javier Cruz in this period is how hard he works. He might be my pick for 1994 CMLL MVP just because of the effort he put into every weak idea the company had for him. I don't know if it was professional pride or that he was clinging to his spot for as long as he possibly could.

You want me to main event Arena Mexico against Ciclon Ramirez, a year after he was last relevant? Sure, we can have one of the best apuestas matches of the decade. Can I at least get to win?
You want me to have a long feud with Americo Rocca, culminating in a hair match? Okay, I didn't know he was even with the company, but yeah we can do a Javieres feud like five years after that was an operating unit. Can I at least get to win?
You want me to captain one of the least relevant trios in history with Mogur and Cachorro Mendoza, together losing every TV match we have? I guess winning's out of the question there. Fine, just as long as we get to have a team name.

[KB8]

On 5/4/2021 at 1:32 AM, ohtani's jacket said:

Atlantis/Mascara Magica/Pierroth, Jr. vs. Kahoz/Mano Negra/Negro Casas (CMLL 2/19/93)

This was part of the Mano Negra vs. Atlantis feud, which built to one of the most disappointing matches in Atlantis' career. We'll see where the build-up takes us. It's not bad here. The highlight is a spectacular, Santo-esque dive from Atlantis in the deciding fall. But we're not here to talk about Atlantis/Negra. This match has an absolutely phenomenal, tour de force performance from Negro Casas. You really need to see it for yourselves, but basically he pairs off with Mascara Magica at the start of the match, and he's a really dick to Magica. He treats him like a joke and after he throws him a couple of times, he waves him off and tags out. Magica is insulted and doesn't want to leave the ring, but Casas refuses to come back in. Then Pierroth steps in and heads over to the apron and slaps Casas. Casas leaps back into the ring and Magica outwrestles him badly. That doesn't sit well with Casas who spends the second fall beating the shit out of Magica. Pierroth is pissed and decides to take matters into his own hands. You have to remember that Pierroth was a heavyweight at this stage and much larger than Casas. He starts bitch slapping Casas like you wouldn't believe. Casas does the fake foul jumping on your knees spot that Satanico is so fond of, and Pierroth, who's not afraid of being rude, bitch slaps Casas so hard he goes flying out of the ring. Pierroth gets a tissue or some cloth from the crowd and rubs Casas' face with it, and Casas is getting manhandled at this point. He ends up get outworked by Magica in their tercera exchange and disappears into the crowd where he ends up shoving a fan. Magica forces him to submit at the end, and if you watch the replay you can see how Casas tries to fight it instead of submitting limply. Wow. This is why I'm always telling people that Casas wasn't as good in his older age as he was in his prime. It's also the reason why I've tried to explain that the early 00s are a down point for him. This match was Casas at the peak of his powers. A pure and unadulterated wrestling genius. Oh yeah, and Kahoz is also in this match.

I can only co-sign this. I watched it a few days ago now, but what a performance. I've actually watched another few Casas matches from that year since then, including the title match with Ultimo last night, and 1993 might be PEAK peak Casas. 

[ohtani's jacket]

Glad to see I'm not crazy. Looking forward to seeing more Cruz too.

CMLL TV (March 14th, 1993)

Lasser Tron/Metalico/Triton vs. Los Guerreros Del Futuro (Damian El Guerrero/Guerrero del Futuro/Guerrero Maya) (CMLL 3/12/93)

This is the first Guerreros del Futuro match I've bothered to watch. They were a fun midcard trio. Damian El Guerrero is a freak. We get some Guerrero Maya vs. Lasser Tron in this. What's so special about that? Well, it's not every day you get to see Black Terry vs. Hector Guerrero now is it? Of course, there are better ways to see Black Terry vs. Hector Guerrero, but it was still pretty cool. Terry was pretty solid in general as Guerrero Maya. I would have preferred CMLL to bring Terry and Feliciano in without masks, but their role makes sense when you see them in action.

Ciclon Ramirez/Oro/Ultimo Dragon vs. Bestia Salvaje/Felino/Negro Casas (CMLL 3/12/93)

This was part of the buildup to Casas vs. Dragon and Felino vs. Ciclon Ramirez, the two best feuds in CMLL in 1993. What I love about the Casas vs. Dragon feud is how Casas adapts to Ultimo's offense. It's almost like he has to adapt or die because of how deadly Ultimo's kicks are. I can't remember too many Casas matches where Casas dishes out this many kicks. The Ramirez/Felino stuff is great, but what struck me this time was how good the Bestia vs. Oro match-up was. Bestia got to do some serious wrestling in this, and I kind of wish we saw more serious wrestling from Bestia instead of stooging all the time because Bestia was a fucking great wrestler. He's another guy who was out of this world during this '92-93 period. The ending to this match was spectacular. All three highspots were sensational. One of the best endings to a trio match I can remember in terms of big spots. Very good match.

Atlantis/Rayo de Jalisco, Jr./King Haku vs. Black Magic/El Satanico/Mano Negra (CMLL 3/12/93)

This was an average main event brawl, but it had a few things going for it. Firstly, Atlantis was pissed, and I always dig fired up Atlantis. Secondly, we got a healthy dose of Atlantis vs. Satanico, which I wish was the apuesta feud instead of Atlantis vs. Mano Negra, to be honest. And thirdly, we got Satanico vs. Haku, which I know is a match-up somebody out there wants to see. Satanico trying to figure out how to solve the Haku problem was fun to watch. Negra and Atlantis may have had one or two good exchanges, but I remain unconvinced. They definitely haven't lit the arena alight like Felino and Ramirez or Casas and Ultimo.  

[KB8]

Sangre Chicana, Fabuloso Blondy & Satanico v Perro Aguayo, Lizmark & Ringo Mendoza (CMLL, 6/8/90)

This whole thing was great. Maybe as an actual match it was only really good, but I don't think it was ever intended to be great *as a match*. For a match-slash-angle that set up a bunch of other things though, it was pretty fantastic. It had lots of great STUFF in it. It had several great performances. I don't know man, it was fucking great in one way or another and you can figure out which way that might've been at your leisure. There's a decent bit of history here that will enrich the experience if you're aware of it, like Satanico and Chicana being on the same team despite trying to kill each other the previous year, or that Chicana and Perro have been at each other's throats for years, but even if you DON'T know all of that stuff they do a pretty decent job spelling out the important parts.

Satanico being amazing doesn't hurt either. He was outstanding in this and got to show a little bit of everything he's great at (which is a lot). The main takeaway is that El Satanico is, forever has been, and forever will be his own man. Even with the Infernales there was a sense the group was made in his image, maybe evident by the fact he was the constant through its several incarnations. Here he was teaming with two guys he clearly didn't care for, but not necessarily because his philosophical approach to wrestling was diametrically opposed to theirs. There are probably similarities between Satanico and Chicana even if you'd need to dig below the surface a little. You just know that above all else Satanico's a warrior. There's no such thing as a fight he'll shy away from and we saw that in the primera. His exchange with Ringo was brief, but it was a proper wrestling exchange and for thirty seconds there it was everything you wanted. When Blondy came in to throw a chapshot you could see that Satanico wasn't best pleased. Then Perro wanted a go and neither Chicana nor Blondy were in the mood to give him one, so Satanico stepped in and basically told everyone else to fuck off out the way. That he followed it up by dropping Perro with a hook and beating his chest triumphantly was pretty much perfect. After his side drop the first fall you can see him shift gears. In the primera, when Chicana or Blondy looked for him to get in on a mugging he wasn't interested, almost dismissive of the need to even go there. Then early in the segunda Chicana grabs Ringo and Satanico doesn't even hesitate. There was nothing underhanded about it, really. It didn't feel cheap and it's not like he wouldn't have hit him if Chicana wasn't holding him, but sometimes needs must and Satanico is a competitor to the end. The finish - or the ending, I guess - ruled. Satanico and Lizmark are in together and Lizmark is up top in the corner, then Blondy shakes the ropes and Lizmark takes a scary fall on his neck. Satanico immediately checks on him and it's clear straight away that Lizmark can't continue. Then all hell breaks loose. Ringo and Perro start fighting with each other, then Blondy sides with Perro so Chicana sides with Ringo because the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Fittingly, Satanico removes himself from the fracas and tends to Lizmark, a man above such petty quarrels at this stage of the game.

Beyond the Satanico stuff there was lots to like about this. Chicana wasn't all that interested in going at it with Perro but on the occasions he did it was awesome. His running dropkick at the intros, some of the punches, the way the crowd were hyped for all of it - I don't think it led to a hair match but I can only guess they'd have packed out Arena Mexico again if it did. Blondy was a hoot in this as well, just bumping and stooging to the back row and being a slimy prick. And Ringo got to do his thing, which will always be fun. Not really a showcase Sangre Chicna performance, but a great bit of wrestling all in all. 
 

 

Villano III, Gran Hamada & Eddie Guerrero v Shu el Guerrero, Scorpio & Scorpio Jr. (UWA, 6/5/92)

This was good fun. I've watched a couple Scorpio Sr. matches recently and I'm not sure how good he is, but he captures an aura of scumbag rudo pretty well. The first fall was largely a rudo beatdown as they tried to rid Villano of his mask. In the segunda the tecnicos come roaring back and Villano tries to bludgeon all of them with a stick. The rudo stooging and chickenshitting was pretty fun, and in fairness to them if I'd tried to steal Villano's mask and he came at me with a big stick looking for revenge I'd probably bolt as well. Eddie was the perfect flier for his role here, getting major height on springboards and hitting everything gracefully. There was one headscissors that I'm pretty sure was half a botch, but he managed to turn it into a gorgeous takedown and then later one of his armdrags was sensational. There was also this great moment in the tercera where Shu, who'd had his mask torn by Villano, tried to scurry away from him, begging off on the floor, so Eddie shifted the remnants of his mask aside and casually poked him in the eye. I can't imagine there are too many Eddie Guerrero matches readily available out there that I haven't seen by now, so it's cool to come across one that gets decent time and delivers the goods. 

[ohtani's jacket]

Emilio Charles, Jr. & Negro Casas & Satanico vs. Hijo del Santo & Corazon de Leon & Ultimo Dragon (CMLL September 8th, 1995)

This is worth watching for the sheer hatred between Santo and Casas. Santo dropkicked Casas in the mouth during the introductions and things spun out of control from there. It was a nice touch actually as Casas had cut a promo on Santo on the way to the ring, and I guess Santo felt like shutting him up. You've probably seen Santo and Casas go at it before. I thought it was interesting how much they focused on strikes. Casas was all about shoot style kicks to the head, which we'd seen him use against Ultimo, but not against other luchadores. Casas must have landed a good two dozen kicks in this match as retaliation for that initial dropkick. Santo's main strike was the knee lift, but it worked well in a brawling context. Santo hit a tope that felt grimier than usual, and Emilio and Satanico ended up holding Santo down in a Christ style pose while Casas was DQ'ed for repeatedly kicking Santo in the head. I wasn't super high on the parts that involved Emilio & Satanico vs. Ultimo & Jericho, but it didn't really matter. The Santo vs. Casas stuff was compelling enough. 

[ohtani's jacket]

Negro Casas & Emilio Charles, Jr. & Satanico vs. Corazon de Leon & Ultimo Dragon & Hijo del Santo (CMLL September 15th, 1995)

Return match that doesn't quite reach the same levels of hatred. Casas blades and takes some big bumps, but this isn't his best work. I usually love these types of trios matches, but there's nothing about the Satanico & Emilio vs. Ultimo & Jericho match-ups that complements the Santo/Casas feud. Satanico does a few cool things, but Jericho doesn't have a clue how to work these types of matches and Emilio is invisible. The match felt rushed by 90s standards. Guys were constantly tagging in and out instead of working sequences with each other. It would have made more sense to me if there had been a second feud involved or at least a beef. Ultimo vs. Satanico is interesting on paper, but they didn't throw down like they're capable of. 

[ohtani's jacket]

Hijo del Santo vs. Negro Casas (CMLL September 29th, 1995)

What a great match. The build-up wasn't vintage, but the mano a mano was outstanding. These two were part of a trios match on the Anniversary Show that I don't think we have on tape -- Casas & Universo 2000 & Mascara Ano 2000 vs. Santo & Dos Caras & Rayo de Jalisco, Jr. -- and I guess their feud continued to escalate in that bout. This was a slow and deliberately paced bout that turned into a brilliant spectacle. Instead of attacking each other in a frenzy, both men tried to gain the upper hand on the other in the ultimate show of alpha dominance. There were a lot of hard hitting shots and wrenching submissions. Naturally, two dogs barking at each other like that led to flared tempers and soon enough you had Casas bleeding and taking his huge bumps off the ropes and Santo with his mask tore off his face. The crowd was super hot, and Santo kept pushing the boundaries of what a tecnico can get away with, but at the same time it was hard to say it wasn't justified. You don't tug on Superman's cape and all that. Casas started unleashing on Santo and the ref took a back elbow flush to the face. That was one committed ref bump. The ref was replaced and Santo wound up being DQ'ed for a move that would be perfectly acceptable in most other territories. Casas' selling was phenomenal and the heat was through the roof. One of the great mano a mano bouts and one of the best matches of either man's career.  

[Rah]

Did you watch their match from December 1995? I'm honestly baffled why nobody talks about it - my review is the sole one here on PWO and I can't find any traction on WKO etc.

https://forums.prowrestlingonly.com/topic/41219-1995-12-01-emll-negro-casas-vs-el-hijo-del-santo/

[ohtani's jacket]

I can't remember if I've seen that match. I know it exists on tape but it's not really in circulation. 

[ohtani's jacket]

El Dandy & Mascara Magica & Negro Casas vs. Bestia Salvaje & Mano Negra & Mocho Cota (CMLL 1/13/95)

Casas was a tecnico here and an excellent one at that. It's interesting how he digs deep into his bag of flashy moves during a tecnico run. He does all sorts of moves he'd never do as a rudo. He was mostly paired with Mano Negra here. I love unmasked Mano Negra. I cannot over-emphasis how much better Mano Negra is unmasked. He's like a CMLL version of Dave Finlay. They work the mat in the primera caida, and honestly, I think I underrate Casas as a mat worker. He doesn't really work traditional lucha matwork. He works a far more realistic style. Dandy was similar, so I guess there was some influence coming from somewhere (possibly Japan?) You pretty much get every pairing in this with Casas and Dandy taking turns wrestling all three guys. Cota is entertaining but not Machiavellian. Bestia is mainly there to be a base for Magica, but what a partner to have in a trios match. One of the all-time great trios workers, IMO. The match is mostly about Cota and Negra, but Bestia makes sure that every exchange he has is excellent. Cota makes it clear that he hasn't forgotten his hair match with Casas, and you know I love callbacks in trios matches. Dandy & Casas make an invincible team. Dandy looks pretty good in this, which isn't always the case post '92. A strong showing from Casas and a good match.

El Dandy & Mascara Magica & Negro Casas vs. Arkangel de la Muerte & Bestia Salvaje & Mano Negra (CMLL 1/20/95)

Another entertaining trios match. We get a lot of Dandy vs. Negra in this, which is a great match-up, and one I didn't know I needed to see until I saw it. Casas works with Arkangel de la Muerte a lot, which is an interesting match-up. Arkangel's not quite as good as later work, and I'm not a huge fan of his costume during this era, but It was cool seeing Casas work so well with a midcarder. About halfway through the bout, they did this weird thing where it seemed like tempers were flaring between Casas and Dandy, and Bestia and Negra kept egging them on in hilarious fashion.  Then they wound up doing a double team move together and high fiving. After the bout, they were back at it acting like they couldn't co-exist. I'm not sure what was going on there. Perhaps CMLL were testing the waters for something. Maybe a Dandy turn? Or perhaps they were simply trying to get the crowd behind Casas a tecnico. After all, nobody should trust a rudo explicitly when they turn tecnico. Not until they truly prove themselves. Another good showing from Casas, who makes a great tecnico.  

[ohtani's jacket]

Negro Casas/Silver King/Vampiro Canadiense vs. Bestia Salvaje/Dr. Wagner Jr/El Hijo del Gladiador (CMLL 2/10/95)

This was a big step down in terms of the quality of workers. Casas matched up with all three opponents, which means we got to see Casas vs. Wagner here. That sounds more exciting than it actually was since Wagner hadn't really arrived yet and was a few years off being great. Casas vs. Bestia is always good, but Casas' main role here was to be the little guy who worked rapidfire exchanges with El Hijo del Gladiador. He tried, but there wasn't a lot of chemistry between them. Silver King is a guy I consistently underrate, but this match never got going, and Vampiro, eh. Skippable. 

Corazon de Leon vs. Bestia Salvaje vs. El Dandy vs. Felino vs. Negro Casas vs. Ultimo Dragon (CMLL 3/3/95)

This was a special Copa Campeon de Campeones Torneo Cibernetico match. Basically, it boiled down to Casas & Dandy vs. Ultimo & Jericho, which isn't a match-up that I particularly like. The first half was Ultimo vs. Casas and Dandy. Casas and Ultimo obviously have chemistry together, but there wasn't any hint of a beef here to take things to the next level. Not like their outstanding run in 1993. Dandy vs. Ultimo was perfectly fine and wouldn't have looked out of place on a random WAR show. The Jericho vs. Dandy & Casas portion was better than it had a right to be. The match came down to Jericho vs. Casas, and while it wasn't off the charts, it could have been a hell of a lot worse. I can see other people liking this more than I did. I have specific expectations for lucha libre, especially when it involves workers the caliber of Casas and Dandy. I don't really like watching them work the juniors style like this. If you prefer the juniors style over classic lucha, or you like seeing guys work outside their comfort zone or being forced to work a different way, then you'll probably get more out of this than I did. I wanted a little more from Bestia and Felino than their brief cameos, and I thought Casas and Dandy on opposite sides would have been far more interesting. Decent showing from Casas, but not a mesmerizing one. 

[ohtani's jacket]

Atlantis/Negro Casas/Ultimo Dragon vs. Dr Wagner Jr/Mocho Cota/Pierroth Jr (CMLL March 7th, 1995)

The opening fall of this was excellent. It was the type of mat-based fall that fans like me were always searching for great lucha back in the day. Mocho vs. Casas was outstanding. Better than anything they did in the lead-up to their hair match in '94. Mocho dialed it back to '84 when he came across as a master grappler. The other match ups were solid too. The trouble started in the second fall when the rudo beatdown went past the point where they should have claimed the fall. if you've watched enough lucha, you know the rhythm of the falls and you know the beat that the fall will end on. The fact that they went past the beat usually means that the momentum will be reversed and the opposing side will steal the fall, but that didn't happen. The beatdown continued and the rudos refused to listen to the refs, which can only mean one thing -- DQ. Lousy finish and a crappy way to follow up on that opening fall. Casas vs. Mocho was must-watch stuff, though.