Lucha catch-all thread

[ohtani's jacket]

Mascara Sagrada/Atlantis/Panterita del Ring vs. Negro Casas/Jerry Estrada/MS-1 (Monterrey 1991)

This was a vintage Casas performance. He spent most of the first fall working over Panteria's arm and then they spent the rest of the match having awesome exchanges. Their exchanges here were much better than in the mano a mano. In fact, they made the mano a mano seem tame by comparison. It reminded me of Casas' performances against Ultimo Dragon, and is an absolute must-see if you're a Casas fan. The supporting cast chipped in with some cool stuff. Estrada took some big bumps and MS-1 also flung himself about with abandon. Sagrada nailed his big spot at the end, and Atlantis was Atlantis. Make sure you watch the video until the end as there's some fun stuff including Jerry Estrada taking out the television interviewer while trying to escape Atlantis, and the crowd drenching them with their drinks, and Casas grabbing Panteria by the holes in his mask to respond to his mic challenge. Exciting match. 

[ohtani's jacket]

Angel Blanco Jr/Babe Face/Hombre Bala vs. Milo Caballero/Monarca/Centurion Negro (Monterrey 1991)

The Babe Face vs Caballero beef continues, and it is awesome! I was hoping we'd get some Hombre Bala in this footage. Extremely underrated worker. The tecnicos had more shine in this match than the previous trios, partially because of the narrative but also because they were working with a super base in Bala. Centurion Negro, in particular, got to stretch his legs and work some quick exchanges. Blanco was a bit raw at this stage and made a few mistakes, but Babe Face and Bala were like brothers-in-arms. They did the classic spot where the rudo and tecnico swap masks, which the crowd loved. It seemed like Negro's mask came off by mistake and he had to frantically put it back on in time for the finish. If that was a deliberate spot then it was a superb effort. There was a stupid but amusing spot afterwards where Bala and Babe Face attacked Blanco because they thought he was Centurion Negro. Blanco sold the shit out the mask exchange by conducting the post-match interview while still wearing Negro's mask. Fun bout. 

[ohtani's jacket]

Negro Casas/Emilio Charles Jr/M Asesino Jr vs. Panterita del Ring/Volador/Angel Azteca (Monterrey 91)

The Casas vs Panterita feud continues. I've seen enough now to call it one of the more memorable lucha rivalries of 1991 even if it doesn't lead to any wagers. This was a fairly lacklustre trios match outside of the Casas/Panterita exchanges. It was dominated by the rudos yet somehow the tecnicos won. I was hoping to see a spark of something from Angel Azteca, but the tecnicos barely broke a sweat. Emilio was clearly on autopilot in Monterrey, but even autopilot Emilio can be entertaining at times. I would skip this unless you want to see more Casas from '91.

[ohtani's jacket]

Kato Kung Lee/Texano/Villanos IV y V vs Indomito/Signo/Tigre Blanco/Negro Navarro (Monterrey 1991)

This was a fun match. Texano was a tecnico here and a large part of the bout was focused on the rudos targeting him, and his matchup with Indomito, who was rocking S&M Demolition gear. Texano was such a great worker. I swear if there was more footage available of him, we’d talk about him in the same breath as Pirate Morgan and other greats from this era. Keep track of the work he does in this match. It’s phenomenal given the stakes. Everyone else is dependable. I love Signo and he always matches up well with Villano IV. Navarro wasn’t as good as he was during his maestro days but was solid. Kato Kung Lee did some decent Super Astro style schtick. The only weak participant was Tigre Blanco. Indomito worked hard, bladed, and took ate a couple of piledrivers. I could see him winning some fans. However, for me this was all about Texano, and I’m glad we have another match that shows how great he was. 

[ohtani's jacket]

Gran Hamada/Silver King/El Texano vs Dr. Wagner Jr/Indomito/Babe Face (Monterrey 1991

This was a slower paced match that finished with a flurry. It continued the Texano vs Indomito feud. If you knew Indomito up until now, it was probably as  one of the  replacements for Texano in the Misioneros. Steve Sims didn’t have great things to say about that in Texano’s obit, but it turns out we didn’t know 1991 lucha as well as thought we did, as this is great stuff regardless of how well it drew. Hamada vs Babe Face is also great, but you expect that with their history. Texano may be a top 10 lucha worker for ‘91 after it’s all said and done 

[ohtani's jacket]

Apolo Estrada vs. Negro Navarro (Monterrey 1989)

This may be the best Misioneros era Navarro match we have on tape. In fact, it may be the best pre-2001 Navarro match we have. Navarro looks far more comfortable at this state as a rudo brawler than a technical wrestler or a trios worker. If Estrada is the same guy that’s on Luchawiki then he died the following year of a brain tumor, which is crazy. The match grew better as if went along and ended being a pretty cool example of how to put a local guy over in a non-apuesta match. 

[ohtani's jacket]

Gran Markus Jr/Monje Negro/Milo Caballero vs. El Dandy/Apolo Estrada/Monarca (Monterrey 1989)

This was a chance to see Dandy in Monterrey during his classic period. Unfortunately, the footage was JIP during the segunda caida and what we got wasn't much of a match. Dandy was lighter than the other workers in the match so was mostly thrown about by the heavyweights. The bout was mostly centered around Gran Markus Jr vs Apolo Estrada, which wasn't bad. I feel like I'm watching some kind of weird territory I've never seen before when I watch these Apolo Estrada matches. He's not the greatest worker, but I kind of dig his mannerisms. Milo Caballero was a rudo here. Personally, I prefer his tecnico work, and now I officially have a stance on Milo Caballero.

[ohtani's jacket]

Pirata Morgan/Hombre Bala/Verdugo vs. Apolo Estrada/Rudy Reyna/Tony Reyna (Monterrey 1989)

Apolo Estrada vs. a 1989 Pirata Morgan, book it! I don't think I would've enjoyed this quite as much if I hadn't had a couple of Apolo Estrada matches under my belt already. Morgan was a wrestling god in 1989, and his new trio were almost as slick as the Infernales. This was a chance for Estrada to measure himself against one of the best in the business and our local hero had plenty of pluck, I'll give him that much. I couldn't quite figure out if his partners were a pair of exoticos, or a brother supporting his exotiico sibling, but they were up against it facing the Bucaneros. 

[ohtani's jacket]

Eddy Guerrero/Centurion Negro/Solar II vs. Lenador/Javier Cruz/Alarcan (Monterrey 1991)

Holy crap, is Eddie clean shaven in this match? That's surreal. Who would have thought that this kid in some random Monterrey match would go on to be a world champ in the States? Lenador was fun to watch, albeit slightly eccentric. One of the best things about this footage dump is that we get to see locals we've never heard of before. Well, I'm assuming they're locals. They're guys I've never heard of before. It struck me watching this that I've never really formed an opinion of Solar II. I think he should have tried another gimmick as every time I see his name listed, I think, "oh, it's the other Solar." I remember when we first started devouring the '89-90 EMLL tapes that myself and others rated Javier Cruz highly. For some reason, he was pushed down the card in the Pena era despite being a solid hand. He wasn't great in this, but it was still cool to see Cruz mixing it up with Eddie. Decent match but nothing really stood out. 

[ohtani's jacket]

Negro Casas/Emilio Charles Jr/El Signo vs. El Dandy/Gran Hamada/Angel Azteca (Monterrey 1991)

Hold up, Casas and Dandy wrestled each other before their '92 feud?  Before I get into this, there's two things I should mention -- it's JIP in the first fall, and the recording cuts out before the end of the third fall. That may bother some folks, but it doesn't phase me as this is a fever dream of a match. This Monterrey footage has given us a lot of cool CMLL and UWA mashups, but there's not a single match up in this bout that isn't seat of your pants good. It's a slow burner at heart, but oh my god, Casas vs. Dandy, Casas vs. Hamada, Emilio vs. Azteca, Signo vs. Hamada, Emilio vs. Dandy.. I'd be happy with one of those match-ups, yet here we get constant switch ups between six great workers. Casas vs Dandy is mind-blowing to begin with, but Hamada vs. Casas may be the fastest exchanges I've ever seen Casas work, and Emilio is like a pig in mud. He gives a throwback performance that's as good as his '88-89 work. What a tour de force. 

[ohtani's jacket]

Los Brazos vs. Pirata Morgan/El Satanico/Justiciero (Monterrey 1991)

This was a fairly standard trios match. There were some cool moments where Satanico and Morgan teamed up to work the Brazos over, but Justiciero couldn't quite fill the MS-1 role. It seemed like Porky vs Pirata would be the main match up, but in the tercera it was Satanico doing the stooging. Satanico was pretty good in this overall. Better than Pirata, which surprised me going into the bout. He matched up with Brazo de Oro well, but overall this was Porky heavy and basically a subpar Brazos match.

 

[cad]

On 8/18/2023 at 6:56 AM, ohtani's jacket said:

Pirata Morgan/Hombre Bala/Verdugo vs. Apolo Estrada/Rudy Reyna/Tony Reyna (Monterrey 1989)

I couldn't quite figure out if his partners were a pair of exoticos, or a brother supporting his exotiico sibling, but they were up against it facing the Bucaneros. 

It doesn't look like they were even related, just two guys with the same last name. I haven't seen a Rudy Reyna biography mention a brother. Reyna is a fairly common family name. You might remember that MS-1 was Pablo Fuentes Reyna.

[Rah]

Tony Reyna (who would be exactly 50 here) was brother (in-law?) to Ari Romero and a trainer for multiple luchadors, most successfully I believe is Cinta de Oro of Juarez fame. He, along with his real-life brother Alex Reyna, were a tag-team that made a name for themselves in Gimnasio Josué Neri Santos and Gimnasio Auditorio Municipal where Tony became a bit of a local "leyenda". For context to this match, at one point he was also billed as the "Master of Monterrey".

Fun aside, he was doing the "619" long before Super Astro (who was doing it before Rey Rey).

I don't think there's any connection beyond "hey, they have the same name!" here.

[ohtani's jacket]

Cheers for that fellas.

El Texano/Silver King/Centurion Negro vs. Mongol Chino/Scorpio Jr y Sr (Monterrey 1991)

Roy mislabeled this as Texano, Silver King and El Dandy ;( This was a dull rudo-led bout. It seemed a waste to have wrestlers the calibre of Texano and Silver King work this sort of bout, but the crowd loved it and there were a few decent spots where the rudos got their comeuppance. Texano shone even in this sort of environment, and the fluffing about at the end between Centurion Negro and Mongol Chino was moderately entertaining. This felt like house show lucha, but it also felt like the most quintessential Monterrey bout yet. 

[ohtani's jacket]

Jose Luis Feliciano/Black Terry/Mr. Terror vs. Silver King/Asterisco/Centurion Negro (Monterrey 1991)

Woo, Black Terry! And Jose Luis Feliciano too! This wasn't a particularly outstanding match, more of a scrap really, but a 1991 Black Terry match ain't nothing to sneeze at. He has a fun exchange with Centurion Negro, and later on he does a dive, which was something he was known for in his younger days. 

[ohtani's jacket]

Cien Caras/Javier Cruz/Arandu vs. Herodes/Volador/Angel Azteca (Monterrey 1991)

This was during the period where Pena had Herodes do that gimmick where he pretended to be crazy and wore a different gimmick to the ring each time. This time he was dressed as a surgeon. Folks say Herodes was past his prime at this time, and that may be true, but he was still capable of doing bullshit house show lucha. This was the type of match where you look for the potential in specific match-ups. There was a decent looking exchange between Javier Cruz and Volador, which had me thinking that might be an all right match, and a bunch of smoke and mirrors between Arandu and Azteca. Arandu is always fun, but a lot of it is the hair. Caras had some fun exchanges with Herodes, and Cruz was rocking it in general with his black glove, but I actually think if I had to choose one match-up I'd like to see, it might be Arandu vs. Herodes. I think that would be a ton of fun. 

[ohtani's jacket]

El Hijo del Santo vs. El Dandy (6/14/98)

This was very cool super libre match between two all-time great luchadores. They didn't cut any corners with the match and wrestled it almost like an apuestas match. Instead, it was the booking that reminded you that it wasn't a big money match. Of course, the exciting thing about it was that it was WCW Dandy spending a weekend in Mexico having a near classic match. I would consider this to be post-prime Dandy, but it's a lot closer to the end of his prime than some of the other post-WCW work we have of him. It was a better Santo match than a Dandy match, IMO, and fits right alongside some of his other Monterrey bloodbaths. There was some ref stuff, but I've seen much, much worse in Monterrey. I loved how the kids jumped in the ring every time they went to the outside, especially that kid who got in a move off the top rope when they right there at ringside. This wasn't really a lost classic, but it's Dandy and Santo and should be on everyone's radar. 

[ohtani's jacket]

Solar vs Flama Azul (Arena Naulcapan 1991)

It's not every day a Solar apuestas match falls in your lap. Solar isn't quite as good at brawling as some of his contemporaries, but he makes up for it by making his offense look extra nasty. This wasn't structured like a blood feud. Instead, it was more of a Solar showcase, but I did like how the tercera was a straight up scrap instead of both men trading big moves. Azul's haircut was one of the best I've seen in a while.