[1998-09-04-CMLL] El Hijo Del Santo & Fuerza Guerrera & Villano III vs Negro Casas & Felino & Shocker

[Clayton Jones]

I was really hoping ohtani's jacket or someone had already written this up because this is a match that clearly has a lot of subtext and I know none of it. There's tension between Santo and his teammates. Casas looks like he's ready to go to war with everyone. There's mask ripping, there's beautiful punch exchanges, there's great finishing stretches to each caida and the overall conclusion really caught me off guard in a good way. I feel like there might have been some interesting stuff happening regarding the captains and how the falls played out but once again this is where my intermediary lucha knowledge hampers me. What I do know is this match was a blast. Everyone short of maybe Shocker was operating at a world class level, and he didn't stink up the place or anything. Felino was a master at these big graceful controlled chaos bumps. Santo and Casas are impossible to take your eyes off of. Villano III and Guerrera brought the dynamic of their team to a whole different level. For a match I put on on a whim I still had high expectations given the names involved, and my expectations were exceeded.

[Clayton Jones]

Even better yet, here's Matt D in 2015 breaking down the stories playing out in this match. I had a suspicion it was during Santo's time as a rudo, but he works so similarly I couldn't be sure. Great read.

https://segundacaida.blogspot.com/2015/12/mlj-villano-iii-interlude-2-el-hijo-del.html?m=1