Mr JMML's Lucha Thread

[Mr JMML]

El Hijo del Santo vs Espanto Jr (Mask vs. Mask, 2/3 Falls, 8/31/1986 Plaza de Toros Monumental).

This match is  historically significant. These two are second generation wrestlers and their fathers had a legendary match 23 years before this happened, in 1963.

El Santo defeated Espanto and he had to unmask forever. 20 years after this match El Santo's son debuted with all the pressure in his shoulders to live up to expectations and he did exactly that. It took only 3 years to put his mask on the line with the son of his father's nemesis Espanto Jr and with this in mind let's analyze the match. The first fall was decided with a Gori, it was the shortest fall of the entire match designed to set up El Hijo del Santo's comeback intelligently. Espanto Jr won the first fall.

Second fall: El Hijo del Santo began doing his moves and holds and Espanto had no answer to that, after a fun exchange where Santo softened his opponent's back and did some pin combinations, he went for a suicide dive right on target and that was the end of the second fall. I think that Espanto Jr looked weak during the last two falls but that's just a minor complain, the match as a whole was awesome.

Third fall: There's urgency in every move they do and this can be felt in both corners. The match was out of control and everyone could've won but in this situation. They pulled every trick they had in their back to win but the pride, legacy and fighting spirit of ''El enmascarado de plata'' was too much for Espanto Jr. He was submitted with the legendary  camel clutch the submission that also made his father tap almost 23 years ago in a great callback that gave the match the emotional touch it needed to become a quintessential piece among lucha fans.

[Mr JMML]

Sorry, I completely forgot about that match luckily I wrote about it in the past.

[Mr JMML]

Satánico & Atlantis vs MS-1 & Tierra Viento y Fuego (Hair & Mask vs Hair & Mask ) 9/22/89 EMLL

What a match, three of the best mexican wrestlers ever face each other, Tierra, Viento y Fuego is just one of the dumbest names in wrestling history, he’s outmatched by every other wrestler in that ring, I just love the dynamic of this particular match Satánico is an underrated babyface, he’s truly a legend, if you’ve been reading my lucha reviews you may be aware of it already, when I wrote about 1984 his name was unavoidable, at that time he was a heel and the leader of the legendary trio Los Infernales, MS-1 was his partner at that time but they eventually split up, that’s why this feud came to be, Satánico turned face and now he’s teaming up with Atlantis, you may remember the match between them of 1984 if not it’s here, a very young Atlantis faced off against prime Satánico, a lucha classic I recommend but that was 5 years ago now they have a common enemy MS-1 and Tierra, Viento y Fuego, both the masks and the hair are at risk in this match because it’s the 56th anniversary of EMLL, the main event deserved its spot in the card, it was great despite of Tierra, Viento y Fuego having no business being there, he just isn’t nearly as good as the other three but to be honest those three are lucha gods so I can’t blame him, it’s extraordinarily difficult to be at that level, anyway the match started with a pretty cool control segment by the heel team that ended when they eventually won the fall, the second fall was another story entirely, Sátanico and Atlantis rallied back and got the fall but not without suffering, Sátanico was almost submitted by MS-1, the third and final fall was completely dominated by the heels but Sátanico came clutch with a package for the win.

This is not wrestling related but I just wish Pecco Bagnaia a great recovery after what happened in Montmeló.

[Mr JMML]

El Satánico vs. El Dandy (Hair vs Hair) 2/3 Falls (Arena Mexico, 12/14/1990) EMLL 


This is the best match of one of the most revered rivalries in all of lucha, some people think it's better than 1/9/90 or 6/8/90 Jumbo Tsuruta vs Mitsuharu Misawa but I'm not one of them, don't get me wrong the bout is great from start to finish although it isn't as good if you ask me because the final stretch is fun but nothing more than that.
El Satánico is a veteran member of Los Infernales and he had been in many apuestas before and he had never lost his hair but this is about to change, the first hair vs hair apuesta that he won was against Mocho Cota in the year 1980 and he never looked back. This match isn't the main event of the show, the main event was a triple threat mask vs mask vs mask match: Ciclón Ramírez, Octagón and Fuerza Guerrera put their masks on the line in an average apuesta match that saw Ciclón Ramírez being unmasked after losing against Octagón. El Dandy had already lost his hair in 1986 in a bout with  Negro Navarro, El Signo and El Texano that we can't see because lucha isn't the best preserved style in wrestling and this problem is sometimes difficult to work around but let's get into the match.

The match begins before the bell rang with Satánico crushing El Dandy's skull straight to the post making him bleed in the process then the bell rang, and Dandy found himself having an opportunity after like 5 minutes with a victory roll for the 3 count and the first fall is over with a great babyface performance which is surprising because he is usually the heel. After a one minute break the match resumed, Satánico had the fall in control and he capitalized with some kind of strange abdominal stretch to tie it one a piece. The last fall was dominated by El Satánico until the referee somehow slipped out of the ring, El Dandy faked being hit by a low blow and the referee believed him so he won by disqualification.

[Mr JMML]

Brazo de Oro vs El Hijo del Santo (Mask vs Hair - UWA - 1/13/1991)

This apuesta was great, the last Toreo de 4 Caminos classic. AAA was the next company that called this venue home but it just wasn’t the same (at least that’s the popular opinion among lucha fans especially in Mexico). All apuestas involving El Hijo del Santo have the same problem, you already know the result before the match even starts his mask is way too valuable for him to lose it against anyone except someone with the same name value as him someone like Atlantis maybe. Brazo de Oro isn’t only an underdog, his mission is doomed from the start but the crowd really didn’t care about that they just wanted to witness El Hijo del Santo live and that’s perfectly understandable. Brazo de Oro was always a heel and a fan favourite but today he’s an actual heel thanks to his opponent’s popularity. If you weren’t aware already this matches are two out of three falls with Santito’s mask and Brazo’s hair on the line.

I love how weak Santito looks during the first fall if he was any other wrestler I would think that he’s about to lose the match, the crowd also noticed that so they started to chant: ‘‘ Santo, Santo!’’. Santo was the key to the heart of the Toreo 4 Caminos’ crowd so his son was going to receive the same treatment. Remember how was the crowd during El Santo’s retirement match, they weren’t that good today but to be fair that’s really hard to top, in fact, I think that very few crowds in wrestling history can be compared with that, Brazo de Oro won the first fall without much trouble but the last two were another story completely, the second fall consisted of Santito’s comeback and eventual win and the last one while a bit more contested was won easily by El Enmascarado de Plata.

[Mr JMML]

La Fiera vs Jerry Estrada (Monterrey - 1991)

We don’t have an exact date for this one but it ultimately doesn’t matter, this brawl is so unique and chaotic that I think not having a date plays with the nature of this bout in a genuinely fun way if there’s a date I don’t want to know I’ll live happily in ignorance because it actually makes this match better. Lucha isn’t well-preserved at all but that’s even more apparent when you are searching for match that didn’t happen in any of the two most recognized promotions and that’s what happened here. Monterrey is one of those promotions whose matches we should be grateful for having on tape especially when they are this good. As I mentioned earlier this is one of those crazy lucha brawls I love and I know for a fact that I’m not the only one who feels this way about this particular style, in fact, I think the best way to introduce someone to lucha libre is telling them to watch this match or Sangre Chicana vs MS-1. This is very easy to introduce just by telling you that one of the competitors is called La Fiera (literally The Beast in spanish) you should know what these two men are about to do in that ring (Jerry Estrada is a very cool name too, I love lucha). Jerry Estrada plays the heel as he always does and La Fiera has the whole crowd on his side for the entirety of the match. He enters the ring with a chain and he uses it to whip his opponent to oblivion just fantastic stuff and the whole match is like this too, a back and forth between two of the fiercest personalities in lucha history in front of a crowd that’s just loving every minute of it, a classic that everyone should watch I’m sure this match is universally loved but it isn’t as good as Sangre Chicana vs El Satánico from 1986 for example but I think that if you got 20 minutes to spare you should give this a go.

I forgot to mention that this match isn’t two out of three falls, it’s just one fall but what a fall it was.

[Mr JMML]

El Hijo del Santo vs Negro Casas (WWA - 5/17/1991)

The second chapter of the greatest rivalry in the history of lucha completely delivered, a fantastic mat-based bout capable of holding any lucha fan to their sit for the entirety of their runtime even though it’s an apuesta involving the son of one of the most protected characters (if not the most) in the history of lucha. I know that’s a big compliment but this match absolutely deserves it for everything that these two were capable to achieve in that ring, the hold to hold action was always engaging and genuinely fun to watch it’s a match that more than lived up to expectations. Negro Casas has always been a favourite among the fans of the style (me included) for his ability to make matches like this one work in a way that most luchadores can’t. I’ve already reviewed two matches involving him here, the first apuesta between him and Santito and a tag team match in the same year (1987) but it’s obvious that he has grown as a wrestler since then and he had become a force to be reckoned with during that time. Santito also improved as a wrestler in that time span making this matchup pretty even (ignoring the history of his mask) so this match played out as expected with both men having their respective moments to shine however history repeated itself once again and ‘‘El enmascarado de plata’’ retained his mask after a memorable showing everyone should at least take a look at. The match itself is absolutely worth your time but I must tell you that this apuesta is different to many others I’ve covered this one is mostly technical so you won’t see chairshot or blood like you’d in those.

[Mr JMML]

Atlantis vs Blue Panther (EMLL - 8/9/1991)

Another technical classic featuring two of the greatest luchadores to ever do it, it’s a great title match mainly because of its runtime, 25 minutes of awesome action while other matches of that kind go for longer (around 30 minutes) but most of them can’t make a match like that work however these two made the most out of their encounter. We all know Atlantis ‘‘El ídolo de los niños’’ literally the children’s idol was the main babyface of the company (EMLL/CMLL) for many years and the 1990’s were his best years although he was their brightest prospect during the 1980’s so his jump in in-ring ability didn’t surprise anyone and his longevity is also worth highlighting considering that he had fantastic matches during the 2010’s against Último Guerrero or La Sombra. His mask is probably the most valuable in lucha along with El Hijo del Santo’s, he was the face of CMLL for many years so his treatment is understandable and logical as a way to thank his contribution to wrestling as a whole for thirty years. Now the NWA Middleweight championship is on the line, Atlantis is defending his title against Blue Panther ‘‘El Maestro Lagunero’’, the match is as good as you could expect from them the hold to hold action is superb from beginning to end, no restholds here, every move has a purpose and helps to move the action forward something not many matches actually achieve, this is direct and focused the way mat wrestling should be. Atlantis came out of that match on top but Blue Panther lost honourably, no cheapshots or anything that might be considered dirty. This is worse than the last match but I’d still recommend this match to anyone who calls himself lucha fan.