Mascara Sagrada

[Grimmas]

Control21:

The original “Mascara Sagrada” has been lost in the shuffle due to disputes over the rights to his name/gimmick, but he was a solid worker during the 1990s, being one of the original AAA stars who joined the promotion when Antonio Pena split from CMLL. Since leaving AAA, he has bounced around the Mexican indie scene and appeared occasionally for CMLL. Most of his well known matches occurred in the 1990s. I think Mascara Sagrada is one of the more underappreciated names in Lucha Libre.

vs Black Cat (5/8/1994)

vs Black Cat (5/15/1994) (clipped)

w/ El Hijo del Santo & Octagon vs Fuerza Guerrera/Heavy Metal/Jerry Estrada (11/12/1993)

vs Universo 2000 (8/2/1992)

vs Pierroth Jr (9/20/1996)

[cad]

For a long time Mascara Sagrada's reputation was that he was about as bad as it got save for stiffs who were barely trained. In 1989 he was spectacularly awkward and seemed to have no grasp whatsoever of what his limits were. I've complained about Octagon paring his repertoire down to the same stuff every time, but Mascara Sagrada was a guy who probably did need to sit down and figure out what he could do and what was beyond him, and by 1991 he seemed to better understand who he was. In general I think he ended up showing a lot more creativity and effort than Octagon overall. Take a look at his title match with Pirata Morgan, where he hits moves like a perfect moonsault and a soaring plancha. Maybe that was Pirata laying out the match to make sure MS looked good, but I couldn't imagine Octagon trying stuff like that or even attempting to work the mat as long as they did. That clipped mask match with Black Cat got 4.75 stars in the Observer. Anyway, Mascara Sagrada isn't one of the first guys I'd think when naming good tecnico workers but he has a surprising amount of quality matches, especially for someone long considered an outright bad wrestler.

For example:
Hecatombe and Bestia Salvaje vs Mantuz and Mogur (rare chance to see him working rudo and in his old character)
Mascara Sagrada vs Pirata Morgan
MS, Heavy Metal and Hijo del Santo vs Jerry Estrada, Parka and Psicosis

Haven't done an ordered ranking for a while:

Spoiler

- Great workers
El Hijo del Santo
Negro Casas
Virus
Fuerza Guerrera
El Dandy
Atlantis
Espanto Jr.
Sangre Chicana
Pirata Morgan
La Fiera
Dr. Cerebro
El Satanico
Black Terry
Emilio Charles Jr.
Super Astro
- Borderline/Flawed/Possible greats
Pierroth Jr.
Ciclon Ramirez
Mocho Cota
Felino
Lizmark
MS-1
Blue Panther
El Texano
Villano III
Pequeño Pierroth
Javier Cruz
El Faraon
Jerry Estrada
Dos Caras
- Very good workers
Rambo
Angel Azteca
Brazo de Oro
Hombre Bala
Pantera Sureña
Solar
Bestia Salvaje
Dr. Wagner Jr.
Psicosis
Brazo de Plata
Ultimo Dragon
- Everyone else
Perro Aguayo
Demus
Juventud Guerrera
Arkangel de la Muerte
Cien Caras
Mascara Sagrada
Silver King
Herodes
El Brazo
Norman Smiley
Negro Navarro
Art Barr
Javier Llanes
Canek
Octagon
Rayo de Jalisco Jr.
Kung Fu
Konnan

I had a hard time choosing between Dandy and Virus, two of the foremost masters of title match wrestling. Virus has much greater longevity, but Dandy nonetheless has more of my personal favorite matches. Dandy had more range and could excel in more kinds of match, but he also had better opponents and better booking. In similar situations, Virus had a better title match with a foreigner (vs Rocky Romero) than Dandy did (vs Ray Gonzalez), and I think I prefer Virus vs Navarro to Dandy vs Navarro (either way, Virus was better at maestro style matches). I ended up going with Virus but with no real confidence in my call. Then I stuck him above Fuerza too.

Pequeño Pierroth is one of the most consistently good workers I've seen. Lower ceiling than most of the guys around him, though, which makes him tough to place.

To rank Solar higher I'd probably need to love his maestro work. Actually he ranks where he does mostly on ability, as I have very few Solar matches in my list of personal favorites.

I can get why people don't like Dr. Wagner Jr. Sort of. Maybe I'd respect him less if I'd watched his week to week stuff.

If there is some objective truth about how good a worker really is, Mascara Sagrada is probably not as good as some of the guys around him, like Silver King, Herodes or Negro Navarro. I think he overachieved to an extent though.