Pirata Morgan's Heart is Black, and His Lips Are Cold

Pirata Morgan, Cien Caras, & Gran Markus Jr. vs. Lizmark, Rayo de Jalisco Jr., & Atlantis EMLL 7/2/1989 - FUN

This got pretty wild and out-of-control, which is a setting Pirata usually excels in, but he's actually one of the lesser guys here. Not that he's bad, of course. He had some great bumping in the primera caida. But he didn't get much of a spotlight in this match. This was all about Rayo and Cien hating each other's guts, Atlantis being spectacular, and Ken Timbs sitting in the front row and being a distraction to the technicos, roughly in that order. And well, they delivered on those fronts. Rayo and Cien looked great against each other and got a ton of heat from the crowd, Atlantis looked like a king on offense, and while Timbs didn't add a ton to the match, I don't think he was out of place. Indeed, even with a comparatively unspectacular Pirata performance, Markus kinda looking like a chump, and Rayo and Cien spending much of the segunda caida brawling in a dark section of the crowd where I couldn't actually see what was happening, this was still well on the way to GREATness. That got decisively shut down by a tercera caida that barely seemed to exist. It's not long before Cien fouls Rayo and pins him, bringing the match to a very abrupt and awkward end. But on the bright side, they cover for it with a crazy post-match brawl that has Rayo and Cien totally teeing off on one another, Timbs charging into action, the crowd throwing trash at the rudos, and ends with Rayo and Atlantis both getting unmasked, with Rayo trying to make his way to the back, swinging wildly at officials while his head is wrapped in a green sweater. Don't count on seeing this as a match on the 80's Lucha set, but the post-match stuff might merit consideration as an extra.

Pirata Morgan, Pirata Morgan Jr., & El Hijo del Pirata Morgan vs. Dinastia de la Muerte TxT 2/25/2012 - GREAT

I started this project with a match that had almost the same lineup as this, and which happened roughly a year earlier, but somehow, the later match features the more spritely Pirata performance. Yeah, he is still not quite his old self, but I was pleasantly surprised at how much he was moving around and keeping active during the match. At one point in the first fall, he misses a charge at Navarro and goes flying through the ropes to the floor, which was a pretty nasty bump for a guy that old and broken down. Anyway, like the match a year ago, this is mostly built around Pirata's kids vs. Navarro's kids, with Pirata and Navarro themselves largely in secondary roles. There are some differences, though. The younger Piratas show some growth since last time, and this is probably the best they've ever looked. They work really well with the Traumas, doing some great brawling and busting out some crazy double and triple-team moves against each other, including the horrifying double DDT by the Pirata kids with Trauma II's legs suspended on Pirata Morgan's shoulders. The other difference with the match last year is that that one kept the old-timers more in the background, like they were at their kids Little League game, only they were allowed to get into violent brawls with the other parents. Here, the focus is still on the kids, but they spend much of the match setting up a big Pirata/Navarro showdown....that never really happens. Instead, we have an odd finish with the younger Piratas pinning the Traumas while Navarro pins Pirata, resulting in a draw. Oh, well. There's still plenty here to recommend. Also, Mano Negra is one of the refs here! That doesn't ever really amount to anything, but I though it was kinda neat regardless.

Pirata Morgan vs. Heavy Metal vs. El Texano vs. Sangre Chicana AAA 6/15/2003 - SKIPPABLE

It's not entirely clear to me if this is a four-way, or if it's a handicap match with the three rudos against Heavy Metal. Honestly, I don't care. This was pretty boring in a way that doesn't lend itself well to witty criticisms, so I can't do much with it. Pirata and the other rudos were all serviceable, and Metal wasn't spectacularly bad, but no one was especially good, so it just ended up being dull as shit. This was just very tame by Pirata's standards, and if there's one thing I don't want from a Pirata match, it's tameness. I guess Pirata had earned the right to phone it in every now and again by this point, but it's weird seeing him phone it in in a hair match at the biggest show of the year for a major promotion a decade ago, while he's busting his ass in a minor promotion today.

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE PIRATA MORGAN