Stairway To The Stars, Pirata Morgan's Got Better Things To Do

Pirata Morgan & Ari Romero vs. El Jalisco & Super Star WIN 12/24/1989 - FUN

I had set my expectations unreasonably high for this one. This was my first time seeing El Jalisco, and for those who don't know, he was the other guy in the match where Pirata lost his eye. Pirata - then simply Ramon Morgan - was working a match against Jalisco in 1981. He went for a tope con hilo, Jalisco was out of position, and Morgan somehow managed to land eyeball-first on the concrete, exploding it on impact. And you would think an incident like that would make every subsequent match between the two an automatic grudge match. Hell, that's how it worked for Iceman King Parsons and Buddy Roberts, and Buddy's hair grew back. So I had certain expectations of bloodletting that this match really didn't live up to. Furthermore, WIN seems to have been a promotion that ran mostly short, one-fall matches, so there's not much time to get anything done, anyway. That said, judging the match on it's own merits, it is pretty good while it lasts. Pirata's exchanges with Jalisco aren't what you would want them to be given their history, but they do both lay into each other well enough, and I really liked Jalisco's take on the tope en reversa. That's usually a very graceful move, but he just spins around and launches the back of his head into your face. These two probably did have an EPIC revancha match at some point, but this wasn't it.

Pirata Morgan & Barba Roja vs. Antifaz del Norte & Rico Rodriguez ACM 8/12/2012 - SKIPPABLE

Oh, for fuck's sake, Monterrey, can we have a little bit of oversight on your zany rudo refs? Just a little? This is another Monterrey match that would've been good if it wasn't drowning in nonsensical referee horseshit. I think I've made it pretty clear by this point that I am tolerant of referees behaving as characters. I'm tolerant of a certain degree of rudo bias from certain lucha refs. But I keep getting hit with these Monterrey matches where the refs aren't just getting overly involved, they're getting stupidly involved. The rudos win the first fall when the ref gives them fast counts over the technicos. Why are all his subsequent counts normal speed? Why does he not just call for the bell when a technico is in a hold and say that they tapped even if they didn't? He's already established the lengths to which he'll go to help the rudos win. Why does he hold back afterwords? Hell, he's deliberately holding Antifaz in place so the rudos can beat him up. He can do that in the second fall, but he can't bring himself to give them another fast count win? Why? What the hell kind of sense does that make? And what the fuck was up with the finish? Pirata fouls Antifaz, and the ref starts second guessing himself. What? Why? You got physically involved in the match to help the rudos and gave them the first fall on a pair of fast counts, but this was going too far? Fuck, it wasn't even the first low blow in the match. Pirata kneed Rodriguez in the groin, and the ref was fine with that. Why is he squeamish now? Pirata is so distracted by the sheer randomness of the ref's moral compass that Antifaz is able to recover and foul him in return. The ref battles with his raging schizophrenia for way too long before declaring it a double DQ, which, fittingly, makes no fucking sense. And now, I know what it would be like to be a more serious football fan. The real tragedy is that there was a decent match buried somewhere in this avalanche of suck. Pirata and Antifaz both looked sharp. Barba Roja did some cool stuff and some shitty stuff. Rodriguez rounded out the cast. Ultimately, none of it mattered.

Pirata Morgan, Abismo Negro, & Alan Stone vs. Intocable, Zorro, & Estrella Dorada Jr. ACM 5/28/2006 - SKIPPABLE

More referee hijinks?! Seriously?! Fuck this.

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE PIRATA MORGAN