MLJ: Hijo Del Santo vs Blue Panther 7: Negro Casas, Felino, & Fiera vs El Hijo del Santo, Scorpio, Jr., & Blue Panther

1997-11-28 @ Arena Mexico
Negro Casas, Felino, Fiera vs Santo, Scorpio Jr Blue Panther

Lots to see here. This was during Santo's rudo run, but on the back end. We've got a younger (33-ish which is younger than 50!) masked, tecnico Felino, a sort of forgettable-in-this-match Fiera, who was only 37 himself. Wiki tells me that Fiera means "The Beast." I always thought it meant the fiery guy. Ignorance rearing its ugly head again and again, to my endless shame. Tecnico Casas was here too, and yes, this wasn't actually a Santo vs Blue Panther match but a Santo & Blue Panther match, as they're teamed up. Finally we've got Scorpio Jr., and I'm not sure how he's generally received but he was a fun addition here. Outside the ring, in the crowd, an ever looming presence, was Bestia Salvaje.

This is the second match I've seen of rudo run, and the first was also on the back end. Both sort of felt like they heading towards a tecnico turn, too. That's not too surprising as looking at the dates of it all, it almost feels like the turn back lasted half the entire run. I've read that he was only rudo mainly at Arena Mexico, there are some extreme examples. He would be wrestling as a Rudo at Arena Mexico two weeks after he teamed with him as a tecnico in Tijuana. That sort of thing. They were clearly heading in that direction here, to the point that this match was more story-driven than anything else, but as best as I can tell, the full tecnico turn didn't happen for almost another year. That's CMLL for you.

I think I like primera caidas from the 90s more than from the 00s. I know that's a broad and general statement and that I do watch more current, or nearly current stuff, but there was just this great sense of escalation back then. One exchange would bleed into the next, and then when it was its turn again, repeat but more heated this time, and then would crescendo towards a finish. There's less of that now, I think. Here we started with Casas vs Santo which is a fun match up no matter the affiliation. They did some basic but quality holds that the crowd was into. It moved on to Panther and Fiera hitting some more high impact stuff, and then Scorpio and Felino really going at it. It was great to see a younger Felino, who literally bounced all around the ring. He stooges like crazy now but back then he was able to add a sort of ridiculous athletic flair to it. Scorpio had a ton of intensity in this match and some of that was probably because of the story they were trying to tell but it made a great impression on me. Ultimately it turned into Casas vs Santo again, with slightly more advanced technical work. The second that Casas gained an advantage, Scorpio rushed, much to Santo's frustration, and as he kept hammering Casas in the corner the ref DQed the rudos.

This did let the rudos take over though, and it all turned into a well-executed mauling. Santo was hesitant to double and triple team with his partners, but he did get on board, and, in the midst of the chaos, to add more fuel to the fire, Bestia jumped out of the crowd and posted Casas' knee while the ref wasn't looking. There was a powerbomb on Casas and a great Panther quebradora on the outside and Scorpio showing great fire. Ultimately it looked like the comeback was starting when Panther tried a second flapjack on Felino, who reversed it into a Rana and then sent him towards the corner, but Panther reversed the whip and Santo hit a body press off the top and almost immediately thereafter a huge tope into the crowd. Panther followed by hitting one of his own on Fiera, leaving Casas and Scorpio in the ring. Casas took the advantage but Bestia charged back in and attacked the leg again (which Casas really hadn't been selling, which was a shame), leading to the DQ and the tecnico win. To say that Santo didn't take this well was an understatement, as he, more frustrated than heroic, cleared the ring of both Bestia and Scorpio much to the fans' delight.

This was a fun, story driven match with a few good exchanges, that gave the fans at least a taste of being able to cheer Santo. I would have liked to see Casas sell the leg a bit more, and really, I'm still itching to go back and fine a deep rudo performance from Santo. I hope that there are some Scorpio vs Santo matches from after the tecnico (re)turn since I bet those would be heated and a lot of fun.