My Lucha Journey: The Marco Corleone Experience 7: Hijo del Lizmark, Marco Corleone, Satánico vs Olímpico, Pierroth, Universo 2000

aired 2007-03-10
taped 2007-03-04 @ Arena Coliseo
Hijo del Lizmark, Marco Corleone, Satánico vs Olímpico, Pierroth, Universo 2000

I've actually got a nice little four match feud here, between the hair tag match, this, a singles match that followed it, and the hair match that ended things. It seems a little weird to end the Marco stuff way back in 2007, so I might cap it off with a recent trios or something. Part of me does see the danger in having a 10 match Marco Corleone mini project as my second or third focus, but I do think I've picked up a lot of other things along the way so it's generally okay.

This match was no different. Look at what I get to delve into here: Old Man, tecnico (what the heck?) Satanico. Old Man Pierroth. Lizmark, Jr and Olimpico, who haven't seen too much of, and some more Universo. I am the world's only proponent of the idea that you can really, truly learn a lot about a wrestler by watching them after they've broken down and don't have the same physical gifts. The question is whether or not they know enough about the craft of professional wrestling to compensate and how they attempt or don't attempt to do so.

Satanico was aces in 1984 and he was pretty much aces here too. He could still take things to second gear in brief bursts though, which helped. It was still weird seeing him play the beloved old hero, but he was excellent in garnering sympathy and response, whether it be eating multiple hair throws, playing to the crowd at key moments, or even teasing a dive. His offense was pretty smart with my personal highlight being this amazing corner thrashing of Pierroth where he just smushed his elbow in the poor jerk's eye. Pierroth I was less enthused about. He didn't get out of first gear and he really barely had that. That, in and of itself, wouldn't have been too bad but he had one too many corner clotheslines or times where he hit the ropes and the world just stumbled to a stop. If you're forced to be sluggish or unwilling to find a way to turn it up, then try to wrestle smart. Do matwork. Punch it out. Make the other guy do the work. He was exposing himself way too much here, especially for someone who really ought to have known better. When he wasn't doing that, he looked pretty good though. I liked his little chops and pokey punches and he was directing traffic well.

The rudos, in general, worked very smoothly. They opened the match with a pretty great ambush that had a chaotic feel that you don't really seem to see much anymore. The best of it was when the camera quickly shot back to the outside to see Marco flying into the turnbuckle. They carried it forward into an effective mauling, with a very cool triple submission on Satanico and a nasty senton on Lizmark to take the primera caida. I love that the senton is still so relevant in lucha. It's this primal visual, just a grisly landing that makes for a very believable pinfall or nearfall when necessary or a momentum shift when it's missed. Anyway, they also had pretty fun character work, between a huddle after disposing of an opponent, and Universo and Pierroth hamming it up in response to Marco's Rude Gyration to hilarious ends.

Frankly, I think I might have underestimated Marco a bit when it came to how he handled the character work in 2007. The flip side to this is that maybe I overestimate him a bit now. When he's in there with someone who really seems to know what he's doing, like Universo, they can play it up really well. He's a great foil, maybe more so than just being a great prop. They use him here to fuel the tecnico comeback. I almost wonder if you would get these luchadors who rarely get to work with a guy his size and they think "Why the hell wouldn't we use him to climb up the ropes and leap back at our opponent to turn the tide? The crowd will eat it up!" so you see it again and again. The difference between then and now is that he's able to be part of much more elaborate sequences now instead of just prompting reactions with his swivel.

This had a pretty clever finish that pushed things along on the road to a big singles match. After Marco had disposed of Universo from the ring (no dive though. I don't think there was a dive in this match at all), his partners got dumped to the floor and then summarily tied up in chairs by their feet. This led to a 3 on 1 in the ring and a distracted ref, where Marco fought for a moment, but ate a foul from Universo, allowing the rudos to win the match. It was a nice little bit of chicanery to keep the feud going and maybe further cement Marco as a tecnico since that was relatively new(?). All in all, this was a pretty good trios and a nice chance to see how much zing Satanico still had.

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En Busca de un Idolo - Week 8

5/20

Star Jr. v. Guerrero Negro Jr. -Spare Moment

Very fun one man performance by Star Jr., who really wanted to make an impression in his last tourney match. He takes one of the bigger bumps of the tournament as he tope's full speed into the barrier as Negro Jr. sidestepped him. He also broke out his top rope twisting pescada, which also ended nastily as Negro Jr. didn't catch him well (although that wasn't planned). The final semi awkward looking code red was my only real problem with him, what kept this from must see status was Negro Jr. going through the motions. Back to Coliseo openers for you young man.

Dragon Lee v. Hechicero- Must See

Right up there among the best stuff in this tourney and among the most fun matches of the year. Match starts up with a great example of a dynamic flyer and catcher as Lee did some very elaborate high difficulty armdrags and ranas, all of which Hechicero caught perfectly. We also got some crazy dives, including a running over the top rope dropkick by Lee which was prime Great Sasuke level of suicidal. I also loved how the match built, as the match got chippier and chippier until by the end they are throwing each other into the crowd and having to be separated. Another great match from the big four in this tourney

5/23

Cavernario/Dragon Lee/Negro Casas v. Virus/Hechicero/Cachorro -Must See

Total blast, another great match from the year of the six man tag. These are the top four finisher in the Busca de Un Idolo tourney matched up with the two maestro coaches. It is pretty fun to watch Casas and Virus mix it up in the go-go style. It is pretty crazy to watch a 46 year old guy like Virus to fly over the top rope into a senton, or a 54 year old guy like Casas fling himself off the ring apron into a Thez Press. Lee proves again that he isn't afraid to do some crazy shit. He took an armdrag over the top rope full speed to the ground, and then he gets smushed by Cachorro bullet tope. Your other three Busca guys all looked great too, I especially liked the energy Cavernario brings every time he comes into the ring, and how Hechicero has been heeling it up lately. Finish was a bit underwhelming considering the craziness that came before, which is the only thing that keeps this from the tippy top tier.


Buddy of the blog and national treasure Cubsfan has put together a youtube playlist of all of the match I ranked must see, if you want all killers no fillers

Must See Playlist

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